I’ll give you a hint: It’s where both your poop and your Great Debates posts seem to emanate from.
In this thread, the question is why should one care what happens in the Middle East.
Acco40, like Brian Bunnyhurt before him, believes that “noncombatants should just move out of Jerusalem.”
He goes on to say:
And
I know you don’t like my analogies Acco40, but by your logic, it was the Jews own fault for staying in Europe during World War II and getting killed. They weren’t technically “combatants,” I mean, they should have just started walking, right? They don’t deserve any of your empathy.
Bosnian Muslims should have known better than to stay in their home villages to be slaughtered in mass graves by the Serbs. They should have just started walking.
All those Cambodians killed by Pol Pot? I agree, it’s completely stupid to build your summer home next to the killing fields. If they’d all just left the country everyone would be okay.
When Stalin decided to starve out the Ukraine? Well if those idiot dumb backward Ukrainian farmers had just started walking…
Hey, Sierra Leone, listen up! Limb-hacking revolutionary armies got you down? Well, idiots, why don’t you just walk somewhere else?
South Africans, you don’t like Apartheid? Well, if you’d just move somewhere else maybe things would get better. Or you could stay and fight and maybe change things in your country…
The Palestinians should have left when war broke out between Israel and its neighbors. Oh, wait, guess what, THEY DID and now they live in fucking refugee camps.
I keep waiting for you to post something, anything, that does not show you to be an idiot.
Acco’s got a great thing going. His life is boiled down to one simple sentence, and if you don’t subscribe to it, you’re left to the weasels. And that simple sentence is “get over it”. Anything in the world: Get OVER it. Holy war or Pizza toppings…it don’t matter.
In the Self Esteem thread, several women (myself included) were brave enough to essentially say “Yes, the media affects how I see myself. I know this is crazy, but it’s true.”
Acco strides in and says “I don’t get it. The media doesn’t affect me, why should it affect you?”
the women answer: “Don’t really know, but it just does.”
Acco answers: “Well it shouldn’t. And if it does, there’s nothing more I can do for ya, since you’re obviously looking for pity.”
And the chorus cried: THANKS IDIOT MAN!
And he swooped off to meet out justice in some other ham handed and half assed manner.
Tsk tsk. I didn’t realize (s)he was the xenophobe who posted that ‘Who Cares’ topic. And here I am taking the time to explain what was wrong with the ‘Stem Cell Rant.’ Just call me Sisyphus.
You want to see some Sysiphi, check out Acco’s performance in this thread. FWIW, Acco is a teenager–(s)he might grow up sooner or later. I’ll be in the corner holding my breath. :rolleyes:
I usually don’t involve myself in someone else’s pissing contests but I must disagree with the tone and nature of this thread. I haven’t read anything in particular re Acco’s posting nature, but I thought that pkbites and Acco post’s were asking for a way to understand this situation. Abe provided some very valid points, but for whatever reason magdalene, you came in with a very large chip on your shoulder and started blasting.
I like to think of myself as a little above average in the knowledge of the political and military arena, and find myself bewildered by the events in the Middle East. Maybe those who profess to be experts in this field would care to enlighten, and thus provide some more “empathy” for the situation, rather than flame the naive.
BF, he did not ask for clarity on the situation. Go read the threads we’ve linked to. Acco came in and basically everyone in Israel move to avoid violence, which is a ridiculous comment.
And in regards to empathy: we’re asking ACCO to have some, since he obviously feels that if everyone doesn’t do what he suggests, we’re stupid. Or do you also believe that if someone is destroying your homeland and the country that your entire family came from you should just pick up and leave?
without getting really far into the whole Mid-East mess, there are numerous reasons why people can’t just get up and start walking away, BF. To wit:
There are a number of people that live there, and are killed there, that aren’t on either side of the battle. It’s not their fault the fighting is going on, it’s not their fault they were born where they were born, why should they have to move?
Moving to another country is pretty damn expensive. Moving a million people across enemy lines to a country that would take them is pretty damn impossible.
Even biblical arguments aside, both sides feel that the land is rightfully theirs and they should have the freedom to live on it as they choose to. Would you give up your rightful home, one that’s even lawfully yours, because an agressor came on and tried to take it away from you? Oh sure, you could just “walk away,” but why? It’s your home!
Oh, on a side note, anyone ever see that MAD tv segment with Bob Newhart as the psychiatrist? The woman comes in and starts complaining about her problems. Bob then rambles on in Newhartian style and then says, “I’m going to tell you two words that could clear all this up. You may want to get out a pencil and paper and write this all down. You ready?”
The girl nods.
“STOP IT!”
“What?”
“STOP IT!”
“Just…stop it?”
“Yes, STOP IT!”
“But I have this fear of death and…”
“STOP IT!”
“But my mother keeps telling me…”
“STOP IT!”
“Should I be concerned about…”
“STOP IT!”
I think Acco40 was Newhart’s understudy for that scene.
jarbabyjYes, I read every post in that thread, and re-read Acco’s too. I think that one statement, out of the five or six made by Acco was quite naive, however, I do not think it warranted a pit thread. (and please, I am not suggesting that I am the arbiter of what is pit-worthy or not) I was waiting for some elucidation as to why this seemingly simple suggestion is so callow.
BF, I don’t think Acco40 was asking for clarification at all. His first post in the thread reminded us that he had no empathy for people in the region, called them “stupid” for living there, and suggested they should “move.”
The first 2/3 of my post in the thread was addressed to pkbites, suggesting reasons that we should care. I address Acco40’s “advice” separately. Maybe I did come at him with a bit of a chip, but this is not the first time in a thread he’s turned a discussion of an issue - the Middle East, media images of women, etc. into a debate about his own feelings of “empathy” and his “advice” to people in the situation. If you are trapped in a war zone should leave, and if you don’t, don’t expect Acco40 to have any empathy for ya. Sick of being told that you don’t fit the media stereotype of what is beautiful? 12-year-old girl with an eating disorder? Well you should just get over it, or don’t expect Acco40 to have any empathy for ya. He got over it, you should too. Not sure where you stand on the ethics of stem cell research? Well then you are a fundie, as Acco40 will gladly show you with some more faulty loudmouth logic.
I started this thread because I recognized that I have a bit of a chip with regard to our boy Acco40: I think he is a sucky debator who can’t separate intellectual discussions of issues from his own issues.. To avoid hijacking the GD with a one-on-one exchange, I started a new thread. I planned to introduce the “Women’s Self-Image and the Media” thread as well, but the indomitable jarbabyj beat me to it.
Learning that he’s a teenager tempers it somewhat - what I initially took for the bitter musings of a not-too-bright adult are now the squealings of a young lad desparate to show the grown-ups how smart he is by having an opinion on the issues of the day. How droll.
Why the piss and vinegar? If what I write bothers you so much, then don’t read it.
Ever since the “women in the media” thread, you two have been on my ass.
But just to fill everyone else in on our spat, my arguments basically run on the assumption that:
If you don’t like something, change it. If you not able to change it, accept it.
Now when taken to extremes, this argument can appear harsh. But I beg you to tell me ** how else can one deal with the world?**
Denial?
Escapism?
Blame?
Pick your poison. I choose to live in reality. I don’t run away. I accept responsibility for my actions and expect others to accept theirs. Come to terms with reality - you may just like it.
This has nothing to do anything I wrote whatsoever in my entire life. Do not compare events by parellels - or put words in my mouth. Each situation is unique.
How brave. Ok, now that you know on an intellectual level that you are being affected… do something about it! That’s all I was saying. What good does complaining about it do? Take action. Damn.
Ultrafilter:
I stand by everything I said in that thread, and everything else I’ve ever written. I’m 23 and male.
And why are you in the Pit throwing stones? Because I disagreed with you on car insurance premiums? Fuckin’ too bad… GET OVER IT!
…
As far as the Middle East situation goes… I can say two things for sure:
My family and I would make every attempt to leave Jerusalem and the inherent danger therein
If I couldn’t leave, I would stay indoors 24/7 yes, barring work. From an Israeli point of view, I would recognize that since a war is raging around me, I had better change my schedule to live around it… and not expect the opposite to happen. That’s how you end up dead.
But it’s a risk you take by dwelling in a war zone.
One can struggle in the face of impossible odds in the knowledge that while a single person can’t change something, thousands or millions of people, over time, can. One can work for what is just and right for no other reason that because such work is intrinsically valuable as a refusal to accede to injustice. One can defend one’s self, family, and home for no other reason that a deep belief that it is better to stand and fight for what you believe in than to exist without principles or honor – a deep belief that “it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
There’s a world of gray between the white of getting everything exactly as you want and the black of laying down to die; those are never your only choices. Jeez, go rent Man of La Mancha; you’re too young to be so cynical.
My position, right or wrong, huh? I do hope you don’t really mean that.
I’m posting in the pit because you have never once displayed any willingness to consider that you might be wrong. In the auto insurance thread, you came across as unwilling to consider the arguments of experts because you didn’t like them.
As you yourself have said, everyone is entitled to an informed opinion.
Isn’t that what got you in here in the first place?
A better idea would be for you to actually use the brain with which you are presumably equipped to post something which evidences said brain’s presence.
All that means is that’s the first thread in which they noticed your idiocy. Now, had they first noticed instead the utterly ridiculous comments of yours regarding the situation in Israel, then you would no doubt have said, “Ever since the “Israel” thread, you two…”
Assumption? You evidently are not familiar with the old saying about assumptions.
NEWSFLASH FOR THE MORONS ON BOARD: The world is not such a simple place.
Actually, it merely appears to be stupid. The reason it appears to be stupid is because it is stupid.
There are numerous intelligent and constructive ways in which to deal with the world. After you’ve actually gained some life experience, then you just might come to that realization. What’s amusing in a sad way is that you feel qualified, with your lack of life experience, to make such a sweeping comment about the world to those who do have life experience. And, I might add, a much more difficult life experience they’ve had than your comfortable living-in-the-home-that-mom-and-dad-provide existence currently provides.
No. Yet, that’s pretty much what you advocate.
No. Yet, that’s pretty much what you advocate.
No. Yet, that’s pretty much what you advocate.
Life is not poison. Had you any actual life experience, you would know that by now.
You do not know reality. Nor are you even familiar with the definition.
And yet you demand that others do run away from a situation not of their making. Fascinating in its absurdity.
Kind of convenient for you that your actions have exactly zero to do with where you now live and the peace provided for you there. Now had you made the incredibly bad choice of being born in a war-torn country, what would you have to say about your action?
See my comment above about you and reality.
{Snipped excellent analogy provided by Magdalene.}
Bullshit. It’s exactly on point. After all, one war-torn land is the same as another in this discussion in that those folks suffering in the war-torn land obviously made the bad choice (you know, “their action”) to either be born there or to just not walk away.
Had you any actual life experience, you would no doubt realize that this is actually a valid way of discussing your absurd take on the situation.
Nobody put any words into your mouth. After all, you look foolish enough on your own.
And yet you proclaim from on high (horse) that there’s just one solution? Fascinating in its absurdity.
Discussing something is taking action. Since you’ve evidently no life experience, you do not realize that.
Then why, pray tell, do you manage to post more nonsense than an illiterate two-year-old chimpanzee who’s never seen the sun?
How convenient! What we see here folks, no doubt, is yet another unique situation with the canned solution!
NEWSFLASH FOR THE MORON: There is also a lot of good in Jerusalem. That good is provided by both Palestinians and Israelis of many different religious persuasions. Just because you simply see the world in a mono-chrome manner does not mean the rest of the world is simpletons.
Well, there you have it folks. There’s an exception to the canned solution. Work apparently absolves one from the walking away from danger.
I wasn’t aware that the combatants were in the habit of informing their victims of the date/time/place of the next explosion. Have you considered notifying the Mossad of your incredible ability?
So, how’d you end up brain-dead?
Many posters have already explained this to you at least semi-politely. I, being Monty, see no reason to be polite to an utter freaking fool, so I’ll put it bluntly: YOU FOOL! AN INFANT DOESN’T TAKE AN INFORMED RISK! THE VICTIM OF A TERRORIST BOMB DOESN’T KNOW THE BOMB IS ON THE WAY! HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF MCVEIGH? ARE YOU SO CRASS THAT YOU BLAME THOSE CHILDREN FOR THEIR OWN DEATHS?!
Fucking morons. God, I can’t wait until school is back in session.
And there’s no way I believe this fucking idiot is either 23 or intelligent.
I hope you washed your hands before you shoved those words in my mouth.
BTW, the “GET OVER IT!” was supposed to be a joke. Not a good one apparently. But seriously, get over it.
Jodi:
Thank you for your point of view. I’ll take your advice. That’s originally why I came to the SDMB - to get fresh ideas - not have bored assholes throw me in the pit.
23 years old and he knows the answer to all of life’s problems, walk away, wave a magic wand and change it.
Millions have died fighting, not walking away, suffering, failing in their own lifetimes to change things.
and you are now the custodian of all those freedoms they handed down to you, what will you do ?
Walk away ?
Someone takes a piece of your life and you have no hope of changing it back ? Are you stupid enough to die for it, or too cowardly to improve things for those whom you will never know ?
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, life is just not that simple, think about it.
angst (ängkst) n. A feeling of anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression
He didn’t seem particularly anxious or depressed…
Acco40: I gave you good advice in your misguided rant, and I’ll offer just a bit more if you will take it. Take some time to reflect on what you have been posting see if it’s really the way you want to be coming across.
