# buttonjockey308, get in here... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 2, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001 "2006-08-02T09:26:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/61 "2006-08-03T02:22:43Z")
[QUOTE=buttonjockey308] Cite it. Please. Minus of course the “yadda yadda yadda” part. I will put the better part of a dollar on the fact that you remember incorrectly or mistook the intent of my post. While we’re at it, I am not a bastard, my father is very much alive thank you. I have sympathy, but i suppose little empathy. I prefer action over simply ''feeling someone else’s pain" I would rather fix it than ‘feel’ about it. [/QUOTE] Right here: "So what? If those plants the newsteam sent in had actual complaints, my guess is that they would have been treated differently, but trying to mess with a person whose career success (read:staying alive) hinges on realizing when he or she was being messed with is, as we found out, a losing proposition. The racial profiling bit? Again, while it sucks, profiling (both racial and otherwise) is a valid tool for law enforcement, like it or not. … Will I take the word of an anti-cop activist over that of a trained cop? Not on your life." [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360742&highlight=police](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360742&highlight=police) So there you go folks, let it also be added that he’s on the record as being in favor of racial profiling. Another credit to the profession. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/62 "2006-08-03T02:23:52Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Actually, you should read _The Gulag Archipelago_. I misremembered the name of the work. [/QUOTE] Oh, I thought you were refering to the place giant tortoises were sent for crimes against the state. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/63 "2006-08-03T02:25:39Z")
The OP’s a police officer? Tell me that’s not true. Lie to me if you must. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/64 "2006-08-03T02:29:50Z")
[QUOTE=buttonjockey308] While we’re at it, I am not a bastard, my father is very much alive thank you. [/quote] A bastard isn’t someone whose father is dead, it’s someone whose father wasn’t married to their mother when they were born. > [@](#): > > I have sympathy, but i suppose little empathy. Form your posts in this and the other thread, it would appear that you have neither. > [@](#): > > I prefer action over simply ''feeling someone else’s pain" I would rather fix it than ‘feel’ about it. Here you have created a false dichotomy. One can work to fix the problems of the world while also caring about the people in it. Empathy does not replace action, it inspires it. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/65 "2006-08-03T02:32:17Z")
[QUOTE=Epimetheus] You’re surprised? This from the dumbass that thinks it is somehow clever to have a ciggarette shoved up his nose. [/QUOTE] I’m sorry, should I no u? p.s. I’m at least clever enough to know how to spell “cigarette”. And not to go through life weighing a metric ton. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/66 "2006-08-03T02:35:31Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] The OP’s a police officer? Tell me that’s not true. Lie to me if you must. [/QUOTE] Man, I have to wake up a bit more. I mean to ask if the butt (target) of the OP is a cop. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/67 "2006-08-03T03:05:54Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] The OP’s a police officer? Tell me that’s not true. Lie to me if you must. [/QUOTE] He’s not a police officer (shut up, the rest of you!) Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/68 "2006-08-03T03:11:00Z")
[QUOTE=buttonjockey308] EVERY HUMAN has the right to be free from the kind of control that you’re talking about **sarahfeena** but there is a price to be paid to gain that right. Most often, that price is blood, and in my opinion, better it be spilt in the furtherance of freedom, than standing by watching while the most vile amongst you ruins your life for you. [/QUOTE] Yes, they do have that right. But until YOU live in a murderous dictatorship, I don’t think you want to be making judgements about why people aren’t able to escape them. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/69 "2006-08-03T04:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] I’m sorry, should I no u? p.s. I’m at least clever enough to know how to spell “cigarette”. And not to go through life weighing a metric ton. [/QUOTE] But not so clever to know that other people on the internet aren’t overweight either, jackass. Whatever weighing a metric ton has to be with anything. Oh yeah, this is the thread in which you prove how immature a 36 year old can be. I forgot. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/70 "2006-08-03T05:21:00Z")
[QUOTE=Epimetheus] But not so clever to know that other people on the internet aren’t overweight either, jackass. Whatever weighing a metric ton has to be with anything. Oh yeah, this is the thread in which you prove how immature a 36 year old can be. I forgot. [/QUOTE] Jesus Christ, dude(?). Are you gonna tell us all where my birthmark is next? I guess it’s the “mature” Pit tactic to look up people’s personal info in order to make it part of an unrelated argument, and I suppose it might even be an effective one if I gave a shit, but since I don’t, I just think you’re pathetic and mildly stalkerish. In any case, maturity’s overrated. This ain’t the fuckin’ U.N. or a job interview, so if you find me juvenile for telling you to suck my dick, the only effect that has on me is to encourage me to add that you should not forget to lick my taint while you’re down there, bitch. And I know not everyone on the internet is fat. I’m talking specifically about you. I’m assuming, of course; but since you’re a)a Doper with b) a giant stick up your ass, I figured it was a safe conclusion to draw. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/71 "2006-08-03T05:47:24Z")
Sheesh. Get a room, you two. This thread is about **buttonjockey308**. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/72 "2006-08-03T05:48:40Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Sheesh. Get a room, you two. This thread is about **buttonjockey308**. [/QUOTE] Right you are. He’s a fucking idiot. I thought that was already established, though. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/73 "2006-08-03T08:09:08Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Man, I have to wake up a bit more. I mean to ask if the butt (target) of the OP is a cop. [/QUOTE] I’m the OP, and I assumed that was who you meant. But it’s OK, like **LHoD** said (would **LHoD** lie?), he’s not a cop. And he’ll still respect you in the morning, too. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/74 "2006-08-03T11:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] \*\*All I can add is this: lacking empathy is not something to be proud of, **buttonjockey**. Empathy is what allows you to see things from another person’s point of view and have feelings of sadness and mercy towards them, rather than judging them by your irrelevant standards. [/QUOTE] \*\*buttonjockey \*\* doesn’t know what “Social Darwinsim” means, or, apparently “bastard”, so I find it entirely likely he’s unclear on the definition of “empathy” as well. > [@buttonjockey308](#): > > I’m not saying evolving an entire society is fucking SIMPLE, I’m saying it’s up to the people to put a government in place to faciltiate their needs and demands. No matter what it takes to do it. You have \*no idea \* what it takes. > [@buttonjockey308](#): > > And I DO have the right to spew forth whatever I bloody well want. It’s one of those things that the people who came before me by the hundreds of thousands, fought and died to insure. Sure you do. And we have the right to call you a blithering idiot. And to point out that those people who fought and died were in fact, _not you_. You piss on their courage and their sacrifice by implying that you, by virtue of simply enjoying the fruits of their labor, are qualified to tell others how to achieve what they achieved. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/75 "2006-08-03T12:08:20Z")
[QUOTE=dahfisheroo] Three words. “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” [/QUOTE] That’s actually _four_ words, you innumerate unevolved economic parasite second-hander. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/76 "2006-08-03T12:12:57Z")
A suggestion, **jockey** : you’re viewing social change as happening at a societal level, and viewing obligations, rights, and responsibilities as occurring at this level. That’s a bad idea. Societies are a useful fiction: they represent trends in behaviors among humans. The correct level at which to view obligations, rights, and responsibilities is at the level of the individual. Organizations, including clubs, companies, nations, and societies, have no rights. They ahve no obligations. The people that make them up each have rights and obligations. As long as you view it at a social level, you’re not seeing the trees for the forest. And that leads to some repugnant ethical pronouncements. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/77 "2006-08-03T13:19:25Z")
I appreciate all of the colorful uses of my handle, really, goes a long way to prove a point. :rolleyes: That said, it seems I’ve much to learn about the intricacies of world politics, and thankfully, I’ve got a place like this, and people who are willing to point me in the right direction. I’ve been too busy with my life and everything in it the last few years to expand my worldview. I suppose the drive-by information that came from what little reading I DID do, wasn’t enough, so back to the llibrary I go. Two things FTR though… 1. I DO know what bastard means, just faster fingers than thoughts (like you didn’t know that). 1. I am an Investigator, yes, and a Firefighter, I manage telecommunications, and i’ve been a patrol officer. I’ve been in public service for 15 years with a spotless record. What my politics might be have ZERO bearing on my job, the execution of my duties and the people that I serve and protect. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/78 "2006-08-03T13:42:18Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] That’s actually _four_ words, you innumerate unevolved economic parasite second-hander. [/QUOTE] Well hello. Bryan is it? Pleased to make your acquaintance. Is vitriolic blathering so early in the morning one of your more charming traits? Can I look forward to more bilious spewing and inanity from you in the future? Is it your trademark? Or are you just bored with the thread, decided to poke me, see what happens? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/79 "2006-08-03T13:46:31Z")
I recommend the empathy route: try to get into the mind of say, an illiterate Chinese peasant being beaten by a member of the Kuomintang, or a member of the Chinese bourgeousie at the time of the Communist revolution or Cultural Revolution. Recommended reading: _Wild Swans_ by Jung Chang, _The Man Who Stayed Behind_ by Sidney Rittenberg, _Red China Blues_ by Jan Wong or _Tibet, Tibet_ by Patrick French. All are accessible, and helpful to understand that, most of the time, the little people don’t have any control in the matters of regional or geopolitics. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001/80 "2006-08-03T13:54:44Z")
If you’re going to brush up on your reading, **buttonjockey308** , may I suggest “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond. I think you’ll find it quite interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buttonjockey308-get-in-here/367001.md?page=5)