# I Pit the Empire **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559 "2010-11-05T08:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/481 "2010-11-19T03:31:46Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > **Smeghead** : So communism is a Scotsman. Who knew?! [Me!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13153253&postcount=458) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/482 "2010-11-19T14:14:16Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Communist states are an abstraction - a utopian end-state that socialist states strive for with no expectation of getting there. So what it comes down to is that the ends are not achievable, and the process of attempting to attain those unachievable ends causes deaths of millions upon millions of citizens, economically destroys entire nations, and causes untold social and personal tragedies. Commissar, you have low expectations. For myself, I expect much better results at much less cost. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/483 "2010-12-18T10:32:48Z")
So, Commissar, you’re telling us how great and wonderful the People’s Republic of China is for the Chinese populace. [How interesting, then, it is to discover that very same populcation disagrees with your [del]propaganda[/del] assertion, isn’t it?](http://www.ft.lk/2010/12/17/chinese-public-increasingly-unhappy-with-life-survey/) ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/484 "2010-12-18T10:54:28Z")
Eh, he’s a troll, a crazy person, a syphilitic idiot or a combination thereof. Chinese people who don’t agree are traitors or subversives or what have you and China is gloriousness made manifest. Meanwhile the American, Commissar, eats at McDonalds and drinks Coca Cola and trolls the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/485 "2010-12-18T16:18:54Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So, Commissar, you’re telling us how great and wonderful the People’s Republic of China is for the Chinese populace. [How interesting, then, it is to discover that very same populcation disagrees with your [del]propaganda[/del] assertion, isn’t it?](http://www.ft.lk/2010/12/17/chinese-public-increasingly-unhappy-with-life-survey/) Apparently 280,000 Chinese people commit suicide each year. How wonderful it is to see such devotion to the Glorious Worker’s Paradise, that so many people are willing to make this sacrifice to combat the overpopulation problem! ---
**Author:** ![pikey\_pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pikey\_pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pikey_pete)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/486 "2010-12-20T02:44:59Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Greetings, my brethren, > > As you may or may not have heard, there has been an election in the American Empire. All things considered, Christian fundamentalist idiocy has won. > > Congratulations; you are now an idiotic nation, represented by idiots, ruled by an idiot. If you disappeared in a puff of nuclear smoke tomorrow, the world would breathe a sigh of relief. > > Your only two notable accomplishments are exterminating your native population and enslaving your imported black population. And both of those put you slightly behind NAZI Germany in terms of human progress. > > To summarize: > > Fuck you, you stupid Americans. Fuck your empire. Fuck your imperialism. Most of all, however, fuck each and every one of you that truly believes that your piece of shit country belongs in the circle of civilized nations. Whoa dude. go f\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_f! your styereotyping of Americans is an immature response to our poor decisions. Giving every man a vote has done no more to make them wise than being christian has made them good. stupidity occasionally prevails. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/487 "2010-12-20T03:39:08Z")
Seriously, he’s a troll. He lives in America, and he’s babbling about how America should be nuked. Feel free to poke him with a stick, but don’t let him upset you. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/488 "2010-12-20T06:29:57Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Communist states are an abstraction - a utopian end-state that socialist states strive for **with no expectation of getting there.** You are probably the first Communist in history ever even to suggest that. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/489 "2010-12-20T07:19:30Z")
**BrainGlutton** : I doubt Commi’s any more of a communist than you or I. I think my oldest brother put it best: “He’s more in love with the idea of being a communist than he is in love with being a communist.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/490 "2010-12-20T08:01:46Z")
[Glorious exposition comrade!](http://www.omgwtfimages.com/uploads/thumb/thumb_185.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/491 "2010-12-21T00:54:55Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So, Commissar, you’re telling us how great and wonderful the People’s Republic of China is for the Chinese populace. [How interesting, then, it is to discover that very same populcation disagrees with your [del]propaganda[/del] assertion, isn’t it?](http://www.ft.lk/2010/12/17/chinese-public-increasingly-unhappy-with-life-survey/) Your conclusion does not necessarily follow from your premises. A poll indicating that a populace is becoming more unhappy does not, without more, tell us anything at all. How happy was the populace initially? How do current happiness levels compare to that of other nations? How much correlation is there between said happiness levels and domestic economic policies? If your only point is that some people are unhappy, that’s hardly worth mentioning. In any given system, someone will be unhappy. In a world with no crime and violence, you can bet that the serial killers would be quite unhappy. So what? Don’t let the perfect stand in the way of the good. ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/492 "2010-12-21T00:56:48Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Apparently 280,000 Chinese people commit suicide each year. How wonderful it is to see such devotion to the Glorious Worker’s Paradise, that so many people are willing to make this sacrifice to combat the overpopulation problem! Which would be an impressive figure, were we all complete idiots that forgot the fact that is quite a big nation. More people = more suicides. What you really want to focus on are per capita rates. And guess what? Per capita rates in the Empire are bigger than those in the PRC. > **[List of countries by suicide rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate)** > > The following are lists of countries by estimated suicide rates as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources.\[note 1\] > In many countries, suicide rates are underreported due to social stigma, cultural or legal concerns. Thus, these figures cannot be used to compare real suicide rates, which are unknown in most countries. > The global total of suicide deaths decreased from an estimated 762,000 in 2000 to 717,000 in 2021, which is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 population. In hig... ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/493 "2010-12-21T01:02:49Z")
> [@pikey\_pete](#): > > Whoa dude. go f\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_f! your styereotyping of Americans is an immature response to our poor decisions. Giving every man a vote has done no more to make them wise than being christian has made them good. **stupidity occasionally prevails.** [emphasis added] I like the last part of your statement. Stupidity does indeed tend to occur - and your solution is to facilitate the process. That’s like addressing drunk driving by giving out free shots at stop signs. If people tend to make really stupid and shortsighted decisions if allowed to choose their own leaders, then the solution is clearly to revoke the right to vote. There is no need to hand over the asylum keys over to the lunatics. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/494 "2010-12-21T01:17:46Z")
Observe the trolling: people can sometimes make bad decisions, so obviously rather than let people make decisions we should have people make decisions and rule as totalitarians where any change requires revolution and there is no practical method to fix errors or achieve redressal of grievances. That way people aren’t making decisions, as instead they’re made by people. Anybody really still think that this troll hasn’t created this persona specifically to annoy a community of fact-based, rationalist lovers of justice, such as ours? ---
**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:** [December 21, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/495 "2010-12-21T01:35:33Z")
I’m still holding out for his future “Captain USA, Super-patriot” troll persona where he declares that the best way for America to solve its drug problem is to invade and annex Mexico, though the Mexicans can’t be trusted with the vote for at least the 20 years it’ll take to teach them all to talk English, like Jesus did. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/496 "2010-12-21T06:14:56Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So, Commissar, you’re telling us how great and wonderful the People’s Republic of China is for the Chinese populace. [How interesting, then, it is to discover that very same populcation disagrees with your [del]propaganda[/del] assertion, isn’t it?](http://www.ft.lk/2010/12/17/chinese-public-increasingly-unhappy-with-life-survey/) Like communism itself, this thread was finally on the verge of dying. Why did you have to bring it back? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/497 "2010-12-21T06:45:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Dahak is not amused. Only in the doperverse could someone post this and have someone else look at it and laugh out loud. So Dahak, where are _my_ bridge officer implants. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/498 "2010-12-21T11:55:07Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > How happy was the populace initially? As recently as mid-late 2008, 86% of Chinese were content with the direction of their country and economy, making them #1in the Pew Global Attitudes Opinion Poll. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/499 "2010-12-21T15:54:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Most of this post is too idiotic to even respond to, but most of America doesn’t realize that this sentence is true. The teabaggers pretend to be all about fiscal responsibility, but the vast majority happen to “coincidentally” be hardcore fundamentalists. > > I don’t foresee any rational push to balance the budget in the next two years, but I do think we’ll finally make sure the federal government keeps the gays from ruining our marriages! And considering Obama’s milquetoastiness on this arena, I see him signing it if it is packaged in a good enough bill. HAH!!! It wasn’t even about Christian fundamentalism, it was about the tax cuts. Its not like the Christian fundamentlaists were in favor of repealing DADT. The Christian fundamentalists are just tools who will vote for whoever is willing to at least pretend to pander to them. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559/500 "2010-12-21T16:01:29Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Sanitation? Roads? I’m afraid the rest of humanity preempted you by several thousand years in those categories. > > The Marshall Plan? Alright, you rebuilt Western Europe for a profit. We rebuilt Eastern Europe for free, out of the goodness of our hearts. How does this make you the superior, rather than the inferior, people? Because we made a profit. Duh!!! BTW, I’m not sure how “profitable” the marshall plan was in direct terms: > **[Marshall Plan | Repayment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Repayment)** > > The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) took the leading role in allocating funds, and the OEEC arranged for the transfer of the goods. The American supplier was paid in dollars, which were credited against the appropriate European Recovery Program funds. The European recipient, however, was not given the goods as a gift but had to pay for them (usually on credit) in local currency. These payments were kept by the European government involved in a special counterpart fund. This... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-empire/559559.md?page=24)