State some controversial beliefs that you have.

[Janx]

Der Trihs Dude, glad you spoke up!

A) You leaving wouldn’t exactly “make me happy” WTF do I care what you do - really?
What would make me “happy” is to not have to listen to people like YOU whine about just how well you have it, talking TOTALLY out of turn, about things they OBIVIOUSLY have no experience with.

As far as you not having enough money to “fly the coup” - dude, you don’t seem to be trying very hard. You wanna go? BE GONE. A passport is what(?) a hundred bux? You could get that after one week at Mc Donalds – but that would mean you would have actually APPLY yourself, you would have to actually demonstrate that there is iron in your words and that you REALLY have faith in your convictions. I don’t think you do. I think you are full of hot air, but in any case. Take that thing and go to your nearest shipping port. TRUST ME, you will find a way out of here. IF you are willing to work. Which I doubt you are. When you get into the next “port” just walk away, and then build a life for yourself. Just like that. But I think guys like you are WEAK in their convictions, and would never do such a thing. I know, that would take some sort of commitment, and that would be just a bit beyond your scope of reason, you would actually have to DO something, and you never will. Guys like you LOVE to bitch, but NEVER actually do anything.

B) You’re right, I haven’t been reading what you said because several sentences into it I needed to vomit

I want it to fail because I consider it evil, destructive, and the enemy of the rest of the world, and because I have no reason to believe it’s behavior will do anything but get worse

AWSOME! With citizens like you – who needs Nazis? What’s next on your agenda? How much more miss guided can you be? I suppose next you are going to tell me that the reason you are such a psychopath is because you grew up here? Yes, yes my poor boy, you are stuck within the confines of being a whack job because of everyone else. CLASSIC. You have NO responsibility, it’s everyone else’s fault. Right.

C)

Because of course, all people are either American partisans or Communists. I couldn’t possibly be anything but one or the other. The Cold War is over.

Yes, yes it is. QUITE over, but if you had one iota of sense, and just a bit more information beyond you insulated little life, you would know that Communism is very much alive and well, and in fact, beyond the two party system (which is all you know about – obviously) – the idea is a political force in the world, however, in countries where communism exists – NOT ONE communist prays for the destruction of his country the way you do. I just see you as grumpy fucker who has no solutions regarding the problems YOU have to face, so its better to blame it on something bigger. Easy. Not my fault, its all THEIR fault that – I – am such a wash out!

D)

I feel contempt for most of the rest of this country. Nor do I regard America as a true success; I believe America is well along the process of ruining itself.

Yeah, it may be, thanks to sorry asses like YOU. So I reiterate – why don’t you quit making classic “Fat American” excuses and do something? You wanna watch this place fall, FINE – do some thing! You wanna save the place? DO something! You wanna GO then GO! But don just sit there and whine because YOU think things are not very palatable today.

I – Sir – stand by my convictions; YOU are a fucking pussy. And it wouldn’t hurt me one bit if you, and people who think like you, were GONE. I urge you to GO! Check out the world in it’s real terms! YOU COULDN’T HANDEL IT!

Ok… run along now…

[Der_Trihs]

@What Exit?

What are you?

Politically ? An independent. Job/personal life ? Sorry, private. As a person ? Smarter than most people I know ( according to them, more than me; I just feel . . . normal. ), not nearly as smart as I’d like. Atheistic, bad tempered, asocial. A loner; diagnosed with Asberger’s Syndrome, which explains some of the former. Weird, and doesn’t care.

@What Exit?

Do you come close to any philosophy or economic system?

I suppose that the more socialized versions of secular democratic capitalism are the closest to my ideals that can be realized in the real world. Really, however, I’ve live all my life in a society that opposes pretty much everything I approve of, so my political and economic views are mostly about what I oppose. I’m not really for much, because I’ve never seen the opportunity to be. As a rule I’m very tolerant of other people’s behavior, up to a point, but beyond that point tend to be very hard lined. I’m strongly in favor of the redistribution of wealth, because I believe the natural end state of a society without such a policy is a few wealthy individuals and a sea of poverty. I believe strongly in rationalism, and following the evidence.

@What Exit?

What country comes closest to what you would hope for a world power to be?

Probably one of the European countries. I haven’t paid nearly as detailed attention to them as to America, so I can’t really be specific. Besides, I’ve never intended to leave, so I never had any real motive to study them in detail.

@What Exit?

What is your approximate age?

Like it says in my profile : Born December 9, 1968.

@What Exit?

You passionately hate religion, not a problem for me, but what was the religion you have left in such extreme hate?

“Generic Protestantism”; I was exposed to several varieties. My attitude towards religion has little to do with any personal trauma, and a great deal with what I’ve seen it do to the world, and the fact that I consider it the implacable enemy of everything I approve of.

[Der_Trihs]

@Janx

As far as you not having enough money to “fly the coup” - dude, you don’t seem to be trying very hard. You wanna go? BE GONE. A passport is what(?) a hundred bux? You could get that after one week at Mc Donalds – but that would mean you would have actually APPLY yourself, you would have to actually demonstrate that there is iron in your words and that you REALLY have faith in your convictions.

:rolleyes: Leaving the country is not one of my convictions or desires. It’s all your bugaboo, not mine. Why should I exert myself to make you happy ?

@Janx

Yeah, it may be, thanks to sorry asses like YOU. So I reiterate – why don’t you quit making classic “Fat American” excuses and do something? You wanna watch this place fall, FINE – do some thing!

It appears to be ruining itself with no effort or risk on my part, so why bother ?

@Janx

You wanna save the place? DO something! You wanna GO then GO!

I don’t want either.

[What_Exit]

Der Trihs, thank you for taking the time to answer. I had it in my head you were a college aged kid. I am surprised you are very close to my age.
I was half expecting to find out you were either and escaped Catholic like me or escaped from Fundie/Evangelical parents.
I still strongly disagree with your politics. I will always be Pro-Military. I will continue to look forward to your non-political posts.
I am still an optomist and I still believe in making the USA better. I still think this country can offer far more good than harm. Of course currently I believe we are causing much harm.

Again, Thank You,
Jim

[uglybeech]

@rooster circle

And what I said was not a sign of a “genocidal attitude”. I never said I like the killing of iraqi civilians, just that I really don’t care that much. I have other things in my day to day life that I don’t have any time for things that don’t affect me directly. That is all I meant.

I was referring to your statement that Muslims should be rounded up and “exiled.” That’s a genocidal position. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested in arguing with you, since your views aren’t exactly grounded in reason or reality. But I have heard the kill all the Muslims line a lot lately (or the concentration camp option) so I was just curious who the original font of wisdom is that the nutjobs are parroting. Who have you been listening to on the radio lately?

I don’t know. I am neither a nut nor a conservative.

Yes you are. A nut anyway. I’ll leave it to you to define what part of the spectrum you prefer. Maybe you’re such a leftie that you’ve come full circle and become a Timothy McVeigh right-winger. Or maybe the spectrum isn’t crazy enough for you so you eschew it altogether. Who can tell. Who cares. Ultimately you’re a solipsist with a broad sadistic streak. I wish that were rare.

@faithfool

In my humble opinion, you are absolutely correct and I believe the reason for that is, finally, so many other people are beginning to find the war reprehensible, that it’s put those who don’t on the defensive and by extension, justifying the government’s actions.

Yeah, that’s a reasonable analysis, except many of them have the same tone, particularly: “it’s sad we’ll have to kill them all, but it will probably have to come to that.” It’s kind of subtle, but it gives me the feeling this can all be traced back to a specific instigator(s). Maybe it’s just Cheney’s asinine comments about the Caliphate. But if I were to guess I’d say Rush is pushing it. But who knows, maybe the Focus on the Family set has been waxing anti-Muslim lately. God knows they wouldn’t mind a good religious war.

[Janx]

Heh. Now I get it. I took ** Der Trihs ** to be serious. I took him to be serious in his convicitions. Nope. I was taken. He is just obviously such a forward thinker that NO one could ever challenge him on any point, and I notice too that if you make a point that bothers him, he will give you a rather watered down version of what was so important before.

I would call him a … WHAT… nope cant say that here…

He might be a WHAT…… nope….

Ummm

Heh heh …

Good job.

Had me going!

[Janx]

BZZZZT! Game over!

[CanvasShoes]

@Shagnasty

I can get behind that. Foreign people that live in other countries should not be able to avoid taxes just by staying away from the U.S. That is called evasion and it is illegal and immoral.

Neither one of you is making sense. Why would FOREIGN people have to pay US taxes at all? Unless they actually lived IN the US, or were US citizens living abroad?

Not that I am expressing agreement, or disagreement with US citizens paying taxes. Just arguing the wording, or meaning of your posts.

[Sevastopol]

“Why would FOREIGN people have to pay US taxes at all?” Maybe it is suggested that the surfeit of American benevolence is something those free-rider foreigners should pay for.

[What_Exit]

@Janx

Heh. Now I get it. I took ** Der Trihs ** to be serious. I took him to be serious in his convicitions. Nope. I was taken. He is just obviously such a forward thinker that NO one could ever challenge him on any point, and I notice too that if you make a point that bothers him, he will give you a rather watered down version of what was so important before.

I would call him a … WHAT… nope cant say that here…

He might be a WHAT…… nope….

Ummm

Heh heh …

scary troll | Matt Verzola | Flickr

Good job.

Had me going!

Several things: **Der Trihs ** was fair enough to answer our questions with rancor. This is despite your obvious loathing of him. Your only response is to call him a troll. Poor form indeed.
Read the top stickies in the BBQ pit, (where we are), you are now allowed to called someone a troll, even if you are wrong and just a fool yourself.
Additionally your cute little link to a picture of a troll would probably not be an acceptible dodge if we were in another forum.

Jim

[DoctorJ]

I believe that marijuana (and maybe hallucinogens) should remain illegal, but should be almost completely decriminalized. No one should face any fine, jail time, or harm to their record for privately growing, selling, or using marijuana, but at the same time I don’t want it out in the open and I don’t want the government or corporate America to get in the business of selling or marketing it. I realize that there’s no good way to achieve both these ends.

As for heroin, I believe that the government should give it away. There should be clean, well-lit, secure centers open 24/7 where registered heroin addicts can get safe doses of pure heroin, clean needles, and private places to shoot up (which must be done at the center). Being a registered heroin user would come with a lot of restrictions and implications that I haven’t thought through yet. The centers would also offer assistance with getting off heroin, if the user so chooses.

I believe that file sharing is stealing, but that the music industry as a whole deserves what it gets. Individual artists don’t, necessarily, but I also believe that for every artist who has been hurt by file sharing, ten will benefit, both from increased exposure and from increased interest in music as a whole.

I believe that what artists, musicians, and the like do is far more important to society than what I do as a physician. They create; I just maintain.

I believe that most political and economic systems work equally well, but that they all have a limited shelf life. Ours in America started out great, but the government in particular has drifted into such chaos that the only way to recover the ideals we were built on would be to start all over.

I believe that every full-time job in America should include six weeks of paid vacation, and that maternity/paternity leave should be taken out of it.

I am not merely pro-choice, but actually pro-abortion. I believe that many people who have children really shouldn’t, and that while not getting pregnant in the first place would have been ideal, abortion is something they should consider.

I believe that health insurance plans shouldn’t cover outpatient antibiotics. As long as medicine is driven by consumer demand, this is the only way to encourage restraint with antibiotics as a whole and substitution of cheaper antibiotics when appropriate. Situations in which an expensive antibiotic really is necessary and the patient really can’t afford it would be treated like the special situations that they are.

[HMS_Irruncible]

@DoctorJ

I believe that marijuana (and maybe hallucinogens) should remain illegal, but should be almost completely decriminalized. No one should face any fine, jail time, or harm to their record for privately growing, selling, or using marijuana, but at the same time I don’t want it out in the open and I don’t want the government or corporate America to get in the business of selling or marketing it. I realize that there’s no good way to achieve both these ends.

Sure there is. Legalize personal possession and growth of cannabis. Those who can’t grow it should be offered it by medical prescription. We have open-container laws and public drunkenness laws; these aren’t perfect but more or less they get the job done.

As for heroin, I believe that the government should give it away. There should be clean, well-lit, secure centers open 24/7 where registered heroin addicts can get safe doses of pure heroin, clean needles, and private places to shoot up (which must be done at the center). Being a registered heroin user would come with a lot of restrictions and implications that I haven’t thought through yet. The centers would also offer assistance with getting off heroin, if the user so chooses.

I agree except that I think the addictive “party drugs” (cocaine, heroin, meth) should be available via prescription. If a diagnosed dependency exists, insurance should cover it. Free needles - a no brainer, I don’t understand why this is even controversial.

As far as treatment of addiction… the fact that ibogaine is a schedule 1 criminal substance is a moral outrage that really tells you where the priorities of this country lie. We don’t really want people off drugs. We find it incredibly convenient that the lower classes are kept in their place by permanent befuddlement on truly dangerous drugs that also carry penalties that make them effectively unemployable and stripped of their political voices. We could be doing so much to help these people if we wanted.

[Cat_Whisperer]

I believe that controversial posters like der Trihs and Martin Hyde make this place far more interesting than it would be if we all toed the party line and had opinions marching in lock step (which we have been accused of in the past, if I recall correctly). Thanks, guys. Keep up the good work.

DoctorJ, I like your ideas about heroin. I think I would extend that idea to prostitution as well. Take the victimization out of the process of buying and selling sex.

[astro]

I think in reality indoor cats have have little, if any, dignity, and spiritually are little more than tribbles for their owner’s amusement.

I think the ever increasing proportion of female school principals and administrators is one of the main reasons for the near insane levels of zero tolerance crackdowns and criminalizing of normal childhood rough housing,

I think a good many policemen chose to be police is because they love having authority. The taste to them is as sweet as honey.

I think a people are much more racist than they will admit.

I think a lot of women are nice to gay men professionally, but make fun of them in private.

I think Singaporean style caning should be an appropriate punishment for certain crimes.

Within limits, I think a man’s penis size is less important than men think, but more important to women than they admit to.

I think everyone over age 70 should have to be tested annually for driving ability in order to get their drivers license renewed.

I think people should have to pass real life handling competency tests before they are allowed to own a gun of any kind.

I think a good number of immigrants to the US look on law abiding US citizens as “prey” and will screw them out of ever dime they can access.

I think drug companies make an insane financial killing on the US market and in effect we subsidize R&D for the rest of the world.

I think medicine should be nationalized and extreme procedures to prolong life in vegetative scenarios should be made illegal.

While they are often portrayed as selfless social “heroes” I think many (not all) single women do a pretty crappy job of raising kids by themselves, and the male children from these households are often dangerously out of control.

[silenus]

11 for 13 off astro’s list. The battle lines are getting drawn clearer and clearer, for anybody who didn’t know where they were already.

[DianaG]

@astro

While they are often portrayed as selfless social “heroes” I think many (not all) single women do a pretty crappy job of raising kids by themselves, and the male children from these households are often dangerously out of control.

I think that while many men enjoy bitching about how seldom full custody of children is awarded to men, just as many of them would run screaming from full custody if it *were * offered to them. And then likely bitch about the horrible, unfit women who would be willing to relinquish full custody of their children.

[matt_mcl]

I believe that the biggest conceptual threat to the functioning of our democracy is the belief that all politicians are liars and are in it purely for personal aggrandizement. If we assume this from the get-go (as opposed to discerning it in individual cases), there’s no incentive to hold politicians accountable for anything (“Of course he lied; he’s a politician”) or work for change (“What’s the point of voting? They’ll just be liars anyway”). Actually, I think a lot of people in power encourage this view, because it promotes the status quo.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

@OneCentStamp

I believe churches that own property and bring in revenue should be taxed like any other corporation.

I believe that taxing corporations and individuals based on their income is ludicrous. It is a drag on productivity and the generation of wealth. Enormous human resources, government, corporate and individual are expended to administrate the program which has to cover 100s of millions of sources.

Instead, I’d like to see government revenues based on the consumption of resources, especially non renewable resources. I don’t mind the rich getting rich. I respect their economic power as earned.
I don’t mind seeing their multi- million dollar homes and yachts. What I do mind is seeing them gluttonously consuming non renewable resources which are our’s and our children’s heritage for a pittance.

[vivalostwages]

I believe that Girl Scout cookies are not fit for human consumption.

[cckerberos]

@CanvasShoes

Neither one of you is making sense. Why would FOREIGN people have to pay US taxes at all? Unless they actually lived IN the US, or were US citizens living abroad?

I think Shagnasty was trying to make the same point.