While individual Muslims are upstanding people the vast majority of the time, Islam is a culture and philosophy of political conquest more than it is a religion. That said, I have problem with zealots no matter what their faith.
If someone attacks you and you don’t try to put a stop to them and their actions to the best of your ability, or if taken by surprise/overpowered at least report the attack to the authorities and actively participate in the investigation and prosecution, you are every bit as culpable as the attacker themselves for the next victim.
It’s perfectly fine to throw the first punch when it’s obvious a situation is going to turn into a fight, and there’s no such thing as fighting fair.
Illegal immigrants should be rounded up and deported. That goes for the 50,000 Irish illegals estimated to be in NYC as much as it does for the 12 million Latinos. It’s not a racial thing. The only thing wrong with Eisenhower’s Operation Wetback was the name.
Government should not provide any kind of “social safety net”. It should maintain the logistical infrastructure, mediate disputes, provide for defense and a few similar obligations.
As long as Roma are prevented from legitimate work by placing conditions on legitimate employment that force them to violate their moral code, they should steal with a clear conscience targeting especially the jerks that make it difficult to find legimate work.
Not to say you are wrong, but in situations like this it’s always worth considering a new perspective. Just as an exercise, try thinking “What if this is an example of the school not meeting the student’s needs?” rather than the other way around. We had this problem in Cameroon- students would just kind of drift in during the first few weeks due to harvests- and we developed strategies for working with that. Honestly I think that was a clear case of the schools not suiting the student’s needs. The insistance on keeping an outmoded colonial French schedule was not compatible with the reality of modern Africa, which is that students have to harvest stuff in fall.
Of course, these strategies wouldn’t be appropriate in modern America, but trying to look at where that disconnect is from both sides may be more likely to yield a good solution.
Another probably un-PC* one from me: That an awful lot of customs involving ritual purity, all around the world, stemmed from various people in time immemorial who were influential, probably perfectly wise and just, perhaps even saintly, and happened to suffer from undiagnosable Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. And either rationalized the symptoms as some divine impulse, or just tried to cover for them so other people wouldn’t think they were crazy.
*depending on how you define “PC,” and where you stand in the political aisle.
Honestly… this is kind of a stretch. An adult professional woman has FOUR (4) out of wedlock children, and in this context she can and will have unprotected sex in non-married relationships, but she can’t muster the power to say “no” to penis, or make better choices, or even bother to use a condom. It’s “because of the lack of birth control”.
Somehow the “I blame society” meme looks a bit weak this particular scenario.
I think that the history of bigotry towards blacks has created a black culture of dependency, thugism and dislike of other blacks who work themselves into success.
I think that white society is producing bratty shits of little use to themselves or others.
I really don’t care what Israel does to Palestine, what Africans do to Africans or what the North Koreans do. I don’t think that we as a nation should be exporting weapons or morals elsewhere. When we care for our own people as well as we should and when hunger isn’t happening here, then let’s export our ‘solutions.’
I think Corporate executives are overpaid and the cozy relationship between Government/corporate executes and their minion BODs are little more than glorified corruption.
I am afraid that the money associated with drugs will eventually turn every government into a corrupt mass and that drug laws are wrong because we have no right to say what people can do with their bodies; we just shouldn’t have to pay for the results of others’ choices.
I smoke. I like smoking. I am absolutely unrepentent. Something will eventually kill me and that is my choice. This taxing of cigarettes/tobacco is ox goring at its finest and thievery on the part of Government. I am responsible for the choice and I am equally responsible for the consequence.
If she’s been having sex since 17 and she’s (by now) 42, then in 25 years only getting knocked up 4 times is an achievement. Who knows if she knew or used condoms early in her life, either. Condoms, when used properly (and they very often aren’t) are only 85% effective.
95% of Americans have sex before marriage, so you’re “unprotected sex in non married relationships” rant is really thin.
It’s not a rant, and it’s hardly a moral judgement to observe that an intelligent professional woman who has had 4 out of wedlock children she gives up for adoption, and chooses not to modify her sexual behavior doesn’t have much standing to point the finger at society. Regardless of how the morality of her behavior is judged, operationally it’s self indulgent and stupid.
Corporate-owned businesses are often better than “mom and pop” operations. While there will always be extreme examples (Wal-Mart forces its prices so low that the only way for suppliers to meet them is to exploit foreign labor), there’s nothing wrong with a large, faceless entity taking advantage of economies of scale to best the locally-based competition. This is especially true for retail, but even works with restaurants – I’d rather eat at Chipotle (which has to worry about a public image, investors, etc.) than the two-bit burrito shack down the street. The big exceptions to this are places where clientele and character are among their selling points – bars are a great example.
Western medicine is AWESOME. While the business practices of pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are often loathsome, from a purely scientific view, the achievements of Western medicine are mindblowing.
As a corollary, I think most “eastern” or “holistic” remedies are pure bullshit.
I actually am of the “a pox on both their houses” view on Israel/Palestine. To elaborate, I support the idea of democratic state in the Middle East, but not one that treats its minority groups the way Israel does. Meanwhile, I like the idea of a Palestinian state, but don’t know if I can support one unless said entity can completely divorce itself from antisemitism and terrorist acts/organizations. So far, I don’t think that’s happened.
Some cultures are inherently backward. There is no “context” that makes Indian culture’s views on interracial marriages a good thing, and no “rationale” for things like burqas.
The overwhelming majority overweight people are in the condition they’re in due to their lack of impulse control and willpower. Same for people in debt – and that includes myself.
Not really going to comment either way on this, but let me ask: Mexican not speaking English, having no money, and enough kids to start their own baseball team living in the US = bad. Mexican not speaking English, having no money, and enough kids to start their own baseball team living in Mexico = ??? Are you against the whole principle, or just because it’s in the US? (Not really criticizing, just fleshing out your whole feelings on the issue.)
The birthrate in third world countries is a lot higher than first world (some first world countries have negative population growth), but no one complains when a mother has six kids in Africa or Asia (except for China, but that isn’t a third world country). Is it universally wrong everywhere, or just here?
She’s not pointing the finger, I am. Operationally I think it’s the best given the situation. I don’t think sex for many people is self indulgent and stupid. I think it’s much more biological than that.
Unprotected sex is self indulgent and stupid unless it’s your goal to be making babies for adoption, you just plain enjoy being pregnant, or you’re getting paid somehow for the babies. Using a condom (correctly) and diligently is not going to yield four kids over a human generation of sexual activity. She’s obviously riding bareback most of the time to generate that many kids. People are not rutting animals and they can make rational decisions about how to conduct their sexual lives, especially an educated professional.
You’d think something would have changed behaviorwise after the first or second kid.
un-PC response: it’s those countries’ problems, not ours. By analogy, it’s sad that there are heroin junkies anywhere, but if one broke into your house and started shooting up in your living room, would you complain more loudly about that then about the junkie doing it in his own house down the street?