Depressing, grim, pessimistic movies/books/etc are not innately artistically superior to cheerful or optimistic ones.
The “pro-life” movement is anti-woman and not concerned with abortion except as a club to beat women with.
Free will is both imaginary and an incoherent, undefined concept.
America is not only not the “greatest country in the world”, it’s not even a meaningful statement to make since there’s no actual definition for “greatest country”.
Not only is there no afterlife, there’s no reason to assume that if one existed it would be *desirable. * The most plausible afterlife would be disembodied minds floating forever in total sensory deprivation, due to the lack of sense organs.
Suffering is not generally either ennobling nor educational.
In the US, the concept of Reparations shouldn’t be a fringe political idea. Not necessarily Reparations for slavery, but for policies and practices like Redlining which actually did significant financial damage to many still living black Americans.
US forces overseas are safer than their civilian counterparts back home.
2.5 million American served on active duty in the war on terror since
9/11. 7,000 were killed, which is one out of 350.
In the same 14 years, 2-million Americans were killed in accidents,
out of a general population of 320-million, which is one out of 160.
An American is twice as likely to die of an accident at home, as in
battle fighting the war on terror.
And since the real threat to our freedom comes from our own administration, the civilians back home are in a better position to defend it.
Overall, and by and large, the world is getting better. More people are allowed to be happy. More people are allowed to speak their minds, especially on topics which were once considered not so much offensive as unspeakable. Der Trihs’s post is a case in point: At one time, that laundry list of ideas contrary to the established norms would have completely dynamited this thread and, if you go back far enough, some of those ideas would have been effectively illegal to state in this country.
The idea that more people are getting offended more easily is a stupid notion born of two things: One, it’s now possible for people who were previously kept in a state of terrified silence to speak out against petty insults which once went unchallenged, and, two, it’s now socially possible to offend the kinds of people who rant about how people these days are too easily offended.
In short, if you’re shocked and amazed at how much of your repertoire is now considered beyond the pale, it’s because you’re being forced out of a protective bubble you didn’t even realize existed until someone punctured it. Don’t expect anyone to care that you don’t like this new arrangement.
At this point, supporting either Sanders or Stein is supporting Trump. The DNC made its decision, it was the correct one, and being pissy about it to the point you don’t vote for Clinton is helping the Trump campaign.
Follow-up: Politics is more important than feeling morally pure. BTW, Sanders and Stein would be a Hell of a lot less pure if they ever did anything meaningful. Oh, and Stein sits closer to the anti-vaccination lunatics than any pure politician would be able to stomach.
Follow-up: People can describe reality without being in favor of it. Corollary: Convincing someone that a fact is morally wrong does nothing to make it factually incorrect.
Neither Libertarianism nor any variety of Anarchism are moral. They’re fuck-you-got-mine philosophies which inherently favor the elements of society most willing and able to kill and torture their way to the top. Yes, this includes the most peaceful varieties of pacifist Left-Anarchism. Yes, this includes Anarcho-Capitalism. No, it doesn’t matter if you think Anarcho-Capitalism isn’t Anarchism, any more than it matters how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Complex theory is what discredited and worthless political factions have instead of policy.
On a broader note, the government has a positive, active role to play in maintaining a just and free society, trying to do without a government or with a crippled government is childish arrogance fostered by the very bubble a functional and stable government provides, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to take advantage of the politically naïve.
I generally disagree with pretty much all of Der Trihs’ opinions. However, I am very pleased to say that he and I are in complete agreement on this one.
The West Memphis 3 were guilty as charged, and–at the time–deserved to spend the rest of their lives in jail, but I don’t have an issue with their release.
Being against vaping is even more trendy and annoying than vaping itself. Thinking being against vaping is “unpopular” is woefully ignorant, and probably deliberately so.
Yes. You caught me. My feelings and beliefs on this are so strongly held, so intrinsic to my sense of self, that I’ve made it a point of emphasis to be completely in the dark about how my opinion of vaping stacks up to the rest of the world. What are you even saying?
This was the first thing I thought of, because around here every person I see vaping thinks they’re the coolest motherfucker on the planet. One dude I see around wears his from strings of mardi-gras beads like he’s Flavor Flav. If everyone else thinks it’s as dumb as I do, I apologize for putting my popular opinion in the unpopular opinion thread. I really don’t get out much.
JRR Tolkien is something of a demi-god in fantasy circles, but I’ve recently walked away from the books. Why? Because of the whole high-blood-nobility balderdash. Here’s what he had to say about the character Faramir…
You can get all that judging from the book’s cover? Almost as High Born as Aragorn, but just a smidge below him [/roll eyes]
I agree with six out of seven of these, and that ain’t bad.
Free will is an axiomatic fact. You need to use it, in order to deny it. Free will in a mechanistic universe is no more a contradiction than life in a dead universe or intelligence in a non-intelligent universe. Evolution demands stages of transcending the past, and our intelligence and free will are our stage of transcendence. And why is it that people who deny free will nevertheless live their lives as if they had it?
We have come to the point in history where our relationship with Money should be considered like a public utility. Like water and electricity, everyone needs some of it to live. So we should produce and distribute it as such.