Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
I appreciate you saying so, and I would like to again say that you are giving me too much credit and yourself not enough.
France attack...
- Thread starter goldfly
- Start date
I appreciate you saying so, and I would like to again say that you are giving me too much credit and yourself not enough.
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
By supporting an agenda of equality and individual consent and choice and personal responsibility, you are correct that I am dangerous to the Christians in this country who have for well over a century enjoyed the rewards and benefits and privileges of their political tyranny.
BedellBrave
It's OVER 5,000!
Dalyn - very encouraged by the direction our back and forth is going. Thanks for your thoughtful answers. I want to respond further - but it may be a day or two before I do. Again, thanks.
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
My pleasure! Thank you for the same.
We haven't done the whole back and forth for a long time (I think we both needed a break, especially when many of the conversations just recycled a lot of the same old arguments), so it is nice to get back in the rhythm of debate. No worries on the wait. I know your schedule is full on Sundays. 
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
I noticed this morning that my reply to this (and one other comment) never posted.
First, I want to point out the obvious...that what you say here proves our point about this attack ultimately being about Islam. I don't even know what to say about how it also shows that you think the attack was justified, that it was "an equal and opposite reaction." I'll just let that speak for itself.
Second, if you walk up to "the meanest baddest biggest black man you can find and call him a ******" you'll probably get smacked in the mouth. Some might argue that is "an equal and opposite reaction" but he'll likely still face charges for assault. If he kills you? That isn't even close to "an equal and opposite reaction" and he'll definitely pay the consequences of murder. If he reads an article or short story where the author uses the word ****** and takes ANY physical action against the author that is not "an equal and opposite reaction" and he will pay the consequences. That's how it works.
And WHY did the cartoonists do it? For money? REALLY!? I know the artistic principles are beyond you (or sure seem to be), so just take a look at the magazine's circulation. No one goes into the arts to make money. Trust me. It's a nice bonus when it happens, but if that's your goal, you're going to quit or go crazy long before getting to the point of starting a magazine.
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
This is the other reply that never posted.
I linked this article in a different post. It answers several of these questions.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_1_urbanities-steyn.html
"I still think—or should I say hope?—that the sheer operatic insanity of September 11 set back the Islamist project of a “soft” conquest of host countries, Muslim countries included. Up until 9/11, the Talibanization of Pakistan—including the placement of al-Qaida sympathizers within its nuclear program—proceeded fairly smoothly. Official Pakistani support for Muslim gangsters operating in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India went relatively unpunished. Saudi funds discreetly advanced the Wahhabist program, through madrassa-building and a network of Islamic banking, across the globe. In the West, Muslim demands for greater recognition and special treatment had become an accepted part of the politically correct agenda. Some denounced me as cynical for saying at the time that Osama bin Laden had done us a favor by disclosing the nature and urgency of the Islamist threat, but I still think I was right. Both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had to trim their sails a bit. The Taliban will at least never be able to retake power by stealth or as a result of our inattention. Millions have become aware of the danger—including millions of Shi’a Muslims who now see the ideology of bin Laden and Zarqawi as a menace to their survival. Groups and cells that might have gotten away with murder have wound up unmasked and shut down, from Berlin to Casablanca.
Of course, these have not been the only consequences of September 11 and its aftermath. Islamist suicide-terrorism has mutated into new shapes and adopted fresh grievances as a result of the mobilization against it. Liberalism has found even more convoluted means of blaming itself for the attack upon it. But at least the long period of somnambulism is over, and the opportunity now exists for antibodies to form against the infection."
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
Relevant article regarding one of my favorite artists -
“You’ll know that Peter Cook once joked about the way that all of those satirical night clubs in 1930s Berlin ‘did so much to prevent the rise of Adolf Hitler’. Can all of these new cartoons have any effect?”
“I think – I know – that satire does frighten fascists. Fascists don’t like satire. They don’t like it at all. And they especially don’t enjoy visual satire. Because of its unique power to communicate. As Wittgenstein [Ludwig] asserted, the only thing of value is the thing you cannot say. Sometimes you can’t communicate the idea or the emotion, but a drawing can. You draw something, and people say: ‘Oh, I see what you’re getting at now’.” And that thought, Steadman says, “brings us back to what happened in that room at Charlie Hebdo. Some things,” he adds, “there are no words for”.
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/23/ralph-steadman-right-offend-299367.html#.VLvXAkFXZCk.facebook
“You’ll know that Peter Cook once joked about the way that all of those satirical night clubs in 1930s Berlin ‘did so much to prevent the rise of Adolf Hitler’. Can all of these new cartoons have any effect?”
“I think – I know – that satire does frighten fascists. Fascists don’t like satire. They don’t like it at all. And they especially don’t enjoy visual satire. Because of its unique power to communicate. As Wittgenstein [Ludwig] asserted, the only thing of value is the thing you cannot say. Sometimes you can’t communicate the idea or the emotion, but a drawing can. You draw something, and people say: ‘Oh, I see what you’re getting at now’.” And that thought, Steadman says, “brings us back to what happened in that room at Charlie Hebdo. Some things,” he adds, “there are no words for”.
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/23/ralph-steadman-right-offend-299367.html#.VLvXAkFXZCk.facebook
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
Looks like I have to cross Saudi Arabia off any future traveling plans. And I was really looking forward to enjoying their sand.
"Article one of the new provisions defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based"."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html
"Article one of the new provisions defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based"."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-declares-all-atheists-are-terrorists-in-new-law-to-crack-down-on-political-dissidents-9228389.html
zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
Ralph Steadman's best work was for flying dog 
goldfly
<B>if my thought dreams could be seen</B>
Japanese hostages taken in a "worldwide threat"
that happened in Syria
that is 2 people out of 7 billion
you act like they are at the gates about to crumble our way of life every time you post that
btw:
We're Destroying the Planet in Ways That Are Even Worse Than Global Warming
4 ways humans are endangering life on Earth
This story originally appeared in the Guardian and is republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Humans are "eating away at our own life support systems" at a rate unseen in the past 10,000 years by degrading land and freshwater systems, emitting greenhouse gases and releasing vast amounts of agricultural chemicals into the environment, new research has found.
Two major new studies by an international team of researchers have pinpointed the key factors that ensure a livable planet for humans, with stark results.
Of nine worldwide processes that underpin life on Earth, four have exceeded "safe" levels: human-driven climate change, loss of biosphere integrity, land system change, and the high level of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the oceans due to fertilizer use.
Researchers spent five years identifying these core components of a planet suitable for human life, using the long-term average state of each measure to provide a baseline for the analysis.
They found that the changes of the last 60 years are unprecedented in the previous 10,000 years, a period in which the world has had a relatively stable climate and human civilization has advanced significantly.
Carbon dioxide levels, at 395.5 parts per million, are at historic highs, while loss of biosphere integrity is resulting in species becoming extinct at a rate more than 100 times faster than the previous norm.
Since 1950, urban populations have increased sevenfold, primary energy use has soared by a factor of five, while the amount of fertilizer used is now eight times higher. The amount of nitrogen entering the oceans has quadrupled.
All of these changes are shifting Earth into a "new state" that is becoming less hospitable to human life, researchers said.
"These indicators have shot up since 1950 and there are no signs they are slowing down," said Will Steffen of the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Center. Steffen is the lead author on both of the studies.
"When economic systems went into overdrive, there was a massive increase in resource use and pollution," Steffen said. "It used to be confined to local and regional areas but we're now seeing this occurring on a global scale. These changes are down to human activity, not natural variability."
Steffen said direct human influence upon the land was contributing to a loss in pollination and a disruption in the provision of nutrients and fresh water.
"We are clearing land, we are degrading land, we introduce feral animals and take the top predators out, we change the marine ecosystem by overfishing—it's a death by a thousand cuts," he said. "That direct impact upon the land is the most important factor right now, even more than climate change."
There are large variations in conditions around the world, according to the research. For example, land clearing is now concentrated in tropical areas, such as Indonesia and the Amazon, with the practice reversed in parts of Europe. But the overall picture is one of deterioration at a rapid rate.
"It's fairly safe to say that we haven't seen conditions in the past similar to ones we see today and there is strong evidence that there [are] tipping points we don't want to cross," Steffen said.
"If the Earth is going to move to a warmer state, 5 to 6 [degrees Celsius] warmer, with no ice caps, it will do so and that won't be good for large mammals like us. People say the world is robust and that's true, there will be life on Earth, but the Earth won't be robust for us.
"Some people say we can adapt due to technology, but that's a belief system, it's not based on fact. There is no convincing evidence that a large mammal, with a core body temperature of 37 [degrees Celsius], will be able to evolve that quickly. Insects can, but humans can't and that's a problem."
Steffen said the research showed the economic system was "fundamentally flawed" as it ignored critically important life support systems.
"It's clear the economic system is driving us towards an unsustainable future and people of my daughter's generation will find it increasingly hard to survive," he said. "History has shown that civilizations have risen, stuck to their core values and then collapsed because they didn't change. That's where we are today."
The two studies, published in Science and Anthropocene Review, featured the work of scientists from countries including the United States, Sweden, Germany, and India. The findings will be presented in seven seminars at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which takes place from January 21 to 25.
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
That's also how I feel about overpopulation.
People only care about whats right in front of them without any consideration of what could happen.
goldfly
<B>if my thought dreams could be seen</B>
no doubt
but the world isn't about to crumble cause of ISIS or whatever terror group you want to sub in there
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
And they tend to "regionalize" problems because of that (and other issues).
Dalyn
Fredi Gonzalez Supporter
No. I agree with that. It's more a threat to a way of life instead of Life, though it certainly takes a toll in that department, too.
Nobody is saying that the world will crumble tomorrow or even in ten years.