patrick.net

Strategist says

The only threat to our freedoms in this day and age is Islam

That is a foolish statement. Not only is Islam not the only threat to our freedoms, it is not even one of the major threats to our freedoms. The NSA is far more of a threat to your freedoms than any dumbass terrorist could ever be. Your entire prospective of the sizes of problems is all fucked up.

The U.S. federal government has far more capacity to torture and/or kill you and your family than Achmed over in Afghanistan does. The U.S. government has killed far more of its own citizens than all terrorists combined. The U.S. government does more every single day to restrict your rights and liberties than any rag head ever could.

If America is to ever fall, it will be from within.

Strategist says

I would not torture someone i know is innocent. What's the point?

Maybe you wouldn't, but they guy hired to do the actual torturing most certainly would. The points of torturing an innocent person are
1. You don't know if he or she is innocent, so err on the side of safety and torture away.
2. It can make other people talk.

If you support torturing anyone, then you in effect support torturing innocent persons even if that is not your intention. It is the inescapable consequence of your support of torturing anyone. That is why you should be against all torture. Christ, Strategist, look more than one move ahead. Acknowledge that there are unintended consequences of policies.

Dan8267 says

Would you rape Jaycee

Would you torture her? True, you'll have to know some history.

or her?

No. I would not torture Irma Grese or Ilse Koch. Would you? Would you rape them to get revenge?

I answered your question clearly and honestly. Answer mine clearly and honestly if you are not a coward.

Also, do you think Jesus Christ would approve of torturing either of your two examples or anyone else?

Are you saying that Jesus Christ is wrong and a pussy?

P N Dr Lo R says

heterosexual promiscuity

is the #1 STD vector by far. Most HIV infections occur in African countries including those that prohibit homosexuality entirely. By your "logic", lesbians are God's chosen people, because they are the least likely to become infected.

In America, Pat Robertson and other pseudo-Christians cut research funding, especially for STDs, specifically to maintain the believers' Stockholm Syndrome. PhRMA plays both sides on that field, so research $ goes into daily pills rather than cures. It's a bipartisan "good cop, bad cop": both sides are working for PhRMA, just differently. The Democrats promise to increase spending on the daily pills, while the Republicans cut research that would develop anything better.

The germ theory of disease began in ancient Greece and Rome. Christianity began as a cult of faith healers, and Constantine's imposition of Christianity had the effect of preventing progress on the germ theory of disease. For 1,000 years, Christian physicians resorted to bleeding people, and about the only thing bleeding was actually useful for was head injuries, where the ancient Greeks had learned to relieve pressure on the brain by drilling into the skull; the Christian bleeders might have been misapplying the technique due to not understanding the mechanism.

Among the tragedies of Christianity is the fact that people today are still dying at the same age as people in ancient Rome. We have had hardly any progress in extending healthy human lives, and research gets cut while STEM graduates languish. When your family and friends wither and die at the same age as their ancient Roman predecessors 2,000 years ago, blame religion for the lack of progress. The biggest philanthropists (e.g. Buffett, Gates) are atheist/agnostic, as are more than 90% of the scientists who make progress possible.

Related to this thread, the classic Dan thread Romans are pussies.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but nonviolence was kind of Jesus’ trademark. Kind of his big thing. To not follow that part of it is like joining Greenpeace and hating whales. There’s interpreting, and then there’s just ignoring.

It’s just ignoring if you’re for torture – as are more evangelical Christians than any other religion. You’re supposed to look at that figure of Christ on the cross and think, “how could a man suffer like that and forgive?” Not, “Romans are pussies, he still has his eyes.”

The acceptance, even promotion, of torture by Fort Wayne, Nutterbox, P N Dr Lo R, and other Christians demonstrates that the religion is not an effective advocate of morality.

Dan8267 says

Irma Grese

No, I wouldn't torture her, I'd hang her like she was ultimately disposed of. At her most attractive, she was ugly and 40ish because she was born in 1923 and never got a chance to be cute if she had been young in the 20's. The sad thing about Ilsa is that at least when she was young (born in 1906), she was a flapper and cute with bobbed hair and short skirts. The 40's ruined her and she got to live to be 61, which was a shame She should have been hanged as well. There is no real case for or against capital punishment in the New Testament, it has to be administered on a case by case basis. Our country executed Pvt. Eddie Slovik simply because he deserted under psychological stress, much of it because he was also 40ish and missed the 20's, which I think is a lot thinner cause than Ilsa's. However, he had to be made an example to prevent further desertion. I would have hanged Irma on general principles simply for her ugly hair style and frumpy clothes:

curious2 says

When your family and friends wither and die at the same age as their ancient Roman predecessors 2,000 years ago

it means they're being too sexually promiscuous. By the way, can you remember a world without AIDS?

curious2 says

Most HIV infections occur in African countries

This is explained and explored in Sexual Ecology by Gabriel Rotello for the fact that in Africa many heterosexual men leave their families to go to urban centers for employment, leaving behind wives. When they begin trafficking in prostitution (a la Rin), the exact same environment is created that allows the virus to propigate as that created by the gay culture in America.

Another lie that originated out of the sexual revolution in the early 90's as AIDS was beginning to be a huge political disaster was that well, it will soon break out in the larger population (hope, hope). A book was written in 1997 denying that, to huge outrage from the gay community, but passage of time has indeed proven that AIDS never did and never will break out in the larger population absent promiscuity.

P N Dr Lo R says

curious2 says

When your family and friends wither and die at the same age as their ancient Roman predecessors 2,000 years ago

it means they're being too sexually promiscuous.

No, some of the ancient Romans lived past 90, as few Americans do today. It means there's been too little progress in research since then.

P N Dr Lo R says

By the way, can you remember a world without AIDS?

As you wrote, the virus has been around for a long time, probably longer than a century. It originated in Africa, and spread due to travel. The first known American fatalities occurred in the 1950s. So, unless you're well over 100, you can't remember a world without AIDS.

Perhaps if there had been more research sooner, there might be more people around who could remember the world of more than 100 years ago. That's religion for you: as with the Taliban destroying the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, and ISIL/Daesh destroying the Roman structures in Palmyra, they want to control history, and replace it with whatever fiction suits them. Curing disease, and enabling people to live long enough that they can actually remember the past and recognize charlatans selling the same garbage in a different language, progress doesn't suit the religious agenda. Charlatans prefer to maintain stagnation that they can control, rather than progress, which they cannot predict and thus cannot control.

curious2 says

So, unless you're well over 100, you can't remember a world without AIDS.

Then, apparently you can't because you know what I mean. It wasn't a death causing plague killing a specific community until 1981, but you know that. It's always someone else's fault rather than the fools who finally brought it into fruition with the proper environment. The term AIDS wasn't even coined until probably 1984 or 1983--it was called the "gay cancer" early on.

P N Dr Lo R says

I'd hang her like she was ultimately disposed of.

So you would violate your own god's commandments and morality. That proves my point that Christianity does not encourage morality.

Killing someone in order to defend others is sometimes necessary. It is never necessary to kill someone who has been captured and imprisoned. And it is never a moral decision to do so.

Morality Score
Atheists 1
Christians 0

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

The only threat to our freedoms in this day and age is Islam

That is a foolish statement. Not only is Islam not the only threat to our freedoms, it is not even one of the major threats to our freedoms. The NSA is far more of a threat to your freedoms than any dumbass terrorist could ever be.

Since when does the NSA execute cartoonists for drawing cartoons?
Since when does the NSA execute people over some blasphemy?
Since when does the NSA throw gays out of tall buildings?
WTF is wrong with you? Are you delusional?

Dan8267 says

That proves my point that Christianity does not encourage morality.

And guess what, I've finally gotten to be ad hominem and that's fine with me.

Strategist says

Since when does the NSA execute cartoonists for drawing cartoons?

I didn't say they did. But the NSA certainly does infringe upon people's rights including by violating wiretapping laws, activating cameras remotely, perving on teenage girls, and reducing the security of our information infrastructure.

All of human history has told one lesson: power corrupts especially if left unchecked. Only a fool would trust the NSA.

P N Dr Lo R says

that's fine with me.

You're still wrong. And you still demonstrate that Christianity does not encourage people to be moral or kind.

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

Since when does the NSA execute cartoonists for drawing cartoons?

I didn't say they did. But the NSA certainly does infringe upon people's rights including by violating wiretapping laws, activating cameras remotely, perving on teenage girls, and reducing the security of our information infrastructure.

Seems mild compared to what Islamists are capable of. Besides, most of those so called violations are necessary to protect us against Islamists. I'm all for it.

Strategist says

Seems mild compared to what Islamists are capable of. Besides, most of those so called violations are necessary to protect us against Islamists. I'm all for it.

As I've said, if America is to fall it will be from within.

Dan8267 says

You're still wrong.

No, Irma was dull and 40ish and got what she deserved. She should have had Hubba Hubba 1944 written on her forehead. They could have played a Frank Sinatra red Columbia, one with the slightly off-center spindle hole that made it even drearier, and that would have bored her to death instead of hanging.

Strategist says

Dan8267 says

So let's say that Jaycee's dad knows "something" that could save a lot of lives, a major terrorist attack, but he won't tell you even under torture. Would you rape Jaycee in front of him to get him to talk? That's the moral question.

My answer is hell no. What's yours?

I would torture the dad, not the girl.

So are you saying you would rape the dad and not the girl?

curious2 says

I'll close with an example. Neil Patrick harris is married, and the couple have two children. If "normalizing" that family looks like demographic suicide to you, then you are suffering from "theory induced blindness," and a backfire effect, so further comments from me would be a waste of time, causing you to dig in rather than open your eyes. I'll end with a photo:

They dress their son better than I dress myself.

Strategist says

We don't live in a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao country. We live in the 21st century America. Get real.

The belief that a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao could not rise in the 21st century is absolutely idiotic, foolish, and dangerous. Do you think that anyone expected a Hitler to rise in Germany back in the 1930s?

Dan8267 says

The belief that a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao could not rise in the 21st century is absolutely idiotic, foolish, and dangerous

These autocratic fantasies you dream up are truly terrifying in scope and ruthlessness!
You are hardly the first to recommend banning all religion from a society. Dictators from Stalin to Pol Pot have tried the same thing with tragic and horrific results. Usually they are atheists like yourself, and this is why atheists are trusted slightly less than child molesters. When there is no basis for morality, an individual may rationalize ANY act as not only permissible but right and mandatory. This has also been proven again and again. Religion may have been responsible for its share of zealots and their crimes, but it's been the one thing that cements people as a civilization and not a motley collection of barbarians each striving for individual pleasure. When nothing matters then nothing matters. I'm truly puzzled as to how you can't understand this basic concept. You seem smart enough in other areas.

@patrick seems like Dan is using the ad hominem thing here to escape an argument that is damaging to his thesis. I really don't see how it's ad hom? Or even an attack on him. It's just observation on the results of his autocratic fantasy.

CBOEtrader says

two children

The little boy is going to throw up when he looks back at that picture when he's 20 even if he were in a straight family.

Waitup says

Strategist says

Dan8267 says

So let's say that Jaycee's dad knows "something" that could save a lot of lives, a major terrorist attack, but he won't tell you even under torture. Would you rape Jaycee in front of him to get him to talk? That's the moral question.

My answer is hell no. What's yours?

I would torture the dad, not the girl.

So are you saying you would rape the dad and not the girl?

Yup. With a hammer.

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

We don't live in a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao country. We live in the 21st century America. Get real.

The belief that a Hitler, Stalin, or Mao could not rise in the 21st century is absolutely idiotic, foolish, and dangerous. Do you think that anyone expected a Hitler to rise in Germany back in the 1930s?

In N Korea, Middle East, Africa, we already have the Hitler types. But in America......no way. No one would vote for them.

Strategist says

No one would vote for them.

1. You cannot be certain someone won't become a tyrant once he gains power.
2. You cannot guarantee that freedoms and liberty won't atrophy with time.
3. Germany devolved into Nazism damn quickly, in less than a single generation.
4. There is nothing magical about America. Human nature is the same here as it is everywhere else.
5. Any nation in which a large part of the population accepts torture, isn't that far away from Nazism.
6. Any nation that prosecutes whistle blowers opens itself up to becoming just like the Soviet Union.

Once again, only a fool thinks its impossible for his country to become deteriorate into tyranny.

curious2 says

The Romans built the greatest empire the world had ever seen, and the empire lasted more than 1,000 years.

Actually, that would be the ancient Persians, meaning the Zoroastrians ones, prior to the Islamic invasion circa 700AD.

For that 1.5 millennia before that, Persia had Zoroastrianism, which was monotheistic, and it had an empire, stretching from the Sudan, to near the border of modern day China. That's as multicultural, as one can get, at least for ancient times.

So this idea that Christianity, was this so-called helper of the post Pax Romana era, is a myth imposed by idiot thinkers like Mr "P N Dr Lo R" dickwad, who really doesn't know his history.

The western Empire had fell, because it had outsourced its perimeter defenses to barbarian armies, not because some Patricians in Rome, were having sex.

And finally, in the end, Odacer and Theodoric, both of whom were foreign powers, fought over the throne, creating the final split, which had the eastern Empire around Constantinople and Rome (the western side), forever split apart.

Yet, the great P N Dr Lo R doesn't know this. Instead, he claims that the Empire had fallen, because a bunch of ppl were having sex. What a Puritanical BS artist.

Shit, these Romans were having sex and orgies, even before Julius Caesar's times. And thus, if the religious dictum was true, then the Roman Empire would never have come into existence by virtue of God, killing these adulterous Romans, during the days of the Republic!

Rin says

The western Empire had fell, because it had outsourced its perimeter defenses to barbarian armies, not because some Patricians in Rome, were having sex.

And because it overexpanded, which was largely due to Christians wanting to spread their vile religion to the "barbarians". Religions are imperialistic.

Dan8267 says

Rin says

The western Empire had fell, because it had outsourced its perimeter defenses to barbarian armies, not because some Patricians in Rome, were having sex.

And because it overexpanded, which was largely due to Christians wanting to spread their vile religion to the "barbarians". Religions are imperialistic.

In the end, Conan ... I mean the Barbarians, had his way with the Empire.

Dan8267 says

Christians wanting to spread their vile religion to the "barbarians"

Yay Christians!

Rin says

curious2 says

The Romans built the greatest empire the world had ever seen, and the empire lasted more than 1,000 years.

Actually, that would be the ancient Persians, meaning the Zoroastrians ones, prior to the Islamic invasion circa 700AD.

For that 1.5 millennia before that, Persia had Zoroastrianism, which was monotheistic, and it had an empire, stretching from the Sudan, to near the border of modern day China. That's as multicultural, as one can get, at least for ancient times.

The Persians did much better with Zoroastrianism than their descendants have done with Islam, but Rome was the greater empire, due to the amazing technology Rome built. Romans outsourced a lot of their military, and fell, partly because Christianity replaced Roman and Greek morality. Nietzsche would call it a switch from "master morality" to "slave morality." Roman virtues of strength and conquest got replaced by meekness ("the meek shall inherit the earth") and obedience ("Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.") Yuval Noah Harari wrote that ancient Greek and Roman achievements resulted partly from belief that impressing the immortal gods enabled humans to become immortal gods, and live forever on Mount Olympus or in the Pantheon. Constantine saw Christianity as potentially useful to him, and changed it to make it more useful to him, but humanity paid a terrible price for that.

BTW, Roman conversion to Christianity paved the way for the spread of Islam, which hijacked the Judeo-Christian tradition and swept rapidly east to conquer the Zoroastrians. Non-Christian Romans would never have surrendered so easily to Muslim barbarians claiming to represent the monotheistic Lord ("Al Ilah") of Abraham.

curious2 says

The Persians did much better with Zoroastrianism than their descendants have done with Islam, but Rome was the greater empire, due to the amazing technology Rome built. Romans outsourced a lot of their military, and fell, partly because Christianity replaced Roman and Greek morality. Nietzsche would call it a switch from "master morality" to "slave morality." Roman virtues of strength and conquest got replaced by meekness ("the meek shall inherit the earth") and obedience ("Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.") Yuval Noah Harari wrote that ancient Greek and Roman achievements resulted partly from belief that impressing ...

You may want to explain to the Puritannical P N Dr Lo R, that Romans having sex, didn't lead to the fall of the Empire.

Unfortunately, he's the type of dickwad, who believes that because Romans persisted in having orgies, that God had unleashed Attila and company onto the Empire.

Rin says

You may want to explain to the Puritannical P N Dr Lo R, that Romans having sex, didn't lead to the fall of the Empire.

I've tried, but he's now sacrificed nearly his whole life to his preferred charlatan. Never married, maybe even a virgin, "P N Dr Lo R" has no children or grandchildren to persuade him. Even Barry Goldwater began speaking out on behalf of equal rights for gay Americans after learning that he had a grandson who was gay. "P N Dr Lo R" remains stuck in Reverse.

@P N Dr Lo R, this might actually help you, to know that Cadillac advertising now includes gay couples and themes. They ran a beautiful ad during "When We Rise" on ABC TV. If you watch the show via ABC Go, which I highly recommend, you might see it. The ad includes a nostalgic look at Cadillacs over the years, including one much like your avatar.

Rin says

Attila

is probably the reason why the Hungarians set the age of consent at 12, though they've raised that recently. It's a long story, but he had a spectacular career, starting at age 12.

From another thread where I'd mentioned that there were ppl out there, who'd remembered their so-called past lives ...

P N Dr Lo R says

Rin says

recalls a past life,

And Christians are delusional?

You mean that it's not ALL ABOUT FAITH?

Seriously, when someone else injects an alternate spiritual belief, these born-again types try to fall back to objective reality as if Jesus is standing right next to them, during the discussion, lending his silent presence.

Once again, P N Dr Lo is a fucking hypocrite!

Show me the presence of Jesus, you fucking delusional liar!

curious2 says

preferred charlatan

Right out of Saul Alinsky: don't attack institutions, attack individuals. And who is your preferred charlatan?

curious2 says

Cadillac advertising

When my Cadillac was built, GM had 50% of the market. Today GM has less than 20% of the market and destroyed Pontiac and Oldsmobile in the process.

P N Dr Lo R says

When my Cadillac was built, GM had 50% of the market. Today GM has less than 20% of the market and destroyed Pontiac and Oldsmobile in the process.

And who'd been hammering on restoring American R&D and engineering since he'd joined his board ... it was Rin.

P N Dr Lo R says

Right out of Saul Alinsky: don't attack institutions, attack individuals. And who is your preferred charlatan?

You seem to rely heavily on a logical fallacy called "the appeal to authority." You deify your preferred charlatan and believe whatever he says because he said it. You demonize Saul Alinsky and attack whatever he said, because he said it. Neither gets you any closer to ascertaining the truth or falsehood of what either authority said.

If you want to understand the history of Rome, then read enough histories of Rome (including by contemporary Romans and professional historians) that you can begin to understand the major achievements, improvements, and failures. If instead you subjugate your intellect to a charlatan who makes you feel better (or less bad) about throwing away your own life, then you end up loving and spreading his lies instead of living truthfully. The Islamic State people love their charlatans' lies as much as you love your charlatan's lies, and that gets neither of you any closer to reality.