Posts by Stephen Judd
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"I thought we were all disciples (pardon the pun!) of Russell Brown and Richard Dawkins, and therefore believe all religion is wrong and should be stopped."
Falun Gong is a threat to the Party. That is the only reason they are persecuted. They are loons, but they are harmless loons who are being punished for postulating a higher cause than the Party. If they were Christians I would feel the same.
I believe all religion is irrational, and I would prefer it disappeared, but I am happy to tolerate people who believe stupid things, if only because I suspect I believe stupid things too and would like to enjoy their toleration. The Party cannot tolerate anything that reduces your belief in the Party. To oppose that is no different and in my mind pretty much the same thing as opposing oppressive religion. I am not in favour of Falun Gong for any other reason.
If Marx were alive today he would identify Falun Gong as an opium of the people, since their effect is to provide people with comfort against their suffering, but he would have even harsher words for the oligarchs who make up the Communist Party of China.
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One thing about a certain other local blog and its amazing displays of abuse and invective: there's a big incentive to do it because of the admiration you get from commenters.
Some people appreciate especially offensively worded abuse, when they're not the target, and cherish the art of reducing a victim to gibbering frustration. This is the appeal of Anne Coulter. She's offensive and illogical and doesn't play fair and that's entirely what her charm is for her audience.
It doesn't work so well here in the civil halls of PA System because there is little applause for it. I personally love a good verbal smack-down, but it should have some style, some class, and a logical foundation. And the more politely the comment is put, the more class it has.
Another reason why people from "over there" behave better here might be because they are taken seriously and at face value with a certain basic respect.
Re the Act kiddies: they tend to be both young and male. Youth and testosterone poisoning accounts for a lot of rudeness and bullying. If there were more young male comrades around, we'd see the same from them.
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Today seems to be false analogy day on PA System. No, I don't need to accept any of the things you propose. They are hypothetical extensions of a weak analogy which I don't find approriate.If you do, more power to you, but I will then put on my plonking voice
plonking voice begins
which I reserve for unassailable positions in logic, and tell you that argument by analogy is a fallacy
plonking voice ends.
If I hadn't been drinking a great deal of vodka, I would probably give the fallacy a number,
What I proposed was my understanding of how things are out there in reality. Which I expect you to challenge if need be, and which challenge I will respect more than bogus resorts to button-pressing simile.
Also in the manner of the common or internet troll, I must tell you that I am going away for the weekend (really! truly!) and therefore lack of reply must not be construed as concession.
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"and yours assumes male power over females."
In a broad aggregate, in this society, that's a pretty safe assumption. In terms of who senses intimidation from whom, anyway,
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Exactly. All men are privileged over women by the actions of a few, whether men want to be or not, because of the fear of violence they can induce. I think that is feminism 101, and any man who's walked home at night, no matter how well intentioned, and watched the woman ahead of him cross the road, knows this is true.
For analogies to work they need to be "on all fours with the case" as the lawyers say, and I don't think the Muslim one comes anywhere close.
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You'll be pleased to know, merc, that at my urging the Benka Borodovsky Bordello Band is performing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou|Misirlou].
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Neil: It's ludicrous, but it fits with the current US administration's position that negotiation is for weaklings. Blair's success is an implicit criticism of the current US "conservative" doctrine, and as such neocon cheerleaders like Derbyshire must say things like that lest the faithful begin to doubt.
It's pretty funny reading calls for British patriotism from a man so desperate to leave the UK that he lived as an illegal immigrant in the US.
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... and that's the reason why the system hates Dick Dale.
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Really? I mean, the very word Kiwiana is redolent of Kiwiana. What other word could you use?
/chants in Bart voice
Kiwiana! Kiwiana! Kiwiana! Kiwiana! Kiwiana!
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I'll tell you what else Noel Holmes wrote - "Just Cooking, Thanks". An anecdotal, idiosyncratic seafood cookbook with illustrations by Lonsdale. I read it in formative years, in fact I've nicked my Dad's copy, and while I rarely make anything out of it any more, it taught me an awful lot about practical cooking. It is also a great relic of Kiwiana that deserves a reprint.