On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 2:02 AM, Platonist Guitar Cowboy < [email protected]> wrote:
> > Right off the bat: sorry for this slightly OT post. There is stuff about > discrimination/labeling in the linked video clip below, concerning the > profound truth of "All men are rats", however. Higher standards, here we > come! > > On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> >> >> >> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 2:28 PM, Platonist Guitar Cowboy < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 1:35 PM, Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> I have to say, I find it a bit silly when people identify too much with >>>> their nationality (or profession, or gender...) to the point that they get >>>> offended when a generic remark is made. >>>> >>>> It is fairly obvious that Kim is not suggesting that Chris or Brent or >>>> any other specific American in this list is a person of low intelligence. >>>> The generalisation per se might be without merit, but even so it's perhaps >>>> a good exercise in to learn to tolerate it. >>>> >>>> We have more in common with each other than with the average citizen of >>>> any of our respective countries. >>>> Why care so much about imaginary lines in the ground? >>>> >>> >>> Because without it, opium for the masses like FIFA world cup makes less >>> sense, and people would start to realize and have more time to ponder that >>> they are getting shafted... and by whom. >>> >> >> Yup. >> >> >>> Also we need to get rid of those immigrants stealing all our jobs and >>> vote hard right. At least that's what civilized Europe is doing >>> increasingly. >>> >> >> I want to believe that this is a passing fad of populism festering on the >> economic recession. >> > > Yes, same here. Grain of salt is: in Weimar Republic this reasoning was > quite similar with intellectuals until it was too late. > I know... > > What is left/progressive in the states is somehow moderate business as > usual in Europe, dead center... But this matters little as foe example the > general state prosecutor in Germany finds "no concrete indication of > spying" in the wake of Merkel scandal and snowden. Word is he styles > himself as keeping peace in international relations, servant to German > state interests. > This reminds me of how Berlusconi reacted to WikiLeaks. Something along the lines of: "this is so funny, now everyone can see that they are all like me". > > Of course we need measures to oversee ideological nutjobs > activity/dangerous tech movements etc. But the manner in which this is > conducted needs more scrutiny: > In terms of ideological nutjobs, I suspect that the solution is counter-intuitive. Instead of fighting them, perhaps it's better to not react to them at all. Treat a skinhead like a perfectly normal person and the skinhead is destroyed. The feeling of persecution is exploited in recruiting people to these organisations. > > if we can only keep ourselves secure by agreeing to do each others' dirty > laundry, bypassing other sovereign nations' laws, so they may bypass our > own, then I don't see why this isn't perceived as dangerous and cynical; > and because of legal complexity times digital age, even counterproductive > to security on all levels of democratic model (multiplying hacker warfare > etc). > I think the illusion that has to be broken is very much related to patriotism. Merkel, Obama, Hollande, etc. have more allegiance to each other than to their citizens. It's naive to assume that Merkel is German of Obama is American. They are world leaders and belong to the cast of the world leaders. They feed on patriotism to act against their people. In a globalised western world, patriotism is the old strategy of "divide and conquer". > > If "everybody does it" justification would hold sway in courts the way it > does here internationally... > > >> >> >>> So you're saying this, but really, you are lamenting Portugal's >>> performance ;-) PGC >>> >> >> Eheh. Hey, Ronaldo had the best haircut though :) >> > > By far! But through long hard work, if time is on our side, we'll > naturally gravitate to better role models/exemplars. > > >> >> I can't resist sharing what my favourite comedian (American, btw) has to >> say about nationalism and hating immigrants: >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsPDT5qHtZ4 >> > > He has an indoor smoking permit? > In many places, smoking on stage is allowed if part of an artistic performance. I heard him joke about how he exploits this rule just because he wants to smoke. > Unbelievable, you'd think that people would drop dead next to him due to > passive inhalation! Gosh what chicken have we become when all jazz bars > must be smokeless, no exceptions! > It's depressing. > While our pollution, all the threads this has spawned, Liz's thread with > the pesticides...ok. > > In appreciation of Telmo's link, here's a recent one you might not have > caught yet: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXvJqiyiMqQ > > The "all men are rats" statement, its discriminatory impact, and the > gender aspect finally receives thorough treatment there. > Nice :) Telmo. > > PGC > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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