Yeah, you really are.
This thread has a serious problem with police and intolerance.
Examples please
If you get in trouble, just attack me and you will be fine.
I am *does dubious research* Albania, everyone hates me.
When people ask you to post sources for your beliefs or actually say anything of substance they're just requesting the basic decency required to have a conversation. If all you do is post your opinions, devoid of any factual basis, leaving only vague platitudes and condemnations as replies, there is literally nothing to talk about and no exchange of information. I truly have no idea what you are seeking from your discussions other than an affirmation of your opinions, you must know that a disagreement of opinion is no measure of hostility surely o_O
Like this whole nonsense where you make reference to research and not only avoid posting your sources, you actively refuse to post sources. I probably wouldn't care so much if you didn't have express such strong opinions on topics you know little about, it is simply annoying for example when you condemn entire countries whilst refusing to justify your condemnations with argumentation or evidence.
I still have no idea why you do this. Repeatedly I and others have asked that you post sources or add anything substantive to discussion and you've declined on the basis that you feel to actually engage in honest argumentation is somehow a hostile attack, yet by being so elusive and sarcastic you are actively stunting discussion and causing people to just start ignoring you.
I'm completely sincere in my statements, I have no idea if you're aware you're actively antagonizing other people in your efforts to be "peaceful." In what world is "does dubious research" serve as a proper justification for an argument of any sort? I'm not referring to your Albania joke, I'm referring to your earlier arguments. Why do you do this instead of posting your found knowledge? I really have no idea. If you think people like myself have attacked you for levying this criticism, I can speak for myself in saying I bear you no ill-will, and hold you in high esteem. I however cannot but help feel my patience withered away when you invoke an image of villains to represent my nation without any justification, and when I spend great effort to engage you on this, to challenge and learn your opinion's foundations - I am met with empty sarcasm. It leaves me feeling that I could have better spent my time productively talking to fish
It's far more complex than that. Spain started off as many different kingdoms and the cultural differences from one region to another are rather big. As such regionalism, and regional culture, customs, and laws, have been a big thing in Spain for centuries.
It's also far more complex in the UK than what I said, there is no eternal UK or eternal Spain. What I mean to say is in regards to Sheb's earlier post, where Belgian identity is strong - I am simply referencing how one day nations like Spain and Britain had strong unifying identities, the next day no longer
That being said, I think the main driving factor behind the current crisis in Catalonia has been driven by the ruling PP (conservative) party, which has harassed the catalonians badly during the last four years. The situation would not be anywhere near as tense if the PP hadn't insisted in escalating the crisis over and over.
Sounds pretty grim, how have the Catalonians been harassed? Stuff like disenfranchisement or cultural suppression?
BTW I scored 23 out of 24 in the test. Do I get a cookie?
You are become eternal Anglo, destroyer of worlds
I still kind of laugh that they made a videogame called "Orwell" that is about a Orwellian government program...
And it is significantly less sophisticated and far reaching then the surveillance methods then the UK... and the US.
Yes and no. A lot of it is on a par with the UK in that it is trawling through security and publicly available records to determine where people are and who their relationships are, where they go, what they do and so on to create a profile with which to incriminate them or eliminate them from a list of suspects. The main hook of the Orwell game is that you also have access to the real time conversations of
everyone. This is a tool intelligence agencies do not possess, at least not without legal and technical difficulty, and not without the suspect having methods to circumvent surveillance to varying degrees of success. As it stands western security bureaus have access to everyone's metadata, can attempt to target individual communications, have access to everyone's publicly available information and also basic humint; they do not have the ability to monitor all communications at all times - there is simply too much data for humans or machines to process for now.
Data retention has replaced mass surveillance as the foremost privacy issue. It is impossible to fight against mass surveillance when everyone willingly gives away all their information, carries on them smart products recording and transmitting information ranging from their location to their meetings and contacts, even to those who wear gym aides with which companies can determine everything down to their daily mood. With data retention, operators can gleam through all the information you have accrued, your digital footprint, over time - and read your life's story down to a T. Orwell is less subtle, but that is by design; it is intended to be a warning against overreaching security powers. Also in Orwell the system of surveillance is imposed by the state, in the UK and especially the USA, most of the tools of surveillance are voluntarily created by individuals. A facebook user will not complain of being an open book to the state, the purpose of their account was to be seen.