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[Xantalos]

What were you doing?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Hard to believe how it used to be there, not even a lifetime ago.

The big problem is that I don't think anybody really knows how to bring back a society that's been that thoroughly broken.

Sorry, but, Afghanistan has been through way more shit in its history than the last 30 years. It may be a society with conflict ingrained in its psyche, but I think it will go on.

In it's whole history, sure, but that applies to everywhere. Starting to modernize only to be brought back down again has a significant effect.

It's the difference of a conservative society vs. a reactionary one. A conservative society is a perishable thing. Times can change to the point that it can no longer exist, and everyone who was part of it has to chose between change or denial. Afghanistan has fallen into the latter, and not lightly either. Unfortunately for everybody involved, denial takes the form of a religious extremism that even the ancestors of the current fighters would see as insane.

Afghanistan today is a lot like what the US would have been like if the KKK had started an armed rebellion against the federal government during Reconstruction, taken it over for forty years, and been forcefully removed by the Wiemar Republic.

[nenjin]

I think Afghanistan has seen more than other countries though. Since at least the 1800s, they have been in a constant state of war. Prior to that Afghanistan has also been an invasion route for some of the largest armies of antiquity.

So basically, it's a culture in which war is a fact of life and has been for almost 200 years, at least.

So basically what i'm saying is, I don't think of Afghani society as "most broken", because I think seeing it that way is a conceit of the now. The Taliban are no different than any other invader, except that they've stayed the longest. Their views are still foreign to Afghanistan. And if there's one enduring Afghani cultural trait, it's probably resilience in the face of adversity and set back.

[Parsely]

What were you doing?

A wrestling tournament.

[Neonivek]

Stupid brother, he never knows what our argument is about.

He always thinks it is about how I am trying to assert that I am right and he is wrong but it is not about that.

No matter how many times I tell him that it has nothing to do with the argument itself but rather how he conducted it (basically by insulting and ridiculing me) he keeps thinking I am trying to dance around him to make my point.

Not that it really matters anyway, my brother wouldn't apologize for anything he does and that is what it really frustrating to me.

I don't hold grudges, I will apologize if something is my fault, and for the most part I try hard not to attack people personally... Yet these traits don't feel like virtues when everyone around me holds things over my head for years, will never EVER apologize for even the most terrible things they do, and either threaten me or attack me personally in argument.

I mean sure everyone says those are good things... but it sure feels crummy when people know they can treat you badly because you just don't get mad about things. It sure feels bad to be mocked endlessly and never fighting back. It certainly feels crummy to always be the person at fault because you are the only one who can admit fault.

Ohh well... I am sad now.

[misko27]

Hard to believe how it used to be there, not even a lifetime ago.

The big problem is that I don't think anybody really knows how to bring back a society that's been that thoroughly broken.

Sorry, but, Afghanistan has been through way more shit in its history than the last 30 years. It may be a society with conflict ingrained in its psyche, but I think it will go on.

In it's whole history, sure, but that applies to everywhere. Starting to modernize only to be brought back down again has a significant effect.

It's the difference of a conservative society vs. a reactionary one. A conservative society is a perishable thing. Times can change to the point that it can no longer exist, and everyone who was part of it has to chose between change or denial. Afghanistan has fallen into the latter, and not lightly either. Unfortunately for everybody involved, denial takes the form of a religious extremism that even the ancestors of the current fighters would see as insane.

Afghanistan today is a lot like what the US would have been like if the KKK had started an armed rebellion against the federal government during Reconstruction, taken it over for forty years, and been forcefully removed by the Wiemar Republic.

Did you just, compare the US now, to the Weimer Republic?

[XXSockXX]

Its Weimar, dudes. And I don't get the comparison either. Is the US on the verge of being taken over by fascists? 

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Did you just, compare the US now, to the Weimer Republic?

Not so much. The major invader of Afghanistan was the USSR, and the arch-enemy of the USSR was the USA. In my idea, the major invader of the USA is the UK, and the arch-enemy of the UK was Germany. But just saying Germany with the invoked timeframe would make everyone assume I was speaking of Nazi Germany and thus comparing the modern US to Nazis, which is not the case. Thus, Weimar Republic.

Its Weimar, dudes.

Lodge all complaints with Autocorrect.

[XXSockXX]

I maybe might understand what you're trying to say, but your analogies are... far out. The Weimar Republic was NOT an enemy of the UK...and yeah this analogy just is no good.

[Nadaka]

my phpbb3 forum has become the victim of cross site scripting... And I don't know how to close that hole.

[SalmonGod]

What were you doing?

A wrestling tournament.

How big is that tournament?  Holy hell.  I've never been to one that took multiple days, and only wrestled a handful of matches, even when I was there an entire day.

[Vector]

My RICH FUCKING ROOMMATE wants me to pay for having washed her dry-clean only designer short shorts when they fell into my drawer and I accidentally took them home.  Just... ugh.  Fuck her.  All my clothing is used and cheap.  I'm not going to fucking pay for her fucking designer shorts.  She has money to fuck around going on random trips to Vegas without her parents knowing about it and didn't know how to do the wash when she got here and just... fuck.

And not only that, it isn't my fault and she already swanned around like a queen refusing to see me to pick them up because I was 20 minutes late.  No pleases, no thank yous, just "okay, leave them over there."

I just finished running around all day for 13 hours putting up tutoring flyers and other stupid shit so I can fucking pay for fucking grad school and if they cost $200 then that's like 9 hours of fucking psychological testing down the drain, i.e. all of it including the electric shocks part and I'm really upset because she wrote me this note in legalese.

Man, none of this is coherent.  In case this post is subpoena'd: I don't take responsibility because it wasn't my fault.  I am upset only because my roommate has been treating me crappy over a pair of pants and because I am scared of her siccing evil Attack Lawyers on Retainer who will bend both law and reason in favor of extracting what little amount of money I've been able to earn so far in my adult life.

[GlyphGryph]

Vector, just tell her know. She can live with it. Don't even get upset, just laugh at her, because it's a fucking joke.

You don't owe her shit. Even if she takes you to small claims court, the judge would laugh her out. And really, does she seem like the type who'd be willing to sit through a court date?

[Vector]

I wrote her a somewhat nasty letter.

This is the rage that could not be expressed in my mildly nasty letter.  And I really hope the judge would laugh her out.  Really do.  Might well sit through a court date in order to get her way ._.

Isn't it normal to make the opposition pay for your lawyers, too?  I keep hearing about that.

[GlyphGryph]

Yeah, no, in small claims court that won't fly. You need a larger dollar amount than however much those shorts cost to manage that.