No, no, no. This isn't even a loaded question. Do you, or do you not, find that universal basic income and total freedom outweigh routine torture etc. etc.?
Yes, yes it is. I never implied the basis of the question, which is that I do, and that this makes me a bad person. That never was, and has not been, a factor in my statement. The statement was that aside from the paranoia, which prevents the culture from exiting its downward spiral, it would not be so bad. AS-- the isolationism stemming from the paranoia is what has been sustaining the feedback loop of the downward spiral. This is, and has been, my answer. It is just not the one you want.
As an additional input to this question, consider that the torture etc. etc. only became prevalent after the establishment of all the bits you like.
Correct. It came after, as a consequence of the society entering a self-sustaining feedback loop, due to the isolation, and the trend toward tolerance of intolerable things.
Side note, I've never called them absolute evil, that's your own construction. False dichotomy I think? You've constructed a narrative where I'm trying to say they have absolutely no redeeming features, but I never made that claim.
Patently false. Or, did you NOT ask this question? *emphasis added*
So since you're conceding the "decadent horrors", would you agree that the k'n-yan are, in fact, regardless of how they could change if it weren't for the fact that they apparently democratically chose not to, absolutely abhorrent?
Interestingly, this is a topic that comes up a lot here in Africa. Colonialism led to Western education, hygiene, infrastructure, and so on; so was it truly that bad? The answer is yes, of course it was. This gets heavy and brings in rape, sorry, but it's a classic argument: if a woman is raped, bears a child, and loves that child, was the rapist good?
The act of rape is bad. The abuse of other people, regardless of their race is bad. Good things can come from bad things. (A loved baby, born from rape.) The baby is a good thing, but the rape is not. The fact that the baby is born of rape, does not make the baby abhorrent. That is the point. The rape is abhorrent, not the baby. The rapist is bad, in that they did an unpardonable thing; however, this does not communicate the whole picture. The rapist is, and does, more than the rape he has committed. No person is wholly good, nor wholly evil. This is why one should not use words like "absolute" in describing the person, only the act. The rape is indeed "absolutely abhorrent." the rapist? That remains to be seen.
The fact that something has positive qualities does not necessarily outweigh the negative qualities, nor does it mean there was no better way to get it done. You may prevaricate all you wish; at the end of the day, you must decide. Is it better to have the bits you like or not to
have torture etc. etc.? Upon visiting K'n-yan, would the average person find them to be "really not that bad"?
The average person does not act rationally. So, no. Rational people visiting k'n yan, would point out to the people there that their addiction to diversions of this nature, strongly parallel the collapse of the city of Yoth-- INCLUDING the creation of the slave races. In the interests of their own civilization, they should abandon it, and should instead seek ways to undo the idiocracy of their slave caste, and then reintegrate it into mainstream society. At least, that is the tact I personally would take if I visited there. I would give them justifiable reasons for not wanting to consume subhumans as meat, and would suggest that it is not only a vector for serious diseases (like prion disease), but also inefficient in an enclosed ecology like theirs-- that they should strongly consider herbivores instead, and make several surface world suggestions. Again, I dont want to throw the baby out with the bath water. (or, to use your own question-- condemn the baby along with the rape.)
Heated? I have never gone beyond amused smirk, personally.
You smirk in ALL CAPS? That's a really loud smirk. Also, if you display amusement by insulting people ya should probably reconsider that. 
I use caps in this way for emphasis. Consider it either bold, or italic. It will help.
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Topic: Things that made you go "WTF?" today o_O (Read 14558079 times)