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Author Topic: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread  (Read 870022 times)

SalmonGod

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9900 on: January 14, 2012, 09:25:22 pm »

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/14/233203/dhs-monitors-social-media-for-political-dissent

Are you prepared to be horrified?

This is very very bad.

Saw a similar story a few days ago.  Thought about linking it here, but I didn't think it would be worth it.  I'm always surprised at this point to learn that this isn't accepted as common knowledge.

According to the post I saw in that, they were looking for topics that reflected poorly on the US, which I guess makes sense from a foreign relations point of view. Where does it say they're targeting political dissenters?

(especially recent) History?
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Truean

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9901 on: January 14, 2012, 10:52:54 pm »

Many of the zealous Ron Paul libertarian arguments make sense to some extent, but fall apart when you factor in how common human flaws will factor into their vision on a large scale.

The 'other kinds of oppression' would be things like forcing people in charge of a private business to serve customers they don't want to serve, which they see as an unjustified sort of coercion.  They believe that people should be left alone as much as possible, so long as they aren't actively causing harm to others.  I halfway agree with them, except I go the extra step in recognizing how cultural feedback loops reinforce people's prejudices until they eventually manifest into harmful action.  I believe in free association, but at the same time recognize that people tend not to learn to get along unless forced into circumstances where it's necessary to do so.  So it may seem on the surface like an unnecessary infringement on a guy's rights to tell him he can't operate an openly racist pub, but it prevents the overwhelming likelihood of far greater rights infringements that occur when racists have a safe haven retreat where they can go to reinforce and embolden each other's prejudices.

And then there's the economics... where they believe endless competition is the answer to everything.  If everything were dictated by market forces without artificial constraints, then there would be greater freedom due to consumer choice between competing businesses.  If one business does something dirty that harms someone else for their own profit, then consumers respond by taking their business elsewhere.  This operates completely on the assumption that capitalism is a competition which can't be won, which is very, very clearly false.  Also the assumption that consumers are practically omniscient and eternally diligent.  Finally, that consumers will even care, if they are indeed aware, when a business that operates in many communities abuses one in order to gain advantages in others (globalization).

They say that government intervention hinders natural competition and creates monopolies.  I say that such things are a natural result of businesses gaining enough power to exert influence through government, and are a symptom of the 'free market' being an unsustainable synonym for Turn 1 in the game of Monopoly.

I'll just give the consolidated version of why I just can't comprehend how the appeal of libertarianism can survive any rational consideration at all. In a perfect world, yes, but we don't live in one. Segregation happened; there are still people who want it. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 (and all the other State and Federal Ones) and several court rulings, are the only things that stopped it. I will glaze at anyone who says they should be revoked until they eventually shut up, and I think everyone should do the same, because anyone has to be either bigoted or incredibly ignorant to want this. 

Initially, fine, ok, I get the appeal of "you leave me alone and I leave you alone and as long as neither of us hurts anyone, great." Unfortunately, this is a pipe dream, at best, especially when talking about repealing the Civil Rights Acts. Even if you somehow assume the, "we each have control over ourselves and our own destinies" thing (which works how when other people necessarily make choices effecting us, never mind the environment), denying someone goods and services on the basis of race or sex alone, is harming them..... They may not be able to get it anywhere else, or they may have to pay an unreasonable premium to get it somewhere else (which causes a loss of money to them and  forces them to unnecessarily spend more on one necessity to get another). What exactly would you do if suddenly all the grocery stores in the whole state wouldn't sell you food? Or let's say you're in a rural area and you'd have to go 70 miles round trip to get basic groceries with gas at $4/gallon?

"But I don't get to be an asshole and decide to make everyone's life harder on the basis of their skin color or sex!!!" [whine] ??? Too bad, because this "right," is contradictory to your own philosophy of "leave everyone alone as long as you don't harm anyone," because you're harming the people you won't serve. To exist in society, you have to be able to use its institutions: grocery stores, physicians, professionals, repair services, apartments, housing, employment, etc. Letting people have license to exclude people from these is an invitation to exclude people from society for no real reason, especially in rural areas or areas where a all owners of a type of business will gang up.... "I don't get to be a racist/sexist prick so we should repeal and undo the civil rights movement.... It infringes upon my rights to be these things!" ??? Really? <--- This is a market failure if ever I've seen one.

"It should be cool to exclude people from society due to the prejudice of others...." ??? I think I'd like to vomit now....

In a perfect world, no one would want to exclude people on this basis, but they do, so we have to deal with it and that means having an enforcement mechanism.... Any "rights" lost to this particular mechanism are "rights" no one should've ever had in the first place.
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Heron TSG

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9902 on: January 14, 2012, 11:47:47 pm »

Exactly. Giving everyone the ability to write their own freedoms is one thing, but giving individual states the right to make life hell for certain groups doesn't make any goddamn sense from any perspective, even a Libertarian one.
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SalmonGod

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9903 on: January 15, 2012, 01:39:09 am »

I agree mainly that it's an incredibly short-sighted stance on how the concept of rights work.  Society can't function on groups of people just ignoring each other.  People have to work shit out, because we're sharing this planet whether we like it or not.
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Truean

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9904 on: January 15, 2012, 05:51:11 pm »

Ah, hypocrisy, you never fail to rear your ugly head all over the place.

http://news.yahoo.com/more-us-catholics-complaints-church-court-185049115.html

Those people saying we should "ban sharia law," are some of the most likely to use a Cannon Law Court. Yes, it's the same thing but with a different religion. It was actually a class they offered in law school too.... I didn't take it, but back then it was considered a cake class due to the fact that it wasn't going to be on the bar exam and thus you were free to basically ignore it.

I do believe the Jews have something similar whereby one of their rabbis will come in and do roughly the same thing. Historically, back in not-so-jolly ole' England there were two court systems, the courts of law, and the courts of equity. The courts of law were the King's Bench and quite frankly, they often didn't give a shit, because the king didn't, concerning civil wrongs. The courts of equity, however, were church courts and they were as a rule quite terrible. They had a habit of using thumb screws and taking "personal jurisdiction" to a new level.... That is, they drug you in and threatened you with torture unless you did what they said.

I modern American Law, the Courts of Law and Equity are merged and though their methods are quite different today, that's the history.....
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The kinda human wreckage that you love

Current Spare Time Fiction Project: (C) 2010 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63660.0
Disclaimer: I never take cases online for ethical reasons. If you require an attorney; you need to find one licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. Never take anything online as legal advice, because each case is different and one size does not fit all. Wants nothing at all to do with law.

Please don't quote me.

Heron TSG

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9905 on: January 15, 2012, 06:05:12 pm »

Hadn't heard of that one before, it looks just as ridiculous. Hrmph.

Question: IIRC, there are certain events which are referred to in court records around here as 'acts of God'. Is that actually the legal term?
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Glowcat

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9906 on: January 15, 2012, 06:10:08 pm »

Hadn't heard of that one before, it looks just as ridiculous. Hrmph.

Question: IIRC, there are certain events which are referred to in court records around here as 'acts of God'. Is that actually the legal term?

From what I recall out of a highschool law course, yes.
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Truean

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9907 on: January 15, 2012, 06:29:41 pm »

Hadn't heard of that one before, it looks just as ridiculous. Hrmph.

Question: IIRC, there are certain events which are referred to in court records around here as 'acts of God'. Is that actually the legal term?

From what I recall out of a highschool law course, yes.

Basically it's "nobody's fault." A hurricane, a fire, or other natural disaster, and sometimes a medical result.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-assails-us-over-guantanamo-prison-160910058.html Yup.
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ChairmanPoo

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9908 on: January 15, 2012, 06:30:57 pm »

Quote
Those people saying we should "ban sharia law," are some of the most likely to use a Cannon Law Court. Yes, it's the same thing but with a different religion. It was actually a class they offered in law school too.... I didn't take it, but back then it was considered a cake class due to the fact that it wasn't going to be on the bar exam and thus you were free to basically ignore it.
A friend of mine who was in law school claimed it was actually important, as it could be used in regular courts in some contexts.

Of course, he was a quite religious guy and right winger  himself. So he might have been partial in that regard.

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Truean

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9909 on: January 15, 2012, 06:33:48 pm »

Quote
Those people saying we should "ban sharia law," are some of the most likely to use a Cannon Law Court. Yes, it's the same thing but with a different religion. It was actually a class they offered in law school too.... I didn't take it, but back then it was considered a cake class due to the fact that it wasn't going to be on the bar exam and thus you were free to basically ignore it.
A friend of mine who was in law school claimed it was actually important, as it could be used in regular courts in some contexts.

Of course, he was a quite religious guy and right winger  himself. So he might have been partial in that regard.

Ordinarily, the only time it could be used in court is if the parties voluntarily agreed to arbitration.... Or, of course, if the actual marriage law in the state was based upon cannon law. Such concepts as "annulments" can sometimes be had, though they are rare in the ordinary case.
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The kinda human wreckage that you love

Current Spare Time Fiction Project: (C) 2010 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63660.0
Disclaimer: I never take cases online for ethical reasons. If you require an attorney; you need to find one licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. Never take anything online as legal advice, because each case is different and one size does not fit all. Wants nothing at all to do with law.

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Vector

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9910 on: January 15, 2012, 06:42:33 pm »

Wait--cannon law, or canon law?
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Frumple

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9911 on: January 15, 2012, 06:49:32 pm »

Sharing: I saw an absolutely hilarious alt. history paperback in a thrift store that had Cannon Law in the title. Cover had a bishop standing beside a cannon. Cracked up a little, but I don't think I picked it up.

Canon law's the real religious law thing, though, not cannon. Cannon law is what came around when folks actually started using cannons in the military, in a certain sense.

The latter is much more impressive/amusing.
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Truean

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9912 on: January 15, 2012, 07:34:54 pm »

Wait--cannon law, or canon law?

Damn Autocorrect :P Canon, though given the history, both seem to fit.
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The kinda human wreckage that you love

Current Spare Time Fiction Project: (C) 2010 http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63660.0
Disclaimer: I never take cases online for ethical reasons. If you require an attorney; you need to find one licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. Never take anything online as legal advice, because each case is different and one size does not fit all. Wants nothing at all to do with law.

Please don't quote me.

ChairmanPoo

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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9913 on: January 15, 2012, 07:41:12 pm »

"God is on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon I
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Re: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread
« Reply #9914 on: January 15, 2012, 08:10:12 pm »

Napoleon and I both agree that artillery is truly the best way of dealing with problems... No matter how small.
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