Messages

3886

Off Topic / Re: Man captures bumble bee.

« on: June 14, 2016, 05:32:54 PM »

the fact that this wasn't completely made up makes it even more hilarious

thank u

3887

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 05:31:22 PM »

so let me get this straight you think christianity should control the US government

i'm not too sure what he was saying, but i don't think that was it

3888

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 05:28:53 PM »

Freedom of speech is an atrociously difficult issue to do 100% well. While it's better to err on the side of speech anarchy than speech control, allowing radical and hateful ideologies to spread only hurts society.

yeah the only problem is actually defining what's really radical and hateful, and giving government that power is a bad idea. that's why federal obscenity laws and cases in the US have generally always followed the precedent of leaving the definition of "obscenity" to more or less local standards. imo it's better to criminalize bad actions than it is to criminalize bad ideas, because ideas can only be harmful in theory

3889

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 05:21:42 PM »

When I talk about hate speech laws I'm talking about how my government tries to censor people who say "mean" things and whatnot. Some countries in Europe are like this as well where you can actually get charged for criticizing refugees and speaking positively of the holocaust, while I definitely don't agree with the ladder it should be their right to express their opinion and it's up to others to prove them wrong with civil discourse and rational arguments.

oh yeah that's total PooPoo nonsense, even speech that might be offensive should be protected by the highest law. otherwise, if government is defining what kind of speech is legally offensive, you can have some pretty insane restrictions of free expression

3890

Games / Re: E3 2016 Megathread - STARTS TOMORROW!

« on: June 14, 2016, 04:43:09 PM »

Breath of the Wind looks like a really /comfy/ game that is fun and immersive, but it kinda doesn't really...FEEL like Zelda. Anyone else?

yeah i get that feeling too. i've only seen the trailer tho so idk

3891

Off Topic / Re: [NEWS] 50 dead, 53 injured in Orlando, FL gay club shooting

« on: June 14, 2016, 04:23:31 PM »

same feelings for christians and the old testament, but the new testament is supposed to overrule it afaik

depends on who you ask and for what specific point. any denomination i've seen generally uses a combination of old and new testament. i think that new testament teachings and events mostly just overrode old testament law, which lets people distance themselves from some really weird stuff like animal sacrifice and a death penalty for gays in leviticus (there are still other parts of the bible that people use for Homo tho), but i'm not a pastor and i'm not super-invested in the bible so i can't be too certain of the real reasoning

3892

Off Topic / Re: Legal age limits.

« on: June 14, 2016, 03:00:07 PM »

I feel like simply setting an age for these things doesn't really do much good. A lot of people will be ready for emancipation before that age and will simply be hindered by an arbitrary amount of time; while others won't be ready and could potentially lose the care they need because of it.

I think one idea could be that there is a test available to all minors over 13 years of age that allows them to prove their maturity and ability to take care of themselves, and thus emancipate themselves on their own terms.

In addition, at 25 years old if a person is not yet emancipated they should be given a mandatory psychiatric examination to determine if they are disabled, and if so put them where they will receive their needed care; and to otherwise emancipate them so they are forced to start caring for themselves. Part of the incentive for people to emancipate themselves as soon as possible, and to therefore stop leeching resources from where-ever they are getting their care, is that all their legal limits are lifted once they are emancipated. They can't drink until they emancipate, they can't smoke until they emancipate, they can't drive until they emancipate, can't (legally) view/buy/participate in research until they emancipate, they cannot get a formal job until they emancipate, and they cannot check the box to accept the EULA until they are emancipated.


Anyways, that's just a concept I thought would be interesting.

the problems with this are that, for one, tests are expensive to create and administer, and it would probably be a pretty large obstruction to a lot of people gaining the rights that they're entitled to. making the test would also be difficult because there isn't really any way to quantify maturity. you can test different basic cognitive skills in theory, but at that point you're secretly just having an IQ test to unlock your freedoms, which sounds like a pretty sketchy idea to me.

in addition, if the test is in english, you're excluding people who aren't fluent in english, either because they're still learning or never had to learn. the whole idea would also seem to imply that people have to earn their legal rights by proving that they're worthy of them, rather than automatically gaining them. this would be an incredibly concerning breach of due process; the government takes away your rights before you even have a chance to prove you don't deserve them. and if you don't have those rights, how would that affect the justice system? you're essentially only an extension of your parents by the state, not an independent individual. i think that idea would almost certainly be unconstitutional

i like the way it is currently. there's no way to make the law accurate enough to only give people rights when they're ready for them or smth, so the best bet is to just automatically raise barriers at the best estimate possible. maybe a combination could be made where people could opt to try and gain their rights sooner, but that would still be expensive to manage

3893

Games / Re: E3 2016 Megathread - STARTS TOMORROW!

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:40:49 PM »

Zelda. Hm. Yes

3894

Off Topic / Re: got better internet speeds; obligatory speedtest.net results

« on: June 14, 2016, 03:03:06 AM »

https://fast.com/ is more accurate. you can watch the speed in real time and the speed isn't bloated by ISPs to make them seem faster. only shows download speed tho.
i'm getting 10Mbps right now but it cuts out or ends up at like 100Kbps for minutes or more

this site is really hilarious because it's a big "forget you" to ISPs that might throttle speeds on netflix (lookin at u comcast) and prioritize traffic on speedtest. apparently the idea is that they can't prioritize speeds on fast unless they also do it on netflix or smth

at least that's what i read when it came out :-y

3895

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:57:12 AM »

Hate speech, political correctness, "tolerance". I'm talking about what I would call the mainstream left but what you may call the crazy loving handicaps who have poisoned the left. And maybe you don't even consider those western ideals.

yeah i define "western ideals" as the ideological pieces that actually make up what we consider to be western society. i don't think any of those three things are a bad thing (i'm taking hate speech as people calling out hate speech, which i guess probably would just be PC anyway) in reasonable moderation, democracy is most effective when all individuals are considered equally valuable and that's something that all of those should help accomplish in theory.

of course, i'm sure you're referring to the more recent issues where it's not unreasonable to say that these things have been unfortunately used to put down valid concerns rather than acknowledging them as valid and allowing them representation. a kind of hand-waving dismissal that people use because they find themselves unable to compromise with polarized opinions. in this case it would definitely conflict with freedoms of expression that are also vital to the success of a democratic system. however, this certainly isn't something that's deeply ingrained in western society. i think it's much more so a political phenomenon than any kind of reformation to our fundamental beliefs. it's just a poor expression of the values we already hold.

btw here are some interesting statistics from pew about individual rights, goes on for seven pages
http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/11/18/global-support-for-principle-of-free-expression-but-opposition-to-some-forms-of-speech/

3896

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:36:55 AM »

Too be fair western ideals (at least "progressive" ones) aren't compatible with Democracy either.

which ones? i usually associate western ideals with democratic values

3897

Off Topic / Re: (Radical) Islam's Incompatibility with Democracy and Western Ideals

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:33:47 AM »

Also, those people are pretty irrelevant when they're not the ones doing extreme stuff

it was responding to someone claiming that muslims don't protest the actions of terrorist groups like CIA, so it was definitely relevant in its context at the very least

though i would find it strange if you were implying that the only cases that matter in a situation where you're evaluating something as a whole are the bad cases, because that would be a pretty extreme fallacy. probably just misunderstood

3898

Off Topic / Re: [NEWS] 50 dead, 53 injured in Orlando, FL gay club shooting

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:32:40 AM »

If your concern lies with the preservation of everyone's human rights, due process, and "humanity" then your primary concern should probably be wiping Islamic ideology from the face of the planet because there's nothing further from it than Middle Eastern culture and Sharia Law. You don't have to kill or shun or imprison all the muslims to do this either. You just simply bar people from bringing toxic and dangerous ideologies into your country, and you vet the offenders who are already in your country. The "moderate muslims" everyone uses as an example of why we shouldn't "generalize" are just examples of semi-successfully assimilated muslims. The first step to reforming Islam is just accepting the fact that there is a loving problem with Islam and stop pretending that criticism of their ideology is "phobic" or a "stigma" or whatever the buzzword is.

like i said (or at least implied), it's much simpler than trying just to rationalize islam. this is demonstrating pretty well how people can balance their values in fundamentally different ways and reach vastly different conclusions. the bottom line for me is that i can't personally justify making broad assumptions, because that conflicts with my own personal interests. i imagine that you and people who feel the same way probably don't particularly care because it's generally useful to be broad when you're more concerned about safety. because it's better to be safe than to be sorry, and if you can eliminate anything that appears to be a risk, and you care enough about the threat at hand, it makes perfect sense that you would want to take any action possible.

it's not useful for me to think this way because it makes me feel more unsafe and uncomfortable. for others i imagine it has an opposite effect. i don't avoid and discourage generalization cus i'm some hippy nerd that just thinks everyone should get along and be happy, i do it because i fear fractured, unbalanced, and unequal societies in my own home more than i fear temporary, volatile political turmoil mainly active across the world that's doomed to end from its start. don't get me wrong, i am absolutely afraid of terrorism, but i believe it to be a transient issue that can be solved conventionally. i don't feel like i need an enemy or an evil or a target, to me it's just a problem that needs a solution. it goes without saying, but again, obviously these are just the best that i can word my own problems, and i don't expect everyone to sympathise. in fact, i'm saying it specifically because i know people don't. i just think that this is ultimately the real source of disagreement, and all the layers on top are secondary. i'm not trying to convince anyone of anything here and i'm not really trying to put up arguments, i'm only laying out my basic inclinations in the broadest way i can for how they apply here

3899

Games / Re: E3 2016 Megathread - STARTS TOMORROW!

« on: June 14, 2016, 02:04:03 AM »

duno if anyone's posted this

http://e3.nintendo.com/

literally the only thing i'm excited for, tho i haven't kept up much with anything else

3900

Off Topic / Re: Legal age limits.

« on: June 14, 2016, 12:46:44 AM »

science disagrees

this is somewhat misleading scince development isn't a linear curve, the vast majority of development happens in childhood, especially early childhood, and slows down during adolescence

14/15 would still probably be too early tho