Politics & Stuff

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,730]

58 minutes ago, Spike said:

He didn't really do anything to take down Milo. Some foundation found archival footage from about a year ago and used it to character assassinate him. I don't particularly care about Milo (he does entertain me) but it is pretty sus how the whole incident occurred. I dont' agree with Milo on a lot but I think it's dastardly to paint someone as a 'paedophilia advocate' when it simply isn't the truth; and that is all I care about, the truth. 

I guess it's all about checks and balances. The Western Roman Empire fell due to unchecked and poor immigration policies that led to it being from the inside out, and I suppose Japan's economic collapse is due to austerity in the face of other nations. The loss of cultural identity must be prevented but also stagnation of culture. 

I think he took him down in that he gave him enough spotlight to where such archival footage could be found.

 

On the internet, and I guess a few college campuses, Milo was pretty much invisible. Nobody would really challenge him because online leftist are too busy in their outrage culture, and online righties are too busy hating whatever flavor of the month group. Neither had the energy, or focus to really take him down. Maher put him in front of people,namely Evan Mcmullen(The Reagan Battalion) who did have the focus to take him down. Without a maher appearance, this footage remained hidden in the few who watch the drunken peasants/joe rogan experience.

 

I think some cultural identities are better changed. Like nobody would cry over Child Marriage being bred out of the places it still currently exists, even if it is a cultural identity.

[kmk108 1,186]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

Why should any nation have representation in another? Japan (or any nation) shouldn't become multicultural for the sake of representation.

That is terrible, but how many people does it affect? Yeah, it's shitty if you happen to be apart of that 1.5% but my heart doesn't bleed as much compared to an issue like Kurds in Turkey. If I go to city in Serbia and stand in the town square and scream 'I HATE NIGGERS!' it doesn't hurt anyone because there is no one around to hurt. It's still racist as anything else but there hasn't been a victim. I agree with you that they shouldn't be racist but I don't think have to be especially when they are a homogeneous society. People choose to visit and I know I wouldn't if I knew they were a bunch of racist a-holes.

Berlin is different to Tokyo. Japan is a nation that has been homogeneous and cut off from the rest of the world for nearly the entirety of it's existence whereas Germany has different ethnic group for thousands of years, from Saxon, Alpines, Franks, Poles to the east, Italians to the south, ad nauseum. It is the centre of a cultural and ethnic hub; which is something Japan has never been.

I see what you mean, but even if no one is around to be offended, racism can still perpetuate racism. The best way to break down racism is through experience with other races. By separating yourself from other races, you're allowing negative perceptions to continue without giving the option to learn about others.

If that makes sense

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,730]

7 hours ago, kmk108 said:

I see what you mean, but even if no one is around to be offended, racism can still perpetuate racism. The best way to break down racism is through experience with other races. By separating yourself from other races, you're allowing negative perceptions to continue without giving the option to learn about others.

If that makes sense

Very true. Exposure pretty much gets rid of any perceived differences, even if you are raised in racist environments. 

 

Some of my earliest memories is the LA riots, and the Korean shop owners on top of their buildings holding guns to protect their shops from Rioters. I remember sitting there, and my grandmother making jokes about how the rioters were so upset that they "Want to take subpar Korean product instead of something good"...absolutely disgusting sentiment from her bred by some perceived superiority complex, and I could have easily fell into this old way of thinking until I grew older and befriended Koreans. At that point I also realized that white and black people couldnt tell the difference between a Korean or a Japanese person, and in the end they didnt even care.  The racism was absolutely stupid.  This open mind only happens when you are around different people, and open nation only exists with many different people. 

[Spike 12,049]

12 hours ago, kmk108 said:

I see what you mean, but even if no one is around to be offended, racism can still perpetuate racism. The best way to break down racism is through experience with other races. By separating yourself from other races, you're allowing negative perceptions to continue without giving the option to learn about others.

If that makes sense

You are right but I don't expect every country to have visible ethnic minorities; that is just unreasonable and unrealistic. For example, I don't have high expectations for the normal Serb or Croat because of their raging hatred of each-other, Bosniaks, and Albanians.Hatred of black people isn't that much of a concern when they are still killing each-other despite nearly being the same genetically. Equality in the USA is more important than equality in Turkmenistan.

On the other hand, by experiencing other races one can develop negative perceptions, it's a two way street. If your drop a Chinese man into the ghetto of St. Loius for a week and then ask him what he thinks about black people, it probably won't be too positive; just the same if a black man is in the ghettos of Shanghai. Racism develops because of fear of the unknown (I don't know of those people or their language) and hatred of the known (I hate those people because of their language and customs).

[Spike 12,049]

The five greatest nations on Earth are: the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The four most successful colonies of the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Only where the WASP has touched has equality and liberty flourished to such an extent that we all still aren't satisfied. Only in these nations can you demand more, more and more and receive it. Not everybody but anybody can become something more in these five nations.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

12 hours ago, Spike said:

The five greatest nations on Earth are: the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The four most successful colonies of the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Only where the WASP has touched has equality and liberty flourished to such an extent that we all still aren't satisfied. Only in these nations can you demand more, more and more and receive it. Not everybody but anybody can become something more in these five nations.

Wow, ok. Why would the UK be any better than the rest of Western Europe for example?

[Spike 12,049]

6 hours ago, johnnythefirst said:

Wow, ok. Why would the UK be any better than the rest of Western Europe for example?

Your right, I should have thrown the Netherlands into that discussion as well; the Dutch were very important for the creation of the USA.

You're on an English website for an English team of an English sport; England is more important culturally in the west than all of western Europe. Hell, wasn't Belgium created through British support and lawmaking after the 1830 Flanders uprising?

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Just seemed like a weird out of nowhere statement to make. This said, is life in the UK truly better than in, let's say Denmark? Because you're clearly talking about quality of life here, otherwise you wouldn't call New Zealand (huh?) one of the five greatest nations on earth. What have they ever done except for making the LOTR trilogy? 

 

Also, Belgium was mainly created as a buffer zone to keep the French and the Germans from constantly trying to murder each other. That sure worked out pretty well in hindsight. ;-)

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

Bloody hell Trump will be pleased there's even fake news at the Oscars.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The German government disclosed that in 2016 there were 3,533 attacks on migrants and refugees in the country, leading to 560 injuries including 43 children.

https://www.ft.com/content/f8239ea2-fc45-11e6-8d8e-a5e3738f9ae4

But yeah, those bloody violent immigrants....

[Spike 12,049]

9 hours ago, johnnythefirst said:

Just seemed like a weird out of nowhere statement to make. This said, is life in the UK truly better than in, let's say Denmark? Because you're clearly talking about quality of life here, otherwise you wouldn't call New Zealand (huh?) one of the five greatest nations on earth. What have they ever done except for making the LOTR trilogy? 

 

Also, Belgium was mainly created as a buffer zone to keep the French and the Germans from constantly trying to murder each other. That sure worked out pretty well in hindsight. ;-)

Denmark isn't western Europe, which is what you mentioned earlier. New Zealand is ranked higher on HDI than every country in western Europe except for the Netherlands. But at the end of the day, most of the best countries in the world would just be drawing strings in comparison and would be down to the person that lives in the nation. The US, Canada, NZ and Australia all share cultural roots, live in the anglosphere and have an unprecedented level of freedom and equality and that's my preference. Hell, someone's preference might be Sharia...

[Spike 12,049]

2 hours ago, CHOULO19 said:

The German government disclosed that in 2016 there were 3,533 attacks on migrants and refugees in the country, leading to 560 injuries including 43 children.

https://www.ft.com/content/f8239ea2-fc45-11e6-8d8e-a5e3738f9ae4

But yeah, those bloody violent immigrants....

If they didn't immigrate the attacks wouldn't have happened.    

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

6 minutes ago, Spike said:

Denmark isn't western Europe, which is what you mentioned earlier. New Zealand is ranked higher on HDI than every country in western Europe except for the Netherlands

Western Europe as in the parts of Europe that were not behind the iron curtain... The whole of Scandinavia is very much Western Europe in their minds. Looking at the HDI: Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland all score higher than New Zealand. That was not the point though, the point is why did you say New Zealand is one of the five greatest countries on the planet when a whole lot of other ones could make an equal or better claim. I'm sure it's a very nice country and I'd love to visit, but it was a weird thing to say. 

[Spike 12,049]

Just now, johnnythefirst said:

Western Europe as in the parts of Europe that were not behind the iron curtain... The whole of Scandinavia is very much Western Europe in their minds. Looking at the HDI: Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and Ireland all score higher than New Zealand. That was not the point though, the point is why did you say New Zealand is one of the five greatest countries on the planet when a whole lot of other ones could make an equal or better claim. I'm sure it's a very nice country and I'd love to visit, but it was a weird thing to say. 

My edited post:

 But at the end of the day, most of the best countries in the world would just be drawing strings in comparison and would be down to the person that lives in the nation. The US, Canada, NZ and Australia all share cultural roots, live in the anglosphere and have an unprecedented level of freedom and equality and that's my preference. Hell, someone's preference might be Sharia...

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

1 minute ago, Spike said:

My edited post:

 But at the end of the day, most of the best countries in the world would just be drawing strings in comparison and would be down to the person that lives in the nation. The US, Canada, NZ and Australia all share cultural roots, live in the anglosphere and have an unprecedented level of freedom and equality and that's my preference. Hell, someone's preference might be Sharia...

I'm just saying there's no difference in the level of freedom and equality between Germany/The Netherlands/Canada/Norway/Australia/New Zealand/whatever other modern democratic country. :-)

I'm deliberately leaving the US out of this comparison for now because I'm afraid they're endangering their own level of freedom in several ways these days. Unprecedented attacks by the government on the press for example, are not cool and do not belong in a democracy. We'll see what happens there. 

[Spike 12,049]

So this was just passed in Ontario, Canada

Does that mean people can't say 'Fuck Islam' but can say 'Fuck Catholicism'? So when I think of Canada, I think of the Scottish, English and French; hence the reason everything has a French or Scottish name. I'm just curious what 'significant contributions' Islam has made in Ontario. I wouldn't expect Turkmenistan to state 'significant contributions' from the Sudanese if it simply isn't true.

Canada has never been diverse either...it's always been dominantly white.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

7 minutes ago, Spike said:

So this was just passed in Ontario, Canada

Does that mean people can't say 'Fuck Islam' but can say 'Fuck Catholicism'? So when I think of Canada, I think of the Scottish, English and French; hence the reason everything has a French or Scottish name. I'm just curious what 'significant contributions' Islam has made in Ontario. I wouldn't expect Turkmenistan to state 'significant contributions' from the Sudanese if it simply isn't true.

Canada has never been diverse either...it's always been dominantly white.

People living and working there? Paying taxes? Being doctors or teachers or garbage men or kebab place owners? Is that not a contribution? I live in Antwerp, in between a whole lot of muslims, and the vast majority of them is friendly and law abiding, exactly like the vast majority of non-muslims. Some people on the other hand, are assholes, but you'll always have a couple of those. 

 

Everyone just needs to chill out a bit and look at the problems ahead. The rise of extreme right nationalism in Europe is far more concerning than a couple of desert dwellers in Syria and Iraq planning their next attack. Last time it happened, it meant war and genocide. Tell me I'm exaggerating, but when a bunch of bald dudes proudly start doing the hitler salute again, and when condemned racists lead the polls in France and Holland for example, that ACTUALLY worries me. All of that jihadi shit in Europe combined makes for less casualties than one year on the Belgian highway.  

[Spike 12,049]

11 minutes ago, johnnythefirst said:

People living and working there? Paying taxes? Being doctors or teachers or garbage men or kebab place owners? Is that not a contribution? I live in Antwerp, in between a whole lot of muslims, and the vast majority of them is friendly and law abiding, exactly like the vast majority of non-muslims. Some people on the other hand, are assholes, but you'll always have a couple of those. 

 

Everyone just needs to chill out a bit and look at the problems ahead. The rise of extreme right nationalism in Europe is far more concerning than a couple of desert dwellers in Syria and Iraq planning their next attack. Last time it happened, it meant war and genocide. Tell me I'm exaggerating, but when a bunch of bald dudes proudly start doing the hitler salute again, and when condemned racists lead the polls in France and Holland for example, that ACTUALLY worries me. All of that jihadi shit in Europe combined makes for less casualties than one year on the Belgian highway.  

 

That's not really a 'significant contribution' though, Canada isn't exactly lacking in doctors, teacher, garbos or taxpayers. I don't give two shits about Muslims but I do give several about the truth and the truth is that Canada has never been diverse and the most important people in Canadian history are white people; that isn't racist that is just simply what happened. It seems like they are almost embarrassed by their own history and are using wording to erase that history. Besides, it is a restriction of free speech if I can talk smack about one institution and not another.