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Thread: Age of Potentential 2016 Candidates - Page 25







Post#601 at 05-14-2015 05:56 PM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by Kinser79 View Post
I was being snarky in my previous post. (Tone doesn't always translate on forums.) I have not run a dialectical analysis of non-profit workers (paid or volunteers). I am unlikely to as their numbers are too small to constitute a class of their own. Hell the petty bourgeoisie barely exists anymore. I would say that most non-profit workers are likely to fit into the proletariat, and their stratum would depend on income, lifestyle, etc.
I don't need tone to recognize a snarky response.







Post#602 at 05-14-2015 06:10 PM by nihilist moron [at joined Jul 2014 #posts 1,230]
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Quote Originally Posted by Ragnarök_62 View Post
1. Obviously whatever happened did cause financial hardship. I've received 2 calls from her car note company.
2. As for the mental condition, that's a long story and a long road ahead. I had to take tomorrow off so I can drive her all the way to Tulsa to see her psychiatrist. Mom and dad are 78 and that trip hurts their backs. Then of course she is in no shape to drive herself.
3. Oklahoma has a common red state affliction of suck ass mental health resources. Prison is the usual mental health facility here FWIW.
Her psychiatrist? I thought it was your nephew.
Looking at one thing and seeing another is called an "illusion," not a symptom of bipolar disorder but usually related to substance use or an underlying medical condition.
I hope they get him/her straightened out. Best of luck.
Nobody ever got to a single truth without talking nonsense fourteen times first.
- Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment







Post#603 at 05-14-2015 07:06 PM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by Kinser79 View Post
From your previous post, it would indicate that you are not close to any of your friends really. As such they cannot be like brothers to you. Brothers have a tendency to be close after they get over their petty childhood issues. Or at least that was the case with me with my cousin who is closest to my age. That being said, my point that peer group (IE Friends) have a greater influence over someone than one's parents in the long run is still valid--or at least so for most people. There are always exceptions.
The closeness of our (me and my best friends) relationship is similar to the closeness of the relationship that you have with your boyfriend. I assume you've been with him for long enough to know him and trust him with your life. If not, you're relationship isn't as close as our (me and my best friends) relationship. Your peer group is more directly and actively involved and influential in your life than my peers were in mine at your age.







Post#604 at 05-14-2015 08:05 PM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
CXr wasn't college material -- or at least material for a college that one can get something out of attending. (Example: some college in Dallas pushed "X University Teaches Traditional Values". First of all, kids learn traditional values at home -- or they do not learn them. Second, a good college education compels youth to test traditions for their validity and relevance. Some traditions show themselves necessary; some are simply benign; some have outlasted their utility. Even religious schools which may push a specific theology might oblige youth to read Marx to determine how relevant he is on the whole and whether he is relevant in places and under what conditions.
I experienced the wilder side of college life during high school. I wasn't a natural book worm or the type who loved the challenge of studying everything and advancing academically in everything and earning straight A's. I would have simply repeated high school. I would have done well in area's that mattered to me and interested me and did ample enough to get through the bullshit classes.

Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
There's only one virtue to keeping ties to old cronies from high school -- if one wants to stay in the narrow environment in which one was brought up. Small-town life may be intellectually simple, but the human relationships are complicated. Without those ties one can be incredibly lonely.
Talking about yourself or me? Small town life doesn't apply to me. Old cronies does not apply to me or any of my friends. We'd boot an old crony like yourself.







Post#605 at 05-14-2015 08:31 PM by Ragnarök_62 [at Oklahoma joined Nov 2006 #posts 5,511]
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Quote Originally Posted by nihilist moron View Post
Her psychiatrist? I thought it was your nephew.
Looking at one thing and seeing another is called an "illusion," not a symptom of bipolar disorder but usually related to substance use or an underlying medical condition.
My nephew does have bipolar disorder. As far as my sister, well, the local referral agency who has temp MD's did that diagnosis. Of course, I bear in mind that when she describes stuff, it's all garbled. Since I don't have a MD after my name I can't really disagree with the local referring MD. Then of course I have bipolar disorder as well. I know first hand that I was doing/saying weird stuff before I got my meds. Like I used to say that "squirrels were running around in my head" since that what the sensation was. It wasn't literal. Of course where there's "nuts" , you find squirrels.

I hope they get him/her straightened out. Best of luck.
Thanks
MBTI step II type : Expressive INTP

There's an annual contest at Bond University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term:
The winning student wrote:

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."







Post#606 at 05-14-2015 09:00 PM by XYMOX_4AD_84 [at joined Nov 2012 #posts 3,073]
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Quote Originally Posted by Eric the Green View Post
It's a major component. It is usually hidden and/or subconscious. The hatred for Obama is tinged with racism. Tea Party opposition to government spending is responding to the dog whistle. "Government spending" is a code word for "giving my tax money to blacks." The whole opposition to taxes, which is the main priority of the Taxed Enough Already party, is colored by resentment against paying for welfare to poor blacks and other ethnics. Most Tea Party folks are older and predominantly southern, although their leading politicians are Gen Xers.
Lots of Tea Partiers I know are Asian small business people.







Post#607 at 05-15-2015 05:07 AM by pbrower2a [at "Michigrim" joined May 2005 #posts 15,014]
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Quote Originally Posted by Classic-X'er View Post
I experienced the wilder side of college life during high school. I wasn't a natural book worm or the type who loved the challenge of studying everything and advancing academically in everything and earning straight A's. I would have simply repeated high school. I would have done well in area's that mattered to me and interested me and did ample enough to get through the bullshit classes.
You could have derived some benefit from freshman composition. I can easily diagnose something that gives away that you never attended college: your use of the grocer's apostrophe. You used an apostrophe as a marker for a plural, as in

Orange's 22¢

... such would get a red mark from any editor except as a depiction of bad grammar.


Talking about yourself or me? Small town life doesn't apply to me. Old cronies does not apply to me or any of my friends. We'd boot an old crony like yourself.
You would also know enough to not use a word whose meaning you don't understand.

...College kids know how to have fun, and they could not tolerate the rigors of college education without some of the fun.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."


― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters







Post#608 at 05-15-2015 08:12 AM by Cynic Hero '86 [at Upstate New York joined Jul 2006 #posts 1,285]
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The Meritocratic elite will rise one day, Restorationism will sweep the country clean of the traitors and cowards who want our country to be a weak goody-two shoes. We will purge society of the oligarchs, the free-traders, the Islamists, the neocons, the teabaggers, the leftists, the conservatives, and the liberals and replace the current antiquidated constitution with a code of law emphasizing government by merit, government by the worthy and government by the strong.

The military will be built up to over 15 million troops and over 100,000 nuclear missiles. The vassalization of Latin America will be carried out followed by the general pacification of the middle east and the establishment of military administrative regions across the middle east and north Africa. This would be facilitated by the establishment of settlement zones and settlement cities although construction of these proposed cities would be carried out by Arab Muslim labor.

It would be glorious, future generations of Americans and also Latin Americans and even some Africans and Israelis will go the middle east where they would settle, the labor burden of these settlements would be carried out by Arab Muslim labor who would live and specialized towns dotted around the New colonies, each Muslim settlement would have a small barracks compound where security forces would live and watch over the Muslim towns. Muslim labor would be organized into details and work on the construction of administrative cities under guard by these armed supervisors. Provisions for organizing replacements for labor would be accounted for because of possible labor depletion and defections. This is the ultimate goal of Restorationism, Restorationism bring about a new American renaissance, Restorationism will bring about a new American glory and a glorious era, RESTORATIONISM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD.
Last edited by Cynic Hero '86; 05-15-2015 at 08:33 AM.







Post#609 at 05-15-2015 12:42 PM by Kinser79 [at joined Jun 2012 #posts 2,897]
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Quote Originally Posted by Classic-X'er View Post
The closeness of our (me and my best friends) relationship is similar to the closeness of the relationship that you have with your boyfriend. I assume you've been with him for long enough to know him and trust him with your life. If not, you're relationship isn't as close as our (me and my best friends) relationship. Your peer group is more directly and actively involved and influential in your life than my peers were in mine at your age.
I've been with my boyfriend for going on seven years now. For all intents and purposes, he is my husband--though we don't see a need to have a piece of paper saying we're married. His folks don't really bother us, and mine are inconsequential. But yes, I would agree that for me, at any rate, my peer group is more important than any blood kin I have. If anything their importance has increased as I have aged, rather than decreased.







Post#610 at 05-15-2015 01:15 PM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
You could have derived some benefit from freshman composition. I can easily diagnose something that gives away that you never attended college: your use of the grocer's apostrophe. You used an apostrophe as a marker for a plural, as in

Orange's 22¢

... such would get a red mark from any editor except as a depiction of bad grammar.
How would you signify multiple A grades?




Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
You would also know enough to not use a word whose meaning you don't understand.

...College kids know how to have fun, and they could not tolerate the rigors of college education without some of the fun.
How did you use old cronies and describe those that you associate with it? Old cronies simply means old friends. Cronies means friends. You went beyond the basic meaning and inserted negative views and opinions that were inaccurate as usual.
Last edited by Classic-X'er; 05-15-2015 at 01:18 PM.







Post#611 at 05-15-2015 02:36 PM by B Butler [at joined Nov 2011 #posts 2,329]
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Left Arrow Racist Facism?

Quote Originally Posted by Cynic Hero '86 View Post
The Meritocratic elite will rise one day, Restorationism will sweep the country clean of the traitors and cowards who want our country to be a weak goody-two shoes. We will purge society of the oligarchs, the free-traders, the Islamists, the neocons, the teabaggers, the leftists, the conservatives, and the liberals and replace the current antiquidated constitution with a code of law emphasizing government by merit, government by the worthy and government by the strong.

The military will be built up to over 15 million troops and over 100,000 nuclear missiles. The vassalization of Latin America will be carried out followed by the general pacification of the middle east and the establishment of military administrative regions across the middle east and north Africa. This would be facilitated by the establishment of settlement zones and settlement cities although construction of these proposed cities would be carried out by Arab Muslim labor.

It would be glorious, future generations of Americans and also Latin Americans and even some Africans and Israelis will go the middle east where they would settle, the labor burden of these settlements would be carried out by Arab Muslim labor who would live and specialized towns dotted around the New colonies, each Muslim settlement would have a small barracks compound where security forces would live and watch over the Muslim towns. Muslim labor would be organized into details and work on the construction of administrative cities under guard by these armed supervisors. Provisions for organizing replacements for labor would be accounted for because of possible labor depletion and defections. This is the ultimate goal of Restorationism, Restorationism bring about a new American renaissance, Restorationism will bring about a new American glory and a glorious era, RESTORATIONISM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD.
The superior races will militarize, then invade, conquer and subjugate the inferior races? This is just the sort of rant that encourages progressives to embrace the "conservatives are fascist" meme.

For the record, I'm not seeing your projected trend as of now. In the aftermath of Bush 43's wars, most everyone with their eyes and minds open see the high cost in gold and blood of culture change at gunpoint as prohibitive. The trend in nuke warheads is down. In the US the keep taxes low meme is strong enough to prevent massive mobilization. We'd need a really impressive catalyst or set of catalysts to reverse the recent trend in culture shifts.

I guess you are allowed to dream that some day the wisdom of your personal world view will be acknowledged and your values will become dominant. A lot of others on these forums are dreaming that their world views will dominate as well. Yours seems to me far more unlikely than most. Do you see a spiral of rhetoric building towards a spiral of violence? I sure don't. Until I do, I find it difficult to take culture shift daydreams seriously.







Post#612 at 05-15-2015 05:14 PM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by Kinser79 View Post
I've been with my boyfriend for going on seven years now. For all intents and purposes, he is my husband--though we don't see a need to have a piece of paper saying we're married. His folks don't really bother us, and mine are inconsequential. But yes, I would agree that for me, at any rate, my peer group is more important than any blood kin I have. If anything their importance has increased as I have aged, rather than decreased.
My best friends have always been important to me and will always be important to me.







Post#613 at 05-15-2015 05:43 PM by nihilist moron [at joined Jul 2014 #posts 1,230]
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Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
You could have derived some benefit from freshman composition. I can easily diagnose something that gives away that you never attended college: your use of the grocer's apostrophe.
They teach that in grade school, not college.
So what's your diagnosis on playdude's numerous spelling errors ... alcoholic dementia?
Nobody ever got to a single truth without talking nonsense fourteen times first.
- Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment







Post#614 at 05-15-2015 07:30 PM by Chas'88 [at In between Pennsylvania & Pennsyltucky joined Nov 2008 #posts 9,432]
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Quote Originally Posted by Classic-X'er View Post
How would you signify multiple A grades?
Assuming that both of these are honest questions, I'll step up and give honest answers:

As

It's all about how it appears in the sentence with context to how you read it. That can be read as "ahs" or as "ehs".

Example: I received a lot of As on my report card.

How did you use old cronies and describe those that you associate with it? Old cronies simply means old friends. Cronies means friends. You went beyond the basic meaning and inserted negative views and opinions that were inaccurate as usual.
Cronies, even by the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries both apply a "derogatory" disclaimer to the word:

Merriam-Webster

Crony: a close friend of someone; especially : a friend of someone powerful (such as a politician) who is unfairly given special treatment or favors

Oxford

NOUN informal , often derogatory
A close friend or companion: he went gambling with his cronies



~Chas'88
"There have always been people who say: "The war will be over someday." I say there's no guarantee the war will ever be over. Naturally a brief intermission is conceivable. Maybe the war needs a breather, a war can even break its neck, so to speak. But the kings and emperors, not to mention the pope, will always come to its help in adversity. ON the whole, I'd say this war has very little to worry about, it'll live to a ripe old age."







Post#615 at 05-15-2015 08:14 PM by Eric the Green [at San Jose CA joined Jul 2001 #posts 22,504]
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Quote Originally Posted by XYMOX_4AD_84 View Post
Lots of Tea Partiers I know are Asian small business people.
Oh well; there's no accounting for whom can be deceived and led astray.
"I close my eyes, and I can see a better day" -- Justin Bieber

Keep the spirit alive,

Eric A. Meece







Post#616 at 05-16-2015 04:39 AM by princeofcats67 [at joined Jan 2010 #posts 1,995]
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Quote Originally Posted by B Butler View Post
The superior races will militarize, then invade, conquer and subjugate the inferior races? This is just the sort of rant that encourages progressives to embrace the "conservatives are fascist" meme.
C'mon, man. Reading comprehension.
(Cynic included 'the conservatives' right
between 'leftists' and 'the liberals'. )

Now, either Cynic is included in the proposed purge,
or it just may be that ... Cynic isn't a 'conservative'.


Prince

PS: Bob, if you don't seriously get it together,
you'll never be one of the 'meritocratic elite'.
I Am A Child of God/Nature/The Universe
I Think Globally and Act Individually(and possibly, voluntarily join-together with Others)
I Pray for World Peace & I Choose Less-Just Say: "NO!, Thank You."







Post#617 at 05-16-2015 05:03 AM by B Butler [at joined Nov 2011 #posts 2,329]
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Left Arrow Restoree?

Quote Originally Posted by princeofcats67 View Post
C'mon, man. Reading comprehension.
(Cynic included 'the conservatives' right
between 'leftists' and 'the liberals'. )

Now, either Cynic is included in the proposed purge,
or it just may be that ... Cynic isn't a 'conservative'.


Prince

PS: Bob, if you don't seriously get it together,
you'll never be one of the 'meritocratic elite'.
I suppose his is a Restoree?

Do you know if he reads Ann McCaffery?







Post#618 at 05-16-2015 05:37 AM by princeofcats67 [at joined Jan 2010 #posts 1,995]
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Quote Originally Posted by B Butler View Post
...

Do you know if he reads Ann McCaffery?
Beats me. Cynic could even be Ann McCaffrey for all I know.


Prince

PS: BTW, no criticism of Cynic's views is intended on my part.
(especially considering I'm one of the 'meritocratic elite'! )
I Am A Child of God/Nature/The Universe
I Think Globally and Act Individually(and possibly, voluntarily join-together with Others)
I Pray for World Peace & I Choose Less-Just Say: "NO!, Thank You."







Post#619 at 05-16-2015 06:21 AM by Classic-X'er [at joined Sep 2012 #posts 1,789]
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Quote Originally Posted by Chas'88 View Post
Assuming that both of these are honest questions, I'll step up and give honest answers:

As

It's all about how it appears in the sentence with context to how you read it. That can be read as "ahs" or as "ehs".

Example: I received a lot of As on my report card.
As is a conjunction to me and has nothing to do with the A's which are commonly associated with the highest level of human academic achievement and a prized possession of students who seek to use their academic skills to advance themselves in life. Please forgive me, I am not one who attended college and received the benefits of freshman composition. I wasn't in college during the mid 80's to find out whether a freshman composition coarse was as or more beneficial to me than the advanced composition courses that some group of higher people stuck me in during high school. Do you have any idea what its like to be a guy who preferred to be in the regular group like his friends and preferred to be with the women of the regular group as well. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me (a popular (well liked) party animal who happened to be athletic enough to be associated with the jocks) to break the ice with an attractive goody toe shoes who has never done anything bad or crazy who knew the group that I was directly associated with, the students who I hung around with and the reputation of the group in general. If you don't, I'll tell you from experience that it's tough, a helluva adjustment and it was very lonely at times.



Quote Originally Posted by Chas'88 View Post
Cronies, even by the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries both apply a "derogatory" disclaimer to the word:

Merriam-Webster

Crony: a close friend of someone; especially : a friend of someone powerful (such as a politician) who is unfairly given special treatment or favors

Oxford

NOUN informal , often derogatory
A close friend or companion: he went gambling with his cronies



~Chas'88
Once you go beyond the dictionaries and their definitions and enter the personal as he did, ACADEMIC RULES AND STANDARDS NO LONGER APPLY. He was fortunate that the internet is an untouchable world. Personal isn't not informal. I'm not the friend of someone powerful who is unfairly given special treatment or favors. He is more closely associated with that definition than me. My friends aren't gamblers or rural rednecks or envious friends of mine and therefore do not deserve derogatory comments/statements directed at them or their intelligence.
Last edited by Classic-X'er; 05-16-2015 at 06:33 AM.







Post#620 at 05-16-2015 09:08 AM by Cynic Hero '86 [at Upstate New York joined Jul 2006 #posts 1,285]
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Problem is that selfish baby boomers put their stupid "morality" and "principles" ahead of common sense solutions; although to be honest this deterioration did not start with the baby boomers: It started when ideologues like Wilson and Lloyd George began indoctrinating whole generations to be fearful of the natural abilities of human nature, to be scared of their own shadows. Restorationism will undo all this, and restore the true spirit of men and women the warrior spirit and the adventurer spirit. To make myself more clear I will present some historical examples of what would be the restorationist ideal leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcibiades
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Cao
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Lushan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Xilie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Wen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Xingmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Jun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Masakado
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoritomo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongwu_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu







Post#621 at 05-16-2015 10:58 AM by pbrower2a [at "Michigrim" joined May 2005 #posts 15,014]
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Quote Originally Posted by Classic-X'er View Post
As is a conjunction to me and has nothing to do with the A's which are commonly associated with the highest level of human academic achievement and a prized possession of students who seek to use their academic skills to advance themselves in life. Please forgive me, I am not one who attended college and received the benefits of freshman composition. I wasn't in college during the mid 80's to find out whether a freshman composition coarse was as or more beneficial to me than the advanced composition courses that some group of higher people stuck me in during high school. Do you have any idea what its like to be a guy who preferred to be in the regular group like his friends and preferred to be with the women of the regular group as well. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me (a popular (well liked) party animal who happened to be athletic enough to be associated with the jocks) to break the ice with an attractive goody toe shoes who has never done anything bad or crazy who knew the group that I was directly associated with, the students who I hung around with and the reputation of the group in general. If you don't, I'll tell you from experience that it's tough, a helluva adjustment and it was very lonely at times.
It isn't easy to be 18. Most people of such have big dreams and find that they aren't particularly useful in the economic world. Some sell out their dreams early to commit themselves to cr@ppy jobs whose best career ladders are best described as "some other employer". Some join the Armed Forces. Some turn to crime. The best and brightest generally find that they are wise to hone their abilities by attending college and taking the prescribed courses that include freshman composition.

College and high school are very different. Put out an honest effort in high school and do as you are told, and you will get the approval of teachers and passing grades. Such is not enough in college, which has its own conventions. Freshman composition teaches many of those conventions.

Once you go beyond the dictionaries and their definitions and enter the personal as he did, ACADEMIC RULES AND STANDARDS NO LONGER APPLY. He was fortunate that the internet is an untouchable world. Personal isn't not informal. I'm not the friend of someone powerful who is unfairly given special treatment or favors. He is more closely associated with that definition than me. My friends aren't gamblers or rural rednecks or envious friends of mine and therefore do not deserve derogatory comments/statements directed at them or their intelligence.
WRONG! Dictionaries have their limitations. Words can be stretched in their meanings, typically to simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. As an example, we know one word that describes the animal below:



I once referred to a dog (a bull terrier) that picked my cocker spaniel by the neck, found him too large to dispatch, and dropped him on the pavement as a "tiger". That dog did not have a tiger's size, let alone stripes (I have seen a dog with tiger-like stripes, but the black stripes on the dog were the result of food coloring applied to a yellow dog). Even with good behavior a dog is a fearsome predator due to strength, power, speed, agility, cunning, resourcefulness, voracity, keen senses, and sharp teeth and claws. Good behavior is all that keeps one dog from being in essence a cat of like size. Four 80-pound dogs? If they confuse you with a burglar they might as well be one 320-pound tiger. Four dogs together could be even worse because of the larger number of daggers in their four mouths than one tiger has. It may be coincidence, but dogs and tigers alike are good swimmers and poor climbers.

Dogs are our equals in the food chain.



A Newfoundland dog is the closest thing in its abilities to a tiger that I ever want to meet. Rescue of a struggling swimmer is a variation of a predatory act. It's the "overpower" part without the "devour" part. That's not to say that I would want it anywhere near cattle or sheep.

With such small animals as squirrels and rabbits



this small Jack Russell tiger -- excuse me, terrier -- enough said.

...OK, you can stretch the meaning of a word, but you must be justified in doing so. Deliberate stretching of a word is justifiable as simile, metaphor, or hyperbole; you can use it in fiction to depict ignorant people or people with a learner level of English. Without justifying it you show either ignorance or contempt of linguistic convention.

A crony is a close friend who gets special advantages without having shown obvious merit. I may explain it (drinking buddies might be cronies) as:

Consultants saw a cause in the poor performance of the Marketing Department: the Director of Marketing had been hiring his drinking buddies as salesmen.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."


― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters







Post#622 at 05-16-2015 11:10 AM by B Butler [at joined Nov 2011 #posts 2,329]
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Left Arrow Containment

Quote Originally Posted by Cynic Hero '86 View Post
Problem is that selfish baby boomers put their stupid "morality" and "principles" ahead of common sense solutions; although to be honest this deterioration did not start with the baby boomers: It started when ideologues like Wilson and Lloyd George began indoctrinating whole generations to be fearful of the natural abilities of human nature, to be scared of their own shadows. Restorationism will undo all this, and restore the true spirit of men and women the warrior spirit and the adventurer spirit. To make myself more clear I will present some historical examples of what would be the restorationist ideal leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcibiades
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Cao
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Lushan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Xilie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Wen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Xingmi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Jun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Masakado
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoritomo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongwu_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu
I note the leaders are predominately (if not entirely) Agricultural Age. Just to review, in addition to S&H's four generation based cycles, I also honor and incorporate four ages of civilization: Hunter Gatherer, Agricultural, Industrial and (maybe, the pattern isn't clear yet) Information Age. As technology shifts, the culture must follow. I believe this drives the S&H crises as well as the ages. The major changes from the various S&H crises were necessary to integrate new technology (and the owners of said technology) into the culture and political power structure. If there is a new source of wealth and power, those driving the new elements should and must find their place among the ruling elite.

In specific, the Agricultural Age was dominated by written information, human muscle powered weapons, and animal commercial power. Politics was dominated by military and hereditary autotocratic rule. The Industrial Age was dominated by printed information, chemical powered weapons and steam power. Politics was moving firmly towards democracy, though the transition didn't and hasn't completed. The current unrest in the Middle East is among other things a typical struggle of an autocratic culture attempting to continue in a post autocratic age. The hypothetical Information Age might be prompted by digital information, weapons of mass destruction, renewable energy and perhaps some yet to be perfected political scheme. My personal belief is that direct vote democracy will be required to prevent elites from dominating representative legislatures, though there are a lot of bugs that would have to be worked out. Certainly, a very strong check on any ruling elite is required.

At any rate, your Restoree rulers and empires are plausibly among the best of the Agricultural Age.

Two problems.

1) The Industrial Age democracies rendered the Agricultural Age governments obsolete.

While representative democracy is a far from totally effective as a check on autocratic tyrants, it is better than no check. In a darwinian contest, the Industrial Democracies kicked the Agricultural Aristocracies half way into extinction. I perceive Fascism and Communisms as hybrids, half way between the two Ages. They mixed Agricultural age autocratic tyrannical government with Industrial Age industry and economics. In style of government, the fascist and communist countries are in many ways closer to Agricultural than Industrial in style. Thus, your Restoree daydream, assuming you are not abandoning technology (good luck on that) does still resemble the 20th Century tyrannies even if you invoke Agricultural Age rulers.

2) War is no longer cost effective.

During the Agricultural Age, I would assert that war was cost effective for the winner. Power was measured in land. Taking land, gold, slaves and other things often made one stronger after the war than one was before. In a darwinian sense, one could argue that war was 'healthy' when limited primarily to muscle powered weapons. A region of the world that practiced war on a regular basis would be stronger and more efficient than neighbors. A culture with a strong military tradition was apt to spread its culture and values over large areas, where those with a weak military tradition were apt to become extinct.

Somewhere between the machine gun and the nuclear weapon, this changed. With more powerful weapons, the wages of war became death and destruction. War was no longer cost effective, even if one was the winner. Sure, France and Britain 'won' the First World War. Did they have any desire to fight another such war? Was the peace money they extorted from the Central Powers worth a generation slaughtered? Then there was Einsteins's quote suggesting that while World War III might be fought with the atom, if so World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones.

The Industrial Democracies learned that expansionist autocratic military cultures had to be contained. This was a hard and bitter lesson. It has yet to be unlearned. While you might shun leaders like Wilson who recognized the changing nature of military conflict a generation ahead of most of the world, Wilson was right. The modern military mission is not to expand territory and acquire resources, it is to prevent immoral autocratic militaristic leaders from doing harm.

Bush 43 and his neocons launched a war of expansion for resources. Upon acquiring new territory he immediately began building large bases for further expansion. He was contained. From France to Russia to Iran and elsewhere, political and proxy guerrilla tactics were used to make sure Bush 43 did not profit from or continue his aggression. This should be considered a good thing. This should represent the wisdom of modern warfare.

That was not the wisdom in the time of your Restoree leaders. War of aggression worked quite well for them, and for many others back before gunpowder, steam engines and the printing press.

The world has changed since then.







Post#623 at 05-16-2015 11:25 AM by B Butler [at joined Nov 2011 #posts 2,329]
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Left Arrow Dialect and culture?

Quote Originally Posted by pbrower2a View Post
WRONG! Dictionaries have their limitations. Words can be stretched in their meanings, typically to simile, metaphor, and hyperbole. As an example, we know one word that describes the animal below:
I hope you don't intend to educate him, one word at a time?

Different subcultures have different dialects, use words in different ways, value different things and take pride in different behaviors that mark them as being members of a given group. I get that you consider your subculture superior to his. Depending on how one defines or measures 'superior', perhaps you could defend such an assertion.

But dissing someone else's subculture is of limited utility, even if it is based on economics rather than, say, race, religion or region of origin.

You gotta do what you gotta do, but tread softly.







Post#624 at 05-16-2015 01:51 PM by Eric the Green [at San Jose CA joined Jul 2001 #posts 22,504]
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Quote Originally Posted by princeofcats67 View Post
PS: BTW, no criticism of Cynic's views is intended on my part.
(especially considering I'm one of the 'meritocratic elite'! )
But you don't seem to be an admirer of his warrior spirit, as exemplified by such "great" (according to Cynic) leaders as Genghis Kahn and Timur.
"I close my eyes, and I can see a better day" -- Justin Bieber

Keep the spirit alive,

Eric A. Meece







Post#625 at 05-16-2015 01:56 PM by pbrower2a [at "Michigrim" joined May 2005 #posts 15,014]
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Quote Originally Posted by B Butler View Post
The superior races will militarize, then invade, conquer and subjugate the inferior races? This is just the sort of rant that encourages progressives to embrace the "conservatives are fascist" meme.
Conservatives share a respect for tradition, tolerance of inequality, distrust of internationalism, support of the majority religion, and disdain for 'smutty' cultural expression with fascists. They can and must differ with fascists is on rejection of violence, acceptance of diversity, adherence to legal niceties, and making pariahs of the helpless. Conservatives can say as fascists can't that some issues of morality have been settled long ago.

For the record, I'm not seeing your* projected trend as of now. In the aftermath of Bush 43's wars, most everyone with their eyes and minds open see the high cost in gold and blood of culture change at gunpoint as prohibitive. The trend in nuke warheads is down. In the US the keep taxes low meme is strong enough to prevent massive mobilization. We'd need a really impressive catalyst or set of catalysts to reverse the recent trend in culture shifts.
ISIS has the proclivity to commit an outrage that can force the harshest possible response. We really are at war in all but name with ISIS. The Left is going to blame the younger Bush for recklessness and a lack of foresight; the Right considers President Obama weak and indecisive -- the President Jordan Lyman of Seven Days in May who has yet to remember that raw force is the sole means of influencing the world.

(It is worth remembering that Jeb Bush expressed the Party Line -- his brother did nothing wrong the current President failed to stay the course and make the lies of Dubya work. Also, the generational angle may apply: the mature Reactive isn't to the taste of those who want action, action, and more action in foreign policy).

I guess you are allowed to dream that some day the wisdom of your personal world view will be acknowledged and your values will become dominant. A lot of others on these forums are dreaming that their world views will dominate as well. Yours seems to me far more unlikely than most. Do you see a spiral of rhetoric building towards a spiral of violence? I sure don't. Until I do, I find it difficult to take culture shift daydreams seriously.
Wait long enough and every alternative universe will emerge. Of course that could take trillions instead of billions of years. But one thing is certain: Muslims are not going to walk into labor camps without a fight. The Jews did not have a chance in the Devil's Reich. ISIS has exposed a civil war within the Islamic world, and avoiding that civil war will be impossible. Most of the people that ISIS has killed are Muslims, and almost all the people fighting ISIS are Muslims. If we end up on the side of Iran because Iran and the US concur on the wrongness of butchering Shiites, then so be it. If we end up on the side of Saudi Arabia because orthodox Islam has virtues and ISIS is pure evil, then so be it. If anyone asks "What about Israel?" -- I can no more imagine Israel finding itself on the side of ISIS than welcoming neo-Nazis to a conference of Holocaust deniers.

Significantly, America must not allow itself to fall for the vicious agenda of you-know-who. Islam is not itself a menace to the United States. But if America does what you-know-who asks for it is going to find some enemies that it can't afford war against. Indonesia seems friendly enough. India will not disintegrate over whether to defend Muslims from genocidal designs of the US.

We are going to have enough problems in the final years of this Crisis Era without creating our own demons. Fascism is a demonic cause.

*Second-person pronouns refer to Cynic Hero.
The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" (or) even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered... in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by (those) who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."


― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
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