RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day...

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 7:44:14 PM

LadyJulieAnn

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyJulieAnn

That doesn't lessen what those involved in the shooting are going through. That logic doesn't work, in my opinion.

Of course not. I suspect he was pointing out that there's a lot more coverage of the VT incident than of tragedies of equal or greater proportions, and that people are crying out to do things about the VT incident, but not doing so with regards to traffic safety, Gitmo, etc.

The VT incident is fresh and we are just now getting the details. Of course there is going to be overwhelming coverage at the moment and numerous questions being brought forth. I suspect he was just baiting people to respond to his thread so he could again put forth his political views.

Be well,
Julie

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 7:46:23 PM

farglebargle

Posts: 10715
Joined: 6/15/2005
From: Albany, NY
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quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

Second, there have been no massive acts of terrorism on American soil. Sep 11 saw a few thousand people dead. More people die in traffic every year.

I have to disagree with you there. Even if more people die in traffic, killing three thousand or so people in a single blow is pretty dramatic.

Agreed.

quote:

Also, the attacks completely obliterated two enormous buildings

uh. Later on that...

quote:

--an entire zip code,

We got some pretty small zip codes... State Univ NY/Albany 12222 General Electric/Schenectady 12345 ( Lot of Santa's Mail ends up in Schenectady... Shhh... It's a secret... ( GE has this machine... I've said too much... )

quote:

as the New Yorker pointed out--forever altering the NY skyline.

Well, The skyline's always changing anyway...

_____________________________

It's not every generation that gets to watch a civilization fall. Looks like we're in for a hell of a show.

ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוקינו, ריבון העולמים, מי יוצר צמחים ריחניים

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 8:08:52 PM

Aswad

Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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quote:

ORIGINAL: lockedaway

I HAVE read some of Chomsky's stuff. I think he is reprehensible.

Fair enough.

quote:

If you are a Chomsky fan then you are of a certain political bent that will never ben changed irrespective of how much debate there is on a topic. Right?

First off, I'm not a "fan", except maybe if you count his contributions in such fields as linguistics, where there are certain parallells to people like Donald Knuth.

I think he's an entertaining read, has a fairly good memory, and some very good points. His political preference is not to my liking, however.

Debate has been known to change my mind in the past. A history teacher, who was a fan of Chomsky as I recall, managed to sway me away from a strong political view in that direction, to one that I held for about 4 years after that, until settling on the view I've held since that time. QED. The exact contents are irrelevant. Please do not assume I'm not open to being convinced, it just happens to take more than a heated argument.

quote:

C'mon...say it...your mind is NOT going to be changed no matter what evidence may be introduced that contradicts your position. Your position is set in stone.

I'm going to say that your statement, and your previous posts, indicate you might be projecting your own issues onto me, and that it's an incorrect assumption. I hope I'm wrong about this, that your position is in fact mutable, and will assume so in good faith, unless told otherwise.

quote:

You like Chomsky? Good for you, we are diametrically opposed to each other politically.

No, I don't particularly like him as a person, from what little I've read that hasn't been about specific causes or science. Nor do I like his political alignment.

Why do you infer diametrical opposition to each other? That would indicate that you are a royalist with a preference for communist states without individual freedoms or constitutional safeguards, among other things, if it were true. I doubt this is the case.

My political position does not involve any form of democracy currently tested by man. By extension, neither does it include Chomsky's position of anarcho-syndicalism or any other form of mass-democracy posited so far. Insofar as I'm forced to make choices in a typical democracy, I would tend toward fiscally conservative liberal parties with some integrity. There happens to be one such over here, although they get few seats, and I vote for them because they're the least nauseating political party here.

This is not the topic for the debate, though, and I'm just disclosing it so you can cease debating me, and get back to debating the topic at hand. Okay? "Friends"?

_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 8:11:41 PM

Aswad

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quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

I have to disagree with you there. Even if more people die in traffic, killing three thousand or so people in a single blow is pretty dramatic. Also, the attacks completely obliterated two enormous buildings--an entire zip code, as the New Yorker pointed out--forever altering the NY skyline. I really do think 9/11 qualifies as massive.

On a North-American domestic affairs scale, it is fairly massive, although dwarfed by other social problems that get far less attention and far less finances. But, yeah, doing that much in a single blow is certainly a sign they were trained well, but I've always figured the US would do a good job of that, given who the enemy was at the time.

I think we agree on the point I was trying to make, although I may have misstated it.

_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 8:13:40 PM

Aswad

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quote:

ORIGINAL: farglebargle

Chomsky's one of the Libertarian-Socialists, who, like all Libertarian stripes will alway be limited in their ability to engage the public effectively ( vis. "Political Success" whatever THAT is worth... )...

I never raised the point about Chomsky's political alignment, specifically because I do not subscribe to anarcho-syndicalism, and because I don't think it's relevant. He's got his fingers in a lot of pies, some of which are apples, some of which are not. Let's stick to the Big Apple, and the tree that sprang from it, a topic he has written some sensible things about.

_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.

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RE: VA Tech shooting -- It's how Iraqis LIVE every day... - 4/18/2007 8:14:49 PM

Aswad

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quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyJulieAnn

The VT incident is fresh and we are just now getting the details. Of course there is going to be overwhelming coverage at the moment and numerous questions being brought forth. I suspect he was just baiting people to respond to his thread so he could again put forth his political views.

Yeah, good points.

_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.

(in reply to LadyJulieAnn)

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Post #: 66