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Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

fishmech posted:

Communists and anarchists were assumed to be one and the same and Wilson's government hunted them down ruthlessly. Do remember that this was the time period of the Soviet Union being formed.
They literally put all the anarchists and communists they could easily prosecute (as being non-citizens) on the same boat, then sent it over to Soviet Russia.
Moreover, this was the impetus for the formation of what ultimately became the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover.

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Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Ruckby posted:

One of you guys should probably link it so that the rest of us don't have to browse through Fox Nation.
I'm guessing that the point is that it's been removed.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Armyman25 posted:

If we're experiencing 10-20% unemployment, where are all these able bodied supposed to work? At all the jobs that are going unfilled in the ghetto?
Perhaps they believe in the Immaculate Job Creation, which will come about if we just manage to stop the evil government from just giving money away?

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

BetterToRuleInHell posted:

Wait, are other faiths, including Christianity, given as much time and effort into educating students? The omgmuslimconspiracy stuff is stupid, but if a public school is actually putting that much effort into educating students about one faith (which seems weird for a public school to do in the first place) only, then the school and the program deserves to be scrutinized.
My guess? They're referring to a comparative religion class, and the email conveniently neglects to mention Buddhism Week, Judaism Week, and Christianity Month (which they don't count because most of it was dedicated to wrong kinds of Christianity).

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Arglebargle III posted:

I love the logic there. Someone in Gaza bought lipstick, therefore no one in Gaza is needy.

edit: Is there any evidence that that photo comes from Gaza at all? I don't remember women in Gaza favoring that particular style of dress.
I'm not sure about this particular photo, but, at least according to Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada fame, this "mall" is no more than a large department store, with very few customers at that. Most Gazans cannot afford to shop there, unless they belong to the minority of Hamas functionaries, NGO employees or tunnel barons.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Pfirti86 posted:

gently caress these gun metaphors. I hope this sort of rhetoric becomes unacceptable to the mainstream discourse soon.
Not really. Upcoming conservative talking-point: loony libs are going to abuse this tragedy to take are guns. Already seen it on facebook. To whit:

Facebook posted:

:rant:: I love guns, and I love the 2nd amendment, to hell with those who hate the Constitution, and are too scared to have their own guns, so they try to take them away from law abiding citizens. It's a shame you all breathe!
:clint:: Having a gun in the house that isn't loaded is like having a car in the garage without gas in the tank... It will pass when the next tragedy hits (always does), too many of us like our guns & use them responsibly.....
:rant:: all my guns are loaded. If this bitch passes this piece of poo poo legislation saying we, the people can no longer have a stock of ammo, I will mail her a big steamy pile of my fecal matter. What a deranged liberal lunatic. So, her family had a tragedy, that's why she got into politics, so now she's so self-centered, that she is making THIS shooting ALL ABOUT HERSELF! Get over it! It's not our fault a criminal shot your family, maybe they should have been carrying pistols rear end in a top hat! Also, the Pennsylvania jackass trying to make it so if a threat or threatening words are used toward a government official, it will be a crime? gently caress that, they are scumbags, that is the 1st amendment. So you can see, they clearly only give a poo poo about themselves. now they are even talking about each having their own security detail on tax payers dole? You loving kidding me? How about this? You don't want to get shot at, do YOUR loving JOBS, maybe the next psycho out there won't decide to club you, run you over, stab you, shoot you, start you on fire, or beat you. Liberal whackjobs, I forgot to mention, people can beat each other to death with their fists. I suppose we should ban humans right? gently caress you morons
The ranter is referring to this article:

Politico posted:

Carolyn McCarthy readies gun control bill

One of the fiercest gun-control advocates in Congress, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), pounced on the shooting massacre in Tucson Sunday, promising to introduce legislation as soon as Monday targeting the high-capacity ammunition the gunman used.

McCarthy ran for Congress after her husband was gunned down and her son seriously injured in a shooting in 1993 on a Long Island commuter train.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Orkiec posted:

There are a lot of right wing forwards on this thread, but has anybody gotten a pro-Trump e-mail forward yet? I'm curious if anyone likes him.

There's this link from a few pages back:

quote:

Whether or not you like Donald Trump or think he has a snowball’s chance in hell of actually winning the Republican nomination and going on to remove Barrack Obama from the White House is beside the point; dude says exactly what’s on his mind, and you gotta LOVE IT.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Nucleic Acids posted:

So, just how crazy are the forwards going to be now that bin Laden is dead?
Bin Laden isn't dead, the body is fake, that's not the real birth certificate! :tinfoil:

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
I've found that many political "debates" are like that, not only in the US. With people from all over the world. Arguments are a signal of identity rather than a rationally generated position that can then be discussed, defended, dissected, then perhaps changed as a result of a dialogue.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

angrytech posted:

We're through the rabbit-hole, people.

It's Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: all the way.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
So, basically, now that they've killed Bin Laden, suddenly the 8 Bush years did happen? I'm having a hard time keeping the "facts" straight, help me out.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

From The Onion: Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex

From The Crazies:

:what: The first link from The Blaze even points out that this is satire, in the bloody summary.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

PerniciousKnid posted:

Of course in a real democracy we've theoretically had majority agreement that we want to pay taxes for a social safety net, we haven't been "trapped" by some external Other. Unless you think democracy amounts to sacrificing your freedoms, which I suppose is true-ish, but I don't think that's what they've meant to say in this email.
It's more like the government set up the social safety net to avoid mass rioting and insurrection, because bare naked capitalism was unsustainable. But why should they bother learning history when they can just listen to agreeable just-so stories?

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

last laugh posted:

Also I hope they realize it's those same greedy CEOs who added 2,3 etc for other languages because they realized speaking fluent English isn't a pre-requisite for spending money or requiring services.
That's the problem right there. In Kochtopia, a situation where damned foreigners would have any money or expect any services wouldn't have come up to begin with.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

a foolish pianist posted:

Is this true? I've never heard of Israeli miscegenation laws.

There aren't miscegenation laws. Instead, the only form of marriage allowed on Israeli soil is one conducted by religious authorities of one of the few religious groups recognized by the Ottoman Empire. That does include Orthodox Judaism, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam, and maybe a few others. But they only recognize marriages conducted within those groups. Israel contracts much of its racism out through its theocratic legislation. (And yes, for the Muslim community, there is Sharia law in Israel. Stuff that in a Republican pipe and smoke it)

Mind you, you can get married abroad and then they are forced to recognize such a marriage in Israel. But divorce is basically settled by the appropriate religious authorities. That is, if you're Reform Jew, and were married to another Reform Jew in the US, if you want to get a divorce after you both moved to Israel, it will be dealt with through the Orthodox Rabbinate.

Sorry for the derail.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

40 OZ posted:

:(

Holy crap that's awful.

Is the community receptive to the girls after they come to their senses, or are they shunned? Please tell me the guys in the community pay these creeps back somehow. :flame:

The fact that there is no legal recourse against these monsters in our so called "enlightened" liberal society is terrible. I'm no racist, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Why does this piss you off more than the much more prevalent situation of Jew-on-Jew or Arab-on-Arab domestic violence? People go on to marry other people to spite their parents all the time. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it devolves horribly. But there's nothing magical about the Jew marrying Arab issue, except for the massive social stigma involved which would make it harder for those who are victims of abuse to get any help.

So I'm sorry, but yes, you are racist, by promulgating the same "they are after are white womans" cliche that gave the KKK and the JDL so much power.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
I must have missed it, but where does this email say that the Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:er is a right-wing nutjob or believes any of these things you all are attributing to them?

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
You lot are just engaging in ALLCAPS profiling.

Just imagine every ALLCAPS statement being yelled loudly. Yeah, it's a clear sign of crazy.

But I still don't think you should be profiling this nutjobiness to be crazy right-winged. It mostly seems awed by China, not really scared, per se. They will welcome their new masters.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

last laugh posted:

A good rebuttal.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/09/america_crime_poverty

I don't understand how middle-class conservatives in America aren't absolutely horrified about the very real possibility of slipping into poverty.

Of course they are. They just deal with it through denial and wealth-worship.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Enjoy posted:

But that was a known unknown... :suicide: that phrase is terrible
That's actually a very important distinction. There are known unknowns, which you can model (like coin tosses), and there are unknown unknowns, which you cannot (like the next new technology). It's dangerous to confuse the two.

Sarion posted:

They produce a small amount of Intel's chips. Do they have other silicon fabs that I'm not aware of? Intel's American silicon manufacturing is far larger than what is in Israel.

As far as I know most of what's done in Israel's Intel subsidiary/branch is R&D. They do have a couple of manufacturing plants, but I doubt they're as big as in the US.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

jojoinnit posted:

Wait a sec, so the argument being made was that we should support Israel financially, because Intel has R&D labs there? Now that is a silly argument. Let Intel provide security for their own drat labs.

They also got a lot of tax breaks from the Israeli government to set up a fab in a low-income area. So if they want security they could invest the saved money in that. Problem solved! :eng101:

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

T-man posted:

Conservative? As in, also the "no handouts, BOOTSTRAPS!" type? How do they justify begging from your mother? :confused:
Oh, no, you see, it doesn't apply to them because

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Zwabu posted:

This is basically an illustration of the awesome power of propaganda. Since this guy has probably heard this 50% don't pay taxes talking point repeated about 90,000 times in the last 2 months on his Favorite News Channel, from politicians like Rick Perry, "editorial content" hosts like Hannity and O'Reilly, from the "news" anchors there, and on the radio from Rush Limbaugh about another 120,000 times, it comes to replace an actual thought in his head, it's something that comes easily and readily to the lips as an automatic response.

if (tax debate) then ("50% of Americans don't pay taxes").

Basically propaganda, repeated over and over again, is very potent.

I would like to reemphasize that propaganda is very powerful. There is power in propaganda. Repeating propaganda over and over again is very effective.

The real funny part is that it wouldn't matter even if they didn't pay any taxes whatsoever. You know why? You know the money that the other 50% make? That money is incumbent on the work some of those 50% do (cleaning, sweeping, harvesting, packing, shipping, shelving, selling, driving, etc), and on the low wages guaranteed by the others` unemployment. The economy isn't individual, it's social. Those self-congratulatory blowhards would starve within days without those terrible 50%, not to mention make any money or get those expensive suits they prance around with while railing against the lucky duckies.

In that sense, even progressives are buying into propaganda that is not rooted in reality. As if a person's worth has to do with individual taxes they pay with "their" money. It's a red herring.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

York_M_Chan posted:

Did you get the bullshit "You're not a property owner so you don't understand" argument? "Just wait til you own a house and have to pay taxes! Then you'll be on our side."
That's some sound class analysis right there.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

HipGnosis posted:

Got a question. How do you politely tell someone that supply side economics is a myth?

I'll be watching the rugby game from last night with my friend and her bf this afternoon. This guy is a corporate lawyer, argues that creating a "hospitable business environment"is all that's needed to create jobs and that the state shouldn't pay for retirement benefits because even someone making $30,000 a year can put $100 away ever month for the future (I doubt this guy has ever made $30,000 a year in his life).

He's very polite, not belligerent and my friend is my fiance's cousin, so I don't want to piss anyone off. Should I even bother or just keep my mouth shut?

I have found the following article to be very thorough and convincing in debunking supply-side economics:
The failed experiment -
How misplaced faith in tax cuts and other economic myths are destroying the country
, by David Cay Johnston, a journalist specializing in economics and tax issues.
It also made me very angry. But it should be a good place to start building arguments, if you don't decide to avoid the issue entirely.

Be aware that the response may well boil down to "well, they didn't really implement it properly, it would have worked otherwise," at which point there is not much to go on, anyway. But maybe you can find a way to respond to that, as well.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
Sometimes Breitbart doesn't pull things out of his rear end. The Wiener case, for example. I'd suggest only arguing the point if you find he's really misrepresented the case. Otherwise wait for the next time he does that.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Dr Snofeld posted:

Not strictly an email, but if you feel like wanting to punch someone today, the Daily Mail has you covered with a nice little number about OWS. Shame that itsyotsy got shut down, the Mail doesn't deserve the ad revenue.
Note that they are so proud of this pile of self-congratulatory feces that they had it be posted as the first and only story of some pseudonymous MOTUS

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
The bribery is a very rare, obvious form of class nepotism. The real deal is that people hang out with the rich, "naturally" befriend them, and then suddenly find opportunities for employment after their terms end, employment for members of their family, etc. It's the process of being lobbied and making new friends, and the prospects after they have finished "serving", which naturally make their perspective different, not whether they are 10 times or 100 times more well compensated than the median income.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

ClosedBSD posted:

Congrats, your lab partner is pretty fantastic at repeating talking points. Better hope that your lab was explained word for word in class, with your professor tying in conspiracy theories involving College Democrats into the labs instructions, which he drew out in nonsensical graphs and diagrams on the chalkboard, in between bouts of crying because he "loves this class so much", but "fears for it."; because if your lab is in anything less than this format there is no way your partner will remember.
I'm not sure if that was intentional, but you've just described the best lab class ever. If one of my labs next semester falls on April Fools, I might just have to do this.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Dr Christmas posted:

Not an email, but a leaflet passed out by bankers to the protesters at Occupy Chicago. It's a mass distibuted text thingy, so I'm just going to say it counts for this thread.
A 7th grade class in an inner-city school would eat these smugdogs alive.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
Ooh! I get to contribute!

A facebook post titled "Jew: The source of all decadence and evil in the world; descendent of apes and pigs." linked to this piece of excrement

Honest Reporting (no really) posted:

I have come to realize just how difficult it may be to decipher news about the Middle East, Islam, Israel, the Arab World, and all these powerful and explosive issues of our times for those who rely on such media stalwarts as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the major television networks, cable news, etc. for their information. For example, how is a person to ascertain whether the slayer of a family is a terrorist or a militant or a gunman or an assailant or an activist or a freedom-fighter?

So, purely as a public service, I have organized the following glossary of the most pertinent terms and expressions, as typically used in the above-mentioned news sources. I hope, insha’allah, the reader will find it helpful to unravel the Gordian Knot of language that is today’s (and yesterday’s and tomorrow’s) Middle East!

Dr. Yasser Dasmabebi holds the Edward Said-Noam Chomsky Linguistics Chair at Abdul Abulbul Amir University in Cairo.



************************************

Aggression: Killing people who are trying to kill you.

Al Qaeda: the terrorist group that, according to American security sources, embodies the world-wide Islamist movement, and that is either “significantly degraded” or is still “extremely dangerous,” depending on which government official is doing the talking.

Apartheid: The political/social system of the one and only country in the Middle East that integrates Jews, Beduins, Arabs, whites, blacks, Muslems, Ethiopians, Russians, Christians, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Bahai, et al.

“Apes & Pigs”: See “Jew” below.

Arab Emir: Military dictator.

Arab King: Military dictator.

Arab President: Military dictator.

Arab Prime Minister: Military dictator.

Arab Spring: Replacement of one dictatorship with another, with the help of Western money and media cheerleading.

Arab Street: Enraged mobs chanting and screaming their hatred, determined to annihilate Israel and the Jews. They can often be seen burning American and Israeli flags, passing out candies and firing guns into the air in response to successful murders of Westerners (closely related to):

Arab Humiliation: The pervasive feeling on the Arab street generated by their failure to annihilate Israel and the Jews in several wars. Many opinion-makers, Middle East experts and op-ed writers argue that Arab humiliation is at the root of the Middle East conflict; i.e., “If only the Jews would let themselves be destroyed, the Arab street would feel better about themselves, and then there would be peace.”

Ayatola: Persian dictator. Spiritual leader of that faith that desires to ignite nuclear holocaust in order to bring about the arrival of the Mahdi. (See “Mahdi” below.)

Bias: An expression of support for the existence of Israel.
...
It just goes on like this. So funny.

Note the bolded part, though. Abdul Abulbul Amir University in Cairo? Abdul Abulbul Amir? I knew that from somewhere: it is in fact the name of this old song.

I imagine whoever invented this character (searching for him online has only produced him as an author of both this piece and another piece defending the first) thought no-one would notice this act of deception - obviously, there is no Abdul Abulbul Amir University in Cairo.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Merrill Grinch posted:

So wait, it was the name of some obscure song from the 1920's was the big tip-off for you and not the name "Dr. Yasser Dasmabebi"?
:blush: In my defense, the article is really annoying, so perhaps that's why my pun-sensors didn't pick up on that.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Arglebargle III posted:

Yup. Funny to see this go the other way, usually it's pedophile->child molester. There was a morbid news article about "teachers behaving badly" on some lovely site that I clicked recently. One of them was a 25 year old having sex with his 17 year old student. Okay, he should lose his job for that, but I remember thinking "couldn't you have waited one more year dude..." :smith:

Of course he probably couldn't if he was a 25 year old immature enough to be in a relationship with a high school girl.
But how is he going to abuse his authority over her if she's no longer in school? Yeesh, some people. :rolleyes:

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
A welfare queen who is also in a gang, no less.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

BrotherAdso posted:

To re-iterate:

The degree of truth when it comes to the email's content isn't the point. The point is to reinforce a belief in a world full of nothing but danger, where even the roadways outside one's home are a terrifying den of criminals and traps. According to this paranoid worldview, anything slightly out of the ordinary must have the most hideous and conspiratorial explanation and implications possible.

Yes, and people are raising possible objections so they can argue with their friends/relatives if those pass this turd on, as maybe it will help take them out of this mindset. It probably won't help, but it may be worth it to formulate arguments for the few cases it will.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

ts12 posted:

PUA poo poo
:stare:
It's always nice when people set their goals at literally being no better than animals because they live according to what pop evopsy tells them to.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

ts12 posted:


PUAs are trash and here is probably the best example of it:
I had a now former friend on facebook, someone who I had met in person, and thought was really nice, go into a whole diatribe of how feminists couldn't possibly understand why women would react so positively to assertive, overpowering men. There were hints of PUA in what he was talking about, I mean it seemed like he was saying the success of date-rape means that feminists are wrong, but I wasn't sure until he literally pointed to PUA as what has gotten him more successful with women, and there was some female friend/ex of his on that post to back him up. He was being a manipulative bastard beforehand, basically going into "dance for me, my puppets" mode at some point, and then he actually acknowledged that explicitly.

PUA is date-rape training and apologetics, if you talk to a PUAer for long enough you'll realize that.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

euphronius posted:

It's the same god :psyduck:
Moreover, it sounds very similar to Kosher butchering. Which would explain why in many places it was permissible for observant Jews to eat Halal meat, and for observant Muslims to eat Kosher meat, in lieu of that specifically prepared by their own faith.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Benly posted:

There's good reason to believe that some of the laws of kashrut derive from health elements - the most obvious one is that a sick animal is flat-out not kosher, and in general the rules encourage animals that are easy to raise agriculturally and therefore control the health of rather than game animals. (Pigs are a notable exception, but they're also a vector for a fair number of food diseases and parasites.)
Yeah, except it's not like whatever fringe health/cultivation benefits might have been derived from all of these regulations actually made Hebrews or Jews survive better than their peers, and their continuing minority attests to that. Also if you will compare Jewish hygiene regulations not only to current ones (seriously, I think just avoiding showering altogether might be healthier than washing in the same water basin as the whole tribe on a weekly basis!), but especially to Roman ones, you will find them lacking. People have been living off pork and seafood, as well as wearing cloths of different fabrics, for thousands of years without managing to get themselves extinct, it's not really that hard.

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Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Benly posted:

So I guess you didn't read the rest of my post where I said that also a bunch of them are explicitly just tribal identifiers? I mean that's cool I guess.
I think they are all tribal identifiers, is what my point is. Retroactively some of them turn out to make some vague sense in terms of hygiene, others make very little sense, so people cherry-pick those they like and say that was a sensible source for them. But you could have generated a random set of traditions and some of them would kind of look like they made sense in terms of health and hygiene.

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