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  • Originally posted by creekster View Post
    Yes, we should strive to be less evil. Of course. But it should also not be surprising that we have done incorrect and sometimes evil things. The fact is that we are benevolent and we do offer a moral counterpoint to much of the evil in the world. And we should not forget the latter when recognizing the former.
    We should also not forget the latter when recognizing the former. Perhaps that is the most frustrating thing about the attitude some of you seem to take on Trump (and church leadership for that matter). I’m probably misunderstanding something, but it seems like some take the position that, sure Trumps’s probably a racist, mentally ill liar, but America would never let him get away with anything really bad so let’s just let it all play out. That doesn’t really work for me even if that makes me a twitter outrage loser.

    Comment


    • Public Service Announcement: There are around two dozen active threads which deal with Trump and/or politics.

      Don't muck up the only one about books

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Applejack View Post
        Public Service Announcement: There are around two dozen active threads which deal with Trump and/or politics.

        Don't muck up the only one about books

        Comment


        • Originally posted by ScoopJahoop View Post
          We should also not forget the latter when recognizing the former. Perhaps that is the most frustrating thing about the attitude some of you seem to take on Trump (and church leadership for that matter). I’m probably misunderstanding something, but it seems like some take the position that, sure Trumps’s probably a racist, mentally ill liar, but America would never let him get away with anything really bad so let’s just let it all play out. That doesn’t really work for me even if that makes me a twitter outrage loser.
          WTH? Does anyone here like Trump besides Uncle Ted?
          "There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
          "It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
          "Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster

          Comment


          • Originally posted by creekster View Post
            Yes, we should strive to be less evil. Of course. But it should also not be surprising that we have done incorrect and sometimes evil things. The fact is that we are benevolent and we do offer a moral counterpoint to much of the evil in the world. And we should not forget the latter when recognizing the former.
            Slavery and the Indian wars can be explained and contextualized--though not justified or defensible on human rights grounds--as vestiges of old world attitudes and values. Slavery is to some extent redeemed by the bloody sacrament of the Civil War. With respect to the displacement of Native Americans, there can even be indulged some fatalism while noting all the good things the US has done for humanity.

            But there's no such complexity with respect to the century after the Civil War. What a sad, disgraceful aftermath of the Civil War was the failure of reconstruction, and state sponsored apartheid and Jim Crow in the private sector. Black lives were not much improved by freedom from literal slavery for a hundred years after the Civil War. The failure of reconstruction really removes a lot of the mythical luster from the Civil War. I don't know why there are debates about who was the worst president. Clearly Andrew Johnson gets that ignoble distinction.

            Then you also have eugenics, women denied the vote, legislation and executive orders dehumanizing, limiting citizenship, and ordering internment of Asians and others. And tolerance of the Klan and lynchings.

            All of this undermined our credibility in fighting fascism and communism.

            it's important to remember that the crazy left wing arises in reaction to this disgraceful history. A mitigating factor.

            And all this was enabled and reinforced by the federal judiciary. Sometimes the majorities in Congress were trying to do the right thing, while anticipating it being undone by the Supreme Court. For example, the Supreme Court repeatedly concluded that progressive taxation, and originally any kind of taxation, was unconstitutional.

            Some of our most revered justices such as Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes appear on opinions reinforcing Jim Crow, extending it to Asians, etc., and upholding state-sponsored eugenics.

            One of the myths taught for generations in schools after the 1950s and 60s is that the federal judiciary is the branch that is the hero of the civil rights movement, defying politics, etc. This is really BS. I say, it was about fucking time, federal judges.
            Last edited by SeattleUte; 05-07-2019, 11:19 AM.
            When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.

            --Jonathan Swift

            Comment


            • Originally posted by SeattleUte View Post
              Slavery and the Indian wars can be explained and contextualized--though not justified or defensible on human rights grounds--as vestiges of old world attitudes and values. Slavery is to some extent redeemed by the bloody sacrament of the Civil War. With respect to the displacement of Native Americans, there can even be indulged some fatalism while noting all the good things the US has done for humanity.

              But there's no such complexity with respect to the century after the Civil War. What a sad, disgraceful aftermath of the Civil War was the failure of reconstruction, and state sponsored apartheid and Jim Crow in the private sector. Black lives were not much improved by freedom from literal slavery for a hundred years after the Civil War. The failure of reconstruction really removes a lot of the mythical luster from the Civil War. I don't know why there are debates about who was the worst president. Clearly Andrew Johnson gets that ignoble distinction.

              Then you also have eugenics, women denied the vote, legislation and executive orders dehumanizing, limiting citizenship, and ordering internment of Asians and others. And tolerance of the Klan and lynchings.

              All of this undermined our credibility in fighting fascism and communism.

              it's important to remember that the crazy left wing arises in reaction to this disgraceful history. A mitigating factor.

              And all this was enabled and reinforced by the federal judiciary. Sometimes the majorities in Congress were trying to do the right thing, while anticipating it being undone by the Supreme Court. For example, the Supreme Court repeatedly concluded that progressive taxation, and originally any kind of taxation, was unconstitutional.

              Some of our most revered justices such as Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes appear on opinions reinforcing Jim Crow, extending it to Asians, etc., and upholding state-sponsored eugenics.

              One of the myths taught for generations in schools after the 1950s and 60s is that the federal judiciary is the branch that is the hero of the civil rights movement, defying politics, etc. This is really BS. I say, it was about fucking time, federal judges.
              I wonder how differently things would have turned out had Lincoln not been assassinated.
              "There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
              "It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
              "Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster

              Comment


              • I just finished Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil Degrasse-Tyson.

                My greatest achievement in physics is getting an A on my Physical Science final after skipping every lab and most homework assignments (grade was determined by the higher of your overall average or performance on the final), so it was nice to get add a little meat on that bone.

                It wasn't well written, but I found it interesting (NGT notwithstanding), and I've ordered some Stephen Hawking books to get popular astrophysics on lockdown.
                Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

                "Cog dis is a bitch." -James Patterson

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Green Monstah View Post
                  I just finished Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil Degrasse-Tyson.

                  My greatest achievement in physics is getting an A on my Physical Science final after skipping every lab and most homework assignments (grade was determined by the higher of your overall average or performance on the final), so it was nice to get add a little meat on that bone.

                  It wasn't well written, but I found it interesting (NGT notwithstanding), and I've ordered some Stephen Hawking books to get popular astrophysics on lockdown.
                  Is he super annoying in print like he is on social media? I hope not.
                  "There is no creature more arrogant than a self-righteous libertarian on the web, am I right? Those folks are just intolerable."
                  "It's no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it's sanctimony." -- Guy Periwinkle, The Nix.
                  "Juilliardk N I ibuprofen Hyu I U unhurt u" - creekster

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Jeff Lebowski View Post
                    Is he super annoying in print like he is on social media? I hope not.
                    The footnotes are not his best work. He makes a levitation by flatulence joke when discussing the force of gravity. Dude just can't help himself, I guess.
                    Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

                    "Cog dis is a bitch." -James Patterson

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by SeattleUte View Post
                      You need to read This is How You Lose Her.
                      I didn't know this was also written by Diaz. I will check it out. Thanks

                      Comment


                      • I usually pull up people that I am interviewing for my team on social media-- I am curious about their social media presence (or non). This guy I interviewed from BYU-I yesterday, I checked out his GoodReads list: It contains Fahrenheit451, Animal Farm, Waiting for Godot, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye. I am wondering if he will fit my group well.

                        Comment


                        • A Brief History of Time by Hawking. I'm on a strange physics/astrophysics kick right now, but I'm enjoying the ride.
                          Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

                          "Cog dis is a bitch." -James Patterson

                          Comment


                          • Lincoln in the Bardo, by George saunders. I'm not really a saunders fan (too kooky for my taste) but this one is a good read thusfar.

                            Comment


                            • Originally posted by Katy Lied View Post
                              I usually pull up people that I am interviewing for my team on social media-- I am curious about their social media presence (or non). This guy I interviewed from BYU-I yesterday, I checked out his GoodReads list: It contains Fahrenheit451, Animal Farm, Waiting for Godot, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye. I am wondering if he will fit my group well.
                              Hire him.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by Katy Lied View Post
                                I usually pull up people that I am interviewing for my team on social media-- I am curious about their social media presence (or non). This guy I interviewed from BYU-I yesterday, I checked out his GoodReads list: It contains Fahrenheit451, Animal Farm, Waiting for Godot, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye. I am wondering if he will fit my group well.
                                Is your group full of people who haven't read anything since 10th grade Honors English? If so, it sounds like he'll fit right in.
                                Prepare to put mustard on those words, for you will soon be consuming them, along with this slice of humble pie that comes direct from the oven of shame set at gas mark “egg on your face”! -- Moss

                                There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese. --Coach Finstock

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