>> ^silverpoint16:

I am still of two minds about whether I want to anything to do with this site any more. We have been harassed and our characters assaulted. Most of you appear to now believe we are who we say we are. Some of you do not. That's fine. You are entitled to your opinion; however, the harassment and personal character assaults need to stop.
Thank you to all of you who looked at the evidence and drew their own conclusions.


I've been pretty level headed about this entire thread until I read this. For some reason, the way you worded that just set something off in me.

Let me make something clear to you from the start:

You're going to take some flak.

Videosift is a fantastic place full of MANY different opinions on many different things. We come from all over the world and generally are considered a community rather than an outright forum. Since there's less people than youtube, we can basically actually talk TO one another. You'll see the same names leaving comments and upvoting on many different videos, joking around, etc. And as such, you're eventually going to do or say something someone doesn't like.

We have Winstonfield_pennypacker and Quantummushroom as die-hard republicans that on basically any political video you'll see them say something (at least I consider to be) stupid and that'll spark an argument, and then two videos later you'll see QM say something that'll actually make you laugh out loud.

On religious videos we have many heated debates, the sift as a whole is generally considered Atheist, and will argue til they're blue in the face about certain topics.

On police videos there's a few of us (myself included) that don't instantly hop on the "COP IS IN THE WRONG, FUCK DA PO PO" bandwagon, and will generally be caught in a debate or argument about it.

Essentially what i'm trying to say is.. We're not youtube. You're not going to be a blank face in the crowd, you have a personality, you have ideals, you have your own mindset, and here you'll get to express it amongst others. But be prepared to have others not always agree with them.

So, if you want to just blend in, say what you want, and make sure your feelings don't get hurt, go ahead and leave.

If you want to be a part of something that with the bad, also comes a world of good, then stay. Enjoy our little community. Just be prepared for what that entails if you do.

Now that I've watched the trailer, rather than avoiding the trailer for the trailer... I'm actually looking forward to this.

I liked Die Hard 4.0

Neither movie was particularly based on the story, it's only 16 pages long, has alien mice and he's called Douglas Quail. There's a lot of extrapolation.

This obviously takes a fair chunk from the movie, as the whole implantation chair thing is a definite homage, but it looks pretty cool.

I'll now sit on the fence and await reviews.

Your video, Die Hard, Interrupted, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 56 Badge!

You can think whatever you like. I know what I said.

And calling people's name is not normally productive, I would agree on that. But i think a time should come where stupidity should be called out. just that!

And as I said, nothing good comes from religion, because of the point I said before. Would your brother stop being a good person if he wasn't a mormon? If he would, then you're right, and you win.

"I am 100% correct" .... WOW. seriously? And I'm the fundamentalist who is absolutely right?
Man, spare me. I have better things to do.


>> ^bareboards2:

Oh, I read every thing you wrote.
And I think you do want to reach into other people's minds and edit what they think. You repeat it over and over. (And calling people names is not productive nor particularly intellectually rigorous.)
You also speculated and made up a lot of stories about a lot of things that I never said, and certainly do not believe. You might consider sticking to what I actually say. It makes any debate stay on track.
You say nothing good comes from religion. I say some good comes from religion. That is where I started in this conversation, and I have never wavered from my main point.
I am pretty good at seeing two sides, or three sides to any situation. However, in this case, I am 100% correct. I see evidence of some good coming from religion all the time.
If you don't, then I repeat my conclusion that you are indistinguishable from die-hard fundamentalists who see the world only through the prism of their own belief.
I love atheism, I love the rigorous intelligent analysis it represents.
I do not like atheism when it becomes indistinguishable from fundamentalist religion.
Don't know what else there is to say about this. I can keep repeating myself, if you want.

Oh, I read every thing you wrote.

And I think you do want to reach into other people's minds and edit what they think. You repeat it over and over. (And calling people names is not productive nor particularly intellectually rigorous.)

You also speculated and made up a lot of stories about a lot of things that I never said, and certainly do not believe. You might consider sticking to what I actually say. It makes any debate stay on track.

You say nothing good comes from religion. I say some good comes from religion. That is where I started in this conversation, and I have never wavered from my main point.

I am pretty good at seeing two sides, or three sides to any situation. However, in this case, I am 100% correct. I see evidence of some good coming from religion all the time.

If you don't, then I repeat my conclusion that you are indistinguishable from die-hard fundamentalists who see the world only through the prism of their own belief.

I love atheism, I love the rigorous intelligent analysis it represents.

I do not like atheism when it becomes indistinguishable from fundamentalist religion.

Don't know what else there is to say about this. I can keep repeating myself, if you want.

Our foreign policy is too screwed up. This CBS News story talks about how a huge number of Christian Americans (70 million?) feel they are compelled by God and the Bible to support Israel against all of its enemies. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/03/60minutes/main524268.shtml

I wish all support for Israel was dropped by the US. If private citizens want to fund Israel's defense, then go ahead. But they should be required to publically declare any support they have for Israel so that any terrorists can specifically target them, and not blast us in their collateral damage causing attacks. Right now Americans are being threatened by people such as Al Qaeda forces because the whole of the American country is defending this minority faction of Americans who are die-hard Israel supporters.

Why do we all need to protect these pro-Israel people??? Let them fend for themselves. That's their belief system when it comes to everything in the world. Everyone must be self-reliant, free market, and so forth. But when it comes to defending Israel, they want all 300 million Americans to support it, and will take our tax money to do it. They are hypocrites!

That looks like Die Hard rather than Max Payne. No film noir, no New York, no snow, no darkness, no leather -- no interest.

>> ^ulysses1904:

I finally got to see "Magical Mystery Tour" recently after all these years of hearing how bad it was. Sure enough, it was terrible. Even as a die-hard Beatles fan I had to fast-forward through 75% of it.


As a die-hard Beatles fan I have to agree the movie sucked. Great song though.

I finally got to see "Magical Mystery Tour" recently after all these years of hearing how bad it was. Sure enough, it was terrible. Even as a die-hard Beatles fan I had to fast-forward through 75% of it.

>> ^direpickle:

dead


Fixed and thanks.

I have never seen the Airbender anime (but plan to), so this was my first exposure to that story world. I found the movie to be bad, but mainly for the acting. I think there was about 3 people that could act in it like Shaun Toub (who was in Iron Man), Cliff Curtis (Live Free or Die Hard, Fracture) and even Aasif Mandvi wasn't too bad. The rest were either outright bad or completely forgettable.

As for M. Night, Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were fantastic, Signs was just OK and I have not seen most of his others. I did see The Village and actually thought it was pretty good. I think that most of the hate is actually just disappointment after his first two and he just hasn't been hitting that quality level since.

>> ^NetRunner:

>> ^blankfist:
Not so much "Manichean" as I am just reacting to the cards dealt me in this compulsory system. I haven't a choice to NOT being affected by human government outside of leaving the planet, so I have to actively play a role.
What it sounds like you want is more direct democracy. I shudder to think. I think we should've learned the lessons of majority rule when the US broke the treaties with the Native Americans. But I guess old tyranny dies hard.

You make a lot of pronouncements about things being tyranny or some other absolute evil, and cast a lot of aspersions on people like me that we have some sort of absolutist ideal of what is good that we're trying to impose.
Like the comment I've quoted, for example.
My idea of democracy is that if you're going to have laws, it's best for everyone who will be bound by those laws get a say in what they are. Your primary argument against it, if I phrase it charitably, is that democracy alone isn't sufficient for bringing about a utopia where we have perfect moral justice for all. I agree. I'm just saying I think it's a necessary component of a free society, not that it's the only thing necessary for a perfect one.


Keyword being "impose". That's where our disagreements begin.

>> ^blankfist:

Not so much "Manichean" as I am just reacting to the cards dealt me in this compulsory system. I haven't a choice to NOT being affected by human government outside of leaving the planet, so I have to actively play a role.
What it sounds like you want is more direct democracy. I shudder to think. I think we should've learned the lessons of majority rule when the US broke the treaties with the Native Americans. But I guess old tyranny dies hard.


You make a lot of pronouncements about things being tyranny or some other absolute evil, and cast a lot of aspersions on people like me that we have some sort of absolutist ideal of what is good that we're trying to impose.

Like the comment I've quoted, for example.

My idea of democracy is that if you're going to have laws, it's best for everyone who will be bound by those laws get a say in what they are. Your primary argument against it, if I phrase it charitably, is that democracy alone isn't sufficient for bringing about a utopia where we have perfect moral justice for all. I agree. I'm just saying I think it's a necessary component of a free society, not that it's the only thing necessary for a perfect one.

>> ^NetRunner:
You're so Manichean about things. I'm with Churchill -- democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.
In any case, the platonic ideal of democracy is that all citizens get an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. What you're describing, by definition, isn't democracy. If people's choices are being usurped, or made meaningless, it's ceased to be democracy.
What we need is more democracy, not less.


Not so much "Manichean" as I am just reacting to the cards dealt me in this compulsory system. I haven't a choice to NOT being affected by human government outside of leaving the planet, so I have to actively play a role.

What it sounds like you want is more direct democracy. I shudder to think. I think we should've learned the lessons of majority rule when the US broke the treaties with the Native Americans. But I guess old tyranny dies hard.