Detractors gonna detract.

You know, you try and please all the people and you will just undermine your own position. I disagree with Maher that it is all about money, I think pot has an image problem too - you know the stereotypes. I don't think the way to confront that is to hide recreational pot use as if it was a thing to be ashamed of. I think some really don't think it is possible to smoke pot and, you know, have a job or be a contributing member of society. Isn't it about time to dispel that myth?

I'll just quote Truman again...

" Rather, he joked that “Out of the great progress of this country, out of our great advances in achieving a better life for all, out of our rise to world leadership, the Republican leaders have learned nothing. Confronted by the great record of this country, and the tremendous promise of its future, all they do is croak, ‘socialism.’”"

Ah hell BK, just choke on the whole article. =)

http://www.thenation.com/article/how-socialists-built-america/

@SDGundamX -- I've lived in Thailand for almost 10 years, and a lot of the things she mentions for Japan are similar here or at least have semi-related corresponding cultural rules.

I also definitely have "farang privilege" which would be the Thai equivalent of "gaijin privilege". Not showing emotion is also big here, especially with regards to anger. Thais avoid confrontation at pretty much all costs. Which in and of itself can be infuriating -- sometimes a process or system is woefully inadequate or blatantly broken, but point it out as an area of concern (even in a constructive way) and an entire room of Thais will break into nervous silence out of fear of insulting or appearing critical of whoever is responsible for said system.

I love living here, but sometimes the cultural differences can be an obstacle...

haha..whats up drunky!
you nailed exactly why i post some of the more controversial videos in my que.

i have found that those of identify strongly with one politcial and/or cultural philosophy tend to stick in the same groups,the same spaces and receive their information from the same sources.

this applies to both the right AND the left.
we can use bobknight as an example when he regurgitates almost verbatim the current republican talking points.

but bob is an easy target.

the only thing i have truly been invested in of late is the greg elliot case.who was recently found not guilty and people have been saying its a victory for free speech.

but is it?
the man lost his job and is 100k in the hole for legal fees.

so while people can say this is a victory for free speech.i am less optimistic.some people could look at greg elliots case and decide to shut up if confronted.not make any waves and submit to the threat of legal prosecution.

of course there was a sifter who felt that because the video was from a right wing show,the content was worthless.which is a binary way of thinking that is very limiting,because it judges the speaker before the content and the discussion is ended before it has begun.

so my posting the rape game video was to bring awareness,not make a social commentary,and is also why i provided links to both a left and right take on the situation.

i would rather post a documentary or lecture on the subject,but most people nowadays want their information spoon fed to them in tiny,easy to consume,media bites no more than 5 minutes.

which is damn near impossible.
human interactions,cultures,religions and societies are complex and nuanced.it takes time to unpack all that information and digest the context.

ah well..what can you do...

anyways,
thanks for your comment and stay awesome brother!

Footage released by the FBI of the confrontation and shooting/arrest of those Oregon malita dudes.
Start at about the seven minute mark.

FDR didnt decide that. Truman did. Truman was a weakling. He was like a teenage bully who suddenly got unbelievable power. Even Churchill noticed how much he changed and how he always attacked and tried to provoke Stalin.
And that decision wasnt made because of fear of more lost lives. it was made because after Germany was defeated Russia very quickly advanced towards Japan. Truman didnt want want Russia to get a say in Japan at all costs. Yet they knew Japan was willing to surrender, with only one condition: The emperor would not be touched. The Americans didnt even want to accept that single condition. But the funny thing is, they did after the war. The emperor was not touched. But Truman, in his world, was pretty smart. He not only stopped any possibility of the Russians being able to get a part of Japan, he also showed Stalin what a powerful nation the USA has become, and that it should be feared. In reality, it was 2 atom bombs for NOTHING. Those 2 bombs were a huge factor in the start of the cold war, but ultimately it was Truman and the people behind him, who started that war. He always saw an enemy in Russia. He did everything to ensure they would think the USA is their enemy. Yet memos of Stalin and other documents showed clearly that Stalin never wanted a confrontation with the USA and even after the cold war started, he never took an attack on them into consideration.
Its just another chapter in the aggression and chaos the USA spreads on this planet.

Sorry, it turns out my fresh install of my email client decided to sort Videosift emails into the junk folder, so I missed a bunch of replies.

Mainly I was ready to string these guys up for mucking around with historical artifacts. The sensitivity to it is because the current occupiers of this country already wiped out millions of indigenous people, and now the least intelligent among us have to drag what's left further through the mud with their buffoonery.

I also think the way the government has dealt with this is perfect, but, I still cringe when considering the disparity between how this was dealt with, versus so many recent, violent and unnecessary urban confrontations lately.

Leaving aside the reasons for the conflict in the first place (difficult to comment since we really don't have any information about what happened), isn't that what he did?

She became agitated to the point where she assaulted him. It might not have been a serious assault, but it was assault nonetheless.

We don't know what her intention was, but it looked like she intended to commit more violence (her fist was raised).

You could argue that he stopped that from happening.

Personally, I would have walked away at that point, but every situation is different, and we don't know what lead either of them to this point.

The guy could a complete sleazebag. Or he could be a past victim of assault who decided "never again". We just don't know.

I 100% agree with you that the best fight is the one you don't have to have. De-escalation is always preferable, but it's not always possible.

If you do get into a physical confrontation, then your goal should be to end it as quickly as possible.

Yeah, I'll just quote this...

"Truman did not cower at the mention of the word “socialism,” which in those days was distinguished in the minds of most Americans from Soviet Stalinism, with which the president—a mean cold warrior—was wrangling.

Nor did Truman, who counted among his essential allies trade unionists like David Dubinsky, Jacob Potofsky and Walter Reuther, all of whom had been connected with socialist causes and in many cases the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas, rave about the evils of social democracy.

Rather, he joked that “Out of the great progress of this country, out of our great advances in achieving a better life for all, out of our rise to world leadership, the Republican leaders have learned nothing. Confronted by the great record of this country, and the tremendous promise of its future, all they do is croak, ‘socialism.’”"

You are like a small child afraid of the monster in the closet when, in reality, there is nothing there. Do public servants like police/fire brigade etc draw pensions on retirement? That's socialism. Capitalism says that they are at the end of their useful life, and if they haven't saved for their retirement, fuck em.

And let's not even get started on christianity (love they brother and money is the root of all evil), damn Jesus and his socialist bullshit... X D

My views are heavily biased as well, just from a different point of view. Most of the discussion over here is fueled by misinformation and emotion.

And yes, some people outright refuse to put the blame on the individual. Can't have a proper discussion about anything with those folks. In any case, the laws DO apply to everyone equally, but enforcement has been just as lax in Cologne as it was regarding the hundreds of cases of arson I mentioned. Cost-cutting measures everywhere.

Additionally, what most people outside this country seem unable to understand is our problem with hate speech. It's not "just words" if you have a history where these words quickly turned into blood on the streets. Right-wing extremists and even outright Nazis still are a problem over here. People should keep that in mind before they parade their First Amendment before us -- different culture. Though discussion in general is somewhat lackluster over here, no matter the topic. Used to be better, but people try to avoid confrontation whenever possible...

Anyway, I'd say leave the video as it is. It might be interesting to see how folks react to it.

@oritteropo:

The video definitely answers some questions:

1. She goes to an arts school and was able to do "anything" for her final project. No dig to her, but there's some privileged shit right there.


2. She's not super attractive, but she's cute and obviously very extroverted, friendly, and undoubtedly popular. If I was a shy nerd and was confronted by her (and probably having seen her be this way before in the halls), I'd definitely be skeptical and assume she was being an asshole to me.


3. Regardless, she does seem pretty genuine.


4. God damn, college art kids are annoying with all their "wow, I'm so laid back I fucking curse all the fucking time for no fucking reason or some shit. Fuck."

Oh, so now pathetic PC is coming into play too? Ever thought about that I too am a human, who cant just swallow all that shit without venting, especially when confronted with ignorance that caused all this shit in the first place? I mean WTF... people are dying, and you expect me to pretend like them that all is well? I am starting another war with words like those? If that is the case, we are beyond hope anyway, and I am glad I make people like those uncomfortable.

Oh my gawd, I vented my frustration a bit at the end. Damn me into oblivion for being... a war mongering, conflict seeking troll hypocrite... or something...
... in less than 1% of what I wrote!

No and yes. Its the violent and warmongering western policy in that region. We have always destabilized it, yet have learned nothing from it. We just keep going and then wonder why its getting worse. Its a neocon policy. Easy to stop, many people have already said what the solution would be, yet there are always the powerful neocons who live from fear mongering, suffering and wars. And of course from blind following people like you who support them.

2003 was just another puzzle piece. The support of extremists in Syria too, the support of them in Libya aswell. The support of Saudi Arabia is a very big puzzle piece. The CIA operations in that region just as much.
The support of Saddam Hussein also is another small puzzle piece, just as much as we made him think that he can attack Kuwait and we wont interfere. He thought that because we allowed him and instigated him to attack Iran, then supported both sides, because we wanted to destabilize that region once again. Did I mention the coup detat in Iran yet?
And its not that we werent warned about it. Lots of smart people said that giving the Jews Israel would end in disaster. The signs were easy to spot. Lots of people warned about an Iraq war in 2003. Even the neocons own people warned about the IS in documents, yet they ignored it and kept going, strengthening it even more. People warned about what would happen to Libya after Ghaddafi was gone. Again they did not care. Lots of people warned about what was going on in Syria, that Assad was confronted with an extremists group long before the "revolution" that is now known as Al Nusra, a branch of Al Kaida. What did they do? They weakened Assad. Lots of people warned about the refugee crisis and extremists flooding into Europe among those refugees. What do they do? They open the borders and let everyone in without any checks at all, even inviting the whole world to come, ignoring actual laws.

You see, good knowledge of history is mandatory to understand cause and effect. You dont have that knowledge, as you have proved already, because you try to marginalize it by including things from centuries ago and try to solve those with the same solutions from centuries ago. But I dont blame you, since youre probably American. American history teaching is as messed up as their foreign policy.
You cant see coherences in all that. Lots of people dont. Thats why we are doomed to repeat history.

I mean just look at the policy since 9/11. It was meant to bring us all more security from terrorist attacks like that. Yet it has only become worse. Extremists are stronger than ever before and keep getting stronger with everything we do to "weaken" them. And yet people like you dont ask themselves why, actually attack people like me who have realized whats wrong.
Intelligent species my ass.

that is the best way to confront a hot problem with a cool head.. and he has had lots of practice at delivering the message.