@quantumushroom If facts are so important to you, then why is it that you never employ them while making implausible comments like liberalism causes black people to have babies out of wedlock, or that gays don't want equal marriage rights, or that California is broke because of liberalism.

You proudly admit to getting your media from questionable, corporate funded sources that a) carry no credibility outside of hardcore sympathetic ideologues, and b) have been shown to be less effective at keeping you informed than no media at all. This should be a big red flag.

http://www.good.is/post/poll-finds-fox-news-is-worse-than-no-news-at-all/

Beyond all this, you support a political ideology that has been on the wrong side of history, from slavery to women's rights to civil rights, to labor rights, and continuing with campaigns against gays, Muslims and Mexicans, as well as a continuation of the prejudices of old.

Do you ever wonder how regular German citizens got sucked into supporting fascism? Well wonder no more.

Let's take a look at the 14 defining characteristics of fascism and see how you do....

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

CHECK

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

CHECK

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

CHECK

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

CHECK

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

CHECK

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

CHECK

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

CHECK

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

CHECK

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

CHECK

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

CHECK

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

CHECK

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

CHECK

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

CHECK

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

I've seen nothing to suggest you support fraudulent elections.

13 out of 14. NOT GOOD DUDE. NOT GOOD AT ALL. You are free to dispute which ever ones you like, but you've got years of incriminating comments on this site to back this up.

But of course if you could see it, then the Germans would have been able to see it too, and we wouldn't have had to fight that war.



In reply to this comment by quantumushroom:
My problem is only with intellectual dishonesty, whether it's via curable ignorance or deliberate deception is almost irrelevant.

I've been where you are now politically, only LONG ago. I worked my way UP from liberalism, wiped the slate clean with anarchism, aimed toward libertarianism and am now floating in the undefined, invisible world of 'conservatarianism'. I do not agree with liberal policies based on liberals' good intentions. As a taxpayer and citizen, I demand positive RESULTS, and anyone foisting social experiments on society better be ready to defend them when they fail. Do you know the stats on Black crime and births out of wedlock? "Racism" did not cause a 70% illegitimacy rate in the Black community, LIBERALISM did. Crazy Johnson's "Great Society" garbage. The results of holding Blacks to lower standards--including standards of behavior--is self-evident.

There is even a fair argument for gay marriage, but the gay "lifestyle" generally is a sad one, with rampant promiscuity and diseases. It's not established that most gays even want legal marriage. And though no one else cares to acknowledge it, AIDS is a behaviorally spread disease. Remember that the billions politically steered towards AIDS research could also have been spent on cancer research, and cancer affects FAR more people.

California is broke. It got that way due to liberalism. RESULTS. Not good intentions, RESULTS.

You have a right to your opinions, but no one has the right to their own facts. If I had to judge you, I would say you're highly intelligent but misguided, not because your political views don't mirror mine, but because you refuse to step back and view the entire picture.


>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

The bottom line is that your problem with gays, blacks and other minorities is just that: your problem. It's not their fault that they have ended up on the wrong side of your emotional development. It's something you need to come to terms with on your own.

Sorry, @soulmonarch
*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Monkey-Feeding-Frenzy

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by Boise_Lib. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

I am surprised that she didn't comment on the 2003 spike, which is directly related to financial deregulation and frenzy of toxic mortgages. The top 1% recovered so quickly before the 2008 crash. She should have shown the rest of the graph (2008-2010) because there is yet another bump for the top 1% from bailouts, and shorts.

Unfortunately, no amount of graphs, history, or facts can help the polarized partisans (republicans). They vote mostly based on their politician's religious convictions.

>> ^berticus:

YES.
mana shield, teleport, chain lightning... so much fun.
>> ^radx:
We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.



Good times. I wonder if D3 will be fun too. I question myself if I will have time to play it.

YES.

mana shield, teleport, chain lightning... so much fun.

>> ^radx:

We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.

>> ^radx:

Nope, direct cable connection. Oldschool, serial port to serial port. Internet access was more expensive than hardware back then, so everything had to be done "in house".
Good times.>> ^ant:
>> ^radx:
We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.
DCC from IRC?


Oh yeah, I remember that! Good old serial cables. I remember using InterLink, LapLink, etc. with it and parallel cables through LPT1 ports. Then, came along LAN like through IPX/SPX before TCP/IP got popular.

Nope, direct cable connection. Oldschool, serial port to serial port. Internet access was more expensive than hardware back then, so everything had to be done "in house".

Good times.

Edit: just checked, the null modem cable is still in my bag of spare cables and adapters. Haven't used one since we played Outlaws in '97.>> ^ant:

>> ^radx:
We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.
DCC from IRC?

>> ^radx:

We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.


DCC from IRC?

We clocked endless hours on Diablo via DCC. Nothing was as hilarious as a chain-lightning-frenzy down in hell. Blowing through an entire inventory of full mana potions in a minute -- awesome.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said Wrroonngg so quickly--but you presume that your readings about Rome are more extensive than mine.

Nero, Caligula and many later Emperors are examples of the human psyche let loose. Psychopaths with no restrictions on their behavior.

The Roman Republic lasted for almost 500 years--during which time--homosexuality was looked on as a vice and shameful behavior. Emperor Augustus imposed strict modesty and morality edicts--including homosexual activities--which didn't apply to him. So even in the later, Empire Era, Rome was hardly be considered, "one big, gay death machine."

"Marcus Aurelius was straight at least..." This one gave me a laugh.


The Love Letters of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Marcus Cornelius Fronto
Excerpts from My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries (1998), Edited by Rictor Norton

From Marcus Cornelliius Fronto to Marcus Aurelius

Your lover, too, as they say, composes some amatory writings about you in the hope of enticing you with this bait, if with no other, and attracting you to himself and catching you; but such things are a disgrace and an insult and a sort of licentious cry, the outcome of stinging lust, such as those of wild beasts and fed cattle, that from sexual desire bellow or neigh or low or howl. Like to these are the lyrics of lovers. If, therefore, you submit yourself to your lover to enjoy where and when he pleases, awaiting neither time that is fitting nor leisure nor privacy, then, like a beast in the frenzy of desire, will he make straight for you and be eager to go to it not the least ashamed. . . .

"But then they went through the phase where prostitutes could fuck any man they wanted, even while wed and in plain sight, and the Christian empress would have the man executed if he said something..."

The role of prostitution in other societies varies--ours is not the only moral way. And the actions of the Christian church are--during most of it's history--atrocious. I thought you were talking about early Rome with it's outright destruction and pillage.

"You get the point. Rome was confused but definitely bi with a leaning more towards homosexuality--despite their 'laws.'"

A whole country was BI? Wow--just wow.


>> ^Lawdeedaw:

@Boise_Lib
Now now, don't say I am wrong quiet yet. I just read up on Rome and have the advantage here (I read like fucking two days’ worth...)
Nero was more than gay (He married a man as his husband and a man as his wife...see slit in lieu of vagina,) and Caligula (Who was fucking a man while in the arena in front of everyone, then had that man beheaded during climax) was bi and Tiberius (Who was fucking Caligula after murdering his family) was bi and the typical soldier, and...wait, yeah, there were many more. Basically, 14 out of 15 were gay or gay-ish at least. By that I mean some were open, some closed. Commodus? Yeah, gay...
(Most were simply bi just to have a son btw. Otherwise it would have been just man on man.)
The whole conflict with homosexuality came in later--after the Roman Catholic Church gained power... Now, that's not saying it wasn't against the law in the early days--but that's the same as adultery, yet then orgies were common even though they were illegal... let's pretend the law doesn't matter here---because it didn't...
Marcus Aurelius was straight at least...
And yes, this was the early Rome, when it was brutal, but then that's what I was talking about when I said the world hated them. Later, yes, later they began to hate homosexual behavior. But then they went through the phase where prostitutes could fuck any man they wanted, even while wed and in plain sight, and the Christian empress would have the man executed if he said something...
You get the point. Rome was confused but definitely bi with a leaning more towards homosexuality--despite their "laws."
@shuac I meant the crimes of Rome itself, not homosexuals. It's kind of hard to forgive a nation that captured and enslaved your city and then raped your male children with abandon.
@hpqp
I don't think homosexuality is girly, but that's their reasoning... Sad, so sad because it is not true.

>> ^Skeeve:

Haha, only about Angie ... or Grace... or Frenzy...
Actually, yes worry, your body is going to hate you >> ^Yogi:
>> ^Skeeve:
cult [kuhlt]
noun
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.


I just joined CrossFit...should I be worried?



I haven't met any of them yet...but my body already hates me.

Haha, only about Angie ... or Grace... or Frenzy...

Actually, yes worry, your body is going to hate you >> ^Yogi:

>> ^Skeeve:
cult [kuhlt]
noun
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.


I just joined CrossFit...should I be worried?

f word, I messed up, he even said he hadn't read the books. my bad I'll redact it. Honestly, I can't remember his fate based on the books so really I'm not even positive what happens.. nothing spoiled! I promise! (Good thing I didn't go into detail regarding other things like I almost did - I almost went on a rant frenzy but held back) sorry about that!

I pictured Syrio as more of skinny mystical figure. sort of tall, thin, and flamboyant. definitely not as a regular looking guy.. he's from a different world really.. (figuratively speaking)

>> ^Ryjkyj:

Dammit residue! ponceleon's comment is only one sentence long! AAAaarrrggghhh! I'm curious though, how did you picture him? He seems pretty "Inigo Montoya" to me as far as the TV series goes.
Ezno, the TV series hasn't really come off like that IMO. The nobility (the decent ones you're supposed to be rooting for anyway) seem to come off as fairly understanding. Does what you're talking about come later, or am I just missing it?

I was deliberately vague in my Sift Talk opening, because I didn't want to get into an argument about specifics. I wanted to convey an idea, not argue back and forth. (By the way, my actual questions were never answered, not that I really expected them to be.)

There has been a lot of speculation on what pushed me over the edge into starting a Sift Talk, after 5 years of reading comments here. I know the culture. I have grown calloused, burlapped undie'd up, to quote dag. I even, after some initial horror, have grown to understand the nature of "sexist" comments, a little bit. They don't bother me as much as they used to. I see them, I sigh, I move on, sometimes I even enjoy them. So why now? What happened that pushed me over the edge?

I couldn't have answered coherently a couple of days ago. I think I can now.

It actually started two months ago. @Morganth posted a great video, part of a series.

http://videosift.com/video/Killing-Us-Softly-vertising-s-Image-of-Women

There were some great, thoughtful responses to this video. There were also some increasingly ugly, misogynist, hateful, ignorant comments. Each new ugly comment spawned another. I kept hoping it would drop into the archives, but instead, it sifted to the Top 15, with over 100 votes -- clearly not because of the content of the video, but because of the feeding frenzy of ugly comments, specifically targeted towards women. That video's comment thread could be used as a case study of unconscious -- and perhaps conscious -- male anger and hatred towards women. It could also be used to show the deep ignorance of men about what it means to be a woman. (Before you jump on me, believe me I know that most women are ignorant of the pressures put on men. But this isn't a contest about who has been hurt worst by cultural stereotypes and expectations, who is the bigger victim. I have been saying since 1974 that men need to fight against their oppression just as women had begun to.)

I also thought -- man, the Sift is being to change, who are all these people, this isn't the Sift I know and love. This is qualitatively different than the normal razzing that goes on here.

I didn't say anything. I just gritted my teeth and waited for it to go away. It eventually did.

Then a couple of days ago, eric -- who is one of my favorite people on the Sift, kind, observant, generous, a true feminist/humanist -- posted a link to what would become the C Punch vid in the sift lounge and said -- hey, somebody post this, this cracks me up. (He does that all the time -- shares links to vids. I have gotten several Top 15 vids and I think even one #1 -- eric is generous, remember?)

I watched it. I saw -- as I have said elsewhere -- what everyone else saw -- a woman trying to fit into an existing clique, wanting to belong, who allowed herself to be hit in accordance with the "rules" of the group. I have opinions about the idiocy of a pack of males and what their senses of humor devolve to, but I didn't think she was any more pressured than any man would have felt in the same group.

I also knew -- suspected -- feared -- that the troll crowd that showed up for the advertising vid would come out in force. That something really ugly would be unleashed. I didn't think that men who clearly have a problem with women (the new crowd from the advertising vid) would understand what was happening in the vid. That all they would see was a woman being hit in the genitals, and the feeding frenzy would begin.

I tried to stop the posting of the vid. Out of fear of what might happen.

And then it didn't. Because spoco2 spoke up quickly, became the human sacrifice, and the conversation got heated, intricate and wordy. It didn't devolve -- well, it devolved, but it devolved as most heated discussions do here. I was fine with that.

What I wasn't fine with, was the title. The title did not match the video. The title reflected (sorry gwiz, I know the word has different connotations in Denmark) my worst misogynist nightmare. I am not going to explain the nuances of why that is so -- I tried in the sift lounge after the fact, and I realized that if you aren't a woman, it is too complicated to communicate in this medium.

But the description of the vid was worse -- REALLY had nothing to do with the video, only had to do with the systemic, cultural violence towards women (sorry, gwiz, I know for you it was a joke. It wasn't for me.)

There are also generational differences, and experience differences, and not every woman would react the same way I did. So I didn't take any positive action to fix my distress -- it isn't up to me to enforce my views onto others.

But then it got promoted. By eric, who I adore, who I knew liked the vid (because it showed a woman acting as stupid as a man, which is funny theoretically). To the front page. With THAT title. And then it got promoted again, by someone who linked to a vid that was clearly domestic violence and was exactly the kind of comment that I feared beforehand (sorry Lasurus, I have no idea of you personally, but guy, please know -- that was Not. Cool.)

Now I am really beginning to feel uncomfortable. Promoted to the front page. Having to look at that title every time I came to the Sift (which is too much, but that is my particular brand of OCD.) But still I don't do anything, because hey, it is just my opinion. I'll wait for it to slide down into the archives.

But it couldn't be left to die away. A vid that reduced a woman to her naked torso in the thumbnail was promoted twice and qualitied. To the front page. Where I can't avoid it. It felt like there was an (unconscious) assault against women would never end, and that what I felt during the advertising comment stream was now spilling out onto the front page of the Sift. And yes, I know it was all meant as a joke, but it was increasingly not funny, it was increasingly uncomfortable to be a woman here.

Someone helped me find a solution to that problem -- I sent the vid to discuss and asked that the thumbnail be changed. Having a blatant bewb shot stuck at the top of the page wasn't good for the Sift, with its millions of visitors. That was clear to me and I knew that changing the thumbnail was a reasonable action, not just my personal queasiness.

But that is when I broke. When I got pushed over the edge. The advertising video making Top 15 with its horrendous comment stream, C Punch as the (inaccurate) title on a promoted vid, and then the trolling of pushing a thumbnail to the front page -- it was a combination of events that proved too much for me.

I needed to speak up. I did not want to stay silent anymore. I needed to break the polite silence.

But even then -- all I said was I didn't like it. And that I don't understand this need to be provoking and shocking -- one of my first interactions with blankfist was to send him a PM, asking him to explain to me what the thrill of trolling is. (He never answered me. But it was an honest question.)

You would have thought that I took an axe to the genitals of every man on the sift. For saying I didn't like it.

I find that amusing in the extreme. Netrunner figured it out. There is the most vicious trolling and personal attacks on the Sift ALL THE TIME. But a reasonable person speaks up and says "I don't like that?" WTF!

Look at the number of comments here. Just who are the sensitive, thin-skinned ones? And if you have the courage to ask yourself -- just how much of your anger is rooted in the cultural pressures you have been subjected to your whole life? (That is a college course or five years of therapy -- I'm not going to unpack that sentence for you.)

Women have been told to shut up and be nice for centuries. I have stayed silent for years here (not perfectly silent, I'm sure you can find examples proving that statement wrong -- but believe me, I have been silent far far far FAR more than I have said things.)

And now I spoke up. Said my piece. Learned some things about myself, and how I might use different tactics in the future to deal with things that disturb me, met some really cool new folks, and I have fallen in love with the Sift all over again.