>> ^Matthu:

I don't follow the libertarian view that people should be left to their own devices. If they were, you'd see homeless junkies who gambled away their homes in the streets.
I think the easy solution is to tax the gambling industry up the wazoo. Make it profitable, but not billions of dollars profitable. When it's more profitable to open a casino than it is to open a school, you've got a problem.


Laws and the severity of the punishment has been shown to be ineffective in regulating behavior. Cultural norms determine what people feel is OK to do (studies show no correlation between laws and severity of punishment in different countries and the behavior of the citizens of those countries. There is however a strong link between the culture of each country and the behavior of its citizens). Basically laws can remove troublemakers from the general population but laws don't change people's behavior in the first place.

As for gambling and schools, I would not want schools being run for profit.

I guess it just depends on how you expect to go about "eradicating Christianity" I certainly hope that some day far in the future, as we evolve, we're simply going to outgrow religion.

It's my sincere hope that as we grow and evolve, our ability to self-govern and get along with others will increase, thus making many existing laws and methods of reigning in the populace obsolete.

But if you're thinking that somehow Christianity can be eradicated simply by eventually garnering enough public support and passing a law. Something like that will not end well, if not in tears and bloodshed.

Because there are tons of things that are objectively bad for you, yet we don't outlaw them because laws like that tend to be hopelessly un-enforcable (even though we try anyway)

Quite simply, for good or for bad, Religion and Faith are going to be a part of humanity for a long ass time for the foreseeable future. I certainly hope you don't think you can eradicate it in our lifetimes or even our childrens' or grandchildrens' lifetimes. All we can do now is simply reign in the troublemakers who want to take religion too far.

Its been a while since I roasted someone, so I maybe a bit rusty...

You know something, that hasn't been talked of yet is the channel that Mr. Fisk is in charged of, Controversy...

We all know that Mr. Fisk can be off his rocker at times, but what drives a man to be in charge of something like controversy? From what we can deciper from what Mr. Dotdude shared, I picked some of my favorite quotes from his 500 acceptance speech...

1) And to think, I was nearly permanently banned my first month here:
Meaning that this guy shouldn't be here in the first place? Not even one month on videosift and people were already trying to get rid of this guy... I mean seriously, compared to what he has gone through when he first started, this roast is pretty much a cakewalk...

2) Next up, I'd like to thank the rest of y'all suave mofos, for watching, upvoting, and appreciating my twisted sense of humor. And finally, I'd like to thank myself. It wasn't as easy as I made it look, pinpointing the greatest underground rap videos (often foregoing the luxury of thumbnails), locating full episodes and movies (the internet is public domain, so far as I'm concerned), posting political videos that I disagreed with but refused to ignore (how many did I take from you, qm and billo?), and of course, the controversy:
Can you believe that this was only three sentences? Besides writing an extra long sentence at the end that a grammar teacher would frown on (not like I have anything going myself with my three periods...), He acknowledge people as "Suave Mofos." Congrats people, when he hit 500 he complimented and insulted you at the same time and not many people can do that... He then goes off by saying reasons why he should have been banned, by confessing how he uses Licensed Underground Rap videos, full episodes and movies, political videos that discredit people, "and of course, the controversy." How is this man Ranked 39!?! He admitted that he lied, cheated, and stoled to get to where he is today!

3) What I found (Videosift), was a galaxy of videos, which have entertained, educated, appalled, and bored the fuck out of me:
I love how he puts "bored the fuck out of me" at the end since this indicates that while he was, "entertained, and educated" he was really "appalled" by videos he has seen and overall bored of what some people attempt to post... Mr. Fisk is saying that doesn't like you or the videos that you post people... Only a few things amuse him, but overall, he just, BORED!

4) Yes, I've been controversial in the past, it's in my blood, you see? But I think the community, as a whole, is able to realize that I'm more of a civil-siftdisobedient than an outright siftarchist. I'm delighted to earn this meaningless achievement:
And we reach the end where he finishes his confession. He is a controversial man, he enriches his heritage of causing problems for other and is a disobedient troublemaker who embraced a honor by saying it is meaningless... Truly you are someone who sets a good example... An example of how to be an evil mastermind trying to throw people off by confusing and angering others...

O and did I forget to mention that he I peddles cigarettes and booze for a living... I went ahead to look up the definition of peddle and here it is...

ped·dle/ˈpedl/Verb
1. Try to sell (something, esp. small goods) by going from house to house or place to place.
2. Sell (an illegal drug or stolen item).

That's right people, he sells illegal cigarettes and booze from place to place!! You make me sick and I hope to get in on that action once you are found and brought to justice... Keep up the good work so that when you are finally arrested, you will have so much evidence against you even your lawyer will try and find you guilty... Thank you!

((In all seriousness though, Mr. Fisk, keep up the great job, the videos you find are great to watch and if you haven't posted the controversy channel, videosift still be brainwashed moron with no direction to go... Thank you and I hope you didn't get offended, but then again that is how roasts works right?))

We spent 15 million trying to win votes for the 2018 world cup, perfect example of money wasted. Our current government is making all the wrong budget cuts. Total respect for the students protesting despite the cold weather, yes there was some violence but in most towns and cities the demonstrations were peaceful - it's just London that attracts most of the troublemakers since they know that's where the media cameras will be.

Reality is that this is probably the first big protest of quite a few over the next few years concerning a number of issues due to arise in the UK. Our governments are being told what to do by well-financed corporations who do not have the considerations of society as a whole foremost in their thoughts. Man I hate saying that, 10 years ago I remember hearing that same stuff from conspiracy theorists and thinking it was absurd. Now it's so blatantly obvious that corporations and their wallets dictate a lot of what happens within the governments of many countries.

What has corporate lobbying got to do with student tuition fees? The big companies that soak up billions of pounds of tax-payers' money on delayed and incompetent projects have kept many of their lucrative deals, often signed by civil servants who don't understand what they're signing up for. All those projects and deals need to be reevaluated, and the work agreed upon by skilled individuals in the public sector who understand what is being agreed with the supplier. We've got a great IT skill base in the UK and more coming out of our universities (providing tuition fees don't prevent a lot of skilled individuals attending in the near future), why are we sending billions of pounds out of the country to companies that make it a matter of expectation that there will be failures and missed deadlines? Sure most of the equipment and off-the-shelf software solutions will come from the USA and that's fine, it's the skilled labour we need to source locally.

I could go on forever but I think I've spewed enough incoherent crud for one post

I think condoning his actions is a little bit over the top, but pressing criminal charges is massively worse in the opposite direction. People have limits, and when you push them far enough even a fairly small incident can be the last straw.

Teachers face crap like this all the time. Kids act up, but first we decide that corporal punishment is too harsh; smacking a troublemaker on the hand with a ruler might injure them. Next, we decide that you can't yell at kids either; we might hurt their feelings. Kick an out of control kid out of class? Nah, everyone pays for public education and we have "no child left behind", so that would be unethical. Meanwhile, kids figure out that teachers are losing any tools they once had to discourage or correct bad behavior, so they act up more often. And we wonder why it is so hard to find good teachers.

I'm sure it was just like that for this guy. A career full of dealing with assholes who are increasingly willing to ignore any instructions that you give to them because they increasingly realize that there are no consequences or repercussions. Again, I wouldn't go as far as to condone what he did, but I really hope that any and all criminal charges against him are dropped and that he winds up in a job where he doesn't have to deal with remorseless bastard customers.

Advance placement class on history = Ok.
Presentation on racism in American History = Ok.
Presentation on KKK in American History = Ok.
During presentation, in class, dressing up as KKK = If done appropriately, ok.
Walking through the halls, still dressed up as KKK, with teacher leading the pack = Yeah, probably not the best idea and somewhat distasteful.
Being fired over this? = Not ok. Needs more back story...is the woman a troublemaker or something? She prone to racial insensitivity? Was she just not thinking clearly that day?

Should she have canned the presentation idea completely? = No. To sweep the KKK under the rug in context of discussing racial tensions in our country's history is doing the country a disservice. It should be discussed, it should be remembered and it should continue being an example of how we went wrong in our past (and by some accounts, how we continue to go wrong since there is a percentage of us that continue following in their lead).

In reply to this comment by rebuilder:
I can't see that this will be helpful. In fact, I think this will only strengthen the Australian government's resolve to keep escalating their censorship regime. What government is going to cave in to a bunch of internet misfits? They can't afford to be seen as unable to respond to a direct attack on themselves, so either they'll simply play the importance of the attacks down or they'll pursue some sort of legal action against the perpetrators while using the attacks to paint the opponents of censorship as juvenile troublemakers.


Interesting thought, but I begin to wonder if at this point there is anything that can stop these mind thought crime type laws from being instituted into Westernized governments. What strategies will work that haven't failed elsewhere? (Patriot Act, etc.)

I can't see that this will be helpful. In fact, I think this will only strengthen the Australian government's resolve to keep escalating their censorship regime. What government is going to cave in to a bunch of internet misfits? They can't afford to be seen as unable to respond to a direct attack on themselves, so either they'll simply play the importance of the attacks down or they'll pursue some sort of legal action against the perpetrators while using the attacks to paint the opponents of censorship as juvenile troublemakers.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Your führer liked the music at the beginning- then the rest, not so much. Your führer used his absolute power to remove his capricious vote which was not a mistake, but a strategy to lure out troublemakers and enemies of the state. Carry on.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I would like to thank all of you for your apparent confidence in installing me as Supreme Sift Chancellor. I have earned political capital from this vote, and I intend to spend it.

I pledge to you that there will be no more messy discussions over guilt or innocence debated in a public fourm. We all know that it is only a small subset of Sifters who are causing difficulties. Of course, we know who they are.

Justice will be served on them silently, in the night while most of you are safely asleep. I will personally deal with the troublemakers and ensure they are sent somewhere where they cannot taint our beautiful Sift fatherland further.

Herr Goebbels760 - prepare to dismantle the corrupt siftquisition apparatus, a glorious new epoch is nearly upon us!

In the case of the Beatles, who's to say the school McCartney and Harrison went to didn't foster their musical creativity? This guy has unrealistic expectations of a school's goals and what it should accomplish with its education. I'd go as far as to say they're elitist at best.

I can tell you from my own experience working at schools that the myth of "troublemakers get all the attention" is flat out wrong. Again from my experience. The same goes for "those who could be great" being consistently missed, what does that even mean? There's nothing speaking for that statement being in the least true, but even if a teacher doesn't abandon his class to go foster a child prodigy's ego, it won't mean that the child prodigy would suddenly lose its gift. There's this little thing called parents who also have a responsibility to help raise and educate their children. But then again I don't really understand what the whole "those who could be great" thing means, or why that should be the case.
Try giving the teachers classes of fewer than 30 students and fewer classes each semester aswell as the time and funding they desperately need, and you'll see the level of educational standards raised significantly. Because most teacher working full-time have over a hundred different students to teach each semester, all with different levels of knowledge and various abilities to learn. That means it's simply impossible to give every child full attention all the time. It would be wonderful if each student could get all the help they wanted at every moment of the day, but for a democracy to actually function properly you need citizens who can make informed decisions and not just decisions, which is why you can't just discard the numbskulls and focus on the gifted ones.
The guy in the video kept whining over that McCartney wasn't "discovered" in school as if the school itself should've somehow made sure he went and became a Beetle. That shows he fundamentally misunderstood what the goals of the school were. It also shows he was completely oblivious to the fact that McCartney went into music in a community which at the time was heavily biased against the arts, which very well could be attributed to him being subjected to music in school.

Also, there are more than one method used in schools, not only between countries but also between educational systems. But none of them ignores gifted students in favour of troubled ones. Generally, they all subscribe to the idea that we shouldn't actively work to create an educational class system but instead give all children the opportunity for an equal education. That does not mean they're in any way inhibited to go beyond the basic education, in school or after, but instead of ignoring the struggling children there's this crazy idea of leveling the playing field and raising the bar not for a select few but for everyone.
One of the most successful educational forms shown in preschool and gradeschool is with mixed classes of grades 1-3, 4-6 and 7-9, where the students aid the teacher by helping out in teaching each other.

Billo is the cancer of videosift and a siftquisition is the fire we use to purge the cancer. I do not vote for his ban for personal reasons, because I never really felt either way about him, but his actions are detrimental to the health of the community of the site. He is obviously suffering from CaptainPlanet's disease and the only solution with this infection is to kill the heretic and burn the mutant.

We didna care for them troublemakers in hiearr. *discord

re: Stalinizing

Dag I think you are creating a strawman here. Yes, some retards compare you to Hitler/Stalin as a way of accusing you of abuse of power. I think this is inappropriate because you don't abuse your power like that, in fact you are far too egalitarian. So ok, you're not Stalin, and drawing similarities between you and Stalin is only possible if you focus on your history of questionable facial hair.

BUT

Some other less retarded members specifically compare the system of siftquisitions to the system of "justice" that has operated in dark times during the cold war. That is to say, we see similarities between propaganda posters that say "DEFEND THE SOVIET UNION! REPORT TROUBLEMAKERS TO THE AUTHORITIES!" and the way "policing" of the sift works.

THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE STALIN AND YOU WANT TO KILL BABIES, it just means we see dangerous similarities between the sift's utopian egalitarianism and the Soviet dream.

It also DOES NOT MEAN that we think that abusing the sift is trivial and tolerable, in fact we would probably ban a lot more people than you, given the chance, and purge the sift of people we don't like, in order to make a less egalitarian system that actually has a compass and a definition of "good video", instead of relying on herd mentality. Oh look, I Stalinized myself. How ironic.

The thing I find ridiculous is that adhom is still tolerated and you are still surprised that it causes problems. I think you should get Stalinist on the ass of anyone who is impolite, and then watch the quality of the debates and membership soar. I for one would probably go charter and shut my filthy mouth. Think about it.

Everything the whole night was directed at her? Oh, absolutely! I'm sure the first thing every comic does when they head out on stage is "Oh, I am so fucking with that person for the rest of the night..."

He so did the right thing. Eject the troublemaker and tell her to shove off.

Nice one, Nicole! 'Nixon' is second only to 'JFK' as the best presidential flick. We'll see how 'W' stands up in the coming weeks.

It may be obvious but I wanted to point it out anyway, that this scene is a dramatic interpretation of a confrontation between Nixon and the "young people" of whom Nixon always regarded as "troublemakers." So while this confrontation never really happened, from a dramatic, storytelling perspective, it reveals a truth about Nixon's personality and his remarkable political prowess.