A Beheading In France

[Gordon_4]

I have asked to join the military multiple times, but they refuse to let me join because I have a medical condition. I am likely to ask again very soon, and the answer will be the same.

I am also very likely to get on a plane to Taiwan if Taiwan gets invaded as a volunteer fighter ala Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

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My point is you talk and bluster a big game on the internet. And no amount of sarcastic cat memes is going to make it anything other than that.

 

[Gergar12]

My point is you talk and bluster a big game on the internet. And no amount of sarcastic cat memes is going to make it anything other than that.

So I shouldn't have an opinion on foreign policy despite being personally affected by said foreign policy. Okay, gate-keeper.

 

[Gordon_4]

So I shouldn't have an opinion on foreign policy despite being personally affected by said foreign policy. Okay, gate-keeper.

Have an opinion all you like, just be prepared to wear the consequences if you get your way.

 

[Trunkage]

Yeah, and I oppose all of that, but Trump is an outlier, Xi isn't.

However, China ruling the world would be worse, like the 1984 worst. In the US you allowed a high degree of dissent, and you can change minds, and change the government. Try doing that in China.

Things were pretty bad under Obama. BLM started under him, he fucked around in countries and made them collapse or turn authoritarian. He was deporter in Chief. He did deals with Taliban to give Afghanistan back to them. He started putting people in cages. We already have 1984. PRISM for Christ sakes. Facebook literally used us to help Trump win. Trump just made it worse. Things will be better under Biden... but not that much better

I don’t want China lead the world. I don’t want America either

Edit: we keep bringing up 1984 like it isn’t already here and way worse than Orwell imagined

 

[Gergar12]

Things were pretty bad under Obama. BLM started under him, he fucked around in countries and made them collapse or turn authoritarian. He was deporter in Chief. He did deals with Taliban to give Afghanistan back to them. He started putting people in cages. We already have 1984. PRISM for Christ sakes. Facebook literally used us to help Trump win. Trump just made it worse. Things will be better under Biden... but not that much better

I don’t want China lead the world. I don’t want America either

Is there any world power you have a mind to "rule" the world??? Because no world power/superpower means more wars like the current Armenia related one, because Russia didn't meet their defense commitments with Armenia, and Turkey did with for Azeris.

Have an opinion all you like, just be prepared to wear the consequences if you get your way.

I will, and I will be the first to go into a Taiwan fire-fight, but they will likely do it in 2050 when I am too old to fight effectively.

 

[CM156]

Is there any world power you have a mind to "rule" the world???

I've heard some people throw around the idea of the EU being the new Hegemon.

Given that I am not currently an EU citizen, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it.

 

[Dalisclock]

New policy going forward should be that if you kill someone because of Muhammad cartoons, artists around the world will depict you having sexual intercourse with Muhammad and these pictures will be published. Maybe buy space on a few billboards for the pictures to really drive the point home.

Gotta make a posthumous deterrent to this sort of behavior.

I'm okay with this.

 

[Shadyside]

I'd like to see Canada be a superpower and "rule" the world.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I've heard some people throw around the idea of the EU being the new Hegemon.

Given that I am not currently an EU citizen, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it.

Yeah, not going to happen. People looked at the population and economy of the EU as a ehole, saw it was big, and also assumed that it's one unified country like the US for some reason (probably Brexiteers). The bigness part is true, the unified part is not, and that's rather important

 

[Specter Von Baren]

The US tortures Muslims, overwhelming locks up blacks, or straight up lets police kill them, concentration camps for ‘Mexicans’, invades Afghanistan and Iraq, makes deals with Taliban, overthrows Bolivia, Libya and Syria and almost Venezuela, anything that disagrees with the presidents gets called liars

But FREEDOM. So automatically better

How goes your country's relationship with the native Australians in it? Still shit?

 

[CM156]

I'm okay with this.

Thank you. I've been thinking about potential responses to these sorts of events, since these isolated incidents seem to happen with some regularity.

 

[CM156]

How goes your country's relationship with the native Australians in it? Still shit?

They finally agreed to prevent people from climbing on the Uluru. So there's that.

 

[Dalisclock]

Thank you. I've been thinking about potential responses to these sorts of events, since these isolated incidents seem to happen with some regularity.

I mean, I appreciate why they're offended. With that out of the way, there are about 100,000 better ways to air that particular grievance that don't involve cutting off peoples heads, especially to people who don't subscribe to their particular religion and form of said religion.

And to those people who feel murder is a perfectly adquate way to express their anger , I don't particularly care if they're offended.

On a lesser note, I generally take issue with people who feel the rules of their religion apply to everyone else, even those who aren't members of said religion. This is a particularly extreme and distasteful version of that.

 

[CM156]

I mean, I appreciate why they're offended.

A lot of the outrage comes from countries thousands of kilometers away, so I find myself less sympathetic in that case.
You've had over a decade now to come to terms with the fact that western countries have radically different views on freedom of speech and what it covers, and that these countries will not stop people from drawing offensive pictures of Muhammad.

 

[Terminal Blue]

snip

Add to that that Obama personally oversaw the drone campaign that has, in all probability, killed thousands of civilians. We don't know how many civilians because the Obama administration refused to publish details on its drone war and, when commenting on individual incidents, consistently alleged that all those killed were enemy combatants even when blowing up wedding processions.

In order to oversee the drone campaign, Obama effectively strengthened the executive power of the president over the armed forces to an unprecedented degree. He greatly strengthened the office of president, giving the president the power to personally authorize the killing of anyone regardless of nationality or country of residence, and then handed that office over to Donald Trump.

If you're worried about Trump's control over the military, or the possibility that he might not peacefully surrender power, you need to throw in a "thanks Obama". Now, I don't think that's the real threat. I think the real threat is that successive presidents have together created a situation in which an empowered presidency has become normal. Obama slid the US gradually towards authoritarianism in a way that was so subtle noone even noticed at the time because Obama was likeable and gave the image of being a competent and trustworthy politician. If noone rolls that process back, it will continue.

 

[Hawki]

You know how they westernised Jesus. Maybe they could do that we just pretend it okay and not care what they say

Who's "they?" Certainly no-one alive today at least.

Also, as fanaticatical as Christians can be, I've never heard of a Christian decapitating someone because of some offensive depiction of Christ. Certainly not in my lifetime that is.

Edit: we keep bringing up 1984 like it isn’t already here and way worse than Orwell imagined

We definitely haven't reached 1984 yet. It certainly isn't worse.

 

[Gergar12]

I've heard some people throw around the idea of the EU being the new Hegemon.

Given that I am not currently an EU citizen, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it.

Cool, tell Merklet to not be chickenshit, and to start spending 2% of GDP on defense.

 

[CM156]

Cool, tell Merklet to not be chickenshit, and to start spending 2% of GDP on defense.

I would but Ich spreche kein Deutsch. Granted, I know how to pronounce a few German words, but they aren't the sort you frequently use in modern German.

Also, as fanaticatical as Christians can be, I've never heard of a Christian decapitating someone because of some offensive depiction of Christ. Certainly not in my lifetime that is.

There were those Brazilians who burned down a movie studio.

 

[Hawki]

There were those Brazilians who burned down a movie studio.

You mean this?

Studio behind Gay Jesus Netflix film petrol bombed on Christmas Eve

The studio of Brazilian comedy group Porta dos Fundos was hit with Molotov cocktails after portraying Jesus as gay in Netflix Christmas special The First Temptation of Christ

www.dailystar.co.uk

If so (or even if not so), then yeah. Those guys are fuckwits as well.

On the other hand, Christians seem to be better at taking things on the chin, or even enduring. I've seen it theorized that a lot of this comes down to the nature of the religion - Jesus instructed people to "love thy neighbour," while Muhammad was a warlord. It's why there's far more Islamic militant groups than Christian ones. I don't know if that's true, and in the scope of history, Christianity probably has a higher bodycount, but in the here and now, which religion is acting more violently?

Personally, I'd be happy to see all religions go the way of the dodo (or at least lose any political power), but not all religions are equal. Some are easily worse than others in my eyes.

 

[CM156]

If so (or even if not so), then yeah. Those guys are fuckwits as well.

On the other hand, Christians seem to be better at taking things on the chin, or even enduring. I've seen it theorized that a lot of this comes down to the nature of the religion - Jesus instructed people to "love thy neighbour," while Muhammad was a warlord. It's why there's far more Islamic militant groups than Christian ones. I don't know if that's true, and in the scope of history, Christianity probably has a higher bodycount, but in the here and now, which religion is acting more violently?

Personally, I'd be happy to see all religions go the way of the dodo (or at least lose any political power), but not all religions are equal. Some are easily worse than others in my eyes.

It's very interesting: back when ISIS was big, the priest at my local parish offered prayers for them. Not just for their victims: for them. We prayed that they would see the errors of their ways and repent. And surrender to authorities, who we prayed would give them a fair trial.