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 No.12594[Reply]

File: 1697811157452.png (625.03 KB, 1080x1200, 9:10, Screenshot_20231020-092413.png) ImgOps Google

Elon has messed up a lot in running Twitter, but Community Notes is a rare example of a clear improvement to Twitter under Musk's ownership.  Do you agree?
6 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12745

File: 1701755407043.png (250.66 KB, 650x898, 325:449, a3f2db9d9e05b163038109edf0….png) ImgOps Google

>>12742
There was a precursor before Musk, but it sucked.  Basically just slapping a "this is misinformation" label on anything that questioned the official narrative about COVID. Even for posts that actually were misinformation, it didn't explain what exactly was wrong with the post.  The new Community Notes are much higher quality.

 No.12793

File: 1705362530354.png (1.11 MB, 1080x1587, 360:529, Screenshot_20240115-184654.png) ImgOps Google


 No.12797

>>12793
Exactly right.


 No.12739[Reply]

File: 1700413439951.jpg (324.14 KB, 1080x1849, 1080:1849, Screenshot_20231119_105945….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

It appears clear that the people of America have no consensus or majority view in terms of what foreign policy should be.

What will end up happening? What should happen? Will this division change into something more united later on?
2 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12775

>>12740
>agreeable cougar

I think I met you at the bar last night

 No.12777

>>12775

Interesting. While I don't go to bars, it's quite likely I'm not the only one in the world who ever presented this particular combination of thoughts and ideas somewhere at some time.

 No.12787



 No.12436[Reply][Last 50 Posts]

File: 1692881828290.jpg (88.45 KB, 982x1024, 491:512, large.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Gender Egalitarianism a movement for equal opportunity for the different genders, as applicable.  I don't think that people of different genders have to be equal, just that they should have the option if they prefer equality.  Are you in favor or do you have negative opinions about this general notion?
116 posts and 35 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12715

>>12706
Cheer up, humans may be worked to death making paper clips before becoming them.

>>12710
Best of luck in starting a ponyville academic journal.  Sadly I will be on sabbatical for awhile.  But thank you for reading my posts, if you did, as I do not have a direct quote with the word "read" from your text.

 No.12716

File: 1698812692340.png (364.02 KB, 700x993, 700:993, swirlstar.png) ImgOps Google

>>12715

Haha, thank you. Enjoy ~

 No.12718

>>12706
I'm pretty sure that said AI wouldn't be using snails.

However, that's a scenario that I've never come across in my life in the media (as in "dangerous snails"), and I'd be curious to see that done.

While this is an off-topic post, I suppose it being a sincere message that's complimentary (as in "this is really interesting") means that it's not harmful.


 No.12652[Reply]

File: 1698712862412.png (912.16 KB, 1216x1024, 19:16, large.png) ImgOps Google

This is a thread for opinions on transgenderism for animals who consent to view and share opinions on transgenderism.

I have the opinion that adults should be allowed to assert a gender or pronoun preference among groups of adults who consent to adults in the group asserting a gender or pronoun preference, where state power allows this to happen.  Adults should be able to prefer not to maintain contact with others who don't respect their pronouns, again where state power allows.  I have no opinions about children; I consider that other people's business.  I don't have opinions about groups of adults who do not consent to see or conform to pronoun preferences of other adults, except that they should not seek independent destruction of groups of adults who consent to adults in the group asserting a gender or pronoun preference, for the reason of those adults seeing, asserting, or respecting pronoun preferences.

You may agree or disagree with my opinion, with or without amplification, or express your own opinion, if such expression follows applicable site rules and law.

Happy discussing!

 No.12653

File: 1698713200492.png (125.17 KB, 952x840, 17:15, darn.png) ImgOps Google

Given some purposefully inciteful posting in townhall surrounding this topic, and the bad faith engagement i have seen, i am preemptively locking this thread, and issuing a warning that any further inciteful behavior will be met with a ban.

i think we've been generous in allowing the discussions to happen, but they've become increasingly mean spirited, shifting further and further away from the rather strict rules we have here on /townhall/.

The staff is discussing whether to permanently disallow this topic in the future, in light of the constant bad faith engagement we've seen around it.


 No.12546[Reply]

File: 1694663294529.jpg (59.51 KB, 580x386, 290:193, shiba pup pvc pipe.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

Should children learn a foreign language (such as Japanese or Finnish) in elementary school?
3 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12550

File: 1694812450870.jpg (121.04 KB, 710x994, 5:7, 1618107725751.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google


 No.12551

File: 1694813126344.gif (22.22 KB, 70x70, 1:1, Old_flight_icon.gif) ImgOps Google

I am pretty sure they already do.

 No.12640

>>12546
Children will learn in school what the state decides they will learn.  In some countries Japanese or Finnish are not foreign languages.  I'm not an expert on childhood development.


 No.12598[Reply]

File: 1698038719135.png (283.31 KB, 914x1077, 914:1077, Screenshot_20231023-012212.png) ImgOps Google

4 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12614

>>12607
It makes perfect sense to me that if you're a European conservative in the vain of those trying to bring back Otto Von Bismarck style traditionalist authoritarian glory that you'd support Russia achieving ultranationalist goals under a certain banner held up by Putin.

I'd refer to something like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultranationalism#Background_concepts_and_broader_context

What is Putin trying to achieve? The advancement of the Russian race. The purity and cleansing of the Russian race. The destiny of the Russian race as a classification of people given its inherent strength and ability due to their higher intelligence, stouter courage, tougher determination, better physical endurance, and the like is to achieve a massive Empire across both Europe and Asia as respective of the God-given destiny given to this tribe with such excellent literature, artwork, music, and the like. The rejection of corruptive elements such as Judaism, homosexuality, feminism, transsexuality, pornography, Islam, and the like that pervert a white Christian people from its destiny is logical.

As conservatives in Vichy France put it, **Travail, famille, patrie** Work, family, homeland. As conservatives in the Kaiserreich put it, **blood and soil**. That's the mindset.

If you're, say, a European conservative looking to create what you think is the idea theocratic ethnostate existence for the native Ayran race in Europe, why not look to Putin? Why not see him as hero? He's upholding Bismarck's legacy.

To me, I should say, this is genocidal madness of the worst kind. Yet I admit that extreme national pride is a powerful thing. It's like a spiritual form of heroin addiction, I suppose. Terrible yet agonizingly appealing in the pleasure you feel.

 No.12615

>>12614
> To me, I should say, this is genocidal madness of the worst kind. Yet I admit that extreme national pride is a powerful thing. It's like a spiritual form of heroin addiction, I suppose. Terrible yet agonizingly appealing in the pleasure you feel.
I would have really hoped most people would have been over it after WW2.

 No.12616

>>12615
While I think that the struggle against these issues is just and reasonable, and we should go through with it even if we're not sure what to really do, I don't know if it's actually possible for modern humanity to exist without extreme racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice.

These ideas have been as naturally human as drinking water and breathing air for millennia now.


 No.12561[Reply]

File: 1695177340012.jpg (52.26 KB, 361x750, 361:750, e1e0df94bcae8d6f909b786eb6….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

If you had a magic button that would repeal all gun-control laws and prevent enactment of any gun-control laws for 20 years, would you press it?  For purposes of this question, a "gun-control" law is a law that criminalizes the keeping or bearing of ordinary small arms by free adults or restricts free adults from acquiring such arms (including ammunition).  It does not apply to laws that restrict children, prisoners, inmates of mental asylums, etc., nor does it apply to laws restricting bombs, nuclear weapons, etc.  Also, it doesn't apply to policies of denying entry to sensitive places for persons bearing arms.
16 posts and 3 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12578

>>12576
Again only for on public roadways.
But that aside, the only limiting factor as I understand it are necessary components for safe operation on the road.

>>12577
Do those taxes carry with them the penalties of years in prison with a felony if you have merely the components to make it shorter, and thus the "intent to construct"?

You're right that there are import restrictions, but I think it obvious to say, they're no where near as heafty as the requirements and restrictions on importing firearms.
And of course, once again, these restrictions you mention only apply to their use on public roadways.

>Sure the laws and regulations aren't identical but that's because nobody has been on enough cocaine to regulate the magazine size of a Misubiti or the caliber of a Dodge, or the rear view mirror angle and passenger side air bags deployment zones of a Browning.
Right. Because that would be absurd and would accomplish nothing.
Just as it has done for guns.

Nobody worries about a "shoulder thing that goes up" on a car, because it's obviously meaningless and changes next to nothing.

 No.12579

File: 1695526745987.jpeg (151.62 KB, 941x1244, 941:1244, F6quQT1XEAAympK.jpeg) ImgOps Google

Reminder: most early gun-control laws were explicitly racist and "applied only to particular groups, such as slaves, Blacks, or Mulattos".

 No.12581

It seems to me that the fundamental problem behind all of this is that the United States has an extremely "flat" justice system - almost, almost everybody goes through a nearly identical ringer no matter what they chose to do and gets out relatively soon-ish.

For example, the average punishment for murder or manslaughter is about nine years in prison.

This means that, ethically and morally, if you're arrested for something like selling bags upon bags of weed out of your house full of weed such that you get placed in the same cell alongside a man who intentionally ran over a child with his truck... maybe you receive three years in prison. You eat the same food. Sleep in the same bed. Get the same health care. Exercise in the same way using the same equipment. You're only as safe as he lets you be. You're getting the same essential punishment except in time duration.

Thus, the life of a dead child in the United States is legally equal to three houses full of weed.

This is even worse when you think about how something like stealing a computer set can get you a year in prison, so then a murdered child is the same as nine laptops.

Is it any wonder why normal people living their normal lives think of U.S. law enforcement and criminal justice as a complete joke? The most likely outcome if I get shot in the head walking home one of these days is that nothing happens to the criminal that did that. The alternative is them getting a stint in what's basically Crime University for a few years only to be right back out there. America, ladies and gentlemen.


 No.12506[Reply]

File: 1694132756615.png (1.05 MB, 1280x720, 16:9, large.png) ImgOps Google

Context: "Starfield is an action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks." - Wikipedia

I just see this peculating down to Facebook, but I gather a controversy has formed over the freedom of a player to select gender pronouns.

I think this goes back to the notion of consent.  The ability to select pronouns is going to be seen by some as unethical, inappropriate, or a restriction of their religions freedom.  If an environment exists that would allow choice or preference of this kind, people should be informed ahead of time and be allowed to opt out.  People buying this game were not given this information, I gather, and are quite upset, feeling this optional menu item is being forced on them.  I guess it goes back to not making assumptions about others and allowing choice.
14 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12525

>>12524
Thank you for your consideration.  I find it best if I avoid the mental health industry.

 No.12541

I think that if political conservatives want to play video games without transgender people, black people, without Jews, without gay people, without disabled people, and so on, then there should be customizing options so that you can go about your game without encountering characters with darker skin shades or otherwise having your politics offended. Games are supposed to be fun. I believe.

I can't disagree more with their beliefs, but if this is them expressing them personally in private association and consuming private media, well, it's their right. That's that. Same thing with how going to a church or a book club or a ski lodge means the ability to kick out anybody for any reason no matter the justification. And how TV channels can refuse different things.

And, of course, if somebody walking down the street chooses to refuse to speak to any feminine man or any woman in a wheelchair, we would say that that's the individual's right? Yeah? I would think so.

 No.12544

>>12541
>n there should be customizing options so that you can go about your game without encountering characters with darker skin shades or otherwise having your politics offended.

It would be charitable of a game developers to always create a non-political version of games for those who prefer.  We have to accept that some people's existence is going to be political, but in my opinion nobody has the duty to not exist, even in fiction, so game developers don't have to make a game without some potentially offensive class of human.  But we also should try to be empathetic, minimize offense, and respect freedom, which is the basic idea behind your post.  I do agree with that.


 No.12526[Reply]

File: 1694332398505.png (200.93 KB, 820x1024, 205:256, large.png) ImgOps Google

Would you like to discuss ideologies and political theory broadly or more current events?

Would you like to talk about issues of social and environmental justice or more business and economics?

Futurism?  Tech? More about elections?  Wars?  Less of something?

Or do you want to discuss the politics in the MLP universe?
2 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12538

>>12536
Also fewer weird baiting threads would be nice.

 No.12539

>>12538
So just the removal of the board?

 No.12543

>>12536
OK.  Are there topics that are not political that you have in mind instead?

>>12539
Hmm...I take it none of the threads are acceptable.  That is unfortunate.

I guess less of everything is an answer to the question.  But you'll have to recommend site changes to staff.


 No.12527[Reply]

File: 1694492724922.png (753.31 KB, 1080x1779, 360:593, Screenshot_20230912-001047….png) ImgOps Google

Is the NFA tax on sound suppressors unconstitutional under the Second Amendment?
6 posts and 1 image reply omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12534

>>12533
Have to agree. Suppressors funnily enough are perfectly legal in Europe, by large, without any kind of issue.
The movie trope of untraceable silent murder that nobody notices is just not realistic.
Honestly, even if we did go by movies, it isn't like they're used by criminals, anyway. It's almost always state actors. Spies, assassins, agents of the powerful. Funny how that works.

But, yeah. All that's functioned with this is the creation of felons for no real cause, and significant distrust by the American people in the federal government thanks to events like Ruby Ridge.

 No.12535

>>12534

>Ruby Ridge
Why you should own guns a case study.

 No.12542

I would operate under the inherent, default assumption that any regulation of firearms given the 2nd Amendment has to pass an inherent sense of legal scrutiny in terms of rationality. And these rules don't work. They don't pass the bar. They should be gotten rid of.

I've yet to see any factual evidence whatsoever provided that imposing a de facto kind of quasi-ban on sound suppressors reduces violent crime. This idea kind of just comes out of whole cloth. Even without evidence, really, I don't get the logic. A firearm with a suppressor on it is noisy. Less noisy than otherwise. What does that matter, actually? Would this actually change the plans of violent criminals doing what they want to do? I don't think so.


 No.12448[Reply]

File: 1693010901722.jpg (141.86 KB, 1280x853, 1280:853, large.jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

If you have a heterosexual relationship, you can identify that in public.  If you have a homosexual relationship, it's controversial, but maybe.  And if your relationship involves some kind of weird kink thing -- nobody wants to see or hear about that, keep it private.

Society is roughly a place for the normal. The assumption is that when people go out in public they consent to seeing normal things.  They don't consent to seeing weird things -- that should be done in private where people can opt in or out.

So some process determines what presentations, activities, things, and ideas may be public and what ought to be private.  What is this process?

I'm thinking of forming a science and tech society and have been thinking a lot about consent.  The more things we consider private business, the more we can give people the option to consent or not, possibly reducing conflict.  For example, should people's exposure to science happen only following consent?  Would that make people happier about science?
9 posts omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12499

>>12494
I doubt too many people would object to a police officer shooting an armed robber, at least under most conditions.

 No.12503

>>12494
>Either you destroy the freedoms of certain politically and religiously motivated people by preventing them from hurting their perceived enemies, or you grant those freedoms and therefore in term allow the liberties of those opposed enemies to die instead.

Some religious people prefer to destroy or harm others.  Religious people must at least remember God is not above the state, but religion should be granted as much freedom as possible.

 No.12504

>>12499
That's fair, but then most people would lament that the entire situation had to happen in the first place.

Similarly, doctors would celebrate a car crash victim successfully having a piece of a steering wheel or the like removed from their body and that individual walking around happily recovered, while at the same time lamenting that the person had their vehicle slammed into to begin with. Somebody with a cancerous tumor successfully removed would wish that they could've spent the entire hospital time with their families relaxing instead in the first place. And so on.


 No.12476[Reply]

File: 1693580623429.png (525.05 KB, 765x562, 765:562, Mitch-McConnell-Image.png) ImgOps Google

Should elderly U.S. politicians who've publicly suffered mental and physical impairments such as Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Diane Feinstein, and Mitch McConnell be kept from further public office? Is it time to work out tough legal changes?

Or is that fundamentally a terrible idea? What exact legal tweaks would you want if they do happen?

r.e. the OP image, https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/7/27/23810222/mitch-mcconnell-health-retirement-senate
4 posts and 2 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12481

>>12476
Adding such an additional qualification would require a constitutional amendment.  

 No.12496

>>12477
I personally agree with this.

>>12479
Context is indeed important. And "what counts as having suffered a mental or physical impairment" is a fuzzy concept. I agree as well. Your observation about "bigger problem of inadequate representation" is logically sound, but I personally don't know what to say about that.

>>12481
This seems rather logical, but I don't know the issues about U.S. law in this area personally.

 No.12497

>>12476
Age isn't the issue. Impairments are.
If you aren't physically capable of doing the job, you shouldn't be in it.
Though really, this ought be something the voters solve.


 No.12417[Reply]

File: 1691801538865.png (1.11 MB, 1080x1642, 540:821, Screenshot_20230811-193148.png) ImgOps Google

Did the West Yorkshire Police behave inappropriately in this incident?
16 posts and 3 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12482

File: 1693685962789.jpg (878.51 KB, 1280x1183, 1280:1183, a6b8bbc84269affbfa43507b5f….jpg) ImgOps Exif Google

>>12465
First, it's not necessary for there to be an ethical line between two acts for there to be a good reason that one act is illegal but the other is 1A-protected.  The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to constrain the power of government.  If there is significantly more risk that the goverment will abuse a power to imprison people for one category of speech than another, then that might be a good reason for a difference in legal treatment between the two speech categories.

Second, saying something like "I will kill these people" is much more direct evidence of one's propensity to commit a crime than merely stating one's emotional response to an event that already happened.

 No.12491

>>12465

I think this topic has gotten too complicated for it to continue to make sense to me. On the one hand, speech is fundamentally just soundwaves that travel through the air and evoke certain impressions in our minds. Therefore, nothing that is said can actually hurt us. So, on this basis, all speech should be legal.

Yet, your speech does have an effect - both on yourself and others. This is undeniable. Therefore, you shouldn't just go around saying anything you happen to think...

But should the government have the authority to say what is and isn't allowed? If so, to what extent? There are other societal systems in place that regulate speech that don't involve punishing someone for saying the wrong thing. So, in the tradition of freedom, the U.S. government, at least, mostly tries to stay out of making laws against such things. The exceptions are limited to the most egregious situations. I think a lot of it has to do with the culture, as well... for exxample, the U.S. only attained independence after a war, yet the founders clearly articulated their reasons for the war. So, maybe all of this depends a lot on the reasonableness of a person's actions, as well. There are also a lot of Christians in the U.S., so its laws are going to reflect the myth found in the Christian religion.

 No.12493

>>12482
>>12491
At a practical level, if I'm forced to censor myself and am unable to do a gigantic number of things due to coercive intimidation from others, then my own freedoms are being impaired.

If you let these other people with violent political preferences be 'more free', then I will become 'less free'. I want to be able to go to a local religious institution without there being police presence nearby. I want to be able to wear certain clothes without there being the increased risk of sexual assault. And so on. The fact that I cannot do all that is a clear-cut harm. The better off those with coercive ideologies are and the freer they are to try to harass and intimidate their victims, the harder life is for those victims.

I don't think it's logical at all to just view this as citizens versus the government. It's governments at different levels (including federal versus local divisions) facing off against citizens that're opposed to each other (especially on religious lines, ethnic lines, racial lines, and so on).  The core reason why we have a government system at all instead of living in anarchy is in order to oppose the 'state of nature' of 'all against all' so that it's not possible for one person to just eliminate the right to life, liberty, and property of another. Right?

I agree certainly, though, that governments are at best a necessary evil and practically tend to be just plain evil. It's a difficult situation. There's no such thing as a 'good government'. There's a fumbling around for the 'least bad government'.


 No.12437[Reply]

File: 1692883897285.gif (1.51 MB, 399x600, 133:200, IMG_1249.gif) ImgOps Google

This year, I’ve dabbled in theology. Last March, I even attended a Church service for the first time in 18 years, at a Greek Orthodox cathedral. The only reason I’m agnostic is because I don’t know which denomination to belong to. But I do respect the tradition-rich high churches like Orthodox, Catholic, and even Lutheran and Reformed Protestants.

Your experiences and thoughts?
1 post omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12440

Some thoughts...

1. If you're agnostic, wouldn't you also be considering other denominations and religions, atheism, and humanism?

2. Even though I didn't grow up with a lot of religion outside of my family and I am now technically atheist, I have always found it hard not to have a respect for those denominations because of their rich history, even if they did do some bad things in the past.

3. As an agnostic, perhaps a more liberal tradition such as Unitarian Universalism or United Church of Christ would make the most sense. UU people are generally open to many different spiritual beliefs (including outside of Christianity, agnostics, and atheists), while UCC people are generally open to many different interpretations of Christianity.

4. Of the general denominations you listed, I suppose Lutheran would probably be considered the coolest (if you like tradition), since they had the courage to break from the Catholic tradition's claimed authority, while retaining a lot its traditions (I think)?. Even so, there is a UCC church around where I live that seems to have a lot of its own tradition and emphasizes a surprising amount (I thought) of ritual stuff for it being a liberal denomination. I guess it also depends on the church and community.

(Another (mostly similar) version of the song I posted that I liked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMclLT_Hjg - I think there is also a UU version, but I believe it's called something else.)

 No.12453

>>12440
This guy did open my eyes and clarify several Church doctrines and beliefs. In fact, he even pointed out that as a Presbyterian himself, he believes in evolution and how science and religion can coexist-despite the zeitgeist stating the opposite. Did you know the Big Bang was first theorized by a Catholic priest?

 No.12467

If, for whatever reason, you're interested in delving into religious thought on YouTube, there's a lot there related to the famous musical (which you can basically just watch for free):

https://www.youtube.com/@JesusChristSuperstarMusical/playlists


 No.12375[Reply]

File: 1691107875969.png (1021.33 KB, 1280x914, 640:457, large.png) ImgOps Google

We all know it's a human's duty to obey state power.  I was told in school America was founded mostly because British colonists were upset about taxes and political representation, and when the King didn't seem to care much, the colonists rebelled and created a new nation [the best nation in the world, by the way].

But...when the redcoats came to enforce order on the rebellious colonists, they were basically like the cops.  And hurting a cop is the worse thing a human can do.  Wouldn't that make the revolutionary war very evil?  People seldom seem happy about taxes or government, but these feelings are not an excuse to resist the state -- we know that now, why was it different then?

Shouldn't, respectfully, America's official start date be no sooner than it pleased the King to grant independence?
26 posts and 5 image replies omitted. Click reply to view.

 No.12430

>>12413
I think before discussing subjects like Locke or Hobbes, we might first ask whether it could ever be appropriate for a philosophy or text that we might discuss here to motivate resistance to state power.  My answer is no.

 No.12431

>>12430
My stance is a rather firm and unabashed "yes".

 No.12432

>>12413
Thank you for the provided links.  Hobbes believed anarchy was treacherous, and any state that was less harmful should be respected, I think.  But a state that set out to destroy you needn't be obeyed.

Locke believed that anarchy was not the best for human rights.  Any state that seemed to fail to be an improvement to the state of nature in securing human rights should be resisted.  I think any state that did not form from a valid social contract (constitution) or deviated from the mandate of that document should be resisted, as well.

I understand the US founders believed some of what Locke believed.


Both these ideas contrast with the idea that it is a human's duty to obey and respect the state (and appears to contrast with the state's mission to resist existential threat).


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