Election 2016

[knee tunes]

Did Trump really say wages are too high? I had to read that headline 3 times to make sure I didn't stroke out.

are you ok?

Bof fri fleu?

I'm sorry

I don't speak french

[verb_to_trust]

My facebook newsfeed after a GOP debate is hilarious. Thank god today is veterans day and has mostly distracted the idiot masses from sharing their wisdom on who we should bomb next.

[B]

DO IT FOR KASICH'S 16-YEAR-OLD GIRLS

[4/5]

Please oh please let the Rand Paul-Bernie Sanders debate happen.

[@SkitchP]

Please oh please let the Rand Paul-Bernie Sanders debate happen.

i would watch the hell out of that.

[4/5]

I would be positively giddy.

[Simple Torture]

If you guys were upset that there weren't enough questions or comments about ISIS during the last debate...then, boy, do I have some good news for you!

[Strat]

If you guys were upset that there weren't enough questions or comments about ISIS during the last debate...then, boy, do I have some good news for you!

I Look forward to the absurdity that will come out of the mouths of Carson and Trump

[4/5]

They hate us for our freedoms.

[Birds in Hell]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

[Strat]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

I don't think they give two shits about freedom so I can't imagine they hate us for having freedom.

[tommymtcom]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

No. They largely hate us for our constant meddling in their affairs.

[Simple Torture]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

No. They largely hate us for our constant meddling in their affairs.

Yeah, David Cross tore this down in one of his bits years ago re: 9/11. We support Israel, we have military bases near the holy cities, and we've been bombing people with robot planes for more than a decade. I think that's a pretty clear picture without having to get into abstracts.

[BurtReynolds]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

No. They largely hate us for our constant meddling in their affairs.

Yeah, David Cross tore this down in one of his bits years ago re: 9/11. We support Israel, we have military bases near the holy cities, and we've been bombing people with robot planes for more than a decade. I think that's a pretty clear picture without having to get into abstracts.

That's part of it. A large part of it, perhaps, but not all of it. Radical Islam is very much against many Western values, some freedoms being some of them. You're delusional if you think these cultists are lying when they go on and on about "godless infidels" and what not.

[Simple Torture]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

No. They largely hate us for our constant meddling in their affairs.

Yeah, David Cross tore this down in one of his bits years ago re: 9/11. We support Israel, we have military bases near the holy cities, and we've been bombing people with robot planes for more than a decade. I think that's a pretty clear picture without having to get into abstracts.

That's part of it. A large part of it, perhaps, but not all of it. Radical Islam is very much against many Western values, some freedoms being some of them. You're delusional if you think these cultists are lying when they go on and on about "godless infidels" and what not.

Probably it's more the guys at the top who are keyed into the geopolitical stuff, and the rank-and-file are just more easily roused by the values stuff. Neither one is justifiable, of course. But if we think any of the more complex stuff is going to be discussed in an open public forum...ugh, it's depressing.

[BurtReynolds]

They hate us for our freedoms.

Isn't this true to an extent?

No. They largely hate us for our constant meddling in their affairs.

Yeah, David Cross tore this down in one of his bits years ago re: 9/11. We support Israel, we have military bases near the holy cities, and we've been bombing people with robot planes for more than a decade. I think that's a pretty clear picture without having to get into abstracts.

That's part of it. A large part of it, perhaps, but not all of it. Radical Islam is very much against many Western values, some freedoms being some of them. You're delusional if you think these cultists are lying when they go on and on about "godless infidels" and what not.

Probably it's more the guys at the top who are keyed into the geopolitical stuff, and the rank-and-file are just more easily roused by the values stuff. Neither one is justifiable, of course. But if we think any of the more complex stuff is going to be discussed in an open public forum...ugh, it's depressing.

I don't think the top guys (who don't last very long) are less fundamentalist than the rank and file to be honest. Anyone in charge who had secular motives has long since been vaporized by a drone strike or pushed out by religious nuts by now. It's a movement headed by former "rack and file" now.

[nyquillyn]

"Radical" Islam has been growing since the Mongols wiped out the their "Golden Age". Add The Crusades and European encroachment on the Mideast before and after WWI... while, yes, U.S. "meddling" has helped fuel it, it's certainly not the only reason.

[McParadigm]

I think it's just the same innate behavioral qualities that fuel racism, bitter divorces, prosecutors who bend rules, teachers who pick on students, torturous inquisitions, and death camps.

It is a reality of our condition that, if we speak poorly about or harm someone in any way, it tends to affect our opinion of that person more than it affects how we see ourselves. The more we hurt someone, the more our brains retroactively try to establish that they might have deserved it. It's documentable and well-studied. If I hurt you, then you must have deserved it...and that means you probably deserve just a little bit more.

Unchecked or (worse) properly fueled by social reinforcement, this can build into a cruelty that is beyond what we like to think of as "humanity." But it is, in fact, exactly that. It's a human cognitive reality and, like confirmation bias or memory distortion, thinking it's not you is only pretending.

[Simple Torture]

I think it's just the same innate behavioral qualities that fuel racism, bitter divorces, prosecutors who bend rules, teachers who pick on students, torturous inquisitions, and death camps.

It is a reality of our condition that, if we speak poorly about or harm someone in any way, it tends to affect our opinion of that person more than it affects how we see ourselves. The more we hurt someone, the more our brains retroactively try to establish that they might have deserved it. It's documentable and well-studied. If I hurt you, then you must have deserved it...and that means you probably deserve just a little bit more.

Unchecked or (worse) properly fueled by social reinforcement, this can build into a cruelty that is beyond what we like to think of as "humanity." But it is, in fact, exactly that. It's a human cognitive reality and, like confirmation bias or memory distortion, thinking it's not you is only pretending.

This, really. I was thinking about Burt's comments about radical religious fervor, and I don't think he's wrong--but I don't think I'm wrong about geopolitics, either. In reality, most members of ISIS and other radical groups are somewhere in between, but all they really want is a feeling of power, and they've found a group that reinforces their lust for power in a dangerous way. This is all guess work, of course--even though I agree with McP that this is more human than anything else in the world (I feel like I got into a debate with someone about this around the time of the marathon bombings?), it's not a mindset I can put myself in.

[BurtReynolds]

Will to Power!