Ultrathread I: Thread of the Year - 2014

[Rhino_NQ]

ill go with no, one person shouldn't have that much control over a population. Can very easily turn them as people. Think the bad ones heavily outnumber the good ones in history

 

[Red Bear]

next topic - are dictatorships better off with their dictators..

cases in point - Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine..

tough one.

The people lose either way. The dictators are no good, but they're tolerated for the sake of stability. There's no guarentee what replaces a dictator will be better or worse though. And once you intervene you're pretty tied to what happens from there.



I tend to think we're better off staying out of the conflicts rather than going in ala the second gulf war. Beyond anything else, once you go into one place it's hard to justifying not going into a multitude of other, similarly horrible places.

The middle east is a tough one, given the linkages some of the problems have with a multitude of poor decisions in the past 100 years or so.

I liked the point Tba made in four corners board - by keeping ourselves tied to fossil fuels we really are in a shit spot with the middle east, because we depend on the access to oil they provide, so we have tolerated some f**king disgusting regimes for conveniences sake.

 

[Red Bear]

I also can't imagine those various areas becoming peaceful anytime. Too many people control too much wealth and have too much power.

 

[Dragon2010]

next topic - are dictatorships better off with their dictators..

cases in point - Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Ukraine..

If you study history, you notice something.

Every time a radical leader is taken out, someone just as crazy, or corrupt will take his place. That?s the lesson of a failed state. There are no good guys.

Everybody is either a bad guy or a victim. You take out one bad guy and replace him with another. That?s what happens to countries with a long history of impoverishment, civil war, tyranny and genocide.

That's the fault of a failed country. Going in there and taking military action won't solve anything, usually.

Is it shocking? No doubt, but it's not a simple fix, especially, countries like Iraq that have issues for a many years.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

yep, when a population has been f&*ked in the head for generations there is a more then good chance they will continue to be f*&ked in the head. If you walked up to a pverty stricken goat herder in afghan at the moment and gave him 100 grand and came back in a months time he would still be wearing rags, walk 10 miles each day for water, have no general supplies and still be sleeping in a shithole but will have a brand new shiny AK47.

Hardest thing to change about people is their mentality

 

[Drew-Sta]

even you, Drew.

Of course mate. It would be a large glass of good Pinot

 

[Misanthrope]

Mis in a dominatrix sex session. That's one thought I don't want etched in my memory

As I've said on a few occasions, I've never actually done the true S&M/DomSub thing.

Religion is obsolete. We don't need imaginary beings to explain the world around us anymore. People can believe what they want but ultimately I'd rather not live a fantasy

If you think religion's sole purpose was to explain things that people didn't understand, I think you've missed the point of religion.

I've always felt funerals should not be a time for preaching.

Agreed. They're for the celebration of the person's life and the mourning of their death.

Really, religious ceremony aside, I like my funerals with as little God as possible. He gets enough praise on a Sunday.

 

[Misanthrope]

Don't have a car, or licence.

Never needed it, never wanted it.

Solidarity, brother!

 

[mickyj]

Solidarity, brother!

My 15 year is saying he does not want to learn to drive. I'm telling him he better start walking everywhere now.

 

[Misanthrope]

My 15 year is saying he does not want to learn to drive. I'm telling him he better start walking everywhere now.

Or just live in a city of any real size.

 

[afinalsin666]

I'm learning to drive now, my sister finally got her blacks. It took me that long to not be terrified of it.

Hilariously, she has a turbo, and i can learn in it. I can take my test in it. But i can't drive it away when i upgrade to my reds. Bureaucracy!

 

[Dani]

I got my L's 11 years ago.

f**k I'm old.

 

[Bazal]

Cbf quoting.

Religion is obsolete. People do choose it, and that's fine. People also choose to continue using Windows 97. People's choices don't negate obsolescence. Secondly, I never said religions sole purpose was to explain the world before we understood it. It obviously became a lot more than that both for good and evil. But the reason religion exists, like any other superstition, is to explain that which could not be explained. Someone dies suddenly? Gods will. Crops fail? Gods angry. Something goes bump in the night? Evil spirits, need god.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Was walking up Foveaux Street to work this morning. Saw a lot of people around, staring at something. Followed their stare to see a garbage truck and a mangled bicycle next to it. Saw two people trying to help a person under the garbage truck. They weren't moving.

Everything feels very insignificant right now...

 

[Gas Panic!]

I'm enjoying this thread. Except for the Foveaux St cyclist

 

[Dragon2010]

I got my L's 11 years ago.

f**k I'm old.

I got mine the day I turned 16. Ended up racking about 138 hours.

Cbf quoting.

Religion is obsolete. People do choose it, and that's fine. People also choose to continue using Windows 97. People's choices don't negate obsolescence. Secondly, I never said religions sole purpose was to explain the world before we understood it. It obviously became a lot more than that both for good and evil. But the reason religion exists, like any other superstition, is to explain that which could not be explained. Someone dies suddenly? Gods will. Crops fail? Gods angry. Something goes bump in the night? Evil spirits, need god.

I'm not saying I disagree with the rest. Just the part I originally bolded. While it's purpose is lesser served these days, it's by no means "obsolete" just yet. It's still has a strong following among a range of religions and does give "some" people answers (Whatever they may be, I'm not turning this into a religious debate).

Same for science, we (scientists) don't pretend to have all the answers, even our theories could be wrong and be disproved. They did so last week, by determining the world might actually be 60million years older than once thought. Science does the same things - explain that which could not be explained. Albeit, by different means. But they both give an answer.

The beauty of free-will is people are allowed to believe as they want. As I said, it should have no place in government, they should pay taxes and so forth. But it's by no means obsolete in society.

P.S: Love the Windows97 relation. :lol:

Was walking up Foveaux Street to work this morning. Saw a lot of people around, staring at something. Followed their stare to see a garbage truck and a mangled bicycle next to it. Saw two people trying to help a person under the garbage truck. They weren't moving.

Everything feels very insignificant right now...

Ouch. That's very unfortunate.

 

[Bazal]

Was walking up Foveaux Street to work this morning. Saw a lot of people around, staring at something. Followed their stare to see a garbage truck and a mangled bicycle next to it. Saw two people trying to help a person under the garbage truck. They weren't moving.

Everything feels very insignificant right now...

Feel ok? It can be a shaking experience.....

 

[Dragon2010]

I'm enjoying this thread. Except for the Foveaux St cyclist

It's BF free. Hence, it's awesome.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Feel ok? It can be a shaking experience.....

Pretty awful, actually. I just went to get a coffee, and turned the corner to see a pro-life activist with pic's of deceased little fetus' on her placard. Seems death is following me today.

The worst bit was the people around - all of them watched and had these desperate faces on them. It added to the enormity of it. I felt weak for continuing to walk on, as if I should have somehow stayed and willed the man to be alive as the rest of them were doing.

I hate death.

 

[muzby]

good news drew - he survived.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cyclist-trapped-under-garbage-truck-in-surry-hills-20140617-zsa7m.html

but yes, not a very nice thing to see...