General
10 Sep 03
11 Sep 03
Originally posted by royalchickenNo sir. The mistake was mine. If I had bothered to check a dictionary instead of relying on my antiquated mind, i would never have offended the way i did. I thought about it carefully, and the mistake was mine, not his. I hold him innocent.
Hehe 😏. Should I have ended my mini-rant to chancremechanic with "god read a book".
11 Sep 03
Originally posted by royalchickenCouldn't resist adding my ha'penny to such a long and involving thread which is teeming with aphoristic observations. However, lazy me has only bothered to read the first page so I hope I'm not touching on things that are done and dusted with later on ....
A country, on the other hand, should not be a source of pride.
RoyalChicken.
You seem like a jolly clever type of chap. Intelligent, raitonal, and thorough in your pensive ponderings. However, not everybody is so lucky! Let us not forget that we humans are ANIMALS. As much as we may try, we cannot always be rational as we are very often emotional (this is ANY study of human nature - take Kubrick's Space Odyssey for example which reminds us of our atavistic link to apes).
Pride is important and shouldn't be dismissed. We should be proud in our country/ A graded homework/pristine house/5 minute mile/scale replica of Eiffel Tower constructed out of 3000 individual matchsticks ..... We should feed off this irrational pleasure.
Pride stops us suffering the desultory ennui of depression. It makes athletes run faster, dieters loose those extra grams, artists repaint and remake to get to that chef d'oeuvre, .......
Pride is moe help than you can imagine to a country. I read in this post something along the lines of all citizens aspiring to common goals, well pride would bind us in that.
StarValleyWy.
Liked what you said about immigrants. We should be proud and humbled that they flee their fatherlands thinking that America/ UK/ wherever is a fantastical promised land where food, fertility, and freedom are in aboundance. It is only because we are driven by the (irrational) passion of perfection that the politicians and voters of first world countries interminably critisize the current state of affairs since they consider it to be parlous, and lobby for improvemenst that will eventually lead to utopia (or will they?). In the eyes of refugees, us in the West have already got all we could ever need.
Wasn'ts so sure about this bit: "You can read. Here's the libraries of the world." You must surely be adressing this comment to those who want to be educated (ie those going to university) and not the whole populace. Might get round to starting a thread about education at some point, or other, perhaps, or never >
11 Sep 03
Originally posted by bidge90You are correct. That is a bit abrupt. Tutlage and skilled instruction will always be required if we are to "add upon" knowledge. If there is one success of the system of higher education that we have now, it is to try and guide new, fresh excited minds into productive fields... to not rediscover what is known. This is indeed invaluable. The idea of a 'doctorate' is, after all, to "Add New Knowledge"... not rehash the obvious.
Wasn'ts so sure about this bit: "You can read. Here's the libraries of the world." You must surely be adressing this comment to those who want to be educated (ie those going to university) and not the whole populace. Might get round to starting a thread about education at some point, or other, perhaps, or never >[/b]
I have a bit of a gripe there too. Of the thesis of doctoral candidates that i have read, maybe a hundred or two... only one or two seemed "new knowledge". Maybe my wife is right. To uppity for my breaches!😕 Which brings up the question, "Does a guy with a high school education have a right to judge a doctoral candidates thesis?"😀
11 Sep 03
1 edit
Originally posted by bidge90Now i do. As a kid, i was hospitalized with rickets and malnutrition on two different occasions. So? <edit> Two meals a day. Never eat lunch.🙄
What are those dibilitating doubts that you have got to deal with in your world? You know that you've got a meal on the table three times a day.
11 Sep 03
Originally posted by StarValleyWyI meant that people (me, you, anyone in the western hemisphere) tie themselves in knots worrying about THINGS and STUFF! You know, how should I mark this next doctoral thesis? What am I going to make for tea? Do I buy a new computer now before going to university or in six months' time? Or more pressingly How do I write an essay on Moliere?
Now i do. As a kid, i was hospitalized with rickets and malnutrition on two different occasions. So?
wouldn't life be simpler if I were an errant beduian (spelling drifting in the Sahara dester?
11 Sep 03
Perhaps the mercenary debate depends on your view to money.
If money is to be hoarded, then all soldiers with an emolument are mercenaires.
If money is a cunning way of allowing individuals to perform a function which pleases them greatly and at which they are proficient (eg the good teacher does his job well because he does not need to be a good farmer, bricklayer, carpenter, and so on), which is all of course for the greater good of society, then soldiers are not mercenaries.
11 Sep 03
Originally posted by bidge90LOL😵 Camels hate me! Tried riding the buggers on two occasions. Dumped on my head the first time, before the stinker got fully to it's feet... knocked silly on a minor pyramid shaped rock on the second attempt ten years later.🙄
I meant that people (me, you, anyone in the western hemisphere) tie themselves in knots worrying about THINGS and STUFF! You know, how should I mark this next doctoral thesis? What am I going to make for tea? Do I buy a new computer now before going to university or in six months' time? Or more pressingly How do I write an essay on Moliere?
wouldn't life be simpler if I were an errant beduian (spelling drifting in the Sahara dester?
"Pace is everything!" and i sometimes long for slower times. But then i remember the joi de vive of being 30 years old and building houses fourteen hours a day. That had it's charm.
George Carlin... Ever see his comedy routine "Stuff!" ? I may have to rent it again. It is very nested into your remark.
12 Sep 03
Originally posted by royalchickenRoyal Chicken, would you prefer that I call Osama-bin SHITHEAD: Sir, bin-Laden?...I wasn't expressing an opinion; I was quoting the dictionary definition of mercenary. OK. you want to get technical? The fourth definition is a noun, but I repeat, since you didn't seem to understand from the last post, that I haven't met a veteran or active duty service member who has "hired" on to the military. To be sure, money is a issue when one enlists, but the primary purpose that most of us serve is "service to our country", without which you would be able to say that you are ashamed of being an American. I will defend your right to express that opinion. Now, with all of the faults that America has with the gov't and worthless politicians, is there any other country that you would rather live in?...Have you ever even given a veteran the time of day???...Semper Paratus, mate
Calling someone a "shithead", no matter how bad they are, indicates that you have not put sufficient effort into your post to express a coherent opinion.
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14 Sep 03
1 edit
Originally posted by chancremechanicI would not have anything against a veteran because of his status; that would be an intolerable prejudice. But I don't think a veteran deserves respect from the beginning either.
Have you ever even given a veteran the time of day???...Semper Paratus, mate
Semper paratus..."always a parrot"....how apt 😕.
A joke sir.
17 Sep 03
Originally posted by royalchickenAre you saying that you do not feel proud of your country because your country is undeserving of admiration, or because you do not feel you can be proud of things you had no personal control over?
I just left a stultifyingly boring, state-required American Government class. The instructor started with the question Whoe says the Pledge of Allegiance? (the law mandates that it be said in schools, but individual students needn't take part). I found that I was one of 2 in the class of 19 who dod not, and this gave rise to a long invective about ...[text shortened]... ionalistic loyalty than a group united by happenstance and power.
Just a thought.
17 Sep 03
2 edits
Originally posted by AcolyteThe latter. I think pride should be taken in things to which one has made some serious contribution. Just statistically speaking, the Freethinkers have benefitted (not much, but some) from my presence, while the USA as a political entity (which is what a country is--I am talking countries, not societies) has recieved very little from my presence. Therefore, reagrdless of how I feel about the merits of the USA, I cannot feel pride because I am not a major contributor.
Are you saying that you do not feel proud of your country because your country is undeserving of admiration, or because you do not feel you can be proud of things you had no personal control over?
I thought it clear that I was being a little facetious. Check out the funny new profile I got as a result of this discussion.