The Smallest Minority

So... what's the plan, then?

I'm personally in favor of "find people who espouse these views and execute them", but that's probably a bit extreme.

Just call me a "memetic white blood cell". :)

Though I have to admit to a certain amount of truth to the claims of exploitation of the third world by the West. Not so much us as Old Europe, back during their colonial days. But we've pretty well stopped, and the largest dose of their problems stem from internal issues, now.

I live in the Bay Area and work in San Francisco.

Perl, I don't find your rationale to be extreme. If you listen, it happens to be what the other side is saying as well.

This will eventually become a them-or-us problem.

Guys, I'm reminded that Americans faced the same problem with Tories after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Their solution was to disinvite the Tories from remaining in America. (Some returned to England and many moved to Canada.)

Disinvite, I like that Ed.
How about,"priviledges", as in:" I'm sorry,your America priviledges have been revoked. You'll have to leave".

We have exactly the same problem on the European side of the Pond. Possibly more so, though there does seem to be a political reaction under way.

Perhaps this post should be repeated annually.

Greg, I do too (except for the work part) and I agree - and I believe the hard-cor specifically want it to be that way, an Us-or-Them situation. They are fairly expert at provocation, slight-of-hand, and twisting rhetoric.

Ed What The Heck Man:
"Guys, I'm reminded that Americans faced the same problem with Tories after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War."

Actually, I wonder if I wouldn't somehow feel right at home in the America of the mid and late 1850's.

Bilgeman, you realize that Marky's gonna claim that you're racist because of that remark, right?

I'm living a nightmare. A nightmare where I am forbidden to judge a person by the content of his character, because of the color of his skin.

"I'm living a nightmare. A nightmare where I am forbidden to judge a person by the content of his character, because of the color of his skin."

THAT oughta be the quote of the century!

It's tomorrow's Quote of the Day.

Grumpy:
"Bilgeman, you realize that Marky's gonna claim that you're racist because of that remark, right?"

I don't think so.

He tried that once, and as I recall, I opened a valve or two and hit a button and he got deluged with the sludge that collects in the bottom of the ship's shit-tank.

(Always take the time to learn the valve manifolds! You can make magic happen!)

"I'm living a nightmare. A nightmare where I am forbidden to judge a person by the content of his character, because of the color of his skin."

If you think it's a nightmare now, wait until the contactor coil behind the "racism!" button burns out from being so overused and abused.

THAT will be Hell on Earth.

That's a good QOTD.

The same people who believe all those points are all too willing to indulge in the comforts and excesses of the West whenever possible. The only reason 99% of Marxists are Marxist is because they are envious losers who want something they believe they can't have, so nobody else should have it either, and they find philosophical justification in a wretched ideology. Find me one principled Marxist who could be a wealthy bourgeois and chooses not to, and I'll show you some Markadelphian logic that works.

Sarah said: "Find me one principled Marxist who could be a wealthy bourgeois and chooses not to, and I'll show you some Markadelphian logic that works."

The only one I can think of is Osama Bin Laden. Is that Markadelphia's standard for a principled man?

Sarah,

I don't think I agree with that theory. There may be some that think that way. But it seems to me that the majority realize that this world is broken (something even conservatives realize), but they have the mistaken idea that this world can be perfected. They seem to think that forcing people to do whatever is necessary to take care of their fellow man — which is truly noble when done voluntarily — will somehow cause everyone to somehow actually become loving. They just can't seem to grasp that human nature simply won't allow this to happen.

In the best of all possible worlds (as the world currently is) the best possible result would be everyone loving their neighbor as themselves. This is the idea that seems to have caught their imagination.

Their problem is that they forget (or willfully ignore) that this can only work if it's voluntary. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, this beautiful attitude is exceedingly rare, meaning that such a relative utopia is impossible. For some reason, they seem to think that people can be forced to act as if this is true; once again missing the fact that It. Is. Not. Possible. To. FORCE. People. To. Truly. Love. Everyone. Else.

Osama's not a Marxist, he's a jihadi.

Same basic collectivism, bin Laden is just honest about his religious dedication to the cause.

Now, Carlos the Jackal is BOTH.

Stalin scoffed at the 'opiate of the people'. But now there is a new view that his 'Material world only' view is definitively wrong. Greater contiguous worlds, while concealed, do exist.
A hundred and sixty-six years ago Edwin Abbott wrote 'Flatland ' so that any logical person would understand that contiguous dimensional worlds allows any thinking person to geometrically know how Christianity's' spiritual world could be right beside ours. Now 'Techie Worlds' examines Christian phenomena: Trinity, Resurrection, Judgment, Soul, and finds that Abbott's concept provides mechanistically for those phenomena. This is the approach science uses: establish understandings of the real world by testing facts in the context of the theory. With such logical understandings, thinking people can accept Christianity's teaching of love without bending their intellectual integrity. 'Techie Worlds' gives pause to Moslems and pagans by showing how and why the Trinity is. It explains realities that profit all mankind.
It is so nice to be able to spread the word to people who want to learn important new views. 'Techie Worlds' is available at amazon.com. It completely reformats all discussions about God and where He is.
GeorgeRic

Ed,

You are quite right, in principle Marxists believe in the perfectability of man, but I dispute that such people exist today. Certainly, there were one or two idealistic Marxists in the past -- and there are still a few idealistic socialists today -- but I maintain that anyone who seriously clings to Marxism after its horrific failures is driven by envy and hatred. And/or total insanity. I would stake money on every one of them selling out for a comfortable lifestyle.

The disparity in predictability of behavior between an individual and the mass of humanity has been often compared to a similar disparity in predictability of an individual atom vs. atoms en masse, as per the laws of thermodynamics.

I can buy, in theory, the idea that an individual is perfectible, in the same way that a particular procedure performed on enough gazillions of atoms can get one to behave in precisely the way you want. To continue the analogy, the idea that humanity is perfectible is about as plausible as designing a "nuclear" power plant that converts matter to energy with 100% efficiency.

The left, by my reckoning, into two camps; those who are misinformed, or those who are malicious.

The misinformed are those who like the sound of things, but haven't bothered to do any actual reading on what they are chanting in the streets. They have no idea what they're talking about, except that it sounds cool, and gets them laid once in a while. Besides, giving people what they need is the right thing to do, isn't it?

The malicious are those who have read up on what they're espousing, and they liked it. They don't have a problem with what Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Castro, and the others that I have missed had to do to consolidate their hold on power. Gulags, as long as they're not in them, have a certain sexy appeal. The ability to have someone dragged from their bed, and shot in the middle of the night for disagreeing with them, gives them quite the rush. Power. Sheer, total, and ultimate power.

In other words; the left is comprised of fools and psychopaths.

I suppose it depends on the weather as to what the actual percentage is, but right now my sinking gut says its about 65% misinformed and 35% malicious. Then again, the existence of Daily Kos and sites such as those may make their actual numbers seem larger. It's my subjective opinion.

*I'm not an expert in anything, but I can tie my shoes like a motherf&cker*

*I'm also good at counting to ten*

that's not a political philosophy or a pathetic litany of self-hatred, that's a suicide note.

ok by me - anybody who really believes that is free to wander off and eat a bullet. this is america: you're free to believe what you like, and i wouldn't dream of oppressing you by stopping you. just leave me & mine out of it.