Jubbergun wrote:
There's nothing stupid about it, and your comparison is flawed. I'm talking about participating in a mandatory system that has jurisdiction over everyone.
I am from a well-to-do family. I will likely be successful as well. The inequities of our society are no more directly my concern than slavery.
Lee called slavery a "moral & social evil". The moral evil is the cruelty and personal wrongdoing involved. The social evil is that brutality, as you noted in another thread, is self-degrading. So no the difference between "other people" in slavery and the moral costs of an unjust society are not so far apart.
Also see: suburbia and dumb college kids. That is the flip side of social injustice.
Jubbergun wrote:
Aestu wrote:
The EU also has lower crime, lower mortality, lower poverty, and a generally less violent or violence-based society.
And yet I see a lot of riots on the news in these enviable utopias, over everything from soccer (the world's shittiest sport) to 'please don't make me retire two years later,' to 'I'm a muslim, but I moved to France, and every day I face Mecca and pray these bastards will find out about soap." (See? Now I'm ignorant, I did a 'smelly Frenchman' joke...sorry Tuhl.) A 'less-violence based society?" Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttttt, my ass.
You asked if I thought there was anything they did better. That's what I picked. If I were really 'ignorant,' I would have just said, "no, fuck you, Europe sucks balls and everyone there smells like they need a shower." I probably would have followed up with a joke about chicks with hairy pits. I didn't do that, though, did I? No, I considered your query with all the seriousness it deserved and that's the response you got.
Knowing how well you read, I'm just going to be the kind of ass that points out that the response you got is indicative of the degree of seriousness the question deserved.
Or I'll just flatly point out the obvious, which is that I don't take you seriously enough any more to bother with a serious response 100% of the time, because you'll likely misread/misunderstand anyway and go off on a tangent about how it doesn't matter because the price of beans in Chile caused a change in the price of the tea in China, which will be either completely or only tangentially unrelated to the subject at hand.
I pointed out the EU does do at least some things better.
You've been brainwashed, and you react as a brainwashed person typically does when confronted with inconvenient facts.
Brainwashing is always built around falsehood. Because the underlying beliefs are false, logic is anathema. To maintain the integrity of the programming, direct engagement with logic must be avoided at all costs. This can take the form of bluster, circular reasoning, or sheer volume of nonsense.
Jubbergun wrote:
Aestu wrote:
Jubbergun wrote:
the idea they have all the answers is ridiculous
Aestu wrote:
the EU isn't perfect and doesn't have all the answers
"When Black is White & White Is Black: Brainwashing And You"
Good of you to admit that. I will only submit this: They have the problems they have for the same reason we have the problems we have, which is because of the choices they made. I'm comfortable with the set of problems we have. I like to snuggle with them on the couch when no one is looking. I don't want the problems they have, because they smell of weird cheese and yak hair...which is why I say if it seems so appealing, feel free to try it out, but don't insist that I come along for the ride.
So you're content with the absence of problems that directly affect your life personally.
See: Aestu's Favorite Nixon Quote
What problems do you believe the EU has that are unacceptable? What's the source of your knowledge of those problems?
Jubbergun wrote:
Aestu wrote:
Jubbergun wrote:
One of the great things about the way the country was originally set up was that each individual state had different laws with little federal interference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacy_clauseAhem...
Jubbergun wrote:
(not saying that the application of the Bill of Rights and other amendments to the states was a bad things)
Supremacy clause isn't part of the Bill of Rights. Articles of Confederation predate the Constitution. American Civil War established once and for all this is a federal republic, not a loose association of states.
You talk shit about the EU. About how bad it is. I acknowledged it has its problems...and one very serious problem the EU
does have - that we do not - is an excessively weak central government and constant intrigues/petty bickering/legal differences between the member-states.
EU states in general, internally, have relatively weak federal governments. This is a driving force in their political and social culture. So you say you think lax federal power is good and the EU is bad, even though strong federal power has always been an American strength (since long before WWII) and a EU weakness.
Again - this is ignorance. You criticize a system, but your knowledge is so poor you do not even criticize the elements of the system that are worthy of the most severe criticism.
Jubbergun wrote:
Thanks for pointing out that oddly chosen list of countries, but the Middle East is (or given recent events, was) full of governments that were heavily involved in legislating day-to-day life...maybe you've not heard of the burqa and how these 'not-heavily-involved' governments are involving women's heads into them? I also like how you chop out one of the more important parts of my question before bringing your list to my attention: Are they purposely limited in scope, or limited by the ability to enact policy? With Eastern Europe (keep in mind I've spent time there) and Africa, I'd say it's more the latter than the former. Their ability to enact policy is a condition of their economic situation, which doesn't compare with us, because our economic situation is (at least in part) a result of enacted policies.
We're talking about economic policy.
Burqas have nothing to do with it. Following your logic, the EU should be beating the crap out of us economically because EU society is far less prudish and frontal nudity is legal on TV there.
Burquas are unique to Saudi Arabia and a few tiny states bordering the Red Sea. Most Middle Eastern countries do not wear burqas, least of all because most Middle Eastern governments are atheist police states hostile to radical Islam (e.g., Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey; formerly Iraq and Egypt). Again, ignorance.
You also completely ignored my reference to countries outside the Middle East - in Eastern Europe, or Africa.