The Ng Politics Issue Challenge!

[JMHX]

Newgrounds Politics Forum is slow these days, a far cry from the glory days of seven years ago. Good Lord, was it really seven years ago? It seemed as if there was better structure back then, even if it was channeled into the forms of silly cliques like the Politics Crew and the Devil's Advocate Group. People were interacting with each other and, dare I say, even learning some new stuff along the way. So let me introduce a new idea that throws back to old ideals: The Newgrounds Politics Forum Issue Challenge!

Forum members are invited to post some of their (non-personal information) so that we have a good idea of just who you are and what your background is. This can include:

Your profession or course of academic study
Issues that are of special concern to you
Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about
Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)
etc. etc.

Now, this isn't just a survey. I'm challenging each and every one of you to do something else: Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you. If you're fascinated by foreign policy, for example, share an interesting story others might not know about why Afghanistan was carved up to look like it does, or why Nixon was a better foreign policy leader than people think.

On the opposite side of this, people who know a lot about things you want to know are invited to post worthwhile books or articles to get you started on the path of learning. Someone who knows nothing about the modern history of North and South Korea could be recommended "The Two Koreas," for example.

People who find they know about the same things can connect on a higher level, and people interested in sharing their knowledge with people who don't know but want to learn can feel like they're giving back. Working together, we can actually expand our horizons on a whole host of foreign and domestic policy issues, philosophy, and general ignorance.

[Camarohusky]

I started on NG back just after the glory days JMHX talks about. It has been an on again off again relationship as I have gone from College to abroad to work to law school, and single to married to father. I do remember many of the old folks such a Skunk and the numerous troll-esque people such as enforcer and cellardoor.

I am very much an advocate of social freedoms and am liberal on most issues. However I am of the law and order group when it comes to crimes and criminal law. I became fairly liberal, partially because it was how I was taught, and partially as a reaction to those around me when I first began noticing the political world (high school.) While most of my ideas have matured greatly since then, I still have certain core beliefs that did not change. In college I studied a great deal of Asian history. if anyone has any questions about that I have tons of resources I could forward them to.

I can't think of any political indight I have that is new right now... I'm spent.

[poxpower]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Politics Crew

Oh yeah I was in that! We didn't do anything!

Your profession or course of academic study

I'm a dumbass artist who used to be a dumbass art student.

I actually make (little) money drawing dump trucks hauling meat from giant spare ribs and making games where you can punch kid's heads off and eat them.

Issues that are of special concern to you

I think religion should be wiped off the face of the earth pronto along with all the other bullshit like homeopathy and Jenny McCarthy.

I also think education is a joke in most of the modern world.

I like science stuff. Science is awesome. Hurray for science.

James Randi is also one of the world's most awesome people. If I could choose anyone's brain to encase in a giant robotic exoskeleton with chainsaws for hands besides me, it would be him.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Canadian politics. I live in Canada after all, but I just don't give a damn. I keep hearing Stephen Harper is a douchy piece of crap but I don't have the time to confirm it.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I have no idea but I know I never agree with Republicans.
For every 1 thing I hear they did right in the last 40 years, I hear 30 horrible things and their fanbase seems to be comprised mostly of geriatrics, greedy assholes and people with a 2 digit IQ.

Now, this isn't just a survey. I'm challenging each and every one of you to do something else: Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you.

Why is everyone so damn fat?
I was at the Museum the other day and couldn't count one woman without a nice budding gut or a full-blown case of the chunkies. Now I'm starting to understand burkas a little, all those muffin tops are a grim reminder that if they look like that at 20, the MILF will be all but extinct one day soon.

post worthwhile books

Here's the thing with books: fuck books.

here's some youtube channels everyone should subscribe to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurk s
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAmazingAt heist
http://www.youtube.com/user/AronRa
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDire ctor
http://www.youtube.com/user/Thunderf00t
http://www.youtube.com/user/DonExodus2

I'm fairly certain books are a massive waste of time and exist solely to enable people to make a career out of writing them.

[SmilezRoyale]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote:

Forum members are invited to post some of their (non-personal information) so that we have a good idea of just who you are and what your background is. This can include:

Your profession or course of academic study

Applied Math, I am double majoring in Math and Music.

Issues that are of special concern to you

Domestic economic issues. Political Philosophy. History. I have very limited interest in such things as law and religion.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

I would like to learn more history if i cold.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Libertarian. I was a Neocon until around 2008, then became a libertarian. I was largely convinced by economic reasoning. I became an Atheist the easy way; I sat down and thought about the existence of God as if i had never presupposed god. God as an idea, De-Novo, makes absolutely no sense, it only makes sense to people who have never examined it thoroughly, but most generally I dislike atheists; They support systems of control over education and the internet that will ultimately be their undoing. People like TheAmazingAtheist are only politically intelligent about one thing and one thing only, which is why the bastard refuses to debate Ryan Faulk even though he publicly pretends that he wants to.

[HibiscusKazeneko]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

I don't know what my major is right now; I want to pursue Japanese studies.

Issues that are of special concern to you

Anything that infringes on people's basic rights and freedoms. This includes censorship, racism and forced "prophylactic" medical interventions, among other things.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Religious issues and ethics. I have problems with being able to sustain my beliefs and fight for them while being held back by my own religious background or other people's sensitivities.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)
etc. etc.

I tend to be liberal in some areas and conservative in others. For example, I don't believe that children are their parents' property but I also oppose the use of birth control. I don't fit into any sort of political party cookie cutter. I often find myself hopping the fence back and forth on issues because when I find a group that supports what I support and learn they oppose something else I support, I am back at square one.
One thing you might want to know is I am much crunchier than most of the NG community and have drawn ire from mods and non-mods alike. Poxpower has even threatened to ban me for trolling for standing up for my beliefs.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

question how can you be against birth control?

[Camarohusky]

At 8/5/10 10:45 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote: I don't know what my major is right now; I want to pursue Japanese studies.

Don't waste your time with Japanese Studies. Take Japanese Literature instead. it's much mroe in depth and you will get a much better command of the language and a better look into the culture.

Think of it in alcohol terms:
Japanese Studies = PBR. Sure it'll get the job done, but it still leaves you wanting.
Japanese Literature = Warm Otokoyama Sake. Not only does it have culture but it goes does smooth.

[orangebomb]

Your profession or course of academic study

I am currently a cook at a small restrauant, hopefully I can get enough money to go to college and major in either Business management or enginerring.

Issues that are of special concern to you

The economy and social issues, {gay marriage, gun rights, abortion, etc.} It has been tough on me to find a decent paying job in this economy, especially when I have more work experience than a 16 year old newbie, and yet people like me are let go for some reason. What also disturbs me is that gay marriages and abortions are illegal and wrong because their religion tells them so, it makes me wonder sometimes that religion is a guise for fascism today.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

What we going to do about our foriegn oil addiction, and why we can't develop mass energy sources out of solar, wind, even nuclear power.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

A classical Libertarian, which means in general minimal government interference with maxium liberty. I don't really view myself as left or right. Basically all the goverment should have control of is the military, police, courts and corporate accountability. Let the average citizen have the right to defend his property, worship his religion no matter how weird or overall bullshit it is, or say what he wants to say without censorship and political correctness. In short, the Bill of Rights should be a benchmark for American laws instead of being an afterthought.

Now, this isn't just a survey. I'm challenging each and every one of you to do something else: Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you. If you're fascinated by foreign policy, for example, share an interesting story others might not know about why Afghanistan was carved up to look like it does, or why Nixon was a better foreign policy leader than people think.

Honestly, I view Reaganomics as a overall positive, because of lower taxes and more money going into more peoples pockets. After all, it was the trickle down theory that was the foundation towards having the largest surplus in American history. Of course, once Bush arrived, everything got screwed up because of corporations abused the system to a point where federal bailouts became needed to keep them afloat instead of being punished for their mistakes.

[HibiscusKazeneko]

At 8/5/10 11:13 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: question how can you be against birth control?

What exactly do you mean?
Your statement is too vague.

[LordZeebmork]

I'm tired and I haven't proofread this at all. It's probably incoherent as hell. Clarification hopefully available on request.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

Dropped out of high school after 10th grade to go to college. Entering sophomore year now with absolutely no idea what I'm going to major in, although I'm considering linguistics or polisci.

Issues that are of special concern to you

The War on Drugs, the proposed junk food tax, and any other proposal by the government to say that people are too stupid to run their own lives and a large bureaucracy that knows next to nothing about them can do a better job. (Tsarism, as Robert Anton Wilson called it.)
Gun control, censorship, and any other proposal by the government to waste time and money on something that has been clearly and repeatedly demonstrated to not work at all.
Affirmative action and other blatant acts of senseless discrimination.
The school system, and probably a lot of other things that I'm forgetting.

Although I find political philosophy a lot more interesting than its actual application, probably because of my years as a raging libertarian.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Economics.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

My mother is a typical clueless, pretentious middle-class progressive, although she doesn't involve herself much in politics aside from attending the occasional gun control rally (rather ironic, since my uncle is a member of the NRA and I'll probably join eventually, once I learn guns), and my father is a common-sense, anti-progressive, economically left-wing, Clinton-was-the-only-sane-president-sinc e-who-knows-when liberal. This makes a lot of sense, considering their backgrounds; my mother came from a rich suburban family that's been in Maryland since some 17-year-old German got bored of his village and ran away to this place with nothing but a prayer book, so she grew up using silverware made of real silver, went to boarding school in Switzerland, and all that (it's also interesting to note that she hates her parents, and they were both George Wallace supporters who were occasionally prone to bouts of pseudo-revolutionary rhetoric of the sort that the Tea Party wishes it had the balls to spew), whereas my father came from a poor Christian redneck family and was, from what I gather, raised on the kind of common sense that kids these days don't even have a passing familiarity with: the kind that involves never believing a word of anything any politician says (he was the only Democrat I know who didn't fall into the Obama craze), almost never buying anything that's not on sale, and so on. So their politics follow rather obviously from their lives.

I would ordinarily say that my politics follow from my life also, since a lot of the major aspects of it make sense considering the culture that I grew up in and the shit that I've been put through, but I've never met anyone else with politics like mine, so I can't say that. I suspect that I'd still be either a progressive or a libertarian if not for my decision to pay something like $22 at Borders for some book that I had vaguely heard of once or twice before.

I spent the early parts of my life as a fnord clueless, middle-class progressive. I didn't know anything about politics other than what I heard from my parents, the media, and the teachers I had, who were mostly poor, bitter blacks who blamed their problems on the White Establishment. I couldn't fully understand anything anyone said, but I thought I was cool because I could talk shit about capitalism, call America a bunch of war-hungry rednecks, and whine about how white people are all racist. I suspect that a lot of the progressives that I've met haven't progressed much, if at all, from that intellectual level.

Then I went to public school, and that beat that pretentious nonsense out of my head, as would be expected from a horribly corrupt and overcrowded public school in a county that is mostly known for its ability to turn people into white supremacists. I didn't go that far, but I at least realized that the people who I had been defending so blindly weren't actually worth defending; why bother with people who seemed to go out of their way to validate every relevant negative stereotype? It didn't take long before I got sick of hearing people complain about their STD tests, cravings for fried chicken, and whatever else (no, I'm not exaggerating; these were all subjects that I heard about on a regular basis) before I became even more of a cynical elitist and converted to libertarianism. Of course, I trusted big business about as much as I trusted big government, so the other libertarians who I talked to didn't regard me as a real libertarian.

I remember pissing a lot of people off in high school by saying that there should be a White Students' Association and accusing the school of racism (there was only one white person in the top administration, and she ran the Science and Technology program; the Black Students' Association put on several presentations about the superiority of black culture; my English class was required to read black supremacist literature; one of my skiddie friends got the IE history of a few teachers, and apparently one of them actively supported discrimination in favor of blacks), and I remember pissing even more people off in college by saying that Diversity Day, where class was canceled for a day and students were required to attend workshops about the supposed virtues of diversity, along with some other questionable moves, such as including an extensive monologue by some hipster about the evils of homophobia as part of the required health education program, showed that the college administration prioritized indoctrination over education, and pointing out the semantic trickery necessary to call discriminatory programs anti-discrimination. I got in even more trouble for flipping through a feminist magazine in the lounge, finding an article that was hilariously anti-white and anti-straight (!) and could be changed into a defense of segregation or a very large fence blocking off the border with only a ctrl+F or two. (I can probably find the article, if anyone is masochistic enough to want to read it. The general idea is that the author went to a gay bar, saw some people chugging alcohol, and proceeded to whine for two pages or so about how "his space" had been "invaded" by the "idiotic rituals" of "straight white people" who should be kept out for being straight. Since nowhere in the article is any confrontation with the offenders mentioned, one is apparently to assume that the author either has perfect gaydar or is telepathic.)

Anyway, rewind a few years to that one time in Borders. The book, of course, was The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I read it once and laughed at the absurd sex scenes. Then I read it again, learned Celine's laws, and realized that people, and the cultures they live in, are a hell of a lot more complicated than I had ever given them credit for. It was at that point that I started to give up the hardcore individualism that I had always believed before. After all, how can one be expected to function entirely as an individual, and considered entirely as an individual, when significant amounts of any individual's perception processes are dictated by external forces? (There have been some interesting studies in the fields of linguistics and cognitive psychology that relate to this. The most interesting one that I can remember is one that found that very young babies can tell apart specific monkeys as well as specific humans, but people older than a certain point (about six months, I think) can only tell apart humans. The monkeys effectively look the same to them.)

More in the next post.

[LordZeebmork]

Obviously, I'm not a collectivist, but I no longer believe that humans can be considered in a vacuum, without regard to many of the relevant external forces. That also, interestingly enough, led me to develop an interest in the education system. Children must be educated in more than one reality tunnel, otherwise they turn into the sort of blind, stubborn ideologues that are eating hell out of this country's political discourse, and what better place is there to give them the necessary exposure to other points of view, as well as to facts that may not fit within their ideologies and models of the world, than the education system?

Another thing that I realized from reading The Illuminatus! Trilogy is that, as Abbie Hoffman said, "There seem to be a lot of different realities going around these days." Nobody knows what's actually going on, but a lot of people think they do, and usually, the more they think they know what's going on, the less accurate they turn out to be. Neoconservatives have spent the last year going out of their way to make this point as obvious as possible. But a more relevant example would be that anti-drug advocates, while knowing absolutely nothing about you personally, somehow "know" that smoking a bit of marijuana would be a Very Bad Thing for you to do, and therefore they don't want you to be allowed to do it. By the same general principle, anti-gun advocates, while knowing absolutely nothing about you personally, somehow "know" that owning any kind of gun would be a Very Bad Thing for you to do, and therefore they don't want you to be allowed to do it.

But the problem isn't just that there are a lot of different realities going around. The problem is also that political movements are noticeably robotic; it's an interesting exercise to read statements in Politico's Arena, and then try to guess the political background of the writer. There are almost always only two positions given: one is the liberal position, one is the conservative position, and it is obvious which one is which. If asked to predict a race, the liberals will call victory for the liberal candidate and blame extremism or the Tea Party for the conservative's defeat, and the conservatives will call victory for the conservative candidate and go on about how the American people are sick of the leftists' agenda or whatever. Almost every time.

In case it's not obvious, this was the point where I became too paranoid to fit under any real political label.

Anyway, I left that pathetic joke of a college, lined up classes at a community college so that I could get 13 credits and only go in for two days a week, and spent a lot of my free time talking to people. I eventually realized that the sociologists were right about how the one most notable characteristic of this generation is a feeling of alienation, or of not belonging anywhere. I eventually also realized that kids these days don't have anything resembling any sort of common sense. So I became the closest thing anyone who had read as much postmodernist philosophy as I had (the Robert Anton Wilson kind, not the pretentious, horribly bigoted kind that most people would probably associate with the term) could ever come to a conservative. At this point, I will have to link to a thread on a different site, because my views on this subject are described here better than I could describe them at this point.

Since topics on that board last about as long as topics on 4chan do before getting deleted, I'll quote the most important point here:

"Wisdom is in removing what is harmful, and retaining what is not."

However, I would add that wisdom is also making a change only after full consideration of the implications of that change. (These two axioms are a very important part of what I would call common sense.) I have seen political disasters come about as a direct result of intended reforms that were not sufficiently thought out. Busing, for example: the horribly misguided reform that destroyed the county that I live in. At one point, there were good schools and there were bad schools. The good schools were in the well-off, mostly white areas with high property values, and the bad schools were in the poor, mostly black areas with low property values. Then some reactionary prick somewhere in the court system (at least, I think it came from the courts) had the brilliant idea to send some students from the good schools to the bad schools and vice versa.

At this point, it would be worthwhile to consider exactly what it is that gives a suburban area its property value. Raising children, as most people should know, is a very popular activity in the suburbs. And what do children do with their time? They spend it in school. Obviously, parents want their children to go to better schools. This means that houses in the areas allocated to the better schools have a higher property value. Now what do you think would happen if access to those better schools wasn't guaranteed?

If you answered "absolute fucking collapse of property values", you're smarter than at least one politician, not that that's any sort of achievement. The people with money moved out and the people without money moved in. I grew up in a neighborhood that was once relatively good; now a lot of the houses are for sale, a lot of people in the houses that aren't for sale don't speak English, and the people across the street are suspected of running a meth lab. All thanks to some asshole Democrats with no common sense.

For a better explanation of my current politics, wait a year or so. I'm not reading anywhere near as much as I should be, and I have a lot on my list. And if you want a convenient little label for my political beliefs, too bad; I can't think of one. In any country but America, I suspect I would be considered a paleolibertarian, but this country's tendency to drag religion into absolutely everything has sort of ruined that label for me. Oh well.

Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you. If you're fascinated by foreign policy, for example, share an interesting story others might not know about why Afghanistan was carved up to look like it does, or why Nixon was a better foreign policy leader than people think.

See next post.

[LordZeebmork]

Within your post, take the opportunity to inform the rest of us about something of special interest to you. If you're fascinated by foreign policy, for example, share an interesting story others might not know about why Afghanistan was carved up to look like it does, or why Nixon was a better foreign policy leader than people think.

As I said earlier, there seem to be a lot of realities going around these days.

Progressive ideologues (Democrats (although not a lot of the politically successful ones), universities, Daily Kos, Keith Olbermann, a surprising amount of rich people from New England and California, etc.) seem to absolutely believe in ideas as absurd as reducing crime by leaving the people unprotected and creating lucrative markets for criminals, reducing racism by institutionalizing racism, reducing poverty by taking money from the people, and improving this country by attempting to destroy free debate and force everything to operate on the twisted, unrealistic axioms set forward by their sick ideology.

Neoconservative ideologues (Republicans, most prominent figures in American Christianity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, a significant percentage of the Tea Party) seem to absolutely believe in ideas as absurd as reducing crime by sustaining lucrative markets for criminals, reducing racism by acting absolutely ridiculous until everyone who doesn't agree with them calls them racist, fixing other countries by bombing them to hell, fixing this country by putting more money toward bombing other countries to hell, and improving this country by attempting to destroy free debate and force everything to operate on the twisted, unrealistic axioms set forward by their sick ideology.

Of course, neoconservatives are a lot better at that last point than progressives, I suspect by their ability to keep in mind that a significant part of their audience has not been subjected to two decades or more of indoctrination into their ideology, and an even more significant part of their audience has the intelligence of the average toaster; while progressives have mostly been forced off to the political sidelines, despite their near-total control over the education system in many parts of this country, neoconservatives have been able to shape the media landscape to the point that they can say things that are blatantly false (death panels, anyone?) and have a large percentage of the population believe them. That's the sort of control that progressives can only wish they had.

Then there are the libertarian/anarcho-capitalist ideologues, mostly Objectivists and Ron Paul drones; the socialist/communist ideologues, mostly Europe fetishists and pretentious rich kids; and even more interesting groups, like the LaRouche crowd. (Can anyone explain what the hell they're on about? I've never been able to understand it. They're Democrats, but they sound like the Tea Party on acid.) But they're not popular enough to be taken seriously. I could say the same about the progressives, but they have most of academia.

Anyway, that three-post monster was probably more than anyone expected to see in this thread. But I have nothing better to do than ramble on about this sort of thing, and the one thing I hate more than proofreading is cutting things out of my posts.

[Ericho]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

I have no profession at the time, but I do have a major in Psychology.

Issues that are of special concern to you

The enivronment (the BP oil spill) and religion and the legalisation of marijuana and same sex marriage.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

The crisis in North Korea, the way to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I would describe myself as libertarian, which is mostly what I learned from my parents.

etc. etc.

[Camarohusky]

At 8/6/10 09:13 AM, LordZeebmork wrote: Long

In the spirit of the olden days...

TLDR!!!!

[Vidaria]

Your profession or course of academic study

A have a Bachelors in Health Sciences, and currently in Medical School

Issues that are of special concern to you

Healthcare, social determinants of health, Canadian healthcare system, health policy, infectious diseases.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Knowledge is power. (I actually can't think of anything specific right now)

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

GAH too lazy to think. Probably slightly right of center (conservative). I don't like the current Liberal Ontario government and their increasingly paternalistic policies.

[Davoo]

Your profession or course of academic study

Nothing yet

Issues that are of special concern to you

The question of "what's okay to kill" is really big for me. Religion, I think, we'd be better without at this point in human history. But it would take so long. I still think we should have something similar to religion, though. Churches, books of instructions/rules, ext. Just stop saying "obey these rules because of magical powers that will punish you if you don't." and instead go with "obey these rules because fuck you, that's why."

All-in-all, I'm what you would definitely call a South Park Conservative.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

I want to learn more about pretty much everything I'm interested in.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Well a lot of it comes from my dad. Another big percentage of it comes from news and talk radio, but whenever I get information from THAT source, I like to chat with random people online about it. Because obviously, big media-stuff isn't always trustworthy.

So basically; the way I shape a lot of my opinions and knowledge is by asking other people about it on political forums like this. I'll take some basic piece of information or opinion, and see what both the left and right have to say about it. For example, I once asked:

"Glenn Beck has a bunch of extreme questions to ask the government. Do you have any of the answers to these questions yourself?"
The reply went something like:
"I feel sorry for anyone who thinks of Glenn Beck as anything less than an idiot."
I then replied,
"Oh okay, so tell me; what is wrong with his questions? Prove to me why he's so dumb."
Then they went,
"You're an idiot for supporting him!"
And it went on like that for, like, six pages. =P

[JMHX]

At 8/6/10 02:10 PM, Vidaria wrote:

Your profession or course of academic study

I work for an international development NGO and am pursuing an M.A. in Media and Public Affairs.

Issues that are of special concern to you

General foreign policy questions, African affairs, personal liberties issues (drugs, gay marriage, economic choice).

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Applied economics, still very basic knowledge here. Arguments pro/con on immigration. Latin America.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Libertarian. Was for quite some time a very liberal near-socialist from 2003 - 2006, but began moderating and moving to the moderate-realist viewpoint as I worked more in government and development, and did more reading into political philosophy and basic economics. Now I'm trying to make a bridge for Pragmatic Libertarianism that would actually be applicable to a country as comfy as the U.S.

[TheMason]

Welcome back JMHX. We didn't really interact too much seven years ago...but I've always enjoyed reading your posts and hoped you'd return.

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

I'm back on active duty with the Air Force. I'm part of a Chemical, Biological, Nuclear/Radiation first response team.

I have a MS in International Relations +18 hrs towards a PhD.

Issues that are of special concern to you

*Terrorism
* North/South Korea
* Gun Control

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I am a libertarian. I was a Republican until about 2006. Over Bush's administration I saw that the party had basically come to be a conservative version of the Democrats: fiscally irresponsible and appealing to people's fears to inject government into people's personal lives.

etc. etc.

One of the reasons I am so fascinated by the Koreas is I spent two years living over there while in the USAF. I found the people to be incredibly wonderful. I also visited the DMZ (and got to go about 20ft into N. Korea). I could see the detoriation of the country and read several books by DPRK defectors (I recommend The Aquariums of Pyongyang).

I'm also passionate about guns because I grew up with them. I've been a hunter, competitive shooter and now I have military training on them. As a trained political scientist I've studied the statistics. In short, there is nothing to suggest the US in need of further gun control.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

At 8/6/10 04:59 AM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote:

At 8/5/10 11:13 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: question how can you be against birth control?

What exactly do you mean?
Your statement is too vague.

you said you were against birth control why?

[Gorgonof]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote: Your profession or course of academic study

None... right now, I'm probably going to be a bun baker for a while, but I'm fascinated by electronics and I'll start some sort of formal education soon

Issues that are of special concern to you

-Gun rights
I'm something of a gun fanatic, and I enjoy target shooting. Also people need access to weapons in case the undead rise.
-Gay rights
I'm bisexual and more attracted to guys rather than girls, although I'm not very open about it because I don't want to face discrimination.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

US Health care, and if there's any chance our government will topple corruption. I'm also concerned about our schools that are failing and declining health, I'm not sure what can be done.

I'd also interested in learning more about AGW, and I don't know much about foreign politics.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I'm hesitant to align myself with a political party, I don't like either of the two main ones, although I occasionally like a specific politician. I'm liberal on most social issues, but I'm moderate on economic ones.

I was more or less indoctrinated by my parents, and I grew up around religious and conservative people, but I got rebellious and ended up doing my own research and forming my own opinions, now I pretty much disagreeing with my father and the people I grew up around about everything.

[JMHX]

At 8/6/10 05:35 PM, TheMason wrote: Welcome back JMHX. We didn't really interact too much seven years ago...but I've always enjoyed reading your posts and hoped you'd return.

Shoot me your AIM or contact info, would love to chat.

[HibiscusKazeneko]

At 8/6/10 06:25 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote:
you said you were against birth control why?

It sickened my mother. She had breast cancer (introductory carcinoma, to be exact) when I was 8 and it relapsed when I was 16, and now her health is in the toilet. When we were trying to figure out what caused the cancer, she openly admitted to having been on The Pill for several years prior to and after my birth. Judging by this and what was in all the literature I was forced to read during the time I was homeschooled (we used the infamous A Beka curriculum), I drew the conclusion that this was God's wrath manifesting itself. I henceforth vowed to adhere to the Quiverfull standard for childbearing: in a nutshell, sex=babies, no questions asked. If this means I wind up with 20 or 30 children, so be it.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

what kind was it it must have been a old kind that side effects that is now outlawed there ae much safer ones now.

[HibiscusKazeneko]

At 8/6/10 10:37 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: what kind was it it must have been a old kind that side effects that is now outlawed there ae much safer ones now.

They still have the same side effects.
No matter what you say, I'm still erring on the side of caution.

Or are you trolling me like this because you want me not to procreate? Well, you may be getting your wish, because I'm 20 and still not married.

[poxpower]

At 8/6/10 10:28 PM, HibiscusKazeneko wrote: in a nutshell, sex=babies, no questions asked. If this means I wind up with 20 or 30 children, so be it.

or you could use condoms...

...

[Camarohusky]

At 8/7/10 10:46 AM, poxpower wrote: or you could use condoms...

And take the joy out of it!?

[Patton3]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote:
Your profession or course of academic study

Well, my intended major is History, with my minor being somewhat up in the air. Literature, Poli. Sci., Sociology, and... well, something centered on writing (like journalism for example) are the most likely candidates.
My intended University is Indiana University - Bloomington

Issues that are of special concern to you

History is something I love, and if the present isn't a summary of past events, what is it? So that can really be tied to just about anything. I also firmly believe that an understanding of any issue has to be based in an understanding of the events and circumstances that led to it.
Environmentalism as well. Long story short, I hold that major action has to be taken on part of all nations. Since brevity is kind of expected for something like this, that's all I have to offer on that for now.
Additionally, though it might not be an issue per say, I think political discussion would be far more productive if people simply recognized that cogent, rational, well intentioned people can and will disagree with them.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Israel/Palestine:
I know enough to understand where the problem started, the culture and traditions there that effect it to some extent, and so on, yet to go into anything in depth, and which side is justified is beyond my understanding of this issue.
Economics:
I know enough to understand basic principles. Supply and Demand, that excessive taxation cripples growth, an educated work force, infrastructure, etc. encourage and help sustain growth. I know a bit about slightly more advanced topics, such as Dutch Disease. Though this is largely based in the research and papers I've done over oil, both over the modern day and in a historical light.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I'm moderately liberal. I'm on the liberal side of things no doubt, yet I'm close enough to the middle to have a few views that are typically conservative minded. Some of these right sided views are on gun control, the death penalty, and the need for a general cut to all budgets, none exempt.
Politically, I started out as kind of a douche. Looking back at some of my old posts, old as in a year ago or more, it makes me want to punch myself. "Hmmm, both conservatives too. Coincidence?" Yech. But I suppose that was the product of a 15 year old getting into something as expansive as politics, at only a surface level at an age where it is perfectly natural that you're kind of "sorting things out" sort of speak. My ideas are still changing, as one would expect, and I try to remain open minded to the extent that it is possible, as I tend to have a rather agreeable nature. Yet I try to avoid the democrat way of doing this, and not back down once in a while. To stand for something adamantly, or at least defend a position I hold even if some people might disagree with me, or resort to pettiness over the disagreement.

etc. etc.

And just some reading that I enjoyed and are related to some of the topics I posted above.
I can't really elaborate on historical books, but if you would want to know good books on a certain era/event, that's pointed enough I would probably know of at least one or two.
On environmentalism, get "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman, and read the chapter on petro politics especially closely. The subtitle of the chapter is cheesy (fill 'er up with dictators) but it's good information none the less.
In the realm of magazines, I look at Time which has good material at... times, and The Economist. In a similar thread, I go to wn.com for the bulk of my news.
Now some other books that aren't really on any specific event, but helped shaped the way I think, that resonated for one reason or another: Brave New World by Alduous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie, How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis, Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, Shelby Foote's three part Civil War Series, and honestly? Just about anything by Kurt Vonnegut.

[Imperator]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote:

Good Lord, was it really seven years ago? It seemed as if there was better structure back then, even if it was channeled into the forms of silly cliques like the Politics Crew and the Devil's Advocate Group.

Ahh the DAG. Felt like your own private army at times.

Your profession or course of academic study

B.A. Classical Studies from a "Public Ivy". Currently postbac student at Georgetown, Greek and Latin.
Minor in cultural Anthropology.

Issues that are of special concern to you

Greek and Latin philology.
French, German, Italian.
Social changes brought about by the Roman army/ role of Roman military in social development.
Civil War.
WWII.
Cognitive and Personality Psychology.

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Any of the above. In addition:
Economics (would probably be helpful to at least have a general idea)
Metalinguistics
Numismatics.
Diplomacy, foreign policy, and the use of the military as a tool in those regards ("send in the carriers"?)
Historicity and historiography.

probably more I can't think of offhand.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Probably closest to libertarian.
Always look at things from a pragmatic perspective, tend to attack the theory dispassionately. The weight of the theory will decide my leanings. Both Dems and Reps, Liberals and Conservatives, seem to have terrible, useless, irrational theories about how things should be done. Libertarians less so it seems (although they have their moments).

etc. etc.

lit studies and languages seem to be my bread and butter, with emphasis on western tradition.
While not an expert, I'm continually moving closer in that regard, and love discussions of linguistic design.

Psychology I study autodidactically (and rarely), with some college courses under my belt.
Of particular interest to me is memory, intelligence, and learning functions in the brain.

On the opposite side of this, people who know a lot about things you want to know are invited to post worthwhile books or articles to get you started on the path of learning. Someone who knows nothing about the modern history of North and South Korea could be recommended "The Two Koreas," for example.

I have books galore. Any books I don't actually have, I could probably recommend in terms of Greco-Roman history. Had a wide range of expert professors at my alma mater, so it wouldn't be difficult for me to get in touch and ask who are the top minds in whatever specialty needed researching.

People who find they know about the same things can connect on a higher level, and people interested in sharing their knowledge with people who don't know but want to learn can feel like they're giving back. Working together, we can actually expand our horizons on a whole host of foreign and domestic policy issues, philosophy, and general ignorance.

[Politics]

At 8/5/10 01:19 PM, JMHX wrote:

You? You're still alive?

Forum members are invited to post some of their (non-personal information) so that we have a good idea of just who you are and what your background is. This can include:
Your profession or course of academic study

Computer science. I've been focusing a tad on web programming lately. I still get into political arguments often enough, though.

Issues that are of special concern to you

People putting down net neutrality get my all frothy at the mouth. Beyond my field of study, though, general issues that put innocent people in undue circumstances for no rational reason (like the gay marriage issue in the US), ignorance of science, and mindless ideological jingoism (Beck, et al.) all bug me. I'm inclined to enter discussions about those materials, except when the people involved in said discussions have no bloody idea what they're talking about. When I encounter embarrassing ignorance, I usually just slink away and shake my head (which also explains my lack of activity around here).

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

History can be a rich and fascinating subject. I'd love to talk to a historian about parallels between today's world and the political movements of the past. It would be very enlightening. That's not so much an issue, though, so I'll just pick something slightly more specific: Let's say the history of religious fundamentalism and religiosity.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

I'm fairly libertarian in social issues. Locking resources into some centralized source of control seems potentially and likely inefficient. However, I also support exceptions to this rule where there are practical needs for it, like in cases of welfare. I don't have a story to describe how I got to any of these beliefs; I'm just inclined to think about things in a mechanized way and this is what I concluded was best for everyone.

etc. etc.

I'm a Gemini and I enjoy cool, rainy days and hot, sexy nights. I'm 6'5", which some women find intimidating, but don't worry ladies: I don't bite. Unless you ask me to. RAWR. ;D

[Odio]

Your profession or course of academic study

Entering college at the end of August. No idea what to major in. Probably history or language. (fairy science maybe)

Issues that are of special concern to you

Affirmative action (I'm against it)
Immigration (Against it)
Free Speech (Completely for it)
Nuking Africa (Fuck Africa)

Issues you know little or nothing about but want to learn about

Economics.

Your political leanings (and, more interestingly, how you came to develop them)

Democratic Socialist. It seems like the most fair system. The problem is that it's never been fully implemented. How I came to be one? I have no idea. Lenin and Che inspired me, I guess, never mind they were orthodox Marxists. It's too bad all the hipsters claim to be democratic socialists. Makes me feel bad.