stutefish

Reply to Ethics of Depublishing in Blogging JoeUser Forums

The way I see it, the Internet is like the Id: a surging froth of ideas and emotions, most of which are too extreme, too violent, or too stupid to survive for any length of time. They bubble up, get ridiculed mercilessly by the Ten Thousand Voices of the Internet, pop, and subside again into the froth. The Internet is a place for people to try out extreme behaviors--things they wouldn't try in person, arguments they'd never use in real life,

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

AAAAAH. It all makes sense, now. Thanks, Guy!

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

To which of your statements should I apply the sarcasm, Guy?

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Sorry, Guy . I'm still having trouble following your train of thought. If the fetus is a mass of cells that may one day become a human being, then keeping the mother's body alive serves a very clear and obvious purpose: allowing the mass of cells to become a human being. This is the declared purpose of the husband/father, and the purpose to which the medical staff has dedicated itself. There's plenty of purpose here; in fact, the enti

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Sorry, Guy . I guess I got confused. Where do you stand, on this issue, and the issue of fetal stem cell research? Most of the conservatives I know also oppose fetal stem cell research, for the same reasons. Your article's subtitle says "Contradictions all around", but all I can find in this article and its implications is a remarkable consistency. Point of logic: even if the fetus is not human, it doesn't follow

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

"Then the next MLK, or Gandi may not be born. Maybe Winston Churchill should not have been born given his mother?" On the other hand, maybe we'd be saving the world from the next Hitler, Manson, or Jones. Make no mistake, Guy the pro-life position is not founded on some rose-coloered hypothetical lifeboat ethics BS. The pro-life position isn't based on what the fetus might become later. It's based on what the fetus is rig

Reply to Fetus, Death, Life in Current Events JoeUser Forums

I say it's a totally banal and boring choice. The man wants to see his child born, and he's willing to assert that this is in keeping with his wife's desires. No other close family members are opposing him, and the doctors say it can be done. Assuming he's able to afford the costs, why not? What do you say, Dr. Guy ? An arbitrary mass of protoplasm, or a human life worth saving? Clearly, the husband and the doctors t

In Other News in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

The main problem with the Multi-Ethnic Workplace: Your co-worker's lunch always smells really good... to him . Chernobyl is open for business... as a tourist destination. So is an old prison in Sri Lanka. As usual, Lileks says it better than I ever could.<!-- Ju-Anchor-F

Reply to At what point does abortion become infanticide? in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Moderateman , I'm all about people (including women) having the right to make bad decisions--except when those decisions have bad consequences for other people . For me, the abortion question has never been a question of "choice". I'm totally pro-choice. Anything that men are allowed to do, I fully believe women should be allowed to do as well. But men aren't allowed to kill babies. It's not a right for men. It'

Reply to Some Thoughts On Gitmo in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Reiki , a corporation whose top executives embezzle corporate funds is still a corporation. Likewise, a POW camp where prohibited interrogation techniques are practiced is still a POW camp. In any case, the utilitarian and moral arguments about torture and interrogation is probably big enough for a separate set of articles. Your allegations about how the prisoners were taken make a very good point, if true. But that point is undermined

Reply to Some Thoughts On Gitmo in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Agreed: We should do the right thing from the outset, if we can. A lot of times, the right thing isn't apparent at the outset. Sometimes, it takes extensive study and experience--and trial-and-error--to figure out what the right thing is in a new situation. On top of that, large and complex institutions like the U.S. military change very slowly. I think this is generally a good thing. I think that in the case of POWs, it's g

Reply to TV Commercials Insult our Intelligence! in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Personally, I like a girl with a touch of the McGuyver spirit. So if we were in a sinking rowboat, and she just happened to have the perfect implement for saving us an unplanned swim, no, it would not kill the date. In fact, it would be... kind of hot. And apparently Marines in Iraq have discovered that "sanitary napkins" make excellent improvised bandages. Here I always thought they were for absorbing bluish watery liquids. Apparently the

Reply to Getting democrats to win again in Politics JoeUser Forums

Honestly? Just agree that we're actually on the same side. We should both agree that a representative democracy of some kind is a good thing, and that some level of government regulation and support is necessary. All we really need to argue about is exactly where to set the thresholds. Let the extremists and fringes of both parties go fish. I mean, I'm tired of the opposition faction ranting about how half the country is my sworn enemy. I'd be more than happy to work with an opposit

Reply to Some Thoughts On Gitmo in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

You're right, Zoomba , the question of POWs does get complicated. I fully agree that it will be difficult to determine when the "war on terror" is over. But since it doesn't seem to be over quite yet, I'm comfortable saying we probably don't have to work out right now exactly when to release POWs. But okay, fine. When would you recommend releasing terrorist POWs? (Note: I'm assuming that at least some of the Gitm

Reply to Open discussion, GITMO in Politics JoeUser Forums

Nice forum post, Moderateman ! It got me thinking ...

Some Thoughts On Gitmo in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Everybody is talking about this like it's a case of criminal justice. It's not a case of criminal justice. It's a case of prisoners of war. These people were captured during combat operations or their aftermath, on or near a battlefield (allegedly--I'll come back to this in a moment).<

Reply to Why Bush Should Be Bashed in Politics JoeUser Forums

Call me silly, but I read all that and translated it as: "Yeah, we're angry but we don't know why and can't really justify our anger in any rational way, and that's why it's okay to direct our anger at the president. He may not really be responsible for the the things we're angry about, and even if he was we're having real difficulty proving that he's repsonsible, but dammit, he's the President, and that's reason enough to focus our anger on him!"

Reply to Political Games on JoeUser in Politics JoeUser Forums

Calor , if you'd be so kind as to draw my attention to a recent post of yours, I'd be happy to populate its comments with at least a little polite, thoughtful debate on whatever points you raise.

Why I Hate: All Hands Meetings in Life Journals JoeUser Forums

Behold the published agenda for my department's next "All Hands" meeting: Introduction - Department Director and Department Vice President (30 minutes) Work Simple Session - VP of Work Simple Department (2 hours) Strategic Direction - Department Director (45 minutes) Demand & Delivery - Director of ... Some acronym nobody can expand for m

Reply to Are Social Taboos Really Necessary? in Life JoeUser Forums

Mason , can you think of any specific taboos that help to strengthen a community and make it more productive? Do any of these taboos make rational sense, aside from their usefulness for holding a society together and focusing its energies?

Reply to Are Social Taboos Really Necessary? in Life JoeUser Forums

Thank you, latour999 . Can you give any examples of activities which are legal, harmful to others, and prohibited by a taboo?

Are Social Taboos Really Necessary? in Life JoeUser Forums

Taboos. Do we really need them? Does society really benefit from prohibiting things, even when there's no clear reasoning to support the prohibition? Are there certain activities which society should simply refuse to accept, regardless of the rational arguments for allowing them? Or would we all be better off if every form of behavior was permitted

Reply to The smug right oblivious to its overrreach in Politics JoeUser Forums

It's a debate about priorities, isn't it? There's nothing in the article about Republicans more interested in winning than in what they stand for. It's all about Republicans setting different priorities from Calor , and choosing to fight battles Calor wishes they wouldn't. "Those Republicans wouldn't be so bad, if they only did what good Democrats would do." Of course, if the Republicans had the Democrat agenda, they probably

Reply to A Few Thoughts About Secular Humanism in Life JoeUser Forums

latour said, "So an all knowing being doesn't know me well enough? interesting..." It's not like that at all. Rather, the "all-knowing being" knows you very well indeed. For example, It knows that you have chosen not to commune with it. It also knows that without this communion, you will be eternally incomplete and unable to realize your full potential as a chosen companion of God. But Its rule is this: If you choose to forgo the co

Reply to A Few Thoughts About Secular Humanism in Life JoeUser Forums

You make sense, PD . But wouldn't any technology that makes sure we always do what our conscience tells us to do cancel out free will? Anyway, the theme of my article might be expressed like this: Christianity tells us that we already know right from wrong, what the origin of right and wrong is, that we are free to choose between the two, that we are unable to always choose right over wrong, and that there is a solution