Higgenbotham's Dark Age Hovel

[Bob Butler]

In most crises, there are only one or two major issues. The Revolution may have had noble privilege as well as colonial imperialism. The Civil War may have included a power struggle between the northern industrial robber barons and the big southern agricultural landowners. Would agriculture remain predominant, or the Industrial Revolution happen? FDR had to deal with the depression before handling the Axis.

The current crisis seems to include a bunch of smaller issues, none of which are really verging on the same scale. Covid was just another pandemic. Black Lives Matter was an outsized response to stop a few bad cops. The war in Ukraine doesn’t begin to compare to WW II. Trump’s criminality killed relatively few. The religious fanatics against the women is looking quite lopsided. Then there is prejudice and the problem with bigots.

None of our current crisis issues are particularly lethal, at least until you come up with a definition of sentient that would apply to the first two trimesters.

Global warming, food energy, population and the elite stranglehold on government combine to make a heady combination. A concern about collapse is sorta justified. I worry more about that than the bigots.

[Bob Butler]

Logic dictates that most of the people presently coming illegally have no marketable skills and no desire to assimilate.
People with marketable skills who desire to immigrate are probably more likely to want to do so legally, so as to maximize their potential once here. It's not hard to believe that we are letting in primarily riffraff.

If we streamlined a merit-based immigration system, we could get just as many immigrants as are currently coming illegally, but we would actually benefit from it. However, this would be a disaster for the democrats, which is why they'll have no part of it.

As technology develops, it is harder to generate full employment. As machines do the work of humans to a greater degree, there are idle humans who cannot find work. One solution I've considered is less hours per career for humans. Legislate a shorter work week or more vacations. This isn't being seriously considered as the elites don't want to diminish profits. Instead, they blame it on the people who can't find work.

If you need 50 units of energy to produce 1 unit of meat, at least there is room for improvement. If the status quo becomes a serious problem, there is somewhere to go. Alternately, fusion is one of the technologies that is being only slowly developed as the elites want to profit now from fossil fuel. Maybe the energy will be available a few decades hence.

Does a progressive need to suggest the problem need to be addressed, that there is a need for conservatives to change? Are bigoted rantings a solution? Build up hatred so an ugly confrontation becomes inevitable? Or should we look for a real practical answer?

[Guest]

Logic dictates that most of the people presently coming illegally have no marketable skills and no desire to assimilate.
People with marketable skills who desire to immigrate are probably more likely to want to do so legally, so as to maximize their potential once here. It's not hard to believe that we are letting in primarily riffraff.

If we streamlined a merit-based immigration system, we could get just as many immigrants as are currently coming illegally, but we would actually benefit from it. However, this would be a disaster for the democrats, which is why they'll have no part of it.

It is obvious to me that the Biden admin is actively destroying the country. America is heading for a breakdown and a breakup. The liberals are going to be left on the side of the road with the rest of the useless eaters. The unskilled are already dead, they just don't know it.

[John]

In most crises, there are only one or two major issues. The Revolution may have had noble privilege as well as colonial imperialism. The Civil War may have included a power struggle between the northern industrial robber barons and the big southern agricultural landowners. Would agriculture remain predominant, or the Industrial Revolution happen? FDR had to deal with the depression before handling the Axis.

The current crisis seems to include a bunch of smaller issues, none of which are really verging on the same scale. Covid was just another pandemic. Black Lives Matter was an outsized response to stop a few bad cops. The war in Ukraine doesn’t begin to compare to WW II. Trump’s criminality killed relatively few. The religious fanatics against the women is looking quite lopsided. Then there is prejudice and the problem with bigots.

None of our current crisis issues are particularly lethal, at least until you come up with a definition of sentient that would apply to the first two trimesters.

Global warming, food energy, population and the elite stranglehold on government combine to make a heady combination. A concern about collapse is sorta justified. I worry more about that than the bigots.

** 01-Apr-2024 World View: Other issues

Here are some crisis issues that you
omitted:

• Israel vs Hamas and Iran
• The weekly bloodbath among young
  blacks on the streets of Chicago and
  other large blue cities. This will be a
  huge issue in October when the Democrat
  national convention comes to Chicago,
  especially after what happened in 1968.
  (See heyjackass.com)
• Tens of millions of illegal
  immigrants flooding into cities across
  the country, including hundreds of
  terrorists according to the
  FBI.
• Depriving poor blacks of much-needed
  resources, while showering illegal
  immigrants with lavish benefits -- free
  hotel rooms, free pre-loaded credit
  cards, free medical, free food, free
  education -- benefits that poor blacks
  badly need.

These issues may seem small, but they're
all going to become major because this
Crisis Era is the historical descendant
of the 1860s Civil War Crisis Era, which
the Democrats would like to refight.

[Bob Butler]

Here are some crisis issues that you omitted

Mostly worthy issues. The drug wars in the big cities are due to the government in its wisdom trying to prevent the people from getting what they want. One just provides criminals with a chance to profit. Both parties are generating trouble with that one. The Gaza war I did cover in my thread. If both cultures want to hate, kill and oppress the different, what can be done? Biden tried to hit the immigration problem to the degree which the Republicans allowed, but Trump would rather campaign on the problem than try to solve it. The problem with bigotry will continue as long as the white supremacists try to blame minorities rather than address the problem.

Again, the Democrats in the Civil War were the conservative stay the same racist slavery faction. LBJ, MLK and Nixon reversed that alignment with the civil rights movement and southern stratagy. You really ought to familiarize yourself a little bit with history.

[Guest]

John Lydon, former lead singer of the Sex Pistols, under attack for stating the obvious: uncontrolled immigration in such large numbers from cultures that don’t want to assimilate to British culture is dangerous. He said when his parents took him to London from Ireland they told him “you’re British now”. He also says it wasn’t easy: he was bullied for being Catholic but the kids worked it out between themselves and that’s the way it should be.

That’s key, and it does the kids and culture no favor to ghettoize yourselves whether you’re Pakistani or Irish. The problem is the majority of the Africans, Pakistanis, etc. arriving in Britain don’t want to change a thing about themselves and the things they are bringing to Britain are so completely anti-western and taboo: cousin marriage, forced marriage, grooming gangs — the Pakistanis alone have raised the occurrence of genetically deformed babies in Britain by orders of magnitude. 3% of babies born in Britain are of Pakistani ancestry yet they make up almoat half of those born with genetic illness. It’s insane. And it’s insane for people to defend such practices (or pretend they aren’t even happening) out of political correctness or fear of being called racist. Truly pathetic. And truly brave of Lydon to speak out rationally and thoughtfully about all this.

[Bob Butler]

Yes, the difference between Great Britain's Protestant and Catholic cultures would seem small compared to Britain's and the Middle East's. If there is an instinct to hate, oppress and kill the different, someone with a different religion will be more familiar than someone from another continent.

The marrying cousins part of Pakistan culture is most unfortunate. While it is raising a fuss in Britain, did anyone hear concerns about it in Pakistan?

[spottybrowncow]

None of our current crisis issues are particularly lethal, at least until you come up with a definition of sentient that would apply to the first two trimesters.

Your suggestion to use "sentience" as a criteria to justify abortion is not catching on. In fact, I haven't seen anyone else suggest that it is reasonable.
Maybe you're just way out ahead of the pack - that's the progressive mindset, after all.

[Bob Butler]

None of our current crisis issues are particularly lethal, at least until you come up with a definition of sentient that would apply to the first two trimesters.

Your suggestion to use "sentience" as a criteria to justify abortion is not catching on. In fact, I haven't seen anyone else suggest that it is reasonable.
Maybe you're just way out ahead of the pack - that's the progressive mindset, after all.

There are a bunch of reasons that allegedly justify killing a living being. They can vary from declaring a war to thinking a nice steak would taste good. A lot of the reasons come down to whether you think the being killed is sentient. The question sort of becomes how one defines sentient. First two trimesters? Language use? Fertilized human?

I don't think I'm that much ahead of the crowd. I'm just forcing folk to define their terms. If you have looked at a dictionary, words have multiple meanings, including sentient. We just can't agree on a single relevant and mandatory definition.

If you want to continue the discussion at length, we should probably reopen the abortion thread. Doesn't particularly belong in the Hovel.

[spottybrowncow]

None of our current crisis issues are particularly lethal, at least until you come up with a definition of sentient that would apply to the first two trimesters.

Your suggestion to use "sentience" as a criteria to justify abortion is not catching on. In fact, I haven't seen anyone else suggest that it is reasonable.
Maybe you're just way out ahead of the pack - that's the progressive mindset, after all.

There are a bunch of reasons that allegedly justify killing a living being. They can vary from declaring a war to thinking a nice steak would taste good. A lot of the reasons come down to whether you think the being killed is sentient. The question sort of becomes how one defines sentient. First two trimesters? Language use? Fertilized human?

I don't think I'm that much ahead of the crowd. I'm just forcing folk to define their terms. If you have looked at a dictionary, words have multiple meanings, including sentient. We just can't agree on a single relevant and mandatory definition.

If you want to continue the discussion at length, we should probably reopen the abortion thread. Doesn't particularly belong in the Hovel.

Respect for human life is the issue. That's why you're so confused.