are also an illusion, albeit a shared one since consensus creates them.Freedom is an illusion.
Now, rights, on the other hand...
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are also an illusion, albeit a shared one since consensus creates them.Freedom is an illusion.
Now, rights, on the other hand...
Open Range is one of my favorites.This sounds awfully familiar... are you a fan of Westerns by any chance?
You don't have to take down the internet. You just have to be aware that you can't expect privacy.As soon as the internet went up, privacy effectively ceased to exist.
If you want that privacy back, take down the internet.
are also an illusion, albeit a shared one since consensus creates them.
People don't like to see folks practice their religious freedoms any more. We have taken God out of the schools, people prevent religious displays during the holidays and even saying Merry Christmas is frowned upon by the PC police.
Yes, they are coming for your guns by relaxing gun ownership laws over the past few years.People don't like guns anymore, they want to take them away from us.
I don't see any of this. Wanting the rich to not have as many loopholes, deductions, and other ways to pay less taxes is not trying take away what they have earned, and certainly is not trying to take away the family farm. I don't know how other states do it, but here in Indiana we have signs here and there marking family farms that have been around for over 100 years.Many folks don't want us to keep what we have earned. We work hard and pay our taxes all our life and when we die they want to take away family farms from folks who have passed them down for generations.
A rant is a form of speech.People don't care much for freedom of speech, I am sure they will call this thread a "rant".
Are you still sore about the election? I know we have been over this 51/49 nonsense before.Our way of life has come under attack. When people can walk across our borders, get on food stamps and vote when they have not been born in this country to have others support them and borrow money we do not have to give them entitlements, 51% can vote that the other 49% support them.
Fair enough. Whether or not there is truth in the statement depends on the details, I feel. In some respects, there is truth to the notion that secularism can tend towards "freedom from religion" rather than "freedom of religion." When a student cannot display their art project in a public school because it happens to have religious themes, I have a problem with that. These kinds of things are, unfortunately, happening. Perhaps we've gotten so caught up in trying to remain politically correct that we've ended up inappropriately banishing a major part of people's lives from the public sphere? In at least some cases, all religious expression is banished except for the "religion" of secularism. If Rick feels this is not a good thing, I share this concern. Although it worries me, I don't know what the solution is. I would like to see this country embrace its own multiculturalism instead of pretending it doesn't exist by banishing it from the public sphere. Why not have celebrations of our diverse ways of life?
Open Range is one of my favorites.
You don't have to take down the internet. You just have to be aware that you can't expect privacy.
The same thing with cell phones, the government knows which end of my house my phone is in. They know what I spend my money on and so forth.
People assist this lack of privacy with Face book. To me, only a fool would tell people their every move and thought.
"I'm going to leave my house now and will not return for 3 days".
Just a few days earlier, they brag about their big screen TV they just bought or show off pictures taken from a very expensive camera.
One reason I don't have a facebook account. ^_^
But then you give up your ability to stalk other people. :ninja:
(Wait. That isn't the point of facebook?)
Perhaps it's more accurate to think of secularism as an effort to accommodate people of all religious and none, in an even and unbiased fashion. Put yourself in the position of a school administrator. One kid wants to do a presentation on, for example, wicca. A tolerant attitude would be "Great! Go for it!" but as an administrator, you know you will receive bitter complaints from the parents of all the non-wiccan children in the class, many of whom probably believe quite strongly that any form of paganism is of the devil, and their children's immortal souls are at stake. Some of those parents might even go so far as removing their children from secular education altogether, picketing outside the school, lobbying to have teachers fired, calling Fox News, etc. The pragmatic administrator might then say "Well, that's not to anyone's benefit, so perhaps we shouldn't have presentations of controversial religious beliefs." But you can't stop there, because you are clearly discriminating against a religious minority if you simply outlaw pagan presentations. The fair and tolerant attitude would say the only solution is not to discuss religions of any kind in class, outside classes that are ABOUT religion. Why? To be fair, tolerant, open-minded and even-handed. And to avoid controversy.
Well, I don't exactly have any desire to stalk people, but if I did, I don't think I'd have an account with my real information on it. ^_^
People don't like to see folks practice their religious freedoms any more. We have taken God out of the schools, people prevent religious displays during the holidays and even saying Merry Christmas is frowned upon by the PC police.
People don't like guns anymore, they want to take them away from us.
Many folks don't want us to keep what we have earned. We work hard and pay our taxes all our life and when we die they want to take away family farms from folks who have passed them down for generations.
People don't care much for freedom of speech, I am sure they will call this thread a "rant".
The thing is, we came to this country to be free. Free to speak our mind, to bear arms, to practice our religions and to work hard and enjoy the fruits of our labors.
Our way of life has come under attack. When people can walk across our borders, get on food stamps and vote when they have not been born in this country to have others support them and borrow money we do not have to give them entitlements, 51% can vote that the other 49% support them.
Damn right they want to take our guns, so they can roll right over our way of life.
The pussification of this country will not support the notion of Live Free or Die!
I feel like we may be living in a communist country very soon if people don't wake up and smell the coffee.
Many people would rather be entitled than to live a free life.
Free to make mistakes and learn from them.
Free to believe a higher power exists.
Free to keep what we earn, and free to shoot anyone who would take these things away from us.
Fair enough. Whether or not there is truth in the statement depends on the details, I feel. In some respects, there is truth to the notion that secularism can tend towards "freedom from religion" rather than "freedom of religion." When a student cannot display their art project in a public school because it happens to have religious themes, I have a problem with that. These kinds of things are, unfortunately, happening. Perhaps we've gotten so caught up in trying to remain politically correct that we've ended up inappropriately banishing a major part of people's lives from the public sphere? In at least some cases, all religious expression is banished except for the "religion" of secularism. If Rick feels this is not a good thing, I share this concern. Although it worries me, I don't know what the solution is. I would like to see this country embrace its own multiculturalism instead of pretending it doesn't exist by banishing it from the public sphere. Why not have celebrations of our diverse ways of life?
Political correctness has gotten completely out of hand.Fair enough. Whether or not there is truth in the statement depends on the details, I feel. In some respects, there is truth to the notion that secularism can tend towards "freedom from religion" rather than "freedom of religion." When a student cannot display their art project in a public school because it happens to have religious themes, I have a problem with that. These kinds of things are, unfortunately, happening. Perhaps we've gotten so caught up in trying to remain politically correct that we've ended up inappropriately banishing a major part of people's lives from the public sphere? In at least some cases, all religious expression is banished except for the "religion" of secularism. If Rick feels this is not a good thing, I share this concern. Although it worries me, I don't know what the solution is. I would like to see this country embrace its own multiculturalism instead of pretending it doesn't exist by banishing it from the public sphere. Why not have celebrations of our diverse ways of life?
People don't like to see folks practice their religious freedoms any more. We have taken God out of the schools, people prevent religious displays during the holidays and even saying Merry Christmas is frowned upon by the PC police.
People don't like guns anymore, they want to take them away from us.
Many folks don't want us to keep what we have earned. We work hard and pay our taxes all our life and when we die they want to take away family farms from folks who have passed them down for generations.
People don't care much for freedom of speech, I am sure they will call this thread a "rant".
The thing is, we came to this country to be free. Free to speak our mind, to bear arms, to practice our religions and to work hard and enjoy the fruits of our labors.
Our way of life has come under attack. When people can walk across our borders, get on food stamps and vote when they have not been born in this country to have others support them and borrow money we do not have to give them entitlements, 51% can vote that the other 49% support them.
Damn right they want to take our guns, so they can roll right over our way of life.
The pussification of this country will not support the notion of Live Free or Die!
I feel like we may be living in a communist country very soon if people don't wake up and smell the coffee.
Many people would rather be entitled than to live a free life.
Free to make mistakes and learn from them.
Free to believe a higher power exists.
Free to keep what we earn, and free to shoot anyone who would take these things away from us.
When no one worries about it, that's when we need to start worrying.If the same people who have already raped your economy could steal your liberty and then sell it back to you, I think they already would have. I don't think you've got much to worry about.
During the last election, many more groups than young voters voted for Obama. And many of them, such as racial minority voters, know damn well the Dems are far from perfect are really do nothing more than play to their demograph for support, but it's better than the other person who actively pursues policies of discrimination. As a GLBT voter, I was irate that of course Obama came out in support of marriage equality during an election campaign year, as I predicted he would as a political move to rally support, but it's better than Romney who wanted to amend the Constitution to ban marriage equality and setup commissions to investigate certain pro-GLBT groups and individuals.Very well said. I find myself mourning the loss of common sense on a more regular basis these days as I see lemmings happily being led off the cliff. It appears to me that the issues of the day are not understood by the majority of the voters. During this past election, many young people voted for Obama. They did not know what "Benghazi" was. I blame the media for this. It is way too easy to feed flashing lights and buzz words then to try and distill and relay facts so a person can make up their own minds. I think the critical skill of critical thinking for our young people is becoming a thing of the past.