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Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 8:37am
by Dr. Medulla
Flex wrote:
Dr. Medulla wrote:It's long been an article of faith that people come to North America to find a better life, that things are so great here that people want to be like us. Americans have historically been more given to this conceit, but I hear it more and more from Canadians nowadays. The homegrown Muslim terrorist question can be evidence of (1) something wrong with them; or (2) something wrong with us (i.e., that we're not as wonderful and worthy of imitation as we'd like to think). I'm certainly not discounting (1)—anyone who can rationalize such violence has allowed abstraction to conquer innate human commonality—but (2) is worthwhile evaluating. Holding ourselves up as an obvious ideal almost certainly impairs our ability to figure out a sensible way forward.
Well, sure, but the second one is never, ever going to happen so you have to start looking for solutions that work around that. Which is impossible. We're fucked.
The reason why we should feel so cynical about that kind of collective self-reflection is kind of curious. Germany has undergone a striking admission and shaming of its anti-Semitic past, whereas Japan largely covers up its brutal conduct during World War II. Two sides that lost WWII, different reactions. South Africa has had its Truth and Reconciliation process about apartheid, while Canada very grudgingly acknowledges its role in residential schools in the past (in short, aboriginal children were taken to religious schools where they were abused and taught to be ashamed of their culture). Two Commonwealth nations with colonialist pasts, yet different degrees of willingness toward acknowledging and atoning for it. Or America's half-hearted acceptance of its history of slavery—a bland acknowledgement that it was wrong, but no real consideration of its structural racist legacy or compensation. What is it about us—Canada and the US particularly, but Western European nations, too—that we reject meaningful self-reflection? I don't have even the germ of an answer, but I do know that it is possible for a nation to admit wrong-doing and to make an effort at atonement, so there must be something more particular at work.

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 3:18pm
by BostonBeaneater
Image

“They have guns. Fuck them, we have champagne,”

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 3:20pm
by Flex
BostonBeaneater wrote:https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2 ... &strip=all

“They have guns. Fuck them, we have champagne,”
That's actually a great, great cover.

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 3:22pm
by BostonBeaneater
Flex wrote:
BostonBeaneater wrote:https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2 ... &strip=all

“They have guns. Fuck them, we have champagne,”
That's actually a great, great cover.
Inspired for sure.

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 4:40pm
by BostonBeaneater

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 5:03pm
by Dr. Medulla
GOP Warns Refugees Likely To Be Driven To Terrorism By Way America Would Treat Them
CHARLESTON, SC—Declaring that opening the nation’s doors to displaced Syrians posed a major security threat, GOP leaders warned Tuesday that any refugees who resettled in the U.S. would most likely be driven to terrorism by the way America treats them. “We absolutely cannot provide a safe haven to these Syrians due to the very real threat that the abusive and hateful conduct of Americans will push the refugees toward radicalization and recruitment by extremist militant groups,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), echoing the sentiments of numerous other presidential candidates and state governors who have argued that Syrian asylum seekers would in all probability embrace a radical jihadist worldview after constantly enduring anti-Muslim hate speech, racial epithets, and threats of violence and persecution by both the American people and government officials. “The moment we let these Syrians in, I promise that our most ruthless and cruel tendencies will take over, and we won’t relent until these refugees feel like they have no choice but to plan and execute a terror attack right inside our borders. It’s better to be safe than sorry in this situation.” Cruz claimed that the country did not face the same threat from Syria’s Christian refugees, stressing his confidence that only a small percentage of U.S. citizens would regard them as Muslim extremists.
http://www.theonion.com/article/gop-war ... aign=feeds

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 7:25pm
by revbob
Dr. Medulla wrote:
GOP Warns Refugees Likely To Be Driven To Terrorism By Way America Would Treat Them
CHARLESTON, SC—Declaring that opening the nation’s doors to displaced Syrians posed a major security threat, GOP leaders warned Tuesday that any refugees who resettled in the U.S. would most likely be driven to terrorism by the way America treats them. “We absolutely cannot provide a safe haven to these Syrians due to the very real threat that the abusive and hateful conduct of Americans will push the refugees toward radicalization and recruitment by extremist militant groups,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), echoing the sentiments of numerous other presidential candidates and state governors who have argued that Syrian asylum seekers would in all probability embrace a radical jihadist worldview after constantly enduring anti-Muslim hate speech, racial epithets, and threats of violence and persecution by both the American people and government officials. “The moment we let these Syrians in, I promise that our most ruthless and cruel tendencies will take over, and we won’t relent until these refugees feel like they have no choice but to plan and execute a terror attack right inside our borders. It’s better to be safe than sorry in this situation.” Cruz claimed that the country did not face the same threat from Syria’s Christian refugees, stressing his confidence that only a small percentage of U.S. citizens would regard them as Muslim extremists.
http://www.theonion.com/article/gop-war ... aign=feeds
I thought the Onion was all made up stuff

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 10:25pm
by Rat Patrol
Shouldn't there be a space-time rip ending all baryonic life as we know it right about now?

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/texas-g ... -gun-here/

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 10:26pm
by Dr. Medulla
Rat Patrol wrote:Shouldn't there be a space-time rip ending all baryonic life as we know it right about now?

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/texas-g ... -gun-here/
We're thru the looking glass, people …

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 17 Nov 2015, 10:35pm
by Rat Patrol
Dr. Medulla wrote:
Rat Patrol wrote:Shouldn't there be a space-time rip ending all baryonic life as we know it right about now?

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/texas-g ... -gun-here/
We're thru the looking glass, people …
This guy can see forever. . .
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:twitch:

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 18 Nov 2015, 12:39pm
by BostonBeaneater
I'll say this for the French, they ain't fucking around.

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 18 Nov 2015, 5:30pm
by BostonBeaneater

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 18 Nov 2015, 5:41pm
by BostonBeaneater
Remember the St. Louis:

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php ... d=10005267

The US, Canada, and Cuba refused these people. The ship went back to Hamburg where the Nazis ultimately murdered all 937 of them.
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Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 18 Nov 2015, 6:11pm
by Dr. Medulla
BostonBeaneater wrote:Remember the St. Louis:

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php ... d=10005267

The US, Canada, and Cuba refused these people. The ship went back to Hamburg where the Nazis ultimately murdered all 937 of them.
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Part of citing history is then having it rebutted with "But this is different." :(

Re: Bloodshed in Paris this evening

Posted: 18 Nov 2015, 6:30pm
by BostonBeaneater
Dr. Medulla wrote:
BostonBeaneater wrote:Remember the St. Louis:

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php ... d=10005267

The US, Canada, and Cuba refused these people. The ship went back to Hamburg where the Nazis ultimately murdered all 937 of them.
Image
Image
Part of citing history is then having it rebutted with "But this is different." :(
God forbid these kids get to sleep in a bed and go to school.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lynzybilling/wh ... .piLJVQ66W