
May 23rd, 2003, 12:36 PM
You've got some truly brilliant stuff here, I must admit:
"The framers of the Constitution actually set a precident for dealing with a government which is victimizing its populace, its called Revolution buddy. I realize this concept is kind of obscure in American historty, but a few of us are privy to such arcane knowledge. "
Oh yes, how silly of me, rather than write a letter to my local government saying how I think the double taxation they're trying to put on my local cable bill is wrong, I should just grab my musket and take over the state capitol. Or maybe I should just break off and form my own country because I disagree with the death penalty in my state. Wow. How could I have forgotten about the good ole revolution clause?
"Seeing a few dollars directed into government projects you disagree with is not so great a concern that anyone is truly a victim as a result. "
Which I agree with, but I don't think that other people would agree.
"No. I pay my taxes because it is a civic responsibility, and I trust the powers that be to make use of those assets as they see fit, as they are in a better position to to make those decisions than many citizens are. We as a society grant them that power because we realize that they are better informed than we are, in theory, and thus tend to respect their decisions. Granted, they are everybit as prone to judgements of error as we are, but because of their occupation, it is far less likely. "
"...its not like a tax has ever been passed which the public did not see coming. The system is very concise, you can follow a bill's procession all the way to becoming a law, on television and online. You can agree with it, or disagree, but the system is not unfair. If you don't like a bill, get together a petition. Write some letters. Phone your senator. There are steps which can be taken, steps which are taken, by those with a very un-victim like mindset. "
So you honestly believe that as long as our government passes a specific bill, then it must be right. Or, if it isn't, and we've wrote letters, protested, signed petitions etc., then, well, I guess we have to revolt, right?
"How many took heated offense to your White Supremacist comparison and theory of victimized motivation for right wing thinking? "
people took offense to the comparison because they came to a conclusion that was irrelevant to the original comparison. I'll write it out, and this is not meant to be symbolic logic so a preemptive strike on comments about that.
Group A comes to conclusion 1 using method Z.
Group B comes to conclusion 2 using method Z.
Group A and B use method Z.
Not Group A and B come to conclusion 1.
Not Group A equals Group B.
If you want to take offense to the issue at hand, that's fine. I said it myself, that I believe there are liberals who use the same mindset in a different manner.
"So we have self-percieved victims who don't see themselves as victims. Is this the latest breakthrough in your brilliant theory? "
Yes I do believe that there are times when a person may not be totally aware of the circumstances that form their persona. I believe that there are times when we don't fully understand why we make the decisions we do or why we take a certain stance. Can you honestly trace back every influence that turned you into the being you are today? You've already come to the conclusion that I was thrown onto my head as a child, only by what you've read. Can you give me the end-all definition of "self?" Sorry if the idea of subconcious influence is too much of a stretch
Also, I think you're definition of a 'victim' or 'un-victim' like things are a little narrow. Just because someone is a victim of something doesn't mean that they cannot do something to try and remedy the situation. You call these un-victim like things, but a person can use the fact that they were(or they believed they were) wronged as motivation for their views and actions.
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