Ben No.3

Yes, I learned that USA teachers when asked to name three scientist can name one actual scientist, one celebrity and one tv show host Does having a US syndicated TV show for 5 years really lead to world-wide recognition?I'd say his internet presence has stretched out a bit farther than that at this point. He's basically a step behind Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking in terms of recognizability in Science.Never seen the guy on the internet before the meme.I just googled the guy. He is not even a scientist. You placing this kids show host with Stephen Hawking is mind boggling. I think I asked this before, but aren't you supposed to be a teacher? How low are the education standards in USA? You must have had terrible text comprehension marks. What he said was "He's basically a step behind Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking in terms of recognizability in Science". Nowhere does he claim that Nye actually is a scientist... much rather, he states that Nye is a popular representative of science, you might also say one of the faces of science. And what would we call a representative of science? A scientist is a representative of science, but a representative of science does not have to be a scientist. A more simple example might be: the queen is a representative of England, but not every representative of england is a queen (for example, Theresa May is PM)

Actually, more people in the city are left since they are exposed to social (cultural, economical, political, etc.) heterogeneity on a daily basis

Does having a US syndicated TV show for 5 years really lead to world-wide recognition? I'd say his internet presence has stretched out a bit farther than that at this point. He's basically a step behind Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking in terms of recognizability in Science. Never seen the guy on the internet before the meme. I just googled the guy. He is not even a scientist. You placing this kids show host with Stephen Hawking is mind boggling. I think I asked this before, but aren't you supposed to be a teacher? How low are the education standards in USA? You must have had terrible text comprehension marks. What he said was "He's basically a step behind Neil Degrasse Tyson and Stephen Hawking in terms of recognizability in Science". Nowhere does he claim that Nye actually is a scientist... much rather, he states that Nye is a popular representative of science, you might also say one of the faces of science.

"Waste time?" Making your own builds is half the fun of the game! Have to agree here

Its often a very different reason why you see women kissing other women, the question " does this mean that woman is lesbian " isnt the same as 2 guys kissing which in most cases highlights the fact they are gay This blurs the line What is a "lesbian" then? Someone who'd kiss other women? Someone who'd have sex with other women? Someone who'd have a relationship with other women? And, let's not forget, anyone can talk herself into any of these things, so what if that was the case? TBH, to me it seems like the social factor is BY FAR the most important determinant for our sexual preferences. Take alone the phrase "sexual orientation"... it already makes us think in terms of "which direction to go", as if having sex with males or females were somehow like opposites rather than just two forms of the same thing, which, after all, is much closer.

Nah, oby has been devoured by bruce, his antithesis That can't be a reasonable synthesis

That's what I mean by social factor.... shay you are born 50% hetero and 50% homo, I would guess that'll you are quite unlikely to follow much your homo side due to the way homosexuality is handled by society. Society isn't homophobic because there are homophobes, there are homophobs because society is homophobic. Mind you, I'm not placing guilt on anyone. It's not your fault that the world is the way it is, it's just your fault it it stays that way.

What do you mean when you say "its a lie .... " ? Are you saying being gay is a choice? As I understand him, he says the following: Men are naturally straight, however, they might be insecure about approaching the opposite sex, and therefore they turn to homosexuality as an "easy solution". Mind you, his opinion, not mine. Bruce, I understand you have been active with the queers (at least that's how I took it from the thread I linked...). What is your opinion on how sexuality evolves? The way I understand it, is that it is a mixture of genetics, hormones and social factors (I especially take interest in the latter...

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90620-homosexuality-to-heterosexuality/?do=findComment&comment=1867232 Relevant, perhaps?

Everyone is bi, and then there are preferences, is that what you're saying? No? Sad...

The phrase "race is a social construct" does not imply that biological differences between people are not real, it implies that the process of differentiation between people based on said differences (or racism, as an example) is based on social (rather than biological) dynamics. If we are to understand the underlying dynamics of today's racism, it is important to understand the historical background. An excellent example is the holding of "slaves" (more on this later) in Latin America by the Spanish from the 16th century onward. The following comes from an document from the Spanish Queen Isabella, written in 1503. I only have it in german, so excuse my translation: "I [...] order you, our Governor [in South America], that you from this day, on which you receive my orders, forward force and push the Indios to treat the Christian population [the Spanish settlers] with respect, to work in their homes, to let them mine gold and other metals [for the settlers] and to do the agricultural work of the Christian settlers [...] to require every [tribe] to prepare a certain number of workers everywhere where necessary [to work for the settlers] and that they may, on holy days, be teached about the holy word [of the bible]. [...] [Always remember that] the noted dutys they [the Indios] fulfill as free men, not as slaves." The system described by Isabella is the Repartimento (lat. "repartiere": to distribute). It ensured every Spanish settler a certain number of Indios as workforce. It was closely tied to the Ecomienda (span. "ecomendar": to entrust), which required the settlers to house "their" Indios appropriately and to teach them in the Christian faith. However, these rules were more of a theoretical construct and enforced by no one. Quotes are amongst the strongest sources; here Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566), bishop in Chiapa, Mexico, talks about the effects of the Ecomienda: "[The governor] did not only allow for impossible to endure labour [for the Indios], he also allowed, that Spanish coordinators were placed above them [the Indios], who were of exceptional cruelty. [...] They [the coordinators] treated them [the Indios] with such cruelty and hardship and so inhumanly, that they can only be described as servants of the devil, and they didn't give them [the Indios] a break, day and night. They hit them with sticks, whips, hands, feet and never called them anything but dogs." The Spanish elites, but also the common Spanish man was fully aware of these realities. However, for a very long time, they were viewed as entirely justifiable. Most famously, the studied Palacios Rubios published the Requerimiento. In it, he build up the following argument: God had placed the pope as his representative on earth, and through the pope he gifted the Spanish king the New World (Amerika). The inhabitants of the new world had to therefore accept the new god, otherwise they should be held in slavery until they did so. Additionally, the actually highly developed cultures of Latin America were often deemed barbaric, especially due to their practice of cannibalism as part of religious rituals, and therefore deemed worth less. This line of argument was used for decades to come. After some time, the common people started to view this practice as unjust, and in 1537, the pope declared Indios to be "true humans", independently from their faith. And in 1542/43, the Spanish king declared several laws in which he outlawed slavery. It might seem like racism is, after all indeed not so much of a problem. But here we get to the true source of it. Racism is just another form of oppression, oppression usually used for exploitation, exploitation in the economic sense. A shift in popular opinion toward more equality may seem like a new world is finally coming, however, public endeavours are often undermined by economic interests. And we see the same here: while the people we're on the side of the Indios, many governors saw high economic losses for their spheres of influence (and make no mistake, therefore directly and primarily for themselves). The pressure from the governors led to the Spanish king rewriting the laws already in 1545. In doing so, he effectively reinstituted slavery. So indeed, the phrase "race is a social construct" does not fully capture it. Race, in the sense of racism, is an economic creation. It originated in practices used during the early stages of trade-capitalism (the modern day racism, that is), during a time which you might call the first globalisation. And while enormous progress has been made, it remains a harsh reality that many non whites all around the world live primarily low class lives, while the upper classes are dominated by whites. These are not just remainders of past realities that will disappear eventually, they ARE today's reality, and without considerable effort, they will not disappear. The focus of modern American leftists on what can be summarised under political correctness are surely good in theory, however, they completely fail to address the true issue. If the black man in America continues to live the life of a poor man, he couldn't care less if he is now referred to as African American. If the social issues are to be solved, the economic problems must be addressed first. Anything else is doomed to fail. ADDED: Had enormous fun researching this, thanks for the input

"Look, the group of people we have treated like sh!t for decades (and still do... the pope himself says we put them in concentration camps) is slowly starting to get pissed at us. BURN THEM ALIVE BEOFRE THEY CAN REPRODUCE" The sick thing is, I hear people actually saying that they are worried about the preservation of their respective culture because immigrants apparently have more children. If your sister was harassed by a banker, would she vote far left? If your sister was harassed by a lesbian, would she vote conservative? Then why the hell does she vote far right when she is harassed by an immigrant?

It's capitalist. Long live the EUSSR -.- I mean obviously it is capitalist. It ensures the freedom of markets.

Oh god, where to start... I'll write a very long and elaborate answer later today

Really nice stuff there, Ben! That Konstantin Yuon piece looks wonderful, I'll be looking into him a bit more.Happy to help Some more cause I got time on my hands: kliment redko insurrection andrey golubev; red spinner kazimir malevich; red cavalry state porcelain factory leningrad; dish "moulding workshop" kuzma petrov-vodkin; after battle

A joke: 1st lesson biology: The human is slave to his hormones 2nd lesson social studies: The human slave is to society 3rd lesson philosophy: The human is free 4th lesson PE: Sports is is the synthesis

All the (main) others up until know.

Exhibition on Russian Art from 1917-1932 in the royal academy of arts in London, some of my favourites.... boris kustodiev demonstration on Uritsky isaak brodsky lenin in smolny konstantin yuon new planet alexander deineka the defense of petrograd 1928

I can insult someone as a "classist" now? Oh my..... what an opportunity Seriously though, if this is the best the American left has to offer, I am ashamed. Comrades, we used to be critical theorists with masterful analysis of capitalism and it's ills across multiple subjects, we were major contributors to sociology, Philosophy, economics, politics.... and THAT is all you got to offer? Oh I don't know Ben. In some aspects they are splitting the uprights in terms of socialist thought. With few exceptions (all of them fairly recent) the socialist nations of the world have not been known for embracing or encouraging things like free speech or independent thought. Very true, however, I'd argue that no matter what your political stance is, the criticism of capitalism from left winged theorists is spot on

I can insult someone as a "classist" now? Oh my..... what an opportunity Seriously though, if this is the best the American left has to offer, I am ashamed. Comrades, we used to be critical theorists with masterful analysis of capitalism and it's ills across multiple subjects, we were major contributors to sociology, Philosophy, economics, politics.... and THAT is all you got to offer?

Then why do you support parliamentary democracy?

Bomb attack on civilians in Aleppo. Between 39 and 43 dead, pretends on your source

Something doesn't belong there....

But we have to have strong militaries to ensure a balance in the world and address global concerns like dictatorships Question: How is it different to be ruled by your own dictators military or by the military of some forgein power?