BruceVC

Vals has called me insane on numerous occasions, he has said I suffer from cognitive dissonance amongst other things But my cognitive dissonance I support and value as a positive because its allows me to see both sides of an argument and allows me to change my mind if faced with evidence...and when I change my mind on a particular stance I never feel inconsistent because of cognitive dissonance. So it really is a positive personality trait for me

I don't know 2133 you say don't care about this topic or trading barbs is a waste of time yet you do seem to spend lots of time engaging in these types of debates....so it doesn't seem to be a waste of time for you I like to always say " a debate is an exchange of intelligence, an argument is an exchange of ignorance " I see what you doing as a debate, its interesting

Well I did think The Beast was twisted, nefarious and unlikable ....so I'm getting more hardcore Finding out the Beast was a molested child giving up his humanity for the power to punish his abuser and keep the magical land that rejected him from rejecting him again made him a little more sympathetic, but the whole no humanity thing makes him pretty much irredeemable now. And we can be even more sympathetic if we want because as you mentioned drinking from the magic stream also destroyed any remnants of his humanity...so you could argue he wasn't even human anymore. He was consumed by magic?

You guys do raise some good points about his character....its interesting how I seemed to overlook that as he did become a better person as the show went on and thats what I tended to focus on

Well I did think The Beast was twisted, nefarious and unlikable ....so I'm getting more hardcore

Also I have heard this criticism several times so I'm missing something, what for example is wrong with Quinton? What is wrong with his personality ....what do people expect him to act like? Seriously Bruce? You didn't see anything wrong with his behavior? I'm glad the show has gotten better since I stopped watching but he was a pretty horrible person in the first couple of episodes Here is the actor even saying the character starts off as unlikable No I honesty didn't think there was anything wrong with him because his flaws made him believable and human But its clear my view is in minority so its probably not accurate ..like this post you made that highlights the actors own view so it must carry credibility

I reject the notion that Winston Churchill was an evil SOB, he had some questionable views around how to maintain British rule but to compare him to Hitler and Stalin who are responsible for the deaths of millions is just an absurd and spurious comparison and no amount of specious Zora "anti-Western" logic is going to change the historical reality ..its like a discussion of Cecil Rhodes, very subjective. And Churchill played a very key part in defeating the Axis powers and ensuring Britain never surrendered ..imagine a world if the Nazis had won... What would Volo be calling people now " democratic SJW " or " liberal SJW "...because the " Nazi " insult would be considered a compliment But nowadays because people who commit genocide or real war crimes aren't ever generally considered good leaders we measure what a makes a good leader on different metrics For most people management of the economy is one of these key metrics, Putin had over a decade when the oil price was high to diversify the Russian economy. But he made the same mistake that countries like Brazil, Nigeria and Venezuela did. His policies of ensuring the Russian economy was sustainable consisted of relying on commodities and a high oil price. Thats bad economic insight and shows a bad leader, Putin was more concerned with ensuring the rise of Russian hegemony in the region But whats the point of having a strong military if your economy is in the doldrums and in the case of Russia a serious recession?

So it apparently is pretty simple to buy a fake Syrian passport. While it is a bit of a stretch to assume that getting a fake Turkish ID is going to be as easy it is just the logical next step, and once they're out of Turkey that's it. Sure thing, a fake Turk that isn't speaking any Turkish might not be that difficult to spot but they are getting free travel across the EU, so why would you check and double check? Not to mention that it still leaves a host of actual poor, unskilled and uneducated Turks free to travel to the EU for any length of time. People tend to forget that Turkey doesn't end at Istanbul. Yeah well, and what with Erdogan saying that assimilation is a crime against humanity and extorting the EU for more money half a week after signing the deal I do reserve the right to be cynical about it. This deal is a bad idea, and dealing with Erdogan in a manner as if he actually were an ally of the EU is a bad idea. He isn't, and he never will be. Well there is some good news, there are less immigrants trying to get into Europe than ever before. I watched an interview on CNN where the words used were something like " the amount of migrants attempting to get to Europe has substantially gone down " The problem being I can't find a link to support this so please just believe me

Also I have heard this criticism several times so I'm missing something, what for example is wrong with Quinton? What is wrong with his personality ....what do people expect him to act like?

No Volo I believe in equality but we need to address societal and historical imbalances that exist in the modern age amongst, for example, the races and genders And this imbalance will be different depending where you live. My question to you Volo is a simple one and only one you can answer " are you part of the problem....or the solution " ?

Oh and the hunter\werewolf quest, I let the werewolf kill the sister She was either insane or so stupid she doesnt deserve to live. She should have known the Werewolf would kill a stranger....she lead her own sister to death because she wanted her husband. In my world of " Witcher 3 Social Justice " (W3SJ) she deserved to die

Small steps ....its all small steps for me

I haven't played SoD yet, is the transexual NPC in question one of the established NPC's from BG1 and BG2? Or a wholly new character? I think I see where you going with this and I like it...if the transexual NPC is a new character then the Gandalf analogy becomes irrelevant ..because SoD is not fundamentally changing any of the original characters. Which makes certain criticism even more unreasonable

I would imagine its a veiled attack on people who are against the Trump wall, like me, and its meant to expose them as hypocrites because we fine with the White House wall ?

Why should anyone complain....this is to make the president, his family and his staff safer Its not the same as the Trump wall because its not anywhere on the same scale, will require the same resources to build or creates the same political statement that the Trump wall does

a-hole is an understatement

Oh thats interesting so this is not a quest everyone does ? I am taking my time and exploring as much as possible, I'm really soaking in that " open world " RPG experience..its superlative

What an amazing game ...so I have ended the Bloody Baron quest and the Baron is going to take care of Anna..he really seemed to have changed so I supported him But wowzers I had to make some TOUGH choices..as soul searching as they can be when presented with them by a game ...for example If I free the evil spirit under the hill it will set the children free but I have inadvertently set a great evil free who will do greater harm to the world than the terrible fate of the children..so if I kill the evil spirit the children get eaten by the witches, an appalling fate but for me the lesser of 2 evils...so I killed the spirit but agreed to go with the Baron back to the swamp. And I never went back for the money...I felt I had to redeem myself for the children. And I did...hopefully Anna's mental health is restored

We never discuss games here. And I'd wager more than half the people posting in this thread haven't played it. I certainly haven't, because from what views I've read from people with similar tastes I'd be better served playing BGT with SCS. I haven't played it and never claimed I did but you can follow all the numerous debates about " SJ issues " through a myriad of sources and peoples comments So its not like you have to have played the game to partake in certain debates

Completely meaningless argument unless you can provide reasons in themselves why anyone should take heed of what the people of Paris or Berlin thinks over what the people of the streets of Moscow say. Not meaningless at all. Its actually quite simple because its about the reality of how well a certain leader has done in running a country overall Putin has a very high approval rating in Russia yet the Russian economy is in a recession and Putin has mismanaged economic growth....yet he is still popular So if the average Russian citizen thinks Putin is a great leader and they think Trump is a good leader they either don't understand or care about economic metrics and how they reflect on a leaders true success So in summary if your economy is in a recession this is a bad thing, it doesn't matter if you have a strong military or if you control the domestic media narrative and the citizens "think you great " or " its the fault of the West for our financial situation " This is about the economic reality of any country and how the citizens hold there leaders responsible for that economic reality Did you just refute your own argument? Oh my. No I didn't and its not an argument but an observation based on economics and " what makes a good leader " Let me explain it differently, I dont think Putin is a good leader and I don't think Trump is a good leader Many Russians think Trump will make a good leader but they also think Putin is a good leader Many people outside of Russia, like the Germans and French, don't think Trump will make a good leader So who carries the most credibility on this topic? Is it the average Russian citizen or the average German or French citizen...and the topic being " is Trump a good leader " ? Again, the credibility lies completely between the representative of the nation and his constituents, as they are the ones he is supposed to represent and is accountable to. You not suggesting that when we measure a leaders value or credibility we only look at what the citizens of the country he rules think? In certain cases that just doesn't reflect the reality of how good or bad a leader is, in the 1930's many Germans thought Hitler was great ....did this patriotism and resurgence of German pride mean he was really a good leader...look at the outcome of what happened So we have opinions of leaders based on historical context and measurable developments and government policy outcomes like .. "how is the state of healthcare, human rights abuses, how is the economy being managed " etc. So yes the views of citizens matter but they just part of the overall way we reflect on leaders

this post really made me laugh I think the time for confusing commentary is over....if you dont like the cast of Magicians its probably best to just be honest and..admit it, no need to be coy or reticent I liked the various characters, they had flaws and reasonable dysfunctions that most people grapple with on some level ....it made them human, I could identify with them ?

Okay, good to know...I thought you were going to tell me what a scintillating and insightful bit of commentary that was and that would have disappointed me and we both know much you hate disappointing me

Nope sorry Hiro...epic fail...again Do you understand what the word irrefutable means ? Its mean it cannot be denied ..its like an absolute truth That video is biased, selective, subjective and very, very refutable Its the opposite of irrefutable

Volo....please don't tell you actually support that video?

Completely meaningless argument unless you can provide reasons in themselves why anyone should take heed of what the people of Paris or Berlin thinks over what the people of the streets of Moscow say. Not meaningless at all. Its actually quite simple because its about the reality of how well a certain leader has done in running a country overall Putin has a very high approval rating in Russia yet the Russian economy is in a recession and Putin has mismanaged economic growth....yet he is still popular So if the average Russian citizen thinks Putin is a great leader and they think Trump is a good leader they either don't understand or care about economic metrics and how they reflect on a leaders true success So in summary if your economy is in a recession this is a bad thing, it doesn't matter if you have a strong military or if you control the domestic media narrative and the citizens "think you great " or " its the fault of the West for our financial situation " This is about the economic reality of any country and how the citizens hold there leaders responsible for that economic reality Did you just refute your own argument? Oh my. No I didn't and its not an argument but an observation based on economics and " what makes a good leader " Let me explain it differently, I dont think Putin is a good leader and I don't think Trump is a good leader Many Russians think Trump will make a good leader but they also think Putin is a good leader Many people outside of Russia, like the Germans and French, don't think Trump will make a good leader So who carries the most credibility on this topic? Is it the average Russian citizen or the average German or French citizen...and the topic being " is Trump a good leader " ?