BruceVC

Wow what a game, SA lost 18-20 to NZ but that was Rugby..that was a game None of my friends and family share my sentiment as all they can see is " we lost " but for the first time in the WC we put NZ under real pressure, they missed penalties and the whole game had the right balance of tension where you really not sure who might win Bu well done NZ All we needed was one more penalty and we would won And to add to the overall festivities I had a attractive lady sit next to me randomly, as we watched at a packed sports bar, and her and I hit it off and we meeting up tonight at a club to drown our sorrows with LOADS of alcohol

Dont you think you are egregiously exaggerating....yes Social Media did play a certain part in updating people in some countries around the Arab Spring but it wasn't what implemented the change we saw in some countries. The positive change we did see were people acting and doing things in RL. In other words social media isn't as important or influential as you seem to think 14-15 year olds today do not even watch TV, but rather congregate on snapchat, whatsapp, twitter, and youtube. They are completely dependent on the information 'allowed' on those platforms. If social media is controlled, then so is mainstream social interaction. What, you think organizations reponsible for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) ...do not have a wested interest in this? I am afraid that this pushes anything "unacceptable" into the fringes and we will have more extremists unintensionally among our midst exploding with various attacks because the spectrum is too narrow, all while we have all these governmental institutions experimenting with how to monitor and to control such information. Let people be is simply much to ask, it seems. I understand your concern, I really do. You are worried that the free flow of information on the Internet will be influenced and monitored by organisations or government funded groups that will ultimately censor or control this information and what people will access. I have two points for you to consider Countries like Russia and China already censor and control the Internet in there respective countries ....yet your links seem to be about censorship in the USA and Western countries. Why don't you discuss what is going on in non-Western countries...or do they get a pass ? Programs like Prism will be used to target people that mean harm to the USA, we should be supportive of measures to protect citizens of countries that are potentially targets of cyber attacks and normal homegrown and external terrorist attacks. Don't you feel our governments should do anything reasonable to protect there citizens ? I critisize the US because i hold them to the highest standard and almost every single one of those companies are american. China, Russia and most other countries are in ****-tier when it comes to concepts of freedom and liberty, both culturally and judicially. //edit: Prism is indiscriminate surveillance, which has no basis in any free society. Let me tell you about Russia. Putin's favorite thing to do is to point out all the dirty hypocrisies of the "western" world. Something he does very deftly. It becomes very hard to hold US or anyone as an example when they do stupid things. Okay boys good points raised, it just gets a little frustrating at times because I see all this real inequality and lack of respect for human rights in many places in the world yet all we seem to do is criticize the West But I get the point that we should certain countries to a higher standard

Dont you think you are egregiously exaggerating....yes Social Media did play a certain part in updating people in some countries around the Arab Spring but it wasn't what implemented the change we saw in some countries. The positive change we did see were people acting and doing things in RL. In other words social media isn't as important or influential as you seem to think 14-15 year olds today do not even watch TV, but rather congregate on snapchat, whatsapp, twitter, and youtube. They are completely dependent on the information 'allowed' on those platforms. If social media is controlled, then so is mainstream social interaction. What, you think organizations reponsible for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) ...do not have a wested interest in this? I am afraid that this pushes anything "unacceptable" into the fringes and we will have more extremists unintensionally among our midst exploding with various attacks because the spectrum is too narrow, all while we have all these governmental institutions experimenting with how to monitor and to control such information. Let people be is simply much to ask, it seems. I understand your concern, I really do. You are worried that the free flow of information on the Internet will be influenced and monitored by organisations or government funded groups that will ultimately censor or control this information and what people will access. I have two points for you to consider Countries like Russia and China already censor and control the Internet in there respective countries ....yet your links seem to be about censorship in the USA and Western countries. Why don't you discuss what is going on in non-Western countries...or do they get a pass ? Programs like Prism will be used to target people that mean harm to the USA, we should be supportive of measures to protect citizens of countries that are potentially targets of cyber attacks and normal homegrown and external terrorist attacks. Don't you feel our governments should do anything reasonable to protect there citizens ?

Okay I have to say that was one of the funniest and relevant things I have seen in ages, very funny

Yeah...I do find the words " morally correct " difficult to quantify in a gaming context

I do think more Federal influence in the states in a place like the USA is a good thing but not as extreme as you are describing....you are also exaggerating

Dont you think you are egregiously exaggerating....yes Social Media did play a certain part in updating people in some countries around the Arab Spring but it wasn't what implemented the change we saw in some countries. The positive change we did see were people acting and doing things in RL. In other words social media isn't as important or influential as you seem to think

That's funny....how is he going to do that ?

Also you guys lost the battle in the media for support for GG ages ago, this was basically an irrefutable fact when CNN had that documentary about how "sexist and diabolical " GG was So naturally most people in government, celebrities or prominent person in the social limelight who knows anything about GG will be opposed to it ...as it is seen as a fundamentally sexist\misogynistic movement that very few people outside of gaming will publicly support because no one wants to be seen as sexist or misogynistic I think this is unfair as some of the views of GG are biased and one sided,.,,but when you don't control the media narrative or you can't resonate your message with the media you cant expect to get completely objective reporting ?

Oh no...I like Defiance

Good point raised...its just more of symbolic consideration if you think about what its saying " Hi World, I'm the new Canadian PM and I'm pulling Canada out of the multinational force that is fighting a global, ostensibly, threat which happens to be ISIS " The truth is I don't believe ISIS is a global threat but it has been positioned that way so the expectations from certain countries is the same

What !!! Why would he do that...doesn't he want to part of the international military coalition in the ME And if Canada gets attacked by extremists linked to ISIS is he now going to ask for USA assistance? Its a slippery slope Trudeau walks.....we all need to do our part

Yeah....that Scotland game and that penalty decision was harsh and now we know was the wrong decision. But sometimes thats how the game goes..but now the big one, NZ vs SA I would be foolish to say I don't think NZ are the favorites, you guys are like this unstoppable Rugby juggernaut But many factors can influence a game at this level. Like pressure and the expectation that " team x must win...how can they not win " So of course we are all very much behind SA for Saturday. I also want to add that after our disastrous lose to Japan we have already recovered our pride so to lose to NZ will not be a disgrace ( and I'm not assuming we will lose, I am just being realistic )

Heh, you're right. My new nerd watch made me forget etiquette. I had the lunch special, standard fare, but the taste was superb. Matched by a Ballast Point Grunion Pale Ale draft ... only one, since, you know, it was noon. http://www.craftburgerco.com/about-us.html Nice, a relatively small selection but some yummy choices I like the idea of the "chef's seasonal burger creation" ...that looks very interesting

Welcome to the forum...we love new members Remember to always support SJ causes and remember the West is your friend and Capitalism is not all bad

And......you know the rule? What burger or meal did you have, do share the details

Funny enough I was listening to some Rugby journalists commenting how its the first time in ages its been a Southern hemisphere semi-Final only This is not good for Rugby development as you want a mix of teams from both hemispheres in the interests of broadcaster revenue and ensuring decent sponsorship...in other words there is less global interest if its only Southern hemisphere teams

The latest season of American Horror Story is out, its looking very good so far...Vampires and Lady Gaga. Could we ask for more

Okay fair enough, I didn't realize you considered this the worst thing ever said So we do see this whole thing in a slightly different way

I can not believe you just said all that. 1. What is expected is a bare minimum. Stay quiet, if you can't be sympathetic. 2. The authenticity of their beliefs excuses nothing. Some people believe you need to have your head cut off because you don't believe what they believe. To them it's a serious thing too. This is not a conversation reasonable people should even be having. I will not treat anyone who gloats at a man with a terminal disease over some petty internet squabbles as anything other than a piece of sh*t. I will also at this point not entertain the arguments to the supposed seriousness of anything John Bain has ever done that would deserve such treatment under any context due to their abject lunacy. Would you say this incident has worsened your opinion of anti-GG..,..did you use to respect them and now find you can't ? So my point being you have never held them in any way except for contempt so I guess I'm surprised with all this " new vitriol " ?

Yes I know you battle to empathize with some events but feeling you have to empathize now because some nameless anti-GG rabble have insulted TB because they think he is a **** seems like a waste of empathy energy ? And ISIS is much worse...much worse. Its actually silly to even compare the two as ISIS acts on there hatred and people die because of it You misunderstand, I don't empathize with TB because some internet rabble attacked him because I know that doesn't phase him. My empathy for TB and his disease, and my condemnation of their lack of empathy are seperate things. As for ISIS being worse or not, I'd say a lack of education and empathy are the sick festering core of ISIS as they are the sick festering core of these people (and to be fair, this applies just the same to those who hurled death threats at Quinn and Sarkeesian). The only difference is how far the society they live in has enabled them to go. You overstate the difference. Hatred is hatred. "Militant" is a word applied to some of these people for a reason - and sooner or later every militant organization dreams of their own Kristalnacht, whether they realize that is what it is or they pretend it's "liberation". Do you think ISIS believe themselves to be evil? How do you judge a young man who by his upbringing, environment and indoctrination truly believes he is doing the right thing, sacrificing his life because he has no choice but to destroy evil for the good of the world, as he straps a bomb to his chest? I would condemn that man's ignorance and hatred and that of those around him... but I would respect him more than someone from a civilized country who celebrates the painful death of a human being they dislike because he said some bad words on the internet. To be so ignorant and hateful in the civilized world seems worse to me than anything ISIS does, even if the effects are not worse. Okay yes I did misunderstand you, my bad But TN we still shouldn't try to compare ISIS with any online group similar to anti-GG. You are doing a real disservice to the thousands of victims and all the real misery and horror ISIS has inflicted on people and countries There are many educated people from Western countries who have joined ISIS due to the real ideological sympathies so we can't play the old " well ISIS recruits uneducated people ". Its known they have an effective Internet presence and active in social media....all this requires intelligence I don't care what ISIS thinks of themselves, they are a barbaric and reprehensible organisation that justifies complete religious intolerance, beheadings, mass killings, crucifixions and systemic rape. ISIS does use some suicide bombers but there real danger has always been they have a force of men that are prepared to engage in combat ..they also have a known " ISIS controlled region " so they are like a country of hatred for anything that isn't Sunni Muslim Anti-GG is nothing like this. They are just a presence on some parts of the Internet , I understand you are trying to make a comparison as you appalled by the comments but this analogy is a bad one ...and not accurate in almost any way

Issues with Steph or just personal stuff?

The All Blacks are definitely the favorites and its well deserved but they can be beaten

Yes I know you battle to empathize with some events but feeling you have to empathize now because some nameless anti-GG rabble have insulted TB because they think he is a **** seems like a waste of empathy energy ? And ISIS is much worse...much worse. Its actually silly to even compare the two as ISIS acts on there hatred and people die because of it

When someone is facing what TB is facing it goes well and far beyond general internet nastiness. It's either extraordinary ignorance and stupidity or those people are genuinely and truly scum of the earth. So ignorant yes, insensitive yes but not as bad as scum of the earth. These guys felt that TB had been involved in shaming and humiliating women, for some people this is a serious thing to do. So for them they felt that TB was a bad person and they genuinely believe he encouraged hate. Were they right....highly unlikely. Did they believe this...probably. So if you really dislike someone why would you be concerned if they suddenly told you they had a terminal disease?