BruceVC

No, not really...but um, thanks for the inquiry? I don't believe you Barti.....you would lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvve to be arested by her....think of all the much needed discipline she could inflict on you..

Yeah, I really wouldn't mind getting caught by her...in fact I would demand a strip search just in case I missed something illegal I remember 3 years ago I was leaving a dance festival in Belgium called Tomorrowland and there was a large line of Belgium Police waiting at the exit including several really attractive Policewomen who were there to ensure there was no violence or issues due to the large numbers of people . They were trying to take the job seriously but I'm sure you can imagine the vibe and state in everyone was in after 3 days of festivities so the cops knew this was a very easy job and a relaxed job Anyway I walked/stumbled up to two Policewomen and said " its fine...I don't mind..I consent to a strip search " ...they both laughed and we ended up chatting about where I was from and what I thought about Belgium

I mean the second season, not everyone gets it the same time as you Europeans so we will get it in a day or two

Great news, the second season of The Strain is about to be released ....yaaaay

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/ap/ap/top-news/greeks-heading-to-brussels-for-crucial-talks/nmxH8/ Maybe someone can explain this, the Greek parliament agreed on Saturday to harsh austerity measures????? What was the point of the referendum which was a NO to austerity ? I see the current and understandable issue now is there are certain EU countries, like Finland and Slovakia, who are asking "can we really trust the current Greek government " .....I can see this concern so the future of Greece in the EU and will it receive further bailouts from the EU is still very undecided?

It's a milita force of 'sharpshooters'. I know that from playing Napoleon Total War. Look at you, you little EU linguist

My brother, his wife and my two nieces ( age 6 and 9 and very cute) came up from coast and we had a family lunch with my mom and stepdad at a very rustic but popular Portuguese restaurant called the Madeira Bar. I had Chicken Livers for starters and the Peri-Peri Chicken for my main ( its Portuguese you have to eat Chicken ) My 6 year old niece was sitting opposite me so I spent the lunch throwing little pieces of paper at her and then denying I was throwing them at her...every time she was about to throw one back at me I would say something like " Katie you musn't throw things at the table..its bad manners " We ended up having a great time with lots of laughs Today I'm going with friends to the Fourways Farmers Market, the place focuses on artisan and specialty food stalls so you can eat things like Philly Steak Rolls and of course there are Cheese Stalls ..plus there is live music and loads to drink so it should be a great day http://www.ffmarket.co.za/

Well I guess only time will tell but so far our social experiment is working for us Next you should tackle homelessness, just hide them away and pretend they're in a happy place. It will also work for you since it seem that you care less about the actual issue than about mending your feelings. Thats like a really....really bad analogy Homelessness can really only be solved through social grants or ending the poverty cycle like creating jobs for the homeless Prohibiting racist comments is about what people are allowed to say that others and the law of land find offensive and hurtful The two examples aren't even remotely similar

Mmmmm....you right. I shouldn't compare myself to a low standard of forum and posting etiquette Good point TN, I apologize around my usage of "gross misrepresentation "

I wish it was only Volo. Several people in this thread, like Nonek, have referred fairly regularly to people who espouse SJ values as "SJF " The F meaning Fascist. So "gross misrepresentation " is rife on several levels in this thread Which is why I suggested lets not that play that card

Thanks for explaining, I thought the images and general message seemed incongruous to what you guys believe. And that view is " the majority of video games are generally not sexist and don't objectify women " ( and I tend to agree with that ) You shouldn't play the old " gross misrepresentation " card.....at least not on this thread. I have been accused of being a Nazi, a Fascist and actually being in contempt of women when I have raised issues of gender equality. So the application of the words "gross misrepresentation " seem quite popular on this thread. I'm just going with the flow

You sure this survey and various images about " teenagers want less objectification in games and less women being sexualized " is real? It really doesn't sound like something teenager boys would be concerned about or say? I mean lets be honest most of you guys are basically fine with the status quo or have said on numerous occasions that you don't think games are sexist. And you guys are adults, so what is it that teenagers are aware of that you guys aren't ? Are we now saying that teenagers have more insight into status of sexism in games than you guys?

I know the statement " racism is something that only white people perpetuate " is something that many of you dispute. If you think about the definition of racism its simply a prejudice against someone who has a different skin color And I'm sure we have been victims to this so that statement is clearly not accurate. But the statement needs more clarification. What people should really say is " white on black racism is different to black racism " The reality is there are people who are generational and historic racists in the world. They are raised to believe that black people are literally subhuman, that manifesto from Dylan Roof highlights this type of racism Black on white racism is based more on resentment, frustration, its more emotionally based and ironically in fact motivated more by the belief that white people will never accept them. So for example you get very few back people raised in households where they are told " white people are genetically inferior to us...look at there countries around the world...they all disasters" I hope you guys understand the difference because there is one

Thats true but thats because they part of a better society so despite mistakes the good intentions are more important

You spot on Gromnir, we do have unique challengers and I understand if people want and do immigrate But I am working with others to help rebuild a new South Africa and its very rewarding...and sometimes we have sucess http://dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2015/Jul-09/305875-south-africas-chief-justice-to-meet-zuma-over-bashir-ruling-row.ashx

Remember there will be different degrees of success for countries. In our case it has seen success but our American friends face vastly more different challengers. That include an ineffective mental health system, a large number of mentally unstable people normal to a large population and a market environment where its very easy to get guns

Well I guess only time will tell but so far our social experiment is working for us

I can't repeat our past discussion so I'll just summarize it You believe that a high employment rate should be considered as a factor of failure of austerity People like myself, the IMF and ECB don't consider that a serious factor towards measuring the progress and success of austerity You can see counties like Ireland and Spain making progress and meeting certain austerity objectives, there economies grow. This is recognized by the global economic community ( I posted links ) These countries are seen as having done something positive around the restructuring of there economies You dismiss this as you say they still have high unemployment rates We are at an impasse

Sure, I know you aren't saying its perfect but you believe in the principle In fact I would argue its your unshakable belief in the sanctity of the First Amendment that unintentionally adds to the festering bigotry and hate speech that pops up in America and " "suddenly people and the media are amazed it still exists " and we are subjected to days of analysis on CNN with people making these platitudes and of course sincere points And then civil society thinks that the Confederate flags should get removed and amongst fanfare and more media attention we see the flag getting removed and everyone pats themselves on the backs and the media proudly says " we have struck a blow to racism and bigotry" . Yet Gromnir still wakes up the next day and goes to work still resenting white people and possibly even more now because of there pointless efforts and grandstanding Yet I doubt it all this effort makes any difference to the core principle of stopping bigotry but sometimes people need to feel good about something after a tragedy?

If you can prove it, then go ahead. As it is, I've provided data to support the view that austerity doesn't deal with unemployment and have argued that short-term issues, such as unemployment, should be addressed and solved before long-term issues. In response, you've provided nothing to support your statements. It should be pretty clear you won't be able to convince me with emotional arguments so if you want to prove me wrong you'll have to prove that austerity measures will result in a more stable economy than stimulation when dealing with a depressed economy. My views on Greece are influenced by the evidence I've seen, not a long-winded New Zealand resident or a sassy bloke who is too leet for me. This may surprise you, but I developed most of my opinions outside of these forums. And a middle-aged libertarian who likes to fight in tunnels or a pro-EU Finn are not going to be biased? How so? So my views should be determined by the state I was born and not by independent thought? Fair enough, you don't seem to be influenced by others and you did your own research so I take that back I think we have reached an impasse on this debate around the whole unemployment relevance. Its fundamental to our views on austerity and one of us has to either agree its relevant or recognize its not. And I'm not going to admit its relevant in the context of the austerity metrics so lets just agree to disagree and engage in the next one So you're unable to back up your opinions with facts. Good to know. No as I said and linked earlier that page from BBC which was facts that unemployment was not part of austerity And lets not end a debate feeling the need to insult someone, this is not the GG thread

Yeah but as usual you are not able to answer anything as it seems. Right now you are just trying to spin it around and make a pointless debat about what? Patriotism? Which has nothing to do with the subject of this thread. I will give this quick answers because you seem to have the memory and attention span of a child and i allready went into more details on this in the past in other threads. Why i don´t like the EU is simple, because it is bad for my country and took away our autonomy, and we were lied and tricked into the Euro. I never said i hated the US, i specificly made it clear that a) i like the country and a lot that comes from it and b) have many friends there and generally speaking have nothing against the people there BUT that i despise everything Washington does in the world and to their own people. The values they preach (freedom, independence, democracy, etc) are nothing but a farce when there actions go into the complete opposite. But again, that has nothing to do with the thread here. Stay on the topic. Speaking of topic, Farage´s point of view on Greece, no matter what i think of him, i agree: https://youtu.be/94UcyJnRcGU You seem to be in a rush to get my responses? I just want to understand a little about what motivates you, most people ignore this question and I don't know why? Whats wrong about admitting what nationality you are Thanks for responding by the way, I just have a few more questions about your view on the EU What do you mean they took away your freedom? And how do you feel they lied ? Oh whatever, don´t answer at all, i don´t think you can make a reasonable answer, at last none that i can´t debunk anyway. I don´t care. I said autonomy and not freedom. I allready explained on how having not your own currency effectly hinders your own ability to influence your economy. I also allready told you that we get 70% of new laws directly from the EU (made by not elected politicans). A lot of this laws are stupidly worse what we had before and cost us a fortune AND have a negative impact (for our farming sector as an example). So here we are, a consitution that overrules ours, laws from a different source we have to realize and a currency we can´t control. Per definition that makes us (and any other EU country..well maybe not Germany because they influence the EU to much) a vassal state, subordinate to the EU. There is NOTHING good about this. I didn´t say feeling. I said they lied. Thats a factual statement. All promises on how we benefit from the EU turned out to have the opposite effect and there is no way they couldn´t know that, at last about some aspects. What however was a clear lie, is that during the campaign for the EU accession it was promised all the time that we would have and keep our currency and would NOT get the Euro. Sometime after the referendum (one that was called faul by a lot of lawmakers) they turned around and forced us into the Euro currency without any referendum basicly saying "well we voted for the EU now we get the Euro as well". That is lying and nothing else. And i applaud everyone who tries to get out of this failed project and gets back his independence just like Farage said. Thank you for responding, now I understand, I don't share your view but other people have mentioned similar criticism about the EU so there is clearly some validity to it Sorry to ask you to repeat your questions but what would you like to know from me?

Or elected to public office as a Democrat. <cue rimshot> is (not) worth noting that in a poll conducted by nobody reputable, fully 1/2 of american democrats would support a limit on hate speech. democrats. *snort* in any event, we will observe that our most frequent disappointment regarding free speech is not that bigots and lunatics get to spew hate freely but rather that most americans do not use their speech rights to respond to the villains. americans, while less passive than most, is far too willing to stand idly by while their fellow human beings is tormented by evil men. there ain't no active duty to respond to hate, but surely there is a moral obligation to do so. we all too often see americans fail to live up to such obligations. we wait for a pundits to gather in a climate-controlled tv studio, miles and days removed from any actual bigotry and hate, to calmly debate the the issues facing american society. three minutes o' quasi-scripted dialectic ensues before the inevitable commercial break. are your clothes as clean as they can be? matthew mcconaughey drives a lincoln, and so should you. sitting at home, having watched the battle o' tin knights with paper swords, we cheer democracy and free speech and america. hurrah. HA! Good Fun! You see Gromnir you are in a very fortunate position to be able to intellectualize hate speech so you defend its usage even though you don't like it I live in a country where we haven't got to that point yet and people are very much effected by words . So we ban hate speech and certain words and its makes perfect sense The truth is certain words do matter and truly hurt some people in a palpable and psychological way. So why allow them? ban hate speech does not stop hate. it is our belief that banning hate speech has a tendency to increase hate. regardless, ban hate speech does not in any way solve the larger problems that created the hate. open and vigorous debate at least has the possibility o' curing problems. also, what if the folks spewing hate is right? what if we label folks and history proves that they were correct. hell, maybe they is wrong, but if they can't speak because their message offends, how much speech is chilled? is not many decades past that american blacks marching and protesting were considered disruptive. why can't the homosexuals just use their votes to bring about change instead o' their silly parades? those folks who disagree with US foreign policy is clearly communists and we need to shut-em up and blacklist 'em and whatnot. HA! Good Fun! You right, banning hate speech doesn't stop hate speech. is not what we said. ban hate speech does not stop hate. you limit expression and you cause the hate to seethe and fester. you can't fight hate by gaging bigots. all you are doing is creating a generation o' bigots who not only hate blacks or homosexuals or whomever, but they also hate and distrust the government for limiting their ability to express themselves. folks with nothing in common save for the fact that the government is silencing them is gonna become unnatural allies. you are exacerbating problems and instead o' dealing with those problems out in the open, you is gonna eventual need find 'em, dig 'em out and... what? the positives o' silencing bigots is obvious and it actual does resonate in most o' the world. in most democracies, as between an individual's right to speak and the competing right o' folks to be free o' the vile epithet, the world chooses to side with the victim rather than the bigot. that is the obvious choice. we think it is the wrong choice. HA! Good Fun! But your view is shaped on your views of the USA and you right in the USA you have generations of systemic bigots. Also the USA has to deal with a different type of bigot IMO But we have an alternative view, people stop using certain words in public because society just doesn't accept it and since Apartheid ended I can honestly say most people just know not to say these words. That's a victory for me, I don't care if people pretend not to be bigots and I don't know if there bigotry festers...I just know we have less hate speech

Or elected to public office as a Democrat. <cue rimshot> is (not) worth noting that in a poll conducted by nobody reputable, fully 1/2 of american democrats would support a limit on hate speech. democrats. *snort* in any event, we will observe that our most frequent disappointment regarding free speech is not that bigots and lunatics get to spew hate freely but rather that most americans do not use their speech rights to respond to the villains. americans, while less passive than most, is far too willing to stand idly by while their fellow human beings is tormented by evil men. there ain't no active duty to respond to hate, but surely there is a moral obligation to do so. we all too often see americans fail to live up to such obligations. we wait for a pundits to gather in a climate-controlled tv studio, miles and days removed from any actual bigotry and hate, to calmly debate the the issues facing american society. three minutes o' quasi-scripted dialectic ensues before the inevitable commercial break. are your clothes as clean as they can be? matthew mcconaughey drives a lincoln, and so should you. sitting at home, having watched the battle o' tin knights with paper swords, we cheer democracy and free speech and america. hurrah. HA! Good Fun! You see Gromnir you are in a very fortunate position to be able to intellectualize hate speech so you defend its usage even though you don't like it I live in a country where we haven't got to that point yet and people are very much effected by words . So we ban hate speech and certain words and its makes perfect sense The truth is certain words do matter and truly hurt some people in a palpable and psychological way. So why allow them? ban hate speech does not stop hate. it is our belief that banning hate speech has a tendency to increase hate. regardless, ban hate speech does not in any way solve the larger problems that created the hate. open and vigorous debate at least has the possibility o' curing problems. also, what if the folks spewing hate is right? what if we label folks and history proves that they were correct. hell, maybe they is wrong, but if they can't speak because their message offends, how much speech is chilled? is not many decades past that american blacks marching and protesting were considered disruptive. why can't the homosexuals just use their votes to bring about change instead o' their silly parades? those folks who disagree with US foreign policy is clearly communists and we need to shut-em up and blacklist 'em and whatnot. HA! Good Fun! So this is the part you are misunderstanding and most Americans don't agree with it You right, banning hate speech doesn't stop hate speech. But I believe you can never stop some people discriminating...that's just the way the world is. There will always be someone who hates gays or gays or resents successful women But thats not our goal for me in South Africa, we just want to remove its usage from civil society so we don't have to hear it. This of course has other positive consequences of certain words becoming socially unacceptable and I promise you people just don't use them even in public Of course this positive effect doesn't resonate with everyone but as I said I am not concerned with bigots

Yeah but as usual you are not able to answer anything as it seems. Right now you are just trying to spin it around and make a pointless debat about what? Patriotism? Which has nothing to do with the subject of this thread. I will give this quick answers because you seem to have the memory and attention span of a child and i allready went into more details on this in the past in other threads. Why i don´t like the EU is simple, because it is bad for my country and took away our autonomy, and we were lied and tricked into the Euro. I never said i hated the US, i specificly made it clear that a) i like the country and a lot that comes from it and b) have many friends there and generally speaking have nothing against the people there BUT that i despise everything Washington does in the world and to their own people. The values they preach (freedom, independence, democracy, etc) are nothing but a farce when there actions go into the complete opposite. But again, that has nothing to do with the thread here. Stay on the topic. Speaking of topic, Farage´s point of view on Greece, no matter what i think of him, i agree: https://youtu.be/94UcyJnRcGU You seem to be in a rush to get my responses? I just want to understand a little about what motivates you, most people ignore this question and I don't know why? Whats wrong about admitting what nationality you are Thanks for responding by the way, I just have a few more questions about your view on the EU What do you mean they took away your freedom? And how do you feel they lied ?

If you can prove it, then go ahead. As it is, I've provided data to support the view that austerity doesn't deal with unemployment and have argued that short-term issues, such as unemployment, should be addressed and solved before long-term issues. In response, you've provided nothing to support your statements. It should be pretty clear you won't be able to convince me with emotional arguments so if you want to prove me wrong you'll have to prove that austerity measures will result in a more stable economy than stimulation when dealing with a depressed economy. My views on Greece are influenced by the evidence I've seen, not a long-winded New Zealand resident or a sassy bloke who is too leet for me. This may surprise you, but I developed most of my opinions outside of these forums. And a middle-aged libertarian who likes to fight in tunnels or a pro-EU Finn are not going to be biased? How so? So my views should be determined by the state I was born and not by independent thought? Fair enough, you don't seem to be influenced by others and you did your own research so I take that back I think we have reached an impasse on this debate around the whole unemployment relevance. Its fundamental to our views on austerity and one of us has to either agree its relevant or recognize its not. And I'm not going to admit its relevant in the context of the austerity metrics so lets just agree to disagree and engage in the next one