BruceVC

Yes I suppose you right, its the usage of words like superior that is the problem But this is part of my point, is it wrong or politically incorrect to say Western countries have better governments than non-Western governments? If the benchmark is the quality of life and happiness factor then the facts speak for themselves? So why deny something that's true? And that doesn't mean Western governments are perfect

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/17/6994921/hatred-the-polygon-interview Here is some further information from the developers of Hatred

They certainly aren't beneath examination, such things are fun to examine, and can grant some perspective, but they certainly shouldn't be treated as proof. So let me get this straight, if I ask 10 people in a room ( who all live in the UK ) " are you happy living in the UK " and 8 of those people say " yes " Its not proof or can be accepted that out of those 10 people, the majority of them are happy living in the UK?

You keep saying things like "these polls are meaningless" and somehow you think you can't you create a series of questions that cover a wide range of considerations that analyse happiness in a country? Despite the fact these are benchmarks that the UN uses. So I ask you again how would you measure the happiness of citizens of a particular country ? I also love the whole usage of the "no critical thinking " dismissal but yet you offer no viable alternative to this type of globally acceptable way of gathering statistics

Do you sit around trying to come up with most inane superficial bull**** that you can think of that matters to no one that can critically think before you post things like this? The subject matter may as well be 'People confirmed happier after eating Chocolate Ice Cream' or 'Being able to write your name in the snow in urine proves male virility' or 'Survey proves my High School is better than your High School.' Who care? No it doesn't. And I prefer mine dry not shaken so I'm better than you! And as usual you absolutely miss the point and refuse to see the facts , there is critical thinking that goes into these surveys. Its based on accurate and real metrics, I can't explain it any other way In your view how would you measure if the citizens of a country are happy because obviously the global and accepted way of doing it isn't relevant to you ?

Bruce, you can color it up and act all superior as much as you want, I'm not saying things one way or another about happyness, because it's impossible to know what other peoples percieve as certain levels of happyness, but all these surveys show is how happy the people living in the countries think they are in relation to other people, it could very well be that said people are the happiest people in the world, but these things don't prove it, stop pretending they're worthwhile. I can't decipher what you were trying to say in the second paragraph. You said ideology earlier, culture isn't really the same thing, but no, it doesn't. As I said with China, if it behaved like a western country instead of tyranical anti baby policiesthe population would explode, western style democracies are absolutely horrible at dealing with something that requires long and hard oppresion of the people to prevent even worse disaster. All styles of government, have their ups and downs, western democracies aren't inherently better, they're nice enough when there is no imminent danger though. You still seem to be misunderstanding something I'll explain it differently, the metrics that determine if someone is happy is not as simple as a person being asked on the street " are you happy living in your country " and then if the person says " yes " this is considered proof of happiness They look at a wide range of factors that include trust in your government economic opportunities ability of a particular government to deliver services perceptions of corruption gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy They don't ask people how do you feel compared to citizens of other countries, they ask "how do you feel about living in your own country. So there should be no debate about "what is the perception of happiness" because these surveys go into detail around a range of factors. Of course all countries have ups and downs, but that's not the point. I am saying it's clear from numerous surveys that Western countries offer there citizens the best quality of life so therefore they have the best systems of governments compared to other governments that exist in the modern world. And many of these other governments don't follow the ideological system of governing that Western countries do, which is a belief and implementation in the importance of what a Democracy stands for. .

There is absolutely nothing arrogant or random when these surveys get created. Also it is measured on a wide range of metrics that cover all aspects of life in those countries. If you don't agree with that I suggest you do some quick Google searches around " happiest countries in the world " and you will all the factors that get considered. Its very measurable But end of the day yes certain things effect happiness on different levels but its not hard to get consensus or accuracy when a questions is asked " are you happy living in your country" and this question is directly influenced by how the governments are seen to be running those countries So if Western countries have the happiest citizens then doesn't that mean Western culture is overall the best culture in the world?

You dismiss my point but you don't care to say why? How do you suggest that we measure what systems of governments in the world are the most effective and therefore need to be emulated? Lets not argue semantics, I gave you a list. Surly if the citizens of those countries are the happiest citizens in the world then the corollary of that must be that there governments are going a good job? And yes there is such a thing a Western ideology and it revolves around the principle of Democratic governments People seem to get uncomfortable when someone says " Western culture is the best in the world "...but what exactly is incorrect with this? If the measurement we use is the happiness of there citizens then the facts are irrefutable?

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/20/travel/happiest-countries-to-visit/index.html We have touched on this topic before and I have personally made the point that "Western culture is the superior culture to others " and this was criticised by some as hubris, inaccurate and being "out of touch with reality " But I think its a good time to revisit this discussion. When I say " Western ideology " is superior the fact is that this list confirms this as the top ten countries are all Western countries and they have the happiest citizens in the world I'm not saying that Western countries have necessarily the cleverest people or that there aren't faults. The point is that Western Democracies work. Despite there faults they give there citizens the best quality of life end of the day. So what's wrong with saying " Western ideology " offers the best system of government for its citizens and therefore are the best example of how countries should be run? If you disagree with the my point that Western countries have the happiest citizens, and therefore the best governments, then please produce your own list so we can discuss it I see the Scandinavian countries are again in the top 10 list, so once again the important consideration of there socialist hybrid model really seems to work. High employment rate, high taxes but very effective government institutions. Isn't this model something we all should be aspiring to?

https://za.news.yahoo.com/nigeria-says-reaches-deal-boko-haram-over-abducted-152326480.html So some good news, and its rare around these types of events in the African context It looks like Boko Haram is going to give the school girls back, I wonder what they are getting in return? Apparently they will get some of there captured leaders back?

Geez I honestly can't think of worse music than that death metal...imagine being stuck in a room and having to listen to it for hours and hours

There has been three mass shootings and one bombing of shopping center in past 12 years in Finland, in every of these cases except one (our newest one where perpetrator got angry in line to food kiosk and decided to get his guns and kill everybody) there has been threats from perpetrator that they will do these acts in internet beforehand and each case police deemed those threats to be nothing but empty talks in internet, so much so that in one case the even gave weapon buy permit to perpetrator for weapon that he use in his killing spree even though they knew that he had threaten to shoot his fellow students. Which is why I think that internet threats should be taken as seriously as those that are made to face to face. If we don't take threats in internet seriously they will work as mask that obscures us to see those threats from people that actually will commit acts they threat to do and changes our attitudes towards hostile language so that we don't even blink when people use crude and uncivil language when they speak to us, which just make our society so much less pleasant to live (but that maybe just me not everybody else). And for every one of those there is a million that amount to nothing. Statistically, you have a higher chance of being stuck by lighting while in a rubber suit between two metal buildings. Problem with taking everything seriously then it doesn't leave room for everything else. You talk about a pleasant society to live in? I for one don't consider police states pleasant. Should speeding not be a offence or thing that is treated seriously as there is every day billions of occurrences of speeding that don't lead accidents or road deaths and statistically those to happen compared to number of speedings is so marginal that people die more probably to meteoroid hit than it is to one occurrence speeding to cause accident. I have used BBS/internet as way to communicate nearly every day with people from beginning of 1990s and I have not received even single death threat against me or anybody close to me in all this time. So I don't necessary believe that number of death threats in internet is necessary in uncontrollable numbers as most of them focus on small set of people. Of course I could be privileged person who can't understand real scope of the problem. If we take every threat seriously there is high change that number of threats will drop, because people can't yell their threats without risk that there is consequences. If you think that state become police state when there are consequences when you threat to kill somebody, then we have different meanings for that word. Latest from twitter. Polygon has written editorial about gamergate, journalistic ethics, corruption of gaming media and gaming culture. http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/17/6996601/on-gamergate-a-letter-from-the-editor I also don't consider that a police state, it would be a very pleasant and reasonable place to live in actually

Thanks, I'm going to watch it

Cool picture

This is a good first effort but I'm still not convinced you are ready to play this game yet I'll tell you what, lets compromise. I'll assess your posts over the next 6 weeks and if I see a concerted attempt from you to show me that this game won't have a negative impact on your psyche then I don't mind if you play Hatred. Deal?

That's very true, and I can testify to its negative effect....it just makes you feel so good when you have it

Nah, I'm not a regular drinker but I am a binge drinker I now have an image of you sitting in some South African bar sipping a mixed drink(I don't take you as a beer or shots guy) eyeing all the ladies and wondering which one of them wouldn't mind dressing up like your Booware waifu of choice. Funny enough I don't like beer, I'm a spirit drinker. Vodka is my favourite drink but I do enjoy shooters, especially Tequila. In fact it is always the shooters that lead to the terrible hangovers I get the next day when I over indulge

Of course in theory we should just ignore trolls or rather not get upset by there comments. But Internet history tells a different story about the insidious impact that Trolls can have on some people. For some the Internet is a form of identity and is much more important to them than you realize, when they get Trolled it really effects them in a negative way...and I mean depression level consequences. There are people who have ended up committing suicide because of Trolling

Nah, I'm not a regular drinker but I am a binge drinker

I have to be honest endless kid stories also get to me after a while ....I know its nasty to say but its true

Wait, that's not what this thread is for? Much like gamergate itself, this thread is pretty much an amorphous blob which isn't really clear on what it's for, but has very strong feelings about it regardless. So it's like a bunch of drunk people at a party? That isn't a wholly inaccurate description of the internet as a whole really. I just finished work now, its 11:20 pm....and I feel like getting drunk. Its been a long but relatively productive day, oh well there is always tomorrow to get a little inebriated

'Fraid not. We also don't wear cowboy hats either surprisingly. We do have some great shelters for abused women though. http://www.hawc.org/en/support-us/donate-today/ Feel free to chip in whatever. @ KP I'll definitely donate to this initiative I hope you aren't taking Primes comments too seriously, he is making some valid points but also having some fun at the same time with his jabs We need a bit of humour in this thread because at times it gets too serious And some of the comments have been quite funny

Malc I see Sarkeesian is from Canada, she isn't related to you by any chance? But the real question is " would you tell us if she was "

Yeah this game is appalling, we have been discussing this extensively in the Random Games section

Elliot Rodger threated to shoot people in internet earlier this year before his killing spree, comes first to my mind. Oh Elerond, I love your ability to find a link or give a credible answer whenever says something like " when was the last time someone did xx or yy " or "I doubt anyone has ever done this before " Keep up the good work