Latest Forum Posts


More Forum Posts...
 


Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Penn Says
Thr33 of Clubs
User
Karma: 4  
02-05-08, 'Disagreeing Doesn't Make You Evil' discussion - 2008/02/07 10:51 This one had some meat on it, so I thought I'd chime in and see what everyone else thinks. First Thread! in this forum, btw.

Do you guys think Obama would be in more danger than the other candidates? This is hard to judge because, quite frankly, we don't know what the current state of militant racism is in America. At least I don't. It's genuinely hard to tell what the prospect of the first black president will mean to racist groups in our society. Maybe they've been comparatively benign because this has never happened before. But I do worry that him having a real shot at the white house will be enough to tap into those darkest corners of the misguided mind enough to motivate something as evil as assassination. I don't think it's a "redneck" thing or a "red state" thing, I'm only afraid that genuinely misguided people would feel empowered to do something evil because of it. That's a very important difference.

Otherwise I agree with Penn on how dumb it is to think the other side is "evil" instead of wrong. I've always felt that way and you see it on both the right and the left.

What do you guys and gals think?
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Tesseract
User
Karma: 3  
Re:02-05-08, 'Disagreeing Doesn't Make You Evil' discussion - 2008/02/07 11:22 I think that Obama's biggest target that is aimed at his back is coming from the Clinton corner. Don't forget Vince Foster and all the other people that died when they got a conscience and the Clinton's had to prevent them from acting on that conscience. I bring this up because the Clinton's will stop anyone from getting in their way.

Just yesterday I was discussing a former co-worker as a 'bad boy' just like Bobby Brown is a bad boy. One coworker said Bobby Brown is a bad boy because he takes drugs. But I disagree with that he is a bad boy because of his personality. People confuse what you are doing with who you are. Now Chris Farley was a nice guy that did drugs.

I also agree with the fact that disagreeing doesn't make you evil.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Snerd
User
Karma: 20  
Re:02-05-08, 'Disagreeing Doesn't Make You Evil' discussion - 2008/02/07 13:15 I've heard that "he'll be assassinated" shit from some good friends that just happen to be stupid.

I don't think they'd try anything; that's not their nature.

They just think that other people might.

I live in North Carolina. It's a "red state." Yes, we have racists, but I don't know any racist that would crazy enough to take out a head of state.

They'd probably say something stupid like "President Nigger" or "President Tom," but I don't think they'd get violent.

I think if anything bad would come from an Obama presidency (besides his policies) would be how easy it would be for the racists to spout their bullshit once he makes a mistake.

BUT!

I think that having a black man as president would also eliminate a lot of racial tension. We could at least be closer to the facade of "all men are created equal" than we are now.

I'm not against electing a woman to the office. I'm just against electing Hillary (she's just Barack Obama in a white female shell).

If the candidate is good, I'll vote for any skin color, gender, religion, etc.

I don't need some kind of superficial reason to like them. Shit... I could hate them, I guess, but as long as they agreed with my politics and could get the job done, I'd vote for them.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Pentomino
User
Karma: 12  
Re:02-05-08, 'Disagreeing Doesn't Make You Evil' discussion - 2008/02/07 13:31 If you try to shoot the President because he's black, you might be a redneck. [/obvious]

I think Penn's complaint is the result of a misunderstanding that he should be very familiar with by now as a skeptic: human language isn't well equipped to handle statistics, even in those rare cases where human thought itself can base a decision or prediction on it the right w3ay. And based on his second-hand report of the conversation, I can't really say whether any of them had the right idea.

To stereotype whites as racist is certainly wrong, but it's unlikely that the people backstage were saying that specifically. Rather, there are people in this country who are still viciously racist, perhaps even militantly so, and who would base their motivation on that racism alone. That's something none of the other candidates have to contend with.

But I doubt it will result in effective physical danger. Rather, we're most likely to see lots of protest signs and maybe some image macros on 4chan. If anything more serious happens, it'll be something more subtle or unexpected. Something political.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Boardwalk :: Forum List pennfans.net Penn Says

Joomlaboard Forum Component 1.1.2 Stable
Two Shoes M-Factory

Support pennfans.net - Buy a book from Amazon.com


Books that others have bought:

How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard - Sock - Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic - When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours: Joe Teller -- A Portrait by His Kid - Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food - Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends - A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love - American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury - Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Elements of Fiction Writing) - Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon - Card Manipulations - Challenging the Bible:: Selections from the Writings And Speeches of Robert G. Ingersoll - Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design - Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life - Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction - Gods and Other Lectures - How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God - How to Be Invisible: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life - Letter to a Christian Nation - Parasite Rex : Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures - Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think: Reflections by Scientists, Writers, and Philosophers - River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life - The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution - The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology in France - The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation - The God Delusion - The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - The Hard Way (Jack Reacher Novels) - The Man Who Fed the World : Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlang and His Battle to End World Hunger - The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life - The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule - The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author - The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles - Thriller: Stories To Keep You Up All Night - Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder - Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design - Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time - House of Leaves : A novel - Atheism: The Case Against God - How The Mind Works - The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self & Soul - Sperm Wars: Infidelity, Sexual Conflict, and Other Bedroom Battles - How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With - Fahrenheit 451 - Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel - Why Everything You Know Is Wrong - The Mezzanine - Vox - The Way of the Moving Horse (Learn to Play Go, Volume II) - Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling - The Reason Driven Life: What Am I Here on Earth For? - Clive Barker Visions of Heaven and Hell - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - The Milk Book: The Milk of Human Kindness Is Not Pasteurized - Juggling for the Complete Klutz - Magic for Dummies - Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic - Modern Coin Magic - Now You See It, Now You Don't!: Lessons in Sleight of Hand - The Royal Road to Card Magic - Tricks with Your Head: Hilarious Magic Tricks and Stunts to Disgust and Delight