Comment Re:Can anyone explain that film's ending to me? (Score 1) 53
Some films don't end, they just stop.
Some films don't end, they just stop.
We don't need internet trolls. The natural polarising effect of the internet echo chamber works. Just go to any fringe news site, ideally a political one - far-left or far-right, works either way - and look at the comments.
My favorite right now, on the subject of same-sex marriage: "The plan is to depopulate the world by 2050 to about 1 billion. Encouraging same sex attraction and indoctrinating the young to accept such as normal behaviour is just one of the many methods being used to accomplish this."
There's a very socially-conservative American news site I read for entertainment - it's quite funny. They are currently running stories like "EPA boss under fire for admitting Keystone will not destroy mankind," "Amid accusations of 'discrimination,' Indiana may toss out religious freedom," and "Obama continues 'game of revenge' on Israel" It's not satire, just politically biased. The comments are the funniest part - a lot of conspiracy theorists there, most of them insisting that Obama is secretly a Muslim or that the 'gay agenda' is a plot to legalise raping children.
It's not the same joke. It's ten jokes all following the same theme.
I don't think we are in disagreement. I explained that accountability is a good thing in practice, but that it creates serious problems with corruption when the organisation supposed to enforce accountability is itsself unaccountable and subject to both corruption and political bias.
Works historically, too. You don't have to compare just cultures of today, but cultures of the past too. There were periods in both England and America where 'the right thing' was to kill witches. They were not only intrinsically evil, they were a threat to the welfare of others and of the community.
Have any police departments actually been prosecuted though? I rather doubt it.
DTRT isn't universal at all. If it seems universal, then you are not considering a broad enough array of cultures.
There's nothing wrong with an accountability system in principle - we want politicians to follow the law and avoid corruption, after all. The problem is bias in enforcement. If you get the NSA to spy on politicians, they are sure to find more than a few who are taking bribes (Or as we put it today, violating what few rules on campaign finance remain). That much is fine - but you can also expect them to take a much longer, harder look at any politicians who propose cutting the NSA budget, and deliberately not investigating too hard those that seek to increase the agency's influence. The personal political views of the agency management would also be an influence on who gets the most enforcement effort.
Get him to delete anything personal, because chances are his co-workers are going to be asking for access to his files and emails so they can continue whatever work he was in the middle of.
Even people who try to ram the gates of a federal military facility still deserve their right to a fair trial. Shooting should be reserved only for those cases in which someone poses an immediate and obvious danger to others and cannot be incapacitated any other way - and that doesn't include a danger to property.
Except for the guards at Area 51 - the outer perimeter guards there get so many UFO conspiracy theorists trying to breach the defences, they are very reluctant to use lethal force. No point killing UFO nuts, they aren't harming anyone. It's something of a badge of honor for a UFO nut to be able to claim they've actually stood upon the soil of Area 51 - for the few seconds it takes for the guards to catch up.
Because everyone is the good guy in their own eyes. Even the worst oppressive dictators don't view themselves as oppressive dictators - they are just trying to do the best for their people, and if the people don't see it that way then they need to be controlled for their long-term benefit. Also because even the most corrupt organisation is composed largely of people just doing their job - they don't particually want to work for the evil empire, but they have bills to pay just like everyone else.
The jet? No reason.
It's possible there was something or someone on the jet though. Conspiracy theory field day - if there was something super-secret national-security-wise on board, the public would probably not be told. Perhaps it was carrying a classified military object in the cargo, like a prototype drone or new concept weapon. Something worth a major operation to get hold of.
It's possible, though it seems intuitively more likely that a pilot flipped, overpowered the other pilot, locked the door, shut down communication and left the craft on autopilot until the fuel ran out.
There is one thing that Sun Tzu stressed above all else in The Art of War: War is very, very expensive. Only start a war if you are confident not only of victory, but of a rapid victory - for if you win after ten years of fighting, you'll have emptied the treasury and destroyed your own economy. A lot of his instruction isn't about how to fight, but about when not to fight.
Variables don't; constants aren't.