utemia

Reply to The Infidelity Train Rolls ON in Politics JoeUser Forums

No call for profanity, really. Gutterlanguage is unbecoming in civilized communication and usually the last resort of those who don't have a better argument in a debate. Let's just hope that you will never cheat on whomever you meet or marry or you'll end up a corrupt backstabbing goodfornothing criminal like *that*, or that your partner will never cheat on you because that would make you a really poor judge of character. I wish you

Reply to Another Historical Day for Obama! in Democrat Stardock Forums

The deficit was not Obama's making alone - 8 years under president Bush left its mark in the deficit as well and it was very high already. It is pretty one sided to blame Obama for the huge deficit alone, and your style is horribly prejudicial and polemic and you even seem to be gleefully proud of using that particular style. Demagogue comes to mind. The financial crisis and high unemployment would have been a problem for any president, so don't pretend it is solelly the result

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

I don't know all the right words in english to explain how human dignity is derived by Kant, who is the most prominent example. It's philosophy and it has its own special vocabulary. People debate each and every issue we slunk through - its always a very current isue. I really wish I was more studied in philosophy to be able to answer your objections; it is very interesting - what is human dignity, what are human rights and under which circumstances do they apply or don't apply.. What a

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]And what do you suggest as an alternative?[/quote] That is what moralethics have as their subject - how should one act? I would say that this is an complex issue because there are different theories about it. The one most prevalent in the anglosaxon school is Utilitarianism. German speaking schools like contractualism and Kant. I am not a philosophic scholar so that I could outline each different approach in detail. If you want to know more, study Emanuel Kant. [quote]Hitler tr

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's not according to what they say and do, it is according to your interpretation of the value of what they say and do, and you can expand the category without a problem if it's all just hinging on your perception. You have the whole thing backwards, human dignity is not the reason why we respect someones oppinion, it's is why we respect other humans as persons no matter they think or do. Are you saying that other people somehow have the magic ability to be objective

Reply to The Infidelity Train Rolls ON in Politics JoeUser Forums

You mix two things together that aren't the same. Cheating as being unfaithful in marriage and cheating as being corrupt. Those two things are not the same, and one doesn't determine the other. Because you cannot expand your theory to prove that they are dependant on each other - which would have to be the case for this to be an universal theory - combining those two is not only not valid but also dangerously prejudicial. But hey, what has logic got over percieved moral righteousness?

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

It's a philosphical and ethical ideal. People in prison are there because they commited crimes, but they are to be treated according to human dignity and human rights while in prison. The fact that they are criminals does not mean that they forfeited that right. I can find someone a total idiot, but that does not mean I get to treat him like one, i can't violate his human dignity just because he is one. So no, ideally we don't treat people according to our oppinion about them. That is what eq

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

You are as thick as brick on this issue.. equal treatment, human dignity and human rights can never be based on what YOU think of an individual. [quote]For me different opinions and skills and ideals are fundamental to how I should treat people. For me people are equal as people, but not as people who did things. Once an individual says or does something, he loses his inherent equality and he becomes better or worse than others.[/quote] Basically just after birth then? After that, what you do

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

This whole debate is abot equality. You are not allowed to make assumptions that generalize if you respect equality. Different oppinions and skills and ideals cannot lead to you treating certain people differently. (I can see where that would be problematic, but this is a fundamental fact about equality which is rooted in human dignity (Würde). Stereotypes and making assumptions are the epitome of not regarding different oppinions or people as equal, you don't even recogniz

Reply to The Infidelity Train Rolls ON in Politics JoeUser Forums

It seems that I simply have a different expectation of someone I vote for. Being a crook or not is not linked to private life. I hadn't really thought about the angle of corruption, criminals should be kicked out, tried and sent to prison. I just don't see how that is linked to wether someone is faithful or not.Someone cheating on his wife is not automatically corrupt and someone not cheating on his wife is not automatically a saint. I concede to your point but my leniency was more to

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

That's not the same: One is an assumption you make of what you percieve (treehuggers are like that) and the other is taught and learned behaviour or good judgement/common sense of a situation. There is a big semantic difference between knowing the danger of traffic and assuming that all treehuggers are alike and that you KNOW what they are like. Do you know every single activist personally - if you don't then generalizing everyone could be prejudicial and place people in your percieve

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

That whole principle relies on your right assumption about what treehuggers are like, what they think and what they do. And you know what they say when you assume something..? Also, groups aren't defined clear cut, it's not a cult where you have to follow a rulebook and undergo some initiation ceremony or trial (survive a week chained to a tree in order to be accepted?).

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

What you describe is an utopia, a place that can never be reached.. all you can do is being a good example. Can you explain to me how you know that your generalizations are true and that they aren't based on prejudices? I want to learn that trick..

Reply to The Infidelity Train Rolls ON in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]How naive.[/quote] Is it? A politician screwing his voters won't be reelected, loses his job and his credibility - which is why he probably won't. THAT is not linked to his personal family life. You can be an asshole but good at your job at the same time, and be total family man and a crook in business. Mixing morals and politics as one and the same is stupid. How often do stories come out about "upstanding" citizens like Senators and Congress members et

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

Again, your interpretation of stereotypes is entirely based on assumptions on your side, which you have to assume are correct. But a stereotype exists on its own, it'ts not attached to my personal knowledge.[quote]A stereotype remains the right generalisation even if some (or even many) individuals that are described by have different attributes. [/quote] That's why stereotypes are mostly prejudicial and should not be relied on to make an argument.[quote]A stereotype does not suggest tha

Reply to Rent-a-Grave in Blogging Stardock Forums

I look at it in a pragmatic way: Rest in peace for 25 years and the no pieces are left anyway. Also, our cemeteries look different, you can't drive on them with your car, you have to walk. It is more like a garden - with walls surrounding the whole thing and walkways and benches, a chapel for services. Size varies, depending on where you live, big or small city. It used to be just next to the church in the middle of the city during the middle ages. Reusing plots is not disresp

Rent-a-Grave in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I just read this on CNN: Cemetery workers accused of reselling plots, and apparently it is a huge thing. But from my standpoint it is pretty normal to do just that. In Germany you have to rent your grave and pay for it for 25 years. If the grave isn't rerented and paid for, the grave will be bulldozed and get a new tenant.. There is not enough space to have a final resting place forever, and once the body has gone dust to dust there is no reason to reserve that spot, unless the family explici

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

You are suggesting that a liberal being a liberal can't have another oppinion about an issue than what your stereotype of a liberal consists of. And you claim that your stereotype is the right generalization - how are you going to turn your generalization into a universally acknowledged truth (sorry for the Jane Austen moment here)? [quote]there is nothing inherent in being Mexican that makes him lazy.[/quote] Stereotypes are all based on some sort of truth - M

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]I am indeed talking about _liberals_. Race has no place in this.[/quote] I wasn't trying to make it about race - that was just the most convenient example to illustrate issues about equality and what equality means in itself. Maybe I should have gone with prejudice. Saves time - but that is very prejudicial. It's used in racism all the time - you see a black guy with a gun he's automatically a criminal, you see a mexican hes automatically lazy, etc. pp. you see a person from te

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

The question is wether the risks - the problem of storing nuclear waste for more or less eternity and the problem and dangers of permanently poisening the waterboard(s) of mining uranium - are outweighed by the relatively shorttime benefit had from nuclear energy. Today, technology has the power to wipe out all (human) life, and that is a BIG "No No" if you argue that human life has value. If it does, then selfini

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's just very unlikely that a lethal accident will occur. [/quote] Well, I certainly hope so lol I live in a so called red zone of a french nuclear power plant. They built most of theirs along the rhine, and since the wind is mostly coming from the west any radioactive clouds would be pushed away from France and into Germany. If ever something went wrong and the biggest possible accident occured, no help would come in - no use - and nobody allowed out -

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

Everybody can be stereotyped. Stereotypes are used in commercials, TV Shows and movies all the time because everybody recognizes them. The innocent blonde, the sexy passionate redhead/brunette, the hooker with a golden heart, the enterpreneurial yankee that could sell ice to eskimos etc. pp. The question is wether using stereotypes is really helpful while discussing something - because Leauki, you fall right into o

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote]It's all fine and dandy in your dream, but we need to remember that this is a Gov't run system and as usual something Gov't run usually sucks.[/quote] Do you mean public transportation? I was a little confused. If you did then privatize it. I am not exactly sure how they are run in Germany but every city has its own public transport agency/company. How much subsidiary they recieve from the government though or if they do at all - I just don't know. I think it is something similia

Reply to Gutach in Misc JoeUser Forums

It used to be that artisans that had finished their apprenticeship had to take on the road for 5 years. They had to stay away from their hometown (maybe a 50 mile radius exclusion zone) and just walk from town to town looking for a job to gain experience. The german expression is "auf die Waltze gehen", and waltzing mathilda is probably linked to that as well. Some carpenters that finished still like doing it, but I very much doubt that it is still a requiremen

Reply to Various political observations recently in Politics JoeUser Forums

More inconvenient than useful - it probably is to someone who is used to be able to come and go as they please without worrying about bus- and trainschedules. If you had a good public transportation system you'd see the benefits quickly. No need for parking spaces, you can do something else while notdriving and sitting in a train like homework or reading or sleeping. Trust me, good public transportation is a blessing, even if it had nothing to do with environmental issues.