Explosions, shootings reported in central Paris

[NotHardUp1]

And you never discuss issues. You only come here to make personal remarks, so your comments are discarded.

Actually, Kab is known for the thoughtfulness of his posts.

In desperation you lash out with patently false statements.

Kab is not known for personal attacks, period.

 

[Cormac135]

 

[Benvolio]

Okjjy

Actually, Kab is known for the thoughtfulness of his posts.

In desperation you lash out with patently false statements.

Kab is not known for personal attacks, period.

If the sttacks were directed at you, he would be "known" for his attacks.

 

[Kabluey]

Actually, Kab is known for the thoughtfulness of his posts.

In desperation you lash out with patently false statements.

Kab is not known for personal attacks, period.

If someone's identity is connected primarily to their politics, then critical opinions can sting.
In a reasoned debate, it's inevitable that motivations and consequences of strongly held views (about things that affect others) will become part of the discussion.

 

[LittleDove]

Not all Syrians are Muslim, although the majority of them are. Of that majority, not all of them would be considered Muslim by Isis.

 

[jbrown329]

Barak Hussein Obama, no? That is his name.

Actually it's Barack. At least get his name [STRIKE]right[/STRIKE] correct.

 

[Telstra]

People who called the president Hussein really loathe him.
So no matter what he did good, he still loathed by them.

 

[jbrown329]

Okjjy
If the sttacks were directed at you, he would be "known" for his attacks.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

Barak Hussein Obama, no? That is his name.

First of all, the name is Barack with a c. Former Israëli prime minister Ehud Barak is without a c.

But I never hear your lot speak about John Sidney McCain, Ronald Wilson Reagan or even Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, John Forbes Kerry or Richard Milhous Nixon. You deliberately make an exception for a man who has never used his middle name, though he is not ashamed of it.

 

[NotHardUp1]

According to Hitchens,
all ideology (communism, fascism ... etc are religion), so he is correct.

That very fact impugns Hitchens' understanding of the world as it is. It is one thing to be intelligent, another to be wise.

Belief is not an element on the periodic table. It is not the same from a little girl's belief in a tooth fairy to a patriot's belief in a democracy to a Hindu's belief in Shiva. They are almost in no way equal.

Mussolini inspired devotion, as did Perón, Castro, Churchill, and a long list of others. They didn't supplant religion or fill the role of religion in the lives of the masses. To equate the two is to simply posit that all ideology is some kind of misguided belief. That's both insipid and ignorant of the positive virtues of ideology AND religion. Both have led to advances in humanity as well as conflicts.

Suggesting that fighting for ideologies like democracy is errant is tantamount to dismissing moral virtues in government. The ideal would be that all conflicts can be worked out at the diplomacy table. The reality is that wars break out anyway and men are forced to fight for their beliefs/values, as well as their territory.

 

[kallipolis]

That very fact impugns Hitchens' understanding of the world as it is. It is one thing to be intelligent, another to be wise.

Belief is not an element on the periodic table. It is not the same from a little girl's belief in a tooth fairy to a patriot's belief in a democracy to a Hindu's belief in Shiva. They are almost in no way equal.

Mussolini inspired devotion, as did Perón, Castro, Churchill, and a long list of others. They didn't supplant religion or fill the role of religion in the lives of the masses. To equate the two is to simply posit that all ideology is some kind of misguided belief. That's both insipid and ignorant of the positive virtues of ideology AND religion. Both have led to advances in humanity as well as conflicts.

Suggesting that fighting for ideologies like democracy is errant is tantamount to dismissing moral virtues in government. The ideal would be that all conflicts can be worked out at the diplomacy table. The reality is that wars break out anyway and men are forced to fight for their beliefs/values, as well as their territory.

I agree with your every word here.

Nevertheless, Christopher Hitchens has a point particularly as it applies to Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany that adopted many of the mass theatrical displays performed in the public arena, that Benito Mussolini had created in Italy to compete with the public religious ceremonies of Catholicism. Both Mussolini, and Hitler were ferociously anti Christian but were pragmatic enough to ensure that the Christian churches did not become their enemies.

The torchlight ceremonies, and mass military parades celebrating the strength, and dynanism of Fascism that Mussolini indulged for his supporters, transferred seamlessly to Hitler's Germany with a reminder that the two dictators were attempting to supplant the role of religion to win converts to their brand of faithfulness in the state, reflected in the party's control of every aspect of a citizen's life....total control.

One recalls O'Brien, the Party operative in George Orwell's 1984 who informs the helpless Winston Smith during his torture and interrogation, "we are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us...We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him."

Here's Mussolini presenting medals to war widows (the Italian invasion of Abyssinia) in 1936. Note the sombre nature of the occasion marked with great dignity as if attending a church service:

 

[NotHardUp1]

The excesses of the Nazis and Italian Fascists just prove that those without faith see the power of it and do their damnedest to imitate it with their false religions of the state.

The fact that true religions outlived both of them quite well shows the worth of bronze over plastic.

 

[kallipolis]

The excesses of the Nazis and Italian Fascists just prove that those without faith see the power of it and do their damnedest to imitate it with their false religions of the state.

The fact that true religions outlived both of them quite well shows the worth of bronze over plastic.

Here we agree, once again.

 

[Telstra]

That very fact impugns Hitchens' understanding of the world as it is. It is one thing to be intelligent, another to be wise.

Belief is not an element on the periodic table. It is not the same from a little girl's belief in a tooth fairy to a patriot's belief in a democracy to a Hindu's belief in Shiva. They are almost in no way equal.

Mussolini inspired devotion, as did Perón, Castro, Churchill, and a long list of others. They didn't supplant religion or fill the role of religion in the lives of the masses. To equate the two is to simply posit that all ideology is some kind of misguided belief. That's both insipid and ignorant of the positive virtues of ideology AND religion. Both have led to advances in humanity as well as conflicts.

Suggesting that fighting for ideologies like democracy is errant is tantamount to dismissing moral virtues in government. The ideal would be that all conflicts can be worked out at the diplomacy table. The reality is that wars break out anyway and men are forced to fight for their beliefs/values, as well as their territory.

Don't understand a word, therefore your post is meaningless
Anyway compare bronze and plastic is rather silly or stupid.
Plastic is more useful everywhere now a days than bronze.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Don't understand a word, therefore your post is meaningless
Anyway compare bronze and plastic is rather silly or stupid.
Plastic is more useful everywhere now a days than bronze.

Spoken as a true devotee of plastic.

In the words of St. Oscar of Wilde: nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

May your god be useful and discarded when you're finished.

 

[Telstra]

Spoken as a true devotee of plastic.

May your god be useful and discarded when you're finished.

Tell me have you use any plastic lately?
What sort of plastic and why? Have you use any bronze lately and why?

 

[NotHardUp1]

Use is not the sole basis of worth.

Google bronze and see what pics come up.

 

[kallipolis]

Tell me have you use any plastic lately?
What sort of plastic and why? Have you use any bronze lately and why?

Metaphor has its value when one compares the depth, and durability of bronze over plastic that is instantly appealing, but disintegrates with the passage of a few years. My verandah plastic chairs looked wonderful when I purchased them...within five years they had become symptomatic of the apparent need, among many for instant gratification:

ancient Greek wisdom: all that glitters, is not gold

 

[Telstra]

Final answer is plastic is much much more useful than bronze.

Anyway, people who say terrorists are poor or dis-advantaged are NOT TRUE:
"Paris attacks: 'Mastermind' of attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud turned back on 'fantastic' life, says father"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...idget&utm_medium=ABtest&utm_campaign=TOInewHP

 

[kallipolis]

Final answer is plastic is much much more useful than bronze.

Anyway, people who say terrorists are poor or dis-advantaged are NOT TRUE:
"Paris attacks: 'Mastermind' of attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud turned back on 'fantastic' life, says father"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...idget&utm_medium=ABtest&utm_campaign=TOInewHP

I'm not a psychiatrist but no doubt there will be a few so called experts offering their expert opinions on the whys, and wherefores of the mastermind behind the Paris massacre. I shall not waste my time reading their opinions.