Cory1848

20 hours ago, placeholder said:

By itself, this usage might seem perfectly innocent. But you're not taking into account the virulent Hindu nationalist policies of the current Indian government.

Right: nationalist branding. Even if the current ultra-nationalist Indian government manages to regularize the use of “Bharat” as the international (English-language) moniker for their country, it may become forever associated with that government and get ditched when more progressive leadership again takes charge in India. Like the name “Zaire,” adopted by a corrupt dictator, was discarded right after his death, or like “Myanmar” might get discarded as the English-language name for that country should the military ever be removed from power there. (Aung San Suu Kyi, when she’s speaking English, continues to use “Burma.”)

4 minutes ago, RanongCat said:

Let me put it this way: I do believe super rich American Jews who have monopolized a disproportionate percentage of the global financial system by virtue of historical events are inherently worse than the average American Jewish or not.

Wow. In an earlier post you felt the need to say that were not anti-Semitic. Simply the fact that you felt that needs tells me all I need to know. (Quacking like a duck!)

55 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Here are a bunch of historical maps of Palestine dating back to the time of Jesus who was actually Palestinian right up to 1948. Up until that time Israel did not even exist.

 

Right, Jesus was the first Palestinian. I've heard that howler before. Engage in historical anachronism much?

28 minutes ago, RanongCat said:

Higher standard ? Of what dishonesty? Israel is employing /repeating the tactics of vile German actions leading to the holocaust.

Being critical of Israeli oppression of Palestinians is automatically labelled antisemitic but critical comment of Iran or Saudi , Palestinian or Egyptian is not auto anti islamic ?

Worse crimes elsewhere?  Supported by ?

 

Yes, a higher standard. I see it from so many people, and it’s intellectually dishonest. And no, Israel is not repeating the German tactics leading to the Holocaust. As for “worse crimes elsewhere,” I could give you a long list but fear I’d be wasting my time.

As for anti-Semitism, you know the expression -- if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck ...

6 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Start your counting way back in 1948 and not in the last few years. That is 75 years

 

There are Palestinian families that still have the keys to the houses all over Palestine that the Israelis confiscated from that period, not counting vast areas of Palestine lands that have been stulen.

 

Not to mention the Israeli blockade of the land and sea around the Gaza strip.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip

 

The blockade of the Gaza Strip is the ongoing land, air, and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel and Egypt temporarily in 2005–2006 and permanently from 2007 onwards, following the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

 

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/generation-under-blockade-consequences-israels-17-year-blockade-gaza-strip-enar#:~:text=From 2006 to 2022%2C Gaza's,affected received only 30% compensation.

 

From 2006 to 2022, Gaza’s agricultural sector suffered losses of approximately $1.3 billion as a result of the blockade and multiple Israeli military attacks; those who were affected received only 30% compensation. Throughout 2022, the electricity crisis in the Strip also persisted, with residents receiving power for only 12 hours a day in the best-case scenario. The availability of electricity is dependent on both the Kerem Shalom crossing staying open to import fuel (which Israel can close at any time for security reasons), as well as the continued funding for the fuel needed to run the Strip’s sole power plant; for years, Qatar has been providing funds for fuel.

To repeat, the Israelis have not rounded up six million Palestinian Arabs, not in the last couple of years nor in the last 75 years, and murdered them in cold blood for no other reason than that they were Palestinian Arabs. If you think cutting off someone's power for 12 hours a day is equivalent to that, I disagree.

19 minutes ago, MrMojoRisin said:

So you were minimising Israel’s crimes.

 

Suppose person A is a rapist and person B is a murderer - what is the point, when discussing person A of raising person B?

 

Stating A is bad but B is worse achieves what?

 

Let us suppose person C has never committed a crime.

 

Why did you choose to compare A with B instead of comparing A with C?

No, I was not minimizing Israel’s crimes. And I have no patience for semantic rabbit holes that serve only to distract, such as what you’ve laid out. You clearly have no interest in understanding the point I’m making, so whatever ...

33 minutes ago, MrMojoRisin said:

Why did you compare Israel’s crimes with the crimes of others?

I was referring specifically to armchair pundits who go on endlessly about Israel’s crimes while not caring a hoot about other, worse crimes taking place elsewhere in the world. This in no way excuses Israel for land theft and apartheid in the West Bank, but I was pointing out the dishonesty of holding Israel to a higher standard.

1 minute ago, MrMojoRisin said:

What did you say?

Go back and read it again; I'm not going to hold your hand. Nowhere did I say that I was accepting of Israeli crimes, as you allege.

20 minutes ago, MrMojoRisin said:

“Higher standard”?

????????????

You’re accepting of Israeli crimes because “worse crimes are being committed by others” 

 

What a perfectly moral and logical stance to take.

 

 

That's not at all what I said.

47 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

While I do think it’s a false equivalence, many Israelis and Jews outside of Israel do support the idea that Irael has a unique historical position to speak up for human rights and the rights of others to nationhood and self determination.

Israel is not a homogeneous political entity there is a broad political spectrum ranging from the extremist nationalists through to liberals supporting peace and engagement.

 

Sadly Abbas has just handed the extremists political ammunition that they will use in their arguments agains Palestine and peace with Palestine.

 

 

While the Israeli state was born in great trauma, and while the Jewish people have been persecuted more than most others over the millennia, and while this may put the Israeli state in a “unique historical position” to advocate for human rights, at the same time I feel that Israelis/Jewish people are no more and no less responsible than any other group of people, or the citizens of any other state, for the maintenance of global civility. In most respects, Israel is just another country, one among a few hundred. Giving Israel a “unique historical position” encourages some people to hold Israel to a higher standard, and thus obsessively criticize Israel for behaving badly when in fact far worse crimes are being committed (at any given moment) in other parts of the world.

That said, Israel is domestically in a bad place right now, and as you point out Abbas just gave extremists there more ammunition.

I have no idea what you mean by “genius girl,” and the whole notion of intelligence testing, IQ scores, and offshoots like Mensa is becoming failed science, like phrenology or humorism. How can one “measure” “intelligence”? The notion is absurd. Why not just find a woman who’s immediately appealing to you, ask her out for dinner, engage her in topics you like to talk about, and see if there’s mutual interest? I think that’s how it usually works ... Good luck ...

1 hour ago, Scouse123 said:

What a weird announcement to make from a senior police officer.

It is indeed a weird thing to announce, but perhaps Prachuap is simply indicating his awareness of history. Benigno Aquino was assassinated on the tarmac as he was returning to the Philippines in 1983 after three years of exile, leading to the People Power revolution, the end of the Marcos dictatorship, and the election of Aquino’s widow Corazon as president three years later. The circumstances of course are totally different, but this kind of drama has happened before.

5 hours ago, 2baht said:

Warning!.......................Don't go to Delaware!

Aw ... We're a nice little state, really -- plus, no sales tax, and really low property taxes!

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

illogical Thai apologist post.

State discounts are not equal to foreigner fleecing.

 

I don't think you understood a word of what I wrote. I wasn't being an "apologist" for anyone.

18 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

I used to live in Orlando FL near Disney World. 

I got drastically reduced rates for season tickets because I lived in the area. 

Was that fair or racist? 

In Delaware, state residents pay a reduced rate to get into state parks. The idea is that residents pay Delaware state tax, which goes toward park upkeep, whereas out-of-staters don’t. That seems reasonable to me, although the difference between the rates isn’t nearly the tenfold gap that occurs here, which seems excessive. Also, a (government-owned) state park is one thing and a (corporate-owned) theme park is another. Disney would be exclusively focused on the bottom line, so perhaps they’re providing incentives for local residents, who are within easy driving distance all year long, to visit the park more frequently.

26 minutes ago, Jacques Clouseau said:

As long as global capitalism isn't reformed, it is pointless to try and convince people to change. When you're struggling to make ends meet, you usually don't have your mind set on abstract long-term goals - it is true in the West but even more so in developing countries.

I think that pretty much gets at the crux of it. People with money will do what it takes to keep that money, and people without are too concerned about putting food on the table to be able to think about much else. And the current mode of neoliberal capitalism just exacerbates this, by increasing the wealth gap, which is happening worldwide.

As for whether fear is more a motivating factor or a paralyzing one, I’m sure there are arguments on both sides!

11 minutes ago, Ben Zioner said:

Was  your neighbour's brother, in your original tale. 

 

Hope  you won't die grief stricken too...

Yes, it was a neighbor’s brother, and thanks for asking. It was heat stroke, and apparently he was perfectly healthy, so it was quite a shock -- six hundred people at the funeral! It’s been really hot here (Chiang Mai), but I don’t have to work outside like a lot of my neighbors do, so can’t really say how it feels doing manual labor or how it differs from a couple of years ago.

45 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

I was responding to someone that falsely claimed: "The richest people are related to the fossil fuel industry and they get richer by bribing right wing politicians to do nothing."

 

One would have to be super, ultra daft to think your post supports the claim. 

 

 

I have no idea who the “richest people” are but would trust whatever Forbes says, whose lists some people have cited here. I do know that fossil fuels remains an immensely profitable industry. And the fossil fuel industry getting richer by bribing right-wing politicians (via campaign contributions) to do nothing to regulate their industry, is simply how it works. In like manner, other industries bribe other politicians to do their bidding. This is not privileged information.

16 minutes ago, Jacques Clouseau said:

I'm not optimistic at all. News has become a constant stream of non-hierarchical information. Too much data kills data. People don't have enough time to process what they've been exposed to. Already the next wave of nudging hit them. I can feel it with myself sometimes. Information overload / burnout. And I don't even have a social media account. Anyway... ????

I don’t disagree … Social media has a way of shortening one’s attention span, and over the long term that will be devolutionary. AI is likely to just speed up this process. However, it’s encouraging to see some people here relying on actual science and citing actual climate scientists; it’s possible, with an educated effort, to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak …

12 minutes ago, dhupverg said:

Nobel prize winning physicist says there isn't a climate crisis and the IMF cancels his speaking engagement.  

 

"After Nobel Prize Scientist Declares ‘There Is No Real Climate Crisis’ – He is Abruptly Canceled for IMF Climate Talk: Claim"

 

The nobel prize winner says it's “dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well-being of billions of people.”

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/07/nobel-prize-scientist-declares-no-real-climate-crisis/

John Clauser, the scientist you’re referring to, is a researcher in quantum mechanics, not climate science. Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize in 2016, but I wouldn’t necessarily trust what he might have to say about climate change either. And while Clauser’s invitation to speak was indeed withdrawn as you state, I would steer clear of the Gateway Pundit, which is your source, as it’s primarily known for spreading disinformation.

30 minutes ago, Jacques Clouseau said:

It's funny how easy it is to manipulate people by altering their perception of reality.

Saturate the news with climate change and people will see climate change everywhere.

Saturate the news with racism and people will see racism everywhere.

Saturate the news with terrorism and people will see terrorism everywhere.

Saturate the news with toxic masculinity and people will see toxic masculinity everywhere.

Saturate the news with civilization collapse and people will see civilization collapse everywhere.

Saturate the news with toxic immigration and people will see toxic immigration everywhere.

Saturate the news with whatever and people will see that whatever everywhere.

 

Let's be clear here. I'm not saying global warming isn't real or dangerous.

My comment is merely about how information is being weaponized to influence people's minds on every single topic imaginable (whether it's for good or bad reasons).

I find it terribly boring and excruciating after a while.

Well, yeah, assuming that consumers of news are empty vessels incapable of rational thought, or of distinguishing between what’s real and what’s not. Given the number of people worldwide who say they get most or all of their news from social media (or from bloggers living with their mothers and selling herbal remedies on the side), there’s certainly reason for concern.

Your list of examples includes everything from very real existential threats to festering problems to nonissues. I’d like to be optimistic and believe that there are still enough people who can tell the difference.