I am a big fan of history, so I know the importance of viewing things in the context of the times. The problem is that there are groups of people who use that context to justify their thoughts and behaviors. The "If it was good enough for my generation, it should be good enough for the next", mindset shouldn't fly any more. It's student government. An entity picked by students. I read the article. The university had nothing to do with it. If you're going to be mad, you have your choice between an angry mob, or a tone deaf college student.
The problem is that the current generation is using the exact same argument in reverse. Now it's "This is our world now, fuck you. We are offended by anything we disagree with and it needs to be banned." And then they call the person disagreeing with them a fascist. They want the world to be an echo chamber/hug box and God help anyone who disagrees with them.
I think it's a little more nuanced than that. With the advent of social media (Twitter in particular), more and more people are having their voices heard when that wasn't the case as recently as a decade ago. I believe it's a combination of those people having not only a voice, and having access to information that allows them to loudly call bullshit on behaviors they find offensive. That internet communication comes with a sense of smug superiority isn't particularly helpful. That it's mostly anonymous is both its best and worst feature. Your example of our generation saying fuck the old generation isn't a new one. Older generations have been saying the newer ones have been fucking things up and vice versa since the dawn of time. If you don't believe me, go read the comments section of any political news article, then go to Reddit and read the comments there.
Yes, generational differences have always been around. The difference is, as you pointed out, is social media and the 24 hour news cycle giving a voice to the lunatic fringe. The problem I see is so many people reading a biased article and thinking they're suddenly an expert on a subject that has many nuances. The only point of view they want to hear/see is their's. Fuck anyone else's, because they're wrong. Period. Full stop. I read news from numerous sources, both left leaning and right leaning, and read the comments after the stories. Both sides are equally insane with their comments. But, when all is said and done, censoring thoughts and ideas, no matter how much you disagree with them, is completely against the ideals this country was built upon.
I don't make it a habit to agree with Toytoy. Nothing against him, but just for me, personally, his viewpoints tend to skew too far one way or the other from where I normally stand. But regarding what I quoted, I'm afraid he's gonna feel some backlash on that, and I feel he's 100% spot on. And when someone is right, there's kinda this thing where you gotta support them even if it isn't the audience doesn't think it's the "right" thing to do.... A few weeks ago I interviewed a girl named "Char'qwonda." I tried my damnedest to say her name according to how I thought it should have been pronounced - "shar-qwan-duh". According to her (she was offended I did not get it right and corrected me in a rather attitudinal way), I was supposed to roll the 'R' and the first part sounded like the singer "Cher," it was 'O' as in "ovary" and it ended like "day." Keep in mind this was for an interview. The first impression she gave to me was correcting me about her name.... And I'm using this just as an example, not as a reason let alone the reason for the following statement: Want everyone else to treat you with respect and like you are worth something? Then act respectful and prove your worth. I don't see this as a generational thing. I'm 28. Not too far removed from "kids these days." It's a matter of parenting. People are telling their children, and more disastrously teaching them, that they are some unique special snowflake. They are giving them crazy names (again, example) and telling them that if they shout loud enough they can make a difference in the world. Instead of teaching them hard work and actual life skills, they are teaching them social skills with nothing concrete to discuss. It's like buying an a massive stereo system before you know what type of music you enjoy. It's crazy, and it's backwards, and for the parents it's easy. "Hey my child did is becoming somebody! Look at what all he's talking about" Yeah, but what did he do? So then you have what's happening now, which is the result of a bunch of screaming microphones and people just wanting to shut them up. You really think that U of H student would have been suspended (never mind even disciplined) if it weren't for social media?-... I mean, if it weren't for a bunch of assholes with microphones? Hell naw. They did it just to shut up the crowd. Wanna turn around this whole "trend" of what we see as generational entitlement but is really just lazy parenting? Start by teaching your child something useful to society. They love doing what you do, so they'll enjoy it I promise. Teach them that if they want to be special, if they want to be that "unique snowflake" then it takes a lot of hard work by themselves in a gym or a lab or office or yard. If they want to sit in front of a computer all day when they're young instead of going outside, then tell them that's great because the world needs programmers so they can start learning now! And tell them that, no matter how loud they yell, no one will listen if they don't know what they're talking about. It's not "old school," it's common sense. Above all else though, don't let your kids think they are special for having done nothing. That incredible, endorphin-inducing sense of accomplishment comes from working your ass off and then actually doing something worthwhile. Not typing convincing-sounding letters on a screen. Not for hurting the lives of people you've never met. Certainly not from yelling loudly, like ToyToy said, into an echo chamber.
This is actually a really good talk about corruption in politics and touches on a few different aspects of it: I like the idea that things aren't actually worse than they used to be, the information that we, as the public, get is much better. Speaking fees = bribes. Hillary isn't the first to do this but hopefully, by some miracle, she will be the last. How messing with elections and putting false choices in place is a very bad idea and could lead to revolution. Be forewarned, it does center on Hillary Clinton but I believe that political corruption is so rampant in our system that every politician is doing this on some level.
In this election cycle, aka 'The 2016 Shitstorm' there are two very bright points, and they lead to the same thing. Think about this, Sanders and Trump both were able to fund their primary campaigns without resorting to donors. This is a very positive step for democracy. A quote attributed to Justice Brandeis, but not confirmed, sums it up nicely. "We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both." I keep coming back to this issue, but it is the paramount issue. Until we have publicly funded elections, the corruption cycle will just continue.
The thing is, the Clinton's ARE really the first ones to use the office of the President as a money-making machine. Sure, others have done all right after the fact, but with their Clinton Foundation set up the way it is, they are basically using it as a money-laundering tool for people to buy political favours from the government. So while it may have been going on before, they really, REALLY cranked it up by an order of magnitude.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ne-economic-policy-seeks-regain-momentum.html I've mentioned this before; I spend over $20k a year in daycare right now. So, the selfish side of me wants this but in reading this along with the rest of the Trump tax cutting plans I notice there are no plans for spending cuts. This is the biggest problem I have with both parties: one wants to cut taxes and keep spending while making only minor cuts, the other wants to ramp up spending to stupid levels and tax corporations/high net worth individuals. Neither makes sense. Are we ever going to see a politician that has a sensible financial plan again? Is it just a matter of finance and economics being to difficult for people to understand? http://www.gallup.com/poll/186680/two-three-adults-worldwide-financially-illiterate.aspx
One of the big problems with finance is Americans aren't understanding what we're spending the money on. We want services, a huge military (we spend more than the next 8 nations combined - and that includes Russia and China), but we don't want to pay for it. The other problem with Trump's plan is we've already done it. It's called trickle down economics. It works great if you're wealthy, not so good if you're not. For instance, Reagan slashed the Capital Gains tax and top tax tiers. What happened? He increased military spending, grew the debt, and then raised taxes on the middle class 4 or 5 times, depending on how you look at it. The reality is we need to have a serious conversation about what we spend our money on. I would much rather spend my money helping Americans than spending it on drones to kill foreign brown people. That doesn't make me a hippie, it makes me human. I would rather help someone go to college than buy yet another tank we don't need. I'd rather see women get paid leave than send women into combat. But we're not having that discussion. For the land of the free and home of the brave, we sure act scared shitless of terrorists. While we certainly need a military that's effective, I'd like to see us allocate more of our resources to our citizens. Because ultimately, that's the point of any decent society: to help each other out. This every man for himself nonsense needs to go away. The reason humans banded together as soon as they evolved is because helping each other made everyone's life better. It's sad to say, but apparently Americans need to relearn this lesson. Bombing the shit out of everyone isn't going to make us a better society.
Reagan didn't do these things; Congress did. The president does not have the power to raise or lower income tax. He cannot pass spending bills to increase military spending. If you'll recall, Reagan made a deal with Congress to cut tax rates and also cut spending. Only the tax cuts happened.
You want a perfect example of our broken criminal justice system. Here you go, just follow the bouncing ball: January 2011: Jackass #1 shoots Jackass #2. He's sentenced to 10 years for 2nd degree attempted murder. February 2012: Jackass # 2 (A convicted felon) sees Jackass #1 (Who is out on probation only a year after being sentenced to 10 years) and shoots him. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/conte...elon-wednesdays-rosa-parks-boulevard-shooting Jackass #2 is convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm (10 year mandatory sentence) and attempted criminal homicide. Fast forward 4 years to yesterday: Jackass #2 is arrested, suspected of shooting and killing his 11 year old daughter. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...er-11-1st-day-middle-school-article-1.2743890 These two dummies shot and attempted to kill each other, combined they served about 5 years. Now a child is dead. Something is horribly wrong with this picture.
Yeah both of them failed to follow the rules of Zombieland. Double tap. Make sure what you shoot is dead.
Marijuana to remain illegal under Schedule 1. I dont give a shit about pot. I dont smoke it nor do I care about its legality one way or another, but I figured it was interesting.
Laughable. Absolutely laughable. You know why they are keeping it schedule 1 and illegal? This right here: "...the drug’s chemistry is not known and reproducible." Drug companies cannot make money off it, and it can't be patented. Report from drug policy.org Not to mention the fact that deaths from opioid overdoses plummet.
The DEA is nothing more than a company that makes money for other companies. They are lying, life-ruining sacks of shit who never should have existed in the first place. The hypocrisy of saying that Pot is bad and should be illegal while going to cocktail parties and taking prescription heroin is out of sight. America, disband your DEA already. What a super-corrupt embarrassment they are who do nothing but cause pain.
I really wish they would let farmers grow hemp in the U.S. It's a really good cash crop and it would work great in rotation with the corn and soybeans that I'm already growing. Also, the profit margin is much, much bigger. Thanks to the Feds, even if I want to produce it strictly for fiber I'm not able to because it's technically a drug.
I've been wondering about this. If hemp becomes legal to grow, how will this affect food prices if farmers switch to growing hemp because of its profitability? Or is it already accepted that like anything else the price would level off once enough farmers started growing it?
The price would level out over time, but it would still probably be at or above corn for profitability. I don't think it would have along term effect on food prices. Farmers in the corn belt still need some sort of rotation, so they would continue to grow other crops. If the demand for corn put the price above hemp, farmers woul put more acres into corn again.
JFK on lock down, all flights diverted, possible active shooter in terminal 8. EDIT: Not an active shooter, just shots fired in the terminal