26

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Vern, surely you know that a dismissal is not a reasoned argument?  It's an admission of defeat in logic, combined with an appeal to like-minded people to simply ignore the child in the room.

On the basis of the reasoned and difficult discussions that CFB and I have had, I can assure you that he is no child.  If he is in error, he deserves arguments to convince, not arguments of 'everyone knows' meant to convince.  The danger of such arguments is that he might convince you.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

njc wrote:

Vern, surely you know that a dismissal is not a reasoned argument?  It's an admission of defeat in logic, combined with an appeal to like-minded people to simply ignore the child in the room.

On the basis of the reasoned and difficult discussions that CFB and I have had, I can assure you that he is no child.  If he is in error, he deserves arguments to convince, not arguments of 'everyone knows' meant to convince.  The danger of such arguments is that he might convince you.

I saw nothing in CFB's rant except unsupported childish opinion and name calling. It was barely worth Vern's effort to dismiss it. Where was there any logic to defeat?

Memphis Trace

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Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

It's true the Charles presented a large number of claims without the evidence to support them.  But I've engaged him on other issues.  (You can find the discussions on the forums here.)  His is a formidable and educated intellect, though neither he nor I are used to arguing from the soapbox.  Someone arguing from the soapbox doesn't bring in the whole fabric of issues that he sees related, and that his opponents don't.  Someone arguing from the soapbox focuses on a single, supportable point and rallies people around it.

You may disagree with Charles, but you should understand already, as a matter of public discourse, that everything in that 'rant' has evidence to support it.  You may disagree; you may think the evidence of no account.  You may think the conclusions the result of bigotry.  But others don't, and the 'of course you don't believe that' argument has been used so often that it marks you as someone who prefers to dismiss evidence rather than examining it, and to dismiss people rather than taking them seriously.

The 'of course you don't believe that' approach keeps us talking past each other.  It keeps us from actually examining the evidence the other brings.  It confirms our confirmation bias.  At best, it is an argument from solidarity: "Be one of us, not one of them."  It is inherently polarizing.  Can you complain of polarization, when you reject any attempt to meet the minds of the other side?

Wolfgang Pauli could say, "That's not right.  It's not even wrong," because he was talking about math and the physical sciences, and had an established and shared understanding that was supported by tens of thousands of experimental results.  We don't have that in public policy, and it's near certain that none of us has the skills of a Machiavelli or Metternich that would give us the authority to say, "That's not even wrong."  We have contradictory exemplars and cases, and we need to sort through them to find the truth.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Philosophically, NJC, you propose an unequal debate. And that's precisely why Trump is as popular as he is. All he has to do is rant one-liners, and his opponents have to come up with reasoned arguments why what he says is false? One side has to do all the itemizing? Charles made statements, not backed up by argument at all, and you maintain that Vern's dismissal of them is intellectual laziness. You also suggest there are arguments Charles COULD have made to support his rhetoric, that we should all UNDERSTAND that, and to dismiss them is to lose the argument - IF THERE WAS ONE. But he didn't make the case, only insisted it to be true. Who's the lazy one? I say it's he who spouts unannotated invective. But TNBW is hardly the place for such discussions, in my view. An Op-Ed page of the newspaper would be more appropriate.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

njc wrote:

Vern, surely you know that a dismissal is not a reasoned argument?  It's an admission of defeat in logic, combined with an appeal to like-minded people to simply ignore the child in the room.

On the basis of the reasoned and difficult discussions that CFB and I have had, I can assure you that he is no child.  If he is in error, he deserves arguments to convince, not arguments of 'everyone knows' meant to convince.  The danger of such arguments is that he might convince you.

Well, if you've kept up with past threads, you would know that CFB and I too have had pages upon pages of what you might call discussions/arguments. I am well aware that CFB is no child and has a good level of intelligence, but then "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" don't you think. CFB accepts no evidence and gives no quarter; he is like arguing with a sign post and if you continue to argue with a sign post, you should at least be able to read it. His words are nothing more than what he likes to accuse others of, mainly ad hominem or in his case more like ad hockey. My lapse of logic in this thread was to think that just maybe he had come to his senses and actually paid attention to what was said on both sides. Alas, a miracle didn't happen. He, therefore deserves nothing more than what I presented and probably not even that acknowledgement. Perhaps I've learned a lesson, but probably not; sometimes I just need a laugh. Take care. Vern

31

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

You're within your right to say that the claims have not been backed, and to say you won't take them seriously until they are.  Or to say that you don't want to debate the point here ... but when you've expressed a view, you open the door to contrary views. 

Will you take the floor and then deny it to someone else?

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Memphis Trace wrote:
Charles_F_Bell wrote:
Memphis Trace wrote:

A thousand years ago, it was Muslims who were stunned by the savagery of Christian radicals:

Interesting. I didn't know MSNBC has been around that long.  And Sunday morning? Who was the savage? Christian or muslim?

What does MSNBC have to do with the Crusades?

Disinformation by distraction away from the issue.

Memphis Trace wrote:

Islamic fascists have a lot more Sunday mornings to go like this past Sunday morning to catch up to the Christian fascists of the Crusades.

Memphis Trace

Again, I ask, today, not a thousand years ago or even a century ago, who was the savage, the muslim, or the Christians and heathens? And are you really suggesting that muslims are justified in such victimization because they ought to "catch up" in savagery?

Which religion has its canonical law, Sharia, written into official practice in 11 countries such that homosexuals are killed?

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Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Incidentally, Fascism is a certain kind of government that became popular in the twentieth century and arguably continues today.  (Walter Russell Meade asks if today's China may be the first successful fascist government.)  To apply the term to a government of the Middle Ages is a category error: the notion of Fascism does not apply, any more than Whiggism or the Summer of Love.

The separation of God and Caesar is a modern idea (though of course it is so named in the Gospels--and Caesar did not agree).  And not just in Europe; in the modern Judge Dee stories, van Gulik notes in the introductory matter (of various of the novels) of how, although Buddhism and Taoism were tolerated, the original Judge Dee stories made them the villians and attributed various active moral defects to them.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Memphis Trace wrote:
njc wrote:

Vern, surely you know that a dismissal is not a reasoned argument?  It's an admission of defeat in logic, combined with an appeal to like-minded people to simply ignore the child in the room.

On the basis of the reasoned and difficult discussions that CFB and I have had, I can assure you that he is no child.  If he is in error, he deserves arguments to convince, not arguments of 'everyone knows' meant to convince.  The danger of such arguments is that he might convince you.

I saw nothing in CFB's rant except unsupported childish opinion and name calling. It was barely worth Vern's effort to dismiss it. Where was there any logic to defeat?

Memphis Trace

By the definition of corporatist socialism/fascism  presented by Mussolini and copied by Hitler, was not FDR and his NRA and panoply of social-controlled economy also not such a corporatist? 

Planned industrial “harmony.” Another keystone of Italian corporatism was the idea that the government’s interventions in the economy should not be conducted on an ad hoc basis, but should be “coordinated” by some kind of central planning board. Government intervention in Italy was “too diverse, varied, contrasting. There has been disorganic . . . intervention, case by case, as the need arises,” Mussolini complained in 1935.[9] Fascism would correct this by directing the economy toward “certain fixed objectives” and would “introduce order in the economic field.”[10] Corporatist planning, according to Mussolini adviser Fausto Pitigliani, would give government intervention in the Italian economy a certain “unity of aim,” as defined by the government planners.  https://fee.org/articles/economic-fascism/

Therefore, what of my "rant" that the enemy cannot be defeated when our head of state and commander-in-chief is sympathetic to the enemy in some important particular ways is demonstrably incorrect?

“The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to prayer”

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/201 … z4BbJo1HZm

“America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

njc wrote:

Incidentally, Fascism is a certain kind of government that became popular in the twentieth century and arguably continues today.  (Walter Russell Meade asks if today's China may be the first successful fascist government.)  To apply the term to a government of the Middle Ages is a category error: the notion of Fascism does not apply, any more than Whiggism or the Summer of Love.

The separation of God and Caesar is a modern idea (though of course it is so named in the Gospels--and Caesar did not agree).  And not just in Europe; in the modern Judge Dee stories, van Gulik notes in the introductory matter (of various of the novels) of how, although Buddhism and Taoism were tolerated, the original Judge Dee stories made them the villians and attributed various active moral defects to them.

It was a tenet of Puritan Anglicanism that the separation of Church and State followed Christ's advice to render unto Caesar ...  I believe 17th-century Algernon Sidney {"god helps those who help themselves"} is a good reference for this.

36 (edited by Charles_F_Bell 2016-06-15 00:26:30)

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

jack the knife wrote:

Philosophically, NJC, you propose an unequal debate. And that's precisely why Trump is as popular as he is. All he has to do is rant one-liners,


One line of truth, poorly presented, is worth more than the lies, so well presented,  you want to believe from Obama.

and his opponents have to come up with reasoned arguments why what he says is false? One side has to do all the itemizing? Charles made statements, not backed up by argument at all,

Excuse me that I gave the benefit of the doubt for some basic understanding of American history during the progressive era. In economic policy there was no difference between FDR and Mussolini except on the nature of their respective capitalist systems (Italy, weak;U.S.A. strong)  As to Islam, what part of the fact that Mohammed, a thief, a murderer, a pedophile, took every bit of primitivism of Judaism, ignored Christianity except to name Jesus as a prophet,  to fashion not a religion but a bellicose territorial expansion strategy -- that every new convert from Khan to the Ottomans knew very well -- have you ever researched?  I can't teach one who knows nothing.

37

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Yes, though I think it was more a separation of powers than a true separation.  IIRC, in Albion's Seed, David Hackett describes a distinct lack of tolerance within each colony.  To be fair, these colonies had each been established in part to allow adherents to get away from those adhering differently.

Again, IIRC, the idea of religious toleration found seed in the Peace of Augsburg, and began to blossom in the Peace of Westphalia.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

vern wrote:
njc wrote:

Vern, surely you know that a dismissal is not a reasoned argument?  It's an admission of defeat in logic, combined with an appeal to like-minded people to simply ignore the child in the room.

On the basis of the reasoned and difficult discussions that CFB and I have had, I can assure you that he is no child.  If he is in error, he deserves arguments to convince, not arguments of 'everyone knows' meant to convince.  The danger of such arguments is that he might convince you.

Well, if you've kept up with past threads, you would know that CFB and I too have had pages upon pages of what you might call discussions/arguments. I am well aware that CFB is no child and has a good level of intelligence, but then "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" don't you think. CFB accepts no evidence and gives no quarter; he is like arguing with a sign post and if you continue to argue with a sign post, you should at least be able to read it. His words are nothing more than what he likes to accuse others of, mainly ad hominem or in his case more like ad hockey. My lapse of logic in this thread was to think that just maybe he had come to his senses and actually paid attention to what was said on both sides. Alas, a miracle didn't happen. He, therefore deserves nothing more than what I presented and probably not even that acknowledgement. Perhaps I've learned a lesson, but probably not; sometimes I just need a laugh. Take care. Vern

Re: assertion Obama - FDR / How can the enemy be defeated when the head of government and commander in chief is sympathetic to the enemy?/ Your talking points are just robotic justification by distraction to do nothing about coerced global cultural islamification.

Excuse me that I gave the benefit of the doubt for some basic understanding of American history during the progressive era. In economic policy there was no difference between FDR and Mussolini except on the nature of their respective capitalist systems (Italy, weak;U.S.A. strong)  As to Islam, what part of the fact that Mohammed, a thief, a murderer, a pedophile, took every bit of primitivism of Judaism, ignored Christianity except to name Jesus as a prophet,  to fashion not a religion but a bellicose territorial expansion strategy -- that every new convert from Khan to the Ottomans knew very well -- have you ever researched?  I can't teach one who knows nothing.

39 (edited by njc 2016-06-15 00:39:58)

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

Oh, if you heard in the media that the atrocity was committed with an AR-15, you were lied to.  The weapon was a Sig-Saur and the "man" who wielded it had a special permit allowing him to possess weapons unavailable to the general public because his employer was a contractor for DHS.

To the press, every rifle with a detachable magazine is an AR-15.  This is the same press that doesn't know the difference between full-auto and semi-auto--or else does not care to know.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

njc wrote:

Yes, though I think it was more a separation of powers than a true separation.

No. Or you might be splitting hairs.

njc wrote:

IIRC, in Albion's Seed, David Hackett describes a distinct lack of tolerance within each colony.  To be fair, these colonies had each been established in part to allow adherents to get away from those adhering differently.


Yes, exactly.  That was to be the point of federalism and shared dual sovereignty which began to expire as a concept with the entry of Utah into the union so long as Church LDS got the word from God polygamy was no loner acceptable, and prior to that, of course, by the War of the North Against the South.

41 (edited by njc 2016-06-15 05:56:17)

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

I may be splitting a hair: If the government and the church are separate, but the government will only allow adherents of the established church, then the separation is a separation of powers, but not independence of church and state.  (I'm open to more precise words than 'independence'.)

edit:  Charles, surely you know that American education cannot even tell the true story of the first Thanksgiving because it is about the failure of socialism.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

You inserted a line in your quote of my post that I never wrote, C.F.B.  Doesn't help your bona fides. And I'm outta this ranting mishmash of vitriol disguised as intellectual debate. Yikes! Spend more time writing than posting this drivel, and you'll be better off. But maybe not.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

jack the knife wrote:

You inserted a line in your quote of my post that I never wrote, C.F.B.  Doesn't help your bona fides. And I'm outta this ranting mishmash of vitriol disguised as intellectual debate. Yikes! Spend more time writing than posting this drivel, and you'll be better off. But maybe not.

That misplaced line of my response was created by a misplaced closed-quote marker:

Quote You: Philosophically, NJC, you propose an unequal debate. And that's precisely why Trump is as popular as he is. All he has to do is rant one-liners, - close quote

Quote Me: One line of truth, poorly presented, is worth more than the lies, so well presented,  you want to believe from Obama - close quote.

This is research for my next book, Willoughby, coming soon, on whether an army of cowards on the side of evil can defeat a brave individual on the side of good.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

njc wrote:

Oh, if you heard in the media that the atrocity was committed with an AR-15, you were lied to.

They failed to mention {except Fox, once} that the slaughter the muslim fighter intended (see: nightclub in Paris in which 100 were killed but those muslims intended only to take hostages at the outset)  was stopped when he was met by an armed security guard who forced retreat to the restrooms, not good for the victims-hostages who retreated to there but who were far fewer in number and somewhat protected by barriers.

Jihadist death toll on U.S. soil after 9/11 under Bush: 0; death toll under Obama: 91.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

“Watch out for intellect,
because it knows so much it knows nothing
and leaves you hanging upside down,
mouthing knowledge as your heart
falls out of your mouth.”

― Anne Sexton

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Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

"With all thy getting, get understanding."  ---the KJV by way of Malcom S. Forbes.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

"So, our religion is a religion of fear and terror to the enemies of God: the Jews, Christians, and pagans. With God's willing, we are terrorists to the bone. So, many thanks to God. In God's book, he ordered us to fight you everywhere we find you, even if you were inside the holiest of all holy cities, The Mosque in Mecca, and the holy city of Mecca, and even during sacred months.

With regards to us, we were exercising caution and secrecy in our war against you. This is a natural matter, where God has taught us in his book, verse 71 from An-Nisa: ((0 you believers! Toke your precautions, and either go forth (on expedition) in parties, or go forth together.))

Also, as the prophet has stated: "War is to deceive."


-- The 9/11 Shura Council from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

48 (edited by njc 2016-06-16 02:58:35)

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

In fairness, there are Muslim groups speaking out against the warrior readings of their sacred texts.  The Clarion Project has a page with a list.  Given how firmly tCP and its principal speak out against the aggressors, I think the list is reliable.  There's an interview by tCP with the principal of the Center for Islamic Pluralism which does not go in depth into why he (a Sufi) and others believe that the warrior reading of those texts is wrong.

Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

jack the knife wrote:

Philosophically, NJC, you propose an unequal debate. And that's precisely why Trump is as popular as he is. All he has to do is rant one-liners, and his opponents have to come up with reasoned arguments why what he says is false? One side has to do all the itemizing? Charles made statements, not backed up by argument at all, and you maintain that Vern's dismissal of them is intellectual laziness. You also suggest there are arguments Charles COULD have made to support his rhetoric, that we should all UNDERSTAND that, and to dismiss them is to lose the argument - IF THERE WAS ONE. But he didn't make the case, only insisted it to be true. Who's the lazy one? I say it's he who spouts unannotated invective. But TNBW is hardly the place for such discussions, in my view. An Op-Ed page of the newspaper would be more appropriate.

I agree with Jack. Word salads will not stop terrorists. Proving one religion is worse than another will not stop terrorism. The only thing that I think will help is treating everyone with dignity irrespective of their religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.

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Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri

How would that have prevented the Orlando shooting?