http://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/i ... RAkeirY/v0

This contradicts the results of my previous post on this question in terms of polling support.

Fair enough.

However, I am still not understanding your contention I am denying reality. Change always conflicts with the the interests of power trying to keep the status quo. Things that seem impossible then happen with shocking suddenness.

People have the right to vote and to organize. It is very difficult and can take years or decades. Sometimes generations of leaders have to build on past achievements and keep their eyes on the prize.



http://www.snopes.com/first-they-ignore-you/

I wish people would read more about people like Ghandhi, MLK, Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Eugene V. Debs, Frederick Douglass, and countless others. It is a record of numerous defeats, but some unbelievable victories.

Don't sell ever sell yourself short or quit too soon for something worthwhile. I don't think that is denying reality.

He would lose half his support overnight if he came out for gun control, because it would undercut his machismo with the gun fetishists crowd. The spell would be broken.

The denying reality part was in response to your comment about 'moral nihilism'. Everyone has their own moral beliefs, but my comment was in contrast to people who would argue for moral truth in the sense that actions themselves can treated as false. Sam Harris, who I think epitomizes many western attitudes, realized he had to argue that truth and the laws of physics might contradict themselves. But truth actually requires the opportunity for it to be consistent with the rest of reality.

As far as selling myself short, I'll just say that in the battle of ideas for influence, any sustainable thought can gain traction.

From your mention of Harris, I can't tell if your impression of him is positive or not. I will just state when I first came across him I was intrigued even impressed. The more familiar I became with his reasoning, I realized how shallow his arguments ultimately were. Him and Dawkins come across as dogmatic as any religious fanatic they are railing against at the moment. The leaked emails exchange between Harris and Noam Chomsky showed how out of his league he is. Chomsky has his own problems, but he eviscerated Harris' argument. The fact that he thought it was positive for himself was yet another piece of evidence of how closed Harris' feedback system has become.

I find Thomas Paine to be much more persuasive. He is a better writer and much more tolerant. Intolerance is still intolerance if it is cloaked in tradition or in some new age pseudoscience. It is still mumbo jumbo.

15 hour filibuster FTW!

I hardly agree with anything Sam Harris says. His exchange with Chomsky made me think he has some sort of moral tunnel vision. The hypothetical Al Qaeda ally example was so ridiculously removed from reality. Harris didn't win, but he still scored points among the 'secular patriots', or whatever you might call them, that have risen in recent years.

I don't think Dawkins has made a single complete argument against religion, but he has some good inferences, that can be built upon. He's biased, and bias may make you underestimate an opponent, but if bias has an evolutionary advantage it must help in competition, and you can't enable competitive abillity without having strenghts. So, people are biased in part because of their strenghts. Humans are naturally capable, but flawed and imperfect.

While I think guns should be regulated more and especially assault rifiles, I agree high numbers of gun ownership is likely not the reason for it. Cultures are different and comparing US to low murder rates in places like UK, France, etc. likely has a lot of other factors affecting it just like how Russians killing themselves far more than other European powers isn't because they have more guns to do it with.

For me the two things that make someone way more likely to be a murderer are being broke and being male. When looking at what causes the mass murders compared to other countries, the socioeconomic system and the expectations males are being raised with are the two places I'd start

All 4 gun bills failed in the Senate today.

I mean, the constitution doesn't say you have a right to buy an assault rifle.

I mean, I want assault rifles banned, period. But if banning a list of people from buying them is the first step, IDGAF.

Also, one of the bills is universal background checks, so... republicans are just being idiots.

I don't think banning assault rifles from people on the no fly list will lead to banning dildos.

Are you using the "if you make same sex marriage legal, people may want to marry farm animals!" argument? Because that's sick, bro.

But the bill wouldn't ban guns. It would ban assault rifles for a number of people. There are lots of laws that make it so you can't do something. An assault rifle isn't protected under the 2nd amendment. But we're not quite at a place where we can ban all assault rifles, which is frustrating.

I hope you're on the list.

just ban them all

So this Alton Sterling thing... what the hell is wrong with us, as a Nation? How are we still so blatantly racist?

Disturbing video. Sad!

Damn another one in Minnesota and caught on video

The hashtag arguments are fun.

4 officers dead in Dallas, sniper during a protest. Fuck...

An eye for an eye.

Shits getting out of control

It's going from strength to strength.

After every shooting, I always hear "It would never happen in Texas- somebody would take care of them!"



WHAT. THE HELL. IS GOING ON.