Plucky

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Everything posted by Plucky

  1. Fair? Yes, I'm afraid I think so. I grew up in South Africa and moved to the UK 6 years ago, and two differences have been apparent to me since; There's always a pub nearby ... or three, and drinking usually seems to be a rush to get your evening's worth before the closing time (although this doesn't apply everywhere anymore I believe). - Citizen of the World -
  2. I personally care for two reasons: 1 - A lot of 'God-botherers' (as my Grandmother used to call over-enthusiastic christians) feel it's their duty to save\convert\enlighten the rest of us. This interrupts my life. If it didn't, I wouldn't care. 2 - Many people are dying every day (Palestine is the first example that comes to mind) which might not be as bad if people hadn't based so much of their lives on their Religion (both sides, in this example). This makes me feel sad, angry, helpless, frustrated. Feelings I wish I didn't feel as much whenever I read the news. Therefore I care what some people believe, because it sometimes affects me, and many others negatively.
  3. Plucky

    Kwanzaa

    Yours is still relevant - two generations back. I'm guessing you probably have memories of hearing first-hand stories of Sweden, from before your recent ancestors moved to the US. Traditions that started with the immigrants, as in your case, is fine, but claiming some heritage all of a sudden after a few hundred years .. and sticking an 'African' sticker on the American celebrators .. I'm sticking with silly. Africa is a very big place .. with very many countries, all with diffierent cultures and traditions. These foreigners saying they're a part of the continent, generally, is true, we all are. Not just those with darker complexions. They're simply not African, or we all are. - Citizen of the World -
  4. Plucky

    Kwanzaa

    I'm with you there. How many years or generations back can you go to claim some sort of heritage? I was born in Africa from European immigrants (3 generations back) - does that make me a 'European African', and should I celebrate that if I had never set foot in Europe? I'm white, but I'm much more of an African than any black American who's never set foot in Africa. I've lived it, and am familiar with it's ways. Kwanzaa, as something associated with 'being' African in some way, for born Americans is just silly. If you go back far enough, we're all Africans anyway. Where's the line? 200 years? 400? Let's see, in the last 200 years, my ancestors came from Norway, Netherlands and England (mostly) .. I'm going to start wearing a viking hat, clogs and a cravat at christmas from now on. - Citizen of the World -
  5. I agree, as that person had chosen that country above another to live in, so I don't know what you're referring to? - Citizen of the World -
  6. In another thread, it was mentioned that any discrimination against someone because of something they did not choose, is wrong. For example race, gender, appearance, physical ability, country of birth ... this makes sense. It was also said that based on the same principle, we have no right to be proud of anything ourselves, where we had no choice in the matter. The same list above applies here too, race, gender, country of birth, etc. ... this also makes sense. You did nothing to make yourself that way, so cannot rightly be proud of it. So what's with all the patriotism? What is it about the current political borders we happened to be born within, that we feel have the right to be personally proud of? What makes our fellow citizens more important to protect or be proud of than people who were born in countries other than ours? I mean, patriotism is blatantly exploited In all countries, yours is not exempt. It forms the backbone of propaganda. Again, your country, wherever you are, is not exempt from this. Patriotic propaganda plays a big part in winning support for wars and other decisions that affect others adversely. Would our world be more peaceful, tolerant and less xenophobic if we were all simply less patriotic? After all, our country of birth isn't anything we chose, and unless we've lived amongst the locals of every other (200+) country how dare we say ours is 'better' in any way? - Citizen of the World -
  7. Was anyone else's first thought "Hear no evil, see no evil" with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder? - Citizen of the World -
  8. Ok, I'll concede that I'm naive on this matter, so please tell me the whole story? My naive opinion is that people who were living in what is now Israel's borders, were forced out of their homes and hometowns by Israel. I.e. an invasion, who then effectively enforced a form of apartheid. Is this wrong? Or are you simply saying that the locals felt that they were forced into terrorist actions .. killing people .. simply because they didn't get on with their new neighbours? I mean, surely there's more to this than "Israel existed and they didn't like it" - Citizen of the World -
  9. Ok, so then what were the reasons for the 'cross-border terrorism'? And has anything been done to help solve their issues since? - Citizen of the World -
  10. How about "If Lebanon wasn't invaded and occupied for decades by Israel, Hezbollah probably wouldn't even exist"? You can't simply sum up the situation from only the most recent actions, or only the actions reported by pro-Israeli sources. It goes much further back than either of our statements above. - Citizen of the World -
  11. I'm with you (for a change today ) - it's fine to do things just for ourselves. As long as we're not doing something that will probably harm others, or take something away from them, for our benefit. - Citizen of the World -
  12. Not always, I always imagined I'd be a dad, and looked forward to it, I love my nephew and my two other godchildren to bits. I decided though, that if I were honest about what good it would do to a small group of people emotionally (my family), compared with how much global bad it could add to, affecting many, many people ... it wasn't a hard decision to make. Depends on your idea of 'right' and 'wrong'. To me, it's wrong to add another person (and all their offspring) to this resource-stretched world, especially in the western world, where each person's environmental 'footprint' is huge. How? My interpretation would be 'productive addition to my country's economy' ? How long will that last when humanity have sucked this world dry? Yes, more people = more brains = bigger corporations = faster developing technology = potential to fix our mistakes in time, but I'm not losing anything by playing it 'safe'. - Citizen of the World -
  13. I don't think you'll find any of my posts (even the bits I edited out) were slamming US gun laws or culture. My original post was about a person resident in a non-UK country, commenting on how UK residents feel about their safety. Careful what you imply, please. - Citizen of the World -
  14. True enough. Funny though, that if one is adding to the global destruction of our world, and ultimately the human race by adding to the over-balanced human population, isn't one also being selfish for having kids? Seriously, other than satisfying one's natural maternal\paternal instincts, what good are we doing for anyone else by reproducing? - Citizen of the World -
  15. Oh, I see, so this is a revenge thread? "Someone posted something I didn't like about my country, so I'll post something bad about theirs" Got it. - Citizen of the World -
  16. Not an issue for us, as we refuse to bring another human being into this over-populated world in the first place, so would never get as far as 4 months if contraception fails. I value the future of the human race, and the rest of the life on Earth more than my family. Closer to the topic though: It's scary how only one person here has mentioned talking it over with the other half of the parental duo before commiting to a decision about the life involved . If I found myself in that situation, I certainly wouldn't feel I had the right to decide on the matter alone. - Citizen of the World -
  17. I just have to repeat CornishChris's point, absolute rubbish - as the whole point of the thread is based on some (probably) non-Brit speculating, and then another non-Brit (ever lived here John?) simply pasting it. Oh, and I'm not even British, but I've lived here for 6 years, and feel the safest I've ever felt anywhere. *Edited to be nicer - Citizen of the World -
  18. So where's the photo? At least some of us would appreciate it, making you feel more at peace with the human race
  19. Plucky

    Flight Speed?

    From what I could find, the vne (never exceed speed) is about 0.92 mach, or 607 mph .. so 'C'? Do you know the correct answer, or were you trying to find out yourself? - Citizen of the World -
  20. There is no absolute, global definition of what's legal or illiegal immigration - every country has their own set of immigration requirements, and they're all very different. The rules set up by a country's government, regarding who can legally immigrate, is based (IMO) almost entirely on the potential for them to contribute to the economy. If it's decided by the government that people who did not meet the requirements previously, are actually a nice tax income for the country (a nice test case seems well underway, judging by US media), they could very easily change the immigration laws, to allow these potential contributors to immigrate legally. Countries change their immigration laws all the time, depending on the economy. It's all just business - Citizen of the World -
  21. That bog entry is an attack on Muslims, not the religion itself. By all means we should be able to voice our opinions on a religion's principles, but it's probably best not to judge the people themselves. Everyone's views of what's right and wrong is shaped heavily by the environment they're brought up in. It takes a conscious effort to admit to yourself that the rules you've always lived by, aren't really right - your parents, your teachers, your preacher, your friends - are all wrong, and the most difficult bit, admit that so are you. We all have our comfort zones, and don't like to think about living outside of them. Ask yourself if you can you do this, or is everything you live by, just the best way to live, fullstop? Is every principle you live by, absolutely 'right'? How do you know for sure? Do you just know? If we start to honestly question our very own principles, the most basic ones, without assumption, then we might realise that's it's not fair to attack other people themselves, as if they made a conscious decision to be 'bad', by growing up in a certain faith and way of life. - Citizen of the World -
  22. I agree with you so much, I'm de-lurking myself from the bonfire again to say so. Good with vodka too - Citizen of the World -
  23. A reasonable train of thought, when thinking about a solution to a conflict of some kind, is to investigate and question each sides' motives for their actions. E.g. "They started it" - "But they took our land" etc. So, do you understand the reasons why people who take up terrorist actions, or start wars, do so? Have you investigated and questioned their motives, from honest sources, before forming a damning opinion? Or do you simply believe the 'obvious': "on this here side are the good guys, and they're the bad guys, everyone knows that"? A prime example of my point is Nelson Mandela, joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, whom most of the world sees as a worldwide ambassador for peace. And he is .. Now. At one point in his life though, the odds were so stacked against him by those with more power, he decided that violence was the only option left in the pursuit of freedom and ultimately peace. I quote him from his trial in 1964: "At the beginning of June 1961, after long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe[the armed wing of the ANC]...the Government had left us no other choice." .. and another quote from the ANC's website: "..Mandela, anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe." Today, we may see this 'struggle' as having been necessary, and perhaps that they were forced into playing that hand. How many white South Africans do you think saw it that way at the time? They just saw the 'obvious' - what they got from the government and media - after all, it's just impartial news, isn't it? They're obviously wrong, look at what they're doing after all! This post is not meant to implicitly win respect for one side in any particular current conflict, this post's message is simply this: Please don't be so quick to call other human beings 'enemies'. They are as evolved as you are, with as much reasoning ability as you have. If you have to fill in the gaps of your knowledge of their motivations with the 'obvious', you are looking at the situation from a biased perspective. - Citizen of the World -
  24. By posting here, I'm participating, which means I'm not a lurker anymore .. and since I'm no longer a lurker, I'm not technically qualified to post in this thread anymore Temporarily de-lurked lurker