Bedouin

Good for her but damn... We are a long way from a free society if those comments are for real. Comment threads like these always make me feel a bit giddy. I just can't process the level of collective stupidity and evil that is being witnessed.

Well I feel a bit embarrassed now... but I have quite a penchant for 'BBWs'. It's just a preference I've always had for thicker girls/women. Shame it has to be, like many other completely irrelevant topics, politicised by feminists.

Back on topic:In the light of the recent NFL-related videos, I have been brushing up on my argumentation skills. I lost my rag at one point and left a few comments which clearly had no effect whatsoever... Even though they were fairly logical. Only success I had was when I lowered my tone and made more abstract arguments from morality. Got into a discussion about UPB, hasn't gone far yet... But it certainly helps to take the focus away from areas where 'opponents' have deep-seated mines in the brain ready to go off if you spend too long lingering. Hence, abstract topics and/or a bit of compassion are some effective means of approaching difficult people. The good old bait and switch, of luring somebody into a position and then pointing out the inconsistency in their approach, that someone mentioned here is also a nice method. A bit more time consuming and tricky though.

!!! I'm sorry that you went through that ridiculously contrived sadism. And well done for sharing. Reading the description of the event, before you even mentioned your allegation, I did remark at the fact that the orientation of the can is a very specific thing to notice and not something anybody will notice without paying attention to detail. Nasty. I certainly felt angry and thought "what a POS", and when I saw the picture of you as a child I teared up and just felt disbelief at how someone could have hit you, and in such a disgusting, calculated way. To defer it until you got home must have been completely awful, and very scary for you? Do you remember how you felt with the dire knowledge of impending, graphic violence?...... Why couldn't he have just taken that time to ask what was going on for you that you wanted to 'steal', or perhaps just accepted that your thirst was a natural thing and reflected on why he felt the need to deprive you of a pepsi which would have done no harm to anyone had you drunk it voluntarily. As I mull over it more, I am beginning to feel sick at just how thick/evil the guy sounds.

Yep, that's very true. Furthermore, there is the analogy of the wilderness vs. the farm which is mentioned in Stef's "Practical Anarchy"... Where there is already a centralised infrastructure and clear bounds and structures, it will be easier for people to invade and 'commandeer' the farm and its production. Whereas, it is not nearly as easy to invade the wilderness next to it... Non-centralised, self-organising, non-tame animals many of which have a bite of their own. Potentially difficult to navigate and certainly little prospect of converting it into a workable statist command and control economy, next to the easier option of just invading another statist country. Besides a defence DRO, which would no doubt be present in the circumstances where an anarchist 'country' and hopefully be able to stand its own against a statist invader, people would also have a load of unregistered guns. These could range from small arms to fighter jets and tanks. I can definitely imagine there being a few self-organising communities of militaria enthusiasts who would buy expensive hardware just for the kicks and familiarise themselves with it and be able to use it in case of invasion.) A stateless region's residents could also fund a small, low-cost, efficient nuclear deterrent. Stef has mentioned this in a few podcasts and, while I do not think that he is right that a few dozen nukes would cut it (anti-ballistic missile systems are becoming surprisingly numerous) there may be other contemporary solutions available by the time such a society comes around. Individuals in a stateless society would also no doubt be more likely to not only seek non-violent resolution to such potential conflicts, but they'd also be much more able to organise this themselves. Be it broking deals with 'hostile' leaders or military personnel or civilians, hacking into government hardware and screwing it up or any other number of non-violent settlements, anarchist individuals and groups would probably be able to figure out a workaround. As a military enthusiast myself, somewhat of a moderate one at that anyway, I could already think of potential defences... I have no doubt that experts in the future could come up with solutions. I'm wondering, since Stef's more recent exploration of immigration, whether that could be more of a threat than military invasion anyway.

Haha that's excellent. It's not hard to be anti-state when talking about the largest state (and probably one of the most oppressive) depicted in any sci-fi franchise ever. Even so, it would be better to live in that galaxy than our own. There are supposed to be a million inhabited worlds and countless other habitable ones so libertarians and anarchists could literally go and find their own idyllic planet and need never even think about the Empire.

Obviously a stupid article. The author talks about how everybody deserves basic needs (which aren't freedom and property (???)) one minute and then states that property isn't 'deserved' and assumes that merit doesn't hold water within the marketplace. As somebody who completely loves psychology it's a massive bee in my bonnet that nigh on every psychologist ever seems to be a socialist. It's problematic when, despite being the best tool for the healing of the collective psychosis that some call civilisation, so many professionals in the field love to lick the boot of power (ofc without knowing it, it's all about helping the poor and needy after all.)

Well done mate That sounds like a tough journey. But it also gives the impression that the very worst is behind you, and you only have a truly self-defined future to look forward to. The struggle has come and gone and now you can reap the benefits of your trials.

I'm very sorry to hear that, and for the fact that you had to write it in the first place. I felt, as I read it, that I could connect on quite a few points. Still yet to get heavy on my mum. Still dependent. Anyway, I hope that whatever happens is for the best and that it all 'works out' as best it can now... What you wrote is very strong and brave. Hopefully you can regain some further strength from the therapy (it's great imo) and finally move on. In regards to therapy and self knowledge and healing in general, I highly recommend you give some of Daniel Mackler's videos a look https://www.youtube.com/user/dmackler58/videos

Oh my god. I feel sick after watching that... Poor, poor children.

Unbelievable. Couldn't even have comprehended that such mad arbitrary rules would even exist but I feel silly for even putting it past the state now.

Am I the only one who thinks the age difference shouldn't mean jack **** either? He's not even 18 and they're trying to ruin his entire life over 'paedophilia' charges because he got intimate over the phone with his girlfriend (who is also 2 years younger than him.) Completely disgusting. I don't doubt they'd probably also get erections from the exercise of power over him if they were to inject him. Throw them in jail for having such a paedophilic plan.

That's a very intriguing clip. The message you suggest might seem far fetched but it kinda fits. From what I'm hearing, Godzilla showed quite overt support for FEMA, which has been an area of contention with other liberty advocates as you may know, so it would not surprise me if they are revving up their propaganda machine further. Mind, I didn't know that building is the fed, I thought it was white and in an open space. However the flag is an adequate replacement, and certainly a much more obvious and accessible means of seeding that emotionally manipulative image. Very funny anyway, the lack of subtlety is astounding. The gross anti-scientific blunder of not having that speeding starship create a massive vacuum/shockwave is also a bit pathetic as an aside; I would imagine the towers would be wrenched inward by the force or at least have all of their windows broken. The thing sped away at like 1000 Gs ffs. Oh and edit btw I haven't watched the film yet so I don't know what the premise behind those 'evil alien robots' (the decepticons or w/e) is, but the way they're depicted as behind the flag, sure it's common imagery but it's definitely designed to evoke a sort of fear of outsiders and allegiance to the flag. It makes me wonder what 'enemy' archetype those aliens inhabit - is it ISIS? Libertarians? 2nd Amendment activists? (HI NSA!). Back in the 50s and onwards throughout the Cold War ofc, aliens respresented the old Commie threat. Indeed, aliens must be the propaganda engineers' wet dream in terms of their capabilities as metaphorical vessels for the 'alienation' of particular real world causes by association.

Yes! Quite right. Scoping out a person's level of openness to new ideas, perhaps by easing them into the fact that you are an anarchist, can be effective in choosing your engagements. If you 'sweet talk' them with the basic logic of the non-aggression principle and get them to agree that force is bad then it can be quite easy to go from there, because it makes it quite clear to everyone in the conversation that as soon as they support government they've fallen into an obvious contradiction. I used to start with the whole '200 million people dead in 20th century' and 'government programmes are inefficient' but it often failed me and still does. Basic moral arguments are a lot more digestible, and I think due to their intriguingly ability to cure societies' ills in and of themselves - and in such a rudimentary way - give people more cause to listen to what you're saying and not just reject it outright. Just gotta avoid those buzzwords, 'libertarian', 'anarchist' etc. unless you're sure the person isn't a close-minded dork.

Someone please rescue the child who's imminently going to be spanked?! And those poor men... It was their call though after all. Guys have to learn to boycott b****es!

Just thought I'd necro this to repeat the same... What an astoundingly insightful, and simultaneously harrowing listen. I also felt nauseated while listening to most of it and had to take long breaks, despite being thoroughly engrossed. It has certainly had a profound effect on me, both in my intellectual understanding and my emotions. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone. It's pretty much guaranteed that it'll make one feel unwell but it's just something everyone (certainly those in the voluntarist movement) should listen to as an intellectual rite of passage. And @ LanceD, yeah I found that quite mind-boggling when I first heard it, and got even more confused when I heard what he had written about the state in his book as a clear instrument of war. And to decry war, plus Bush yet support Obama sure is a bit of a mind bomb.

Sorry about the late reply. Hehe how did you guess? Nah new user, long time lurker. That sounds reasonable. Probably had I gone back and looked I might have understood your reasons after all. Also, just thought I'd say thanks for putting the info out there and your answer, I haven't come across these arguments for free will before, without which I've not really felt there to be any other choice than to be a determinist

Maybe he just wasn't sneaking in enough GCHQ-approved orwellian spyware into the architecture, or was privvy to too many state secrets regarding online surveillance and disagreed, but then was aprehended on a charge which makes little to no sense (again, on the basis that his job description would in a way probably require exposure to such stuff) given his task. Or does that all sound a bit too paranoid? I have trouble putting much past the government, especially here in the UK, these days.

I haven't really been reading everything here, but I just wanted to clarify something: Why are Rainbow Dash's points all being downvoted? I don't see anything nasty about his posts. Maybe he's wrong (I'm not certain he is) but his arguments seem concise and reasonable. Downvoting just seems a little OTT. Could any more seasoned members of the community answer this for me? Is it a general tendency to downvote things that we do not agree with here, no matter how reasonable the opponent is being?