RyanT

Quite possibly..if he's assuming FDR = 'Stefan talking to the internet' then what he said does kinda make sense.. Obviously that's just the tip of the iceberg, we are a real community..which like you say has taken quite a slagging recently, Often from people you think should know better, which probably put my guard up a bit.. If people want startling numbers though try this for size, 5000 donators giving $20 a month would be netting $1,200,000 a year, I know we can do that.

Can't shake the idea this was little more than a sly dig at Stef and attempt to undermine FDR? Stef could have a whopping $4 million to play with (....over 20 years of course) but because he's being silly or stubborn we the donators have to foot the bill with our hard earned cash...and get 'nothing in return' Indeed he doesn't seem to have listened to any of Stef's arguments beyond the obvious distraction adds would...add Sure Stef's brought it up, as with the fact that if YouTube decided to ban him that'd be catastrophic, 90%+ of the income would be gone...(after all how many people would still bother to donate knowing he was 'making all that money from adds'.) More than anything though the brilliant thing about the donation based model is we who support the show and get the message are the customer, ultimately it's our preferences that matter, and that's where the focus goes, where it belongs. Certainly wouldn't like to think we were playing second fiddle to the guy who just tunes in for 'entertainment value' or just a soothing background noise while he thrashes the Xbox....8 hours a day.

I think there's quite a lot of truth in that, my question would be, is that necessarily a bad thing?

That's a brilliant interpretation, although as PatrickC discussed with Dead Poets Society in the FDR film club, I kinda got a message of hopelessness, that it's a noble thing to 'fight the good fight' but ultimately violence and hatred win the day.. Indeed if we look at the original altercation between Danny and the boy who eventually killed him, he seemingly wasn't even acting out of racial hatred but in defense of the 'geeky' white kid who was being bullied and about to get beat up.. i.e. was 'in the right' perhaps he'd have done the same regardless? The principle Sweeney expresses that he himself was once an angry young man, he watches Derick and Danny start out that way but get rehabilitated only for another to jump right in and take their place.. Hatred and violence are endless. That's pretty depressing stuff?

It's a decent film although could never quite work out the significance of the ending, perhaps just that, 'life can be a bitch'. Certainly raised some interesting questions though about how Derek's character would have reacted in the aftermath.

Johnny and myself will be in Leeds on Tuesday to check out some locations for future meet-ups and generally have a chat, get to know one another. Be arriving at around 12pm and should be around for most of the afternoon. Obviously short notice and mid week but anyone who wants to come along is more than welcome.

Yeah...to me its like the father of an obese child claiming she was always given a healthy balanced diet so it must just be her hormones or something. Sure these chemical imbalances happen occasionally but 9/10...

Did he? Been about 2 week now since I listened to the show but I'm pretty sure his advice was 'find a girl who shows signs she already thinks for herself' with anarchism and atheism merely used as example. That's like saying if you are going to try digging for gold, finding quartz first might help, rather than just digging about in your back yard, failing to find any then claiming gold must therefore not exist...

Bloody hell....where do you even start with something like that

Stumbled on this guys videos a few weeks ago,

I also find it really frustrating as it seem to degenerate philosophy from the pursuit of virtue in our lives to 'How many angels can dance on the head of a pin' Determinism - the Xbox in the room!

I've always found the bloke pretty obnoxious but just recently I've really started to feel quite sorry for him? People have built him up as this great 'social commentator' and obviously he absolutely craves attention.. Certainly been diagnosed bipolar, quite possibly borderline personality disorder, sexually abused when he was 7, eating disorder at 14, years of drug abuse....guy's a mess.

Isn't that kinda like... bit of a bait and switch?

Yeah! I remember seeing a film a few years ago that actually spelled this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Haunting

Yeah I've certainly notice I have a lot less time for horror films nowadays, think the last one I seriously sat down and watched was the first 'Insidious' and that was a couple of years ago now. I think it is a very complicated part of our psychology, but has to at least fall partly into 'Simon the boxer' territory. Did used to be a massive Stephen King fan, remember watching a video of him give a talk once and quip something like, ''You know its funny, most people who've got the stuff I've got going on in there heads go out and spend thousands of dollars on therapy, I publish it and make millions in book sales!'' Of course the audience obliged this with a hearty laugh and I just felt really sorry for the bloke. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1178151/Stephen-Kings-Real-Horror-Story-How-novelists-addiction-drink-drugs-nearly-killed-him.html

Your right it is a complete 'bait and switch'.... ''Here are some shoes I've made....that are completely waterproof'' ''They aren't shoes at all, they're boots!!!!!!!!!'' I've come to the conclusion it's just not worth engaging with these people, As Stef once said It's just like playing chess with a pigeon, eventually it will knock all the pieces over, shit on the board and claim victory' Although be interesting to see how they get around this one.... So to be a 'real Anarchist' is to be against oppression....right? Then to do the most good, we should focus our attention where there is most oppression? ....So 'real anarchists' must be those championing children..right?

That would be brilliant. Can't believe this only has 200 views, definitely going to share it wherever I can.

Apparently she's a 'freelance journalist and broadcaster' who occasionally appears as one of those 'talking heads'/pundits on TV/radio. and is also the edition of an online magazine 'parentingsolo'. On her website she claims, 'I have a parenting/family/relationship/education specialism,' Certainly her work for the Mail/Guardian focuses almost excursively on parenting. and it gets worse.... ''Why DO parents feel guilty about smacking? Beats me'' ("More than 100 studies have detailed these side effects of spanking, with more than 90 percent agreement among them. There is probably no other aspect of parenting and child behavior where the results are so consistent," -Murray Straus, founder and co-director of the Family Research Lab and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of New Hampshire.) ...How much are we betting she wouldn't even dream of hitting her dog?

Really sorry to hear about that Dylan, I can't even imagine how insulting and humiliating it must be for kids who grow up knowing their parents actually place more value on an animal that their own child.... Basically it means their amazing abilities to think, reason and articulate complex ideas, feelings and emotions are worth...nothing? No, what's really impressive is a mut stood on its hind legs giving big 'puppy-dog eyes' then yapping and showering the owner with 'wet doggy kisses' when it gets a treat.... So, I think you're quite right in that, we almost always see this behavior framed in the positive, driven by their 'love for animals', while in reality it comes down to a fundamental hatred of people.

I was honestly expecting this would be one of those 'freak show' stories, you know some double-digit IQ, slappers, who's greatest ambition in life is to get on Big Brother cooing over her handbag dog.... Instead you see this seemingly educated, upper middle class woman, managing to remain smug and self-riotous while telling the world just what a neurotic mess she is.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2794599/i-love-dog-son.html Where do you even begin...? This idea that children are just there to feed their mothers egos... After that they're a demanding and ungrateful little burden. (...Until they actually leave home then it's all 'why do you never call/come to visit me'!) A meaningful connections with another human being?....no she just wants 'wet doggy kisses' ...didn't see that one coming....

Quite possibly... For me having a large community of thinking, ethical people to interact with is where it's a....America does seem to come out on top there. Homeschooling too I reckon is a big one for anyone planning a family one day, here in the UK it's pretty easy but in most other EU countries it's either heavily restricted or outright banned.

Yeah being raised protestant, I never quite realized just what a strange inaccessible pantomime the catholic service is.... Must admit being a little envious...compared to the whole 'personal relationship with god' delusion protestantism expounds.

Brilliant post Kevin!! Certainly for me 'foolhardiness' has always typified by someone putting themselves in extreme danger to compensate for a perceived lack of actual courage. Hubris, 'a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities'. It's the solider who charges the enemy machine-gun nest single handed in the hopes of becoming the big brave hero, or even just the guy who'll leave the house in only a T-shirt, then freezes all night rather than go back for his coat, for fear of appearing 'soft'.

I've been pretty guilty of this one myself, I wasn't so much worried about scaring people with images of leather clad road warriors terrorizing a post apocalyptic wasteland, and I positivity enjoyed watching lefties get their knickers in a twist because we 'stole their word' (so much for no property rights?) What caused me most anxiety was just being labeled an 'immature poser'...or perhaps that accusation we're 'all a bunch of nerdy virgins in your mothers basements' 'Anarcho-capitalism' is traditionally 'neckbeard' territory....? Certainly the Gold Donator podcast 'What Trolls Reveal' helped me tremendously with this one, highly recommend it. The gist being, we have to catch ourselves when we start to act 'weaselly', focus on what we're trying to avoid and address that issue, as all attempts wriggle around it simply serves to highlight it, and thus invite attack.

Isn't it interesting Drew, that we both seem to have felt this need to assert that we didn't think psychological abuse is nearly as bad as sexual abuse? For me it really smacks of internalized parent/society, this fear of them berating us for daring to even compare the two. Certainly now I think on it though...everybody I've known who was raped or molested as a kid (...or indeed as an adult) also experienced massive psychological abuse often in the form of neglect. As Stef has often pointed out, apart from the very rare cases of nut-jobs hiding in bushes or pulling random kids into windowless vans pretty much all sexual abuse is strategically aimed at kids who the predator doesn't feel threatened by. ..Who've normalized being made to do thing that they don't enjoy to please adults, who're used to being ordered not to talk about certain subjects, who can be convinced their parents will actually hate them if the truth comes out....