Zierro

I am strangely becoming attracted to feet. It's strange because my entire life I was dumbfounded over the idea. The butt is still my all time fave though.

All those contrived pictures of kids holding beer and smoking pot.

Good point. You just made me militantly pro-choice.

Define homophobe. Most people would call me a homophobe, but I'm certainly not afraid of homosexuals. In fact, I have several gay friends with whom I get along quite well. Homophobe literally means fear of homosexuals. However its loosely used to describe people who hate people because they are homosexuals. Anytime I see a gay picture on the internet, I'm pretty turned off because it looks nasty. As for the people themselves, they're no worse than any other average member of society. As far as being afraid of them, that's just funny. I'm willing to bet some people would still call me a homophobe though.

Sure. I think my point still stands: It is a much more successful method than the alternative of doing absolutely nothing to discourage crimes and evils. Children who get grounded or spanked or a firm talk usually learn from it and don't repeat the offense. Biologically, animals stay away from activities that lead to negative consequences. People want to reap the benefits of stealing, raping, fighting, etc. but they don't think it's worth getting into the trouble. People act based on self-interest all the time. People tend to want to avoid negative consequences. If somebody breaks into a house and kills the family, and they get killed themselves because of that crime, it has been made more prevalent knowledge that you will suffer a negative consequence if you commit that crime, which discourages that crime. There are some who have no fear of dying or getting caught, which is why you still see crimes occur, but there are also those potential criminals who have reconsidered their thoughts and do not commit the crime purely because of the known consequence. And about performing crimes on criminals (if that's the specific reason why you reiterated yourself), they are not crimes - they are punishments. There is a big difference.

There are plenty of countries around the world that have just as many horror stories as the US - but instead of the vast majority involving guns they use bombs, knives, and an assortment of other creative lethal instruments. There are also guns, despite the difficulty of obtaining them. There are also many cases where, in the US, they will use something other than a gun to murder people, despite guns already being legal. For example, The Deltona Massacre which happened to take place very close to where I live - a group of men broke into a house and murdered six people (even the girlfriend who was trying to hide in the closet while she watched her boyfriend get beat to death, and even their small dog) with metal baseball bats in an extremely gory manner. Over an Xbox or something I think it was? In the end, it comes down to whether the deterrent of gun laws outweigh the deterrent of gun defense. We have convenient statistics and scenarios on both sides. Personally, I feel better knowing I have an effective means of preventing myself from getting killed in my own house by somebody who deserves to get taken out of humanity - so you know what my vote is. Not even if you saw a man with a weapon approaching your loved-ones?

Children who are grounded or spanked, especially after a specific age, end up with emotional issues and violent tendencies, as well as a dislike for rules and administration. If the punishment is unfair and unwarranted, I can see that. And yeah, after a certain age it turns from punishment to humiliation. However, there have been plenty cases where a parent's punishment has led to a less violent child. If they are all inextricably linked why did you point out the difference between punishment and anger? I agree with your second sentence (with the tweaking of fear of authority to fear of breaching moral standards in general).

99.999999999999% of all music. Probably even more than that.

I have a Western Pennsylvanian accent, which is apparently very noticeable.

Bioshock 1. I'm very impressed. I thought Bio 2 was great, but this one is even greater.

Today I'm recovering from a crazy night of disembodiment. I feel the same way when I get sick. I'd rather stay cooped up in my room all day because 1) I don't have the energy to do anything else and 2) I would feel like a [bleep] if I caused anyone else to get sick when it could have been easily prevented.

No, my response of "holy [cabbage]" to his absurd assertion was all that needed to be said. I know that guns stop criminals, quite frequently too.

We were talking about the eye for an eye philosophy specifically there, in which case the alternative would be turning the other cheek like Jesus or Ghandi.

Holy [cabbage]. That is literally all that needs to be said.

It is a much more successful method than the alternative of doing absolutely nothing to discourage crimes and evils. Children who get grounded or spanked or a firm talk usually learn from it and don't repeat the offense. Biologically, animals stay away from activities that lead to negative consequences. People want to reap the benefits of stealing, raping, fighting, etc. but they don't think it's worth getting into the trouble. People act based on self-interest all the time.

I don't see how Brian is any better. You'll get called a dog even more. It sounds like the problem here is that you take the insults too seriously - not your name itself. My name is Timothy and you don't see me complaining.

Of course, I didn't mean to equate it to abortion. I was just pointing out a case where killing should not be considered murder. But as for abortion, a fetus is more advanced than sperm, but not quite as advanced as people like us, especially in the sense of not having hopes, dreams, and social relationship. That is why I think the connotation from "murder" is a bit harsh. It isn't just a matter of biology, but situation as well.

CrustyGoblinFoot likes your comment. :thumbup: "Murder" connotes images of someone going around stabbing people who all have hopes, dreams, opinions, personalities, hobbies, jobs, families, pets, homes, etc. because they felt like it.

Your definition of "murder" has "murder" in it. Abortion is intentional. It can be unwarranted, but there are a handful of good reasons out there in my opinion. Living, absolutely. Human, of course because it doesn't fall into any other specie of animal. I guess my main gripe is that I believe some acts of killing are warranted, and thus are more accurately described as "killing" rather than "murder" because it changes the connotation. Here's a hypothetical example, but please know that I am not equating this to abortion: You are a medic in a war and you just ran completely out of supplies. Then you see one of your own soldiers, pale skinned with several holes in his chest, suffering immensely from great blood loss. You radio for help and discover the nearest medic is not only hours away in distance, but also have enemy forces along the way. Scientifically, it looks like he will last less than an hour unless he gets medical attention. The man asks you to please kill him, so you do. Is it murder or did you simply kill him because the situation warrants it?

And all the statisticians are liars paid by the government. ;) Obviously there are going to be exaggerations out there, but to think every single time that's been said it was always just a blatant lie, wow. Reminds me of the times when people threaten to commit suicide, and people say, "lol ya right u wouldnt do it", but then they do.

Then I guess I stand corrected. But if that protesting really does sway popular opinion so much, then the guy protesting against the protesters probably had some sort of effect on popular opinion as well. I had no idea those people were actually taken seriously. :unsure:

I never claimed he does, only that you do not know whether he does or not. Nobody knows whether god exists. I suggest reading up on Negative Proof. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Those are all pretty irrelevant to god's (even the Christian one's) existence. Nope, but it is the specific reason that prevents certain people from doing certain things. Let's stop beating around the bush and make it nice and simple for you. I know of people who would kill others if there was nothing holding them back. Question: Why does the phrase "not worth going to jail over" exist?

There is no evidence suggesting god's nonexistence. What kind of rebuttal is that? I give you a logical explanation for my stance, and the only thing you can say is, "NAW UR STIL RONG!" without even attempting to point out how or why. Typical. It's "hypocritical" to prevent an innocent little girl from being killed by killing an immoral sadist? Okay... Are policemen and judges hypocrites? Sorry but I care more about the innocent little girl's life, whereas you just love giving people who like chopping people's heads off and eating them for fun the benefit of the doubt with every single chance you get.

Too true. It is just a form of art. And funnily enough, people with the same musical tastes as me tend to annoy me even moreso than others. (Namely Tool fans. :-? )

I agree with this, but I think Dupin raises a good point. What he was doing isn't an effective means of convincing anyone. It's not like the anti-abortionist protesters are convincing anyone either though. While it might not be the completely moral righteous thing to do, abortion should not be placed on the same level of murder. If anything, it is closest to the "genocide of masturbation".