The Controversial [International] Survey!
Sep. 27th, 2008 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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sabotabby, creatd by realcdaae
#01 Under what circumstances would you be willing to attempt to assassinate the political leader of your country?
The last assassination in my country made things a whole lot worse, so I'm a bit iffy about that method of regime change. But if theocracy is established and those who aren't Jewish men are by law going to be considered less than human… well, desperate times.
#02 Who do you think would make a better US president: Hitler or Stalin? (You can't say neither... in this world it's illegal for you to not vote)
Stalin. His purges were a wee bit more rational… in the over all philosophical sense I think.
#03 If you had to bomb one city, anywhere in the world, which would you pick? (Picking none is not an option for this question.)
Jerusalem.
Problem solved.
(I'd give prior warning so that people and animals could leave... but yeah, I'd still pick Jerusalem).
#04 Is there ever a good reason for terrorism?
Sure. If there are good reasons for conventional war, there are good reasons for terrorism... is logic people!
#05 If there existed an infallible robot of super-human intelligence, would you vote for it as president of the world?
Resistance is futile.
Tee Hee.
#06 Under what circumstances would you agree to have your country's army disbanded?
Is this a trick question?
This is a trick question.
Let's see if I can answer this without bringing about a flame war…
No I can't.
Let's put it this way, I think the influence of my country's army on my society as an societal agent needs to be reduced… drastically.
To say more… would probably be committing treason of some kind.
I don't know, I'd have to check.
#07 When cloning technology is perfected, do you think war should be fought with clones?
Hey, Parental Units I see you're having identical twines. Would you mind terribly donating one of your children to Military R and D so that wars can be fought without wasting precious genetic material?
#08 What's more immoral, stealing to feed your children or working for an arms manufacturer?
Good question.
What's nice about it is that it isn't really a question of what situation is more immoral, but whether you are moral or not by virtue of what you think is more immoral.
#09 Should there be shame in being on welfare or other forms of state benefits?
No. Why should you be ashamed that ones paycheck doesn't ass up to the cost of living when the differences in those who have and those who don't is so massive that there is no choice but for government to intervene and make sure their citizens don't starve.
#10 If you were homeless and could get no help from government, would it be wrong to set up a home (tent/house/whatever) on land protected for environmental reasons? If you did, who would be culpable, you or government?
Government.
#11 Should people need a license to have children?
No! Emphatic no.
Do you know who gives licenses to people? Government offices. Do you know who works in government offices? Bureaucrats. Do you know what Bureaucrats are?
They are power hungry misanthropic party poopers, that's who.
Do you want these people deciding who should or shouldn't be having babies?
Yeah.
Didn't think so.
#12 Should anyone ever be forced to have an abortion, and under what circumstances?
Only if her name is Rosemary Woodhouse.
#13 Do you think it's fair that rent can be upped if you have pets but not if you have children?
Very unfair.
#14 Should corporal punishment, with parental permission, be reintroduced in schools?
I think forcing the kids to help the janitorial staff after hours is a great punishment. If one of the punished kids family is on said staff (and this happens) force them to shelve the library books under the watchful eye and ruler of the librarian (who is usually not sexy).
#15 Given that fast food is more harmful to your health than marijuana, should it be banned?
Dude! Let me eat my crap and smoke my weed in peace! Fuck, go eat your "Locally Grown" Organic shit and smoke Big Tobacco Cigarettes. We'll see who dies first.
#16 Do you think it's okay for companies to run drug tests for jobs which don't involve operating heavy or dangerous machinery?
No, if the work is being done with no complaints then companies have no right to snoop in their employees' paper pushing private lives.
Friends are something else.
#17 Are people who say they love animals but eat factory farmed meat hypocrites?
Yeah, but if it wasn't in that, it would probably be in something else.
#18 Under what circumstances would you be willing to consume human flesh?
Um… if it were fried?
#19 Are all (post-natal) human lives equal in value/worth?
No, it's not.
If all human life were equal, well there wouldn't have been all these revolutions and identity politics movements now would there?
#20 If communication was developed with an animal sufficient that they could communicate consent, would it be wrong to have consensual sex with the animal?
No it wouldn't be wrong.
It'd be gross.
But then again, much of what happens between two people is gross too, so big diff.
#21 What do you think the age of sexual consent should be?
Oy.
Head ache.
Everything in Western (and other non-Western) society when it comes to sex is so fucked up that age of consent is really not the most important thing, seeing as adults who engage in sex with children don't care and children have sex with each other before they even know what consent is.
Let's talk about that shall we.
#22 Do you think porn that contains hyper-realistic depictions of children (modelled, painted, etc) should be legally regarded as the same as real-child porn?
Is a real child being harmed in the making of this porn?
Then no, it shouldn't be treated the same way.
#23 If you had to burn one book, what book would you pick?
Sin City by Frank Miller… oh yeah… you're so edgy by depicting nothing fucking new!
In a crap way.
#24 Would you burn a cross whilst dressed in white robes for a million dollars?
There is very little I wouldn't do for a million dollars, because, really. C'mon. But I'd also donate the money to people who had been hurt by hate crime, so there! Nyah!
#25 Should time travel, if it ever becomes a reality, be legal given all the risks it poses to life as we know it?
Only if it's guarded by Albert Einstein… or the Monks of Time… or Quantum… of Solace.
#26 If you had an envelope containing absolute proof of the existence or non-existence of any deity of your choice, would you open it?
Being the Agnostic that I am… then yes I would, though I feel it wouldn't make any real difference in the real world. Also, if you believe you really shouldn't need to open it and if you're atheist… well, ditto.
#27 Should suicide be legal/acceptable for long-term debilitating/emotionally painful incurable mental illnesses? Does your answer to this differ from your answer to the same question with regards to painful, debilitating physical illnesses?"
Suicide as a phenomena needs to be reduced, like most things that cause harm to people. But to make it illegal… no, that causes more harm than good in the long run. Like most laws that take away the choice of freedom over ones body, very little dignity is involved and when a person loses their dignity… there is very little left to lose.
And adding (a variation of) another question that comes from The Controversial [American Centric] Survey:
#28 Do you think others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
I think some of the answers may surprise them… but I think there is general agreement on my f-list.
But I'm curious.
Hmm, dear readers? Have I been judged? Is it heads or tails?
Now that's what I call a controversy!
sabotabby, creatd by realcdaae#01 Under what circumstances would you be willing to attempt to assassinate the political leader of your country?
The last assassination in my country made things a whole lot worse, so I'm a bit iffy about that method of regime change. But if theocracy is established and those who aren't Jewish men are by law going to be considered less than human… well, desperate times.
#02 Who do you think would make a better US president: Hitler or Stalin? (You can't say neither... in this world it's illegal for you to not vote)
Stalin. His purges were a wee bit more rational… in the over all philosophical sense I think.
#03 If you had to bomb one city, anywhere in the world, which would you pick? (Picking none is not an option for this question.)
Jerusalem.
Problem solved.
(I'd give prior warning so that people and animals could leave... but yeah, I'd still pick Jerusalem).
#04 Is there ever a good reason for terrorism?
Sure. If there are good reasons for conventional war, there are good reasons for terrorism... is logic people!
#05 If there existed an infallible robot of super-human intelligence, would you vote for it as president of the world?
Resistance is futile.
Tee Hee.
#06 Under what circumstances would you agree to have your country's army disbanded?
Is this a trick question?
This is a trick question.
Let's see if I can answer this without bringing about a flame war…
No I can't.
Let's put it this way, I think the influence of my country's army on my society as an societal agent needs to be reduced… drastically.
To say more… would probably be committing treason of some kind.
I don't know, I'd have to check.
#07 When cloning technology is perfected, do you think war should be fought with clones?
Hey, Parental Units I see you're having identical twines. Would you mind terribly donating one of your children to Military R and D so that wars can be fought without wasting precious genetic material?
#08 What's more immoral, stealing to feed your children or working for an arms manufacturer?
Good question.
What's nice about it is that it isn't really a question of what situation is more immoral, but whether you are moral or not by virtue of what you think is more immoral.
#09 Should there be shame in being on welfare or other forms of state benefits?
No. Why should you be ashamed that ones paycheck doesn't ass up to the cost of living when the differences in those who have and those who don't is so massive that there is no choice but for government to intervene and make sure their citizens don't starve.
#10 If you were homeless and could get no help from government, would it be wrong to set up a home (tent/house/whatever) on land protected for environmental reasons? If you did, who would be culpable, you or government?
Government.
#11 Should people need a license to have children?
No! Emphatic no.
Do you know who gives licenses to people? Government offices. Do you know who works in government offices? Bureaucrats. Do you know what Bureaucrats are?
They are power hungry misanthropic party poopers, that's who.
Do you want these people deciding who should or shouldn't be having babies?
Yeah.
Didn't think so.
#12 Should anyone ever be forced to have an abortion, and under what circumstances?
Only if her name is Rosemary Woodhouse.
#13 Do you think it's fair that rent can be upped if you have pets but not if you have children?
Very unfair.
#14 Should corporal punishment, with parental permission, be reintroduced in schools?
I think forcing the kids to help the janitorial staff after hours is a great punishment. If one of the punished kids family is on said staff (and this happens) force them to shelve the library books under the watchful eye and ruler of the librarian (who is usually not sexy).
#15 Given that fast food is more harmful to your health than marijuana, should it be banned?
Dude! Let me eat my crap and smoke my weed in peace! Fuck, go eat your "Locally Grown" Organic shit and smoke Big Tobacco Cigarettes. We'll see who dies first.
#16 Do you think it's okay for companies to run drug tests for jobs which don't involve operating heavy or dangerous machinery?
No, if the work is being done with no complaints then companies have no right to snoop in their employees' paper pushing private lives.
Friends are something else.
#17 Are people who say they love animals but eat factory farmed meat hypocrites?
Yeah, but if it wasn't in that, it would probably be in something else.
#18 Under what circumstances would you be willing to consume human flesh?
Um… if it were fried?
#19 Are all (post-natal) human lives equal in value/worth?
No, it's not.
If all human life were equal, well there wouldn't have been all these revolutions and identity politics movements now would there?
#20 If communication was developed with an animal sufficient that they could communicate consent, would it be wrong to have consensual sex with the animal?
No it wouldn't be wrong.
It'd be gross.
But then again, much of what happens between two people is gross too, so big diff.
#21 What do you think the age of sexual consent should be?
Oy.
Head ache.
Everything in Western (and other non-Western) society when it comes to sex is so fucked up that age of consent is really not the most important thing, seeing as adults who engage in sex with children don't care and children have sex with each other before they even know what consent is.
Let's talk about that shall we.
#22 Do you think porn that contains hyper-realistic depictions of children (modelled, painted, etc) should be legally regarded as the same as real-child porn?
Is a real child being harmed in the making of this porn?
Then no, it shouldn't be treated the same way.
#23 If you had to burn one book, what book would you pick?
Sin City by Frank Miller… oh yeah… you're so edgy by depicting nothing fucking new!
In a crap way.
#24 Would you burn a cross whilst dressed in white robes for a million dollars?
There is very little I wouldn't do for a million dollars, because, really. C'mon. But I'd also donate the money to people who had been hurt by hate crime, so there! Nyah!
#25 Should time travel, if it ever becomes a reality, be legal given all the risks it poses to life as we know it?
Only if it's guarded by Albert Einstein… or the Monks of Time… or Quantum… of Solace.
#26 If you had an envelope containing absolute proof of the existence or non-existence of any deity of your choice, would you open it?
Being the Agnostic that I am… then yes I would, though I feel it wouldn't make any real difference in the real world. Also, if you believe you really shouldn't need to open it and if you're atheist… well, ditto.
#27 Should suicide be legal/acceptable for long-term debilitating/emotionally painful incurable mental illnesses? Does your answer to this differ from your answer to the same question with regards to painful, debilitating physical illnesses?"
Suicide as a phenomena needs to be reduced, like most things that cause harm to people. But to make it illegal… no, that causes more harm than good in the long run. Like most laws that take away the choice of freedom over ones body, very little dignity is involved and when a person loses their dignity… there is very little left to lose.
And adding (a variation of) another question that comes from The Controversial [American Centric] Survey:
#28 Do you think others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
I think some of the answers may surprise them… but I think there is general agreement on my f-list.
But I'm curious.
Hmm, dear readers? Have I been judged? Is it heads or tails?
Now that's what I call a controversy!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-09-27 08:21 pm (UTC)As you say, problem solved.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-27 08:26 pm (UTC)Sometimes when I drive up with family I fantasize about finding my sister who lives there and my friends who live there standing with all the possessions saying they had to leave because Jerusalem disappeared into the mists.
*sigh*
I need to write a story like that... a "Brigadoon", only without the singing.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-27 08:37 pm (UTC)And then they'd start killing each other over just exactly what it is god wants.
But a nice bit of radioactive fallout should keep them away for a good long time.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 03:31 am (UTC)Now that's a story waiting to happen.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 10:51 am (UTC)Terrorism: a long response.
Date: 2008-09-27 09:18 pm (UTC)Though the dictionary definition of terrorism has changed drastically since it was first coined by the French to describe what their government was doing to ordinary citizens, one key has remained true: Terrorism is when civilians are targeted with violence in order to use fear of said violence for political means. And I'm sorry, but no, there is no time when that is acceptable. It's a crime, whether done by the government or by non-governmental groups or individuals. The end.
Guerrilla warfare is using small units to attach much larger foes using stealth and surprise. The rise of the concept of this sort of warfare comes from the Europeans facing the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Europeans thought that "fair war" was about lining up and having poor people shoot at each other while the wealthy officers stood back and shouted orders. The indigenous people of the Americas sent out small groups, or sometimes even just one or two warriors, to attack a single target and do damage so that, hopefully, the enemy would be hampered in their attempts to control them, fight them, or otherwise stay on their land.
The use of the term "terrorism" to describe guerrilla warfare started in the 1980's during the Central American wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, and was part of the US propaganda war in order to discredit the communists, the reformers, those working for actual democracy and anyone who didn't think that it was a good idea for American interests (like, say United Fruit which became Chiquita) to run roughshod over their country and citizens.
Terrorism: A Short Introduction (ISBN B000QCS6U8) is a good place to get the full story on this sortid word.
Re: Terrorism: a longingsh reply.
Date: 2008-09-27 09:25 pm (UTC)However, we live in a world in which war is perceived as legitimate (and civilians are very much targeted in warfare) then I don't feel there is much differentiation between the two except that one side has more money.
Terrorism is also an uprising of people against oppressive governments. They're called terrorists by these governments.
And thanks for the book rec.
Re: Terrorism: a longingsh reply.
Date: 2008-09-27 09:56 pm (UTC)Yes, there are many good reasons for terrorism, mainly despair and the inability to find an other way to change a dreadful situation (either political or conventionally military). These are good reasons, understandable reasons (for me). But I don't think they are justifying terrorism. It stays unjust. (as is state oppression!)
Personally heb ik makkelijk praten (as we say in Dutch) = is speaking easy for me, since I live in a peaceful country I can call myself describe as "striving to be a pacifist". Other circumstances perhaps force an other personal stance towards violence upon me.
@26 & @27
Date: 2008-09-27 10:21 pm (UTC)Pluss I am a bloody curious person!
@27 suicide for prolonged mental anguish. This touches me closely. Not only have I've gone trough suicidal times, my sister has ended up in hospital after an attempt and a very dear friend sits in a wheelchair after jumping out of her window.
Generally the argument is that you cannot commit euthanasia while depressed because you are not compos mentis and the depression is temporary and after it has lifted you would be happy you are still there. But some people do indeed not so much have a never ending depression (though they can go on for years) but endless repetitions of depressions or psychosis or other mental pain. I can fully understand making the choice to end the repetition during a time one feels one has some grip on life and the idea that it is truly a decision and not an impulse.
Having said this, the type of help that is on offer and the threshold for are a very important factor. If you compare the statistics for the Netherlands and Flanders (=north of Belgium, our neighbours) you find that the Flemish population looses about twice as many years on average per person to suicide. This goes for both men and women. Though far from perfect we have a system of crises care that one (in principle) can access any time (treatment of life threatening mental illness is freely accessible for legal inhabitants of NL not sure what the Belgian situation is)
Re: @26 & @27
Date: 2008-09-28 05:11 am (UTC)That's a whole lot of information that needs to be digested. Thanks you very much for sharing all that.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 05:07 am (UTC)Much better meme indeed!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-28 05:49 pm (UTC)If an employee makes a mistake while "under the influence" the company is as liable as he/she/it is. Probably even more.
A person is just as likely to not email a mail which will cost a company millions of dollars as he/she/it is likely to run over someone with a tractor "while under the influence".
Why should a company not be allowed to protect itself in advance?
Saying what you're saying is similar to saying that anyone can perform surgery - until someone complains...
Obviously there are drugs and there are Drugs... but there ARE Drugs that are a no-no.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 11:37 pm (UTC)Seriously, it's beautiful and intense and so much more than all those cities that people never fight over because they're too new to have history and meaning. Do you really think that the solution to problems is destroying the things that are good enough for people to fight over? Wouldn't that leave us with a very dull world?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 07:38 am (UTC)*hugsies*
In a world where I had to do it... I'd rather kill myself than destroy anything that would kill so many people.
Besides, I think the V (from Vendetta) route is more effective. Pick a spot and then blow it up. The Knesset is good, dontcha' think?
Though I think a natural disaster is what's required for the Wailing Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque... just so everyone knows it was GD who did it.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:43 pm (UTC)But the Wailing Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque? I'm not one for organized religion, but what goes on there is something much more natural and strong than that - it's belief. These are places people believe in, and they are beautiful and amazing for that. Sure, for everything people care for there will be the people that will take advantage of that, but destroying those focal points is not the answer, in my opinion. I can't testify for Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the air around the Wailing Wall is practically electrified with all those years of people praying and believing and finding their strength in it. There's nothing wrong with people looking for something great, something inspirational. The only wrong is when people take advantage of that and lead it in the direction of hunting down other people.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:46 pm (UTC)Wanna blow up משרד הדתות with me?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 03:57 pm (UTC)(did that sound convincing? ;))
no subject
Date: 2008-09-30 04:55 pm (UTC)One of the best things about Gaiman's writing is the Truth that is found in it, what you wrote there is the basic thesis around which American Gods is built. And yes, it would be a loss for a time, but people have always Believed, regardless of where they were and if it's not here then it will be somewhere else.
People ARE the religion and if the religion is used as a motivation to persecute others then what good is that faith?