The Controversial Statement Thread

jega - variance was the last idm album

Chris Hitchens and bin Laden were the same kind of asshole.

  On 5/7/2014 at 11:49 PM, Zephyr_Nova said:

The ones all over the guitars. It makes my ears pop whenever I hear it on speakers, and it just sounds fucked up through headphones. The new album has a similar sound but without the phasing issues, presumably because Kevin Shields didn't have to nudge everything back into place after his equipment fucked it all up. That's what happened in the final mixing phase (no pun intended) of Loveless.

weird, maybe it helped, I like how weird Loveless sounds - doesn't sound uncomfortable or fucked up to me, more kind of swimmy

I'm not really sure what you mean by phasing

issues I mean, I know what phasing is

  On 5/8/2014 at 12:11 AM, usagi said:

Chris Hitchens and bin Laden were the same kind of asshole.

hmm, except HItchens didn't orchestrate thousands of deaths

not saying they were equally as murderous or destructive, but they both had the same degree of rabid dogmatism and self-assured combativeness. just happened to be on opposite sides of the line. ordinary man couldn't stand either cunt.

those sorts of people are ultimately useless to humanity.

Could you give an example of Hitchens' alleged dogmatism?

I remember reading something somewhat unsettling about Hitchens, but I don't recall what it was. Most interviews or debates I've seen of him he came across as fairly reasonable. Dawkins has a greater tendency to put me on edge with the way he responds to some people. In any case, combativeness in a debate is worlds apart from combativeness in the kill-people-I-don't-like sense. So it fits the controversial statement category rather well.

  On 5/8/2014 at 2:53 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Could you give an example of Hitchens' alleged dogmatism?

like every book and every piece he ever wrote? it was apparent, he was a self-described polemicist. the man reveled in argument and had no interest in making real contributions towards solving real problems, at all.

he was so convinced of his opinions, until presented with stark evidence to the contrary and then doing an about-face (e.g. torture/waterboarding). so ultimately he wasn't even consistent, just dogmatic about whatever he happened to believe in at the time. I find people like that - who get enjoyment from arguing in circles while the world tears itself apart - disgusting.

  On 5/8/2014 at 3:20 AM, Zephyr_Nova said:

I remember reading something somewhat unsettling about Hitchens, but I don't recall what it was. Most interviews or debates I've seen of him he came across as fairly reasonable. Dawkins has a greater tendency to put me on edge with the way he responds to some people. In any case, combativeness in a debate is worlds apart from combativeness in the kill-people-I-don't-like sense. So it fits the controversial statement category rather well.

yeah, I meant combativeness in the verbal argument sense, which I'm sure I don't need to point out fundies do all the time when they're not blowing people up. I was gonna reference that one-handed weirdo sheikh from the UK instead as a better example but I figured I'd chuck OBL in thurr for a bonus controversial multiplier.

Prometheus was an excellent film.

  On 5/8/2014 at 3:42 AM, usagi said:

 

  On 5/8/2014 at 2:53 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Could you give an example of Hitchens' alleged dogmatism?

 

like every book and every piece he ever wrote? it was apparent, he was a self-described polemicist. the man reveled in argument and had no interest in making real contributions towards solving real problems, at all.

 

he was so convinced of his opinions, until presented with stark evidence to the contrary and then doing an about-face (e.g. torture/waterboarding). so ultimately he wasn't even consistent, just dogmatic about whatever he happened to believe in at the time. I find people like that - who get enjoyment from arguing in circles while the world tears itself apart - disgusting.

 

The fact that he was happy to have his thoughts be challenged on the matter of waterboarding and ultimately changed his mind is an example of him not being dogmatic. That's the opposite of dogma.

"happy to have this thoughts challenged" he got fucking waterboarded and had to inescapably confront how egregious and inhumane it is, thus forcibly showing him the errors of being so gung-ho in the matter of war following 9/11. if it'd been a nice sit-down roundtable wankfest about the matter he wouldn't have budged an inch, it literally took torture to change his mind. I wouldn't cite that as an example of being super reasonable and not dogmatic.

why am I even arguing about this shit, I'm doing the exact thing I said I hate a few posts up.

*farts and disappears*

Waterboarding is a reasonable method of debate.

  On 5/8/2014 at 4:51 AM, usagi said:

"happy to have this thoughts challenged" he got fucking waterboarded and had to inescapably confront how egregious and inhumane it is, thus forcibly showing him the errors of being so gung-ho in the matter of war following 9/11. if it'd been a nice sit-down roundtable wankfest about the matter he wouldn't have budged an inch, it literally took torture to change his mind.

Getting waterboarded was his idea. He's like "I think waterboarding isn't that bad, but I'm not certain so I'd like to find out." Then he gets waterboarded, sees that he was wrong about it, and changes his mind.

That is literally the opposite of dogma. Someone who is dogmatic would say "I think waterboarding is AOK and that's that." They wouldn't offer themselves up to be proven wrong, and then change their position once they see they were in the wrong.

  On 5/8/2014 at 5:03 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 5/8/2014 at 4:51 AM, usagi said:

"happy to have this thoughts challenged" he got fucking waterboarded and had to inescapably confront how egregious and inhumane it is, thus forcibly showing him the errors of being so gung-ho in the matter of war following 9/11. if it'd been a nice sit-down roundtable wankfest about the matter he wouldn't have budged an inch, it literally took torture to change his mind.

Getting waterboarded was his idea. He's like "I think waterboarding isn't that bad, but I'm not certain so I'd like to find out." Then he gets waterboarded, sees that he was wrong about it, and changes his mind.

 

That is literally the opposite of dogma. Someone who is dogmatic would say "I think waterboarding is AOK and that's that." They wouldn't offer themselves up to be proven wrong, and then change their position once they see they were in the wrong.

 

Here's the video for interest's sake:

In the spirit of that video, someone should challenege Peter Hitchens to blaze a J.

Furren 'intellectuals' come to America for the same reason footballers do -- they get to the play the game on Very Easy over here.

I don't give a a flying fuck if terrorists or their associates get waterboarded. It's not like you're attaching jumper cables to their balls, scalping them, or having them get a train run on them by huge inmates with AIDS and hep c. War is war. If I started a war, I would do far worse things, torture the living shit out of my enemies in an incredibly grotesque way and probably laugh about it too! But if you met me in real life you would just think I'm a really easygoing nice person. Nothing like what I'm saying here.

Just know what you're getting into and own up to it. I don't plan on starting any wars because I want to live a happy, pleasant life free of violence and stress. I dunno. My thoughts on that.

Huh, pretty cool that he actually took them up on that. Crazy that he would have defended the use of waterboarding in the first place... that may have been the "somewhat unsettling" thing I read about him.

*edit: lol holy shit @ candiru

  On 5/8/2014 at 6:49 AM, Zephyr_Nova said:

 

 

*edit: lol holy shit @ candiru

Give peace a chance!

I asked my former boss to waterboard me once and I lasted about as long as Hitch.

I'm surprised that waterboarding isn't a fun experience.

  On 5/8/2014 at 6:55 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

I asked my former boss to waterboard me once and I lasted about as long as Hitch.

Most here will assume you're joking... but I know how absolutely plausible this is. Also, if true (and I suspect it is) --amazing.

  On 5/8/2014 at 7:13 AM, Zephyr_Nova said:

 

  On 5/8/2014 at 6:55 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

I asked my former boss to waterboard me once and I lasted about as long as Hitch.

Most here will assume you're joking... but I know how absolutely plausible this is. Also, if true (and I suspect it is) --amazing.

 

Granted it was in a shampoo sink at a salon and the towels were a little smaller, but once that water flooded my face I couldn't help but panic.

That's exactly how I pictured it.