World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[Sarge]

Trump has also stated that, despite his still believing in the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation, he will defer to Mattis on this.

[jp1]

I believe most people on the left mean well, but I differ with their methods.

I read an article recently that basically asserted that many on left doesn't just oppose those on the right, but outright hates them. After all, how could they not if they (or the majority) are racist, sexist, homophobic fascist bigots? I thought perhaps that was hyperbole, but I really am starting to question that.

Sorry you feel that way. I definitely disagree with your beliefs on a lot of these matters, but I do not hate you.

How do you feel about the current administration supporting torture? I have to imagine that as a decent human being you take issue with that. So, where is the line?

To be fair, the entire administration does not favor torture. Secretary of Defense Mattis opposes its use and does not consider it an effective tool for intelligence gathering. As Trump's first choice nominee for Secretary of the Army has stepped out, it also appears Mattis will have more of a say in his direct subordinates, which leads me to suspect that in general the Department of Defense will be getting really opposed to its use. This is one of the reasons why I respect Mattis and consider his nomination one of the high points of the Trump presidency.

This is good to know. Thank you for that Ack.

@Sarge, It's also nice to know that while Trump has no issue with torture, he will allow for us to not treat humans worse than dogs.

[Sarge]

Sorry you feel that way. I definitely disagree with your beliefs on a lot of these matters, but I do not hate you.

Oh, I'm not saying you do, and there's a reason I mentioned that I thought the article might be a tad hyperbolic. But some days, it really does feel like we hate each others' guts (in a collective sense, not between you and me!) and it's pretty disheartening. I'm guessing you feel like that's happening sometimes, too. Hopefully it isn't true!

[MrPopo]

Sorry you feel that way. I definitely disagree with your beliefs on a lot of these matters, but I do not hate you.

Oh, I'm not saying you do, and there's a reason I mentioned that I thought the article might be a tad hyperbolic. But some days, it really does feel like we hate each others' guts (in a collective sense, not between you and me!) and it's pretty disheartening. I'm guessing you feel like that's happening sometimes, too. Hopefully it isn't true!

I think the vitriol from the left has gone up since the election because from their perspective, half the country voted for a man whose campaign speeches included prominent verbiage involving "Getting rid of the Muslims" and "Mexico is sending us rapists." So it feels like either the right is in favor of those things or is willing to let those things happen to get one of the other things spoken of in the speeches.

[Tanooki]

I believe most people on the left mean well, but I differ with their methods.

I read an article recently that basically asserted that many on left doesn't just oppose those on the right, but outright hates them. After all, how could they not if they (or the majority) are racist, sexist, homophobic fascist bigots? I thought perhaps that was hyperbole, but I really am starting to question that.

That's pretty much how it has felt to me increasingly so not just because of the cheeto in a suit we have now, but going back to Gore being edged out 16 years ago. Crazy doesn't fix the problem, there are better ways than just tagging your 'enemy' as a label or more and shutting down all rational thought and civil behavior in the process of it. And no I didn't thin you were pointing at jp1 with that comment either but were generalizing as I am now.

I hate how it is now to a point you can't even go out in public to non-political type stuff and not hear a ration of mouthy garbage. There really is a time and a place, but now it's like agree or eat a dick basically how it goes now. Friends unfriending each other on social media if not in real life because they can't act their age. My wife is part of a group who spin yarn and since the election it has been nothing but a rage fest when it had been previously a nice place to chat, relax, and enjoy a hobby and she probably won't be going back. She didn't vote Trump either, but hearing all their garbage is too much. She was at a birthday party for a 5 year old girl a week ago and a couple mothers there were mouthing off and laughing how they got their little kid (part of another party same time) mocking Trump and wishing he'd die. Really?

That's how some of the left seem to think is the right way to approach things and it's terrible. It's like there's a time and a place for everything, and also should people be corrupting toddlers? I'm not saying the right is without fault (they're not obviously) but I don't see the same disgusting tactics, they have their own with just quietly doing garbage or using the name of Jesus to screw people over but it's not nearly as intense and definitely not wide spread as that.

[dsheinem]

This semester I am teaching in prison and chronicling my experience with a series of articles, the first of which I put up a couple of days ago.

I hope you mean that you've volunteered to go to a prison and teach, and not that you're incarcerated and teaching as a way to get a shorter sentence.

Volunteered, yes.

[CRTGAMER]

To be fair, the entire administration does not favor torture. Secretary of Defense Mattis opposes its use and does not consider it an effective tool for intelligence gathering. As Trump's first choice nominee for Secretary of the Army has stepped out, it also appears Mattis will have more of a say in his direct subordinates, which leads me to suspect that in general the Department of Defense will be getting really opposed to its use. This is one of the reasons why I respect Mattis and consider his nomination one of the high points of the Trump presidency.

This is good to know. Thank you for that Ack.

@Sarge, It's also nice to know that while Trump has no issue with torture, he will allow for us to not treat humans worse than dogs.

The other countries do far worse and chop heads off not for information extraction, but just to arrogantly prove their power showing their celebration on social media. The U.S. has used torture in the past not for retaliation, but to prevent such horror. No human should suffer, but the cowards have drawn the line for decades attacking the innocent; torture may be necessary. If a less subtle methods do not extract information to save lives, I feel water boarding should be used as a final option to protect from future attacks.

The President believes in only water boarding and not much crueler methods that many assume. However, as anyone in charge should do, he has put trust in his cabinet to make decisions in their departments. Defense Secretary Mattis does not believe in torture, he knows what he is doing. Future events will decide if he sticks to that policy.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Somebody thinks the cabinet will change their opinion on torture being a bad device to gather information. Somebody is a moron.

[Ack]

Future events will decide if he sticks to that policy.

You realize this makes it sound like you fully expect the Trump cabinet to fail to prevent a future potential terrorist attack, and that the Trump cabinet will then go to the extreme as an immediate response to that attack.

[marurun]

Our human tendencies unfortunately inform our process on crime far too acutely. Most murder victims are killed by someone they know. Most rape victims are raped by someone they know. Same for kidnappings and abuse. Stranger danger is highly overrated in our mentality and in our society. The most dangerous person to you is, in all likelihood, someone you trust and willingly allow into your life. And you have a blind spot to them, which is what allows them to do what they do. Serial killers? Rare. Domestic terrorists? Rare. Foreign terrorists? Even more rare. Strangers out to kill you and rape you? Rare. Doesn't mean we shouldn't protect ourselves, but we shouldn't spend inordinate amounts of money, attention, time, and worry on stuff that is not common. We don't become petrified for our safety every time we get in our car to drive, do we? But you're much more likely to die there than to crime. We basically make poor use of our energy because we have natural biases that don't really match up with reality.