CommanderJohnson

The movie rocks!

quote:Originally posted by Menchise: *sigh* Here I go again. Cultural diversity, by definition, is not about replacing one culture with another. It's about having many cultures that interact with each other, thus forming new ideas from the best of each and enriching the general social being. Yes, but of course in dealing with a nation's cultural identity, there are some things that can't change that have been grounded in tradition. The constitution, the primacy of the English language, etc. quote:Cultural hegemony, the assimilation of all cultures into one dominant culture, narrows the plain of thought and stagnates the general social being. Now, I believe in the system the US used until about 1950, whatever you want to define that as. People came, they joined the culture, brought their gifts and talents, made life better, and that's it. I don't buy into the bilingual BS that's being taught. LEARN TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF ENGLISH. As for cultural hedgemony, I don't really see the problem with it. Sure, your rhetoric is nice about "narrowing the plain of thought and stagnating the social well being", but what exactly are you babbling about? Lets say the United States stopped immigration for about 50 years. That isn't going to ruin the country. 100 years? Still not going to ruin it. Look at some countries that don't allow immigration, the country doesn't get bad or boring because of it, and the "social well being" isn't hurt any, at least if the people like their culture. Now some cultures, that are already bad by focusing on oppression, death, killing, etc, might not get any better. That's why cultural hedgemony is good. Some cultures are better than others, just like some people are more useful to society than others. A F-15 pilot and Derek Smart are both more important than some leech that's been on welfare for the past 10 years and will be on welfare for the rest of his/her life. The culture of the United States is more important than the culture of cannibal tribes in some south pacific island. The United States culture SHOULD assimilate cultures, like they have in the past, to make life better for everyone involved. Now, relating this to the topic, the Palestinians need to learn to put up with their country and it's government or leave. As i've already advocated, the best thing they can do is STOP the suicide bombings, and carry out protests like during the US civil rights movement against whatever intrinsic injustices there are in the government. Short of that, they should be assimilated or shot. quote:Language is much more than a method of communication: it's also the method of organizing the expression of thought. One of the reasons why English speaking people initially had great difficulty translating German was because Germans spoke dialectically. It was this method of communication that enabled great thinkers such as Hegel and Kant to develop new philosophical methodologies and ideas that weren't even imagined by other cultures. That's nice. Let them STAY in Germany. Don't let them move to America and spread a bunch of BS about how "German should be accepted as a common language in America". If your going to live in America, speak English unless your talking to your German friends. quote:While I agree that basic social cohesion demands that a standard communication method be in use on practical terms (since it takes years to learn a second language), it is also important not to discount the role of language in cultural interaction.Language is one of those issue that I spoke about earlier that should NOT change because of immigration or cultural merging.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, but I can't wait for the MP patch! I wanna DESTROY GALCOM! Just imagine a RANDOM hitting Earth like I made it do in Single Player. BOOM!

I think what a lot of us are forgetting is what would you want to be done if YOU were in the situation. Lets come up with this possible scenario. The thousands upon thousands of anti-government militia groups decide to want to split up the United States in order to get away from our government because of the percieved "conspiracy" and oppression it is giving. In order to accomplish these goals, they start setting off bombs in crowded public areas, and shoot at all government officials (police, etc) that they can. Innocent people start dying, but the militia groups want to sit down and discuss how part of the United States should be set aside for the "patriots", or it should be re-organized. They keep professing this, and then over the next week, lets say a bomb goes off and your best friend, your parents, and your brother all get killed. You aren't in a militia, you don't support them, your just living your life, and then most of the people you care about are DEAD. Are you REALLY going to give in to those bastards, or are you going to want to exterminate them? Then lets imagine that your one of the people in the militia or supporting, and then you keep seeing your friends get killed when the government attacks militia bases and groups. Are you REALLY going to want anything less than all of the "government bastards" to die? What we forget, living in a peaceful country, is that "being nice" is never going to cut it. The hatred in Israel is so deeply entrenched that the only way to end it is for a peace settlement to be reached between the MAJORITY of the Israelis and the MAJORITY of the Palestinians, and then they both need to pledge to WIPE OUT or EXPORT the fringe elements that continue the killing.

My favorite books are: Star Wars Series Clancy Books Battlecruiser 3000AD: Captain's Chair Starship Troopers

Ok, I should have put "give back" in quotes.

Spoiler: Especially in that one room later in the game where your in the ceiling and drop down into the room with like 30 stormies. They got a nice taste of force push and pull. Heh, heh, heh.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER: SPOILER: At the end when the kid knocked the gun from her hand, she turned around, screamed, and ran like every other bimbo in every other movie. She didn't use her police training to beat the kid up, she screamed, ran, screamed some more, got pushed over a balcony, and managed to beat the kid with luck.

Beat JK2 a few days after it was out. That game is great, but long towards the beginning. If you miss a shaft or something your supposed to go down it gets frustrating, and the ending is sorta lame, but the star wars premise, force power updates, and sabre usefulness more than makes up for it. If you dont have JK2 get it, best FPS out there.

Bastard terrorists....

It was good. Sorta stupid when she ran though.

Ok, sorry I haven't been around lately, but here is my take on the Israel Palestine conflict (sorry I didn't have time to read through 4 pages of posts, so i'm probably going to be re-hashing things already said, but if you disagree with me on a point, point it out and we can debate like we used to) Israel was created. The correctness of this doesn't matter because it's done with. It survived multiple wars (with help, but still, it survived) Israel exists as a country, and has existed for decades, end of story. The Palestinians, obviously, don't like the way Israel is set up. There are a number of options for Israel and Palestine to end the conflict with less bloodshed than otherwise would happen: 1. Israel gives back the land in a peace proposal that *THEY (Israel) AGREED WITH*. The Palestinians liking the idea or not is irrelevent. People are dying, and they should understand that they aren't going to get anything if they don't compromise with Israel, since Israel IS THE POWER. This would work because then the Palestinians would be somewhat happy and condemn the terrorism. 2. The palestinians learn that "National boundaries" don't really matter if they are treated fairly. The Palestinians learn to change whatever they don't like about the Israeli government through peaceful protests, much like the civil rights movement. They learn that if Israel is under attack, they aren't going to be nice about anything. It'd work because with all the media attention on Israel, any sort of "lets all sit down and wave signs and lay down our arms" movement would cause there to be such international pressure on Israel that they can't wipe out the protestors, and would be seriously pressure to change. 3. The Israelis deport or kill every Palestinian that is probably a militant terrorist. Hell, if I was an Israeli, I would just want the Palestinians GONE. They keep me living in fear for my life, they are killing INNOCENT people, and they should learn to LIVE IN THE COUNTRY THEY ARE IN PEACEFULLY. If the only way to save lives is to kill em, so be it. The Palestinians aren't compromising, so I can understand Israel getting fed up. I honestly don't even care if it's the Israelis that aren't compromising as much (I know they are offering SOMETHING). The Israelis are the ones with the power, and if the Palestinians don't learn to live with it, they deserve to get killed for being stupid. This would work because with terrorists dead, there is less terrorism. Now, I know there is going to be some argument from someone with my definitions of terrorism and ideas on the statist system. First, terrorism: Terrorism is actions by non-state actors against civilian populations of a state in order to damage or destroy the state, pressure the state into undertaking some sort of action, or to send some sort of message. Terrorism is simply wrong. I don't care what terrorist actions the United States actions have taken in the past, it doesn't mean they are not terrorist actions, and it doesn't mean they are right, so I don't support those actions, yet I still support the United States. Although some may say "terrorism is because a group has no other means" or that the "terrorists message is right" the message is **ALWAYS** WRONG. Since terrorism causes the people of the targetted state to fear for their lives and causes the government to feel threatened, the government must respond with force. "Dipolmatic action" does not remove fear. Fear is not gone until the person or group that instills that fear is subdued, and the only way to guarntee that is by military action/killing them or their capabilities. Thus, whenever a group undertakes a terrorist act, they are provoking a response. No population will support "being nice" when their lives are at stake. It's like me trying to talk someone out of killing me for days while they are attacking me with a knife and I have the ability to shoot the attacker dead. It's just a stupid move, and when an entire population feels that way, they have to act with force. The Israelis are right in whatever they do (as long as they dont *intentionally* *intend* to kill tons of *civilians*) since they have the moral and military high ground. On states and imperialism. People in general don't give up power since it makes their lives easier and leads to more power. Knowledge is power. Money is power. Military is power. The death of imperialism is never going to happen since the majority of a population is never going to become utopian and support their government losing most power over other nations in any way, and if they did, they would wait for the first opportunity to gain the power. Look at Russia, China, and Cuba. They were supposed to make life utopian for everyone, but ended up with no freedom or no power or both (Cuba=dictatorship with no freedom) (Russia=eventually turned democracy, was mostly dictator and no freedom) (China=no freedom, became capitalist). Then, to the typical response that "it'd be a good idea that we should pursue", why should we pursue it? To say that people should have no personal ambition or desire for any sort of power is to say that people should not be human. It's against human nature and oppressive to individual freedom. I'm sorry, but states are good, power to powerful states is good, and if a powerful state wants to maintain it's power, they are right in doing so. Israel stopping the suicide attacks by force is a legitimate and correct course of action.

Flaming swords and big fights. It's great.

Not rubbish. It had a deeper, though pessimistic, theme of moral relativity, and seemed drawn out at times, but I thought it was a good movie. See it if you want a more serious and unhappy type of movie.

Ok. best games of all time in order of most to least(ones I still play or would play) BCM (of course) Starcraft Deus Ex Rogue Spear Baldurs Gate II and Expansion Jedi Knight Series Civilization 3 Wing Commander 3+4+Prophecy (would say 2, but the graphics suck. I like FMV, don't know why developers like CGI so much) Diablo Series

What kind of stuff does it have in it and ask you about?

***DON'T READ IF HAVENT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!!*** Yeah, you never would have thought that that all those people would have died at once(people who have seen the movie can probably guess which part i'm talking about).

Saw Showtime too. I loved that movie. Talk about FUNNY.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Looks like they both took the lead. Dunno why anyone would even like the Megaron; but then again.Hey SC, what are your favorites?

All trials where the death penalty is given should meet the follow criteria: A. Crime is Murder B. The following provided: a) Conclusive DNA evidence+witness or Videotape of crime or c) It was IMPOSSIBLE for anyone else to have done it through the evidence presented. (not some reasonable doubt BS, if your killing someone, NO DOUBT)

I haven't read all of the posts, so i'm probably not going to respond accurately, but all this talk about World Government...you guys play Deus Ex too much. If you ever go get a tour of the UN, the tour guides even TELL you they have no power. No need to worry about a World Government yet, at best, the US is going to use it's power to effectively control the world. At worst we're all going to nuke each other because of it.

Saw it today. Cool. I jumped a few times toward the beginning.

Well someone screwed with Chris Robert's storyline or funding or something in that movie. It wasnt even CONSISTENT WITH THE GAMES. The pilgrims? *WHAT PILGRIMS*? Hopefully Roberts will have more autonomy on the next movie. Wing Commander 3 rocked. First game with video cutscenes I ever played and I still enjoy it.

quote:Originally posted by Tac: A Tv documentary a few years ago about a teenage girl that was sexually exploited by a drug dealer/pimp.. and in one night when the girl had been drugged up, she killed the guy she had been trying for so long to get away from. She was sentenced to death row, and if memory serves me right, was executed while still a teenager. The question is, anyone remember what her name was? What state? Did it happen?Ok, she was sentenced to death by a jury of adults. Now, while it is possible that the jury was made up of morons, and any sort of appeals were rejected by heartless bastards, it's probably not the case. The evidence presented in the trial probably showed that she was a cold-blooded killer. The death penalty, while it may be considered fundamentally "bad" by some, is a good idea. Spending the rest of your life in prison is effectively being dead in relation to the rest of society. The deterrant value of it makes up for any bad points. Some people have nothing to lose (no family, friends, etc), except their lives. They realize that if they get a gun, they can go out and kill however many people they want, including law enforcement, then surrender and be guarnteed a simple life sentence. I don't care about what liberal studies have been done saying "the death penalty doesn't help". I know it helps, because if I think about being in the situation of not having ANYTHING, no family, friends, money, happiness, morality, etc, and I wanted to take out my pain on the world, the only thing that would deter me is the death penalty, since all I have is my life. If you only spend life in prison, you get to revel in the fact you brought pain to society.

quote:Originally posted by LordDavid: Waiting for Jedi Knight 2 Ditto. I already pre-ordered it. That game will rock.