3434 Global warming vs. climate change
One is a political, social and economic juggernaut designed to bring down global investments, high employment and capitalism, requiring hysteria and lemming like behavior; the other is a scientific, measurable fact, something that has been going on since Ohio was covered with glaciers, Lake Erie was flooding Cleveland, and Greenland was green, requiring some humility, hard science and common sense.Animal rights vs. animal welfare
One is a political movement designed to bring down or stop medical research and pharmaceutical companies, various industries and capitalism in general; the other is a compassionate, moral and scientifically sound way to treat animals for the best interests of people.
Feminism vs. women's rights
One is a far reaching political movement designed to stomp out certain patriarchal cultures and behaviors by replacing them with matriarchal forms just as repressive and capitalism in general; the other suggests that although not a better or more moral species, women have a lot to offer society especially in government and business.
Pro-choice vs. pro-life
One is a political movement in which struggling people fearing loss of convenience and power, destroy the weakest and most frail, often with cruel and painful methods, choosing death today; the other is a spiritual movement in which struggling people decide to do what is difficult today, believing that life is sacred, choosing death 90 years from now.
Undocumented workers vs. illegal aliens
One is a political and social term used by most politicians, business CEOs and union officials, all looking for more votes, higher profits, or more members; the other is the term the rest of us use for the people flooding across our borders, swamping our social services, taking our jobs and sending money back to their villages to prop up a corrupt and failing government, primarily run by people of Spanish European ancestry whose ancestors used to control most of North and South America and now want it back.
Technorati: climate change, global warming, animal rights, abortion change, illegal aliens
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8 comments:
I agree with your first 3 points but have problems with (1) Pro choice vs pro life - not everyone has the desire or inclination to bring up a child. This is not a whim, this is something a person knows deep within herself. Some might offer a child a life of poverty, abuse or neglect (arguably a kind of 'living death'). Why bring children into the world in cases where they are not wanted? What kind of 'choice' is that? Why should a mistake (contraceptive, that is) have such grave consequences? This is not the Middle Ages. An unwanted child is a burden, NOT a choice. People should be able to make a choice - in fact they HAVE been making that particular choice since even BEFORE Ohio was covered with glaciers. (Often at the cost of the life of the woman trying to expunge an unwanted fetus) That cannot be stopped or prevented either by politics or by any other means. Where the reform is needed is society's handling of the situation - it should never come down to slow painful deaths for 2nd trimester fetuses.
My second objection is to 'Undocumented workers vs. illegal aliens' - America could do with taking some lessons from the growing European Union. US borders are arbitrary. Early foreigners 'discovered' America and 'won' it from an indigenous population. Might is NOT right - and now America is unwilling to share its bounty. And these 'alien' governments are corrupt and failing - by whose standards? Most places are failing by American standards. And where does one get the idea that Spanish anscestors want North and South America back? I've been living (I am an African American) in Europe for a decade now - there be no 'dragons' here. The world is vast and it does not revolve around the United States. In fact, the US is so very often looked down upon for its isolationist, paranoid, paternalistic and patronising policies that I am, at times, ashamed to be American.
Some more to think about, maybe.
Cheers,
An American Citizen of the World
As I said in the abortion sound bite, pro-choice is about convenience for the pre-parents and death now. Nothing you've written here changes that--it just confirms it. We've legally aborted probably over 30 million in the last 30 years at least. They wouldn't have all been abused, starved or a burden to society. Maybe 1/3 would have died in utero from causes incompatible with life, reducing that number to the size of several major cities full of workers, tax payers, artists, musicians and plumbers. That babies were being aborted before it was legal has nothing to do with my points and weakens yours.
You could read a little more deeply in the La Raza literature. There are many in the "no borders" movement who believe all the southern U.S. belongs to Mexico anyway, so why shouldn't Mexico, a country very rich in natural resources, send its poor, brown and indigenous people to take it back for the Euro-Mexican leaders?
Europe is having many of the same problems with its immigrants of "undocumented origin" maybe 45% of their immigrant work force. And Europe is doing a worse job of assimilation, and often not offering citizenship. Go on the internet and take a look at some of their discussion boards. TB, resistant to drugs, HIV and a variety of infectious diseases not usually seen in Europe are making huge inroads and overwhelming health systems.
If you live there, good luck. And since you don't live here, do you suppose you're a bit out of touch?
I was in college in the early 1960s--45 years ago--and we had many hundreds of foreign students on campus (U. of I.) as well as DPs from eastern Europe. Many thought Americans were "isolationist, paranoid, paternalistic and patronising." It doesn't tie my shorts in a knot or make me embarrassed for anyone but them. So don't fall for it--pretty old stuff.
This is an absolutely outstanding post.
"Maybe 1/3 would have died in utero from causes incompatible with life, reducing that number to the size of several major cities full of workers, tax payers, artists, musicians and plumbers." That's a bit optimistic, don't you think? Be fair - it would be several major cities (I guess by Iowa standards that would be pop. > 2.5 M people?) workers AND un-employed people; tax payers AND people on welfare (spending taxes!); Artists and criminals; musicians AND the poor; plumbers AND homeless people, alcoholics and junkies. There would be more poor people, more disease, more HIV positive people (Americans take drugs too and have un-protected sex....) more of a burden on the health system (which is a joke in the US, really.... And, chances are, all those millions of people wouldn't live in a quaint little town in Iowa, gainfully employed and raising the requisite 2.5 children - they'd live in ghettos in NY and LA, and in so-called 'inner' cities. Look at China - after the population exploded they had to legislate 1 child per family. Would that be our future - expanding and expanding until our resources couldn't sustain us? Would we reach that point? How long would it take? Tell you what - what if those 20 million lived in Iowa and not i 'nvisible' in some far away city like NY, Chicago, LA or any of a dozen other overcrowded US cities (after all, that's where most of these babies would be born...). What then?
You talk about indigenous people and 'their Euro Mexican leaders' - what are you talking about? Where, except in your mind, do these people exist?
You say, "If you live there, good luck. And since you don't live here, do you suppose you're a bit out of touch?" - a bit rich, I think, coming from a person who lives in Iowa! :)
You should be a bit more selective when it comes to what you read on the net - the formation of the European Union is not without its faults but then neither was the 'birth' of our nation, the United States. Civil wars, slavery, apartheid (oh, I'm sorry - segregation...), riots. The US is one of the last bastions for that ancient form of punishment called the 'death penalty'. And weren't we all just tripping over each other distancing ourselves from the hangings of Sadaam Hussien and company? The death penalty is our dirty little secret. When we see it carried out on the world stage we are horrified. At least we pretend to be. Try reading the Economist, The Nation or The New Yorker. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet - it is unmoderated and therefore you are left to separate the gems from the chaff. The internet, while supplying access to 'everyman' or the common person to the world at large doesn't discriminate between fact and fiction. We are raised to believe what we read in black and white. In the case of the internet, this is not wise. Choose carefully what you read. Be opinionated but realise that there are other points of view and other opinions - perhaps as valid as yours. The world is vast. Vast.
Try leaving Iowa and seeing how the other half lives. You are the one who needs the 'good luck', not me.
The above was posted by 'An American' who also wanted to add that this is a fascinating discussion...
I don't live in Iowa--it's Ohio, and like everything else you posted, you're wrong. You might want to get your own blog if you post such long comments rather than insightful, reflective thoughts.
I'm amazed that people think all these pretty pregnant college coeds and middle class mid-range executive women climbing their career ladder are going to give birth to a hoard of deformed, low intelligence, criminal class babies. Sometimes liberals can be so inconsistent!
Who's talking about 18th century U.S. (except the part that La Raza wants to take back the s.w. US)? I am referring to 21st c. Europe, which is being flooded with illegals, and 21st c. U.S. also being flooded with illegals. Most EU countries allow guest workers, although some are very restrictive and stingy about citizenship. Finland has taken in Vietnamese, Somalis and various S.A. refugees, where they are then required to learn not only Finnish, but Swedish. But not too many people can sneak into Finland. And they'd like to send some of the Russians back. The U.S. has a very high quota for legal immigration, and we need them to replace all those criminal, stupid fetuses you mentioned who would drain our resources taking care of them. The guy who invented Google and made many people millionaires and whose service I use every day is a Russian immigrant. I love immigrants. We need them and their strong work ethic. I don't like it when they come here illegally, are abused by American employers, and take Americans' jobs and collect social security, which I'm not even eligible for.
Go throw stones somewhere else, after you check your facts.
Hi again, Norma
"I don't live in Iowa--it's Ohio, and like everything else you posted, you're wrong." I see. Ohio... Okay, sorry. 'Somewhere in the Midwest' is what I really meant... Wrong? Or different from your opinion? I guess they are one and the same to you.
"You might want to get your own blog if you post such long comments rather than insightful, reflective thoughts."
Woman - whatever made you think that I don't have my own blog(s)?? I just choose not to spout opinionated drivel on mine. But you are entitled to do as you choose on yours AND, since you say in your subtitle that yours is an 'Opinionated, strict, safe for children, honest and well researched blog with some slang, statistics and humor for pacing, and occasional prejudices and snipes tossed in for balance...' , I really would like to see some of that 'balance'; a little humility and a touch of humour on your part.
You say, 'I'm amazed that people think all these pretty pregnant college coeds and middle class mid-range executive women climbing their career ladder are going to give birth to a hoard of deformed, low intelligence, criminal class babies. Sometimes liberals can be so inconsistent!' I guess your statistics allow for increasing positive things while keeping negative things (reality?) to a minimum. Who was talking about 'pretty (blond???) coeds, anyway? Laws affect the whole population so while your pretty coeds are breeding doctors and engineers, 'others' are having junkies, alcoholics and AIDS babies.
"Liberals" - is that supposed to be an insult? Liberals don't have a shared, hard-line, dogmatic opinion. Inconsistent, maybe, but , hey, what's wrong with inconsistency? We are human and therefore, imperfect. We accept that. I accept that. I have a PhD in neurobiology (1990) and I confess that the more I learned in graduate school, the more I realised I didn't know. The world is vast. You can never know everything. Or even 'enough'. So don't even try. Keep an open mind. And, yes, in your own words, check your facts. Or, even better, get MORE facts; conflicting facts that don't fit your model.
Don't overlook the fact that, with the exception of the "Native Americans", America is a nation of immigrants. Who are you to say who is 'alien' or 'illegal'? What's your background? Your people were, ultimately, immigrants once too. I can tell this even from your photoshop-altered portrait. Irish? Scottish? Anyway, as I have Native American blood in me (1/8th, actually) I feel that you are the illegal immigrant - except my ancestors hadn't the foresight to make anti-immigration laws. (That's supposed to be a joke...)
Anyway, I'm glad I stumbled upon your blog. I have a blog on Blogger too and I just switched to the new version. Experiencing problems too. Blogger is, by far, the best blogging software I've encountered - and I've been on the net since the early 90's - back when you did have to be a 'rocket scientist' to do this sort of thing.
I hope I haven't offended you. I didn't intend to. I am having a debate. Not with you personally and, I suspect, you are having a similar debate, also not with me personally. I think we might have both gotten a bit 'hot under the collar' but I hope that you don't (as I don't) take it seriously. Damn fine debate it has been too and, if I may, I'd suggest that we continue it - with the understanding that we are debating 'ideas' and not flaming each other personally. Anyway, if you choose to retaliate and don't wish to engage me in debate any further, I accept. I'll trouble you no more.
Nice blog. Very powerful, intelligent and thought-provoking. But the ideology is not mine. But I respect you very much, just the same.
Lisa
Lisa living in Europe, I repeat:
"I love immigrants. We need them and their strong work ethic. I don't like it when they come here illegally, are abused by American employers, and take Americans' jobs and collect social security."
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