[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
This thought has never really entered my mind either to be honest.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Thankfully, in America, we can’t vote away rights. [/quote]
True. When our rights are taken away, we generally don’t have the opportunity to vote on it. I was never asked to vote on the U.S. Patriot Act, were you?
I don’t, actually.[/quote]
What (natural) rights do you enjoy in Japan?[/quote]
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fine Asian women.
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
Nor do you ever have to think about the possibility of shooting a tyrant?
[/quote]
Hmmm. Good question.
I think the last tyrant this country had was hanged by Douglas MacArthur.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fine Asian women.
[/quote]
You sure about that second one?
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
Then again, if you happen to owe the Yakuza who is chasing you money, and you run into your local koban for help, you can’t really be sure that you’ll receive much assistance…
[/quote]
As Sensei is fond of saying, it is far easier in this country to ask forgiveness than permission.
Step A: do what the fuck you want.
Step B (If you are in any way hindered from performing step A): “Moushiwake gozaimasen! Sore ga kinjirareteru to ha shirimasen deshita!”
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]Musashi92 wrote:
- No Europe does not have higher violent crime, this is laughable.[/quote]
I only skimmed through a bunch of pages… I don’t see a single chart without one or multiple European nations finishing with worse rates than the US. I did find the chart on page 129 quite amusing though.
and this from page 158:
The results of the ICVS 2005 show that on average 15.7% of citizens
suffered at least one form of victimisation in the year preceding the
interview. Of people who lived in main cities 21.7% was victimised. The
countries with the highest prevalence rates for conventional crime are
Ireland, England & Wales, New Zealand and Iceland. Contrary to common
perception, overall rates of volume crime â?? such as burglary, robbery
and assault & threats â?? are not higher in the USA than in most parts of
Western Europe. In fact USA rates are significantly lower than those of,
for example, Ireland and England & Wales.
The country who’s citizens refuse to be disarmed. Again, that pesky history thing just comes back to bite Europe in the ass.
Government has killed more people than any plague, any war or any other man made institution in man’s history. SO therefore any nation who’s citizens willfully allow themselves to be disarmed while their government is armed certainly isn’t preserving life in any stretch of the imagination.
But that would never happen to you right? I bet the jews in Europe circa 1910 said the same things.
Utter bullshit. Why this fails is because I never said America was perfect. I said we don’t give two fucks about Europe’s opinion of us. I and say that because, you don’t live here, and have plenty skeleton’s in your closet too.
You pointing out the “genocide” and slavery is fallacious and irrelevant to anything I’ve said. You’re grasping at (short) straws here.
Again, you are committing a logical fallacy of commenting on the person saying things, and not what that person is saying.
[quote]4. Yes most European people supported gun control, just look at polls and see what the French or Welsh or Belgians think about guns. Their governments did not force unwanted bans, the population as a whole overwhelmingly demanded something be done. This resulted in staggering drops in gun crime. Not everything is a conspiracy.
[/quote]
Thankfully, in America, we can’t vote away rights. Enjoy that tyranny.
It’s hilarious you dodge the entire part about how you aren’t actually banning guns. Just taking them away from citizens… Telling.
bahhhhh
[/quote]
That claim is stupid, in Europe violent crime is used to cover many, many, many crimes, in the U.S that only statistically applies to murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
This is why looking for articles or just googling Europe higher violent crime rate is so useless and leads to the parroting of ridiculous facts by some American conservatives. Europe is far far safer than the U.S.
You really should just admit that the U.S is far more dangerous and has far more violence than Europe, the argument is absurd and those claiming it all have one agenda, guns. America has an overall homicide rate of 4.7 - 5 per 100,000 or higher most years, most European nations have 0.2 - 1.
[quote]Gkhan wrote:
[quote]Musashi92 wrote:
You claimed ISIS affiliated jihadists were worse especially for the recent christians beheaded. I merely employed your logic and stated that Gadaffi was worse for the thousands of tortured, disappeared and executed by his regime.
[/quote]
Gadaffi was in power for 42 years. You mean to tell me that if ISIS happens to be in power for 42 years they won’t tally up an equally high death toll?[/quote]
Of course they would, which is why both are horrible and we shouldn’t support either as they have the same horrors in store for those forced to live under their rule.
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
But you can go on with your I-watched-Hannity-once, know-nothing, literally evidence-free argument by asking some or another rhetorical question, or linking to an article you found on Google and half-read.[/quote]
SMH - post a link where Hannity supports my position on Libya. I want to know what he said. What his words were.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Thankfully, in America, we can’t vote away rights. [/quote]
True. When our rights are taken away, we generally don’t have the opportunity to vote on it. I was never asked to vote on the U.S. Patriot Act, were you?
I don’t, actually.[/quote]
What (natural) rights do you enjoy in Japan?[/quote]
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fine Asian women.
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
Nor do you ever have to think about the possibility of shooting a tyrant?
[/quote]
Hmmm. Good question.
I think the last tyrant this country had was hanged by Douglas MacArthur.[/quote]
And so your premise must be that tyranny has forever been vanquished under the rising sun?
Could the tree of liberty in Japan “possibly” be refreshed by the blood of patriots and tyrants in the future? Or is that unthinkable?[/quote]
Possibly.
But patriots and tyrants both are pretty thin on the ground here. People generally do what they’re expected to do, so they’re pretty easy to govern. Ergo little need for a repressive government.
Plus the memory of what happened last time a tyrannical government took control of the wheel is etched pretty deeply in the national psyche, and people are very leery of giving the “right wing” (uyoku) too much power.
Let’s put it this way: America will probably become communist before Japan becomes fascist again, and in any event, were an authoritarian nationalist government to come to power, it would likely be rather unfriendly to foreigners, in which case I’d just leave.
Problem solved, and far less messy than political assassination.
And if I did have to shoot my way out, well, I’d just take a pistol off a cop.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
This thought has never really entered my mind either to be honest.
[/quote]
Are you part of an ethnic and cultural minority where you live, as I am?
Makes you think about things differently.
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
This thought has never really entered my mind either to be honest.
[/quote]
Are you part of an ethnic and cultural minority where you live, as I am?
Makes you think about things differently.[/quote]
This is spot on.
I have a couple black relatives and their view, experience and reaction to the police are worlds apart from the rest of my family. The palpable fear and tension etched onto their faces when the police drive by is something I have never seen any white person experience.
[quote]Gkhan wrote:
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
But you can go on with your I-watched-Hannity-once, know-nothing, literally evidence-free argument by asking some or another rhetorical question, or linking to an article you found on Google and half-read.[/quote]
SMH - post a link where Hannity supports my position on Libya. I want to know what he said. What his words were.[/quote]
I don’t watch Hannity because my eyes are attached to my brain. But McCain famously told him he was wrong on Libya, and we all know that McCain loves all teh bombingz, so we know what Hannity was saying. I’m sure Google would tell you.
But this is a weird quote to go back and pick out now. Isn’t it pages back? I was picking a name (and Hannity symbolizes ignorance) to make the point that you – but it isn’t just you – don’t seem to know that much about even the simple things like the timeline for the war in Libya. I was not in the U.S. for much of it so maybe I thought people would have followed it more closely than they did. But I am pretty shocked at how little working knowledge there is, even among good FP posters.
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
This thought has never really entered my mind either to be honest.
[/quote]
Are you part of an ethnic and cultural minority where you live, as I am?
Makes you think about things differently.[/quote]
Violence! Violence! Incitement! Blood on your commie paws!
[quote]smh_23 wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
This thought has never really entered my mind either to be honest.
[/quote]
Are you part of an ethnic and cultural minority where you live, as I am?
Makes you think about things differently.[/quote]
Violence! Violence! Incitement! Blood on your commie paws![/quote]
Unlike most people on this board, I have lived for most of my adult life as a somewhat distrusted ethnic minority. I have also spent a decent amount of time in Muslim majority countries, and honestly never was happier than when I was living in a country ruled by a hereditary monarch whose government had just been taken over by a military coup.
Might explain why some of my perspectives might seem a little out of alignment with those of Mister and Mizz Middle 'Murica.
[quote]Chushin wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]pushharder wrote:
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
Thankfully, in America, we can’t vote away rights. [/quote]
True. When our rights are taken away, we generally don’t have the opportunity to vote on it. I was never asked to vote on the U.S. Patriot Act, were you?
I don’t, actually.[/quote]
What (natural) rights do you enjoy in Japan?[/quote]
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of fine Asian women.
And not ever, ever, ever having to even think about the possibility of being shot by a policeman.
[/quote]
Nor do you ever have to think about the possibility of shooting a tyrant?
[/quote]
Hmmm. Good question.
I think the last tyrant this country had was hanged by Douglas MacArthur.[/quote]
And so your premise must be that tyranny has forever been vanquished under the rising sun?
Could the tree of liberty in Japan “possibly” be refreshed by the blood of patriots and tyrants in the future? Or is that unthinkable?[/quote]
Possibly.
But patriots and tyrants both are pretty thin on the ground here. People generally do what they’re expected to do, so they’re pretty easy to govern. Ergo little need for a repressive government.
Plus the memory of what happened last time a tyrannical government took control of the wheel is etched pretty deeply in the national psyche, and people are very leery of giving the “right wing” (uyoku) too much power.
Let’s put it this way: America will probably become communist before Japan becomes fascist again, and in any event, were an authoritarian nationalist government to come to power, it would likely be rather unfriendly to foreigners, in which case I’d just leave.
Problem solved, and far less messy than political assassination.
And if I did have to shoot my way out, well, I’d just take a pistol off a cop. [/quote]
Your perspective on Japanese politics is interesting in light of current political trends here.
Many would disagree with your view, I believe.[/quote]
Could be, but remember I came fresh from a place where the government rolled tanks into the streets of the capital to enforce its seizure of power from the democratically elected (but arguably corrupt) civil power, where Humvees full of soldiers rolled through the gaijin quarter of resort towns to enforce a 1:00 martial law curfew every night, where people go to jail for saying unkind things about the king or making fun of the national religion and where ethnic minorities are kept down through brute force, detention, and in some cases, rape.
What? Japan may repeal Article 9?! I just might wet my pants.
No, from where I’m sitting, Japan has a loooooong way to go before it would even register on my tyranny radar.
EDIT: Of course, the fact that I’m fervently saving my ichi-en-damas in hope of returning to the aforementioned place does indicate a certain cognitive dissonance on my part about the whole “tyranny” thing. 
If they had beautiful landscapes, outstanding food, and gorgeous, pliant young women in Hell, I suppose I might not mind going there, either.