FASCISM?!?!?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!?!?
Okay! I am not a fascist, and that is a completely unrelated accusation that is both logical fallacy and related to an Emerson text in paragraph 28: "If a man rejects one standard set by society, society rejects him as though he had rejected all standards". Well, I'm a little too lazy to find the direct quote and / or the real paragraph number, but Emerson still said that and it still holds.
IF YOU THINK THAT EDUCATED POLITICAL DEBATE IS NERDY, THEN A SERIOUS NERD ALERT HOLDS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
For all of you in the dark:
The Patriot Act gives the government almost unlimited power to violate someone's rights. They can hold them indefinitely without telling anyone where they are being held or what they are doing or for how long they are being held, they can interrogate, torture, and even subject them to 10 Question Quizzes legally (OH! THE HORROR), and search any personal information that is recorded on any person without cause. This includes library records and organizations that they may attend or lead. They can also tap your phone and track your emails without notification. I think I got the basic gist of it here, comment if I got a major point wrong or something, but minor details really don't matter because the basic idea has been conveyed.
I made a statement. I still stand by it. Everyone around me shouted and told me I was wrong and tried AS HARD AS THEY COULD to make me vanish into thin air and / or develop an inferiority complex and / or make me spontaneously combust. The statement: "None of us need to worry about the Patriot Act affecting us in any way."
Now, people exploded with silly comments like "WOW YOU'RE DEFENDING THE PATRIOT ACT YOU BUSH-LOVING FASCIST" and "WHY DO YOU LIKE THE PATRIOT ACT" and "FASCIST" and "ITS LIKE LIVING 4 BLOCKS DOWN FROM HITLER" (which is pretty funny, actually. Kudos to Brian for being stupid in a witty way). Where the hell did these come from??? I am not a fascist. I do not support the Patriot Act. The government undid everything America stands for, everything that sets America apart from the rest of the world by passing this act. It violates innumerablea rights implied and directly given to the people by the U.S. Constitution and related documents.
I did not say or imply any of those things anywhere in that statement. The reason you guys crushed me so bad in all of the arguments was simply because I was outnumbered. It is a lot harder for 1 person to think on their feet with witty and logical responses that 5 or 6 people throw at you. Each of the people in the mob do not need to think of responses to everything the loner says. They can each handle one or two points after they have had a couple minutes to think them through while others argue their thought-through points. On the other hand, the 1 person (me) has no time to think his points through and needs to respond quickly to complicated, though-provoking points on the fly. My point is no less valid and should not be dimished by my seemingly flawed arguments. However, LJ provides me an oppurtunity to think through what I meant and how others responded and create an eloquent, logical argument. So STFU already.
I am saying that it is a great probability that none of us (middle class, intelligent, sheltered whites with promising futures) are in virtually no danger of being targeted by the Patriot Act. Even though the government does not technically NEED a cause, they won't attack a random person for no reason!! They are going to have a motive for every single person they target. It may be something weak, such as "a Muslim that has recently immigrated to the United States", or something more convincing, such as "a man with a history of airplane safety violations and numerous trips to and from volatile parts of the Middle East", but in any case, the government will use the Patriot Act to strike, but ONLY FOR A REASON. They may be stupid, but not stupid enough to resort to complete, random terror through illegal legislation.
For all of you non-understanding people out there, let me reiterate and state what I implied: "The government will most likely never use the Patriot Act against any of us to the extent of causing us physical stress or trauma, nor will they monitor any of our personal records". Do you know why? Because even though they CAN monitor all of our crap, they don't have the sheer manpower to do it. To monitor every telephone call, email, book and internet site that Americans interact with would require more manpower than the U.S. government could ever hope to have. Not just that, but they couldn't even do it for every middle class, intelligent, sheltered white male with promising futures between the ages of 15 and 18. None of you have any reason to worry for your own personal harm.
Damn, this is getting long, but I have one more topic to cover: my definition of personal worry or harm. I acknowledge the fact that being concerned about the individuals that may or may not be being held is a PERSONAL CONCERN, but not in a personal, bodily sense, nitwit. When I said "us" and implied intelligent, sheltered whites, I was not referring to the potential terrorist being held in Alaska. Geez. Of course, personal has many defintions, but the one I implied I was using (and the only one that fit the context) is NOT the abstract personal in which you feel concerned for the potentially innocent people being indefinitely held.
OK, I think I covered everything. You can be paranoid and disagree with me if you want, implying that you think the government will torture you for no reason, but I stand by what I said. Please, post further arguments here, because arguing on LJ is a lot better for me because it is ONLY the logic and the argument, and none of the name-calling, mob-rule BS that I had to sit through.
And for future reference, my acceptance of being a Fascist in English class was in a joking way. I am not a Fascist. I was simply demonstrating that although I may be slightly frustrated at my inability to argue my point fluently, I was still in good humor about the argument.
Brian, please don't post any stupid, childish comment like "Well, you're still a FASCIST and STUPID, huh huh huh". That goes for you too, Graham. And Kim, you'll probably just write that exact phrase to spite me.
Well, I have just wasted 45 minutes of my life debating a silly point that you guys got nitpicky about. Bah humbug.
Jason
IF YOU THINK THAT EDUCATED POLITICAL DEBATE IS NERDY, THEN A SERIOUS NERD ALERT HOLDS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
For all of you in the dark:
The Patriot Act gives the government almost unlimited power to violate someone's rights. They can hold them indefinitely without telling anyone where they are being held or what they are doing or for how long they are being held, they can interrogate, torture, and even subject them to 10 Question Quizzes legally (OH! THE HORROR), and search any personal information that is recorded on any person without cause. This includes library records and organizations that they may attend or lead. They can also tap your phone and track your emails without notification. I think I got the basic gist of it here, comment if I got a major point wrong or something, but minor details really don't matter because the basic idea has been conveyed.
I made a statement. I still stand by it. Everyone around me shouted and told me I was wrong and tried AS HARD AS THEY COULD to make me vanish into thin air and / or develop an inferiority complex and / or make me spontaneously combust. The statement: "None of us need to worry about the Patriot Act affecting us in any way."
Now, people exploded with silly comments like "WOW YOU'RE DEFENDING THE PATRIOT ACT YOU BUSH-LOVING FASCIST" and "WHY DO YOU LIKE THE PATRIOT ACT" and "FASCIST" and "ITS LIKE LIVING 4 BLOCKS DOWN FROM HITLER" (which is pretty funny, actually. Kudos to Brian for being stupid in a witty way). Where the hell did these come from??? I am not a fascist. I do not support the Patriot Act. The government undid everything America stands for, everything that sets America apart from the rest of the world by passing this act. It violates innumerablea rights implied and directly given to the people by the U.S. Constitution and related documents.
I did not say or imply any of those things anywhere in that statement. The reason you guys crushed me so bad in all of the arguments was simply because I was outnumbered. It is a lot harder for 1 person to think on their feet with witty and logical responses that 5 or 6 people throw at you. Each of the people in the mob do not need to think of responses to everything the loner says. They can each handle one or two points after they have had a couple minutes to think them through while others argue their thought-through points. On the other hand, the 1 person (me) has no time to think his points through and needs to respond quickly to complicated, though-provoking points on the fly. My point is no less valid and should not be dimished by my seemingly flawed arguments. However, LJ provides me an oppurtunity to think through what I meant and how others responded and create an eloquent, logical argument. So STFU already.
I am saying that it is a great probability that none of us (middle class, intelligent, sheltered whites with promising futures) are in virtually no danger of being targeted by the Patriot Act. Even though the government does not technically NEED a cause, they won't attack a random person for no reason!! They are going to have a motive for every single person they target. It may be something weak, such as "a Muslim that has recently immigrated to the United States", or something more convincing, such as "a man with a history of airplane safety violations and numerous trips to and from volatile parts of the Middle East", but in any case, the government will use the Patriot Act to strike, but ONLY FOR A REASON. They may be stupid, but not stupid enough to resort to complete, random terror through illegal legislation.
For all of you non-understanding people out there, let me reiterate and state what I implied: "The government will most likely never use the Patriot Act against any of us to the extent of causing us physical stress or trauma, nor will they monitor any of our personal records". Do you know why? Because even though they CAN monitor all of our crap, they don't have the sheer manpower to do it. To monitor every telephone call, email, book and internet site that Americans interact with would require more manpower than the U.S. government could ever hope to have. Not just that, but they couldn't even do it for every middle class, intelligent, sheltered white male with promising futures between the ages of 15 and 18. None of you have any reason to worry for your own personal harm.
Damn, this is getting long, but I have one more topic to cover: my definition of personal worry or harm. I acknowledge the fact that being concerned about the individuals that may or may not be being held is a PERSONAL CONCERN, but not in a personal, bodily sense, nitwit. When I said "us" and implied intelligent, sheltered whites, I was not referring to the potential terrorist being held in Alaska. Geez. Of course, personal has many defintions, but the one I implied I was using (and the only one that fit the context) is NOT the abstract personal in which you feel concerned for the potentially innocent people being indefinitely held.
OK, I think I covered everything. You can be paranoid and disagree with me if you want, implying that you think the government will torture you for no reason, but I stand by what I said. Please, post further arguments here, because arguing on LJ is a lot better for me because it is ONLY the logic and the argument, and none of the name-calling, mob-rule BS that I had to sit through.
And for future reference, my acceptance of being a Fascist in English class was in a joking way. I am not a Fascist. I was simply demonstrating that although I may be slightly frustrated at my inability to argue my point fluently, I was still in good humor about the argument.
Brian, please don't post any stupid, childish comment like "Well, you're still a FASCIST and STUPID, huh huh huh". That goes for you too, Graham. And Kim, you'll probably just write that exact phrase to spite me.
Well, I have just wasted 45 minutes of my life debating a silly point that you guys got nitpicky about. Bah humbug.
Jason