" yup, public schools should go. the reason is that the government has a vested interest in teaching its citizens what it wants them to hear . . . also because the government should not be in the business of supporting ideas."

we wouldn't agree on much, q. haha. but we're civil and nice here. i like that. it sounds like partisan crap tho, to be honest. there r facts and a history of facts, and why it is assumed they r only in the business of supporting ideas is kinda weird and scary.

I hate wal-mart because there is one near my house, another one five minutes away from my house and another one ten minutes away from my house. Is there realy a need for all those walmarts so close to my house? I mean shit! there is like two walmarts every five miles!

I hate Wal Mart because I can't stand being around poor people.
Seriously, a poor person whistled at me ouside a Wal Mart the other day and I threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I'm poor.............................................. .............................................

Then you deserve to be so.
And you are disgusting to me.


I am poor too, but I loathe myself so it's OK.

ah, but you err. the people have no right to choose a government that tramples on the rights of others. you can't "choose" a theocracy, socialist dictatorship, etc. because to do so would imply that ANYONE can do ANYTHING as long as the majority approves of it. of course, for a majority to establish a theocracy would violate the minority's right not to practice religion, and for the majority to establish socialism would violate EVERYONE's right to the product of his labor. look at that doctrine on the individual level: if the majority approved of raping the pygmie women, would that negate the right of the pygmie women not to be raped?

and the problem is not with ayn rand but with those among her admirers who hold her tenets as half-digested absolutes and won't even LISTEN to the other person's arguments, think about them, and respond, but instead automatically get pissed off whenever someone voices an opinion even remotely different from her own. obviously the kind of absolutism she advocates is sort of conducive to being misconstrued by some, but to those who can handle it absolutism isn't such a bad thing.

Absolutes are great until you run into a situation requiring an exception.

yeah, I know what you mean I am half white, and I loathe white people.

yeah, i don't care WHAT ideas they are . . . just the fact that they are ideas and opinions held only by some is sufficient. that's why we have the establishment clause -- to make sure the government doesn't set up, implicitly or explicitly, an official doctrine on anything (in this case, religion). there's no inherent problem with the government propagating facts, so long as they are facts and not opinions. (i wasn't saying that the government is ONLY in the business of supporting ideas; it is, however, an inevitable by-product of public support for education.)


soooo . . . can you tell i'm a philosophy major yet?

Actually, I carry no white guilt and I carry no male guilt.
I had nothing to do with being born as I am. Plus I was being super sarcastic before.

hah! hm... i think savage clone was joking....

yeah I got that you were mocking Laila with the whistling thing, so I was just playing around with you.

true, but then they're not absolutes. absolutes are universally valid, e.g., "nothing can both exhibit a property and not exhibit that property in the same respect at the same time."

Well, good luck in the world of capitalism with THAT degree, heh!
Or do you plan to stay safe in the self-congratulatory vacuum of Academia?

Wal-Mart is the best-run bad business I've seen. They're the biggest bad apple out of the corporate bunch. Their blatant disregard for the hazards their stores pose to the environment is downright sinister. Their factories overseas take utmost advantage of unenforced labour standards. They even systematically ignore their own company policies when following them would result in lost profits. I don't hate Wal-Mart. I hate the people who run Wal-Mart. And I, therefore refuse to buy anything from them.

damn, this thread gets better by the minute

btw-- he could go to law school. but nice quip! :D

yeah, savage clone is a little fiesty today!

ha! one-liners. christ.

yeah, i'm going to law school (hopefully), so in a decade or so i should be able to buy and sell the lot of you.

ps -- i'm actually getting my degree in math . . . philosophy is a secondary major.

Maybe you will be able to buy Wal-Mart?

you can tell qprogeny79 is philospher by his Aristotle quote.........

wal-mart shall eat from the palm of my hand.