"The Supreme Court announced Friday it will take up the case against the latest version of President Trump's travel ban, which bars entry in to the United States for residents of six majority-Muslim countries.
The court will hear arguments in April and is expected to issue a ruling by June." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/19/supreme-court-announces-it-will-rule-on-trumps-travel-ban.html
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Wednesday January 24 2018, @05:03PM (8 children)
You're assuming that most people are pragmatists. The U.S. was not really founded on pragmatism. You remember those founding principles of liberty, pursuit of happiness, democracy (republicanism)? Liberty is messy. People doing what they want without the government interfering is messy.
Japan's policies about immigration and citizenship have their own problems. Isn't Japan basically known as an incredibly racist society?* It's impossible to become a Japanese citizen unless you're already Japanese, basically. If you want to mimic that policy in the U.S....um, okay I guess, but that really throws the whole "melting pot" theory out the window. Not that I imagine you'd have a problem with that.
And then you cite China as an example, which is mostly about controlling what people do, say, and think. It sounds like you really don't buy into the principles the U.S. was founded on.
One of my rules of thumb for awhile now is that every argument can be reduced to a question of idealism vs. pragmatism. In this case, we're refactoring authoritarianism vs. personal liberty to get there. If you come down on the side of authoritarianism, maybe you should move to someplace else like China where that is in vogue.
The heck? You're saying freedom of religion is comparable to murdering people? No. You don't prosecute people for what they believe; you prosecute them for what they *do.*
Okay, this is the first thing you've said that I can actually buy into, but it sort of contradicts the rest of your post.
*This was most of the problem with them in WWII, you're probably aware. Even after the second nuke they practically had to stage a coup to surrender because of how strongly they believed they were the master race/society.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @08:05PM (4 children)
Currently, the Muslims in the USA almost never chuck LGBT off of buildings. We prohibit that behavior.
As they gain political power, the situation changes. The more liberal muslims are cowed into submission, keeping their mouths shut so that they don't get attacked. The desires of the most fanatical muslims become the law of the land.
Either we stop it ASAP, or it takes over. Most likely, we are already doomed, because we don't have the balls to fight dirty. They will genocide us, assuming we don't somehow find the will to do that first.
In some sense, freedom of religion IN THIS CASE is comparable to murdering people, because that will be the result. Allowing this freedom will, ultimately, cause lots of death. Eh, the killing isn't technically "murder" if the law is changed to allow or require it.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:15PM (3 children)
The old "in order to preserve our way of life we must give it up" argument.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:28PM (1 child)
We aren't giving up our way of life. Even if we were, that particular way of life is horrible.
Be stubbornly extremist about completely arbitrary freedom of religion, and soon enough you'll have no freedom of religion.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday January 24 2018, @10:13PM
That idea you're so casually dismissing is called Egalitarianism. You know, one of the three pillars [wikipedia.org] of the French Revolution.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday January 24 2018, @10:22PM
I gave up a beautiful life. I do miss my old life. I lived in a penthouse in New York, in Trump Tower. With FABULOUS views of Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue and nearby Central Park. Now I live in a TOTAL DUMP. I put up gold curtains, it's still a dump. I like to work, so that's not a problem, but this is actually more work. It's been very hard fr me. And the new Tax Act is going to cost me a lot, believe me. My taxes are going up TREMENDOUSLY. But I don't mind. I do it all to Make America Great Again.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:07PM (2 children)
What's wrong with that? It's their country, it's their culture, it's their people. It's their rules. Why do you assume they must accept foreigners into their society? Not doing so is a "problem"? What a curious worldview.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:13PM (1 child)
Go back and reread my post--I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. If you're a fan of "no, fuck off, you can't come live here" then they're doing everything right.
Obviously completely missed the point of my entire post. Try again.
To elaborate, one pragmatic problem with their immigration policy is that the country's population is shrinking over time because they don't let anybody new in, and the population apparently doesn't want to reproduce enough.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @09:33PM
The people who bother to reproduce will produce kids who bother to reproduce. Evolution will quickly resolve the problems of birth control and distraction.
Japan will remain Japanese. The same can not be said of Germany, France, Sweden, Britain, etc. Those cultures will be wiped from the Earth.