Billyblobber

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Posts by Billyblobber

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  38

  Why do animals suffer?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  bonnie is fourteen years old now and she's still fit and active, but she sleeps (and farts) a lot more and is definitely slowing down.. she loves us in her own dumb way and always comes to the door to greet me when i get home from work.

  she doesn't 'sin' but yeah, she'll steal biscuits and feel shame afterwards.

  she's loyal and intelligent and i dread the day when .

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  Billyblobber

  The old excuse in the publications were that animals were like robots operating only on a mystical "instinct" and only "pretended" to have emotions to "amuse us." This was combined with "the animals didn't kill each other before Adam and Eve sinned."

  Now that science has proven that lots of primates, aquatic mammals, dogs, and even animals that some people eat in the Western world, like pigs, have a full range of pain, emotion, and sentience, and that animals killed each other millions of years ago, the publications have been completely silent on the subject. Add that to the long list of "this was disproven so we'll ignore it."
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  44

  What's More Important...Taking care of immigrants or the needy in your country?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i say take care of the needy ones first like our veterans and homeless and mentally ill, and then....take care of those not from this country.

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  Billyblobber

  The U.S. spends far, far more on its military. That's the second largest expenditure of the country (1 is healthcare). Less than ONE PERCENT of the federal budget goes to foreign aid.
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  44

  What's More Important...Taking care of immigrants or the needy in your country?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i say take care of the needy ones first like our veterans and homeless and mentally ill, and then....take care of those not from this country.

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  Billyblobber

  False dichotomy. If the US, for instance, didn't spend trillions intervening in everyone else's countries and killing civilians in collateral damage, it could easily use that money to fix its own issues and help refugees.
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  18

  The Military Failure of the United States of America. Why?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the usa is undoubtedly the strongest military power in the world, and has often been willing to use that power against other nations, some historians count 187 foreign wars in 200 years, and this youtube video lists the wars the us has fought in the twentieth century, most of which, (in the earliest part of the 20th c) it can be argued, were won by the usa.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q51nfakme-g. this is not an argument about the rightness or wrongness of any war.

  the argument is why the mightiest ever military power, a political power that controls overwhelming destructive forces, a power that claims to stand on the side of its god, does not win wars?

  have you thought about this question?

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  Billyblobber

  The U.S. often wins the actual fighting skirmishes, but can't maintain control/occupy the countries it invades. The stated goals of the world never come true because interventionalism is often a lost cause.
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  34

  Do most ex JW's go politically left?

  by Lightgrowsbrighter in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've found it interesting that- imho- most of the politically vocal ex-jw's at this website seem to lean left.

  i'm personally pretty centered- right on some issues, left on others, but overall have a pretty cynical view of all political/religious leaders.

  i find it somewhat ironic that people who leave such a dogmatic group like the witnesses become so politically dogmatic.

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  Billyblobber

  The whole "left wing media" thing started way back in the Nixon era as a way to discredit all of the (true) criticism and exposing of the targets in question. It has been a go-to defense since then - it's basically an ad hominem used to get people to ignore facts.

  Once the Fairness Doctrine ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine) was abolished in Reagan's era, that led to a lot of extreme right wing news sources like Rush, and mostly right wing sources like the majority of Fox News appearing that literally consistently feed extremely slanted viewpoints (at best), misinformation, and in many instances, out and out lies to good portions of the American public. That's one reason why I often warn non Americans about news sources from here - it's bad enough that more than half of this country can't figure out what's going on while being here - listening to it filtered through already misinformed people is a nightmare.
  
  As for ex-Witnesses, I think a lot depends on why that person left in the first place. People that left through logically figuring out that things were wrong are probably going to lean with more logical viewpoints in other areas, which often leans left socially politically (as the American "left" isn't even really leftist in Canada and much of Europe and would actually be considered pretty right as is - the American right is ultra extreme right). If a person left strictly for ego or emotional issues, there's nothing saying that they can't be drawn into more thinking that resembles JW thinking in the first place, and may go the other way, at least socially. Fiscally, it can be more complicated.
  
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  34

  Hypothetical question. There is no more guns on our streets, would the crime rate go down?

  by James Mixon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it would eliminate drive by's (gangs).

  bank robbery.

  ( handing the bank teller a note, this is stick up without a gun).

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  Billyblobber

  I like how to counter the obvious logic that crime and deaths will go down, some people shift the argument dramatically from "go down" to "eliminate" to try to fight against it because they love their toys so much. I don't know if they literally only see all or nothing dichotomies like that or believe nobody notices them doing it.
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  238

  Another mass shooting, three or four hours ago.

  by James Mixon in

  1. social
  2. current

  san bernardino california.

  up to 12 people have been killed.. the center a private non-profit agency that assists people with developmental.

  disabilities.

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  Billyblobber

  All Abrahamic religions are like that. Islam just happens to be socially behind in more instances because of where many of its adherents live/are from, geo-politically. All 3 of those religions need to be done away with because they create the same problems, to varying degrees.
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  238

  Another mass shooting, three or four hours ago.

  by James Mixon in

  1. social
  2. current

  san bernardino california.

  up to 12 people have been killed.. the center a private non-profit agency that assists people with developmental.

  disabilities.

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  Billyblobber

  Islam is not a race, but the fact that there are so many people that confuse Sikh people, or any brown people as Muslim in the U.S. means that there is some crossover in a lot of people's mind between "middle easterner" and "Muslim." It's unfortunate that there are such a large number of people that hide their xenophobia behind calling out the religion - and there are a few dogwhistles that kind of point those people out, that some people may be quick to jump on.
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  238

  Another mass shooting, three or four hours ago.

  by James Mixon in

  1. social
  2. current

  san bernardino california.

  up to 12 people have been killed.. the center a private non-profit agency that assists people with developmental.

  disabilities.

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  Billyblobber

  And he brings up the NRA, which is a great point. I've rarely noticed a time when anyone on "anti-gun law" side wasn't jumping straight to the extreme and fighting a gun ban. I don't think anyone is actually advocating a complete ban on all fire arms.

  I stated this earlier in the thread, but that's just a political ploy playing on people who haven't learned to think in anything but binaries.

  They've (lobbyists + politicians) created a false dichotomy between OUR 2ND AMENDMENT GUNS and BAN GUNS, which frames anyone that says anything about any type of gun control as "ban guns." It's a nasty tactic that happens in a lot of instances in politics here that plays on average stupidity.
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  238

  Another mass shooting, three or four hours ago.

  by James Mixon in

  1. social
  2. current

  san bernardino california.

  up to 12 people have been killed.. the center a private non-profit agency that assists people with developmental.

  disabilities.

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  Billyblobber

  You bashing an entire race dude.

  
  Nope. If the subject is "what specific grop is more likely to kill me," the answer is "white Christian male."
  
  If the subject is, per capita, what group is more likely to kill me, it would be "black males 16-24." (or something close with age)

  If the subject is, who is most likely to commit an act of terrorism in the U.S., it's "white male."
  
  Those stats are correct, and not bashing anyone. Saying that highlights the over exaggerated fear that some people feel about Muslim terrorism in America in general. That's the last thing the average person needs to worry about when it comes to being harmed or killed. That's why the discussion when it comes to mass shootings focuses on curtailing gun violence in general over anything for more rational people.