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Old 21 June 2007, 02:49 AM
Pseudo_Croat Pseudo_Croat is offline
 
  
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Default Preventing terrorism?
Someone seems to have a way of preventing terrorism through some technology or another here. What do you guys think?

- Pseudo_Croat
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  #2  
Old 21 June 2007, 03:13 AM
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Silas Sparkhammer Silas Sparkhammer is offline
 
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I've attended the "physics lectures" given by these guys.

They're idiots. This is new-age flower-power. They
claim, in essence, that if you can get a million people all
to chant "Om" in unison, that mankind will miraculously
evolve to a higher level of consciousness.

These are the same guys who bounce around on their
butts and claim to levitate. (Yes, I'm serious.)

Silas
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  #3  
Old 21 June 2007, 03:15 AM
Doug4.7
 
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I have a proven way to end terrorism: give them all a decent standard of living. Then they will be as greedy and fat as we are.....

Honey, I can't blow up the infidels, I've got a mortgage payment to make....
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  #4  
Old 21 June 2007, 03:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer View Post
I've attended the "physics lectures" given by these guys.

They're idiots. This is new-age flower-power. They
claim, in essence, that if you can get a million people all
to chant "Om" in unison, that mankind will miraculously
evolve to a higher level of consciousness.

These are the same guys who bounce around on their
butts and claim to levitate. (Yes, I'm serious.)

Silas
I believe you. I remember seeing some part(l)y political broadcasts in the UK where the guys claimed that they could spirit away the national debt and transport problems by everyone acting as a Spacehopper(tm).
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  #5  
Old 21 June 2007, 12:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug4.7 View Post
I have a proven way to end terrorism: give them all a decent standard of living. Then they will be as greedy and fat as we are.....

Honey, I can't blow up the infidels, I've got a mortgage payment to make....
http://www.theonion.com/content/news..._u_s_terrorist
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  #6  
Old 21 June 2007, 03:49 PM
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Originally Posted by queen of the caramels View Post
I believe you. I remember seeing some part(l)y political broadcasts in the UK where the guys claimed that they could spirit away the national debt and transport problems by everyone acting as a Spacehopper(tm).
Here in Canada, back in the 90's we had a Magician running for Prime Minister.. his proposed solution for the deficit; he would pull money from behind the ear of every Canadian.

No Seriously.

Of course, he was part of some fringe party that no one had ever heard of right? Wrong...

(He didn't get elected btw, seems us Canadians prefer the traditional method of deficit reduction.. we elected a gov't whos platform was to raise income tax and introduce the GST (Goods and Service tax).
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  #7  
Old 21 June 2007, 04:37 PM
Pseudo_Croat Pseudo_Croat is offline
 
  
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Originally Posted by Doug4.7 View Post
I have a proven way to end terrorism: give them all a decent standard of living. Then they will be as greedy and fat as we are.....

Honey, I can't blow up the infidels, I've got a mortgage payment to make....

Any historical examples of this ever working? In other words, "cite, please?"

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  #8  
Old 21 June 2007, 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Pseudo_Croat View Post
Any historical examples of this ever working? In other words, "cite, please?"

- Pseudo_Croat
See Chillas post, above.
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Old 21 June 2007, 04:40 PM
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PC, I think it's utter nonsense. What do you think about it?
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  #10  
Old 21 June 2007, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Lainie View Post
See Chillas post, above.
That's awesome.
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  #11  
Old 21 June 2007, 04:49 PM
Pseudo_Croat Pseudo_Croat is offline
 
  
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PC, I think it's utter nonsense. What do you think about it?
What's "utter nonsense"? The link in the OP, or the hypothesis that giving terrorists greater prosperity will end their terrorizing?

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  #12  
Old 21 June 2007, 04:52 PM
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The link in the OP. I'm not sure about the other either, but the OP's link is utter nonsense.

What do you think about the link in the OP?
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  #13  
Old 21 June 2007, 05:09 PM
Pseudo_Croat Pseudo_Croat is offline
 
  
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I thought it was kinda weird, smelled a little fishy to me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, which is why I asked for a second opinion.

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  #14  
Old 21 June 2007, 06:03 PM
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Old 21 June 2007, 09:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Doug4.7 View Post
I have a proven way to end terrorism: give them all a decent standard of living. Then they will be as greedy and fat as we are.....

Honey, I can't blow up the infidels, I've got a mortgage payment to make....
My theory was to airdrop Playstations. (And TVs and generators, if necessary)
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  #16  
Old 22 June 2007, 12:48 AM
Pseudo_Croat Pseudo_Croat is offline
 
  
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Originally Posted by Lainie View Post
See Chillas post, above.
I'm sorry, but an article from the Onion does not count as "historical evidence". You'll have to try harder.

I ask you again: Where is the evidence that increasing prosperity leads to an end to terrorism?

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  #17  
Old 22 June 2007, 01:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Pseudo_Croat View Post
I'm sorry, but an article from the Onion does not count as "historical evidence". You'll have to try harder.

I ask you again: Where is the evidence that increasing prosperity leads to an end to terrorism?

- Pseudo_Croat
I think the claim is not that it ends terrorism, but that it tempers religious fundamentalism. A Boston becomes a major trading center, Puritanism loses its grip on the populace. The rise of the power and prosperity of the middle class coincides with the decline of the influence of the mediaeval church.

I don't know that you can prove that this kind of effect would always work or would work for all societies, but there is a certain truism that if you're going to have a successful commercial culture, you can't be really be as isolationist and intolerant as most fundamentalist cultures tend to be.

The other connection is that people join revolutionary movements (including those with a fundamentalist bent) when they feel dissatisfied with their lives. People with a high quality of life tend to have low levels of dissatisfaction, and they tend not to want to risk losing what they already have. You give up all your worldly goods and join a revolutionary cause typically when you don't have that much to give away.

Of course, after a certain point, you also have members of affluent societies who turn revolutionary out of boredom and ennui, so the luxury can go too far.

--Logoboros
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  #18  
Old 22 June 2007, 01:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Pseudo_Croat View Post
Any historical examples of this ever working? In other words, "cite, please?"
US, Europe.....
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  #19  
Old 22 June 2007, 08:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Delta-V View Post
My theory was to airdrop Playstations. (And TVs and generators, if necessary)
And while they're distracted with those, drop other large heavy objects on them?
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  #20  
Old 22 June 2007, 10:24 PM
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When I saw this line, Taking peace into our own hands, I thought it was a joke leading up to Masturbate for peace. Now THEY are serious.
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