You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Mikie

Comments

This depends on what you mean by "anarchism," but I share the view with Chomsky that a common thread running through the anarchist tradition is that p...
March 11, 2020 at 22:37
It's how I view things too, Carlos. But, as you know, it's only one part of an important issue. The other part is to ask what effect the environment h...
March 11, 2020 at 16:31
Depends on what we mean by "middle class" and "poverty." It can be as misleading as the unemployment statistic. Yes, by some agreed income cutoff, fol...
March 10, 2020 at 21:21
And the principle of really existing free market theory is: free markets are fine for you, but not for me. That’s, again, near a universal. So you — w...
March 10, 2020 at 05:38
Ding ding ding. Winner! It's an abstraction, an ideal that people refuse to let go of. Usually used to justify the neoliberal agenda (i.e., giving eve...
March 10, 2020 at 05:36
What effects? The Dow just had it's worst day since 2008. Yes, the market going down is a source of trouble. Remember -- we share the burden when thin...
March 09, 2020 at 22:43
Yes of course, but he's also one of the press's biggest defenders. Criticizing our country or our press doesn't mean one hates or wants to destroy eit...
March 09, 2020 at 15:09
:) Or write too much anyway.
March 09, 2020 at 15:05
I think this response is disingenuous. I was illustrating that not everything the government does is awful, nor do the public view it that way. Now yo...
March 09, 2020 at 15:03
You're obviously correct. This is a very scary phenomenon, too. The question is: How do we deal with it when we see it, and in what way? Why is it tha...
March 09, 2020 at 14:50
Exactly right. Sometimes it's OK to just say "Yeah, that was silly." This is an online forum - no need to save face. Why go on defending the indefensi...
March 09, 2020 at 14:43
You're projecting, again. Notice I didn't say the US was doing good or bad. I said we're living with the consequences. Now when you say the "US has do...
March 09, 2020 at 14:39
Ah, ok. Thank you. Yes, that comes to mind for me as well and definitely has that connotation, but in this context I don't mean a conspiracy or anythi...
March 08, 2020 at 20:16
No kidding. People overwhelmingly like medicare, actually. This belief that everything the government does is terrible or incompetent is old and borin...
March 08, 2020 at 17:18
Yes. But since I don't have Tom Perez in front of me, you'll have to do. (That was a joke.) Of course not. You have to read the NYT with a critical an...
March 08, 2020 at 17:06
Yes, and for many others it isn't. They work very hard and are still screwed. To highlight and rail on one and not the other, particularly when there'...
March 08, 2020 at 16:56
Where do I say that in the above quotation? I'll repeat: plenty of people do it. Now look at the second sentence, because it's here that the issue lie...
March 08, 2020 at 16:53
I'm sure plenty of people do it, as I've stated before. Many more try very hard and fail to do so. This doesn't say anything about the economy being r...
March 07, 2020 at 23:19
No, Welfare queens and other outlier examples, which are used to justify cutting funding and a general hatred towards the poor, are rare. I put the en...
March 07, 2020 at 23:13
Maybe if you worked harder, you could up it even more. I'm so done with people like you who "blame the system" for where you are. The above is satire....
March 07, 2020 at 22:55
No. It's not a matter of wanting. It will never happen, period. Ever. End of story. Whether you want it or not. I may have wanted to play in the NBA, ...
March 07, 2020 at 22:42
Here is the relevant part of your response. It's exactly this sentiment that's wrong. It's in the same group as the old "Welfare Queen" belief, which ...
March 07, 2020 at 22:26
That's because you give us softballs. Some bright children could notice and correct where you've gone wrong, hence why you get so many mentions and re...
March 07, 2020 at 20:19
Exactly right.
March 07, 2020 at 20:13
Well since you yourself are one of these "people," do you consider yourself helpless? OK then, neither to they. That's not what I'm suggesting. I'm de...
March 07, 2020 at 20:12
Going from working class to middle class may be considered "upward mobility," I suppose. But, like I said, that's really an illusion. You have as much...
March 07, 2020 at 20:02
You shouldn't feel pity for me, I'm quite happy with my choices. They're deliberate. What strikes me as sad, however, is this: If by "major things" yo...
March 07, 2020 at 19:45
Great, then let's have a discussion about those plans and numbers. I'd be happy to. Simply waving your hand and dismissing it all as USSR-style "socia...
March 07, 2020 at 19:16
No, they don't. Not if you make an attempt at understanding Bernie, of course. If you're not willing to understand his position, fine. In that case, r...
March 06, 2020 at 02:08
This is terrible philosophy, and very damaging. Think through what you're saying. You know there are plenty of examples of people who simply don't get...
March 06, 2020 at 01:56
I just caught this. Let me add my $0.02. All that planning is fine and good, provided that your saving for old age isn't at the expense of your presen...
March 06, 2020 at 01:42
Depends on your hierarchy of values; your priorities. If poker is a top value of yours, then giving it the according amount of care, time, energy, and...
March 06, 2020 at 01:28
Exactly. I think in this case, both are true. I assert it for myself and bring myself to take as a given that you do as well, until proven otherwise. ...
March 06, 2020 at 01:02
Given my above statement, I return to the initial question: Why do conservatives vote against their own (economic) interests? I add "economic" so we d...
March 03, 2020 at 22:55
You've touched, I think, on the heart of the issue. But again, I don't accept the idea that because neither you nor I have a foolproof way of convinci...
March 03, 2020 at 22:30
Not to me. Just because a decision is internally consistent with one's belief system does not make the decision, nor the belief system itself, rationa...
March 03, 2020 at 15:14
A choice that follows from "those beliefs" is a rational choice. Any beliefs? I think this does have something to do with rationality, yes, although I...
March 03, 2020 at 15:08
What decisions? It's useless to talk about things like this in too general terms. I'm not advocating for an algorithm or a rule that will work in any ...
March 03, 2020 at 14:39
The rational choice is whatever the person believes to be the case? I don't really follow you here. Are you arguing, therefore, that either choice was...
March 03, 2020 at 03:08
I agree.
March 03, 2020 at 02:59
It's not intended to be condescending. I'm exploring the factors that account for irrational choices. They're made all the time. Conservative minded p...
March 03, 2020 at 02:55
You know what best to do with it, that's fine. Then are you against taxes altogether? Why not keep all of it, ideally, since you know how best to use ...
March 03, 2020 at 02:47
Yes, you can. When you say "believe lower taxes are better," you're being imprecise. "Better" is meaningless without a context. Better for whom and fo...
March 03, 2020 at 02:32
If someone voted, hypothetically, for a man who stated he would most likely use nuclear weapons and did so because he was pro-choice, would that be ra...
March 03, 2020 at 02:17
By voting for Clinton, there were plenty of interests not included in her proposals. I had to hold my nose. It's quite true that the two-party system ...
March 03, 2020 at 02:13
"Blame" is the wrong word to use, so I retract that. But even when using the word, my emphasis has been exactly the opposite: I don't "blame" voters a...
March 03, 2020 at 02:04
They precisely did vote irrationally. They vote against their interests (irrationally) when one person's policies would have had an empirically demons...
March 03, 2020 at 01:56
Most of the social issues are fabricated nonsense, yes. I don't blame the people necessarily, I place a greater amount of blame, as I stated, on the m...
March 03, 2020 at 01:39
Of course. But given that's true, how can we possibly point to Russian misinformation specifically as the cause, or significant factor in, Trump's get...
March 03, 2020 at 01:22
Not every popular movement says that, and certainly not Bernie's. What's said is that the majority of Americans support various policies -- 90% or so ...
March 01, 2020 at 00:46