The "rape rate" graphics is wonderful, but somewhat misleading. It is "rapes per 1000", not total rapes.
Err, wouldn't you want to use a rate for comparison, rather than a total? Otherwise your results won't make sense.
Which country has a bigger problem with rape: The country that has 1,000 rapes in a population of 10,000,000, or a country that has 999 rapes in a population of 1,000?
Further, you have to consider the lack of reporting of rape, the acceptance of rape in certain segements of society as "normal", and related issues.
You think rapes are reported less often these days than in days gone by? If anything, I would think they would be reported more often, which would make this graph even more compelling.
But, really, we should be asking why these provisions are being extended at all. The reason for allowing them in the original Patriot Act was that they were "needed" in the immediate aftermath of terrorist attacks.
"Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."
Exactly, you understand, Chris Rhodes missed it. There is a relationship, that is clear as it comes.
How is that "clear"? I can submit documents to Wikileaks right now and never have talked to anyone, anywhere about it. Would that mean I "have a relationship" with Assange?
The government doesn't want everyone in jail; just the ones that annoy them. But the government can't just lock up people it doesn't like, since there would be public outrage. The public, however, is usually fine with locking up criminals.
So the solution is to just to turn everybody into a criminal. Then, if you only selectively prosecute the ones who annoy you, you can avoid backlash, since the attitude of the public is generally a completely lack of empathy or foresight ("Well, if he didn't want to go to prison, he shouldn't have worn polka-dots on Sunday. Duh. There's a law. You can't just ignore the law. Ignorance is no excuse!")
They have a subsidiary distribution center in Texas. If someone from Texas buys something from me in Florida, I don't have to collect taxes merely because Fedex, who I use to ship the product, has a facility in Texas. Separate companies.
It's high time that lawmakers closed those loopholes
If they think it's a problem then they should do so, and then companies can decide to stop doing business there. You're basically admitting with this sentence that what Amazon is doing is legal, and yet are still somehow arguing that they owe those taxes. So which is it?
TrueCrypt allows you to create a volume for plausible deniability. If you put in one password, it takes you to your real desktop. If you put in a different one, it takes you to a separate desktop where (presumably) you store nothing incriminating.
If they make you give up your password, you give up the one that goes to nowhere.
What you are doing is justifying breaking the law. That just isn't right.
"But . . . but . . . there's a law! You can't just ignore the law! I wrote it down and everything! You have to abide by it! Are you listening? I have important things to say! I won't be ignored! Hello?"
So true. I went into BMW dealership the other day and was appalled that they weren't priced the same as the Kia dealership down the street.
You see, as a consumer, I can only maintain one idea in my head at any given time, and today that happens to be a piece of data called "price", so I have absolutely no spare brain power to use in making value judgements that don't begin and end with that number. HURR DURR! I R CONSUMAR! PLZ SAEV ME NINTENDOH!
Yes, when people are talking about piracy, they often use the word theft and sometimes rape
Piracy is usually described as theft outright. I've never seen someone assert piracy as the equivalent of rape (an analogy doesn't apply equivalence). I'll keep a lookout, but I actually don't expect such a thing to be prevalent at all. Maybe I'm wrong and just haven't noticed.
Possibly. Some argue that Americans do have a 'murder' culture, although I don't know much about that.
Actually, I would argue that in fact we do have a "murder" culture. Or at least a violence one. Rape, for all its misuses, is rarely portrayed as a good thing, but killing is practically our national entertainment these days. Even so, I wouldn't say that someone making an analogy that happens to use murder is evidence of it.
Yes, he could have chosen anything else, but he didn't.
The problem is that its very easy to get selection bias. All the times someone uses "rape" stand out to you, but not the times they use some other crime. They could be choosing what word to use with a dice roll and it would still appear that the use of "rape" is all over the place if that's all you're looking for.
but that's not a joke that laughs about rape
The joke wasn't about rape. It was about how shallow our online heroics are, even though we are told of the horrible things that befall the people we leave behind. "Rape" in this context was used as "very bad thing that should make you want to save the rest if you had an ounce of the heroic in you". I would argue that its use in this context is exactly the right way to use it.
I'll leave off any more judgement on the Assange thing until something concrete happens, I guess.
And just out of curiosity, did you read Rape Culture 101?
I was at work for my last post, but I read it now. It's very well written. I can't help but think, however, that while I agree that rape is a terrible problem and that we may indeed have an issue with "rape culture", as it stands now, it seems to be very ill-defined and the debate has been punctuated with "us or them" rhetoric and a big case of confirmation bias.
Talking about rape in a way that offends somebody promotes rape culture. Not talking about rape promotes rape culture. Disagreeing with the blog writer on the bounds of the issue makes you a part of rape culture. It's really hard to have a discussion when someone starts off by demanding that you agree with them before you can talk.
I think if the issue is to really gain traction, there has to be a more vigorous, inclusive debate about what's really a problem and what's just a red herring that will turn away potential allies.
And if they had read the pamphlet just before being summoned and it had influenced them? Would the judge be within his rights to ban the subject matter entirely?
I guess he could have said: [snip] In which case it would have been a terrible, illogical analogy.
Yeah, but people are rarely so specific about their wording, even when they aren't using the word rape. If he had said, "And the solution to murder is to let every stranger who wants to kill you do so", would that promote a "murder culture", if (hypothetically) you could point to a statistic that said most murders are committed by non-strangers?
Yes, in the inference that rape is analogous to piracy.
Eh, I don't think he was saying the two were equally heinous crimes or otherwise morally equivalent. If I understood his terrible analogy, it was that giving in willingly to a problem is not a solution to the problem. He just chose rape as his particular example. He could have chosen anything from petty theft (popular with the IP crowd, for sure) to murder.
I guess I don't really understand where a good portion of the outrage comes from, since it doesn't seem to target what I would consider to be the core issue. If you asked me to define "rape culture", I would say it's a cultural disposition toward making rape "normal" or otherwise "not that bad".
So if you make a joke that laughs about rape, that would qualify (PA's first comic did not do this, but you could argue their second did). Or if you used the word to describe something not related in any way, such as "DUDE! Did you see that shot? I just totally RAPED you! HURR DURR!", then you are guilty of attempting to change and soften the meaning of the word.
(Under the above definition, and assuming that what we know of Assange's accuser is correct, and it may or may not be, it's very likely I could find her guilty her of promoting "rape culture" by attempting to subvert and twist the word for her own use.)
Maybe I'm off base, but I'm sure you'll correct me. =)
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Err, wouldn't you want to use a rate for comparison, rather than a total? Otherwise your results won't make sense.
Which country has a bigger problem with rape: The country that has 1,000 rapes in a population of 10,000,000, or a country that has 999 rapes in a population of 1,000?
Further, you have to consider the lack of reporting of rape, the acceptance of rape in certain segements of society as "normal", and related issues.
You think rapes are reported less often these days than in days gone by? If anything, I would think they would be reported more often, which would make this graph even more compelling.
On the post: How To Debunk A Fact-Free Fox News Fearmongering Piece About New Video Game
Re: Damn it!
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Milton Friedman Said it Best
"Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."
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All laws are equal? All laws are presumed to be just? All laws must always be obeyed, merely because they are laws?
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On the post: Screaming Justin Bieber Fans Using Camera Phones To Capture Snippets Of Movie Premiere Berated For Piracy
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Err, I think that was the point. How ridiculous is it that we find ourselves in such a situation?
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How is that "clear"? I can submit documents to Wikileaks right now and never have talked to anyone, anywhere about it. Would that mean I "have a relationship" with Assange?
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The government doesn't want everyone in jail; just the ones that annoy them. But the government can't just lock up people it doesn't like, since there would be public outrage. The public, however, is usually fine with locking up criminals.
So the solution is to just to turn everybody into a criminal. Then, if you only selectively prosecute the ones who annoy you, you can avoid backlash, since the attitude of the public is generally a completely lack of empathy or foresight ("Well, if he didn't want to go to prison, he shouldn't have worn polka-dots on Sunday. Duh. There's a law. You can't just ignore the law. Ignorance is no excuse!")
On the post: Investigators Still Can't Find Any Evidence To Link Assange & Manning; DoD Insists It Must Be True
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On the post: Amazon Announces It's Leaving Texas In Tax Dispute; Governor Blames Comptroller, Says He'll Fix
Re: Bottom line...
They have a subsidiary distribution center in Texas. If someone from Texas buys something from me in Florida, I don't have to collect taxes merely because Fedex, who I use to ship the product, has a facility in Texas. Separate companies.
It's high time that lawmakers closed those loopholes
If they think it's a problem then they should do so, and then companies can decide to stop doing business there. You're basically admitting with this sentence that what Amazon is doing is legal, and yet are still somehow arguing that they owe those taxes. So which is it?
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The Hallmark of Our Society
. . . also, do you have any jobs? I can't seem to find anyone hiring."
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If they make you give up your password, you give up the one that goes to nowhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypt
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The Sound of Reality Whooshing By
"But . . . but . . . there's a law! You can't just ignore the law! I wrote it down and everything! You have to abide by it! Are you listening? I have important things to say! I won't be ignored! Hello?"
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I think the definition of insanity applies here. I have disdain for people who continually make the same mistakes over and over again too.
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You see, as a consumer, I can only maintain one idea in my head at any given time, and today that happens to be a piece of data called "price", so I have absolutely no spare brain power to use in making value judgements that don't begin and end with that number. HURR DURR! I R CONSUMAR! PLZ SAEV ME NINTENDOH!
On the post: David Guetta: The Way To Beat 'Piracy' Is To Give Your Music Away Free
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Piracy is usually described as theft outright. I've never seen someone assert piracy as the equivalent of rape (an analogy doesn't apply equivalence). I'll keep a lookout, but I actually don't expect such a thing to be prevalent at all. Maybe I'm wrong and just haven't noticed.
Possibly. Some argue that Americans do have a 'murder' culture, although I don't know much about that.
Actually, I would argue that in fact we do have a "murder" culture. Or at least a violence one. Rape, for all its misuses, is rarely portrayed as a good thing, but killing is practically our national entertainment these days. Even so, I wouldn't say that someone making an analogy that happens to use murder is evidence of it.
Yes, he could have chosen anything else, but he didn't.
The problem is that its very easy to get selection bias. All the times someone uses "rape" stand out to you, but not the times they use some other crime. They could be choosing what word to use with a dice roll and it would still appear that the use of "rape" is all over the place if that's all you're looking for.
but that's not a joke that laughs about rape
The joke wasn't about rape. It was about how shallow our online heroics are, even though we are told of the horrible things that befall the people we leave behind. "Rape" in this context was used as "very bad thing that should make you want to save the rest if you had an ounce of the heroic in you". I would argue that its use in this context is exactly the right way to use it.
I'll leave off any more judgement on the Assange thing until something concrete happens, I guess.
And just out of curiosity, did you read Rape Culture 101?
I was at work for my last post, but I read it now. It's very well written. I can't help but think, however, that while I agree that rape is a terrible problem and that we may indeed have an issue with "rape culture", as it stands now, it seems to be very ill-defined and the debate has been punctuated with "us or them" rhetoric and a big case of confirmation bias.
Talking about rape in a way that offends somebody promotes rape culture. Not talking about rape promotes rape culture. Disagreeing with the blog writer on the bounds of the issue makes you a part of rape culture. It's really hard to have a discussion when someone starts off by demanding that you agree with them before you can talk.
I think if the issue is to really gain traction, there has to be a more vigorous, inclusive debate about what's really a problem and what's just a red herring that will turn away potential allies.
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On the post: David Guetta: The Way To Beat 'Piracy' Is To Give Your Music Away Free
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Yeah, but people are rarely so specific about their wording, even when they aren't using the word rape. If he had said, "And the solution to murder is to let every stranger who wants to kill you do so", would that promote a "murder culture", if (hypothetically) you could point to a statistic that said most murders are committed by non-strangers?
Yes, in the inference that rape is analogous to piracy.
Eh, I don't think he was saying the two were equally heinous crimes or otherwise morally equivalent. If I understood his terrible analogy, it was that giving in willingly to a problem is not a solution to the problem. He just chose rape as his particular example. He could have chosen anything from petty theft (popular with the IP crowd, for sure) to murder.
I guess I don't really understand where a good portion of the outrage comes from, since it doesn't seem to target what I would consider to be the core issue. If you asked me to define "rape culture", I would say it's a cultural disposition toward making rape "normal" or otherwise "not that bad".
So if you make a joke that laughs about rape, that would qualify (PA's first comic did not do this, but you could argue their second did). Or if you used the word to describe something not related in any way, such as "DUDE! Did you see that shot? I just totally RAPED you! HURR DURR!", then you are guilty of attempting to change and soften the meaning of the word.
(Under the above definition, and assuming that what we know of Assange's accuser is correct, and it may or may not be, it's very likely I could find her guilty her of promoting "rape culture" by attempting to subvert and twist the word for her own use.)
Maybe I'm off base, but I'm sure you'll correct me. =)
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