Bay 12 Games Forum

It literally took two seconds for us to die, it was hilarious.

I'm pretty sure that statement is incorrect.

It is the most viewed and posted in the subforum, at least.

I do not understand why people keep saying emotions are bad for morality. It is only our emotions that would keep us from nicking a small child from somebody to escape from the Titanic.

Actually, let's do it.

I am an impoverished Canadian. Please send me the entire Song of Fire and Ice series to me, translated into my native language (Canadian English), for free. Thanks.

Atlas Shrugged isn't a political work.

It's Ayn Rand jerking over a piece of paper for 1000 pages.

Quote from: Shadowlord on April 26, 2010, 01:50:09 pm

And then the station exploded.

Yeah, don't combine one completed sandwich with another completed sandwich.. Also: We need cheese. *boots up photoshop*

Wait. When you combine sandwiches, it causes a nuclear explosion?

Oh shit, brb, I have to stop my roommate from doing something disastrous--

Maybe you guys should read the article and notice that this is the current hypothesis before you try to call me out for using a circular argument.

Could we go back to the idea of distributing a bunch of cheap/free books in native languages to people? That's the main idea of this thread, it's more of a foreign policy discussion rather then a "Oh no We're an evil race and we're doomed to kill ourselves!!!!!"  Just because Nuclear Weapons are something you can learn about doesn't mean you shouldn't spread knowledge. How do you think the government should go about it?

The reason we can't go back to the idea of distributing a bunch of cheap/free books in native languages to people in other countries is because, despite all the ignorant things people put forth on this forum, this is, by far, the most ignorant, ethnocentric idea I have ever seen here.

The United States is not some sort of 'enlightened' country that needs to 'educate' the rest of the world. The United States can't even decide whether or not it wants gay people to be in their army. They can't determine whether they want religion in government or not. A large portion of their population can't decide whether or not they like their system of government. On the other side of that spectrum, a large portion of their population is vehemently nationalistic. The United States has difficulty avoiding going to war with people on opposite sides of the planet.

But let's not just look at the United States. Let's look at the entire Western world.

A massive portion of people in the West are functionally illiterate. Which is to say that they can read and write, but not at an academic level. This portion is very high. Here, read more about it. Western institutions seem to have this bad habit of tearing eachother down, tearing down institutions from poorer regions, and actively ignore crimes against humanity, such as genocide, so as not to get involved.

So my question here is this: How, exactly, do you expect that mailing out some Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery Thriller novels is going to help educate impoverished nations of the world when the vast majority of the population of the countries who produced them don't have the skills necessary to interpret and understand them in the first place?

You're either completely unaware of the world outside of your local community or you are trolling (every time I reread your post, I am more and more convinced it is the latter). People in impoverished communities might be able to relate to Huck Finn floating down the river? Really? They're more likely to relate to John the Savage from 'Brave New World' after you waltz in and stuff your customs down their throat.

It might be better if you read some books from other parts of the world. I think you should REALLY REALLY focus on looking for classic works such as the Mahabharata and such. I think you're at a stage where you would be able to relate to the Pandavas as they struggle to take the throne, if you catch my drift. At the same time, you would learn some history of other countries, and more importantly the backgrounds, morals, feelings, and customs of world citizens.