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I am totally down with renaming Thanksgiving Atonement Day.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:07
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team overhead smash posted:Just a stupider and much much worse version of http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html I've always hated this story and the nauseating producerist mentality it's based on. It's never really matched much with the rest of Vonnegut's work either; I've always wondered what it is he observed or thought about that lead him to write it.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:21
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How'd the government make his daughter into a texting addict? Also, teenagers never had nihilistic attitudes before THE GOVERNMENT made them do so. ED: Harrison Bergeron was one of the science fiction stories that my high-school science teacher made us read because it was SO loving INSIGHTFUL. He was a  who made him call us Dr. while everyone else went by Ms. or Mr. and never realized that his harder-science counterpart hated him.
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Dec 4, 2011 00:28
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Wouldn't the guy forgetting to plug in his electric car just be the equivalent of him forgetting to do some other piece of maintenance. Not gassing it up, or leaving the dome light on?
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Dec 4, 2011 00:32
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How could they change the name of a holiday  THOSE BASTARDS
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Dec 4, 2011 00:50
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I'm surprised that they are angry at searches at airports, and that "terrorism" is one of the things whose constant reporting caused the teenager to be cynical. Usually they have them outlawing Christianity for being "intolerant" while apologizing to Osama Bin Laden for the circumstances that would cause him to plan 9/11.
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Dec 4, 2011 01:00
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In their minds, the only people who should be searched at airports should be brown skinned Muslims.
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Dec 4, 2011 01:24
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I just don't get the obsession with vegetarianism. No one has proposed banning meat at any point in Congress (as far as I am aware). I don't even know if there are even that many vegetarians in Congress. It's just this random thing that conservatives can't seem to separate from some overwhelming paranoid dream of a liberal zeitgeist. Edit: I deserve this. You deserve this. America deserves this, and much hilarity from relatives will come from it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/donald-trump-moderates-the-newsmax-gop-debate-we-deserve/2011/12/02/gIQAuMyrLO_blog.html
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Dec 4, 2011 07:27
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quote:The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs
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Dec 4, 2011 07:42
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the yellow dart posted:I just don't get the obsession with vegetarianism. No one has proposed banning meat at any point in Congress (as far as I am aware). I don't even know if there are even that many vegetarians in Congress. It's just this random thing that conservatives can't seem to separate from some overwhelming paranoid dream of a liberal zeitgeist. It's more than a conservative thing. I'd been a little sick for a couple days and happened to only eat veggies during that time, so I said in an obviously not serious manner to a friend that I might as well become a vegetarian at that point. The level of disgust in the reaction from my friend (who is apolitical, but receptive to most of my crazy leftist poo poo) was similar to what I'd have gotten if I told him I was into little boys or something. Even though he knew I was joking. For a lot of Americans, vegetarianism/veganism inspires a white hot rage that knows no political boundaries. I think it just happens to be more common on the conservative side of the fence because of vegetarianism's association with hippies and New Age types, and the perceived wimpiness of those groups as opposed to the barrel-chested manly hunter man who likes his steak bloody.
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Dec 4, 2011 08:09
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prussian advisor posted:I've always hated this story and the nauseating producerist mentality it's based on. It's never really matched much with the rest of Vonnegut's work either; I've always wondered what it is he observed or thought about that lead him to write it.
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Dec 4, 2011 08:48
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Yes it's satirical. The bits where he flies, declares himself Emperor, and is a giant are the big giveaways.
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Dec 4, 2011 09:37
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Enjoy posted:Yes it's satirical. The bits where he flies, declares himself Emperor, and is a giant are the big giveaways. I dunno, that sounds like Dune and Dune was pretty serious
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Dec 4, 2011 09:41
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I am undone
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Dec 4, 2011 09:47
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So was this intended as an Atlas Shrugged parody, or does it just act as one?
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Dec 4, 2011 09:59
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Absurd Alhazred posted:So was this intended as an Atlas Shrugged parody, or does it just act as one? Kurt Vonnegut loved to quote Eugene Debs and was pretty much the opposite of Ayn Rand in every way, except for the cigarettes. So yes, Harrison Bergeron was indeed a satire.
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Dec 4, 2011 10:16
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U.T. Raptor posted:What is it with them and the lightbulb thing? It isn't the government's business to tell me what i can or can't buy!
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Dec 4, 2011 12:30
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Enjoy posted:Yes it's satirical. The bits where he flies, declares himself Emperor, and is a giant are the big giveaways. I just reread this. I guess an even bigger giveaway is that he's meant to be fourteen in the story as well, despite the above characteristics. Guess middle school me didn't have quite the grasp of "subtlety" that I'd thought he did. At least I figured out that Death of the Ball Turret Gunner was about abortion...
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Dec 4, 2011 12:38
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FactsAreUseless posted:I ran across this reposted to a D&D discussion board while looking for stuff for grognards.txt. quote:Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine.
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Dec 4, 2011 13:38
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Just reading Vonnegut's entry on politics on Wikipedia seems to give a lot of proof that this is satire.
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Dec 4, 2011 14:23
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U.T. Raptor posted:What is it with them and the lightbulb thing? In 2007, Congress passed an energy bill (86-8 in the Senate; 314-100 in the House; signed by Bush) that set power requirements for light bulbs that go into effect Jan 1st 2012. The new requirements will basically force bulb manufacturers to stop producing most types of incandescent bulbs because they waste too much power. The law doesn't specifically ban incandescents, but facts are meaningless. However, despite having bipartisan support and being signed into law by Bush five years ago, conservatives have turned it into a big attack this year. Presumably because it goes into effect in next year and no one will remember who did it, so they can blame it on Obama. Also, Obama is sending light bulb police to your house on January 1st to kill you if you have incandescent bulbs in your house!
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Dec 4, 2011 14:32
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Enjoy posted:Yes it's satirical. The bits where he flies, declares himself Emperor, and is a giant are the big giveaways. Wow, it really is! Man, the older I get, the dumber Dr. Smuggo gets in hindsight.
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Dec 4, 2011 19:15
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the yellow dart posted:Edit: I deserve this. You deserve this. America deserves this, and much hilarity from relatives will come from it: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/donald-trump-moderates-the-newsmax-gop-debate-we-deserve/2011/12/02/gIQAuMyrLO_blog.html There is a Santa, and he's bringing the greatest gift of all. 
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Dec 4, 2011 19:34
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Mo_Steel posted:There is a Santa, and he's bringing the greatest gift of all. Cain is out, Huntsman literally responded "LOL" to the debate, and Paul said it was "wildly inappropriate". Unfortunately, it may be a case of Primary Debate vaporware. 
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Dec 4, 2011 20:25
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prussian advisor posted:At least I figured out that Death of the Ball Turret Gunner was about abortion... Oh, gently caress me, that's the first hint I've had that it wasn't about a ball turret gunner dying e: Wait the author was in the Army Air Force, I don't believe you Kosmonaut fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Dec 5, 2011 |
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Dec 5, 2011 02:53
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prussian advisor posted:I've always hated this story and the nauseating producerist mentality it's based on. It's never really matched much with the rest of Vonnegut's work either; I've always wondered what it is he observed or thought about that lead him to write it. One day Vonnegut sat around thinking, "This writing serious stuff is all well and good but what do I have to do to get some Orwell level staying power?" The answer, of course, was to write a dystopian scfi story that would be massively misinterpreted and held up as THIS IS WHAT LIEBERALS ACTUALLY BELIEVE for decades to come.
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Dec 5, 2011 04:04
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The best part is that it isn't government handicapper stormtroopers who execute Harrison and the ballerina, but the fact that the actual head of the department personally busts in with a shotgun. Looking back at the story also just made me realize that she shares the same name with an old, ugly, dumb, utterly unremarkable woman who Elliot Rosewater helps in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater."
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Dec 5, 2011 04:09
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So I just watched the video here: http://gawker.com/5864280/hero-high-school-student-fights-michele-bachmann-over-gay-marriage My question is about her (and every GOP candidates) diatribe against the Department of Education. Seriously, what's the gripe? I went to 14 elementary schools in one state, three junior highs in one state, and four high schools in three different states. I would have killed a hobo for a homogenous curriculum I could have gotten my head around. Every few months was like dropping me in to a war zone of math, science, and reading I hadn't experienced in the last place, ESPECIALLY when you're talking switching states.
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Dec 5, 2011 04:30
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They teach evolution and global warming, they persecute Christians by not having mandated prayer time, they encourage promiscuity with sex ed, they teach that McCarthy wasn't a righteous crusader for the truth, they encourage students not to bully gays or Muslims, and the New Deal is spoken of favorably. Am I forgetting anything? Of course! Think of all the taxpayer money that could be going to the poor, defenseless oil billionaires! VVV Dr Christmas fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Dec 5, 2011 |
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Dec 5, 2011 04:40
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Dr Christmas posted:They teach evolution and global warming, they persecute Christians by not having mandated prayer time, they encourage promiscuity with sex ed, they teach that McCarthy wasn't a righteous crusader for the truth, they encourage students not to bully gays or Muslims, and the New Deal is spoken of favorably. Don't forget how massively overpaid public school teachers are (especially considering they get a quarter of the year off)
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Dec 5, 2011 04:48
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They want you to become a sissy effete male by not teaching you manly skills (mostly a correct criticism [under value of shop classes] for entirely the wrong reasons) and that is just one part of their tolerance package to get you to not only accept gays but be gay yourself. It is important to remember that they literally want to turn you into a gay, commie, Jesus hating liberal by age 18.
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Dec 5, 2011 04:51
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Dr Christmas posted:Looking back at the story also just made me realize that she shares the same name with an old, ugly, dumb, utterly unremarkable woman who Elliot Rosewater helps in "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." I was hoping someone else would notice that. Vonnegut is fun.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:23
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It came from Facebook. quote:New Christmas Poem So I asked the person who posted this why only the US and Canadian forces were thanked. She said the writer probably didn't have room to thank all the other countries. I asked why these poems are always sent around written by an unknown Marine, never an Air Force guy, never an Army grunt. I wasn't attacking the poster period, I even told her as such, but when I mentioned that lots of people lie and throw the most 'perfect' name to their own writing, be it a GodFearing Marine! or Bill Cosby, well, it isn't honor if it's based on a lie. Yet here is Santa weeping over a soldier who chose this cold hard life. Or in many cases had it chosen for him, in poor areas where college is a pipe dream, where it's the Army or Walmart. And the soldier is always so quiet and perfect and saint-like. But hell, it wouldn't be patriotic to say an American Soldier was anything but.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:36
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Slightly relieved that it doesn't end with one of those big, "...and for all you who don't stand behind our troops, please stand in front of them"'s. (Cue small derail in which we add escalating additions about the soldier punching someone who says "Happy Holidays" into the maw of a bear)
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Dec 5, 2011 05:42
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Hey santa you lazy fat gently caress stop watching a dude sleep for hours, you got presents to deliver.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:43
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Also literally no war has involved Christmas, if anything Christmas has paused more wars than people have had to 'defend' it.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:44
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Cowslips Warren posted:So I asked the person who posted this why only the US and Canadian forces were thanked. She said the writer probably didn't have room to thank all the other countries. I want to get one of those "Only x groups have died for you" e-mails so I can respond with a list of every country and group that fought in WWII with the allies or at least against the Axis.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:45
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Cowslips Warren posted:I asked why these poems are always sent around written by an unknown Marine, never an Air Force guy This one actually was written by a Marine  Well, originally. This one's got a bunch of changes to make it less branch-specific.
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Dec 5, 2011 05:47
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Kavak posted:I want to get one of those "Only x groups have died for you" e-mails so I can respond with a list of every country and group that fought in WWII with the allies or at least against the Axis. The Mexicans actually contributed combat troops in WW2, at least a fighter squadron. So...
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Dec 5, 2011 07:12
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Kavak posted:I want to get one of those "Only x groups have died for you" e-mails so I can respond with a list of every country and group that fought in WWII with the allies or at least against the Axis. Respond with this. Ask them why they aren't thanking the Soviets several times for every American they thank: 
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Dec 5, 2011 07:22
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