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The Go-Mer-Tonic™ Thread - Today's Topic: Whose your favorite author and why? — Page 8

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Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Well, I suppose it depends on what you believe is pedophilia, since many of our own ancestors practiced marrying much younger than we do today. For example, the ancient Greeks had 30 year old men marrying teenage girls. And they didn't consider that wrong at all. We obviously do. Who's right, us or them?


I think we blur these such issues with technically terms. When we say somebody was raped, it could very well be some 17 year old girl choosing to sleep with a 27 year old guy. Same thing with pedophilia, I think it is very important the line does not get blurred here. You have 30 year old guys raping 7 year old boys or girls. This should not be likened to modern or ancient cultures who marry their daughters off at the age of 13. While a thirteen year old bride is a bit shocking to our western culture, it has been acceptable in a great variety of other cultures. This I do not believe to be such a horrible awful thing, I definitely wouldn't dream to call this pedophilia. But there is no context in which a little kid, be it male or female, being used by someone for sexual pleasure should be acceptable or even justified. There have been cultures in the past that practiced this, where it has been culturally acceptable, it is very sick.

You can't quite say one thing is right for one person and wrong for another. People try to either say the world is black and white, or that the world is gray. Those terms are too simplistic in defining something as complex as morality.

When you ask why we can't all get along Sean, are you referring to wars? Wars and an inevitable truth to the world and will never be avoidable, no matter how well we can get along. Have you ever read the book All Quiet on the Western Front? Fantastic book. There is a part in the book where the main character (a German) is stuck in a crater all night with a dying Frenchmen whose mortal wounds the young German soldier had just inflicted. It is a wonderful chapter. The German has a breakdown and cries over the dying Frenchmen telling him how sorry he was he killed him, how had they met under different circumstances they might have been best friends.

Wars have very little to do with not getting along (though from time to time they do, but rarely) and everything to do with greed. Sometimes you have cases like the current terrorism issue which has a lot to do with misguided religious extremism (even Christianity has been guilty of this plenty in the past). Some people would be amazed with how much Muslim eschatology plays into the current world issue. And some people would also be amazed at how much misguided Christian eschatology (and poor scholarship) played in certain events following WWII.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Originally posted by: sean wookie
Even though it is wrong I don't recommend lynching them. That makes you no better than them.


Wait till you have kids of your own some day. You'll change your tune.
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I'm not at all trying to say they're the same thing in that context, but, in some ways, they are similar. The reason we in western society look down on marrying off girls at that age is because we tend to agree that girls of that age lack the emotional maturity to be married in the first place. Plus, the whole idea of arranged marriages, for gain instead of love, is a bit wonky to me. I was by no means condoning the practice in my last post. I was simply playing devil's advocate and bringing another point. And it's true, like you say, that a 17 year old sleeping with a 24 year old is incorrectly categorized as rape. Truly, sexual coersion on a child is wrong by all accounts, and I doubt many would disagree. But just because something else has been justified by many other societies doesn't make it right either. Just like you said, the world isn't black and white.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Strangely our society dictates what maturity level a thirteen year old has. I have been around, I have lived and studied abroad for many years. Also anthropology was one of my fields of study in university, I didn't pursue it all the way through and have no degree in it, but I have taken more than my fair share of anthropological courses. In cultures that do practice marrying their daughters off at thirteen, you would be impressed how mature of a thirteen year old they are. I do not believe there is a set time in a humans life when he or she truly becomes and adult, but that they become adults once they are treated as an adult. In America a thirteen year old has very few responsibilities, in a culture that would have her married as a teenager you can bet she is given far more responsibilities than the typically thirteen year old any of us would be likely to meet here in the western world. You also mentioned the oddity of arranged marriages, I once though exactly as you on the subject, but after studying different cultures I have concluded that it is just that merely different. If you look at the divorce rate in the western world and compare it to the divorce rate in places with arranged marriages you are sure to find an extreme difference. You could argue that this is for several reasons, one of which being the woman does not have the option to separate from her husband. I agree that this is likely a large factor in the lower percentage of failed marriages, but I believe there is more to it than that. I have read many articles of male Indian immigrants returning home so that they can marry a woman their parents choose for them. To them it is just normal, and in most cases it not a matter of sending some poor girl off to get married to some jerk who will own her for the rest of her life. A lot more care and delicacy is taken by both families to find suitable mates for their children. Though this is never portrayed in Western movies. A common theme is the couple who fall in love but can't be married because she is betrothed to somebody else. This is not as realistic of a situation as you might think, but nonetheless has been known to happen on occasion.


Originally posted by: TheCassidy
Originally posted by: sean wookie
Even though it is wrong I don't recommend lynching them. That makes you no better than them.


Wait till you have kids of your own some day. You'll change your tune.


Whoa! I didn't see that post by Sean. If somebody ever touched my kids in that way I wouldn't hesitate to slit their throat, but not until after I shoved their own balls down it.

Lynch the hell out of 'em, it is a lot better than they deserve. I fail to see how that makes us as bad as them. They assault and molest a helpless child, and because they are treated badly for this we have become as bad as them? Even in the extreme case of a father murdering a man who molested his little boy, how does that make the father as bad as the molester? The molester being an adult with the ability to fight back and defend himself, and the child having been helpless and innocent and preyed upon for that very reason, I fail to see what makes the father so evil for having an emotional reaction to this injustice and lynching the man.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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animal cruelty Do you think this is cruel? I have no problem with them killing the fish but keeping it alive I think that is just horrible.
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Terribly pointless keeping him alive. Poor bastard can't even swim without his side fins. That Sushi looks fantastic though, but it is pretty morbid keeping it alive. That chef is just showing off, the thing wouldn't live more than a few hours.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Not a big fan of Fish Sushi. But if only there was a organization to try to stop this shit that isn't fucking crazy.
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Man, that's crazy and pointless! It took me until the end of the video to realize exactly what the hell was going on. But that's just sad. I know I wouldn't be doing too well if somebody sliced off my side and then dumped me back on the street. Live long and prosper, my ass.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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It is quick in painless just to just chop the fishes head off. Isn't it?
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Relatively, I would assume. Much more than chopping off little bits and pieces.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Like I said, it was just a chef showing off how skillfully he could fillet a fish. It isn't that the Japanese traditionally fillet fish then release them. Even the guy eating it was shocked. Even in that culture it is common practice to kill your fish before you fillet them. This is not a wide spread thing. There would be no point to it being so.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Nanner mentioned being a Monty Python fan in ric's farewell thread, I couldn't find he and ric's old Monty Python thread and my precious The Go-Mer-Tonic™ thread was slipping into oblivion so I thought I would nail two birds with one stone and resurrect this instead of wasting my time using the very simple search function.

Not that Jabberwocky was a Monty Python movie, but it had a few of the elements, including actors, writer and director. Does anybody else enjoy this film? I find most people really dislike it, or simply won't sit through it.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I totally forgot about that movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I want to.


I got to see Spamalot this past weekend and it was fantastic. Has anyone else here seen it?

http://i.imgur.com/7N84TM8.jpg

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i'm going to see it in a couple months. can't wait. i'm really trying to not read anything about it. REALLY trying. but my will is weak.

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I would love to see that. Unfortunately there won't be any preformances anywhere within a reasonable distance for me to get to see it.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Video This is a good video that parallels the events of 9/11 with V for Vendetta. Now before you all get on me thinking i'm some sort of conspiracy theorist I'm not. But I do believe more was going on then we were told and thats all I know.
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But I do believe more was going on then we were told and thats all I know.


That's all you know, or that's all you think you know?

http://i.imgur.com/7N84TM8.jpg

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Originally posted by: Nanner Split
But I do believe more was going on then we were told and thats all I know.


That's all you know, or that's all you think you know?


The second one.
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Why do so many people think there has to be some sort of conspiracy? Is it so hard for us to believe people from another part of the world would do something like this, yet it is expected from our own government? I was hoping this topic would take off a little more, I would have liked to have heard some more opinions on this. Anybody else think there was a conspiracy invovled? Or at least that there was more going on that we know about?

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I not as much of a U.S. government did it believer as I believe that they knew it was coming. But there is some evidence you should look into. Sometimes you just have to look at the evidence than believe what everyone else told you.
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And what evidence, praytell, have YOU been looking at that makes it soooooooooo much clearer to you than to the rest of us?

http://i.imgur.com/7N84TM8.jpg

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It's absolutely ridiculous to believe that a conspiracy involving our own government destroyed the World Trade Centers or crashed a plane into the Pentagon, if you approach the issue with an honest look at the evidence regarding what happened on 9/11 that is. All of the conspiratorial evidence that I've looked into is so weak that it's laughable. At best, all the conspirators have are some good questions, but if you dig well enough you can find good answers for all of them.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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Originally posted by: C3PX
Why do so many people think there has to be some sort of conspiracy? Is it so hard for us to believe people from another part of the world would do something like this, yet it is expected from our own government? I was hoping this topic would take off a little more, I would have liked to have heard some more opinions on this. Anybody else think there was a conspiracy invovled? Or at least that there was more going on that we know about?


Plain and simple, North Americans love a good conspiracy story. I can't think of one major event, be it war, famine or celebrity death in recent memory that didn't have all sorts of theories pop up surrounding it.

Then it's propogated by the liberal media, who insist that any calamity befalling the human race is part of some subversive conservative agenda. That's the real conspiracy, my friends. The "truth" is muddled by political ping-pong, back and forth, back and forth until honest, hard working folk can't tell the difference between up and down.

9/11 happened for one reason, and one reason only. Radical Islamic Fundamentalists hate Americans with a seething passion.

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Some say the one that crashed in PA was shot down by the government. That is an interesting thought and perhaps the most possible of any conspiracies I have heard, but I think there would have been glaring evidence of this at the crash sight. I certianly have not looked at the evidence for this and I definately don't believe this was the case, but it is interesting to think that if the government knew the plan was heading for an important target, would they find it neccessary to take down a passenger plan.

"9/11 happened for one reason, and one reason only. Radical Islamic Fundamentalists hate Americans with a seething passion."

More than hate really, most people would be amazed how much it has to do with Muslim eschatology. As much as we want to consider religion as merely a side activity and not a deeper part of our lives, this is not the case over there. Over there religion is an aspect that is very active in their lives and dictates the way their lives play out. So much more than hate is in the picture, or perhaps it is better to say that hate is based on something deeper, their religion. You can get free Korans sent right to your door, I wish more people would do that. It is a very interesting read, very enlightening.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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You know, the first few times I read that, I could have sworn you wrote "Koreans" instead of "Korans," and I was wondering what that had to do with this conversation and why you were encouraging more of us to have free Koreans sent to our doors.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.