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lol Godwin's law + love it or leave it in a single post

What exactly are you fighting for? The Dalai himself isn't calling for independence, merely for autonomy under HIS rule. Tibet is already an autonomous region with a secular Tibetan head of government. What's the benefit of installing an aristocratic hereditary ruler who travels around the...

The fact that you were not able to access certain places does NOT imply that severe human rights abuses are being practiced in those places. I don't think it's right to fall on prejudicial stereotypes to infer what might be happening.

Re: Boycott of Olympics No the point is that those who make allegations should back up those allegations with evidence. Identifying human rights abuses is a relative exercise because there are incidences of these "abuses" in practically every country, including Australia, as the Stolen...

Re: Boycott of Olympics On his arrival in Beijing, Mr Rudd delivered a blunt message to the Chinese that Australia was concerned about the "significant'' human rights abuses in Tibet. Today, he was unwilling to detail the nature of the abuse, only describing them as an "accumulation of...

Re: Boycott of Olympics The interesting thing about the Rudd visit of China is that, while the Australian media focused on the fact that he brought up the issue of Tibet, Asia media (not just the Central government station but also Hong Kong and Taiwanese TV stations) emphasised his reiteration...

No. A boycott would unite Chinese against the evil western media that deprived them of the Olympics. Any optimistic belief in the West as the proponent of liberty, fairness or progress would be shattered. They would be willing to forgo more freedoms and back their government in a new Cold War.

Is this thread about HIV?

Re: Boycott of Olympics I don't think we can equate calls for a boycott with an actual boycott. In fact there were Aboriginal protesters that called for a boycott in the lead up to the Sydney Olympics. All China needs is to stage some reconciling symbolism, its own version of Cathy Freeman...

Re: Boycott of Olympics And its corollary: if something isn't demonic, ought we treat it as if it is?

They should build such facilities on uni campuses and in the city, wherever people study or work.

Re: Boycott of Olympics no de jour is french meaning "of the day" or something (i came last in french class so don't quote me on that). de jure is latin

Re: Boycott of Olympics Well your analogy works the other way around actually. Australia is a constitutional monarchy de jure, but has a parliamentary system of government de facto, with the executive power vested in the cabinet rather than in the Queen in practice. Likewise China is in name...

The idea that people are born with, are able to or are likely to reach differing levels of mental capability seems pretty uncontroversial to me. The conflict is between the definition of the word "intelligence" (which is usually a single measure of the "general" mental capability of the...

Yep, I go with Nescafe Gold at home. I figured that buying a coffee machine would make me drink even MORE coffee than I already do.

Re: Boycott of Olympics Ruse kid wins thread.

The above is obviously an exaggeration of the reality bordering on being offensive. However there are some differences (generalisations of course) between men and women. Women are more sociable and extroverted than men. They're more in tuned to the aesthetic value of objects rather than their...

Iron, even though I am an atheist I agree with most of your observations on the human condition. I think the search for human connection, understanding, emotions, vignettes in time that will forever be sewn in one's memory etc. ought to take priority over the search for objective meaning, truth...

I agree with the notion that the moral act is "embedded in the conscience". But it is individuals alone that at any point in time are carriers of our conscience. Of course, conscience ought to influence individual actions. The question is from where does conscience originate? I see no reason why...

If "fundamental truth" does not exist without a creator, how does will to power/dominance/conquest become the only meaning to life? By implication there must be either no meaning at all or a number of different meanings existing without reaching the "fundamental" or universal level. I think...