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Author Topic: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!  (Read 31218 times)

Reckall

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #150 on: August 19, 2021, 04:51:50 PM »
Meanwhile Seoul looks distinctly Korean, clean, low crime, and high trust while Paris looks like this:

As someone who, before Covid, worked in Paris for years and has as his hobby walking around, I can say that those pictures look suspiciously like cherry picking - and I was someone strolling less than a kilometer from Charlie Hebdo when they were hit by the terrorists.

It also ignores the fact that that's kind of a French (or at least Parisian) thing to do.  "They're rioting in Paris again."  "Oh is it Tuesday already?"

Exactly. And if are, for example, the students those revolting, you can be sure that their parents and grandparents are in the streets with them.

The French are so use revolting that seldom property is damaged (they must be really furious). Mostly, they paint spray everything. I remember seeing one day the column in Place de la Bastille turned into an harlequinesque piece of art. Then the cleaning brigade comes out and everybody moves on.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #151 on: August 19, 2021, 05:35:19 PM »
https://twitter.com/thejcoop/status/1428450423220940800

Haha I'm sorry what.

I can grant that military flights aren't cheap, and that reimbursement should be a thing. But holy shit Joe, the optics on this.

They better hope this gets no traction, because fuck me, that comes off as amazingly obnoxious considering all the money we throw at asshole foreign countries and illegals wandering across our southern border.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #152 on: August 19, 2021, 05:36:10 PM »
The Taliban and the CCP are totalitarian governments that don't permit dissent, but their societies are not monocultures like Japan or South Korea. Particularly for Afghanistan, it's quite the opposite. Afghanistan has always been a diverse crossroads in between major powers, with different languages spoken, different traditions, and so forth between the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and others. It's trying to unite those different cultures that has been a challenge for colonial governments.
   The Taliban dominates the region because their culture is stronger, they ARE a monoculture.  For some strange reason, you read Taliban and talk to me about afghanistan... missing the point because of afghanistan's very diverse cultures, they got their shit pushed in by the monoculture (Taliban).

The Taliban aren't an independent culture to themselves. They are a broad internal political/religious movement within Afghanistan, not a separate foreign society that has forced itself onto Afghan society. Saying that the Taliban beat Afghanistan is off-base, mixing apples and oranges. The Taliban beat the U.S.-backed Republic of Afghanistan government.


As for totalitarian governments being stronger - I think that is short-sighted. There is an tactical advantage to not allowing dissent - it permits more swift and decisive actions. However, I think in the long-term, totalitarian governments have proven less stable than democracies. Totalitarian regimes like the Nazis, the Soviets, and many others have come and gone, with governments frequently falling apart within a generation.
  Regarding totalitarians being more short lived than democracies.... Do you think human history started in the colonial ages?  Because unless you do, saying democracies are historically proven out versus totalitarian governments is a complete lack of historical knowledge or context.

My impression was that the core issue is nations going into the future. i.e. What is best going forward? For that point, I think the last two centuries are more relevant than medieval or ancient times. Though I'd agree that it isn't completely clear. If you want to talk about all of history, that's a different question.

For a modern country, I think that having a strong national identity is important for stability. However, I don't think that cultural and ethnic unity is important. Multicultural countries seem to be doing roughly as well as single-culture countries.

    In the United States, national identity is shot to shit.   I think you are also reaching when you say multicultural countries.  Meaning you are calling some countries multicultural that are run largely from the perspective of the dominant culture.  I also add, The Taliban is radical islamisists of Afghanistan.   They beat the soviet union, they beat the USA, and they beat the shitlords (Norther alliance of pedos and drug dealers/warlords the USA left in charge)  The Taliban DOMINATES the country and is in charge.  If you are telling me islamic fundamentalists are NOT a monoculture, I think we have different definitions here, and maybe we should make sure we are talking about the same things.

  Edited to add:  I think the next 20 years will settle who is right about this.  hopefully we are both still breathing and the interwebs will be here for you to tell me how wrong I am.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2021, 05:45:18 PM by oggsmash »

jhkim

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #153 on: August 19, 2021, 06:21:40 PM »
For a modern country, I think that having a strong national identity is important for stability. However, I don't think that cultural and ethnic unity is important. Multicultural countries seem to be doing roughly as well as single-culture countries.

    In the United States, national identity is shot to shit.   I think you are also reaching when you say multicultural countries.  Meaning you are calling some countries multicultural that are run largely from the perspective of the dominant culture.  I also add, The Taliban is radical islamisists of Afghanistan.   They beat the soviet union, they beat the USA, and they beat the shitlords (Norther alliance of pedos and drug dealers/warlords the USA left in charge)  The Taliban DOMINATES the country and is in charge.  If you are telling me islamic fundamentalists are NOT a monoculture, I think we have different definitions here, and maybe we should make sure we are talking about the same things.

  Edited to add:  I think the next 20 years will settle who is right about this.  hopefully we are both still breathing and the interwebs will be here for you to tell me how wrong I am.

Well, I've been around here on this board for 15 years and 4 months thus far. I also hope we are both still breathing and around to reflect on this 20 years from now.

Do you have a specific prediction about 20 years from now?

I don't have anything very specific, but I have some limits. I don't think Western Civilization will collapse or that the U.S. will have widespread civil war. I think more likely, people will be screaming that the latest viral video shows how civil war is just around the corner while still on their cell phones. Life in First World countries is still vastly better (including both necessities and freedoms) than in warzones or totalitarian backwaters, and most citizens have no stomach for actual violence. I think the negativity of social media and polarization will get worse for a few years, then bottom out as the push against it goes mainstream. (I'm actually very curious now about how Japan managed to drop their suicide rate so much in just 10 years. I wonder if mental health support will change things.)

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #154 on: August 19, 2021, 06:31:41 PM »
For a modern country, I think that having a strong national identity is important for stability. However, I don't think that cultural and ethnic unity is important. Multicultural countries seem to be doing roughly as well as single-culture countries.

    In the United States, national identity is shot to shit.   I think you are also reaching when you say multicultural countries.  Meaning you are calling some countries multicultural that are run largely from the perspective of the dominant culture.  I also add, The Taliban is radical islamisists of Afghanistan.   They beat the soviet union, they beat the USA, and they beat the shitlords (Norther alliance of pedos and drug dealers/warlords the USA left in charge)  The Taliban DOMINATES the country and is in charge.  If you are telling me islamic fundamentalists are NOT a monoculture, I think we have different definitions here, and maybe we should make sure we are talking about the same things.

  Edited to add:  I think the next 20 years will settle who is right about this.  hopefully we are both still breathing and the interwebs will be here for you to tell me how wrong I am.

Well, I've been around here on this board for 15 years and 4 months thus far. I also hope we are both still breathing and around to reflect on this 20 years from now.

Do you have a specific prediction about 20 years from now?

I don't have anything very specific, but I have some limits. I don't think Western Civilization will collapse or that the U.S. will have widespread civil war. I think more likely, people will be screaming that the latest viral video shows how civil war is just around the corner while still on their cell phones. Life in First World countries is still vastly better (including both necessities and freedoms) than in warzones or totalitarian backwaters, and most citizens have no stomach for actual violence. I think the negativity of social media and polarization will get worse for a few years, then bottom out as the push against it goes mainstream. (I'm actually very curious now about how Japan managed to drop their suicide rate so much in just 10 years. I wonder if mental health support will change things.)

   China becomes the dominant world power, dollar crashes, and the USA in the throes of hard times is not United anymore.  I see more a collapse than large scale civil war.  The number one thing people make mistakes about with business, nations, warfare, etc is that just because something has been a certain way, it will always remain so. 

    Regarding civil war, you are right most people have no stomach for violence which is exactly why the future of nations or civil wars are determined by tiny percentages of the population.  I do not think that is the biggest issue coming for the USA.  I forsee a depression era event, and the people in this country now, are NO WHERE near as hardy as the people who went through that before.  What happens after that is a complete toss up, I can see a super nationalist charismatic type (maybe even with weird mustache rising from that), or even a friendly big brother type rising from the same even (with a much better mustache) and either way the United states is not what it was.    No one gets into a civil war as long as they can downvote videos while holding their phones to their fat bellies.  Let an armed population with hungry kids crying go hungry for a while though....

  Which is why I said I hope you can tell me I was wrong in 20 years.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2021, 06:33:18 PM by oggsmash »

GriswaldTerrastone
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #155 on: August 19, 2021, 06:32:35 PM »
"Multiculturalism" is a hoax.

When you have that you do not have a nation, just a geographic location with a bunch of people in it. There is no true common anything for people to align with.

Just see who is pushing it, and see if it's being practiced by them.

"Multicultural" societies WILL be overrun by those who know better.
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Pat
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #156 on: August 19, 2021, 08:59:04 PM »
   China becomes the dominant world power...
China is probably close to the apex of their power, right now. The one child policy means they're facing a demographic time bomb, they've badly fucked up their environment, their growth rate was tanking before covid, GDP is a poor measure of the ability to exert power so China's ostensible parity with the US is mostly an illusion, and China is physically in a poor strategic position.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #157 on: August 19, 2021, 09:16:34 PM »
   China becomes the dominant world power...
China is probably close to the apex of their power, right now. The one child policy means they're facing a demographic time bomb, they've badly fucked up their environment, their growth rate was tanking before covid, GDP is a poor measure of the ability to exert power so China's ostensible parity with the US is mostly an illusion, and China is physically in a poor strategic position.

  They are RAPIDLY colonizing Africa and parts of South America.  They also own several countries,  I have a feeling they are about to encourage producing babies at full tilt, with all sorts of Hiteresque sorts of propaganda about strengthening the nation. 

  Hey I will say the same I did to jhkim, I hope in 20 you point out how wrong I was.  I would also say though, even if they are at the peak of power, all they have to do is slide down slower than we do.

Pat
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #158 on: August 19, 2021, 09:51:29 PM »
   China becomes the dominant world power...
China is probably close to the apex of their power, right now. The one child policy means they're facing a demographic time bomb, they've badly fucked up their environment, their growth rate was tanking before covid, GDP is a poor measure of the ability to exert power so China's ostensible parity with the US is mostly an illusion, and China is physically in a poor strategic position.

  They are RAPIDLY colonizing Africa and parts of South America.  They also own several countries,  I have a feeling they are about to encourage producing babies at full tilt, with all sorts of Hiteresque sorts of propaganda about strengthening the nation. 

  Hey I will say the same I did to jhkim, I hope in 20 you point out how wrong I was.  I would also say though, even if they are at the peak of power, all they have to do is slide down slower than we do.
The Belt and Road initiative is basically a huge wealth transfer to other countries, which are consistently behind in paying China back. It's a money sink, and they're running out of money. They switched to a two-child policy in 2015, but it doesn't appear to have worked. The birthrate still seems to be in decline, even without the restriction.

China is a real threat at the moment and for the next decade or so, but long term they're hobbled by a number of factors.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #159 on: August 19, 2021, 09:59:19 PM »
   China becomes the dominant world power...
China is probably close to the apex of their power, right now. The one child policy means they're facing a demographic time bomb, they've badly fucked up their environment, their growth rate was tanking before covid, GDP is a poor measure of the ability to exert power so China's ostensible parity with the US is mostly an illusion, and China is physically in a poor strategic position.

  They are RAPIDLY colonizing Africa and parts of South America.  They also own several countries,  I have a feeling they are about to encourage producing babies at full tilt, with all sorts of Hiteresque sorts of propaganda about strengthening the nation. 

  Hey I will say the same I did to jhkim, I hope in 20 you point out how wrong I was.  I would also say though, even if they are at the peak of power, all they have to do is slide down slower than we do.
The Belt and Road initiative is basically a huge wealth transfer to other countries, which are consistently behind in paying China back. It's a money sink, and they're running out of money. They switched to a two-child policy in 2015, but it doesn't appear to have worked. The birthrate still seems to be in decline, even without the restriction.

China is a real threat at the moment and for the next decade or so, but long term they're hobbled by a number of factors.

   Those things I do not dispute.  But a one legged man can beat a no legged man in a race.

SHARK

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #160 on: August 19, 2021, 10:09:08 PM »
Greetings!

China has recently instituted a three-child policy, as well as encouraging more and more breeding.

China certainly does have some problems, but I wouldn't expect any dramatic decline in their power, wealth, and influence anytime soon.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
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SHARK

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #161 on: August 20, 2021, 01:14:08 AM »
Greetings!

Check out this important and interesting video from the Dan Bongino program.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

Ghostmaker

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #162 on: August 20, 2021, 08:06:38 AM »
Greetings!

China has recently instituted a three-child policy, as well as encouraging more and more breeding.

China certainly does have some problems, but I wouldn't expect any dramatic decline in their power, wealth, and influence anytime soon.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
That's because their demographics are so spectacularly fucked, at one point they were buying mail order brides from North Korea.

(And it says a lot about the state of North Korea that this would be considered a HUGE step up for the women in question.)

jhkim

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #163 on: August 20, 2021, 01:22:45 PM »
And I agree, immigrants like Italian-Americans didn't leave their identity behind the moment they crossed the border. The differing identities of them and other immigrants changed the culture of the U.S. But culture always changes. That's going to happen regardless of immigration.

Different =/= Better.

Regardless, anything can be bad if taken to a stupid extreme. And diversity as I have mentioned many times before is viewed as a VIRTUE in it of itself when at best its a neutral trait.
Diversity can bring new perspectives, or it could rip apart existing sociatal sctructures. Its not a superpower or an inherent strength.

There are way too many variables and way too many criteria to say whether diversity as a whole is objectively good or bad or neutral. It's too broad and nebulous a question to answer objectively. But it seems to me that SonTodoGato, deathknight4044, and oggsmash are arguing that diversity is an inherent weakness.

Specifically in the case of the U.S. accepting non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants, I think historically, the U.S. has proven it to be a success. When I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, the diversity of the U.S. was widely taken as a traditional value - where we celebrated how the U.S. was a land of opportunity that welcomed immigrants and was a melting pot of different peoples. My father is a non-Anglo-Saxon immigrant who came to the U.S. after the Korean War.

I think that if the U.S. had only accepted Anglo-Saxon immigrants from its founding, that it never would have had the success that it has had.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #164 on: August 20, 2021, 03:01:01 PM »
And I agree, immigrants like Italian-Americans didn't leave their identity behind the moment they crossed the border. The differing identities of them and other immigrants changed the culture of the U.S. But culture always changes. That's going to happen regardless of immigration.

Different =/= Better.

Regardless, anything can be bad if taken to a stupid extreme. And diversity as I have mentioned many times before is viewed as a VIRTUE in it of itself when at best its a neutral trait.
Diversity can bring new perspectives, or it could rip apart existing sociatal sctructures. Its not a superpower or an inherent strength.

There are way too many variables and way too many criteria to say whether diversity as a whole is objectively good or bad or neutral. It's too broad and nebulous a question to answer objectively. But it seems to me that SonTodoGato, deathknight4044, and oggsmash are arguing that diversity is an inherent weakness.

Specifically in the case of the U.S. accepting non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants, I think historically, the U.S. has proven it to be a success. When I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, the diversity of the U.S. was widely taken as a traditional value - where we celebrated how the U.S. was a land of opportunity that welcomed immigrants and was a melting pot of different peoples. My father is a non-Anglo-Saxon immigrant who came to the U.S. after the Korean War.

I think that if the U.S. had only accepted Anglo-Saxon immigrants from its founding, that it never would have had the success that it has had.

   I am not arguing that.  I am saying there is a point where diversity for its own sake, and going to a point where some common national bonds are no longer evident is a negative.   When you grew up, immigration quotas from the 3rd world were being filled.  Before 1965 Europe was where the massive flow of immigration was accepted.   Your thoughts on success have absolutely zero means to be proven.  Do you have some evidence the USA was struggling somehow before 1965?    I think you could be right, but it is only a feeling, there is zero proof.  Changing immigration from massively predominantly european to developing world quotas via the Hart-Seller act may have made the USA better, I just know it can not be proven one way or the other.   I can say when leftists are losing their minds, screeching systemic racism, and seem to HATE those anglo-saxon founders with all their hearts....it will not end well. 

     I do not think that sort of thing happens due to ethnic diversity (and lets be frank here, by diversity, we mean less white people) alone.  I do think if there is a subversive, vile, poisonous influence that sees some form of gain through a tear down and "reimagining" of society, I do think diversity (and by that I mean diversity of thought and ideas) may have reached too far and created neighbors who are enemies.    I can only watch so many talking heads going on and on over a shrinking white population and counting the days till white people are no longer a majority...which is hard to understand why anyone would cheer on such a thing beyond they have some idea or agenda they think it is not prudent to disclose yet.

   All that sort of behavior is unnerving to people who wonder why, when under color of LAW it is perfectly legal to NOT hire a white person due solely to race alone and hire another person.  Add in company policies mirror this in many places, and add in academic institutions also mirror these policies in many places.   This all happens all while everyone says how important Diversity (and again, that means LESS white people, especially cis gendered white men) is to our strength, and maybe, just maybe you will get some hint as to how it is beginning to make a few people feel.  I guess if you do not wear the bullseye it seems like no big deal.  I can also understand how people think they have something "owed" to them.  Fair, but I miss how inflicting harm on a person SOLELY because of race does some sort of corrective action to an aggrieved party in the past.   All it does is create division and ill will.  Build up enough ill will, and we may both get a taste of that civil war both of us feel is extremely unlikely.