Hey want to take a survey?

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Yes, because you are the entire folder of posters... aren't you?

 

If I knew you wouldn't go whine about things I do or say (a very liberal tendency), I'd reply as I really want to.

 

Kotzenjunge

Hands are Tied

[Guest Mr. Slim Citrus]

(no-selling Marney and Kotzenjunge's "flame" war...)

 

 

1. Complete the sentence with the one ending that most reflects your opinion:

 

An Ordinary Person...

 

A. should take an active role in community affairs

B. should be interested in community affairs

C. should participate only in religious activities

D. should obey all laws

E. need not be active in community affairs

 

2. What aspect of the United States are you most proud of? (Just a short one or two word answer)

 

Capitalism

 

3. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust local law?

 

Yes or No

 

4. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust national law?

 

Yes or No

 

5. How much confidence do you have in each of the following institutions:

 

A. Great Deal

B. Quite a Lot

C. Not Much

D. Very Little

E. None

 

(Answer for each of the following)

A -Armed Forces

A -Police

B -Civil Service

B -Congress

E -Education system

C -Church

B -Major Corporation

E -The press

D -Labor Unions

C -The Legal System

 

6. I am very proud to be an American.

 

Yes or No

 

7. I would be willing to fight for my country.

 

Yes or No

[Guest hardyz1]

1. Complete the sentence with the one ending that most reflects your opinion:

 

An Ordinary Person...

 

B. should be interested in community affairs

 

2. What aspect of the United States are you most proud of? (Just a short one or two word answer)

 

Bill of Rights

 

3. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust local law?

 

Yes

 

4. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust national law?

 

No

 

5. How much confidence do you have in each of the following institutions:

 

A. Great Deal

B. Quite a Lot

C. Not Much

D. Very Little

E. None

 

(Answer for each of the following)

-Armed Forces: A

-Police: B

-Civil Service: B

-Congress: C

-Education system: D

-Church: E

-Major Corporation: C

-The press: C

-Labor Unions: C

-The Legal System: C

 

6. I am very proud to be an American.

 

Yes

 

7. I would be willing to fight for my country.

 

No

[Guest Cancer Marney]

you are the entire folder of posters... aren't you?

Irrelevant. I was the only one who "embraced" Chris, and you posted immediately afterwards, saying that you hoped to gain the same respect. You didn't post in this forum at the time Chris did, so you don't know whether he was respected then or not. (He wasn't. But after dealing with hypocrites, liars, and fools like you, SKBF, RobJohnstone, et al, I've come to appreciate what I had in Chris - someone who was sincere, smart, and goodhearted, if misguided - someone to whom the issues, the arguments, and his own values, rather than the person, mattered - someone who forced me to think in order to refute him. You lot I can refute simply by quoting your previous posts, because you're such incompetent and inveterate liars. When Chris says he wouldn't fight for his country, I know it's because he thinks war is wrong. When you say you would, I don't believe you. I have more respect for Chris's nonviolence than I have for your professed patriotism.) The only basis the hope you expressed could possibly have had was my respect. And as that was clearly denied you, you felt the need to hurriedly backtrack and claim you never wanted it in the first place... those grapes must've been really sour.

 

You've formed a one-sided love/hate relationship with me, following me around from thread to thread and forum to forum, trying to gain my attention and my respect, yet at the same time unable to resist spitefully attacking me from the sidelines without committing yourself, whenever and however you can.

I, on the other hand, usually just ignore you, because I find your desperate pursuit of my attention childish and contemptible. Chris occasionally made me feel angry, because I took him seriously. Your ilk makes me feel only disgust, impatience, scorn, and sometimes pity.

 

If I knew you wouldn't go whine about things I do or say... I'd reply as I really want to

Leaving aside the question of whether I'd "go whine" to anyone, and whether I'd be heeded, you've just confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt the fact that you're a coward. You don't reply honestly to any post, because you're afraid of the consequences. And what consequences could there be? Banning, at the very most? You're not only cringing like a beaten cur, you're cringing from something insignificant. And you're not only willing but eager to compromise who you are in the process.

 

Remind me, why should anyone take you seriously? You don't even have the guts to stand up for your beliefs. Pathetic. Utterly pathetic. However silly Chris sometimes was, he always said what he felt, and he wasn't afraid to back it up.

And to imply that my "whining" would make more of a difference than the facts in a given case is to insult the professionalism not only of the mods but the admins who oversee them.

 

The only time I've warned you in any way was when you blatantly trolled for flames over two long, tiresome pages. I told you that I considered your behaviour inappropriate and that I would take the matter to a mod if you continued to post flamebait. You gave your word that you'd never do that again, so, in theory, you have nothing to be afraid of.

 

But then, the word of a liar and a coward has always been worth less than nothing.

 

 

 

PS. Sorry for going so far off-topic, Slapnuts00. I'm done with this ridiculous waste of skin now.

Everyone else, kindly follow Citrus's excellent example.

[Guest KoR Fungus]

1. Complete the sentence with the one ending that most reflects your opinion:

 

An Ordinary Person...

 

B. should be interested in community affairs

 

2. What aspect of the United States are you most proud of? (Just a short one or two word answer)

 

Freedom of Speech

 

3. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust local law?

 

No, even changing a local law takes much more effort than most ordinary people are willing to put in.

 

4. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust national law?

 

No

 

5. How much confidence do you have in each of the following institutions:

 

(Answer for each of the following)

-Armed Forces - B

-Police - B

-Civil Service - B

-Congress - C

-Education system - C

-Church - E

-Major Corporation - C

-The press - B

-Labor Unions - E

-The Legal System - C

 

6. I am very proud to be an American.

 

Yes

 

7. I would be willing to fight for my country.

 

No

[Guest KoR Fungus]

<<<Why so many No's for #7. If WWIII broke out you could really say you won't go and fight.>>>

 

If WWIII broke out and the US was fighting for its very survival, I might have to reconsider my position. Under most circumstances, though, such as a war with Iraq, I wouldn't be willing to fight, because I'm not willing to potentially sacrifice my life for a cause that I don't wholeheartedly believe in.

[Guest DrTom]

Woo-hoo, it's survey time!

-----------

 

1. Complete the sentence with the one ending that most reflects your opinion:

 

An Ordinary Person...

 

B. should be interested in community affairs.

 

2. What aspect of the United States are you most proud of? (Just a short one or two word answer)

 

The Bill of Rights.

 

3. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust local law?

 

No, for a reason similar to the one Marney posted. I don't think a person has to be extraordinary to change a local law, but they have to have persistence, dedication, vim, and vigor that are all well above average. Thus, I think it takes an above-average person to change a local law, which by definition doesn't make them ordinary.

 

4. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust national law?

 

No. Add "the patience of Job and an incredibly high tolerance for bullshit and nausea" to the qualifications above.

 

5. How much confidence do you have in each of the following institutions:

 

A. Great Deal

B. Quite a Lot

C. Not Much

D. Very Little

E. None

 

(Answer for each of the following)

-Armed Forces: A

-Police: B

-Civil Service: B

-Congress: C

-Education system: D

-Church: E

-Major Corporation: B

-The press: D

-Labor Unions: E

-The Legal System: C

 

6. I am very proud to be an American.

 

Yes.

 

7. I would be willing to fight for my country.

 

I'd be willing to, yes, but I doubt they'd take me, and I doubt I'd last long in the military if they did.

[Guest Some Guy]

1. Complete the sentence with the one ending that most reflects your opinion:

 

An Ordinary Person...

 

B. should be interested in community affairs

 

2. What aspect of the United States are you most proud of? (Just a short one or two word answer)

 

Bill of Rights

 

3. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust local law?

 

Yes

 

4. Do you feel an ordinary person can do something effective to change an unjust national law?

 

Yes

 

5. How much confidence do you have in each of the following institutions:

 

A. Great Deal

B. Quite a Lot

C. Not Much

D. Very Little

E. None

 

(Answer for each of the following)

-Armed Forces A

-Police B

-Civil Service B

-Congress C

-Education system D

-Church D

-Major Corporation C

-The press D

-Labor Unions E

-The Legal System C

 

6. I am very proud to be an American.

 

Yes

 

7. I would be willing to fight for my country.

 

Yes

[Guest EricMM]

And if anyone's curious, in terms of averages, this board on average thinks that:

The Military is doing: Very well (4.44)

The Police are doing: So-so (3.80)

Civil services are: So-so (3.36)

Congress is doing: So-so (3.00)

Education is: Badly (2.42)

The church performs: Badly (2.08)

Corporations are doing their jobs: Badly (2.44)

The press is doing their job: Badly (2.36)

Unions are performing: Badly (2.18)

The legal system in america is: So-so (3.08)

 

So from best to worst:

Military 4.44

Police 3.80

Civil services: 3.36

Legal System: 3.08

Congress: 3.00

Corporations: 2.44

Education: 2.42

The Press: 2.36

Unions: 2.18

Church: 2.08

 

Any huge disagreements? I don't understand why people be hating on the church. And supporting the legal system? Discuss!!

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Hey, thanks for putting that together, Eric. Very interesting. What was the mean deviation?

 

I think a lot of the Church-hate might have to do with the recent paedophile scandals and her refusal to make herself accountable to her parishioners, as well as her continuing efforts to remain above the law.

For the record, I think those incidents were shameful and rightly brought scorn on the Church as a whole; I also believe that she will never reform unless the government forces reform on her. There is no structural accountability whatsoever within the Church and there is no process for change. Revelation tends to work that way.

Nevertheless, the Church does good as well as evil, and I believe it is the laity who ultimately comprise her, rather than the bishops and the Pope.

 

As for the legal system, I think its successes outweigh its failures, which is why I gave it a B grade. And it at least has the potential to reform itself; there is a process and it works. For every dumbfuck tort suit, for every OJ Simpson, there are countless successes. But we (correctly) see justice as an natural right, so when it's upheld, it might not be reported, whereas when it's egregiously violated it makes the headlines for days.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Wait, I took the church option to mean organized religion as a whole. Oops.

 

Same feeling about the legal system, the good outweighs the bad. After all, if there was so much of the bad, we wouldn't hear about excessive lawsuits or people getting off scot-free, as average stuff isn't talked about much.

 

Kotzenjunge

Would've said little faith instead of none if Church was just Catholics

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Could just be my mistake. I automatically read capital-C "Church" as the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The survey might have meant organised religion, all Christian churches taken together, or something else.

 

Slapnuts00? Clarification?

 

PS. Any chance we can call you something other than Slapnuts00? Typing it out is weird, and shortening it doesn't work either. "Slappy?" "Nuts?" "Double O?"

Okay, I'll stop now.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Since the questions for this dealt with confidence and not whether or not we approved of the particular topic, I was surprised (actually not THAT surprised) that a "major corporation" was ranked so low.

 

Now I know it's like totally rad to hate corporations and the rich, but I have a fair amount of confidence that the product I'm purchasing from a corporation will be of good quality. I've yet to buy a can of Pepsi and find it full of poision. 99% of the time I'm satisfied with the taste and find it very refreshing.

 

Again, whether or not you approve of corporations, capitalism or the free-market, you have to admit that corporations do a good job of providing people with quality products at reasonable prices. I have way more confidence in a corporation to provide us with better cars, computers, food, shoes and clothes than a government ever could.

[Guest EricMM]

Well I was very curious. All I did was look at every post, give a 5 for a A and so on, add those up and divide by 18 (except the Labor Unions because SOMEONE had to be difficult, that was divided by 17)

 

Further more, America herself scored a 2.91, which is NOT high enough to grade up THEREFORE america is doing: Badly.

 

Oh dear.

 

Does everyone realize that overall, nothing besides the Armed forces scored higher than a C? I guess we can't expect anything to score a A, since there will always be people who dislike things (like someone who failed everything, what are we MEXICO?) but I was hoping things like our Press would get better than a D. I mean almost everyone said "freedom of speech" as their favorite thing, or included it in the bill of rights, but most people gave it a C or lower.

 

Congress got almost all C's except two B's and (sigh) a 1. The armed forces WOULD have gotten over a 4.5 (as close to an A as I think we'd've gotten) but for that 1.

 

Nothing else of note..

 

I took the "church" to mean all churches, including mine, which isn't Catholic. I think that religion does more good than harm in this country, much like I guess the courts. I mean sure it did turn out RobJohnStone, and that's like... disgusting, but still. It advocates the Golden Rule, which is something I think Major Corps and Unions don't. But they scored higher. I mean if you are athiest, maybe you should have null voted too? The only catagories that got serious E's were Church, Unions, and Press, maybe education.

 

What should we do to fix these?

[Guest Cancer Marney]

I was hoping things like our Press would get better than a D. I mean almost everyone said "freedom of speech" as their favorite thing, or included it in the bill of rights, but most people gave it a C or lower.

I think the explanation for that lies in the fact that the first question (#2: "What aspect of the United States are you most proud of?") was general, whereas the second (#5h, "How much confidence do you have in the institution of the press?") was specific; the second question isn't synonymous with freedom of speech. It's a part of it, but it isn't the same question. I gave it a 3.00 because I dislike the way both networks and cable channels package information as entertainment, rarely do any real investigative work, and thrive on controversy and titillation instead of news. Of course, they're commercial enterprises, so that has to be expected to some degree. Nevertheless I think there's a real and growing market for actual news.

 

[Churches advocate] the Golden Rule, which is something I think Major Corps and Unions don't

Right, and they also do much more good works for much better reasons. I don't think atheists should have put in an N/A by default, because the Church (or churches, or organised religion as a whole) is a social entity as well as a religious one.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Could just be my mistake. I automatically read capital-C "Church" as the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The survey might have meant organised religion, all Christian churches taken together, or something else.

 

Slapnuts00? Clarification?

 

PS. Any chance we can call you something other than Slapnuts00? Typing it out is weird, and shortening it doesn't work either. "Slappy?" "Nuts?" "Double O?"

Okay, I'll stop now.

lol, Marney it's a wrestling thing. If Slapnuts is too difficult you can just call me by my name, Mike. Anyway I was confused about the distiction too, but I'm assuming since it said CHURCH and not religion, that you were correct in your assumption.

[Guest papacita]

Any huge disagreements? I don't understand why people be hating on the church. And supporting the legal system? Discuss!!

Well, when speaking of churches, all I can comment on are those in African American communities (in Philly specifically), and I gave them an "E" because the vast majority of them do shit for the community. You'll always hear black people complaining about other ethnic groups coming into our communities and taking up all of the businesses, and the second we get some money we go and build another damn church instead of something useful. There is no reason that we should have 2 or 3 churches every other block, because not only do they take money away from the community, but they also play a role in dividing the community, because it makes it harder for people to get to know one another.

 

Rant over.

[Guest Razor Roman]

1. E

 

(the more people involved the better, but you don't have to be)

 

2. Our freedom

 

3. Absolutely Yes

 

4. Yes

 

5.

 

-Armed Forces A

-Police B

-Civil Service C

-Congress B

-Education system C

-Church C

-Major Corporation C

-The press E

-Labor Unions E

-The Legal System D

 

 

 

6. Yes

 

7. Yes