[OT] Nation bashing

[Krsqk]

Anarchy is not a functional (functionable?) political structure. Government exists to arbitrate disputes arising from the infringement of one person's freedom on another's. Without a government, anarchy quickly devolves into a "might makes right" system. It also relies on all individuals being unselfish, rational creatures. It does not address, for instance, what should be done with the mentally ill, or those who steal/rape/kill for the pleasure of it (as opposed to need/provocation). If everyone is allowed to do what they wish, no one will have any recourse from injustice other than their personal firearm(s). Not exactly what I would call an ideal society.

[Aloofi]

Hehehe, this thread its cooool!

I didn't know you guys engaged in this kind of dixcuxions....
My 2 cents:
1- The US its going to lose to the Arabs.
2- The US will collapse, probably into civil war, then the world economy will collapse, then everybody will be poorer, and we will live in world like in "Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel".

[Aloofi]

Oh, and I forgot to tell that we will never make it to another planet.

[sven]

Originally posted by Wizarc:
Hmm, I thought being a Christian was just believing that you believed in a higher power a.k.a whatever the name is for God in their religion.

So now there is a religious class called Christian like Baptist, Catholic, etc?

Depends on who you ask...

I would tend to think that a christian is anyone who believes in the christian god, ie; Christ. However I know certain christian sects have different definitions, for instance my in-laws are born-agains (or pentecostal or evangelical or whatever the heck it is) and according to their dogma only people of that particular denomination are christian.

I'm not sure exactly what they consider the catholics, lutherans, anglicans and all the other denominations to be - but they sure don't consider them "christian".

[dogscoff]

You mean we're going to end up living in a state of post apocolyptic anarchy? Cool, I'll have to watch Mad Max and Akira and The Stand again, just to remind myself how to survive. i don't remember the details but IIRC the important thing is to have lots of motorbikes...

Anarchy is a nice idea, and one distant day it might even be made to work in some bizarre form (think Culture novels- although technically that's more of a benign deified technocracy, but I digress.) However, as Krsqk points out, you are at the mercy of petty criminals and maurauding warlords kinda like in Xena warrior princess.

That said I do think that ignorance and discontentment would be less widespread in a society with no "big biz" and therefore rape/ murder/ drug abuse/ violence would also be reduced (although not eliminated by any means.)

The other major bummer with anarchy is that it would probably result in technology being set back several hundred years, because modern tech relies on complex business and production infrastructures that would be very hard to maintain in an ungoverned state. You'd have a few mad scientists and small-scale technology producers here and there, but by and large the world would start to resemble some kind of Amish Paradise.

[AJC]

THE END IS NEAR... quick everyone get out and buy duct tape and pLastic...

[dogscoff]

A Christian would be defined as someone who believes in Christ as the Messiah. I've also heard it said that you have to believe in the resurrection to be a Christian.

Plenty of atheists believe Christ lived, but that he was just a very persuasive mortal man.

Muslims believe in Christ as an important prophet, but not the Messiah. Not sure were Judaism stands on that issue. Hindus/ Sikhs etc aren't stemmed from the same sources, so they probably don't care one way or the other.

Personally, I think you should only be able to claim Christianity if you go to church regularly, or at least pray a lot. I know plenty of people who claim to be Christian but haven't seen the inside of a church since some cousin got married. It doesn't bother me that much since I'm an atheist anyway, but it does seem hypocritical to claim christianity without actually doing anything to prove it.

I've probably just offended someone haven't I? Sorry, just IMO.