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Thread: Congrats US?

  1. #31
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Comparisons can be fun and informative though, even if they’re only anecdotal. I haven’t been to Brazil in around 10 years, but I used to go there frequently, mostly São Paulo and Rio, but also Brasilia, Fortaleza, and Recife. Never made it to Manaus. The thing that struck me most about about the differences between our two countries is the way I am treated when I’m just bumming around town. Brazilians have a warmth about them that I don’t feel in most U.S. cities. I love those corner lunch counters they have all over São Paulo. Nine times out of ten when I’d sit down and order a smoothie and an empanada, somebody would sit down next to me and strike up a conversation. That almost never happens in the U.S. of A.

    As for structural racism, I think over the curve of our history we’re generally moving in the right direction. Progress can be agonizingly slow and sometimes it’s two steps forward and one one step back, but big picture wise we’ve gotten better over the years. Of course there’s still work to be done, and the last four years feels like a giant step back, but I’m still optimistic about the future. Fix the institutions and the hearts and minds will follow, or so the theory goes. It ain’t gonna be fixed in my lifetime, but it’s gotten a lot better. I grew up in South Carolina during the sixties and seventies, and I’ve seen huge improvements there. When I was growing up the confederate battle flag flew on our statehouse, just below the United States flag and the state flag. It’s gone now. Hallelujah.

    Ecurb, thanks. I never knew that detail about the book and Stegner’s father.

    Wolf, I don’t know, man. I’ve always been more of a bean eater. Beans and Cornbread Mmm-Mmm good.

    Hey, anybody else find this website super slow to load a page?
    Uhhhh...

  2. #32
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Whoops, we’re tandem posting, Wolf. I was responding to your earlier entry.

    Cheers
    Uhhhh...

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ecurb View Post
    JCamilo's theory about "The Happy Prince" is nonsensical. Perhaps he thinks "The Selfish Giant" also represents a Buddhist legend. Those nail holes in the little boy's hands represent The Buddha's stigmata! What bunk!
    Not mine only. Jorge Luis Borges too. I am pretty sure a nonsensical joke about something I never said about another tale is satisfactory to you. To me, Sharing ideas with Borges is quite better.

    If Bolsonaro's problem is his mediocrity, I'd suggest that mediocrity is Trump's saving grace. Think how much trouble he could cause if he were competent enough to get anything done!
    Trump is a hell more competent than Bolsonaro. Probally a hell more competent than his predecessors republicas presidents (which is, granted, not a great feat). Trump problem is the kind of people he gave voice and power to keep himself in power and how those people answered to historical, scientifical, ethical denialism which obviously damaged the respect for institutions in USA. Bolsonaro is something way bellow. He was a failed militar (never got a higher promotion because his superiors deemed him unfit), tryied to blow a bomb on a military building, failed, was judged, condemend and to keep the image of the Army clean (it was a few years after after the end of the militar cup here) they deemed him a unfit and a retirement. He used it to claim he was going to blew a building because he was fighting for better salaries for the police, got elected and spend more than 20 years in the congress, jumping from one small party to another, proposing only 2 projects (both didnt survive) and became president. He just cannt do all the damange he was supposed to do and his money come from small drug dealers and militar militias that control part of the crime in Rio de Janeiro. It is comic of how bad he is. (For those who will be alive in 100 years).
    #foratemer

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danik 2016 View Post
    Hi, JCamilo, I somehow expected you to turn up. I hope you are fine. In fact, I´m repentant of having opened this thread. The discussion is getting into deeper waters, than I expected. I was exhilarated that the majority of US Congress voted according to conscience but I don´t want to discuss Brazilian issues here.
    I honestly hope things could improve, considering the impact Trump had here, activelly helping Bolsonaro to get elected (if not him, at least the same group). But i do not have good memories of Democrats, who were behind the help given to Sergio Moro and the cup against Dilma. I am cynical, once a country goes bananas, it is hard to get out the peel.
    #foratemer

  5. #35
    The Wolf of Larsen WolfLarsen's Avatar
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    I'm too crazy to be a communist, so I guess I'll just be a cannibal instead.
    But I promise to be bipartisan in my culinary adventures!
    And I do believe bipartisanship is a delicious solution to the problems of the USA!
    "...the ramblings of a narcissistic, self-obsessed, deranged mind."
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  6. #36
    Ecurb Ecurb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JCamilo View Post
    Not mine only. Jorge Luis Borges too. I am pretty sure a nonsensical joke about something I never said about another tale is satisfactory to you. To me, Sharing ideas with Borges is quite better.

    .
    "Sharing"? It wasn't your idea, JCamilo. Besides, you are now just making another ad hominem argument -- if Jorge Luis Borge made a claim, it MUST be right. Actually, Borge translated "The Happy Prince" when he was nine years old. It was his first published work. JCamilo's admiration for the ideas of a nine-year-old sounds about right.

    Arguing with JCamilo is like swimming upstream. Strive as one might, one never seems to get anywhere. That's because JCamilo isn't actually interested in ideas, only in declaring his knowledge of Borge's silly notions.

    I didn't know about Stegner's father, either, Sancho, until I read "Big Rock Candy Mountain". Then I got curious and looked it up.

  7. #37
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    This is a bit embarassing. Christianism is not the invention of anyone alive, yet, several christiams share the same idea, Ecurb. The meaning of the word is not that complicated.

    And yes, Young Borges (or his mother, as he like to claim) translated The Happy Prince, but it was not the 9 years old who made the comparassion betweeh the two stories, but the decades old, notable reference as critic and teacher of english poetry, student of budhism (with books, speeches and eassays about the subject) who did. You just called it silly. How cute. Not more cute than trying to teach someone which pos-graduation dissertation was about Jorge Luis Borges about some minor anedtocte about his life.

    And man, you picked Ad Hominem because it is latinized? Because an ad hominem attack is a personal insult. It is not the use of an authority to back up a claim. You dont know something to basic and is calling "Borge's silly notions". Isnt that worst than you racism towards Brasil and Brazilians motivated by a petty juvenile attack against me.

    Embarassing.
    #foratemer

  8. #38
    The Wolf of Larsen WolfLarsen's Avatar
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    I don't think the United States of America deserves congratulations for anything. Certainly not the government.
    It's the Demopublican clowns versus the Republicrat clowns. Most of them are even worse actors than Ronald Reagan! Maybe that's why Hillary Clinton praised Ronald Reagan, because he wasn't as bad as an actor as most of them.
    It's time for a third party! I'm in favor of a Multiracial Cannibalism Party. Either we need more blue-collar union jobs, or we need cannibalism! And I'm not interested in eating other working-class people, because many working-class people in America are not eating very well right now. Many working-class people in the United States of America are experiencing hunger right now! So I'm ready to eat me some rich person that's well-nourished! I want some delicious rich steak to eat!
    Communists (Trotskyist) are more in favor of a multiracial workers party. However, as I said before I'm too crazy to be a communist.
    Or how about a Multiracial Pee Party? Americans of all races and sexual preferences and national origins and religions and genders congregate at the city halls, state legislatures, Capitol Hill, the White House, & the Supreme Court and we pee at the entrances. We would not actually storm these buildings. No, no, no! We would just pee at their entrances. It's a form of nonviolent protest. Actually, it's more because in spite of all the taxes we pay here in the USA, there's not enough public toilets!
    Maybe we could have a variety of different political parties in America.
    Anyway, I don't believe America deserves congratulations. There was no choice between Joe Trump & Donald Biden.
    I think we need a better environment of freedom of speech in America. In spite of all the propaganda about freedom of speech, we seem to have less freedom to do anything than any other country I have been in. For example, in most other countries nobody bothers you if you pee on a tree when you can't find a public toilet. But in America, if you pee on a tree, some cop comes over and physically threatens you. I hear it's even worse if you're black. In America, it's a democracy for the dogs. Because the dogs have the right to pee, but you don't. The animals have more rights than we do! That's what's wrong with America! So congratulations to the dogs of the United States of America for having more rights than we do!
    You know what I'm now thinking? Nevermind cannibalism, let's eat the dogs instead! I've eaten dog. It's delicious! Maybe we need a Dog Eating Party! Seriously, I get so jealous when I have to pee, and there's not a public toilet in sight, and I see a dog peeing on a tree, and I'm thinking that dog has more rights than I do!
    So in America, there's not enough public toilets, we don't have the right to pee on a tree, and how much freedom do we writers & artists in the USA have?
    Here in the USA there's always some politically correct Democratic-voting prude trying to censor your writing or your comedy or something. Or sometimes it's a born-again Christian Republican-voting prude trying to censor your writing or your comedy or something. It's bipartisan censorship! The USA is a terrible environment to be a writer! We don't have enough freedom! We writers & artists & comedians need more freedom in the USA! The USA feels like a police state! One out of four people in jail in the world is in jail in the United States of America! Do you think that this is a free environment conducive to creativity for writers & artists?
    I felt more freedom in Brazil! I felt more freedom everywhere else I ever was! Congratulations to the rest of the world for not being the United States of America!
    "...the ramblings of a narcissistic, self-obsessed, deranged mind."
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  9. #39
    Ecurb Ecurb's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JCamilo View Post
    This is a bit embarassing. Christianism is not the invention of anyone alive, yet, several christiams share the same idea, Ecurb. The meaning of the word is not that complicated.

    And yes, Young Borges (or his mother, as he like to claim) translated The Happy Prince, but it was not the 9 years old who made the comparassion betweeh the two stories, but the decades old, notable reference as critic and teacher of english poetry, student of budhism (with books, speeches and eassays about the subject) who did. You just called it silly. How cute. Not more cute than trying to teach someone which pos-graduation dissertation was about Jorge Luis Borges about some minor anedtocte about his life.

    And man, you picked Ad Hominem because it is latinized? Because an ad hominem attack is a personal insult. It is not the use of an authority to back up a claim. You dont know something to basic and is calling "Borge's silly notions". Isnt that worst than you racism towards Brasil and Brazilians motivated by a petty juvenile attack against me.

    Embarassing.
    Verbal jousting with JCamilo is like fighting a five-year-old. Victory is easy, but there's not much glory in it.

    "Ad hominem" means "to the man". An argument is "ad hominem" if instead of arguing on the basis of facts (in this case the text of the story) someone argues that an argument is correct (or incorrect) because of who is making the argument. I thought every educated person knew this. Hmmmm. What does this say about JCamilo's education?

    I tried looking up Borges critique of "The Happy Prince", but I can't find it. Perhaps JCamilo (instead of merely asserting that Borges agrees with him) can enlighten us all as to why Borges thinks a story with such obvious Christian symbolisms and messages is "Buddhist". Typical of JCamilo's style, he seems uninterested in actually discussing literature, and more interested in name dropping.

    The notion that my claim that Brazil is just as racist as the U.S. (if not more so) makes ME a racist is so silly it need not be refuted. It's posts like this that make JCamilo seem like a tiny, yapping terrier, barking at my heels. He isn't dangerous; he can't bite; but the yapping gets annoying after a while.

  10. #40
    Ecurb Ecurb's Avatar
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    By the way, I posted about Brazil's history of racism only because WolfLarsen claimed Brazil was a superior country to the U.S. It had nothing to do with any of the Brazilians who post here, although I did mention my ongoing enmity with JCamilo in the post. Self defense is reasonable.

  11. #41
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Wolf! Ha! You crack me up, and you may be onto something. As a young man I was once arrested for urinating in public. Well okay, I wasn’t really arrested. I was just held down at the station for a few hours until the desk sergeant made it known that he wouldn’t mind too much if I just walked away. Not sure that’s a solid basis for new political party though.
    Uhhhh...

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ecurb View Post
    Verbal jousting with JCamilo is like fighting a five-year-old. Victory is easy, but there's not much glory in it.

    "Ad hominem" means "to the man". An argument is "ad hominem" if instead of arguing on the basis of facts (in this case the text of the story) someone argues that an argument is correct (or incorrect) because of who is making the argument. I thought every educated person knew this. Hmmmm. What does this say about JCamilo's education?
    Says little. But a lot about yours:

    Ad Hominem is as I described an appeal to personal offenses. Like when you repeatedly try to talk about my education or how I am a five years old.

    Here is Merriam-Webster definition for you:

    ad hominem adjective
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    ad ho·​mi·​nem | \ (ˈ)ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem , -nəm \
    Definition of ad hominem (Entry 1 of 2)
    1: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
    an ad hominem argument
    2: marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made made an ad hominem personal attack on his rival

    I am pretty sure you will still try to look smart, but it is damn impossible when you try to use expressions or words without knowing the meaning. It embarassing. Go discuss with merriam-webster.

    I tried looking up Borges critique of "The Happy Prince", but I can't find it. Perhaps JCamilo (instead of merely asserting that Borges agrees with him) can enlighten us all as to why Borges thinks a story with such obvious Christian symbolisms and messages is "Buddhist". Typical of JCamilo's style, he seems uninterested in actually discussing literature, and more interested in name dropping.
    Have you looked at it like you looked the meaning of Ad Hominem in a dictionary? But oh well, the funny thing is that your main claim is that Happy Prince has "obvious christian symbolism" and therefore cannot be a version of the Buda story. Somehow, you think Christianism is a whole original ideal, that never borrowed themes and symbols from other stories. And the funny thing... There is a whole essay named Forms of a Legend, published in Other Inquisitions where he discusses exactly how christianism absorbed Budha with the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat and that in the end mentions (translation mine, I obviously have no motive to read Borges in english or have any of his books in english): And in the end of the XIX century, Oscar Wlde, suggested a version: a happy prince dies in the reclusion of the palace, without discovering the pain, but his effigy watches it from the top of his pedestal. I didnt even try hard to, it was the first book I opened to look for it.

    So, this is one more of your attempts to insult me falling flat on your face.

    The notion that my claim that Brazil is just as racist as the U.S. (if not more so) makes ME a racist is so silly it need not be refuted. It's posts like this that make JCamilo seem like a tiny, yapping terrier, barking at my heels. He isn't dangerous; he can't bite; but the yapping gets annoying after a while.
    You cannt read, can you? You are racist not because you claimed Brazil is more racist than US, you are racist because you decided to make a broad negative comment about Brazil and Brazilians and even confessed to not know anything about the topic. And had the petty audacity to justify it based on your childish monomania with me. And no, do you think anyone here is an idiot? I wasnt even posting here, mentioned here or anything else. And if Wolf was somehow harsh, this does not justify your reaction and racism. One can easily defend USA without attacking Brazil, even more when the thread starter was a Brazilian praising Americans. All you did it is to add more feats to a shameful list.

    Your attitude is no better than the attitude of those radical Trump supporters or Bolsonaro. From an ethical point of view you act guided by ignorance, bitterness and pettiness. You just lack their power to do anything than attempt to hit cheap jabs at me and then, the hipocrysy!, winne how I have no interest for "debating". Get real dude, when a simple dictionary entry is enough, you are not in conditions to discuss Borges.
    #foratemer

  13. #43
    Ecurb Ecurb's Avatar
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    I didn't bother to read JCamilo's post. Long and dreary experience warns me against even attempting it.

    Enough of this petty sniping, though! To return to a more literary bent, I'll quote Kent, from King Lear, who may or may not have been referring to JCamilo as:

    A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a
    base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited,
    hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a
    lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson,
    glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue;
    one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a
    bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but
    the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar,
    and the son and heir of a mongrel *****: one whom I
    will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest
    the least syllable of thy addition.

  14. #44
    The Wolf of Larsen WolfLarsen's Avatar
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    The Demopublicans & Republicrats are just two different sects of Looney Tunes with the nuclear button at their disposal.
    The Demopublicans & Republicrats are so crazy that even I notice!
    I don't know whether communism or cannibalism will save us here in the USA, but we need something besides choosing between the Looney Tunes of Demopublican & Republicrat.
    I'm sorry Sancho about your bad experience.
    Here in the puritanical police state of the USA they charge people as "sex offenders" for peeing on a tree. And people in the courtroom are like: "I wasn't sex offending no tree Your Honor, I was peeing on the tree!"
    Here in Blue State liberal Chicago I was put on trial for drinking a beer in public. Imagine that! Put on trial for drinking a beer!
    Last edited by WolfLarsen; 01-13-2021 at 01:33 PM.
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  15. #45
    running amok Sancho's Avatar
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    Ha! And often times, Wolf, your offense leads to my offense, eh?

    In the words of Rodney King, “Can we all just get along?”

    I think one of the striking things about the Capital raiders is how they assumed they were supposed to be there. They didn’t hide their faces as most criminals would while committing a crime. In fact, many of them live-streamed the insurrection and even posted pictures on their social media accounts of themselves in the act of the crime. One guy had his work I.D. on a lanyard around his neck - yer busted. One guy had his old Air Force Squadron patch on his body armor vest - yer busted. I like the picture of the guy hauling off the Speaker’s podium while grinning and waving to the camera - yer busted. The most picturesque of the insurgents was of course the tatted up dude in the Viking helmet - yer busted too.

    What is it about old Nordic paraphernalia that brings out the inner whiteness in some people? Or what is it in the soul of a white suprematist that makes him want to dress up as a Viking? The Nazis certainly liked Viking imagery. So did the KKK. I’m about halfway through a good book about the Vikings - “Children of Ash and Elm, a History of the Vikings” The writer touches on these subjects. He also dispels a lot of our assumptions about Viking culture. At any rate, I can recommend this book to you-all. It gets the Sancho stamp of approval.

    Back to the insurrectionists. I think largely they were filled with indignation over the election results. There were a few who genuinely believed the election was stolen, but most of were simply indigent over the fact that black and brown people decided to vote this time around. And that’s despite the attempts of one certain political party to suppress the vote. So hooray for Stacy Abrams. She is a good example of how one person can change the world. And she did by seeing clearly what needed to be done and then by ten years of hard work.
    Uhhhh...

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