Oh Ben Carson, you silly man (praising radicalism)

[7437]

True conviction doesn't necessarily mean you have to be willing to die for what your objective.

It means acquiring through innovation and labor, the means to achieve your objective through the most efficient means possible.

If you discourage innovation in favor of single-minded courage, then you might have to turn your child into a human smart bomb to go into a marketplace to courageously blow up innocent people in the name of your objective.

If you favor innovation over blinkered courage, then you send your child to schools where he acquires the knowledge to help build guided rockets to crater the cultural snakepit from which a human smart bomb would emerge.

Which is why the west can afford to be a bit soft around the middle when fighting their enemies. Courage gets beta-maxed and reduced to smoking ruin when you brings a knife to a JDAM fight.

In my half-drunk view, (which is admittedly biased and painted in bitter bitter colors by the latest atrocity of the brave brave souls who massacred defenseless villagers, in the land of my juju-slinging ancestors, and the womb of humanity,) the difference lies in the cultural mindset which shapes the tale of the tape between the two combatants in this main event.

I mean, the west has yet to take the gloves off in this rumble. See what happens if, lets say a sacred secular institution in the West, like the super bowl, gets bombed in suicide attack by courageous Salafist's human smart bombs.

The attackers origins are traced back to Saudi Arabia.

The shock, the grief at the loss of lives, the destruction of a celebrated cultural edifice (even my ex-wife who is Balkan, and doesnt even know the rules of the game would watch it with me) death of people, and the MONEY lost through gambling and sports revenue would be huge.

The sleeping giant that is United States, now sporting a bit of a belly, and wearing pajamas at three pm, would once again be awakened, and pissed off about it too:

"Bomb the place my sacred profit? Sheeeit, well, then I guess the legacy of your prophet will be a mushroom cloud listing over the giant hole in the earth where Mecca used to be, with naught but the pages of burnt korans spiraling like dead leaves amid the ceaseless rain of fallout ash. There may also be the lingering death-incense of burnt camel, and if you listen real real close you just might hear the fading echoes of the unfulfilled prayers of the dead as even their souls could not survive the atomic heat of my innovation...all this will be a fitting monument to your courage dead....and I didnt even need to get off the couch to do bust dat shit Maw-faakaaaa!"

This was amusing, and basically correct. The USA basically plays with these engagements. Its certainly not fought as a war.

Closest we got to that was the initial invasion of Afghanistan, and we pushed the Taliban's shit in real fast.

The raw firepower we bring to the table is hard to wrap your head around. Not sure what it would take to get a response like that though. Superbowl might do it.

 

[James Keith]

He took a full wheelbarrow of shit for saying that, but it does require less courage for Dillashaw to beat Joe Who Soto than it did for him to beat Barao. He could have clarified by acknowledging that in the rare situations when America has been in deep shit and outgunned, we have displayed remarkable courage.

That controversy was much more about very poor taste. He took shit because he said it in 2001 in the country traumatized by that attack.

Though it must also be noted that suicide is a very cowardly act in a sense as well. Sure it takes momentary courage, but it's ultimately done to hide from something much more frightening.

 

[Jack V Savage]

The guy who shot them?

I know, personal responsibility is a tough concept.

The power of Sharpton's words:

We want a centralized march around a broken system that these grand jury decisions have underscored, when even with a videotape you cannot decide whether there is probable cause to go to trial. A man laying down already surrounded by police choking him, and the man saying, ‘I can’t breathe.’ You can’t tell me that’s not probable cause to send the case to trial.

is such that people have no free will after hearing them. They simply must kill. At least in the warped minds of WR hacks.

He took a full wheelbarrow of shit for saying that, but it does require less courage for Dillashaw to beat Joe Who Soto than it did for him to beat Barao. He could have clarified by acknowledging that in the rare situations when America has been in deep shit and outgunned, we have displayed remarkable courage.

It's not even about that. If it's a real, all-out war, the side with the higher GDP will win pretty much every time, even if they're perceived as being "softer."

 

[panamaican]

That's kind of important in understanding what he advocates and knowing the types of persons gathering around his soapbox, don't you think? For what it's worth, the quote itself is pretty innocuous to me. I'd have to read it within the context of his speech to know more.

But if you want a full transcript on what a moron this guy is, here's one: http://www.p2016.org/photos14/cpac14/carson030814spt.html. After reading that, go read up on his original views on healthcare reform. The guy is a pandering sellout.

I read the speech, what was moronic about it?

 

[Possum Jenkins]

I like the idea that Afghanistan "defeated" the US.

Let's see, there's something like a 100-to-1 casualty ratio, Afghanistan went from being a poor place to one of the most miserable on the planet, how exactly did they win?

I'm assuming the answer is "A large part of its population resists US presence and radical groups still exist."

In other words, the US "lost" because they were unable to control millions of peoples' thoughts and behaviors. Well, only the most arrogant and deluded would require changing of thought to be a requirement for military victory. The military is a military, they're not gods or angels that will get a mass of people to do what they want.

 

[ultramanhyata]

If I sign up for the Republican side of the shitcoin, do I get to behead a Berkeley neckbeard?

Though funny, this is also a very fair takeaway given the clear context (willingness to kill or be killed to advance one's ideology) of Carson's quote. Carson has proven himself an even greater wing-nut extremist than I had considered him previously.

 

[Cirris]

 

[glennrod]

America needs dr ben carson

 

[Hollywood Nicky]

I sent my premiums in today, it's over $24,000.00 this year IF, I stay in my network...if I don't I'm on the hook for up to $30,000.00 ADDITIONAL.

I bought the very best obamacare bullshit and I'm responsible for up to $60,000.00 per year. I won't use slavery but it's an accurate description.

i call bullshit.

 

[Like A Bas]

I read the speech, what was moronic about it?

He's not jumping off the IQ charts when he's invoking Alinsky's call to marginalize popular views as old-fashioned, when in reality traditional republican conservative views are often hilariously and detrimentally old-fashioned. The reaction to them by the "PC Police" (which paints far too broad a stroke over all liberals) is largely justifiable rather than largely forced and contrived, as he suggests by calling them bullies.

He's double-dipped, and maybe triple-dipped in shit when characterizing gay marriage as people not demanding equal rights, but rather extra rights.

When he called "Obamacare" the most massive shift in power that has ever occurred in America, and the worst thing since slavery, I thought he must be moonlighting as a drool bib's drool bib.

I didn't get an Einstein vibe when he implied that the Nazis didn't believe in what they were doing. Especially compared to his previous comments about the courage in conviction displayed by ISIS and the American Revolutionaries. Ben gets to pick and choose who really believed in what they were doing?



There is a bit more, but that's the good stuff. He's a fucking idiot.

 

[Jack V Savage]

i call bullshit.

I went to Kaiser's site and calculated the national average exchange cost for a family of five (it has options for "3 or more kids") with two 40-year-old adults and no smokers, and an income of $200K (so there would be no subsidies). It comes to $963 per month for silver (and $744 for bronze). The out-of-pocket *limit* (the most you can possibly pay) is $13.2K. Other details don't line up either. If his income is $100K, he'd be eligible for subsidies of $167 per month.

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

 

[Like A Bas]

i call bullshit.

It's obviously bullshit. WorldofWarcraft was also full of shit when he claimed that his premiums quadrupled in two years. It's not surprising that these claims are coming from extreme conspiracy theorists.

 

[Hollywood Nicky]

The point Carson was making is perfectly rational. Liberals are tearing apart the political process with their pc bullshit. We see posts about it here in the wr every day. How is he wrong?:

comparing the founding fathers to isis is pretty stupid, i get the point he was making, but it was a dumb think for a politician to say. no need to defend him.

 

[Like A Bas]

comparing the founding fathers to isis is pretty stupid, i get the point he was making, but it was a dumb think for a politician to say. no need to defend him.

The part that compares the founders to ISIS is a way of showing "look who has conviction in 2015, for shame"

That might be more appropriate if we were debating, say, a military offensive against ISIS. Or a domestic problem requiring revolutionary measures. But when we're talking about political correctness, it's goddamn obscene to make that stretch. Not just a dumb thing to say, but a very irresponsible message of radicalization and divisiveness. And it's a sentiment shared by much of the right.

 

[Hollywood Nicky]

I went to Kaiser's site and calculated the national exchange cost for a family of five (it has options for "3 or more kids") with two 40-year-old adults and no smokers, and an income of $200K (so there would be no subsidies). It comes to $963 per month for silver (and $744 for bronze). The out-of-pocket *limit* (the most you can possibly pay) is $13.2K. Other details don't line up either. If his income is $100K, he'd be eligible for subsidies of $167 per month.

http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

pretty much what i figured. he's obviously completely full of it.

 

[TheComebackKid]

A very stupid political thing to say as evidenced by the way TS immediately spun it into something completely different. But he's actually got a point.

 

[Hollywood Nicky]

The part that compares the founders to ISIS is a way of showing "look who has conviction in 2015, for shame"

That might be more appropriate if we were debating, say, a military offensive against ISIS. Or a domestic problem requiring revolutionary measures. But when we're talking about political correctness, it's goddamn obscene to make that stretch. Not just a dumb thing to say, but a very irresponsible message of radicalization and divisiveness. And it's a sentiment shared by much of the right.

it was just a real dumb thing for him to say.

 

[Denter]

Ben Carson stuffed his entire shoe down his throat today by saying this:




http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...thers-isis-both-willing-die-what-they-n287211



If I sign up for the Republican side of the shitcoin, do I get to behead a Berkeley neckbeard?



People are already trying to explain away the comment as encouraging people to have conviction. Boy, he sure could have picked a better fucking example. How about the Montgomery Bus Boycott? How about the NYC protest of the death of Eric Garner? Both were nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, and are "radical" convictions that are more appropriate for today. When would I compare the American Revolution to the Caliphate? I don't know, but not to praise courage of conviction, that is for damn sure. The phrase "giving away every belief and every value for the sake of political correctness" is, when looked at in reality, the slow and glorious death of traditional American bigotry.

That he could only point to radical solutions like armed revolt and ideological violence in the face of modern values is telling. It's a desperate analogy that doesn't hold together in any context. The praise of radical, violent action juxtaposed with our modern, moderate society illuminates the desperation. His comments remind me of the weirdest boner ever that people get when they say, "You know who was the first terrorists in America? The Founding Fathers!"

If you don't like the modern American values of non-prejudice and expansion of civil protection and rights, please do it in a way that makes just one lick of sense. Please don't go off the deep end like our boy Ben Carson and make a terrible incitement of an analogy. The right is already having serious problems with radicalization of its base when we look at issues like guns, gays and god. Don't make it worse on yourselves.

Lol, this is typical left wing ranting about time itself having some sort of moral force. Try to think for yourself a little bit?

 

[Like A Bas]

Lol, this is typical left wing ranting about time itself having some sort of moral force. Try to think for yourself a little bit?

Time isn't a moral force. Change over time is, though. And we don't even need to list the examples, do we?

Typical left wing ranting stops at "He said the founding fathers were ISIS" or other such simple shit.

 

[Jack V Savage]

pretty much what i figured. he's obviously completely full of it.

I think so. The precise figures vary a little from place to place, but I don't think there's any way to get the numbers he was using, or even close.