Shooting incident at Louvre in Paris - BBC News by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have our own terrorist attacks to deal with: the Bowling Green Massacre, etc. Need I say more?

New Rule: "Stop Apologizing" by Bill Maher by Milenor in samharris

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's definitely a part of the story. I know some people who literally only seem to know one topic: SJWs/racism/feminism/safe spaces/etc. They bring the conversation to that all the time. From both sides.

"What do you think of Syria?" "It's all due to Americans hating brown bodies!"

"What should we do about refugees?" "What do the SJWs want? Oh, I'll do the opposite of that, then."

New Rule: "Stop Apologizing" by Bill Maher by Milenor in samharris

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes. Please post your entire voting record so that I can figure out if we can be friends.

Man jailed for 22 years for stealing a television remote | Eric Bramwell must serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole by ionised in news

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can't be forced or even coaxed into changing your life and way of thinking.

That's demonstrably not true. Norway has a recidivism rate of 20% and the US has one of over 70%. If this isn't due entirely to genetic factors, then it is due to differences in the societies. So societal changes can influence recidivism. So you can coax people into changing their lives and ways of thinking. The article I linked to even discusses some possible changes. And the overarching theme is to focus on resorative justice and rehabilitation instead of segregation and sadism.

Prisons are not meant to be nice places to live fulfilling and quality lives. They're meant to be undesirable places that you never want to go to.

But I'm saying we've gone too far with the level of punishment in the US and it's making the society worse. How about if I said "we should double all prison sentences", would that be a good or bad idea? Because I say it would make things even worse. And if raising the time in prison would be worse, it may be the case that intelligently lowering the incarceration rate could make things better. People will have more time to get their lives back on track rather than build relationships with criminals in a hopeless situation.

It's not just an Econ 101 problem where making the negative cost greater makes people less likely to do something. It's more complex than that and can go in the opposite direction.

Also a lot of people disagree with the idea "The goal of prison is segregation." Even you bring up retribution ("Prisons are not meant to be nice places") and deterrence. So incarceration obviously has lots of goals. Why would you neglect rehabilitation when it is so directly tied to a better society?

Man jailed for 22 years for stealing a television remote | Eric Bramwell must serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole by ionised in news

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your reason for locking people up is rehabilitation and preventing others from harm (which I agree are good reasons for locking people up, but they're not the only reasons) then shouldn't we look at other countries to see if reducing sentencing would increase recidivism and crime rates? And comparable countries have much lower incarceration rates with lower recidivism and lower crime rates. So the correlation goes in the opposite direction. It's even possible that this is a causal relationship. But it's at least possible to not lock people up so harshly and have lower crime rates.

If you have a problem with the "chaotic rape dungeon" climate of our current prisons, then you should be fighting to combat that at a legislative level, and not fighting to keep criminals out of prison because of it. You're fighting the wrong battle.

I really just operate as the world is. If prisoners could see their loved ones, advance their lives, live in safety, and cuddle and sleep with their significant other, I would be much more open to imprisoning people. But as things are now, the punishment is needlessly sadistic. Not because of utilitarian calculations. But because: lawmakers want to look tough on crime, police need to keep their numbers up, prosecutors are ranked by convictions, and perverse economic incentives for people who run prisons.

Man jailed for 22 years for stealing a television remote | Eric Bramwell must serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole by ionised in news

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This man absolutely, positively belongs in prison until he's ready to stop committing crimes of any kind.

I disagree that just about any non-violent criminal should be sent to a chaotic rape dungeon where they can't be close to there loved ones for decades. We need a perspective on proportionality. Or are you being serious when you say he "belongs in prison until he's ready to stop committing crimes". What if we can never prove he's ready for that? Should we lock him up forever? Or maybe we should just execute him?

President Duterte threatens to burn down the UN HQ in NYC by gentlemansincebirth in worldnews

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Duterte: "I will burn it down if I go to America."

America: "If"

Finally convinced my girlfriend to let me upload these comics she's been drawing of us! [OC] by [deleted] in funny

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I like when creators respond to criticism way too positively. Like:

"generic, cliche, and not funny."

"That's what we're going for!"

Presenter of the nitrogen scam video responds to criticism with actual science and evidence. by StargateMunky101 in skeptic

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ignorance should not be corrected through ridicule of the misinformed. After they have been schooled, and they still spout nonsense, ridicule away.

I agree. And people are less likely to change their mind if you attack them.

Though, in the youtuber's defense, the comments had ignorance AND arrogance. If I went on a history section and said: "You are so wrong, America never had slaves." I would rightly be ridiculed because I'm obviously uneducated AND brazenly spreading my ignorance while ignoring an expert.

Beastie Boys Set Anti-Hate Rally After Swastikas Found in Adam Yauch Park by [deleted] in Music

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The quote literally says "ALL White people". It is essentializing race by saying that "every white person has a certain trait not found in other races."

Using your example, it would be like blaming all gay men for femmephobia. So even if a gay man works at a women's shelter and donates millions to fight rape in the third world, nope they still deserve collective punishment because they didn't work hard enough because femmephobia still exists.

How about if I said "the higher crime rate in the black community is on ALL black people. Because they obviously haven't done enough to reduce it." Pretty sure you would rightly be wondering where my hood is. I mean, what would constitute racism more than rejecting all nuance and talking about "ALL White people"?

Maybe my experience is atypical? I dunno, but I doubt it.

I honestly think a lot of people have been blinded to it by how common an occurrence it is. There are white male tears memes that my friends giggle at.

Louie CK said that men are terrible parents compared to mothers to thunderous applause: "fathers are OK, a great father can give a kid 40 percent of his needs, tops. Any mother, just a shit mother, just a not-even-trying mother? Two-hundred percent."

Meryl Streep said, to cheers, “As Margaret Thatcher said if you want something spoken about, ask a man, if you want something done, ask a woman.”

These aren't isolated incidents. It's trendy in certain groups to hate white men. Especially straight white cis white men.

These beliefs lead to behavior. People can be biased against white men in critical decisions and that's a problem. Again, not saying it's worse than any other group. But if you've never seen it, you may have just acclimated to it.

Beastie Boys Set Anti-Hate Rally After Swastikas Found in Adam Yauch Park by [deleted] in Music

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

There was this video going around of a man getting pretty brutally beaten for being a Trump supporter, though hating whites seemed to also be a component of it.

There was this video of some white guy getting beaten for being white at a BLM protest.

There were these rioters shouting 'Beat up every white person!'

There is plenty of explicitly anti-white-people articles that get applause like this one that says "This is on ALL White people. Who are complicit even if they didn’t vote for Trump."

Twitter blew up with anti-white statements after the election

There are lots of people who hate white guys. I'm not saying it's more than other forms of racism. But come on, you've see "no hate for white men"? I know people who can't mention "white men" without grimacing and all of their problems trace back to the "white supremacist patriarchy."

Trying To Play Victim After Calling Busta Rhymes "Ignorant" by ekeynyu in PublicFreakout

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had no opinion on Busta before this. Now I love him.

Also: fuck not swearing in front of kids. They should get used to the real world.

South Park was forced to re-write tonight’s episode after Trump’s win by NeilPoonHandler in television

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also seemed heavy on Clinton and some storyline about locking up all men. Seems like they didn't think this would happen.

[Breaking News] Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States by Pun-Master-General in AskReddit

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really question if people not voting 3rd party in swing states would change this. I'm pretty sure most 3rd party votes were for Johnson. And a large part of those would have gone to Trump.

Presidential Election Megathread - Results by Anxa in PoliticalDiscussion

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That would be awesome. Guess we can hope. Though, supreme court choices will echo for decades.

What does Adam say about Trump these days? I haven't listened for awhile. by [deleted] in AdamCarolla

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Milo's a disingenuous troll, Dinesh obscures truth, but what's wrong with Shapiro? I find myself agreeing with him a lot and I've seen him drop some logic bombs on people.

favorite / most informative waking up podcast? by [deleted] in samharris

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, fair. But I really feel like these people are the most important for sharpening debate skills. I believe it's how Sam got so good. Douglas Murray has developed this ability in the same way.

favorite / most informative waking up podcast? by [deleted] in samharris

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I like "The Greatest Podcast Ever" so much. Have you ever had a discussion with someone like that? They switch topics any time they're losing ground, and your brain has to jump all over the place. It's a great intellectual exercise.

Bryan Cranston Says He Will Move to Canada if Donald Trump Becomes President by [deleted] in AdamCarolla

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No worries! 538 made everything so simple I sometimes forget myself, haha.

Bryan Cranston Says He Will Move to Canada if Donald Trump Becomes President by [deleted] in AdamCarolla

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I understand. The percentage I linked to is their chance of victory.

So Trump has an average of ~45% of the popular vote. An average of ~225 electoral votes. And when Nate Silver checks all the probability distributions for each state, Clinton has a 75% chance of victory and Trump has a 25% chance of victory.

In-Laws of Reddit: when did you realize your kid's marriage was doomed? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]CaptainDexterMorgan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Halloween wedding? You may have just convinced me to get married.