Luca

I'm not clear on how this argument is different from the notion that "Muslims should apologize for what they did on 9/11". Well, they didn't do anything on 9/11. Extremists/militants did, certainly. It was politically and religiously motivated, certainly. But Islam, as an organized religion, didn't order it or condone it in any way and, similarly, cannot be held responsible. The organization that sponsored them can, but that doesn't mean that each practitioner of Islam around the world owes an apology to the US. Sorry I didn't have an relatives who got elected to Congress and could have ended segregation sooner or prevented the Vietnam war, but it's asinine to say that I should feel guilty about it up to one hundred years after the fact when I'm only "responsible" for it by proximity in the first place.

*sighs* My family did not have a role in the United States territorial acquisition of the Philippines in 1898. As far as I'm aware, The Jim Crow laws of the early 20th century were basically the revenge of an angry southern electorate and I can't see how I might be directly or indirectly responsible for that. Nor for the effects caused by Manifest Destiny, nor for being the causes of slavery (which was my original point, that you have conveniently side-stepped). I might also add that just because I'm white doesn't mean my family had an easy time and didn't face discrimination of their own. So, again, still not seeing a direct connection or how your argument makes more sense than saying "You moved to Germany in 1939, therefore you caused WWII". The US has done a number of deplorable things. This does not mean that I caused them, and furthermore unless you can find a papertrail, there's no way that you can say that I benefited from "shooting civilians and looting their resources in the Philippines". Let's...not do the blind guilt by association thing.

Enjoy your upcoming twenty four hour shifts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derailment

This at least is a pretty important point to agree on, so it's nice to see we all have some common ground there. Honestly, it's miraculous that things are improving at all, at the moment. I'm not really sure how what the situation would be where it isn't racist, really. My family didn't get to the US until around 1905ish and didn't have a thing in the world to do with slavery before they moved here. Forgive me if I don't immediately see the need to apologize for being white just because other people, who were also white, exercised cruelty over those without the power to stop it.

If it were me, I'd stay away from it entirely. Let me tie this back to the original thread question with a thought I haven't heard as much on as I'd like (and one that deeply bothers me). Intention aside, accurate representation should be a primary factor in considering whether something is appropriate. So, for example, this St. Patrick's Day in Denver as I was getting on the light rail, I passed someone in a kilt playing Scotland the Brave on bagpipes. I would pass five other people wearing kilts that day. No doubt they would join a host of others getting unfathomably hammered that night. It should be horrifying that most Americans associate St. Patrick with being the god of beer instead of the man who brought Catholicism to Ireland (and can't tell the difference between Scotland and Ireland). But the same is true for a multitude of other things. The Buddha was not a jolly fat man, he was a wizened ascetic monk. A chocolate-egg-laying rabbit did not visit the children of the world on Easter. Saint Nicholas has nothing to do with Santa. Same goes for Saint Valentine. You could make the argument, after this string that we just have no idea how religion works or who religious figures were. But honestly, if you put on a stereotypical Indian costume (tan skin, big headdress, etc.) as a mascot is it any different? Representations of a culture by producing a narrow, shallow view of one aspect of the culture without context in the name of "doing it honor" is an abhorrent concept. It's like fiction, but saying "these people were really like this" and ends up just being degrading and damaging...both to the members of the culture's pride and the outsider's understanding of it really was.

Mmm, the Irish Catholics were primarily discriminated against because of their poverty due to anti-catholic laws that made an economically prosperous life impossible after Cromwell. They were also not the healthiest when most of them migrated, thanks to the great famine. With the very long, rough, dangerous trip over the Atlantic (when you can't afford anything to make it more manageable), the ones that didn't die along the way, died shortly after arriving or were sickly at best for a time afterwards. When they came over, they were poor and looked for jobs in the things knew best, which was mostly agriculture and manual labor trades. The Irish Catholic migrants were only really discriminated against on the grounds of religion in the US by Irish Protestant migrants that wanted to differentiate themselves from the stereotype of poor low-skill workers who came to the US to take jobs. The protestants already had laws in Ireland working to their economic advantage, so they were able to get better opportunities in the US (and wanted to keep it that way).

Genocide of the giants is a universally acceptable form of revenue. Also, if I'm new in town and go to leave, I will invariably be given a lecture by a ghostly figure about the benefits of shareware at some point.

Swimming is impossible, regardless of any experience or skill you have.

Sorry I'm poor. The good news is there's about a 100% chance I'll visit in the next three years.

http://www.urbandict...=Shameless Plug As long as no author's copyrights are being infringed, it's okay for people to use a system other than the one you made. We had a few members mention that this is a good idea, and lord knows BoA could use the activity, but I agree it would probably have to be mostly, if not all, new content and I don't really see that happening. (although I would certainly be happy if it did)

We're particular, quirky people who get along better with each other than folks in our immediate area. So, it's no surprise that a lot of us are friends separated by distance rather than strangers who happen to frequent the same internet forum. Now that I think about it, since 2011, all of my friends are CR or SW members.

Looks like it's time for a year 7 meetup at Nikki's house. Although, personally, I would be content with Lilith coming to Colorado so that the chart can no longer be represented in 2D space.

Oh please, try 1.5 million. http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/1-what-have-you-been-reading-recently/

Unfortunately, I've never been outside the country but I think this is pretty good for a poor 21 year old: Thanks for the map, Triumph. You are a lovely person, as always. Places I would be interested in visiting: Canada Finland Germany Iceland Ireland Norway Sweden UK I'm sure I could be talked into a few more countries, but there aren't really any more states I'm keen to see.

The webform also doesn't allow you to proceed to the next page unless all questions are answered on your current page. So either that didn't happen or you took a different test somewhere else.

Okaaay, but https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012

SW clickbait? These are dark days, indeed.

Honestly, there's a number of these that I would have preferred a neutral option to, or at least more questions for a better reading. I've taken this test twice and there was a marked movement just between some basic weighting (even if the ultimate decision was the same). For the number of questions asked, I guess I should be surprised. First test: Economic Left/Right: -7.88 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.08 Second test: Economic Left/Right: -8.25 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.18 The midpoint between these two is -8.07, -6.13, so I guess I'll go with that.

Since we're having such luck with amethysts, here are some of mine: https://c312441.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/files.calref/31/c4861818_DSC_1799.jpg https://c312441.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/files.calref/31/13ac275d_DSC_1809.jpg

That's...literally a direct quote from Sy poking fun at you for doing bizarre and draconian things due to conspiracy theories...You know. Satire? Anyway, whether I post my ten words highlighting an amusing credibility flaw here or at CalRef (where five out of nine of the players are and discuss this game anyway) makes no difference to me. But it's worth pointing out the impromptu shock reaction.

I feel like this is, traditionally, not how credibility works.

What would be awesome is that if everyone but one person was privately told that they were the spy. You're the only normal one. It's too late for you now.

HARALD, MY HERO

Calamity Refuge HQ: https://c312441.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/files.calref/31/1ceb5d9c_DSC_1718.jpg Going clockwise from the top, my desk, Sylae's desk, and Iffy's desk. https://c312441.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/files.calref/31/b0bab610_untitled.PNG https://c312441.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/files.calref/31/dc615fc7_DSC_1732.jpg My personal desk in the back, where it's quiet and I can work alone.