I just puked! Really!
Cute bartenders make me go and order drinks, so at the very least I can talk to them. I feel so fucking sick. I can hear Rhonda's voice echoing in my head...."That's right Jay! Feel that shit! You deserve it for drinking!" Oy vey..good thing I don't talk to her anymore. I just drank up all of my brother's soda and immediately puked it up! Haha!
@paul I think you went over the top and read things into Josh's posts that simply weren't there - i.e. making excuses for the mass killing of civilians. I don't think anyone believes that killing civilians is O.K. - what Josh said though is technically correct. The bombs ended the war. Japan had 5,000 planes and 3,000,000 soldiers who would rather have died "honorably" than accept defeat. It would have been a knock down, drag out fight with many more casualties. That is not equal to saying that using nukes is A-Okay - clearly in hindsight we all know that using nukes is awful - but rather it is a line of reasoning that says if those nukes had not been dropped we would have seen many more deaths. We very well may have killed multiples of that number, and they may likely have done the same. There is a distinction (very hard to articulate, and very hard to understand) between excusing the use of nukes and offering a plausible alternative account of history. I really feel like you went too far in attacking Josh without trying to figure out the point he was trying to make - and I blame Josh for using language that is basically a written invitation for that kind of reaction (I was always better at articulating this shit).
There was one word in your post that stood out for me though, and I want to elaborate on it a bit. Some people don't have the stomach to embrace what I'm about to say, because it sounds preachy and perhaps too philosophical, but I believe so firmly that it is relevant to this and countless other topics. Compassion is a word that is often spoken, but rarely practiced or exercised in reality. It is so difficult for us as humans to be truly compassionate because it requires us to remove every barrier between ourselves and others which are literally pounded into our brains since birth. Instead we practice what I call "conditional compassion" - people believe in being compassionate sometimes, and not compassionate other times - with the barriers being race, gender, religion, sexuality, political affiation, you fill in the blank. I know many people who feel compassion for gays, but yet feel no compassion for the unborn, or for muslims, or for christians or jews, so on and so forth. It's not necessary to go through all the permutations, you get the idea. It is a lack of compassion that enables war, poverty, and oppression. It is a lack of compassion that allows people to disrespect the homeless, or to treat them like they are less than human. As much as I lament the lack of compassion I believe whole heartedly that we are capable of complete and true compassion - the kind that will get us over the hump and allow us to eradicate the war, the poverty, the oppression, and other such things. I can't emphasize it enough - we are capable of being 100% compassionate, but it will take some work on everyone's part! I have come to the conclusion that more than anything else I want to strive throughout my lifetime to become a completely compassionate person. My soul won't rest without that happening. Compassion, love, and belief in the unity of the human race will save us and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity.
Jason
@paul I think you went over the top and read things into Josh's posts that simply weren't there - i.e. making excuses for the mass killing of civilians. I don't think anyone believes that killing civilians is O.K. - what Josh said though is technically correct. The bombs ended the war. Japan had 5,000 planes and 3,000,000 soldiers who would rather have died "honorably" than accept defeat. It would have been a knock down, drag out fight with many more casualties. That is not equal to saying that using nukes is A-Okay - clearly in hindsight we all know that using nukes is awful - but rather it is a line of reasoning that says if those nukes had not been dropped we would have seen many more deaths. We very well may have killed multiples of that number, and they may likely have done the same. There is a distinction (very hard to articulate, and very hard to understand) between excusing the use of nukes and offering a plausible alternative account of history. I really feel like you went too far in attacking Josh without trying to figure out the point he was trying to make - and I blame Josh for using language that is basically a written invitation for that kind of reaction (I was always better at articulating this shit).
There was one word in your post that stood out for me though, and I want to elaborate on it a bit. Some people don't have the stomach to embrace what I'm about to say, because it sounds preachy and perhaps too philosophical, but I believe so firmly that it is relevant to this and countless other topics. Compassion is a word that is often spoken, but rarely practiced or exercised in reality. It is so difficult for us as humans to be truly compassionate because it requires us to remove every barrier between ourselves and others which are literally pounded into our brains since birth. Instead we practice what I call "conditional compassion" - people believe in being compassionate sometimes, and not compassionate other times - with the barriers being race, gender, religion, sexuality, political affiation, you fill in the blank. I know many people who feel compassion for gays, but yet feel no compassion for the unborn, or for muslims, or for christians or jews, so on and so forth. It's not necessary to go through all the permutations, you get the idea. It is a lack of compassion that enables war, poverty, and oppression. It is a lack of compassion that allows people to disrespect the homeless, or to treat them like they are less than human. As much as I lament the lack of compassion I believe whole heartedly that we are capable of complete and true compassion - the kind that will get us over the hump and allow us to eradicate the war, the poverty, the oppression, and other such things. I can't emphasize it enough - we are capable of being 100% compassionate, but it will take some work on everyone's part! I have come to the conclusion that more than anything else I want to strive throughout my lifetime to become a completely compassionate person. My soul won't rest without that happening. Compassion, love, and belief in the unity of the human race will save us and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity.
Jason