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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#262351: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:11:58 AM

That and Matt Bevin (Kentucky's current governor) is a piece of work himself.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Friendperson Since: May, 2018
#262352: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:16:48 AM

I'm mad that climate change took a complete backseat to all the other issues this election cycle. That shit is literally going to fuck us over so hard and we need to do something, now.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#262353: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:19:45 AM

Why? Half of the work that can be done against climate change requires the co-operation of the executive branch, and the other half is filtered through state governments anyway.

Plus democrats are less science-phobic and inclined to do something about it anyway.

But people tend not to make votes based on what's going to happen thirty years down the line, so you don't campaign on it (look at the general success rate of green parties)

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#262354: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:20:12 AM

Given that the GOP outright refuses to do anything about it, having flipped a bunch of Governorships is the best option to fight climate change for now.

Well, the best available.

[up]well, according to Poll s the Greens are ATM the 2nd most popular party in Germany...

Edited by 3of4 on Nov 20th 2018 at 6:21:37 PM

"You can reply to this Message!"
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#262355: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:23:44 AM

The impression I have is that climate change can become an important issue only if a) there is nothing else to talk about (e.g Switzerland right now) or b) if it is having a substantial impact (hypothetical example: if California next year is hit by a major hurricane).

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#262356: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:29:41 AM

[up]If that happens, my 5 $ are on Trump claiming the Queen of the Netherlands told him it was because they didn't have enough windmills to tilt the air.

"You can reply to this Message!"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#262357: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:32:33 AM

Upside we could turn those windmills into wind power generators

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#262358: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:43:02 AM

[up]well, according to Poll s the Greens are ATM the 2nd most popular party in Germany...

And has their platform expanded from environmental monomania? tongue

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#262359: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:43:13 AM

I think a lot of Green parties have a problem with being a single issue party. I mean, it is great to having something everyone can get behind at the start - and nobody really argues that the environment is important - but the first concern every voter has is always more personal. The Greens in Germany are currently running on a pro-EU, pro-Immigration platform, and they have worked hard to get away from the image as the "party which forbids everything" to one which is looking for actual solutions.

In the US, any Party which isn't Republican or Democratic doesn't really have a chance, though.

[up][nja] kind of, in that I gave you the answer before reading your question.

Edited by Swanpride on Nov 20th 2018 at 9:43:54 AM

Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#262360: Nov 20th 2018 at 9:45:17 AM

[up]x4 But our queen stepped down in 2013, we have a ki... Oooh, I see!

Edited by Robrecht on Nov 20th 2018 at 6:45:54 PM

Angry gets shit done.
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#262361: Nov 20th 2018 at 10:15:04 AM

[up]<.< Yes. That's what I meant. Absolutely.

"You can reply to this Message!"
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#262362: Nov 20th 2018 at 10:21:20 AM

I'm mad that climate change took a complete backseat to all the other issues this election cycle. That shit is literally going to fuck us over so hard and we need to do something, now.

It did? Ocasio-Cortez just did a demonstration at Pelosi's place that was kneejerk-reported as a protest over transitioning to renewable energy. Renewable energy is a climate change issue.

In my state, part of our platform during canvassing was talking about the same thing: moving Colorado in the direction of 100% renewable energy and ending the stranglehold that the oil and gas industry has on our state. And we knocked it out of the park (trifecta state!).

The candidates might not be campaigning on the specific platform of "WE'RE ALL GOING TO F*CKING DIE, EVERYONE PANIC!!!" but that doesn't mean that climate change wasn't on the ballot.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#262363: Nov 20th 2018 at 10:22:26 AM

Mcconnell is very well funded, has deep connections in Kentucky and nationally, and a well organized machine behind him. That sais, at the end of the day, he still needs people to vote for him.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#262364: Nov 20th 2018 at 11:36:13 AM

I like mass manslaughter or democide. Incidentally, I would not overemphasize the role of racism in the specific context of Kentucky; that state is part of Appalachia, not the Deep South. Mining country in a way, not plantation country. Not the same social dynamics.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Kentucky is considered part of the South. Not to mention that West Virginia is as well, in spite of its own mining history. There's also the fact that Kentucky was perhaps the most important of the border states in the U.S. Civil War, because the Confederacy really wanted to add Kentucky.

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#262365: Nov 20th 2018 at 11:48:28 AM

I did specify "Deep South" for a reason. Slavery was much less important there. The rest is not particularly germane either.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#262366: Nov 20th 2018 at 11:51:04 AM

Regarding genocide: Words have meaning, so we shouldn't be misusing them. We don't even use genocide to refer to the Cultural Revolution's actual attempt to murder an entire class, you know?

Mass negligent manslaughter works for me.

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Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#262367: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:02:46 PM

Originally the UN was going to include politically targeted mass killings in the genocide definition, but the Soviet Union vetoed it IIRC.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#262368: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:16:20 PM

Frankly, while I get the reasoning that the word "genocide" loses meaning if you use it for everything, the flip side is that government ordered mass killing sound kind of benign because at least is isn't genocide, right? The end-result is more or less the same, though, a bunch of people dying.

Maybe we need a word for the targeted killing of the poor which sounds just as terrifying as genocide.

Edited by Swanpride on Nov 20th 2018 at 1:16:47 AM

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#262369: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:21:41 PM

Democide is probably the most accurate term — the organized killing of a group of people or a demographic.

I don't think the economic crisis in Appalachia can really be considered "genocide," though. Criminal negligence and chronic mismanagement, yes, but there probably isn't a standing kill order for the poor. Unless we're willing to label every economic conservative as a genocidaire, we really shouldn't be bandying any -cide term.

Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Nov 20th 2018 at 4:25:43 AM

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#262370: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:22:33 PM

[up][up] We have one, the term is “classicide”. It was popularized by the Soviet and Chinese mass murders of middle class peasants and landowners, though it applies to the killing of lower classes too.

Edited by archonspeaks on Nov 20th 2018 at 1:22:42 AM

They should have sent a poet.
NoName999 Since: May, 2011
#262371: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:22:51 PM

Calling the death of 100,000s of Kentuckians 'genocide' doesn't exactly water the word down compared to calling the death of 5 people a 'massacre'.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#262372: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:54:05 PM

Calling the death of 100,000s of Kentuckians 'genocide' doesn't exactly water the word down compared to calling the death of 5 people a 'massacre'.

This is a kind of weird comparison considering that I don't think anyone here has done the latter.

The Boston Massacre was always a heavily propagandized name, and I for one wouldn't consider the former to be a genocide and the latter to be a massacre.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#262373: Nov 20th 2018 at 1:59:47 PM

Frankly, that a whole lot of people are dying or malnourished and that no one in power gives a damn about them is vile. What you call it is important, sure, but also small fries.

Honestly, I'm just sad. Disappointed. I'd hoped I wouldn't see that kind of callous neglect in America, of all the places. Where I'm from, sure - but not in one of the wealthiest countries on Earth.

Just shows, I suppose, of how much I've still to learn.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#262374: Nov 20th 2018 at 2:13:19 PM

I wonder what the UN would have to say about the US

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#262375: Nov 20th 2018 at 3:12:47 PM

So Trump is openly supporting the Saudi prince who at this point is almost certain ordered the murder of Khashoggi. No sanctions, no denouncement, nothing. Thus giving the green light to every tinpot dictator and despot out there that they can feel free to off their political opponents with no repercussions from us. Even if said political opponents were nominally under our protection. Coupled with the fact that the next head of Interpol is gonna be a Russian stooge, life is about to get very hard, and sadly likely very short, for political dissidents the world over.


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