Well, I did say there was plenty of room for improvement in Western culture 
Which shows you how bad the rest of world is, when this is the best on offer 
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Which shows you how bad the rest of world is, when this is the best on offer
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How the hell do you breath all the way up their. And would you stop dripping unjustified moral superiority everywhere. It's very unflattering on you.
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
So you don't thnk Western society is the society with the most individual freedom right now?
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
How would I know? All my information is fed to me via Western news sources - biased, condescending news stories.
A culture that uses it's own standards - however relaxed those standards might be to judge everyone else isn't really a free society. We in the "West" (where does that stop? Is Japan Western? Is South Korea? Is Western just a word that means "Not 3rd World").
It's easy to look down from your throne and go, "my culture rocks". But given that your country built it's fortune (if you forget its national debt) on the backs of other countries resources which have been bought, secured and "liberated" at a fraction of the cost they're worth in our "Western" culture...
Sounds to me like your paradise is built upon lies and is in no position judge other cultures.
Look, I'm arguing morals with an American - does anyone have a block of wood to replace him so that I can get a better chance of being heard.
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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How would I know? All my information is fed to me via Western news sources - biased, condescending news stories.
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Well, if that's all the information you get, it's kinda hard for you to know if it's biased or not, isn't it?
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A culture that uses it's own standards - however relaxed those standards might be to judge everyone else isn't really a free society.
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So we're not free to judge?
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We in the "West" (where does that stop? Is Japan Western? Is South Korea? Is Western just a word that means "Not 3rd World").
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Japan and Korea have both embraced a lot of aspects of Western society, so that does make them Western to a large degree.
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It's easy to look down from your throne and go, "my culture rocks". But given that your country built it's fortune (if you forget its national debt) on the backs of other countries resources which have been bought, secured and "liberated" at a fraction of the cost they're worth in our "Western" culture...
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Like I said, the West is far from perfect, but it's still miles ahead of anything else on offer.
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Sounds to me like your paradise is built upon lies and is in no position judge other cultures.
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We're actually really quite open
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Like I said, the West is far from perfect, but it's still miles ahead of anything else on offer.
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Have you been part of every single other culture on Earth? You have no basis for comparison, other than what you've been taught by your singular culture.
We've got life so easy - so in that respect, Western Society is good. But without knowing other cultures (outwith of Western written "propaganda" (yeah, bad choice of word, but it's the point I'm trying to get over here), it's impossible to say it's the "best" culture...
(Feel free to use the "certain point of view" quote any time now).
Oh and to the OP. Sorry about this. Welcome to the game. All that stuff 
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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It doesn't just sound awful - it is awful - it's quite possible for an entire culture to be morally wrong.
And when that's the case, an effort needs to be made to change that culture.
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This is how wars start.
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Unfortunately, yes. But it's not the only way to change a backwards culture.
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Listen to yourself. Who gave you the right (or anyone for that matter) to decide what is "right" and what is "backwards" in terms of culture?
You'll notice I mentioned this is how wars start - now kiddies, do we know what war means? It's generally when one group of people don't like another group of people - and decide to "change" or "better" them. But if that was all it was, it wouldn't be war, it'd just be a bunch of guys wandering in to someone else's country/house/territory and making them do things the way they deem acceptable; and it'd all be over within moments.
See - war is when the people who are being told to change decide they don't much like the idea of that, and they fight back.
If someone came up to you on the street, morally objected to your hat, and demanded you change it - despite you actually loving the hat, the hat works for you, it looks good on you - ok, so occasionally you neglect your other hats in favour of this one, or will refuse to go out without it - but you love that damn hat, you've always had it and couldn't imagine being without it - what would you do?
Remember, this guy thinks your hat is morally wrong - in fact, so do his friends. And so help me if you say you have freedom of choice to wear the hat.
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It doesn't just sound awful - it is awful - it's quite possible for an entire culture to be morally wrong.
And when that's the case, an effort needs to be made to change that culture.
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This is how wars start.
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Unfortunately, yes. But it's not the only way to change a backwards culture.
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Listen to yourself. Who gave you the right (or anyone for that matter) to decide what is "right" and what is "backwards" in terms of culture?
You'll notice I mentioned this is how wars start - now kiddies, do we know what war means? It's generally when one group of people don't like another group of people - and decide to "change" or "better" them. But if that was all it was, it wouldn't be war, it'd just be a bunch of guys wandering in to someone else's country/house/territory and making them do things the way they deem acceptable; and it'd all be over within moments.
See - war is when the people who are being told to change decide they don't much like the idea of that, and they fight back.
If someone came up to you on the street, morally objected to your hat, and demanded you change it - despite you actually loving the hat, the hat works for you, it looks good on you - ok, so occasionally you neglect your other hats in favour of this one, or will refuse to go out without it - but you love that damn hat, you've always had it and couldn't imagine being without it - what would you do?
Remember, this guy thinks your hat is morally wrong - in fact, so do his friends. And so help me if you say you have freedom of choice to wear the hat.
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I don't really regard loving a hat as being on the same level as cutting off peoples hands for stealing, stoning people for adultery or treating women and children like slaves
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Like I said, the West is far from perfect, but it's still miles ahead of anything else on offer.
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Have you been part of every single other culture on Earth? You have no basis for comparison, other than what you've been taught by your singular culture.
We've got life so easy - so in that respect, Western Society is good. But without knowing other cultures (outwith of Western written "propaganda" (yeah, bad choice of word, but it's the point I'm trying to get over here), it's impossible to say it's the "best" culture...
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It's the world's most popular culture, that's for sure - so many people people from other "just as good" cultures seem to really like the idea of living in the West
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Like I said, the West is far from perfect, but it's still miles ahead of anything else on offer.
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Have you been part of every single other culture on Earth? You have no basis for comparison, other than what you've been taught by your singular culture.
We've got life so easy - so in that respect, Western Society is good. But without knowing other cultures (outwith of Western written "propaganda" (yeah, bad choice of word, but it's the point I'm trying to get over here), it's impossible to say it's the "best" culture...
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It's the world's most popular culture, that's for sure - so many people people from other "just as good" cultures seem to really like the idea of living in the West
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I'm reminded of Dick Whittington - "The streets are paved with gold"
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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Hi all, I am new here but not to MMORPGs; after finally getting the game to work I have to say I really like it.
If you see me, Titanium Woman do say hi, I can do with some advises and company.
See you around,
TW
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Hi and welcome sorry about all the other bits that have been added to your thread its a shame a simple hi has to be hijacked when there are other places for such talk. 
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I don't really regard loving a hat as being on the same level as cutting off peoples hands for stealing, stoning people for adultery or treating women and children like slaves
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So bombing the [censored] out of these people is nothing like cutting off someone's hand because they stole an apple? The person now only has one hand, which diminishes his ability to steal - an eye for an eye. Murdering them for doing this stops them from cutting off anyone else's hand - an eye for an eye.
Where, exactly, is the divide here?
And before you dismiss the hat analogy so quickly - let's remember the culture in particular you're talking about here. The same one in which women are not allowed to show their faces - they're to remain covered at all times. So, it's not a hat, but part of it is certainly a head garment.
Now, some of these women, believe it or not, actually like to do this. They love their faith and believe it only right to remain covered. Some may not like it, but others do. If you were to tell one of these women to remove the garment because you morally objected to their right to wear it, you would be denying them their rights - something I believe your culture doesn't agree with?
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And before you dismiss the hat analogy so quickly - let's remember the culture in particular you're talking about here. The same one in which women are not allowed to show their faces - they're to remain covered at all times. So, it's not a hat, but part of it is certainly a head garment.
Now, some of these women, believe it or not, actually like to do this. They love their faith and believe it only right to remain covered. Some may not like it, but others do. If you were to tell one of these women to remove the garment because you morally objected to their right to wear it, you would be denying them their rights - something I believe your culture doesn't agree with?
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I never said anything about stopping that sort of thing - but I did say something about individual freedom - you know, giving people the right to choose what they want to do with themselves, instead of being given no choice at all.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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I don't really regard loving a hat as being on the same level as cutting off peoples hands for stealing, stoning people for adultery or treating women and children like slaves
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So bombing the [censored] out of these people is nothing like cutting off someone's hand because they stole an apple? The person now only has one hand, which diminishes his ability to steal - an eye for an eye. Murdering them for doing this stops them from cutting off anyone else's hand - an eye for an eye.
Where, exactly, is the divide here?
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I'm not sure I see what you're trying to get at - what's bombing got to do with it?
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Hey welcome to CoX Dreamqueen, we're a friendly bunch.. just see the previous posts for reference
Hope you enjoy your stay... and would you two go start your own thread where you can snipe at each other instead of hijacking this one ?
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It's not a hijack if the original topic is finished
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You should start new threads for other issues..
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And before you dismiss the hat analogy so quickly - let's remember the culture in particular you're talking about here. The same one in which women are not allowed to show their faces - they're to remain covered at all times. So, it's not a hat, but part of it is certainly a head garment.
Now, some of these women, believe it or not, actually like to do this. They love their faith and believe it only right to remain covered. Some may not like it, but others do. If you were to tell one of these women to remove the garment because you morally objected to their right to wear it, you would be denying them their rights - something I believe your culture doesn't agree with?
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I'm afraid their belief system has very little to do with their male-dominated-society clothing traditions. And speaking of the very same traditions you think they love, this is from Wikipedia - just a couple, these kind of lists are very long. (lazy but quick - info available in countless places) [ QUOTE ]
In October 1996 a woman had the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish.
In December 1996 Radio Sharia announced that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress. The sentence was handed down by tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor.
In March 1997 a married woman, from Laghman Province was caught attempting to flee the district with another man. The Islamic tribunal found her guilty of adultery and condemned both her and her lover to death by stoning.
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As I have said previously, so much of this stuff is just handed down through generation to generation. "Give me the boy at 7 and I'll give you the man" etc. Just because something has been done for a long time doesn't make it right. Your culture argumant is a red-herring to the actual discussion of whether there are things which can be universally called called 'right' or 'wrong', whether as human beings we all have the same rights or whether these rights must be given up because of living in certain parts of the world. Culture and heritage and tradition should be preserved, but not at the cost of basic civil liberties.
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I think that saying that the culture and costumes of a country comes from ignorance when they are not our own is an example of ignorance itself. Wrong is wrong in some places, tho in others it may be right
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As I said previously, this does not come from some sort of patriotism on my part. The concept of human rights has been in development for hundreds of years and is not isolated in the west. Nor is it one which only comes from 'ignorance of other peoples culture' - one of the greatest proponents of the idea that people have in-alienable human rights was a chap called Gandhi. He did quite a good job in freeing oppressed people. And it was human rights which freed Nelson Mandela.
I'm going to leave you with a quick look at the idea that 'we are all human and should all have the same rights', on the link below. We were having a discussion about the nature of right and wrong and somehow people are now talking about wars and bombing - argumentative.
http://www.hrweb.org/history.html
P.S. I hope you spelled customs wrong...lets not get into the way the Scots dress, please
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P.S. I hope you spelled customs wrong...lets not get into the way the Scots dress, please
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This Scot generally wears jeans and a t-shirt and would never wear a skirt... sorry, kilt. I know others who do things differently, but hell, what's an individual in the way of blind racial stereotyping, eh?
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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P.S. I hope you spelled customs wrong...lets not get into the way the Scots dress, please
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This Scot generally wears jeans and a t-shirt and would never wear a skirt... sorry, kilt. I know others who do things differently, but hell, what's an individual in the way of blind racial stereotyping, eh?
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The individual? I thought they were done away with years ago.
As part of a blind, racial sterotype then by all rights us Northern Irish hate pretty much everybody, especially the English, the Irish and ourselves... we're basically English Soccer Hooliganism combined with the Southern Irish "drinking culture", a short temper and a love of high explosives. We'd bomb you as soon as look at you, or at least put a bullet through your kneecaps.
The reality is that the average Northern Irish person when asked WOULD probably list the English as number #1 on their hate list (but mostly because they hate the stupid figurehead monarchy and the poncy southeast England accents, not because of ol' King Billy), closely followed by the Americans (for obvious reasons, they're all self-righteous, obese, stupid warmongers aren't they?) and the French (does anybody NOT slightly hate the French? They've lost every war they've ever fought in and still manage to get laid more than the rest of us...) The Irish (Disclaimer: those who actually LIVE in the South) are almost universally loved by both Northern Irish cultures, and the Scots are practically thought of as Brothers since they "get" our sense of humour so well.
Now SHUT UP AND EMBRACE YOUR FREEDOM DAMMIT!!
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P.S. I hope you spelled customs wrong...lets not get into the way the Scots dress, please
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This Scot generally wears jeans and a t-shirt and would never wear a skirt... sorry, kilt. I know others who do things differently, but hell, what's an individual in the way of blind racial stereotyping, eh?
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lol - I'm from Edinburgh mate!
WOW! And there was me fishing - Flame on!!
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It doesn't just sound awful - it is awful - it's quite possible for an entire culture to be morally wrong.
And when that's the case, an effort needs to be made to change that culture.
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This is how wars start.
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Unfortunately, yes. But it's not the only way to change a backwards culture.
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I know. But I'm not sure changing the US can be accomplished any other way - after all it's the prime "backwards culture" in the world right now. Always so sure of itself. Not willing to change it's policies, even after they've been outed as barbarous...
Someone should take care of a culture like that...
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter