Quote from: Skyanne on February 07, 2011, 08:57:45 AM
Speaking of bad arguements.
Just because the US is compared to North Korea in a very specific way, doesn't mean it's also compared in a general way. If I said the US, like North Korea is a country, that wouldn't mean I was saying the US was like North Korea in every single way. Stop it. 
Regardless, your argument was entirely fallacious, even interpreted no further than what you posted. There is NO freedom of expression in N. Korea, whether it be for LGBT, racists, or homophobes. Bashing the US for free speech is ludicrous; the freedoms of thought and expression are, in my opinion, among the greatest advancement of western culture. To censor someone whose opinion you dislike is to deny them their liberty, and to stand against everything that our nation was founded upon.
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. -John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
QuoteThe government is split and they're spitting venom at one another. You don't believe that they seek to absolutely destroy one another in some form? You can't feel the vitriol coming off of capitol hill?
We had a civil war over moral and economic disputes. 618,000 Americans died.
43 million people in the U.S. (the ones willing to be counted, mind you) live in poverty, more than the entire population of North Korea. Over 1.3 million people every year are victims of violent crime. California and Oregon have constitutional amendments allowing for the legal use of medical marijuana and the right to die, respectively, which are federally banned, and the feds have enacted their right to allow states to uphold these conflicted federal laws; this effectively negates the federal law. You are correct though, none take away federally granted rights, but States are absolutely allowed to challenge interpretations of the federal constitution.
As far as people from out of state, maybe I'm just meeting the wrong people.
The civil war was over a good deal more than that, and it was 150 years ago. It serves as no more an indicator of present day political relations in the US than the Crimean War does of Russian relations with Western Europe.
The federal government has NOT, in fact, allowed this practice to go unprosecuted. Obama stated early in his term that he did not want to waste resources on something so trivial as medical marijuana, but it hasn't received a pass from the government; on the contrary, the current acting head of the DEA (and nominee for the head proper) Michele Leonhart has made it a personal mission to prosecute those using marijuana for medical purposes in violation of federal law.
I also find your poverty comment betrays a vast ignorance of poverty, and what it really means. When we look at poverty in the US, we're looking at relative poverty; that is, the percent of people who fall below a certain <1 coefficient of the median. It isn't a valid measure of a group's access to resources, it's simply a handy measure of income inequality.
Absolute poverty is a bit different, and is what one typically thinks of when they hear the word poverty. The dictionary definition is "It is a level of policy as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter." You claim that 47 million in the US live in "poverty"; how many would fit this definition? It's worth noting too that relative poverty measures only monetary income; food stamps, section 8, Medicaid and et cetera are not brought into consideration when defining poverty in America.
What is absolute poverty like? Since you drew the parallel to North Korea, why don't we use them as an example. In a country of 22 million, approximately 500k deaths per year can be attributed to starvation. In the writings of one reporter who illegally entered the country, it was documented that those outside the prototype city can be seen eating kimchi made of tree bark and clay, simply to abate the feeling of emptiness in their stomachs. Say nothing of the rights afforded to the citizens; an escapee of a North Korean concentration camp states that women too weak to work were routinely killed by guards in the most horrific of ways. Once they'd had their sexual fun, they would finish the job with the woman by raping her to death with a spade.
Back to the famine though. Christopher Hitchens brings it home far better than I ever could, and I recommend you watch
I'm done ranting for now though. Apologies for the rambling, these comparisons just really got under my skin.
