Japanese Tsunami

Really?

I cant think of anything more irrelevant than the stupid "nice little smiley people " guff that has populated this thread
 
Well they have been nice and smiley and little (I guess) in the face of adversity over the past 10 days. The Irish would almost certainly have been kicking in windows and making away with flatscreen tellies. I think it is admirable.

What that has to do with atrocities in the past, I don't know. I think it is stupid to bring it up, as it is only likely to upset people or make them dislike you even more. And I don't think it is relevant to the discussion.
 
clivex said:
Really?

I cant think of anything more irrelevant than the stupid "nice little smiley people " guff that has populated this thread
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having looked back the thread, it appears you have mentioned nice & smiley folk more than anyone else.

you soon will be talking to yourself, as you are a proven ?????? thats for sure.

im sure the libyans afhgans, & iraqis all hate all of us too, mainly due to our governments, and certainly not due to me, or any other joe bloggs

im 100% sure the japanese joe bloggs didnt really have much say in WW2.

therefore your point is pretty disgusting and lacking in real intellect & compassion .
 
Good point well made. Clearly i cannot compete with your grasp of history and current affairs and your beautifully articulated arguments


Ok then

Libyans? What evidence do you have that they "hate" us. Or perhaps so many on the left a bit of residue for terrorist backing, dictatorial, murdering Gadafi lingers eh?
 
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scratch golfer said:
your point is pretty disgusting
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It certainly is, I do agree.
But then, what would you expect from someone who thought it appropriate to crack a "joke" about whales retributively flapping their tails considering the circumstances of the deaths of thousands of human beings.
I cannot imagine what it is that has turned this person into such a "hater" apparently devoid of all compassion and sympathy.
I find myself deliberately avoiding this individual's twisted posts of late ................ can do without his venom, rancour, and malevolence in my daily life.
 
Intelligence is about full awareness of the depth of one's own ignorance; the principal force one can plead for is the capacity to recognize those weaknesses. The more one endeavors to know the unknown, the more one discovers what a 'well' one is breathing in, and what an 'ocean' is left out there to be discovered. Unfortunately clivex many thousands of young Japanese children completely ignorant of any attrocities, will no longer have the opportunity to educate their minds or build a future but you still have that opportunity. Don't waste it.
 
While I can sort of understand the older generation's attitude towards nations they were physically at war with all through their precious youth (remember, it's somethng we have been fortunate not to have had to go through), that's not where we are now, is it ? We all know how easy it can be for dictators to take over countries and virtually brainwash their occupants - history shows us that only too well. You forget, Clivex, that these days, with instant information at our fingertips and the ability to help out others, how much many Nation's ethos has changed dramatically. The Japanese in recent times have been one of the most charitable nations on earth - who would have thought that post 1945 ? But they are and that's what, if you feel you have to judge them (which I honestly don't think you are justified in doing), you should be judging them on.

I had an uncle who worked on the Burma railway as a POW during WWII. He's dead now but a kinder man you couldn't find. He was smart enough to know it was pointless dwelling on the atrocities of three years of his life as doing so was going to ruin the rest of it and I honestly believe he took the line of not giving them the satisfaction of doing so! My father-in-law was a Lancaster WWII bomber pilot, flew 100 missions in 'N' for Nan and was another quiet, unassuming man who was scarred by his experience, yes, but always said he wouldn't wish it on anyone as times were different back then. I know both those men would have been deeply upset by the tragedy in Japan and certainly wouldn't have wished it on them - and they were their worst enemies.
 
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Two splendid posts, putting things into a modern perspective. As for bad taste, like it or not, every awful event throws up bad-taste jokes, from the annihilation of Jews, 9/11, Ian Huntley, plane crashes, to Gary Glitter. Sometimes it's to try to reduce the subject to something less appalling, but sometimes it's just bad taste.
 
I always find that it helps when a joke is funny. If it isn't then it is stupid.

And a joke being funny not only depends on who tells it (and how it is told), but also to whom it is told.

I for instance have laughed at jokes about Michael Barrymore. So it is not rude to tell me such a joke. But it would be rude to tell a joke like that to Michael Barrymore's family.
 
I think it all depends on context, Bar. If it's a joke which is mainly about human folly - the over-proud brought low, etc., then I figure that's fair game. For example, a joke about Michael Barrymore, per se, could be screamingly funny. But a joke about the young fellow dead in his swimming-pool wouldn't be - in my own view, of course. I wouldn't like formal censorship, but at some point you'd hope for self-censorship on the grounds of not so much 'taste' (because whose is it?) but sensitivity. Think about how you'd feel if that was your loved one who was being mocked for cheap laughs for no more than dying in humiliating circumstances.

We've not advanced from playground taunts and schooldays bullying if our adult comedy doesn't rise above tormenting the bereaved.

Although, of course, the Darwin Awards bring an awful lot of guffaws in noting the bizarre, if not often idiotic, ways in which we humans have managed to off ourselves - accidentally, though, and not through the evil actions of others. I think that avoids being 'bad taste' or 'poor judgment' inasmuchas the dearly departed so listed have shown pretty poor judgment themselves - like peeing onto a live rail, for example. Now that's unfortunate, for sure, but there's also an element of broad comedy to it.
 
clivex said:
Good point well made. Clearly i cannot compete with your grasp of history and current affairs and your beautifully articulated arguments


Ok then

Libyans? What evidence do you have that they "hate" us. Or perhaps so many on the left a bit of residue for terrorist backing, dictatorial, murdering Gadafi lingers eh?
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Clivex, I've just finished counting, and can tell you that - due to you blanket dismissal of any opposing view as "of the left" - you're now the only person on the planet who is on the right. We should probably remove you to a secure island facility, where you can rant at the coconuts, and call all the rocks "Commies".

As for "history" and "current affairs" they are two different things. The clue is in the question.
 
Wasnt going to reply but as far as i can see only the far left or those who are a bit simple (same thing really) would be either too lazy or dim to assume that all Libyans will hate us for stopping Gadafis proposed (see the quotes) mass killings
 
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I think the prior statement was too sweeping, but of course there will be parts of any society (where another country has intervened) who won't appreciate it. In the cases of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, they'll be those with vested interests in staying in the top (for that read rich/powerful/controlling) echelons of society, the long-time status quo. Mubarak has hoisted billions out of Egypt into his, er, 'offshore' accounts and Qadafi has, according to a Middle Easterner I talked with today, masses of different accounts in places like Venezuela, Nigeria, etc., so the freezing of his assets in places like Switzerland aren't going to worry him too much. Billions, schmillions.

The majority of the people, who've been held back by the corrupt nepotism of all of these countries, will be delighted to have a bit of help to overthrow the old guard, provided that 'help' backs off once they've decided how they're going to run things.

Sorry for the departure from the tsunami thread.
 
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