Random Thought Thread

Nathan the Machinist said:
Nate's unpopular opinion: I kind of like the way our tax money is being spent here.

I'm going to delve into some politics here

You are welcome to not join me.

Nate's very unpopular opinion that's likely to get me canceled by some: Islam is a problem

Those of us in the secular liberal Western democracies have embraced the idea that everyone is welcome, everyone's religion must be tolerated, diversity is our strength, we're all equals and the same, and we would never disparage a person their beliefs. That would be oppressive and we are all about being not oppressive to one another. Oppression = evil. You are welcome to be whomever you are and do whatever you want and we will respect you and your beliefs.

Here's a thought experiment for you:
During the era of Nazi Germany, the vast majority of the German people were just normal ordinary people. Many, maybe even most, subscribed to the Nazi dogma of the day, but they were just normal ordinary lovely people, mostly.

Most people are just good people.

But here's the thinking error. There's no such thing as a good Nazi.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say that Muslims are like Nazis.

I am saying, that, like nazism, Islam is not a religion it is a political ideology, wrapped up in a religion.

Western societies need to get that in their head. ISLAM IS A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, with laws, designed to spread, by force. A quick review of history will demonstrate that this point cannot be argued. So, you might not agree with this assessment because this offends you, and this is a free country you are welcome to be wrong.

It is designed to spread. By force. Individually, they are mostly all lovely people. Most people are. But one can look at the insidious forceful spread of Islam throughout the Middle East over the last several centuries and into Europe to see the hazard that it represents to any modern society. This statement will offend liberals for sure, which is ironic because it is the liberals who want to fight against oppression. And Islam is a VERY OPPRESSIVE POLITICAL IDEOLOGY. It becomes Sharia law. And you don't want that. If you care about women's rights and individual rights, you do not want this.

Surveys of Muslims living in the United Kingdom demonstrate that approximately 1/3 of the Muslims living in England believe that death is the appropriate penalty for leaving Islam. These are English speaking British Muslims. A third of them believe you should be killed if you leave Islam. They believe that women should have to marry their rapists, that children should be eligible for marriage, and tons of other backwards ideas that are incompatible with modern Western Civilization.

Thank God for the Roman Catholic Church pushing the Ottomans back out of Europe or we would all be under this oppression. Left unchecked it becomes even more extreme. Isis and the Taliban are the logical evolution of Islam, in a vacuum. You do not want this. Do not listen to the bleeding heart liberals who that say this is not true. These are also lovely people, who do not know what they're talking about, suffering from suicidal empathy.

And that is what the Persian people of Iran have today. They got invaded by Islam and now they are under its boot. Ask any Iranian person you know and they will tell you. Islam is the problem. And the people of Iran would love to be free of it.

So that right there, knocking out the theocratic Islamic clerics of the Islamic revolutionary guard justifies my taxpayer dollars, anyways. I'm fine with it. Kill those assholes.

"But Nate! We blew up a girls school and killed people!"

I'm sure we did. I'm also sure that was not the intent. I'm also pretty sure that a large amount of our current administration are WILDLY incompetent. That is a different discussion.

The Islamic revolutionary guard are the ones behind the IEDs that were blowing up Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan, the drones attacking Ukraine and they're behind the Houthi, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

And their nuclear program, hidden in bunkers under mountains, was not about peaceful energy production or research. They are lying to you, don't be naive. It was about nuclear weapons, and they have demonstrated, repeatably, why they cannot have nuclear weapons.

They are an enormous problem that was not just going to go away. Administration after administration have been kicking this can down the road. The price of fuel goes up and people lose their minds, it has been politically untenable.

But I don't think that's what this is all about.

Any serious geopolitical scholar will tell you that a conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan is almost inevitable. And this conflict has the ability to create real problems. People think they know what real problems are. And people before World War II thought they knew what nasty warfare looked like.

China is becoming the world leader in green renewable energy. I promise you, it's not because they care about the environment. It's because they don't have a lot of petroleum resources and it's a national security issue. They import over 70% of Iran's oil. They were getting a lot of oil from Venezuela also. 50% of Venezuela's crude used to go to China before we attacked them.

China has been building up its military and positioning itself for this upcoming conflict.

Without oil, China cannot sustain a war against Taiwan

If Venezuela and Iran's oil is controlled by the United States, China will not be able to sustain a conflict regarding Taiwan.

It's counterintuitive but I honestly believe that this skirmish in the Middle East may help preserve world peace.


^I'm okay with some tax dollars going towards these complex geopolitical issues.
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The general problem, as I see it, is that a huge number of people will find this offensive or think you said something really harsh.

Something like learned guilt, or whatever.

Overall, I think that in many places this is actually still a very restrained and moderate point of view. 😅
 
Moorik said:
The general problem, as I see it, is that a huge number of people will find this offensive or think you said something really harsh.

Something like learned guilt, or whatever.

Overall, I think that in many places this is actually still a very restrained and moderate point of view. 😅
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I consider myself a radical centrist and extreme moderate
 
I don't vote for my own party half the time and I don't vote for my own personal best interest much of the time. I always try to select the candidate that I think is best for the country. And my views are based upon what I try to hold as objective unvarnished truths rather than feelings. Feelings change, facts are facts. Reality is wildly complicated.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I don't vote for my own party half the time and I don't vote for my own personal best interest much of the time. I always try to select the candidate that I think is best for the country. And my views are based upon what I try to hold as objective unvarnished truths rather than feelings. Feelings change, facts are facts. Reality is wildly complicated.
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I disagree with you on some political things I've seen you share, but I respect that you've at least thought out your positions and opinions.

I agree that Islam is a problem; it's incompatible with western society.

I also agree that making far-reaching decisions based on "feelings" is not a good approach. Honestly, I think it's one path to societal collapse and self-annihilation.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I'm also pretty sure that a large amount of our current administration are WILDLY incompetent.
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Many are incompetent and/or unqualified for their duties. Worse than that, many are aggressively following agendas that are concealed and micromanaged by a few minions. It's impossible to access reliable information, or to even speculate on what is going on if you don't know.
The price of gas is way down my list of concerns.
 
I am concerned that a lot of policy is being made based upon religious and even downright superstitious theological reasons. I sincerely believe there are people making policy that believe there are things they can and should be doing to bring about the second coming of Christ, for example. This is borderline insanity and I'm very concerned some of these people are making policy. And, we really have no way of knowing what they're really trying to do here and if there are any kind of reasonable checks and balances as our forefathers had intended.
 
If our forefathers had been smart, they'd have made it where only Congress can authorize war. And the objectives and goals could be discussed and debated

Oh wait a minute

Our forefathers were really smart

What happened here?



Whoops. Never mind. There I go down that rabbit hole again


The weather was really beautiful today. Although the allergies are pretty high
 
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Didn't Jefferson send in the Marines & Navy to smash the Barbary pirates without an Act of War by Congress? Pretty sure this action is as legal as that action was. Heck, it is even using the Navy properly, to protect our trade on the Seas.
 
Here we are coming more to the question of proactive people who actually took action, sometimes even making difficult decisions.

Nowadays, perhaps everyone understands what needs to be done, and in general it may not even be that hard to do — but then the markets might drop by 10% because of an “inconvenient” situation...

Most likely, politicians of those times often acted simply based on what they believed was beneficial, rather than on short-term gain.

I find it strange that 15 minutes before major political announcements, someone always seems to enter a 100% profitable trade.

I think that the benefits of acting quickly and effectively are often not even worth it.

But yeah, that’s a rabbit hole.
I think that most of the problems in the world right now are largely a crisis of strong political leaders.

They simply don’t exist.

And a strong leader isn’t necessarily someone we would like — just someone who would actually do something.

You can support something or not support it, but the outcome is still absurd and ironic.

You won’t like the result, no matter whether you’re on the left, in the center, or on the right.

Because no one is actually making real decisions or taking real action.

It’s easier to make money along the way while pretending to try to do something.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I am concerned that a lot of policy is being made based upon religious and even downright superstitious theological reasons. I sincerely believe there are people making policy that believe there are things they can and should be doing to bring about the second coming of Christ, for example. This is borderline insanity and I'm very concerned some of these people are making policy. And, we really have no way of knowing what they're really trying to do here and if there are any kind of reasonable checks and balances as our forefathers had intended.
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I totally agree with you on the Islam being a problem thing. I will say that any true Christian that knows their Bible knows there’s nothing they can do or should do geopolitically to bring about the second coming of Christ. It’ll happen when it happens. The world will continue to get worse until that time comes. Historically Christian eschatology doesn’t work that way. There may be some fringe group that does believe that sort of thing but it’s definitely not mainstream or, dare I say, accurate. There’s no biblical support for that fringe idea

Now the IRGC does believe they can bring about the end times
 
Should the title of "I Luv Nathan" thread be changed to "Please don't cancel Nathan" thread? I am asking this because after reading his screed above, I feel that despite being a walking-talking encyclopedia on machining, steel, manufacturing, quantum physics, the Cosmos, Sun Tzu and possibly Kama Sutra, just guessing 🤷🏻‍♂️, perhaps people like Bill Maher and Sam Harris may have influenced some of his thinking as demonstrated earlier on.

Maybe I'll luv him even more, if such a thing is possible, when placed under my own personal tutelage 🤣
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I am concerned that a lot of policy is being made based upon religious and even downright superstitious theological reasons. I sincerely believe there are people making policy that believe there are things they can and should be doing to bring about the second coming of Christ, for example. This is borderline insanity and I'm very concerned some of these people are making policy. And, we really have no way of knowing what they're really trying to do here and if there are any kind of reasonable checks and balances as our forefathers had intended.
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Yeah, I think it's worth pointing out the absolute lunacy of the current administration's spiritual advisor: Paula White.

I hope it's just a ruse to increase polling numbers, but that's like hoping for snake to come clear mice out of the hen house.


 
Wishfulthinker580 said:
I totally agree with you on the Islam being a problem thing. I will say that any true Christian that knows their Bible knows there’s nothing they can do or should do geopolitically to bring about the second coming of Christ. It’ll happen when it happens. The world will continue to get worse until that time comes. Historically Christian eschatology doesn’t work that way. There may be some fringe group that does believe that sort of thing but it’s definitely not mainstream or, dare I say, accurate. There’s no biblical support for that fringe idea

Now the IRGC does believe they can bring about the end times
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I’d also go so far as to say that while they do want to see Christ come back, many (maybe most) Christians are probably hoping for a little more time out of concern for unconverted family and friends because they know what happens after Christ’s second coming. Right or wrong as they may be
 
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