(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: People disregard the "wisdom" behind such a concept because they tend to look how well it has worked in the past...i.e. not very. Basing an alliance on a common enemy is extremely problematic, since when that enemy is defeated, the alliance has no reason to trust each other. Just look at World War II; America, the UK, and the Soviet Union all fighting for the same side...that sure lasted. </sarcasm>
In this case there is massive common ground, since the students all want the same thing and the government and police will continue to oppose them. When the government is pressured into giving them what they want the common enemy won't exist anymore and they can go back to argueing about the artic monkeys or whatever. Not exactly comparable to the soviets, yankees and nazi germany is it.
Quote:To quote cartoonist Howard Taylor on the issue, "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more.
Good thing Howard Taylor was never in politics or commanding an army then is all can say.
(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Erm...the tax paying members of the public who have already had to suffer rises in taxes in order to curb the country's debt, and who don't want to see more of their money being spent on university education for people who don't need or deserve it.
Eh we already went off track discussing the hypotheticals where the funding could come from for this.
(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: If you honestly believe that it is acceptable to throw fire extinguishers and bags of medical waste at innocent people (innocent because they are doing their fricken' jobs) then you are one of the worst human beings I have met. Do you always throw morality out the window when you want to get your way?
Ohhhh hahaha define morality atheist! No I don't throw "personal standards" away for the sake of accomplishing goals, if a situation can be resolved diplomatically then you should make every effort to do so, but for diplomacy to happen the party trying to achieve their ends must have something that the other party wants or theres no reason why that party is going to pay mind to the request of the other.
The government aren't going to listen- as they never have- to the demands of peaceful protests, nor do police care what happens since they're, as you said, just doing their job.
(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: We live in a democracy so that people with ideas can speak about them, get them popular, and then mount campaigns to get their voices heard in parliament. You want an example? A few years ago Simon Singh was sued by the British Chiropractic Association for writing an article that described Chiropractic as bogus science, which it is.
I already listed one peaceful protest that is leading to reform, so your assertion that "every single attempt has proved to be completely useless" is completely false. If you want some more, here are a few that have happened in modern times:
Oh excuse me, I meant to say an example of peaceful protest regarding anything meaningful that would go against the interests of those in power. I assumed you realised i was talking about "actual relevant issues" and not about Simon Singh scribbling rubbish about Chiropractors.
(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Whichever way it goes, the government are elected by the people, and the people can easily change their mind. You mentioned the protests against the War in Iraq, and how they didn't achieve anything...well if you recall, Labour lost a large number of seats in the next election, and blamed their actions over the war for it.
So Labour lost seats, so what? We;re still at war and nothing was changed. All we've done is replace one bad CEO with another bad CEO while their toxic product is still being mass produced and sold.
Even under the modern standard of "democracy" the elected governments are hardly held accountable for the actions they take and people can't just change their minds when they don't like whoever's in charge, that'd require some form of revolution to happen. Remember Gordon Browns term as PM? He wasn't even elected, nobody wanted him in charge, people called for him to resign but he just sat there and nobody took any steps to get rid of him.. with the only "legal" steps to do so being to elect the fucking conservatives.
The government and it's legal methods Do Not Work in bringing change, the only reason they exist and were brought into existance was tp maintain the status quo. And it needs changing, by peaceful methods if possible, but you've got to be prepared to take direct action if they don't listen. I have the foresight of knowing that they won't listen, which is why i'm forced to take the position i've taken on the subject.
As Malcolm X said..
"if you and I would just realize, that once we learn to talk the language that they understand, they will then get the point. You can't ever reach a man if you don't speak his language. If a man speaks the language of brute force, you can't come to him with peace. Why goodnight! He'll break you in two, as he has been doing all along. If a man speaks French, you can't speak to him in German. If he speaks Swahili, you can't communicate with him in Chinese. You have to find out, what does this man speak? Once you know his language, learn how to speak his language. He'll get the point, there will be some dialogue, some communication, and some understanding will be developed."
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archiv...everse.mp3
(November 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm)Tiberius Wrote: If someone agrees with my opinion, they have every right to say so, and they don't deserve to be called a 'worm' because of it. Nor do people deserve to be called names for disagreeing with my opinion. We're all individuals here; sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. The polite man accepts that.
To quote Douglas Adams
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
![[Image: cassandrasaid.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=img404.imageshack.us%2Fimg404%2F2460%2Fcassandrasaid.jpg)