The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

Depends what was she so inspired about?

The whole 'keep going' riff and a successful woman in probably the most visible field in the world.

Also, I think the inspiration bit is hard to tease out. I mean let's say we have a killer who claims he was inspired by listening to a song.  Did the music really inspire his thoughts to kill or is that just a fig leaf as he had the desire to kill all along? Or was it that he was 90% on the way to murder and the song get him that last 10%? Probably hard to know.

Probably hard to know. I think that'd be an issue for psychiatrists. I think the fair description is the one you gave, that they 'claim to be inspired by...'

I don't know though that it would be a good idea for you or I to say that the killer was inspired by the song as that suddenly conflates his act with that piece of music. Or in other words what happens when we have a school shooting and the media goes on about the killer liking violent video games.

Generally I agree, but I'd note that the school shooting thing and violent video games tend to be the media searching for a reason or certain pressure groups who want to censor video games pushing their agenda. I think if the killer says it then we can say they were inspired by, or claim to be inspired by something. If it is you or me saying it then chances are we've got an axe to grind.

I think it is problematic to say that Ho was inspired by Jefferson because in saying that, it suggests some sort of connection to what America did and what Ho did. Now of course it depends on one's point of view on America, but it would generally seem to suggest some sort of rehabilitation of Ho. After all, he liked Jefferson so he couldn't be such a bad guy.

Well I think there is a connection. I've mentioned it several times - war of independence, against a great power and, at the start at least, Paris Peace Conferences. Given that I don't think it's implausible for Ho to have seen Jefferson as an inspiration even if he wanted a drastically different revolution.

To me it seems the point it's making is, isn't history funny sometimes.

But as I say I think ideas, well expressed, and myth-moments in history have a life of their own and they end up being interpreted in all sorts of ways and inspiring all sorts of people, good and bad. I mean look at the poor German Romantics.

Like I said, I don't understand the distinction.

Simply, I think it's between emulation and inspiration. One's following another's model, the other's subjective - using another's model for sustenance and inspiration (really the only word I can think of to go here).

Yeah, Yi's shifting the goalposts here. Yi. Do you leftists ever listen to yourselves?

We were talking about inspiration. Then Yi started saying why someone may say a person was inspired by Jefferson. That's a totally different thing.

[Ed Anger]

http://gamerfury.tumblr.com/

LOLZ

[Liep]

Leaving tomorrow for Saint Petersburg. I've got three days, any recommendations on what to see and do?

[derspiess]

Vanessa Williams is apparently 12% Finnish.

http://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/2013/05/14/actress-vanessa-williams-explains-how-dna-powers-her-family-tree/?o_xid=56234&o_lid=56234&o_sch=External+Paid+Media

[Valmy]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

[garbon]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

Since when did Languish come up with this opposite 1 drop rule?

[Jacob]

Oh Fortuna - Misheard Lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nIwrgAnx6Q8

[citizen k]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

Since when did Languish come up with this opposite 1 drop rule?

The one drop rule can be applied to anyone for any "race".

[garbon]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

Since when did Languish come up with this opposite 1 drop rule?

The one drop rule can be applied to anyone for any "race".

But it generally isn't.

[citizen k]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

Since when did Languish come up with this opposite 1 drop rule?

The one drop rule can be applied to anyone for any "race".

But it generally isn't.

But it can be.

[garbon]

1 drop rule!

She is a white person now. 

Since when did Languish come up with this opposite 1 drop rule?

The one drop rule can be applied to anyone for any "race".

But it generally isn't.

But it can be.

And yet still doesn't answer my question. Thanks for playing.

[fhdz]

http://gamerfury.tumblr.com/

LOLZ

I sure do love people.

[Phillip V]

Child Prostitution: Raids Rescue 105 Young People

'Declaring child prostitution a "persistent threat" in America, the FBI said Monday that authorities had rescued 105 young people and arrested 150 alleged pimps in a three-day sweep in 76 cities.
...
The young people in the roundup, almost all of them girls, ranged in age from 13 to 17.
...
The Justice Department has estimated that nearly 450,000 children run away from home each year and that one-third of teens living on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.'



http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/29/us/politics/ap-us-child-sex-arrests.html

[Ideologue]

Gee, government intervention really does destroy jobs.

[Josephus]

Leaving tomorrow for Saint Petersburg. I've got three days, any recommendations on what to see and do?

Heard there's some really nice palace.

Personally I'd love to walk along the Neva and contemplate suicide, just like all of Dostoyevsky's great characters.