That's what we need in this country, a fiery populist preacher to throw the money changers out of the temple.
I couldn't believe how long they let Zantabak1111 go before giving him the ban. Everything that guy posted seemed to be hateful/racist.
Totally agree with this post.. If you really want to learn and discuss don't come in here to speak your mind and waste your time. There are other forums with very knowledgeable accreditable people that you can learn from. Not your ordinary people that sit down and a have a post count of 3k plus but, people that actually take time off to read what's really going on and have a great understanding of history. Truth is wherever you find it. I find some of the truth through Alex Jones, but not all of it. I gets some truth here, some there, and some from way over there, and I put it all together like a puzzle, by myself, according to my own best understanding of the emerging big picture. Even the devil will tell you 100 truths to sell you 1 lie. I’ll take my truth wherever I can find it. Truth is independent of the messenger. The trick is identifying the lie buried among the truths. All I know is even if you read 100 newspapers and subject based websites a day, just concerning the US you’d still be missing IMPORTANT INFO. Somewhere along the line. STOP shooting the messenger, take your truth wherever you can find it. No one is stopping anyone from looking for truthful and useful information. If you want to protect the Sovereignty, Liberties, Freedoms, & Justice of Americans… focus your attention on the 13 most powerful families in the World. You will find our enemies there. A quote you probably heard by now and this is very true. "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws" - Amshall Rothschild Just a quick pointer young man.
I still don't get the "talk to people" is better than reading messageboards? How can one assume "live" people to be any different (or in this case better) than posters here or on other messageboards? When you read from the board, at least you have a chance to see 2 or more different opinions at the same time. How often do you get to hear that at the same time "live" unless you are at a debate? Most of the times, these opinions on the board are backed up by links, do you get that while talking to people? I'm not saying talking to people is bad or that one should only read messageboards, but to say messageboard is worthless when it comes to political debates is wrong, IMO. There is a lot of worthy readings that others have already searched out and/or summarized for you. And on the "... there are mostly Lefties here", if a Righty has a valid argument and something to back up his/her claim, why should (s)he need to worry? Insults are thrown in both directions, no one side is better at it than the other in this forum.
I think his point is : If you really want to learn and discuss don't come in here to speak your mind and waste your time. But then again, why is he (STIX) here?
If a righty has a valid argument, they rarely argue their true reasoning. If man is only motivated by self interest and we are closer to the base instincts of animals rather than something better then OK they have a point. If man is a sentient race of beings bound together on a fragile planet in a tenuous battle for existence then then their views are mostly invalid.
Moon: It takes a special breed to want to hash it out on a message board. If you want to gain perspective on what people are thinking, sometimes it's best to hear what they actually say rather then rely on a spokesperson's take on a poll or a trend (complete with link to a like-minded person's take). I didn't say messageboards were worthless -- I read here almost everyday -- and it all ads to your knowledge base. But it's a very different forum from 'real life.' I just find that when I listen to people reasonably -- without jumping in to challenge, or otherwise creating a confrontational environment -- I'm often awarded a perspective I hadn't considered before. I liked that about Wes's post on learning about issues: looking beyond the standard 'information' sources.
One piece of advice I'd give but will probably have a hard time articulating is: Try to be wrong. Obviously, I don't mean take a stance that is opposite of what you think is right. I mean that whenever you find yourself leaning one way or another on a topic, strive to find counter evidence that causes you to alter or completely change your opinion. Be happy when someone shows you are wrong, that is a good thing. It generally means you have an open mind and aren't so stubborn or intent on winning an argument that you shut yourself off to reality. And it means that your current position, while maybe not perfect, is better than the last. When you read an article or hear a report that validates an existing point of view, do some research to try to find a rebuttal. It's easy to read/watch/hear something that sounds true and accurate but that in actuality is not at all. Searching out sites that debunk commonly held myths or explain apparent discrepancies really helps to weed out the good information from the not so good. Finally, this advice is meant more for when you start to form opinions. You'll probably want to follow the advice of others here and read, listen and pay attention for awhile before you even consider doing that.
I'll throw in my 1 1/2 cents.... 1) Question everything and everybody, especially yourself. Never ever EVER assume your elders are your betters. People deserve courtesy but not always respect. Respect is EARNED not given freely because someone is of a certain age, title, years of experience, education, etc. You will discover those people are nowhere near as awe inspiring as you thought they were. 2) Read EVERYTHING. Read, read, and read some more. Doesn't matter if it's Dostoevsky or Harry Potter, READ IT! It will improve your vocabulary and expose you to unbelievable ideas. 3)Go to college for as long as you can stand it. Be a lifetime learner. Don't go just to make more money or attain a degree. Don't go because you think it will make you a genius. Go because it will open up your mind. 4) Learn empathy and introspection. Empathy will teach you that the world is gray and to not assume anything. Introspection will teach you to recognize your own biases, faults, and fallacies.
Go to youtube and search "Peter schiff was right". That should send you in the right direction to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.
That is a great point and if I may phrase it differently be willing to look at an issue from all sides.
Ron, you have a false Jefferson quote as a sig... Kind of ironic in this thread don't you think? Please fix.
Get an online subscription to Economist.com. They cover the broadest range of topics, and in every article they explain an issue before analyzing it. Every Thursday afternoon they post their entire print issue online. I would recommend reading the "leader" and then going through all of the articles in the posted weekly issue. For Finance, your cheapest option would be to go to Marketwatch.com, and then just hit the "Economy and Politics" section. However, I actually think your best bet would be to get a combined WSJ.com and Barrons.com subscription. Then on WSJ, go directly to the Economy link to get the latest unemplyment, GDP and general economic info for both the U.S. and other countries. Also go to the "Marketplace" section in "Today's Paper" to get all relevant retail and business info. Everything else is just Finance and Investing minutia that you might not care for in terms of general knowledge. Then on Barron's read the columns from the weekly issue (new every Saturday): "Up and Down Wall Street", "Economic Beat", "Streetwise", "The Trader", "Review/Preview", "Current Yield" and others. If you haven't already, go ahead and rent Ken Burns's three documentaries: "The War", about WWII, "The Civil War" and "The West." Additionally, go to Netflix.com and rent the History Channel series "The Presidents" and the "The Revolution." Also get Simon Schama's "History of Britain." In all honesty you could get just about any "American Experience" or "Frontline" DVD and learn something new and interesting. As for U.S. politics you can probably just read TheHill.com, and any and all books by Bob Woodward. If you lean to the right, read magazine National Review or The Weekly Standard; to the left, read The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly or the New Yorker. And just like the Economist, try to read a single issue all the way through rather than just pecking around the websites.
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Fantastic recommendations. I concur. If I could give rep, I would give it to you. The process for becoming educated and intelligent is in some ways similar to building muscle mass on the way to becoming a bodybuilder. You have to work hard, and you have to do it constantly. You cannot just go into the gym and work out extra hard for a couple of weeks, and hope to achieve anything like that. You have to be consistent and diligent in the pursuit of your goal. Honestly, no one on this board is going to recommend any better approach than the one recommended by puohe here. But I would add one other element that might seem odd. Start reading fiction. Watching the movies does not cut it, the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. Always. When I was about your age, I read a lot of science fiction. But thrillers, horror, or of course the classics work well too. I read a couple of romance novels just to see what that was all about. I found the ones I read to be extremely boring. Whatever works of fiction you read will really help you build your vocabulary, and it will activate your imagination in ways that non-fiction works or movies cannot. Also, it will help you to develop your understanding of human relationships. The better writers, such as the writers of the classics, will contribute more towards these ends than the lesser writers. Another reason to read fiction is because it fun, and it provides a nice means of "escape". Getting sucked into a world created by a gifted writer of fiction is a real treat. Whatever approach you decide to take, good luck to you.
would you be kind enough as to list some recommendations? it's because of this board that i read 1984, and a brave new world. i would love to see some other suggested readings.
