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antipaladin
Promising
Legendary Hero
of Ooohs and Aaahs
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posted September 09, 2009 11:28 PM |
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l also wish to play,jonas ask me next!
p.s. hey gootch long time no read,how's thingS?
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types in obscure english
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JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted September 10, 2009 09:48 PM |
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Quote:
Joonas, how the hell are you and what have you been up to for the last few months?
Hello.
To speak the truth, I'm confused. I'm getting all kinds of mixed signals from myself. Part of me wants to be free and careless and part wants to settle down. All things considered, I'm well. 
As for what I've been up to lately, nothing much. Army taking most of the time. Managed to squeeze in a Nightwish concert though. That was cool. Otherwise just laying around. Oh, and I'm getting glasses. If things keep going like this my right eye will become blind in a few months. Which would suck since it would mean two of the three jobs I've considered would become unavailable.
So, anti, where all this recent energy to bring a change to HC? And why?
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DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
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Peacemaker
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Peacemaker = double entendre
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posted September 10, 2009 11:53 PM |
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To the Gootch: AHEM.
(Have I done something to offend, or are you just not paying attention?)
Please pardon the interruption everyone.
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I have menopause and a handgun. Any questions?
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antipaladin
Promising
Legendary Hero
of Ooohs and Aaahs
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posted September 11, 2009 12:58 PM |
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Well i have had this summer so many changes in life terms that i decided i must bring it outwords,see the more energy i have,if its execced my limit,i must give it someone else,in our case HC has places to give and be given of that and other energy. to use it like a give adn take fountian eventually. The truth is the vary fabric of HC is dying,and unless saved,it would shatter the realms.
hope thats answering you.
Peacemaker,next question is for you:
in more then one post you regard several question to gootch,of the kind that only you two can understand. care to explain?
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types in obscure english
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antipaladin
Promising
Legendary Hero
of Ooohs and Aaahs
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posted September 15, 2009 05:38 PM |
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in order to evoide this dying ill redirect the question tooo... thedeath: Lately you seem to play devil's advocate on every metter you can find... are you enjoying it this much? i mean from the side it seems a tad annoying if not hippocriticle...
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types in obscure english
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TheDeath
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
with serious business
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posted September 15, 2009 05:44 PM |
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Well, there's nothing stopping an actual person believing what I "play" coming in and make a post right? So why not? 
More serious now, I do it because I usually like to argue from a neutral or different perspective than mine or others' -- this is to point out flaws in every argument, even if I agree with the argument (so I basically "argue" with myself that way also, but rarer). It's sort of like playing chess with yourself -- you know how you think so it's very entertaining or making you think really hard. It even improves your skill might I add.
And also, I like to be neutral sometimes and judge from that perspective.
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The above post is subject to SIRIOUSness.
No jokes were harmed during the making of this signature.
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antipaladin
Promising
Legendary Hero
of Ooohs and Aaahs
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posted September 15, 2009 05:46 PM |
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i see,well it's still annoying
ask?
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types in obscure english
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TheDeath
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
with serious business
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posted September 15, 2009 05:54 PM |
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Oh yeah sorry I forgot.
Hmm...
I don't know who to choose. But this one is curious to me, as I like critics and/or viewpoints especially for someone in literature, so here goes:
Dagoth, approximately what part/thing in the story makes you "bleh" and start thinking "this is going to be low quality literature/movie/whatever"? Also what element(s) make(s) you think it is good? I mean like, what makes one "fall apart" and not having consistency (besides "inconsistent plot" pls, I already know that from Doomforge)?
I'm really interested and curious in your answer.
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The above post is subject to SIRIOUSness.
No jokes were harmed during the making of this signature.
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DagothGares
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
No gods or kings
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posted September 16, 2009 01:24 AM |
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I wrote this entire block of text. I spent about two hours compiling ideas and it can pretty much be summed up in one sentence: I don't really know. According to Socrates I'm a very wise person now 
Anyway, forgive all spelling errors and repetition. I didn't have time to reread all. The next question is all the way down and directed to DS.
The pursuit of quality is something many people enjoy and something many people fail at continuing. I suppose it is so when you're succesful you don't feel the need to improve or change in any way, but anyway, the important thing is to judge everything for its worth. Now, quality in these things are, in the end, very very subjective things, but you can always argue poor quality through things that make the subject unenjoyable or enjoyable. Oh, and to sum up all criteria with which I judge things is going to be nigh impossible. I'll just try and create a general feel to it.
Okay, Death, now that I begin I must say that sometimes I have unreasonably high standards and sometimes I have unreasonably low standards. The movies I can never break down are the movies/ books I don't understand, because how can I possibly criticise something that's smarter than me? There's a lot of stuff that steers me into a certain opinion. For instance, I read a lot of reviews and my expectations are sometimes coloured by them. The only thing that never colors my opinion are reviews about books, because sometimes people who review books are idiots and reviews about things I've already seen before. Like the review about the movie "we're back" by the nostalgia critic. He said the movie made no sense and was just put together by junkies, while I thoroughly enjoyed it as a child and still can.
Okay, now that I've said that I'll try to say exactly WHAT it is that makes a movie/ book better than another and what not. The story in any case doesn't necessarily make it bad. Doomforge claims to be incredibly bothered by plotholes, yet I do not share his sympathies about that, since I believe that what the writer doesn't put down isn't important. And if it isn't important to the writer, why should you care? It definitely won't change the point of the story. The only plotholes that should be bothering you are the plotholes that make the story inconsistent. The only thing I truly expect from my story is for it to be functional. Do mind that I never read crime stories. If I read crime stories, this would be an entirely different discussion. You can't judge everything by the same standards. You can't blame a sherlock holmes-novel for lack of fantasy. You can't blame a stephen king-novel for lack of romance. Now, I read/ enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, horror, SOMETIMES romance and novels with attractive titles and covers. (Sometimes the things just call to me.) So I judge things on the merits of those genres.
Oh, and a story falls completely flat if it fails to deliver what it's supposed to do. If the plot has become so bad that it's actually rather meaningless and nothing but a string of events, but I don't think anything like that has been published recently, unless for comical effect...
Okay, I'm going to make a little list of things that immediately set off my alarm systems and very wary:
- Remakes and sequels are things that can never be really good. Jason V can't be a good movie for instance, so can't be saw V or Final destination 3. The reason for this is that they usually tell the same story with different environment and names for the characters. The basic point of the movie is exactly the same though. If you have a very creative and capable writing staff, then the highest you are ever allowed to go is three. Trilogies and stories that are told in parts don't count, because part 2 is a continuation of part one. The dark knight isn't the same story as batman begins, nor is the fellowship the same as the two towers. 
- Story lines and characters that run swimmingly. This is just me and doesn't REALLY detract from quality at first sight, but I can be really angry at things that run perfectly. What do I mean? Raymond E. Feist is guilty of this by having an excellent story, wonderful characters, an imaginative world and many different smaller storieswoven in one big world. Just for the complexity and fantasy put into it, I can't say his books are rubbish, but in the end of his book everything for every 'good guy' works out the best in both their social status as in their love life. The ending is something i prefer to have skipped, in fact, just for that, because it just felt like the end credits rolling by.
Now, this is pretty minor, because it only happens in the end, but there are times everything goes perfectly all the time. A story should pretty much go on about hardships, but there are some that just don't. Stephenie Meyer is someone I find horrifying in this aspect. Her characters are beautiful little flowers in a world where no one understands them, but they find eachother and both do awesome things like fighting crazy psycho vampires. I said before that I must judge it for it's worth. If it were a fantasy novel, it may have gotten a pass, but since the romance was most important, I must judge it for the relationships and the characters in the book. The characters and their interaction just goes TOO well.
- True love at first sight and teenage drama is something I loathe. It's pretty much what the above thing is, but I can't stand picture perfect romance, because that doesn't fit with my world view and dumbs down the entire thing. This partly has personal reasons, but I still think it's a valid complaint. I'm putting these together, because they both fit under the category "Stephenie Meyer did it". Teenage drama is pretty much whenever there is no discernible personality other than hormone-driven teenager.
- Things that don't fit is a cop-out, I know, but I can make it an entire category. You know what I mean, romance in horror stories, complex philosophy (or something that sounds like it, because sometimes I don't know whether the writer is just writing down something to sound profound or he is writing something to make us understand why the story is profound) in a gigantic explosive fest. Blazing action in horror stories (looking at Uwe Boll who failed to make an action movie and failed to make a horror movie at the same time).
Stereotypes in horror movies don't work, because that makes it funny. I respect whatever you can call black culture and homosexuals, but when an effeminate flamer is prancing around the set that is laughable. Whenever there's a... [insert degenerate racial slur here] from da hood dat is afraid o' nuthin', then you won't get a lot of excitement. A killer in a horror story is scary and dangerous because he is untouchable, faceless and can easily kill you in horrific ways. thi is scary, because it reminds us of the days our forefathers were killed at gallow's square by an executioner. If a 'tough guy' hits him in the face and can run anyway unscathed, the killer is no longer dangerous. He's just become a human then. There are other things, but these are the things I'm recently reminded of.
- Over-hyped stories are something that immediately set me off. I usually go: "Oh, really, twilight the greatest novel ever written?" best-selling novels and blockbusters really set off my senses. Sometimes great movies really are great and I follow along and sometimes it doesn't answer to my expectations, so I judge it as rather horrible. I know it isn't really fair to some things, but I can't have it that the best-selling novels are actually mediocre, especially when books that are several times better are rarely sold. For the same reasons you would judge an amateur writer far less harshly than professional writers. the thing is that I've seen amateur writing that tops current-day top-notch professional writing in roleplaying forums for instance or forums that are slightly DND-themed. I don't talk about the story, nor about the meaning, since the story of, say, twilight is far less complex and far more meaningless than some DND-campaigns. I mean, just the writing style. The way they express themselves. Of course, simplicity sells nowadays. Since the '50's top-grade literature became a business of academics and the people got estranged from those bizarre modernist writers and poets. Still it shouldn't be an excuse for the best-selling novels to not even be capable of moving me. I may be a cynic, but I've been moved at video games, so it shouldn't be too hrd
Alright, I also want to say that "meh" isn't necessarily really bad. When I say meh, I usually mean it's overhyped. In the words of yahtzee: "It's competent, but bland.", meaning that, sure, the story is fine and the writing is fine, but definitely nothing to get worked up aout. I call meh something that exists out of 600 pages and managed to move me only once, for instance. The way a book moves you is a measure of quality. I enjoy the engineer-trilogy immensely, because there is a small thing that I recognise extremely well in myself that I haven't encountered in any other novel. This recognition is definitely not shared by many and is a very subjective measurement of quality. Though, I can't call something that plucks my heart strings bad.
So, what makes something good?
In movies, comics and, in a far lesser degree, books something can be good just because it looks good. If the art or writing is so gripping it makes you read more. Maybe the story is bad and the whole of it is meaningless and perhaps childish, but I can respect something that wants to be a spectacle and nothing more. I can respect Michael Bay-movies and shoot 'em ups. I can also respect a really pretty picture or drawing, but I'll recognise it to be just that, if I'm given no context. There can be several meanings in art, paintings and sculptures that tell me about the zeitgeist and all and those things make it important or priceless in this age. Recent art is in that regard less valuable, but recent art is more about trying to make the person think. I think something has succeeded as art or has become a work of quality, if it has touched me. If the work makes me think: "How would I have acted then?" then it has succeeded. If the work makes me ask questions about what's the right thing to do or what is love and what is it supposed. If it makes me ask such questions it also has succeeded in my eyes. If I have been moved more than once, it definitely has succeeded (laughter is an emotion, beforeyou ask!). If the characters are inspiring I'd also call it rather succesful, which pretty much is what the above says, but in a different way.
I can also call a work "technically excellent", which is when there's gone an enormous deal of effort into it. For example, Herman Gorter is a dutch author from the romantic and he spent three years of his life writing a small book of 120 pages. It was a romantic story about the goddess of may and its content was outstanding, but what is technically excellent is that he spent three years creating thousands of verses in pefect rhyming and scanning. That just blew my mind right away and makes him one of my dearest writers. He's very romantic, so that helps, of course. I can respect him just for that. A good book isn't definied by the story or by the meaning, per se, It can just be because it was made into a monumental effort. Writers like Gorter actually made a pretty picture out of language. I haven't realised how beautiful or cute Dutch can be until I read the impressionist writers (you read that correctly).
I think one thing that needs to be said is that there is no mathematical formula. There is no solid way to measure quality in works of art. There'll always be exceptions to my rules. For instance, there are remakes that are exceptionally well and even bring in new elements to a story. I can admit a remake can be good, but bad remakes would be in the vast majority. Princess bride breaks the rule of going too perfectly and having perfect romance, but I rate it as one of my favourite movies of all time. I don't know why princess bride gets the pass, but it does. it may have something to do with the comedy or with the charming way it's delivered or with the way it clearly is a fantasy and those other stories try to put an emphasis on realism. I can't put my finger on it, but one way or another, there are exceptions that break the elementary rules I make, so it never is a good idea to make iron rules about them, because they will be broken. I only wrote down what personally makes me assume it's bad without actually it affecting much of the quality, because my experience tells me they aren't very good. As I said writing is very subjective, but I'd rather have it that people take time to read books with meaning, instead of dan brown or Stephenie Meyer, you know?
Darkshadow: Why is Fascism THE political ideology for you and what makes italian fascism superior to the other forms? I'm pretty much a layman about this (because I'll be learning about WWII in about two-three months, right now we're studying the interbellum), so I apologise in advance.
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If you have any more questions, go to Dagoth Cares.
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted September 16, 2009 02:21 AM |
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Quote:
It's sort of like playing chess with yourself -- you know how you think so it's very entertaining or making you think really hard.
Or you end up favouring one side and making the other fail on purpose.
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Eccentric Opinion
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DagothGares
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
No gods or kings
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posted September 16, 2009 02:24 AM |
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yeah, you kinda know all the moves your opponent is going to make
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If you have any more questions, go to Dagoth Cares.
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TheDeath
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
with serious business
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posted September 17, 2009 05:18 PM |
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But the other side knows it too.
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The above post is subject to SIRIOUSness.
No jokes were harmed during the making of this signature.
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DagothGares
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
No gods or kings
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posted September 17, 2009 05:22 PM |
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True, I know what you mean, though. it's like a socratic conversation with yourself. I just doubt whether there is much to gain from that sometimes
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If you have any more questions, go to Dagoth Cares.
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Svarog_Undead
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 01, 2009 10:04 AM |
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Quote:
I should've known better than to think that Svarog was going to be here for any length of time save a couple of hours while he's living his charmed Ivy League life.
Gootchie, if you can take a month and a half to ask a question, I can take two to answer it. Sorry about the delay, I was checking the thread for about two weeks afterwards, then i gave up and forgot about it.
To answer my question, if the rest of the gentlemen dont mind some rule bending:
What have you been doing the last few years and what the hell are you up to these days?
-Well, the year when I stopped posting on HC (October 2005) was just the same year when I started college back in Macedonia. That October I applied to Harvard as a transfer and had my first gay sex. Needless to say, both changed the course of my life from then on. Exhilarating year, finishing with a crescendo that summer in Paris at a workcamp with volunteers from across Europe. (Best memory I have from there was breaking into the 'catacombs' [a system of claustrophobic mine tunnels extending beneath all of Paris, a kind of a parallel city, think Dungeon subterran level] with a gang of scruffy guerilla graffiti artists that I had met that night.)
Now I'm here in Harvard for the fourth year in a row. It does little justice to the idea of "charmed life" you have about IVY league schools. Boston weather's a b!tch to begin with, and there's little good social vibe to compensate. People are always occupied with their own lives and errands, that they have only time to talk to you over dinner, and even that often has to be scheduled (big shock for me the first time somebody pulled out his schedule to put me down for a meal!). WHat's more, many of them are too tame and predictable yet cocky, which sums up to utterly uninteresting dinner conversation partners. I used to think that Americans were like this, but not anymore since I met few others perfectly respectable examples from my study abroad program (btw, if you think Americans are bad, wait till you meet the Germans ). It's not the people; it's this kind of environment that does that to people. It's certainly not the happiest place in the world. So much so, that I have a compulsive need to run away somewhere else literally every other semester. I did a study abroad in Berlin, learned German, had lots of sex and party. Then just this past year I took the semester off, went to Rio for an irresponsible six month long vacation, learned Portuguese, had lots of sex and party, pronto.
I got into hitch-hiking, ballroom dancing, opened a blog (in Macedonian), traveled quite a bit, met some amazing people. From a more academic aspect, I ditched debate and physics, re-orienting towards economics. Maybe if one day I see an attractive physicist that doesn't totally neglect himself (nothing too fancy here, basic stuff like cutting one's nails, shaving occasionally, a clothing style that's not completely abhorrent) and has a social life outside the lab, I will reconsider my belief that only impotent people do hardcore physics. But for now, I'm shooting for an econ grad-school. It's where the not so bright physicists and mathematicians go to make easy grades. And easy money. But I like econ. Though I've abandoned my apologetic stance towards Marx, for which I came to be known at HC, I'm still through-and-through a child of the 'proletariat' and keep those core values of egalitarianism and social justice at heart ("an advocate for consumers' rights" would ring more friendly to the American ear I guess).
I hope I have answered what you asked. If not, maybe I will in more detail some day when you come to Boston. (or anyone from the old HC guard. Where do you people live anyway? (with google coordinates pls, I never bothered to learn American geography)
Everyone else, sorry to be bothered by the ghosts of HC past.
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Darkshadow
Legendary Hero
Cerise Princess
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posted October 01, 2009 02:55 PM |
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Quote:
Darkshadow: Why is Fascism THE political ideology for you and what makes Italian fascism superior to the other forms? I'm pretty much a layman about this (because I'll be learning about WWII in about two-three months, right now we're studying the interbellum), so I apologise in advance
Ill clear out 2nd question first:
Because there is no other "fascism", some political movements have been called fascist (Like National socialism and Spanish Falangism) only because they have similar concepts, and Italian fascism is not too racist but not too open so it kind of balances between the light forms and the extreme forms.
Instead of turning this post into a book, ill shortly explain a few things in fascism:
Nationalism:
This has always been a  thing.But rather than supporting a single nation, I support to unify Europe as a whole (not just some EU crap, but for real).I give to nationalism because I see how badly the anti nationalism has failed so badly that it shifts the balance of power.
Authoritarianism:
Ok, I don't support the nation to have a single "dictator", but a strong, monarchistic leader would be appropriate, instead of a weak president who always shakes when the people or the goverment say something, be that good or bad.We need someone who couldn't care less what the others say.Listening to the people is good, but it must be done on limits, you cannot tremble each time the public dissaproves your plan to do something.
Militarism:Quote:
the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.
- Wiki
I also support military as an employment.
Social darwinism:
Quote:
Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.
- Darwin
Economics:
I have to admit, economics always bored me, but a something of a mix between military keynesianism and socialist policies should be sufficent to keep the nation running.IMO, Corporatism is a dead idea, that could only hope to work in very specific circumstances.
Anti-Immigration:
Im not sure does this have anything to do with original Fascism, but seeing how Europe is being overcrowded with uneducated and ignorant immigrants (People who come to here and think they don't have to change one bit, when in reality this should be the opposite).
Anti-Communsim:
Communsim is a plague that trends on earth, and it must be destroyed.It has brought more deaths than any other ideology (more suffering than all ideologies combined, id say).
Some points I don't support:
Indoctrination: Free thinking is a healthy thing, Indoctrination could limit the peoples ideas and therefore hinder all the cultural and ideal wealth that could be achieved.
extreme racism:
This was presented in Italy when Mussolini started to lick Hitler's boots. It could only provoke uneeded hostility against a nation.
Censorship:
This goes along with the points in Indoctrination. It is an outdated idea that hinders culture, ideas and knowledge.
Imperialism:
If this was the 19th century then this would get a . but it's not and we need something new, a large colonial empire could only drain your resources, manpower and industry while you would only gain rebellions and scarce resources in return.For something new I say that taking advantage of the nations that have failed to install themselves as a stable state is perfectly acceptable.
Class theory:TBH it is so outdated and so overused, something must replace this.
Why Do I support fascism?Well, A line picked from somewhere said "Angry and Emotionally Bitter people turn into fascism", In my case the quote being 100% true.
Ends here.
Point to me if I forgot something extremely important, I had to look up on some quotes of wiki because I had the difficulty to find the right English wording for them.
I have a question to DG since I don't remember who else is in:
What ideology do you support?And whyh?I don't remember you have said it anywhere but I could have missed it since I don't fully read all OSM posts.
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violent_orchid
Tavern Dweller
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posted October 02, 2009 07:53 PM |
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Quote:
Child, you will wait until you are spoken to.Quote:
Nice to see some never change...
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The Government is providing new
jobs,catch, you work for them.
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xerox
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 02, 2009 09:55 PM |
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Me wants question please.
Maybe I should make an "Ask Xerox Show" thread xD Im sure people have a lot of questions. I might even do a interview - if the price is right (lol just kidding).
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Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 02, 2009 09:58 PM |
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DS:
That doesn't sound like Fascism - it sounds like the viewpoint of a moderate conservative.
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Eccentric Opinion
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Darkshadow
Legendary Hero
Cerise Princess
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posted October 02, 2009 10:03 PM |
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That is what mussolini thought, I don't like stuff like leader praising or censorship, but I got a strong nationalist, militarist and military keynesianism idea support .
I don't know what modern conservatives mean to you.If you are talking about US then you got the right direction (at current they are heading to the banana plantation like the monkeys they are, though).
Or lets ask it this way, What do you view fascism as?
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 02, 2009 10:33 PM |
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Extreme nationalism, strong government control of business - and strong business influence on government, heavy regulation, large military spending, imperialism, racism, intolerance, indoctrination, militarism, Fuehrer Prinzip, etc.
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Eccentric Opinion
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This thread is pages long: 
