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  1. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    But for certain crimes, even very minor ones, punishments are disproportionately high. It's all very arbitrary, which is a sure sign of despotism.
  2. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    I'm not sure if it's literally manslaughter, or whether Chinese law even uses that concept in that way. (These things vary; Dutch "doodslag" is technically the same as "manslaughter", but has different criteria.) The point is: it doesn't get you a terribly heavy sentence, and that creates the...
  3. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    Well, they're just really putting the hammer into "hammer and sickle", you know?
  4. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    It's pretty well-doumented, in articles such as this one. (Naturally, our dear 'independent fact checkers' rush to call it "unproven" because "China does not keep formal statistics on it". Ha. Ha. Ha.) Less objective as evidence, but pretty effective in convincing me, is that I've seen it with...
  5. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    Literally the situation in China right now. People have a hammer in the glove compartment. If they hit someone and the victim is crippled, they beat the victim to death with the hammer. The sentence for manslaughter is limited, and it's generally preferred to the alternative (having to be...
  6. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    What makes you think there was no dialogue? The Reformation didn't come out of nowhere, and it wasn't a uniform event that happened all at once, or the same way everywhere. The fledgling Protestants started the whole thing, obviously. But as I said: they didn't just emerge out of nowhere...
  7. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    Well, we should legalise both, I think. And if you want to be stupid, tha's your business. But that's my innate anarchism speaking. Anyway, here's a more relevant comparison: if someone puts a gun to your head and tells you to take either drug A (which kills 95% of the time) or drug B (which...
  8. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    By the numbers, are long timespans and short timespans a false equivalency? (And by your good sense, don't you damn well know it?) ;) Calculate it on a year-by-year basis. You can even go by percentages of the population. If you tally up the victims of state violence, you'll arrive at the...
  9. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    I don't see the really conservative Republicans mudering each other, or anyone else. In fact, although not very "open-minded", these people are generally the most civilised and dignified segment of a society. Show me the mass graves of Jesusland, please. Point out where the Jesusland...
  10. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    You really think that if, say, the most conservative 10% of Americans ran the country, it would be worse than if the most communist 10% did? Only people who haven't witnessed communism can think that. Conservative governments can be unpleasant, to be sure, but they don't generally have a death...
  11. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    "Them"? You are part of "them". But a small part, just like all the others -- so what you want, or what I want, is pretty inconsequential. Of course, I do think you've slightly mistaken the intent behind my statement. The dichotomies of social mores I mentioned weren't meant to display "it's...
  12. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    A few things to consider: 1. "Modernity", in the sense understood here, is the era that was initiated by the so-called Enlightenment and the radical revolutions it produced (mainly the French Revolution). We are still living in the intellectual, political and social wake of those events. 2...
  13. Skallagrim

    Business & Finance Economic Fallout: Pandemic, Brandon, Money Printer Go Brr, Ukraine.

    To be fair, Rome had an extensive imperium long before it formally became the Principate. Informal as dis-jointed as the American Empire presently is, it bears considerable resemblance to the network of alliances and client-states that the Roman Republic built up over time.
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