The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > General Discussion > Who is the most active member on this forum?

Who is the most active member on this forum?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. Page 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. All
Dear BD,

Those Chinese students probably have no idea what their government does. Besides, if you look at the actions of western democracies - in cause and effect, the crucial difference is distance from the carnage, and the dissemination of insidious propaganda that says a crime is not a crime if 'we' commit it.

It was not a crime to murder more than half a million peasants with bombs dropped secretly and illegally on Cambodia, igniting an Asian holocaust, It was not a crime for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Tony Blair and his Tory predecessors to have caused the deaths in Iraq of 'more people than have been killed by all weapons of mass destruction in history,' to quote the conclusion of an American study.

Their medieval blockade against 22 million people, now in its thirteenth year...the facts are rarely published.

A report by the United Nations Secretary-General in October 2001 says that the obstruction of $4 billion of humanitarian supplies by the US and British governments is by far the main cause of the extreme suffering and deaths in Iraq. The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, says that the death-rate for under-fives has almost trebled since 1990, before the imposition of sanctions, and every month up to 6,000 children die mostly as a result of the blockade. This is twice the total number of deaths in the Twin Towers and another vivid reminder of the different value of different lives. The Twin Towers victims are people. The Iraqi children are unpeople.

I don't believe in pigeon-holing people - giving them labels - and then saying, 'some of my best friends are -blacks, Jews, et cetera.'
People are people - and 'spiritual beggars' exist everywhere.
Posted by Foxy, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 8:23:13 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Hi Foxy.
well.. on matters historical, I prefer to speak in more general terms than focus just on just one nation and its sins. I'll give you an example why.

You said:

>>It was not a crime to murder more than half a million peasants with bombs dropped secretly and illegally on Cambodia,<<

I cannot throw around the word 'legal/illegal' when it comes to wars. It assumes that there is 'out there' a body which is the epitomy of "truth, justice and the who knows who's way".

We Christians are often criticized by the Left for trying to offer 'simplistic solutions to complex problems' but its amazing how crystal clear it all becomes to the same people when it comes to finding 'the bad guy' in such things as Iraq. Even stranger to me, is that they DON'T find 'Al Qaeda/Insurgents/Former Bathists/Criminals' as 'the bad guys' yet they find those fighting them (Bush/USA/Coalition).. the VERY bad guy....
There is no question that the Iraq adventure was poorly thought out, that some things were underestimated, that some people will seek to capitalize on the strife, that many 'innocent' people will be killed...
But I'm more comfortable about Iraq than I am about Vietnam. Ever since I found that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was done by the Americans themselves, you can hardly do other than point to the outcome and say 'You reaped what you sowed'.

I won't call the Iraq invasion a 'crime'.. the judge and jury are too soaked in sin themselves for that to go down well.

The sanctions? here is what I mean by 'complex'.. I watched with stunned amazement the construction of HUGE new palaces for Sadaam... during that 'sanction' period.. and I'll guarantee, he was caring not a scrap for the hardship of his people, rather was rubbing his hands together in glee at the propoganda value of the suffering.

So, in summary, lets not find the speck in Bush's eye when we have the odd chunk of 2x4 in our own :)
cheers.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 3:45:18 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I tend to agree that there isn't much value in pointing out who is the most prolific poster.

However, I think there may be a few interesting insights if we consider which articles have provoked the most discussion.

Here's the articles which scored more than 300 hits:

Reflections on a multicultural nation
The energy directed against multiculturalism has been truly evil, it has been advancing an agenda of superiority, while disregarding the consequences.
By Andrew Jakubowicz - 15/11/2006
Hits: 335

Islam's coming renaissance will rise in the West
The authority of the pulpit is collapsing by the hour. A wave of rationalism is spreading from émigré Muslim intellectuals.
By Ameer Ali - 4/5/2007
Hits: 338

The abortion conundrum
Pro-choice advocates must remain eternally vigilant.
By Brian Holden - 18/5/2007
Hits: 340

The nonexistence of the spirit world
In the absence of church teaching, ideas about God will always revert to simple monotheism.
By Peter Sellick - 12/2/2007
Hits: 347

Reading the Bible with a pair of scissors
John McKinnon reviews Jim Wallis' book 'God's Politics - Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It'.
By John McKinnon - 6/5/2005
Hits: 355

Abortion back on the agenda in Victoria
Abortion is bad and there are far too many of them. What are our politicians doing to reduce the numbers?
By David Palmer - 13/8/2007
Hits: 391

The case for GM food
David Tribe argues that GM foods deserve a fair hearing.
By David Tribe - 22/11/2005
Hits: 447

The semantics of abortion
When does human life begin? A discussion on RU486, abortion and choice.
By Helen Ransom - 9/2/2006
Hits: 487

I hate Nicole Kidman
Adrianna Maxwell explains why she hates Nicole Kidman
By Adriana Maxwell - 10/1/2005
Hits: 674

The numbers aren't totally conclusive. Most are thrown out of whack by a few prolific posters, however the numbers are a reflection about the intensity of opinion from certain individuals.

So, what's important to Australia?

Culture, culture, abortion, god, god, abortion, food, abortion, but most of all, celebrities.

That says quite a lot..
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 5:11:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Mind your manners online: the Internet is being degraded by rude and self-centered people who smother civil discussions.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/11/13/manners/

(via Club Troppo http://clubtroppo.com.au/2007/11/20/missing-link-4-days-and-counting-down/ )
Posted by jpw2040, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 6:35:39 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
The point of my post had nothing whatsoever to do with governmental shortcomings or world politics. The point was that from a selection of international sites OLO posters did not appear in a very good light; the most offensive posters were, in the main, the most prolific; this was cited to give substance to my stated claim that quantity does not equate to quality: this belief, in turn, being my reason for not finding much value in who posted more than whom and the reason I agreed with those posters who considered it was more valuable to poll the most fair and balanced identities on the forum.

That said: - BD -

Bear in mind I was referring to a Journalism class for 4th year University students, so naturally they are aware of world opinion. The purpose of such a course is to study opinions and writings across the political spectrum from all over the world. They are therefore exposed to both the negative and positive.

I would hardly be so crass therefore as to hold them accountable for Governmental policies over which they, personally, had had no control.( Evidently: they do not, as do other countries, vote). The suicide rate here IS alarming and and the young people are troubled enough without me adding to their woes. Tibet and Taiwan are, of course very fraught issues here and not just side issues as they are elsewhere. My students, while being emotionally naive, are not stupid. I would consider deliberately setting out to bait them to be both uncharitable and rude.

Their dismay was directed at the fact that ordinary people, not warring factions, should show such disrespect, unwarranted rudeness and lack of feeling to each other in general discussion. I repeat it had nothing to do with either Australian or Chinese politics.
Posted by Romany, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 2:35:07 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Thank you, Foxy, for the quotation of Yeats in your earlier post. It certainly seems very descriptive of the general context of political affairs in Australia, if not elsewhere.

The question for me is as to whether the 'best' as represented in the poem have actually lost all conviction, or still retain conviction but have by means of sustained deception been displaced from, or prevented from attaining, positions of influence or leadership in, Australian public life.

In the historical context of our constitutional monarchy with its parliamentary tradition, of necessity it would seem that any actual mechanism of such displacement or exclusion must involve any one or all of the following:

The effecting of a change in the cultural character of a people across the board;

The removal of legal and constitutional safeguards against the abuse of executive power;

Some capacity for tampering with the electoral process.

Now whether posters like it or not, the cultural characteristics of Australia, until recent times, were overwhelmingly British. In turn, many of those British cultural features derive from, or have been heavily influenced by, beliefs derivable from the Old and New Testament scriptures, as distinct from the dictates of organised religious tradition and ecclesiastical authority as exercised in Britain until about the last five centuries.

B_D's posting activity focusses upon this cultural aspect.

It is a fact that the recorded circumstances of, and claims arising from, the life of Jesus, called Christ (Greek for 'the Golden One') are profoundly challenging for most, if not all, people.

It is also a fact that, taken uncritically, many of those claims are appropriated as a basis of 'authority' by would-be power trippers, of which there has been a surfeit over the years.

One response to such claims is to resort to the big guns, and apply ridicule. Another is outright censorship. It is the latter that is really implicit in the proposal of a user filter. Such filtration would supply the seeds of excuse to evade Quality No.6 in jpw2040's excellent top ten countdown of good post(er) qualities.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 8:44:06 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. Page 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy