ihath

Well, everything is linked in some form or another.

It is an interesting variation of seevn degrees of Kevin Bacon, or a game where I try to link everything wrong in the world to the French (I am from New Orleans and have a lot of French blood, especially amusing is how intermingeld it is with my Scottish roots, and I also greatly enjoy escargot) :)

It is a fun game in any case. BTW, I noticed that names are not revealed in the posts. Was that intentional or just a coincidence.

I guess another fun linkage would be to link Stephen Harper to Jack Layton, without using Parliament.    

thomas,
There is a problem in the new template that doesn't allow the names of comment authors to show up. I will try to fix it next week.

I like the linky linky game. It's kinda fun. It's just boring that people always play the link evil to arabs and muslims version. I suggest that we alter it once in a while.    

Sometimes, I have to just laugh at myself out loud. I actually thought, for more than a moment, that this little degrees of linkage game might be fun to play. That is, before it dawned on me that it wasn’t really a game. Clearly, I am not a “smart fellow,” and if you ever call me that, I will take offense. :). No, this little game is really a blame game, a game where commonality is sacrificed for the sake of accentuating differences. The concept of causation is reduced to merely “but for” inquiry, and notions of responsibility expand to outrageous proportion. No one leaves the table bitterless (my science word for the day), try as they might, and they never go to dinner together afterwards.

Truth be known, putting logic and reason aside, I feel a sense of responsibility - if feelings of sadness, regret, shame, embarrassment and the like equate to responsibility - for your assault by presumably an American heterosexual male in SF. Don’t ask me why. I simply do not know. Further, I suspect that this feeling would be replaced, if not disappear entirely, if you endeavored to point out the "linkage" between him and me.    

Nice post, although I clearly need to work on better exposing the "sarcasmicity" of my written postings. Us hip, post-modern types can have trouble being understood on these bloggy things.

Regarding comparison 1, you seem to imply:

Democracy <-> You're fully fully in-control and thus responsible for all my Government's actions.
Dictatorship <-> There's nothing you can do, your hands are clean.

Surely, the truth is somewhere in between.    

AngloGermanicAmerican,
Three years ago a Korean student studying English in Vancouver was attacked while going for a run in a park. The man sexually assaulted her and tried to strangle her to death. Luckily she survived, but barley.

Two weeks later. My husband told me that he keeps thinking about this poor woman and her family. How she was in a foreign country all alone and how horrible it was that this happened to her.

I don't know if he was feeling some shared responsibility because he is man or if it was sympathizing with a fellow emigrant in a foreign land. Both of us are emigrants. Really it doesn't matter.

I told him. If it bothers you and you keep thinking about it then you should do something. You can donate money into a fund that was raising money for her health care or make contact and try to help her family.

Many weeks later, her mother spoke in an interview through a translator. I still remember her voice breaking up in tears. She said that she was absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of help and sympathy her daughter received from absolute strangers in a foreign land.    

n. g. zax: From my perspective, as susthe truth that you are talking about isn't at issue here. Chasing it can only lead to chaos, and as living organics, we need to fight entropy. Also, I'm not sure that sarcasmicity is a good word choice, as the term sarcasm implies an intention to cut or inflict pain.

Ihath: Canadians are as fine a people as people get. Last summer, we drove from Banff to the Sault on our way back home. Wonderful experience, enjoyed the country and the people.    

Second try:

n. g. zax: From my perspective, the truth that you are talking about isn't at issue here. Chasing it can only lead to chaos, and as living organics, we need to fight entropy. Also, I'm not sure that sarcasmicity is a good word choice, as the term sarcasm implies an intention to cut or inflict pain.

Ihath: Canadians are as fine a people as people get. Last summer, we drove from Banff to the Sault on our way back home. Wonderful experience, enjoyed the country and the people.    

Actually ihath, there are a few flaws in some of your linkages. It's not all nice and neat.

First, governments, whether they are democratic, communist, fascist, monarchies, dictatorships, or whatever... are viewed as acting on behalf of their people. Someone has to be in charge of the nation state and its dealings with other nation states.

Now, that is not to say that a government is acting in the best interest of its people, but that is really beside the point. If the people were really fed up, they would revolt. (The Polish proved that it doesn't have to be bloody)

Second, Al-Qaida and the Taliban were not an entity until after the Afghanistan/Soviet war. Support was given to the people fighting the "Pinko Commies."

I use that term to illustrate that the U.S. and Soviets were in the middle of the "Cold War." It was all about denying the Soviets another space on the chessboard. The mujaheedeen at that time were fighting for their reasons, and the U.S. supported them for a different set of reasons.

So, I guess I disagree with the logic behind a simplistic scale to link dynamic world events and associations.

I could use that same logic in the following linkedness: I bought my girlfriend a truck, then after I broke up with her, she used the truck to run down pedestrians on the street... therefore I supported my ex-girlfriend in killing those pedestrians.    

aga:

> "...as living organics, we need to fight entropy."

As of this morning, at least, the 2nd law of thermodynamics remains undefeated. ;)

> "...I'm not sure that sarcasmicity is a good word choice..."

You're right. How about "ironicity?"

> "Canadians are as fine a people as people get."

Thanks!    

NG Zax: Actually, its in reliance upon the continued viability of the 2nd law of thermodynamics that I come here. I need to warm my cold, frequently conservative soul; while not perfect, a good deal of the heat transferred is converted to “work” which I believe benefits me; and last but not least, isolated systems become disordered over time, and I fear isolation and am bothered by disorder. Mactek: “It’s not all nice and neat.” Exactly. That is her point, and if it bothers you that she suggests linkage tying your “group” with some measure of connection, perhaps you can experience in some small way how she feels. In her words, “It's just boring that people always play the link evil to Arabs and Muslims version.”    

hi aga:

> " isolated systems become disordered over time,"

The *net* entropy of the Universe is constantly increasing. If you decrease your personal entropy through reading ihath's blog, someone else's entropy must be rising. Perhaps its ihath's from reading my blog.

Cheers,
N.    

N. Or yours. :) But only if your remain in isolation. Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself, and that after all, is part of the name of this blog.    

ihath;
Speaking of words, "passivist" is kind of an interesting pun! Did you intend to imply, as the context does, that a pacifist is also a passivist? If so, we would then have to use a somewhat oxymoronic construction, "activist pacifist", to describe the noisier anti-war types. :)

I guess the passivist mantra is, "When being terrorized, lay back and enjoy the experience." The pacifist might add, "You probably did something to deserve it, anyway."

:D

Brian H    

first off, the US did not give money to al qaida, they gave it to the afghan gov't. the terrorist organization didnt emerge until much later, so check your facts bitch. second, i've seen your picture. you're a fat ugly brown muslim whore....so i highly doubt any man would attempt to drag you into an alley. stop making up stories in a lame attempt to try to make yourself seem attractive....as if any sane non-muslim man would ever want a filthy skank like you.    

First off, anonymous,
Your mother should have taught you it is not only stupid to attack against the physical appearance of people, it is also stupid. As for myself, my Mom did teach me some essentials as : You may not show people with your finger, you must beg for pardon when you step on somebody else's foot, etc.
Secund, Ihtah, I do not know whether you are a top-model or not, but I wouldn't trust anonymous's description. While this is a blog where people can write to people they have never known, let me continue with my fantasy that you are the most beautiful woman of my dreams !
Third, Ihtah, I must disagree with you about the United States foreign politics. It has not always been very wise, but your statements sound like (here I copy-paste from one of the above comments) : I could use that same logic in the following linkedness: I bought my girlfriend a truck, then after I broke up with her, she used the truck to run down pedestrians on the street... therefore I supported my ex-girlfriend in killing those pedestrians.
The United States have continued to support Pakistan, which supported Afghanistan Talibans regime, long after the fall of Najibullah, true, but terrorism is terrorism, and nothing can give the slight excuse to it. Most of Europe's leaders didn't want to meet the Commandant Massud when he come to Europe, both to ask for pressure on Pakistan to stop the pakistanese bombing on the Northern Alliance, and to warn us against Al-Qaeda, true too... And his assassination was, to my view, a real catastrophe. He was one of the very rare people for whom I let tears when I heard about his death. From the interviews I had the chance to watch, I think I have never seen such a personnality, nor before, nor after.
But now terrorism is here, the errors of the past belong to the past, and terrorism has to be fought against, with any EFFICIENT means. Which means now stopping blaming "The West", even if it is with your acute sense of humour.    

anon, she is not a top model. not even close. she had a picture of herself on this site in the past, so i know for a fact that she is disgusting. she is like fat albert, but with slightly lighter skin. the facial hair is identical.    

Who is fat albert? I would like to know who I look like.

Anyway I am married already and so what I look like doesn't matter that much. Plus I work as a computer programmer and computer geeks don't have much credibility if they are nice looking. The nerd image is hard to maintain but ... sigh! somebody has to do it.    

if ( al-qaida == heads ) {
anonymous_coward_above = tails;
}
System.out.println( "2 sides of the same bad penny." );

And, for the record, I have met ihath in person. Although we are diametrically opposed politically, I can assure you that she is a beautiful person and someone whom I consider myself privileged to have crossed paths with.

=:p

N.    

n.g.zax,

Rumi said

"
Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing
there is a field. I’ll meet
you there.


When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is
too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.
"

My existance has been enriched by knowing you. I am glad we met when we did.    

Can someone explain to me why Canadians are so gushy? LOL    

"I am not a passivist. In fact I believe that violence is appropiete in certain cases. For example, many years ago while on a trip is San Francisco. A man grabbed my arm on the streets and was attempting to drag me into a dark alley. My reaction was swift. I kicked him hard in the leg and managed to run away. I feel zero guilt about using violence in that situation."

Actually, I think it showed you are a pacifist. You used the minimal amount of force (violence) to get the job done. You didn't go chasing after him down the ally and stab him to death with your penknife.

I did the same thing, only in a park, and instead of a kick, I screamed and tried to pull his arms away from me. I didn't chase him either, and I didn't do any permanent harm. I am a pacifist.    

"I could use that same logic in the following linkedness: I bought my girlfriend a truck, then after I broke up with her, she used the truck to run down pedestrians on the street... therefore I supported my ex-girlfriend in killing those pedestrians."

actually, this example would only work if your girlfriend had a history of running down pedestrians in her truck, and clearly stated she intended to do more of that. And, then, yes, you would have supported her in killing pedestrians.    

Ihath

I think NG Zax, is missing a couple points in his pursuit of mathematical elegance.

It is not the presence or number of links that assign responsibility but rather the reason the links are there and what we choose to do with them.

Normally responsibility means “duty” in this sort of discussion. Also responsibility is assumed by an individual not delegated of divided. If one has a duty, then other people also having a duty does not lesson ones responsibility.



Some links one has no control over so there is no responsibility.

Some links one has control over and thus they have a duty (responsibility) to act in a positive manner based on the information they have.

Example: Sadam is responsible for all the harm his administration caused. As president he had a duty to try to run Iraq justly. Apparently he made no real effort. This does not lesson the responsibility of others who may have knowingly caused harm. The responsibility of others does not lesson Sadam’s.



I think most of NG’s links are attempting to assign responsibility because a linkd exists though there was genuine ignorance or, a lack of 20/20 hindsight. As much as I love that sort of analysis I do not think he actually adding anything useful to the discussion.

Hank

http://eclecticmeanderings.blogspot.com/