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[Reply #30 on:]

It has everything to do with presumption of innocence; you probably don't understand what that actually means.

Good luck with that. Since the Police State took over, innocent until proven guilty doesn't happen until you hit court and they're working on fixing that too.

Get deep in tard-con country and you'll hear gems like "He didn't EARN his rights!". That gets Amens. Yup, and they're all patriots too. Here's to the Evangelist States of America, everyone else Howdy Now Git!

[Reply #31 on:]

Sadly, you're right.  However, if we don't keep correcting the idiocy every time we see or hear it, we're part of the problem.

[Reply #32 on:]

There is no correcting those people. None whatsoever. They live in fact-proof bubbles.

[Reply #33 on:]

They live in fact-proof bubbles.

Brilliant quote, I may use it. +1 on the Kama

[Reply #34 on:]

However, if we don't keep correcting the idiocy every time we see or hear it, we're part of the problem.

I consider more of a problem when the "elitists" couldn't think logically and insisted that others follow them off a logic cliff.

Swartz didn't like the laws and decided that he would be the final arbiter of what's right and wrong and executed the people's will, whether they liked it or not.

He probably didn't expected the potato to be so hot.

[Reply #35 on:]

Neither did Ghandi.  Oft times, the laws are bad, and the only way to change them and not hurt people is to simply disobey them.  Get enough attention to the problem and will be addressed.  Keep your mouth shut and hide behind the 'law' and you're part of the problem again.

No, being so young and idealistic, he wasn't prepared for an aggressive hound of a prosecutor playing games with virtually unlimited resources and ambition.

[Reply #36 on:]

Swartz tweaked powerful noses. And who knows what he might do next?

Loose cannon and all that, threat to the comfort of his betters, someone get a hound on his tail, grumble-grumble where's my tea? And my oxy?

[Reply #37 on:]

Neither did Ghandi. 

Bad example.

No, being so young and idealistic

Yeah. He was such a genius that he failed to anticipate how the mortals would have reacted. Too bad for him.

[Reply #38 on:]

Nice one GoForSmoke.  dhenry, you're just a troll; totally ignorable from now on.

[Reply #39 on:]

However, if we don't keep correcting the idiocy every time we see or hear it, we're part of the problem.

Swartz didn't like the laws and decided that he would be the final arbiter of what's right and wrong and executed the people's will, whether they liked it or not.

Sounds like he has achieved Stage 6 of Kohlberg's Six Stages of Moral Development.

"Moral reasoning is based on abstract reasoning using universal ethical principles. Laws are valid only insofar as they are grounded in justice, and a commitment to justice carries with it an obligation to disobey unjust laws. Legal rights are unnecessary, as social contracts are not essential for deontic moral action. Decisions are not reached hypothetically in a conditional way but rather categorically in an absolute way, as in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. This involves an individual imagining what they would do in another’s shoes, if they believed what that other person imagines to be true. The resulting consensus is the action taken. In this way action is never a means but always an end in itself; the individual acts because it is right, and not because it is instrumental, expected, legal, or previously agreed upon. Although Kohlberg insisted that stage six exists, he found it difficult to identify individuals who consistently operated at that level."

People keep asking why we are seeing a decline in brilliant people in America. Well, here they are. Diagnosed with mental conditions and driven to suicide, because brilliant people don't fit social norms.

[Reply #40 on:]

Not being understood is a good way to be either cast out or "straightened out".

It's also weird how many 'tough individualists' not only conform to an image but push others to do the same.

[Reply #41 on:]

why we are seeing a decline in brilliant people in America.

Fortunately for those "brilliant" people, THEY don't have a lot of them.

[Reply #42 on:]

It's also weird how many 'tough individualists' not only conform to an image but push others to do the same.

I was keeping up until you said this.  I'm a bit lost could you expand on this statement a little more?

[Reply #43 on:]

No. More words won't help. How many sheeple do you know that put on a "stand on their own" image while doing a social line-dance? Who led them? Start with the faux hippies of the 70's and don't forget to look to the right now and then.

[Reply #44 on:]

Ok, I understand now.  You can't articulate this in a form that other people will actually understand, so you rely on platitudes or parables that leave the meaning unclear trying to appear sage.

Master Po: "Old man, how is it you can hear such things?" 
Student Caine: "Young man, how is it you cannot?"