Category: censored opinions
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Terms of War: Crusader / Jihadist
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote from instigators of Holy War: “Our Prophet ordered us to Fight you till you worship Allah alone or pay us the Jizyah tribute tax in submission. Our Prophet has informed us that our Lord says: ‘Whoever amongst us is killed as a syahid shall go…
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Terms of War: Just War
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote or from adherents to Just War: “There has never been a just [war], never an honorable one–on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen…
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Terms of War: Pacifist
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote from a Pacifist: “First, it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent…. A second…
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Terms of War: Neutral Party / Passive Observer
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote(s) from a Neutral party: “You’re evil, you know that?” I said. She grinned and shook her head. “Chaotic Neutral, sugar.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One (on Amazon) “First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they…
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Terms of War: Victim of Holy War
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote or from those killed in Holy War: “One of history’s most dangerous games begins with dividing the world into the good guys and the bad guys and ends with using any means necessary to take the villains out.” ― Stephen R. Prothero Etymology of “victim:”…
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Terms of War: Victim of Colonialism
Make sure you know the rules of engagement before reading on… Anecdote from the Colonized: “The height, sometimes, between decks, was only eighteen inches; so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides, the elevation being less that the breadth of their shoulders; and here they are usually chained…
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Terms of War: The Rules of Our Upcoming Engagement
As an amateur linguist, etymologist, and philologist, I care about the origins and meanings of words. Some say, “every word was once a poem,” and that’s a piece of how I feel, but mostly I care about words because I believe them to be living things, organisms tethered to the very life of humanity. No…
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Bad Thinking: Yeah, But That’ll Never Happen, So…
Recently, I was debating a hot topic with a brother of mine and he responded with that classic line: “Yeah, that sounds great, but that’ll never happen, so what do you really think?” He was accusing me of using this informal fallacy often called “wishful thinking” or “the Nirvana fallacy.” I was raging against the…
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journo
Finally got around to seeing this sucker and I was pleasantly surprised. We’ll break this one up simply, the bad news first then the good. The bad news? There were moments where my secondary belief (for Tolkienites) or my suspended disbelief (for Coleridgers) completely quit and I was left in a dark theater saying, “Seriously?!”…
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26 Practical Things My Inner Kid Needed to Learn
Often in the course of a week, I find myself thinking, “Man, I wish I’d have known that when I was ten.” I’m jotting down those tidbits that came to mind: 1. Always fill up your gas tank. It took my wife’s habit of creating peace of mind to drill this into my head, but…
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Why Nonfiction Writers Need Style Editors
Let’s face it: most nonfiction sucks. And let’s face it, this seldom comes from bad content. If you hope to publish in the nonfiction world, they keep a not-so-best-kept secret called “the book proposal.” I write proposals for nonfiction writers and the gist goes: “if you have a nonfiction book idea, never write the manuscript.…
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Why I Never Try to be a Dark Person
Many of the people I know, whether friends or acquaintances or neighbors, automatically give greater credibility to films, literature, plays, TV shows and the like when these things are filled with darkness. I don’t. These people, whether local or national or international, tend to say things like, “Man that was good. It was so dar-har-har-hark.…