Things That Should Be Common Knowledge By Now

[Escasia]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

Marry me?

It should be common knowledge that without the social contract and a state of some form, we'd be in a world of shit.

You could potentially argue that without the state the world would be "shit" depending on your metric for success, but I think it is laughable to argue that by virtue of simply being born we are somehow the property of the collective will of the state.

How do you suggest services such as justice, defense, education, infrastructure and health be administered?

Corporations?

I'm genuinely curious, since your political compass doesn't scream "corporations should run everything" to me. That's the usual position I see of anti-statists.

I've seen a few who say "nothing", but that seems like magical fairy dust to me.

[Grenartia]

It should be common knowledge that without the social contract and a state of some form, we'd be in a world of shit.

You could potentially argue that without the state the world would be "shit" depending on your metric for success, but I think it is laughable to argue that by virtue of simply being born we are somehow the property of the collective will of the state.

I'm pretty sure Somalia is considered shit by all sane people. Somalia is what happens with no government.

As for the "slaves to the state" bit, that's not what the social contract means. At all. Unless you define "slavery" as not being able to do unethical things like rape, murder, steal, and other such assorted asshattery.

[Arumdaum]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

Small nitpick, but no country has actually ever claimed to be communist.

[The Scientific States]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

Small nitpick, but no country has actually ever claimed to be communist.

I shouldn't have used such a vague term, I'm referring to self described Marxist Leninist states.

[Grave_n_idle]

The social contract is total bullshit that people hide behind because they need to resort to magical fairy dust to defend the state, so I will say the common knowledge should be that social contract is toilet paper.

It should be common knowledge that without the social contract and a state of some form, we'd be in a world of shit.

It's meaningless in the real world, anyway.

If you lived in a state that ceased to be a state, you'd pretty rapidly live in a state anyway. Because me declaring my house anarchic doesn't stop someone else kicking my door down and dragging me into the street.

[Grave_n_idle]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

In general, good - but I wouldn't say it's true that violence is never the answer.

[Escasia]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

In general, good - but I wouldn't say it's true that violence is never the answer.

That's the only one I'd disagree with too. Violence can be justifiable in extreme situations.

[Menassa]

Homosexuality isn't a sin, [...]

That would depend on your definition of sin, the Old Testament, the 8th chapter of Hebrews, and Biblical Law in general.

[Bendira]

You could potentially argue that without the state the world would be "shit" depending on your metric for success, but I think it is laughable to argue that by virtue of simply being born we are somehow the property of the collective will of the state.

I'm pretty sure Somalia is considered shit by all sane people. Somalia is what happens with no government.

As for the "slaves to the state" bit, that's not what the social contract means. At all. Unless you define "slavery" as not being able to do unethical things like rape, murder, steal, and other such assorted asshattery.

The Somalia thing is about as anti-intellectual as it gets.

For one, it isn't anarchism.

Second, even if it was, it is a sample size of 1.

Third, Somalia has different norms and customs than other places.'

So I could tell you the state doesn't work and point to North Korea as an example, and you would accept that?

[The Scientific States]

Homosexuality isn't a sin, [...]

That would depend on your definition of sin, the Old Testament, the 8th chapter of Hebrews, and Biblical Law in general.

I guess what people consider biblical law. There's a lot of right wing fundies out there claiming it's a sin, and they're wrong.

[The Scientific States]

Things that should be common knowledge?

I'm sure about 100 people have said things like what I'm going to say below, but those things should be common knowledge .

Evolution is real.

Homosexuality isn't a sin, nor is it a choice.

The USSR wasn't communist, in fact there has never been a true communist state just countries that have claimed to be communist.

Obama is not the anti Christ. 17 percent of America believes he is, which is untrue.

Winston Churchill is a real person. I recall reading somewhere that quite a few British teens think Churchill was a mythical person.

Labor Unions aren't bad, they're good.

Climate change is real, and if I may add it may be one of humanity's biggest threats.

Violence is never the answer. With all the violence plaguing earth it seems that many people don't realise that violence solves nothing.

Atheists aren't evil, and they don't eat babies either. Who would've thought?

The holocaust happened. There's a lot of narrow minded neo nazis out there who can't accept that.

No race is superior.

In general, good - but I wouldn't say it's true that violence is never the answer.

Good point. But I still wish for a world without violence, although there's a 99.999 percent chance that's impossible.

[Menassa]

That would depend on your definition of sin, the Old Testament, the 8th chapter of Hebrews, and Biblical Law in general.

I guess what people consider biblical law. There's a lot of right wing fundies out there claiming it's a sin, and they're wrong.

In terms of Old Testament transgression, Homosexuality is a sin/transgression.

Who that sin applies to and who is commanded not to do that sin is a different story entirely.

[Xavilia]

evolution is true. climate change is real and dangerous. the american civil war was about slavery.

some things are easily shown to be true and have been known for years. and yet, somehow, huge swaths of the population either don't know or outright deny them. that strikes me as fundamentally ridiculous. i mean, even things that have been repeatedly discussed in the media are sometimes reported by that same media organization as new and surprising each time. why? what stops some things from sinking in?

for example, marijuana fights cancer. no, seriously. marijuana fights cancer. every time i mention this, nobody believes me. but it's even on the national cancer institute's website. each new study and report on the subject is like a crazy 'whoa!' moment for the media and/or the internet (and possibly society at large?) for exactly two days, then it just washes away. it's weird.

also, i'm interested to see if i'm just as much part of the problem as anyone else. got any other examples of things that should be common knowledge by now but aren't?

The American civil war was NOT over slavery.
Francisco Franco was a quasi-fascist.
The United States is not a democracy or a representative republic, it is a corporate bordello two-party state.
Armenia was the first Christian country.
The title of tsar or czar is not Russian, it is Bulgarian.
The Armenian Genocide was a big deal, as it set the stage for later mass exterminations like the Holocaust.
Monarchies and totalitarian states are not inherently evil or corrupt.
True democracy is an impossible idea like communism.
The US was not the first or last superpower.
Serbs, Bosnians, Slovenes, Montenegrins, and Croats are all Serbs who have a different dialect/religion.
The LGBT rights-movement is NOT the gay community.
The Orthodox and Armenian churches are the "true" version of Christianity, as the evolution of the Christian belief system is like this: God-Biblical writers/figures-Jesus-Apostles-Orthodox-(Armenian)-Catholic-Protestant.
The LGBT rights-movement is not equivalent to the modern day civil rights movement.
Abortion is murder.

[Grave_n_idle]

Good point. But I still wish for a world without violence, although there's a 99.999 percent chance that's impossible.

I certainly wish there were less of it, and that it wasn't so habitual.

On the other hand, I don't know if I'd like a world with no violence.

[The Scientific States]

Good point. But I still wish for a world without violence, although there's a 99.999 percent chance that's impossible.

I certainly wish there were less of it, and that it wasn't so habitual.

On the other hand, I don't know if I'd like a world with no violence.

I see what you mean by that. I'm referring to a world with no need for violence.

[Grenartia]

It should be common knowledge that without the social contract and a state of some form, we'd be in a world of shit.

It's meaningless in the real world, anyway.

If you lived in a state that ceased to be a state, you'd pretty rapidly live in a state anyway. Because me declaring my house anarchic doesn't stop someone else kicking my door down and dragging me into the street.

Indeed. The old saying about nature abhoring a vacuum applies even to things like societies.

I'm pretty sure Somalia is considered shit by all sane people. Somalia is what happens with no government.

As for the "slaves to the state" bit, that's not what the social contract means. At all. Unless you define "slavery" as not being able to do unethical things like rape, murder, steal, and other such assorted asshattery.

The Somalia thing is about as anti-intellectual as it gets.

For one, it isn't anarchism.

Second, even if it was, it is a sample size of 1.

Third, Somalia has different norms and customs than other places.'

So I could tell you the state doesn't work and point to North Korea as an example, and you would accept that?

The fact is, Somalia has no functional government, making it de facto anarchism, and as the only documented occurence of such, the only thing we have to go on.

I can point to the Nordic countries and studies ranking their citizens as the happiest on earth as proof that the state is a good thing.

[Bendira]

You could potentially argue that without the state the world would be "shit" depending on your metric for success, but I think it is laughable to argue that by virtue of simply being born we are somehow the property of the collective will of the state.

I'm pretty sure Somalia is considered shit by all sane people. Somalia is what happens with no government.

As for the "slaves to the state" bit, that's not what the social contract means. At all. Unless you define "slavery" as not being able to do unethical things like rape, murder, steal, and other such assorted asshattery.

Besides, every evil-doer who attacks social right becomes a rebel and a traitor to the fatherland for his crimes, by violating its laws he ceases to be a member of it, and even enters into war with it. Then the preservation of the State is incompatible with his own, one of the two has to perish, and when the guilty man is put to death, it is less as a Citizen than as an enemy.

I bet you can't guess who this quote is from?

Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin?

No, its from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Social Contract"

Next time you get a speeding ticket, remember that you have violated the social contract and are at war with the state.

[Grave_n_idle]

I certainly wish there were less of it, and that it wasn't so habitual.

On the other hand, I don't know if I'd like a world with no violence.

I see what you mean by that. I'm referring to a world with no need for violence.

Even so - boxing, for example - is both violent and fun. It's part of our human nature to engage in - and enjoy - violence.

I'd be content to live in a world where there was violence, but it was controlled and constructive.

[Blasveck]

It's meaningless in the real world, anyway.

If you lived in a state that ceased to be a state, you'd pretty rapidly live in a state anyway. Because me declaring my house anarchic doesn't stop someone else kicking my door down and dragging me into the street.

Indeed. The old saying about nature abhoring a vacuum applies even to things like societies.

The Somalia thing is about as anti-intellectual as it gets.

For one, it isn't anarchism.

Second, even if it was, it is a sample size of 1.

Third, Somalia has different norms and customs than other places.'

So I could tell you the state doesn't work and point to North Korea as an example, and you would accept that?

The fact is, Somalia has no functional government, making it de facto anarchism, and as the only documented occurence of such, the only thing we have to go on.

I can point to the Nordic countries and studies ranking their citizens as the happiest on earth as proof that the state is a good thing.

1. Somalia is not the only documented occurence of the absence of government. Medieval Iceland and Quaker Pennsylvania are two other prosperous examples.
2. Somalia could be turned on its head, as in this is what happens when the state fails. Hell, the NSA spying program could be evidence of the state's immense, and overreaching, powers.

[Grave_n_idle]

I'm pretty sure Somalia is considered shit by all sane people. Somalia is what happens with no government.

As for the "slaves to the state" bit, that's not what the social contract means. At all. Unless you define "slavery" as not being able to do unethical things like rape, murder, steal, and other such assorted asshattery.

Besides, every evil-doer who attacks social right becomes a rebel and a traitor to the fatherland for his crimes, by violating its laws he ceases to be a member of it, and even enters into war with it. Then the preservation of the State is incompatible with his own, one of the two has to perish, and when the guilty man is put to death, it is less as a Citizen than as an enemy.

I bet you can't guess who this quote is from?

Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin?

No, its from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Social Contract"

Next time you get a speeding ticket, remember that you have violated the social contract and are at war with the state.

Drive slower?

I'm sorry, but the argument that the state is bad because you want to break it's laws is ridiculous.

[Bendira]

It's meaningless in the real world, anyway.

If you lived in a state that ceased to be a state, you'd pretty rapidly live in a state anyway. Because me declaring my house anarchic doesn't stop someone else kicking my door down and dragging me into the street.

Indeed. The old saying about nature abhoring a vacuum applies even to things like societies.

The Somalia thing is about as anti-intellectual as it gets.

For one, it isn't anarchism.

Second, even if it was, it is a sample size of 1.

Third, Somalia has different norms and customs than other places.'

So I could tell you the state doesn't work and point to North Korea as an example, and you would accept that?

The fact is, Somalia has no functional government, making it de facto anarchism, and as the only documented occurence of such, the only thing we have to go on.

I can point to the Nordic countries and studies ranking their citizens as the happiest on earth as proof that the state is a good thing.

Anthropologists would probably laugh at you if you honestly think its the only example of anarchism.

Somalia has no functional government making it "defacto anarchism". Did you just pull that out of your ass?

Even though I am not prepared to defend Somalia's non-existent anarchism, I will say that human development factors actually improved after the so called "anarchism" of Somalia.

It isn't anarchism, but their weird decentralized tribal government there is better than the brutal dictatorship than was there before.

[Xavilia]

Oh, and homosexuality is a choice by the Sokhumi T'skara definition of the word, as it is describes the non-sexual and sexual acts itself. Homosexuality is not a state of mind, it is a conscious decision by the individual to engage in a consensual relationship with another member of the same sex whether sexual or not, attraction alone is not considered homosexuality.

~prepares for ridicule~

[Zerlos]

Sloths, on average, take 6 hours to mate. The first 5 1/2 are aiming and insertion

[Blasveck]

Oh, and homosexuality is a choice by the Sokhumi T'skara definition of the word, as it is describes the non-sexual and sexual acts itself. Homosexuality is not a state of mind, it is a conscious decision by the individual to engage in a consensual relationship with another member of the same sex whether sexual or not, attraction alone is not considered homosexuality.

~prepares for ridicule~

Who uses that kind of definition?

Who uses Sokhumi T'skara

[Bendira]

I can point to the Nordic countries and studies ranking their citizens as the happiest on earth as proof that the state is a good thing.

Israel ranks on par with other European countries according to happiness studies despite constant acts of terrorism according to a scholarly article I read for my economics seminar class last semester, so it is pretty clear that happiness is not something that can be measured accurately, and even if it can, happiness isn't dependent on intuitive metrics of success that we all assume it is.