Series of explosions hits Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk

Well there you go -- don't complain about anything, including terrorist explosions that injured 28 people, including 10 kids, because somewhere, somehow, others have it worse than you do. Lord save me from keyboard moralists.

Don't you dare complain about the keyboard moralists on this forum. You have no idea how bad it is on other sites.

Sorry, after previous poor experiences with "dares" I now only respond to double and triple dares -- and the occasional "oh go on, what harm could it do".

"We in Europe have nothing serious to complain about."

I'm glad to hear it. I'm getting sick of all that whinging at the Breivik trial.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
@Lostman:
Because Yanukovych is in office, and Timoschenko is not. Had she been in office, we'd now be complaining about how badly Yanukovych is being treated in prison.
You seem obsessed with how bad things are in your country. That's a luxury issue - people in Holland, in England, in Germany, in the US complain too, but we (and you) still have it a hell of a lot better than an estimated 80% of the world's population.
When was the last time you were threatened with imminent starvation? When did cholera last decimate your village? How often do armed mobs plunder your hometown? Are drug dealers murdering thousands every year? Has there been a war near your home in your lifetime?
If you answered any of the above with 'no', count your blessings. It means you're not in Mexico, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia or any of a host of other countries were people are actually dying by the thousands. We in Europe have nothing serious to complain about.[/QUOTE]
I wasn't saying that my country has the worst status in the world. I was just saying that our lives have become worse since Yanukovych became President.

And no, I'm not obsessed with that kind of thing and am not complaining.

I have a right to air opinions about my country, since I'm an inbred inhabitant of Ukraine, who sees all these things much better than anyone else.

[QUOTE] [b]Zebonka12 wrote:[/b]
"We in Europe have nothing serious to complain about."
I'm glad to hear it. I'm getting sick of all that whinging at the Breivik trial.[/QUOTE]

He's on trial, isn't he? It's not like some warlord is letting him have another go. People need to put things in perspective. A single mass-murderer has committed a grievous crime, but he's on trial and as far as I'm aware no European cities are ablaze yet, no war has erupted here and I haven't seen battallions of Breiviks taking to the streets.

The thing that people here don't seem to understand is that the only thing that gives terrorists power is attention. If we don't allow them to scare us, they are powerless. That's one of the reasons why we've lost the War on Terror GWB got us involved in - we're slowly becoming the oppressive dictatorships the terrorists paint us to be. Just look at how we've sacrificed civil liberties for a false sense of security.

Yes, a bombing is a heinous crime, but that's got little to do with the guilt or innocence of Timoschenko, which is what I originally remarked about.

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
Well there you go -- don't complain about anything, including terrorist explosions that injured 28 people, including 10 kids, because somewhere, somehow, others have it worse than you do. Lord save me from keyboard moralists. [/QUOTE]

If you'd learn to read, and to read things in context, you might have a clearer view of life and the world than you do now.

[b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote: [/b] The thing that people here don't seem to understand is that the only thing that gives terrorists power is attention. If we don't allow them to scare us, they are powerless. That's one of the reasons why we've lost the War on Terror GWB got us involved in - we're slowly becoming the oppressive dictatorships the terrorists paint us to be. Just look at how we've sacrificed civil liberties for a false sense of security.

[/QUOTE]

But in your previous post you say that Lostman should not criticise the dictatorship in his country because he is not in jail yet. Are you even thinking before you post? There is always a worse country and a worse regime - that should not prevent us from fighting against any kind of oppression in our own countries ever.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
If you'd learn to read, and to read things in context, you might have a clearer view of life and the world than you do now.[/QUOTE]

LOL. How old are you Thomas? 24? 25? The hallmark of far too much of your 'wisdom' is shallowness and the parroting of superficial facts for which the necessary correction rate hovers around 50%. A clear view of life and the world requires not only knowledge but experience, empathy and humility. And common sense. You point out the insidious nature of some kinds of social breakdown in virtually the same breath as pointing out that there are no 'cities ablaze'. You couldn't make it up.

[QUOTE] [b]YourValentine wrote:[/b]
But in your previous post you say that Lostman should not criticise the dictatorship in his country because he is not in jail yet. Are you even thinking before you post? There is always a worse country and a worse regime - that should not prevent us from fighting against any kind of oppression in our own countries ever.[/QUOTE]

There's an example of common sense for you Thomas.

I am indeed saying that, and despite what you seem to imply, it is not contradictory. I do not intend to launch into bemoanings of civil liberties taken away - that time has passed, since everybody knows it already; however, I will cite these things when I point out the results of giving in to fear, to conspiracy theories (which, as you probably noticed, I did in the above post).

As you might also have noticed, I did not bring any of this up before this point, because it frankly has nothing to do with the topic at hand, which is that petty issues like what may or may not be a political trial and single terrorist attacks are allowed to serve as covers for deeper social problems, like the rampant corruption in the whole of the western world, as well as most other places, and the increasingly violent and polarized nature of society (in comparison to the period we had before).

I do say that we should not be complaining as much as we are, because we really don't have so much to complain about. Because the issues we do have are comparatively small, both in number and in kind (can you imagine someone starving in Somalia worrying about immigration, budget deficits or failing banks, or corruption?), we should not complain so much about them, but attempt, as individuals in our own little way, to improve these flaws, as they really are only minor scratches in what is otherwise probably the most humane and wealthy society that ever existed so far (which is not to say that we cannot hope for gradual improvement over the coming centuries).

People are all too swift in believing they are powerless. It doesn't take a thousand to make a difference, it takes one person with an idea. If you can see that something is wrong, that is because you can imagine how it could be right.

The Ukraine is not corrupt because Timoschenko is on trial, Timoschenko is on trial because the Ukraine is corrupt. We should fight the corruption, but at the same time, we should remember that the question of Timoschenko's guilt is entirely unrelated to the question of the Ukraine's corruption problems, and that is the original point I was trying to make all along, before we got bogged down: I don't believe her to be a saint just because she is being martyred; that, to me, requires a little more.

[QUOTE] [b]GratefulFan wrote:[/b]
the parroting of superficial facts for which the necessary correction rate hovers around 50%. [/QUOTE]

Merely out of interest, who am I parroting?

Holly2003 wrote:

thomasquinn 32989 wrote:

Holly2003 wrote:
Well there you go -- don't complain about anything, including terrorist explosions that injured 28 people, including 10 kids, because somewhere, somehow, others have it worse than you do. Lord save me from keyboard moralists.
If you'd learn to read, and to read things in context, you might have a clearer view of life and the world than you do now.
Obviously I can't be as omnipotent as you seem to believe you are. I think that's clear enough.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
I am indeed saying that, and despite what you seem to imply, it is not contradictory. I do not intend to launch into bemoanings of civil liberties taken away - that time has passed, since everybody knows it already; however, I will cite these things when I point out the results of giving in to fear, to conspiracy theories (which, as you probably noticed, I did in the above post).
As you might also have noticed, I did not bring any of this up before this point, because it frankly has nothing to do with the topic at hand, which is that petty issues like what may or may not be a political trial and single terrorist attacks are allowed to serve as covers for deeper social problems, like the rampant corruption in the whole of the western world, as well as most other places, and the increasingly violent and polarized nature of society (in comparison to the period we had before).
I do say that we should not be complaining as much as we are, because we really don't have so much to complain about. Because the issues we do have are comparatively small, both in number and in kind (can you imagine someone starving in Somalia worrying about immigration, budget deficits or failing banks, or corruption?), we should not complain so much about them, but attempt, as individuals in our own little way, to improve these flaws, as they really are only minor scratches in what is otherwise probably the most humane and wealthy society that ever existed so far (which is not to say that we cannot hope for gradual improvement over the coming centuries).
People are all too swift in believing they are powerless. It doesn't take a thousand to make a difference, it takes one person with an idea. If you can see that something is wrong, that is because you can imagine how it could be right.
The Ukraine is not corrupt because Timoschenko is on trial, Timoschenko is on trial because the Ukraine is corrupt. We should fight the corruption, but at the same time, we should remember that the question of Timoschenko's guilt is entirely unrelated to the question of the Ukraine's corruption problems, and that is the original point I was trying to make all along, before we got bogged down: I don't believe her to be a saint just because she is being martyred; that, to me, requires a little more.[/QUOTE]

Just as a matter of interest Thomas, when you're not berating Lostman and everyone else who doesn't spend every waking moment weeping over the plight of everyone from Somalia to East Timor, what concrete things are you doing to help?

[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]Holly2003 wrote:[/b]
Well there you go -- don't complain about anything, including terrorist explosions that injured 28 people, including 10 kids, because somewhere, somehow, others have it worse than you do. Lord save me from keyboard moralists. [/QUOTE]
If you'd learn to read, and to read things in context, you might have a clearer view of life and the world than you do now.[/QUOTE]
Obviously I can't be as omnipotent as you seem to believe you are. I think that's clear enough. [/QUOTE]

Have you noticed that I don't post in most topics? That's because I don't have anything to contribute to the topics I don't know anything about. I'm not omnipotent, I just don't flaunt what I don't know unless it's a concrete answer I'm looking for.