little knobs?
I read the news today oh boy! Page 1,302
Quote: Horseradish @ September 8 2013, 1:01 PM BSTI should confirm that I am not at all anti Australia. Their politics just seem to be another indication of the way politics has gone beyond acceptability.
Australia? Greatest country in the world, no risk. A growing number of dickheads in the political arena, the arts, most of the media, and most of the population, but aside from that, no worries. Compared to most countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe - Australians are fabulously well off (thanks to abundant natural resources).
Quote: reds @ September 8 2013, 1:02 PM BSTReally haven't explained that very well.
I got your drift on the second reading.
Quote: sootyj @ September 9 2013, 8:47 PM BSTNot a cultural preference.
I think the Chinese will top the list for female infanticide and underage prostitution. They don't cloak it in religion though.
That's exactly my point! Hooray Kenneth understands what I mean, time to tipex out that entry in the book of failure.
We're very fast to say, Arabs and Muslims like under age sex/marriage.
When it's behaviour endemic to almost any impoverished, culturally lacking people.
Quote: Horseradish @ September 8 2013, 11:04 AM BST
This is the man he defeated.
Funny stuff. The media sometimes described Kevin Rudd as fluent in Mandarin. Although Rudd could learn a few sentences for a speech, he was flummoxed if questioned in Chinese. Not the easiest language for Westerners to learn.
Is Mandarin now a common language to study in British schools? Do you have to learn any foreign languages? Which ones are the most popular?
Maybe they just meant he was really good at eating citrus fruit?
Quote: sootyj @ September 10 2013, 1:38 PM BSTWhen it's behaviour endemic to almost any impoverished, culturally lacking people.
Almost every single day, I am told: "You don't understand Chinese culture." Always astounding to be told that it's normal to let unwanted, additional daughters die of starvation because "they are worth less than geese". More a rural thing than an urban thing these days, and more women using contraception and having abortions - so perhaps female infanticide is declining, but a baby Chinese girl is twice as likely to die in her first year than a baby Chinese boy. Apparently.
China went from being one of the poorest, most unsophisticated countries in the world in less than 10 years. To being the next super power and the place where most computers are built.
C'mon there's going to be some culture lag surely?
Quote: Kenneth @ September 10 2013, 1:41 PM BSTIs Mandarin now a common language to study in British schools?
Not yet.
French is still the most common, because unlike the rest of the world the French refuse to speak any English, so we have to learn it for when we invade them next time.
Quote: sootyj @ September 10 2013, 1:38 PM BSTWe're very fast to say, Arabs and Muslims like under age sex
I've never said, or even thought that. I think everyone's at it. Sadly.
Quote: sootyj @ September 10 2013, 1:44 PM BSTMaybe they just meant he was really good at eating citrus fruit?
He did raise a few eyebrows for eating his ear wax in parliament. Probably NSFW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ipvdBnU8F8
No I didn't say you did, but check out how often when this comes up several people will say.
"It's because the prophet married a girl aged 6"
Just saying.
In wealthy countries (including Arabic/Muslim ones) paedophilia, is seen as it should be as a minority, criminal perversion. I think most people just aren't attracted to children. And if we treated the minority who are as sick people in need of treatment (and punishment if need be). Then it might vanish in a generation
That would be nice!
[quote name="Kenneth" post="1015856" date="September 10 2013, 1:52 PM BST"]Almost every single day, I am told: "You don't understand Chinese culture." Always astounding to be told that it's normal to let unwanted, additional daughters die of starvation because "they are worth less than geese". More a rural thing than an urban thing these days, and more women using contraception and having abortions - so perhaps female infanticide is declining, but a baby Chinese girl is twice as likely to die in her first year than a baby Chinese boy. Apparently.
[ 
Yes, very sad. and shaming for a wealthy government- yet you we don't hear of public outcry???...
Le Vell not guilty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-24032449
The justice system has run its course, now lets move on to cheerier things.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24031979
Hopefully he'll stay there.
With respect, child abuse is now the number one topic of conversation among the chattering classes. Adult rape is second. In earlier decades, working class people with a dodgy bloke on their estate would be vilified by Guardian readers as being obsessional for marching with placards against him. Now they themselves theorise to the nth degree on forums while the direst of situations in the Middle East is considered relatively trivial. Only a fool would underestimate the seriousness of recent allegations. But according to Google, the number of arrests under Operation Yewtree is 14. Most of the reported incidents concern the period 1960-1990. That is not by any definition a current epidemic as it was described in an earlier post. 1 million people, mostly adolescents, die from suicide each year. The number of survivors of all forms of torture is at least 2 million. 5-15 million children die each year from poor nutrition. 160 million children under 5 are malnourished.
None of this is to suggest that child abuse in Britain is not on the increase. There is, in my humble opinion, a correlation not only between abuse and poverty but abuse and extreme capitalism. Its origins are in the 1960s when two key things happened. One was sexual liberalism which was needed in a moderate form and the other was greater spending power along with the government's encouragement of buying. It was at that time that a small number of immature men effectively went shopping for young women. They felt respected by their peers if they could brag about them being borderline in age. Teenage girls often saw themselves as liberated for experiencing life fully early and that was made possible both with contraception and consent.
In many respects, they were all victims of changing times. The females have tended to see themselves as victims in older age. The males have now been made into victims by a society that recognises some of the behaviour was inappropriate. Only a tiny number were child abusers as in being principally attracted to children and too many people are much too quick to generalise about "evil" men. Today's Britain is very conflicted and far nastier. The general public simultaneously exaggerates the problem to condemn it and yet asks whether there should be leniency and even a lowering of the age of consent. Meanwhile, those who make the laws are often very blase in their adult relationships and ridiculously distant from their kids who frequently themselves have problems. We are told that a lot of MPs view pornography in working hours and when asked about possible cocaine use in his own past, the Prime Minister declared it was a private matter.
I think the matter of child abuse should be comprehended as symptomatic of a greater malaise. In many respects, whether we like it or not, the general public are the children of those who govern us. Many of their decisions are not what we thought we voted for at election time or would choose for ourselves. Often the policies seem bullying and harsh. It really is no surprise that benefits to the disabled are cut and the NHS is starved of cash. After all, those in charge are pretty casual even with their loved ones. It is what they do and decide that filters down into all social behaviour. Expect further rapid, and wet, deterioration.
It is also worth bearing in mind that populations are living longer. Any lowering of the age of consent today would not merely reduce childhood to 14 years but extend adulthood to nearly 70 years. While there may just be arguments for a reduction in narrow sexual terms, there is rather more to being an adult than sex and most of it is a bloody burden. Once there is any common belief that 14 year olds should stand on their own two feet, so there will be demands on other vulnerable members of society including octogenarians and the disabled. Personally, I think that it would be the first step towards euthanasia of the elderly. If the couldn't give a damn attitudes really take hold, we'll know for sure that we are in a survival of the fittest society. And anyone with a modicum of sense will also know that we will have finally lost World War 2.