Hot Button Topics (religion, politics, sports)

[Bella]

Extremists = Zealots. Zealotry is stupid. That's all.

Yes. This. Agreed.

Everyone already knows that I'm pro-any-two-adults-who-want-to-be-married-being-married, so of course I support the decision to bring marriage equality to RI.

It's a relatively minor point but I'd like to say that while I get *why* "gay marriage" is such a popular term it annoys the hell out of me. It's not just gay people who benefit from being able to marry a person of the same sex - there are plenty of bi- and pansexual people with same-sex partners, people with transgender partners who have yet to be legally recognized as the gender they are, other people who don't necessarily identify as gay but for whatever reason have same-sex partners, etc. Marriage equality affects these people too.

[Chocofreak13]

we'd like to think it's a politically correct world, but the reality is that we always forget SOMEONE. until those groups become too big to be ignored (as the blacks/jews/native americans/gays did), we'll overlook them, though not on purpose.*

*bear in mind that i speak for the country here, not for myself, i have a few bi/pan/trans friends

[Simonorged]

In new news from Cleveland's horrific kidnapping case, neighbors are alleging that they called the police multiple times to the home where Ariel Castro and his two brothers held Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus, and Amanda Berry hostage for ten years. Neighbors claim that even though their calls described chilling scenarios — naked women on leashes crawling on all fours and women pounding on windows — they were either ignored, or the police completed very cursory check-ins.

http://jezebel.com/police-visit-cleveland-house-of-horrors-several-times-494824408

It's things like this that really piss me off. The fucking bastards and their sick twisted games. I hope they die in the smell of their own burning flesh.

Spoiler: ShowHide

And that gives me ideas for new debates:

!.) Fetishes Good or bad & why?

2.) Death penalty, should it be more torturous for people such as these?

3.)Or just rant.

[Chocofreak13]

obvious revival is obvious

fetishes are the business of the people that have them. to call them "good" or "bad" is like saying it's "good" or "bad" to be gay, be a certain religion, or speak a certain language.

i wouldn't say "it should be more torturous", that just sounds creepy. it DOES make me roll my eyes that we're so concerned with "prisoner comfort" these days...if you deserve to die, you don't deserve to be comfortable. personally, i like the gas chamber and the electric chair.

tbh though i just read an article about a guy who got off death row after being there for 18 years. he didn't commit the crime he was accused of, he was just suspected of being "the leader of a satanic cult" because of the way he liked to dress. he and 2 friends spent over half their lives, nearly 2 decades waiting to die for something they didn't do, just because they looked a bit different.

while this doesn't change my view on the death penalty, it DOES wane my faith in the justice system. :\

[Bella]

Crazy thing is, something really similar to this happened several years ago in California. Known sex offender kidnaps a child, something extremely suspicious is going on at his house yet none of the parole officers, cops, etc. who visit his house regularly (as a part of his parole conditions) EVER notice anything is amiss, he ended up having her imprisoned for 18 years in his back yard. I believe it was a UC Berkeley worker who finally noticed something was wrong and got the police after him. Sickening.

1) Fetishes - like any aspect of sexuality - are neither inherently good NOR bad. With very few exceptions, I think fetishes are just a part of a person's sexual (or sensual) tastes and can't be moralized, any more than you'd argue that a person who enjoys the taste of meat is better or worse than a person who likes vegetables.

I think there are some exceptions. I consider pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia (and any other fetishes that involve sex with non-consenting partners) extremely unethical, immoral and rightfully-illegal. But the vast majority of fetishes, if practiced within the bounds of safe, consensual, respectful sex, are absolutely fine.

2) I don't agree with the death penalty (honestly? I wish we had a work-camp system and could make scumbags like Ariel Castro do hard-labor for the rest of his life, that way he would get to suffer for decades to come AND contribute something [no matter how small] to society) but even if we did, I don't think I'd want a worse death for him. Death is bad, period (although, as i just said, some punishments are way WORSE than death), saying "should we have worse death penalties?" is like saying "should we firebomb AND nuke something?" That's already the ultimate act of punishment, adding anything else just makes it sadistic. And I don't believe that sadism / evil / hatred should be fought with more sadism / evil / hatred.

[Chocofreak13]

two wrongs don't make a right. but since sadism itself is a fetish, i think a more appropriate phrase would be something like, "more sugar isn't gonna fix your diabetes." -w-

for the record, i don't consider necrophillia/pedophillia/beastiality a fetish, i consider it a paraphillia (ie: a psychological condition; something to be treated/punished), not something people should be doing. :\

[Simonorged]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_704241&feature=iv&src_vid=bAADxvu7svM&v=SdtCEaxfT38
update on the Cleveland girls

[Nichi]

I don't have much to add on the death penalty that hasn't already been brought up, but as for fetishes, it's all perfectly fine if it's handled reasonably (After all, I don't feel one person should force their fetishes onto someone else)

[Chocofreak13]

or lack thereof. -w-

[Simonorged]

http://jezebel.com/the-best-body-armor-wont-do-your-boobs-any-favors-497520559

http://jezebel.com/your-bra-is-actually-making-your-breasts-saggier-accor-472470230
Here is something to debate, though I do not intend to be a part of it.

[Chocofreak13]

the first one is obvious. the second one i didn't really see coming, but makes some sense, not that i'm going to throw mine away. but i might take that into account and pick up some pasties.

[Nichi]

I've heard the second one a few weeks back; and it makes sense

As for the first one, that is obvious that costume designers favor fanservice over functionality in armor for the ladies (see: chainmail bikinis)

[Simonorged]

I've got nothing by ways of debate topics so I'm just going to post articles I find.
http://jezebel.com/irritable-male-syndrome-wherein-dudes-feel-all-the-fee-498767105

Irritable Male Syndrome: Wherein Dudes Feel All the Feelings
Gosh, women and their messy emotions and crazy behavior while PMSing. What a womanly thing. But guess what?! Guys PMS, too. Joke's on you, dudes, because you can also feel crazy emotions and it sucks and can we please just hug and eat ice cream together?

[Chocofreak13]

don't do that, this topic was intended for debate. if there's no debate now there's no debate, don't spoil the topic with random crud. :\

I've heard of IMS before, though it was on KotH. as KotH has no history of lying, however, i'm inclined to believe in it and its causes. after all, low testosterone is a real medical condition. :\

[Chocofreak13]

hey guys, we finally have a new topic for debate:

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/sexy-merida-pulled-disney-backlash-181258013.html