Do we need more contributors?

[Zack]

ha, I love how apparently Europe is just one big country. Same with "South Africa".

 

[JollyRoger]

"The United States has a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other Western nation, and more than Russia or China."

I'd be willing to bet it's because we have a higher population than any other Western nation, and we have more incarcerated than Russia or China because those countries are a bit more "liberal" with their death penalty, if the suspects even make it to court.

The American population tends to self-identify as Christian in higher proportions than the rest of the world and apparently tends to commit crimes at a higher rate. Something to do with American Exceptionalism, I'm sure.

 

[Crezth]

ha, I love how apparently Europe is just one big country. Same with "South Africa".

what? south africa is a country

 

[timtofly]

Why does the prison population continue to rise while crime has been declining ever since abortion became legal, not just in the US but in other countries which legalized it as well?

I would not call it imprisonment, but structured welfare.

 

[Zack]

what? south africa is a country

Right, just like "West Virginia" is a US state? Give me a break!

 

[Crezth]

guh..

 

[Zack]

That embarrassing gaffe aside, my point about Europe still stands.

 

[Crezth]

the united socialist states of europe are russian client state silly zack

 

[peter grimes]

Right, just like "West Virginia" is a US state? Give me a break!

I honestly thought you were making a larger point about a multi-lingual polity being nothing more than an agglomeration of bantustans.

 

[Zack]

I honestly thought you were making a larger point about a multi-lingual polity being nothing more than an agglomeration of bantustans.

Nope, just a brain fart. I guess I was thinking "South Africa" as in sub-Saharan Africa or something. It was dumb.

 

[History_Buff]

That embarrassing gaffe aside, my point about Europe still stands.

Well it does say "Europe (average)" right on there. Presumably because if you want to make an easy to read chart, you can't be including 20+ countries on there. Using either the average or median is still illustrative enough to make the point, there's not many big outliers in that average either.

Just for grins, here's Europe broken out, from here: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Crime_trends_in_detail

 

[El_Machinae]

So, basically Dr. Doom imprisons a lot of people. Not Surprised.

 

[Adjuvant]

edited: nm

Doctor Doom told me to edit this.

 

[Zack]

Well it does say "Europe (average)" right on there. Presumably because if you want to make an easy to read chart, you can't be including 20+ countries on there. Using either the average or median is still illustrative enough to make the point, there's not many big outliers in that average either.

Well, South Africa is hardly representative of Africa as a whole. Russia and Japan aren't even the two biggest countries in Asia. There's nothing about Mexico, a not-insignificant chunk of North America. South America's not even represented at all.

The graph isn't consistent. If you want to compare the US against various nations, do that, but don't pretend like Europe's average fits in with the rest of the data points.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Even Mexico is only 67th with an incarceration rate that is less than 1/3rd of the US.

The US has far more in common with Cuba and Rwanda in this regard, but even they are considerably less. The only countries that come close are Seychelles and Saint Kitts / Nevis.

But I do find it interesting that the incarceration rate in Latvia compared to Finland is 6 times higher, while the US is compared to Europe is a factor of 7.

 

[Winston Hughes]

I disagree. It seems to skew one way or the other. As the length of an online discussion about religion increases, the probability of everyone being jerks approaches 0 or 1 unerringly. Either you get people talking about the flying spaghetti monster and warning people about hell, or your get a polite, arcane discussion about the state of Iconography in Greek Catholic churches.

Or, as it turns out, about different countries' incarceration rates.

 

[History_Buff]

Well, South Africa is hardly representative of Africa as a whole. Russia and Japan aren't even the two biggest countries in Asia. There's nothing about Mexico, a not-insignificant chunk of North America. South America's not even represented at all.

The graph isn't consistent. If you want to compare the US against various nations, do that, but don't pretend like Europe's average fits in with the rest of the data points.

The point is to compare the US to other countries that are either reasonably comparable to the the US, either because they're reasonably similar societies (Canada, Europe, Japan I guess?), or are typically seen as the autocratic rival of the US and also happen to be in second place among relatively large countries (Russia). I don't know why South Africa made the cut, but there's no reason at all to think the author wanted South Africa to represent all of Africa more than Japan is supposed to represent Pakistan.

But the chart clearly isn't supposed to be representative of the whole world, it's just supposed to illustrate how broken the US is.

 

[metatron]

Just for grins, here's Europe broken out, from here: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Crime_trends_in_detail

Spoiler :

England is in Eastern Central Polish Europe.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

This. First make sure they can beat the game on immortal. Then let them come....

It would be sufficient to play Civ. Some versions don't even have immortal level.

Bible study group? Nah, that'd be boring and annoying.

Invite 50 world travellers, 50 scientists, or 50 kung fu black belts.

They would have to like cats as well. There aren't enough cat lovers around here.

Given that I AM is capitalized, and carries the connotation that this is God's name, near as a human can process it, it does carry a hint that I AM very well might be every single thing. And given that if God's name is I AM, and "Moses is" doesn't rate that capitalization, nor does anything else, you could read that subtext you are talking about into it. Though I'm not certain it would come off darkly unless you find God terrifying. Which, I suppose, you should. Far more terrifying than anything else at any rate. So maybe it's a bit dark after all.

My reaction to that scene in The Ten Commandments isn't one of fear. I usually start laughing. And then I wonder about what combination of gases Moses is inhaling.

Just to put it out there...

14 n Ceiling Cat wuz leik, "I yam who I yam.

14.5 Moses sez, "Yu means yu iz Popeye?"

 

[Farm Boy]

They would have to like cats as well. There aren't enough cat lovers around here.

I though we had a decent herd of kitteh lovers. I could try and dredge up some photos of Hyperion and Hecate if you want. They're useless mousers, so mostly they're good for really confusing the office staff at the vet. "What's his/her name again?"

My reaction to that scene in The Ten Commandments isn't one of fear. I usually start laughing. And then I wonder about what combination of gases Moses is inhaling.

I think that about a lot of special effects from that era.