Do we need more contributors?

[Zack]

In my upcoming Bible translation, it's going to be "I AM that ROCKS", and then the next twenty pages are just going to be a guitar solo. As it should be.

Behold, I wish to rock and roll throughout the evening, and make merry when the sun rises.

 

[Farm Boy]

Thou shalt not take my rawk in vain.

 

[bhsup]

Just to put it out there...

11 n Moses wuz all liek, "Wuh? Me? Nowai!"

12 n Ceiling Cat wuz liek, "Wai. I helping U, and U bring teh ppls to wrship teh Ceiling Cat at Ceiling Cat mountain.

13 n Moses wuz liek, "Wut if teh peeps say, who iz dat guy there?"

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

15 4evrs dat b me.

16 Tell teh pplz i see dem, an they scard.

17 Tell teh pplz about the cheezburgrs."

 

[timtofly]

Cheezeburgrs = milk with meat, which I think is a no no.

 

[History_Buff]

Let's discuss the necessity of universal suffrage's abolishment instead!

You're the terrible person who actually believes this should happen aren't you?

 

[warpus]

Or, better yet, 50 world-travelling black-belt scientists.

I like the sound of that. Okay, let's make this happen!

 

[Lillefix]

I like the sound of that. Okay, let's make this happen!

I sincerely disagree. You couldn't discuss one thing. You'd get a Dachs on every topic who'd laugh at you and your naive opinions. I can just imagine some poor soul proudly explaining how great the swamps of the north Barracas are, and then comes some black belt scientist traveler and laughs at him and tells him that it's the ones in the south that are spectacular.

 

[Snorrius]

You're the terrible person who actually believes this should happen aren't you?

You do have telepathic skill, don't you?

Well, I think this topic could make an interesting discussion at least.

 

[Lillefix]

Well, I think this topic could make an interesting discussion at least.

Depends on how the question is formulated. In a way, they don't have universal suffrage in the US where many prisoners are not allowed to vote. And this is very interesting indeed:

The United States has a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other Western nation,[36] and more than Russia or China.[37] The dramatic rise in the rate of incarceration in the United States, a 500% increase from the 1970s to the 1990s due to criminalization of certain behaviors, strict sentencing guidelines and changes in philosophy, has vastly increased the number of people disfranchised because of the felon provisions. According to the Sentencing Project, as of 2010 an estimated 5.9 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction, a number equivalent to 2.5% of the U.S. voting age population and a sharp increase from the 1.2 million people affected by felony disenfranchisement in 1976.[38] Given the prison populations, the effects have been most disadvantageous for minority and poor communities.[39]

 

[Adjuvant]

"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.

 

[Zack]

I'd be willing to bet it's because we have a higher population

Do you even know what a proportion is?

 

[Traitorfish]

"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.

Is something stopping you from digging into the relevant figures?

 

[Adjuvant]

Do you even know what a proportion is?

Sure, but I contend a "whole being greater than the sum of its parts" on this issue. We have more, larger, denser population centers, which form a result of a manifestation of culture issues other countries don't share. Because we're bigger, we net "bigger problems".

 

[Adjuvant]

Is something stopping you from digging into the relevant figures?

It's a bet. I'm not happy to lose, but I don't know you'd pay up. Do you want to take the bet and disprove it?

 

[El_Machinae]

That's unlikely, if there are other cities in other nations that are just as dense.

 

[Adjuvant]

That's unlikely, if there are other cities in other nations that are just as dense.

What's the alternative? That we nurture an environment of crime? That we nurture an environment of disproportionate punishment? That we're just "born bad"? I don't think any of those are true.

 

[Traitorfish]

It's a bet. I'm not happy to lose, but I don't know you'd pay up. Do you want to take the bet and disprove it?

No. I have no investment in either possibility. I'm just wondering what makes you confident enough to insist that X is Y, but not confident enough to actually prove it.

 

[Adjuvant]

No. I have no investment in either possibility. I'm just wondering what makes you confident enough to insist that X is Y, but not confident enough to actually prove it.

Maybe where you come from, statements beginning with "I bet" hold some empirical credence. It's a guess. Why are you so hard up for my "guess's posterior region"? Is it that pretty?

 

[Traitorfish]

Maybe where you come from, statements beginning with "I bet" hold some empirical credence.

Well, yes. "I bet" isn't a colloquialism for "speculating wildly", it means you're nailing your colours this to particular mast. So are you, or aren't you? And if you are, then why not spare us all the agony of uncertainty and prove yourself right? You'd only be looking for rough estimates, here, not a big task. Put up or shut up, ken?

 

[Adjuvant]

ok. How should I go about proving that a subculture of "apathy to authority promotes like apathy authority" to the nth degree"? Do studies which prove "young people exposed to gun violence and drug sales have a greater propensity to emulate said behavior" work?

Help me, here.