Hot Button Topics

[Murmur the Fallen]

Immigration Policy
Abortion/Reproductive Rights
Seperation of Church and State
Globalisation
Surveillance
Iraq
North Korea
Iran
Israel-Palestine
"War on Terror"
"War on Drugs"
Strong feelings on both sides of the issue. Rational thought and mutual respect for both sides . . . probably never existed at all. But the moderates and undecideds seem to be garnering much more vitriol than before.
Hmm. What else am I missing?
-murmur
Ah! Original Battlestar Galactica vs. New Battlestar Galactica.

[katreus]

Torture? Or rights for suspected terrorists?
Um... hrm. What about the UN and its role in the world or more specific to the US, to what extent do we allow our actions to be governed by multilateral institutions?
Can't think of any others at the moment but my brain's fizzing.

[Valles]

*stifles urge to weigh in on each item on the list*
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[katreus]

Procedural democracy v. substantive democracy (aka US v. Europe conceptions)
Voting disenfranchisement or fraud (more spec. Diebold)
Third World sweat shops
Link between economic development and democratization (is democratization a prerequisite of economic development?)
Kashmir (India/Pakistan)
Tibet and the Dalai Lama
Human rights v. economic development (China)
Global warming (does it exist? Is that North Pole *really* melting?)

[M Fnord]

Energy policy (peak oil, renewables, the eternal question of nuclear power, etc.)
GLBT issues (though that might get folded under "reproductive rights")
Science policy - beyond church/state issues like creationism, the idea of government supressing or doctoring reports in order to favor an ideological line.
Eliminationist rhetoric in mainstream media.
Or better yet, corporate media and its effect on reporting.---
Mr. Fnord
Raving blogger
http://www.jihad.net/
"when edison thinks down pipes into special Future Death Machine, in 21st Century another teenager on MySpace gets hit by a car." --Warren Ellis
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Murmur the Fallen]

what exactly are eliminationist rhetoric?
thinking about this topic, i just realised just how many of these topics are based upon the USA. And I would like to think that all politics are not local politics. Yet . . . Anyway, here are some more USA-centric hot button topics:
FDA
Hell, Government Regulation, period
"Indian Casinos"
School Shootings
Tort Reform
Social Security Reform
Deficit Spending
More international concerns:
Africa.
Guest Workers [which is tied into Africa, I guess, but it's more specific.]
Coca cultivation
Agro-Industry
Copyright laws
The International Criminal Courts
-murmur
Oh! And of course, which Doctor was the best Doctor

[M Fnord]

---

what exactly are eliminationist rhetoric?

---

A few examples:
"This man is simply a piece of excrement, a piece of waste that needs to be scraped off the sidewalk and eliminated."
-- Radio host John Carlson, discussing Sen. Dick Durbin
"Where does George Soros have all his money? Do you know? Do you know where George Soros, the big left-wing loon who's financing all these smear [web]sites, do you know where his money is? Curaao. Curaao. They ought to hang this Soros guy."
--Bill O'Reilly, favorite punching bag of Keith Olbermann
"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee. That's just a joke, for you in the media."
--Ann Coulter
"Some liberals have become even too crazy for Texas to execute, which is a damn shame. They're always saying -- we're oppressed, we're oppressed so let's do it. Let's oppress them."
--Ms. Coulter again
"They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant. Fifty years of treason hasn't slowed them down."
--Again, Coulter
...and so on and so on. Basically, going beyond the usual political discussion and entering a realm where the opposing force isn't a debate partner, but a disease. Or vermin who need to be exterminated.
(see, ref: History, American, relations with African-Americans 1700-1970; also History, American, relations with First Nations 1500-1900; also History, European, relations with Jewish minority 1000-1950)
Usually, this sort of comment has "ha ha, only serious" appended to it in a vague attempt to make it look like a joke. Also, "moderate" or "serious" members of the commenter's allied faction try to downplay alliances: "He/she isn't a serious member of our faction, just an entertainer," is the usual claim, willfully ignoring where modern culture tends to pay more attention to entertainers than "serious" pundits.
Any more questions? I may not be able to answer 'em, but I could probably direct you to someone who could.
---
Mr. Fnord
Raving blogger
http://www.jihad.net/
"when edison thinks down pipes into special Future Death Machine, in 21st Century another teenager on MySpace gets hit by a car." --Warren Ellis
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Fidoohki]

Forgot:
Gun Control
Sex offenders
racism
Katrina response
Death penalty
You know.. the classics

[Necratoid]

Whether or not Israel should be nuked off the map for daring to exist.
Whether or not women should be stoned to death for seducing men into raping her?
Whether or not small countries starting with T are property of China?
Global Warming can we stop it? Is man causing it? (The globe has been warming sense the mini-ice age of colonial and medieval times. The Delaware river really was mostly frozen when Washington crossed it and Cape Cod was also a sand bar at the time.)
Is the US responsible for every evil in the world and therefore should be obliterated on general principal?
Are parents actually responsible for the actions of their own offspring or is it everyone elses fault?
Should public schools actually have to bother teaching the students to read and write before advancing them a grade let alone into high school?
Is the US military for killing people and breaking things or for passing out food and supplies?
Are video games/RPG dice games/rock-and-roll music/visible ankles/children being allowed to speak in public/etc... (changes by decade) responsible for corrupting society irrevocably?
Can environmental laws be too restricting? How much is to little? How much is too much?
Should we govern strictly by the latest polls? If so, how much effort should be allowed to write questions with a heavy spin in the polls in the poll's sponsors favor?
Should churches get tax exempt status? Other non profits? Which not profits are actually political branches of a political party?
Is it all the white/black/red/yellow/brown mans fault?
Is border security worth bothering with?
And one of the most controversial:
Should I have to have repeatably provable proof of something before suing over it or can I run on pure conjecture?