Messages

7186

Forum Games / Re: The Pointless Topic!

« on: June 20, 2008, 06:59:54 PM »

7187

Not at the Dinner Table / Re: Abortion

« on: June 20, 2008, 06:38:33 PM »

But it doesn't have to be done. Less than 1% of all abortions are a result of incest or rape. The other 99% wouldn't have been necessary if they had used a condom or just not had sex at all (and if someone is so adverse to the idea of children that they would rather kill than go through 9 months of discomfort and then put the child up for adoption, maybe it would be a good idea to avoid engaging in the activity that produces children). Of course, as for the 1% that are, it's still wrong. If the baby is a person, then the argument just doesn't work. War can be justifiable in some cases because the enemy nation has done something wrong and the people being killed either had a part in it or put themselves on the line to defend those who did. If a fetus is a person, nothing can justify killing them (except in the extremely rare cases where the mother's life is at risk). Is it ever right to kill an innocent victim to avoid temporary inconvenience?

7188

Video Game Chat / Re: Emulators vs. Consoles

« on: June 20, 2008, 06:23:04 PM »

Ninjas don't need computers.

7189

Not at the Dinner Table / Re: Abortion

« on: June 20, 2008, 05:41:48 PM »

I will say that abortion is -NOT- murder if the faetus would not have survived outside of the mother.

As medical science advances, fetuses become viable earlier. So a 23-week abortion wouldn't have been murder in 1973, but the same one would be murder today. Doesn't it at least seem a little weird to base morality on technology? Was the 23-week-old fetus in 1973 not a person? Did fetuses start becoming ensouled or whatever earlier as technology improved?

Also, why do pro-choicers have any apprehension at all about abortion? If it's not a person, it's no different that getting a mole removed. The fact that most pro-choicers want to limit abortion seems to imply that they have a feeling that the fetus is at least somewhat a person, and the idea that they support it despite that feeling is more than a little frightening.

7190

Forum Games / Re: The Pointless Topic!

« on: June 20, 2008, 04:47:46 PM »

7191

Forum Games / Re: The one-word story

« on: June 20, 2008, 04:05:15 PM »

KOOKOOKAJOO!

7192

General Chat / Re: High-Def Mario

« on: June 20, 2008, 02:25:31 PM »

There was a priest around where I live who just got arrested for jogging nude at 4 AM. He said he sweats too much if he wears clothes. And then he pleaded not guilty.

7193

Forum Games / Re: The one-word story

« on: June 20, 2008, 11:12:33 AM »

PAAUUNCH!!

7194

General Chat / Re: Friday the 13th

« on: June 20, 2008, 11:08:12 AM »

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I actually feel a little bit gassy, but other than that, I'm fine."

7195

Forum Games / Re: The Pointless Topic!

« on: June 20, 2008, 11:05:49 AM »

7196

Forum Games / Re: What would any Mario character say to the above post?

« on: June 20, 2008, 10:05:40 AM »

"I'll kill your whole family if you say that again."
~ Don Pianta (quoting the guy from Werewolf with all the different hairstyles after he was accused of being a psychopath)

7197

Not at the Dinner Table / Re: Abortion

« on: June 20, 2008, 09:49:06 AM »

I wasn't trying to generalize, I think it's just a result of our difference of opinion. Both drinking alcohol and murder will happen anyway, but one involves another person's life and one doesn't. Since you don't think a fetus is fully a person, you think alcohol is a better analogy for abortion; since I do, I think murder is a better analogy (and also what I think it actually is).

And the question of what the fetus is is really where the debate should always be centered. If it's a person, killing it can never be fully justified (and incidentally, adoption needs to be simplified; there are already more than enough families willing to take in unwanted children, but it's so much work for both sides that it doesn't happen nearly as often as it should); if it's not a person, kill away (I don't buy the "potential for life" thing. The potential for life exists as soon as you have a guy and a girl in the same room. Once the egg is fertilized and there's a thing that's eating, growing, responding to external stimuli, and has its own unique DNA, it's alive. The only question is whether it's a person. That probably amounts to the same thing, but at least it's more accurate and honest terminology. I think I'm starting to make less sense and get more tangential now, so I'll stop. Parentheticals shouldn't be this long.).

7198

Not at the Dinner Table / Re: Abortion

« on: June 19, 2008, 10:28:05 PM »

So why not legalize murder? People are going to do it anyway, and we could save a lot of time and effort if murders were all prearranged, using government-provided cyanide capsules, rather than painful back-alley murders. Of course, that analogy doesn't work completely, since most legal abortion methods seem like they'd be excruciatingly painful for the fetus, but you get the idea. If a fetus is a person, then we can't endorse killing them, even if it's going to happen anyway. If a fetus isn't a person, why should we have any qualms at all about killing them? If it's not a person, then abortion is no different than getting a mole removed.

7199

Video Game Chat / Re: Emulators vs. Consoles

« on: June 19, 2008, 08:32:59 PM »

I use emulators myself, but this picture was too good not to use.

7200

Forum Games / Re: A Mario Story: You Add ONE Sentence to the Tale II

« on: June 19, 2008, 08:32:04 PM »

Mario soon realized how foolish he was for doing so, as the 1-Up Mushroom made him grow another leg -- not a very efficient body feature in the postapocalyptic universe, other than for additional food supplies, and he already knew from experience that his legs were not very appetizing.