Hermione's a liberal

[eggplant9998]

No: HPFGUIDX 125486


Troels Forchhammer wrote:

> With whom would we invest the right
> to doom certain cultures to disrespect?
> Certainly not me -- I know that.

Troels you do yourself a disservice, I've never met you but I've
conversed with you for years and think I know you better than that. I
have a very strong hunch you do NOT respect the Stalinist culture of
the old USSR or the NAZI culture of Germany. I would add to that hall
of shame the modern Islamic culture which seems determined to bring
the world back to the eleventh century.
 
> Realising that most of the population of
> this world would rather treat my own 
> culture with disdain, I can't help asking
> who should be allowed to make the judgement? 

The individual must make the judgment of who to respect and who to
hold in contempt, I can't see any alternative; I can't see how you
could force somebody NOT to have an opinion unless you had control of
the Orwellian Thought Police. Yes I realize hundreds of millions of
people hate my culture, they hate it more than they love life, I think
they made a very bad decision but it's their decision and they will
have to live (or die) with it.   

> How else can one regard a culture where 
> the majority happily pay half their 
> income in taxes, and then go on to pay
> 25% VAT on top of everything they buy 
> with the remaining half -- effectively
> paying about  60% of /all/ income in 
> taxes ...just to pay for various social
> benefits (and, yes, I do pay up happily). 

Well, I pay up too but I'm not happy about it, I pay up because
they'll put me in jail if I don't. The thing is, I think I could spend
the money I earned more wisely and more morally than a bunch of
government burrocrats, but don't get me started on that.

Eggplant