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[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Religion is not violent or not violent, its followers are.\nSo recently I've seen a lot of posts condemning Islam as a violent religion or a sexist religion. I point out that many Christians follow the bible which has numerous examples of sexism, but in application, there are numerous branches of Christianity that are no more sexist than secula"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I look at it from a different angle — the text(s) of any particular religion either inherently promote violence or they do not. The followers of the religion, however, often tend to pick and choose which parts to follow based on their own upbringings, culture, personality, etc. So I'd rebut your statement by saying that both a religion **and** its "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Iran has the right to develop nuclear weapons\nFirst off, I do not believe that Iran *should* have nuclear weapons. In fact, I believe Iran having nuclear weapons makes the world less safe overall. However, I believe that as a sovereign nation they have the right to develop nuclear weapons if they so choose.\n\nWhy do I believe this:\n\n1. It is in"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Can you define what you mean by \"right\"? Because if you mean that any sovereign nation can do whatever it wants, then of course Iran can make a nuclear weapon. (A country also has the \"right\" to invade Iran if they feel it necessary, in this case.) North Korea also has the right to starve its citizens, and the Nazis had the right to kill their own "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Anything that is man-made is natural.\nI can't remember the topic that spurred this discussion, but a friend and I were debating whether man-made things were natural. He took the position that they are unnatural. \n\nHe cited this definition by Merriam-Webster: existing in nature and not made or caused by people : coming from nature (http://www."
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Look at the definition you provided, if we remove the exclusion of things which humans create:\n\n> existing in nature ~~and not made or caused by people~~\n\nSo essentially, by this definition, \"natural things\" are \"things that exist,\" which is frankly rather meaningless. If one wanted to discuss the results of human activity we would then have to "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I'm extremely scared of flying. Please CMV.\nI'm not sure this is a view that can be changed, since it is an irrational fear. However, I sure would like to change it, so let's see if it can be done.\n\nI am aware that flying is perfectly safe on an intellectual level. Certainly safer than many, if not all, other forms of travel per mile. That sai"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "If you were a pilot yourself, then nothing I can say as a fellow GA pilot is going to be able to comfort you, since you've been through all of the same training and experience that I have (and clearly some extra experience). You know the statistics. You even know how airplanes *work*. So, the normal things that I say to reassure newbies to aviat"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Freedom of speech is being taken too far\nIn the last few weeks we've had two huge events happen in the world, both of which were caused by matters relating to \"freedom of speech.\" The first being the hacking of Sony over The Interview, and today the shooting at the offices of a satirical magazine in Paris. I certainly value our free speech but"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">Perhaps this is a bad analogy - but if you say something antagonizing to a bully and you get your ass kicked, you should have anticipated that outcome.\n\nThink of something you do every day that you consider perfectly reasonable; something that harms nobody in any direct sense. Let's imagine this thing is to defined as \"walking down the street "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Eugenics isn't all that bad... And we don't even have to kill anyone for it\nOkay, I'm talking about making the human race smarter, forever.\nIntelligence is at least partially genetic and therefore passed down by parents, yes? [Yes.](http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40459/title/Inherited-Intelligence/)\n\nSo, what if, instead"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Every time a proposal like this comes up I am reminded of why it's such a bad idea: not because we couldn't do it, but because we don't yet have the wisdom to do it right. You've just laid out a manifesto for making the human race more intelligent, but nowhere in it have you questioned whether or not it's a good idea. *Why* do we need to be more in"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Irony aside, most people that post in CMV are uneducated, and changing their view on one point won't solve this overall problem\nThere are some instances, yes where controversial topics are discussed here and people are actually interested in hearing the opposite side. I consider myself one of those people, and was initially driven to this subr"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Say you're right, and most of the people who post here are incapable of actually changing their view on the subject they're bringing up (I don't believe this is the case most of the time, but just for the sake of argument). It would still be false to say that nobody ever changes their view, though. People have deltas awarded to them, and those sign"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe there should be a Death Race-esque Contest for Prisoners\nI think there should be a system in place similar to what happened in the Movie 'Death Race'. Better yet, something similar to the Hunger Games.\n\nWhat am I proposing? Get the Prisoners on Death Row to participate in a mandatory contest to death. The winner gets a reward.\n\nAnd t"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "So your plan is to take (presumably) violent criminals, hold a contest to see which one is the most ruthlessly violent, then release that person back into the world with the hope that they'll now make rational decisions due to the severe hardship they've suffered?"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: We the people of all countries should ALWAYS be allowed to record police officers and public officials (In Germany we are NOT!!)\nHello reddit,\n\nI'm from Germany and given that I've travelled through the United States for a couple of months and talked to a lot of (\"free minded\") people, my views about the importance of freedom have changed dram"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "You say here *always* and *public officials*. That is one of those really tricky cases. As for everything you say about recording police officers and encounters with figures of authority, I whole heartedly agree. When in the open in public places, no one should really have a reasonable expectation of privacy because it is a free space for everyone "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Romeo and Juliet is not a satire of the irrationality of young people\nOne of the most common interpertations of Romeo and Juliet is that it's a satire of how young people act. I do not believe Romeo and Juliet is a primarily a satire of rash decisions made by youth, as many people think. While, some of it is a condemnation of how sometimes "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Your premise is defensible, but you don't do a good job of defending it. Unlike math, literary text has multiple interpretations that are simultaneously valid. The way you show an interpretation is invalid is not by providing a different interpretation, but by showing that the evidence supportive of that interpretation isn't true, or the argument d"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Raising minimum wage to get workers off of food stamps means that instead of the 1% paying the lionshare of their living expenses, the 99% who shop there will be paying it by themselves.\nBasically, people love to talk about how they want Walmart workers at a higher wage so that tax payers won't be burdened with paying for their food stamps and"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The top 1% of income earners pay 20% of income taxes which in turn compose 45% of all taxes. So that's about 10%. One source I found says that the top 1% of income earners pay 20% of all taxes, but that's a naive figure as I'll explain below. In any case middle-income people play lots of taxes and even lower-income people pay some.\n\nMore importantl"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I think that drone strikes and other similar types of operations like with bin Laden are futile and illegal\nThe US military is taking justice into its own hands by conducting extrajudicial killings of terrorists. Yes they have committed horrendous crimes against the United States and killed scores of innocent people but they deserve to be give"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "If there is active planning to commit further attacks (and there was) then attacking the people planning those attacks is war, not extrajudicial killing.\n\nWe declared war on Afghanistan after the attacks, when they said they were not handing over the people that attacked the US. The decisions made may have been mistakes, due to fomenting addition"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Police officers should have stricter guidelines on when they can use their firearms or in some cases be disarmed completely of the ability to use lethal force.\nThe stated mission of police is to \"serve and protect\" the people, and obviously from what we've seen recently in the news this mission is being strayed from.\n\nI am against the idea tha"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "There are already fairly strict guidelines in place. \n\nThe primary causes of the recent police brutality controversies are (1) it isn't always possible to find out exactly what happened at the scene and whether or not these guidelines were followed (see the Michael Brown case), and (2) police officers are much less likely to be prosecuted, even whe"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Assuming there is no afterlife, then life is ultimately meaningless and pointless because we die.\n*Note: Please assume that there is no afterlife when responding to my post. I am not religious. Thank you. ALSO: By \"meaningless,\" I mean \"meaningless\" to the person who is doing the dying. To the person who is alive and who will then die, life is"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Your point is predicated on the assumption that something is pointless if it doesn't last forever. I'm having a hard time understanding how you came to this conclusion. "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The U.S. drinking age, and other laws that are disrespected by the majority, should no longer be enforced and changed\nIt just seems so stupid, I agree that it's healthier not to drink, but if everyone drinks before 21, especially at college, why should we encourage criminal behavior in young people when they want to do something we all did at "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "so i'm in the UK. We can drink with meals at 16, and buy our own alcohol at 18.\n\nObviously no one respects these rules and most people start drinking younger.\n\nBut. I think in general - they start younger than americans. I think majority only seem to disrespect these laws to a certain extent. So you say about half drink before 18, here half have dr"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe you have three choices once you discover the suffering animals endure in the meat industry...\nThe options are as follows:\n\n1. You don't agree with what is going on and stop supporting it.\n\n2. You don't care about animals, so you're content with paying for them to be abused for your pleasure. \n\n3. You don't agree with what is going on"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I think restricting this concept to the meat industry limits us to a \"vegetarian/vegan lifestyle vs. carnivore lifestyle\" debate, when it's actually a lot deeper than that.\n\nI know, for instance, that components in my smartphone and laptop are made of minerals that were mined by slave labor in Africa. I know that the chocolates I love to eat conta"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: FDR did not get the United States out of The Depression\nIn 1940, the US Unemployment rate was still averaging 14.6%. FDR's policies weren't doing anything until the United States entered World War II. Then the national economy only had a temporary recovery as industry transformed for war production. The national debt after the war was 120% the"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">Then congress lowered taxes, cut back a lot of the New Deal programs, and balanced the budget. Allowing the free market to do its job after the war was what really got the US out of The Depression.\n\nI think that you're probably overemphasizing the impact of policies you like as much as you accuse FDR haigrophiers of overemphasizing policies the"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Humans are going to die out because of an economic collapse\nBill Gade presents the argument better than I do so I will just quote him.\n\n>There have been 4 jobs or activities which Man has engaged in throughout the centuries: Hunter/Gathering, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Services. What's next? What category can you imagine in which billi"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Society might collapse, lots of people may starve/die in struggle for survival, but extinction of a whole species seems highly unlikely. We're not dependent on our technology to survive. There's lots of open country and unspoiled/airable farmland. Lots of people today live subsistence off the grid throughout the world. I don;t think it would de"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Veganism and vegetarianism are not the best way to improve farm animal welfare\nTitle is mostly to get attention, and I'm working from a specific set of assumptions. My argument is as follows:\n\n1) The chances of the entire world adopting a vegan/vegetarian diet are slim to none\n\n1a) Therefore, there will always be a market for meat and other an"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "It really depends on how you view animal welfare. I think most vegetarians see killing and eating an animal as wrong regardless of how good the conditions it lives in are."
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV The EGG came first before the chicken.\nAccording to the theory of evolution it makes more sense that the egg preceded the chicken. Before the chicken there was a similar but different creature. Let's call it X. Its completely arbitrary when the X officially evolved into a chicken, but at some point it does. An X, not a chicken lays the first ch"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "You have implicitly defined a \"chicken egg\" as an egg which bears a chicken. If you take this definition you are correct.\n\nHowever, if you define \"chicken egg\" as an egg laid by a chicken then the opposite conclusion is correct. That is, the first chicken came from a proto-chicken egg and subsequently laid a chicken egg.\n\nThe problem is all semanti"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe the Major League Baseball regular season is too long in terms of the number of games played\nIn recent years I have become a big fan of Major League Baseball, watching dozens of games of my team (the Rockies) and following the playoffs. \n\nThat said, the regular season is too long in terms of the number of games played.\n\nEvery team pla"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "[deleted]"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe that regularly browsing 4chan will make you into a worse person\nBecause of the anonymity on 4chan people are more prone to not think through, care about what they post and are quicker to throw out insults. They will care about how people respond to them, but since it's largely negative they will stoop down to the same level rather th"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "My counterpoint to this is that you're describing /b/, /v/, and /pol/. Not 4chan. If I were to make a post here and say \"CMV: I believe that regularly browsing reddit will make you a worse person\" and then cited /r/spacedicks as my source, I'd be laughed out of the thread. You're doing the exact same thing.\n"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV:\"Brave New World\" was not Dystopian Fiction, and even had a happy ending\nI never exactly saw how 'Brave New World' was considered Dystopian Fiction. Sure, it has all the trappings of dystopian society, but Aldous Huxley's London 632 A.F seems to be more a parody of modern life and the fledgling dystopian fiction genre, rather than a piece of dy"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The only possible way that *Brave New World* could be said to have a happy ending is if each person as viewed as entirely autonomous. However, man is a social creature. A person cannot fully identify themselves without reference to a) their parents, upbringing, familial and close relations, and associated instilling of values, or b) a connection "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "/r/changemyview report: Saturday, December 27, 2014 - Friday, January 02, 2015\nTotals: 7 days, 112 posts, 10,890 comments. \nIncluded in this report: The top 112 posts, and 9,423 of the top comments, by 2,224 distinct authors. \nNo posts were gilded, but 2 comments were gilded. \n\n\n--- \nSee the comments for detailed reports and charts. \n\n\n--"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "**Most Popular Comments** \n\n---\n|Score|Author|Post Title|Link to comment|\n|:-|-|-|-|\n|474|/u/Mlahk7|CMV: Men should either be able to waive their financial obligations to their child, or they should have abortion rights.|[link](http://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/2qy21w/cmv_men_should_either_be_able_to_waive_their/cnanr7n)|\n|464|/u/Holy"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: i have a hard time feeling sympathetic towards ebola aid workers (and feel bad about it)\nin the uk there's a story going on right now of a nurse who got transferred to a london hospital/isolation ward, and that her condition is deteriorating rapidly.\n\ni don't take death lightly, i try and picture myself in that situation and everything i would"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "How is this any different than being unable to feel sympathetic for people who choose any dangerous profession? We need firemen, we need police, we need soldiers and builders and fishermen. These people are paid for what they do, and they accept that they're entering into a risky environment to do their job. They take these risks because they're ne"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Super hero secret identities are unnecessary and actually get in the way of crime fighting.\nThere are since exceptions, such as Spider-man who I believe so benefit from a secret identity. But for characters like Batman and Superman it makes almost no sense. \n\nTo elaborate: Batman is extremely wealthy and also only human. Meaning there are extr"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Batman already has a somewhat shaky grip on reality and determining appropriate limits. His secret identity keeps him in touch with \"regular people\" with regular lives and simple concerns. Otherwise, if he were a full-time dark knight, it would be too easy to lose perspective, when the only people you're dealing with are the most vile of the vile"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Why America isnt a scary place to move to\nAs you can read im not an American. Ive been dreaming of starting a clinic in America in the future, or to work in a medical clinic when i finish medical school in my own country. However reddit has made me think that America seems like a really scary place to live. On the othrr hand all american peopl"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "America is, practically speaking, just like any other 1st World European country. That's really all there is to it. You seriously asked if America is a *horrible place to live* and specifically mentioned ... Comcast. *Comcast*. A cable company that has questionable customer service. America is fine. Reddit is 50% Americans. If it was 50% Irish peop"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Colonel Quaritch from \"Avatar\" was right.\nRecently, I stumbled upon [this](http://i.imgur.com/MEgVf.jpg) after a discussion of Avatar with a friend. [ (Not from the movie, but from here) ](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=sa7rmohv1hmgymf4xdu8cait&page=27#660) It summed up my feelings about the movie quite well. Throughout hu"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> Colonel Quaritch, as well as the other miners, were there to extract resources which benefited this endeavor.\n\nArguably, if Colonel Quaritch's civilization found itself hard up for a particular resource, it would be prudent for them to innovate around it."
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The podcast \"Serial\" is disgusting, or at least the viewership is\nThis podcast is like a smaller version of the OJ Simpson trial, with all the same sensationalization and vitriol around it. People take sides and are quick to drag the names of *real people* through the mud, innocent and not. In the meantime, the fact that someone died is downpl"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Serial is part of the very large genre of true crime literature. This includes lots of pot boiler paperbacks and exploitative TV shows like To Catch a Predator but also includes indisputably important works of literature like The Executioner's Song (which won the pulitzer), In Cold Blood (which should have won the pulitzer) and Homicide: A Year on "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Most tattoo artists who \"specialize\" in the old-school/Sailor Jerry style only do so because they don't actually have any talent.\nFirst off, art of course is subjective, and tattoos are a very personal choice, and anyone who gets tattoos in what I call the \"Sailor Jerry\" style has that right.\n\nHowever, as someone who desires more tattoos, I've"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "When you say \"Sailor Jerry tattoos\" I think of any tattoo with wide lines and many areas of solid fill, generally with a simple pallette These tattoos hold the test of time. Most of the artists I know work primarily in this format, when not doing realism, because thin lines/patterns/no-black-outline tattoos don't last as long. \n\nYes, watercolor tat"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I don't see cheating necessarily as a disservice to kids who try hard or are actually smart.\n\nI'm a 17 year old in highschool, and I rarely cheat. I'm not good at anything or smart, I just have a very good memory. Lets say humans are computers, I don't have a good graphics card, processor, or even look like a good computer, I just have a lot o"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Think of it this way. The school system is NOT designed to reward intelligent students simply for the virtue of being intelligent. As it happens, smart people get better grades, but this is a side effect, not the intended result.\n\nThe main goal isn't even making you learn the material, even though having everyone knowing a bare minimum on a wide va"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Playing Smash Bros. with items turned off is lame.\nIt's standard in the competitive Smash Bros. community to only play the game with items off. This is idiotic for a multitude of reasons.\n\n**1. It makes the game less fun.**\n\nWould you want to play Mario Kart without items? Fuck no. That removes all of the excitement and variation in the game. "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">It makes the game less fun.\n\nFun is 100% subjective. You may like it more with items, and that's fine.\n\n>Just play another goddamn racing game if you want to play Mario Kart without items and just play another goddamn fighting game if you want to play Smash Bros. without items.\n\nWhat if they like the other mechanics? Items aren't 100% of the"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The term \"steep learning curve\" is used incorrectly what people really mean is \"shallow learning curve\"\nI forget where I first learned this but it has stuck with ever since and as person who deals with graphs and plots all the time (biochemist) it drives me nuts when ever I hear it.\n\nThe term \"learning curve\" has been used in science since the"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">In conclusion saying \"This game is hard, it has a steep learning curve\" is equivalent to saying \"I could care less\" when what one meant was \"I couldn't care less\"\n\nIf the speaker is referring to a curve whose Y-axis represents the amount of learning that has to be done over a period of time measured by the X-axis, then \"steep\" is a perfectly se"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Nobody who works in a cubicle or other job where you rarely interact with anyone other than your co-workers should have any dress code beyond \"cover your naughty bits\" and \"don't wear offensive stuff\"\nTo be clear: I'm talking about research/design/programming/IT/call center jobs, where you aren't in the public eye or aren't representing the co"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Companies can have stock holders or potential investers come to the office on tours. Having the staff in respectable work attire can give a better impression. \n\n"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Gun violence, education reform, concussions in American football, the European far right, and the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be resolved without fixing economic inequality.\nIn recent years, a number of studies have shown that the US in particular has the lowest income equality, among the lowest income mobility, and among the highest inde"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "How the hell do concussions in American football have anything to do with economic inequality?"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: There are more taboos and stigmas in modern morality than there are logical reasons for them\n... or to put it another way, I suppose it could be written that \"People hold many opinions about the immoral nature of certain actions *just because* with no real logical reason for it.\"\n\nThis is an opinion I've been trying to quantify for a while now"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Seldom do most of these things harm \"just you\". \n\n**Drugs**\n\nI couldn't care less if you light up an occasional joint. But if you're shooting heroin, there's a good chance you'll become hooked. Hey, it's you're life - you should be free to throw it away, right? But what if you have kids? Either they grow up in a living hell, or the state has to"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Attempting to convert people to your religion (or lack of) is a MORAL thing to do.\nThe reasons for this are different depending on whether you are religious or not. I am intentionally not stating my own beliefs as it's not relevant (EDIT: actually it's pretty obvious!)\n\nIf you are religious, the chances are high that your religion only allows "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Essentially your argument is that our moral obligations stem entirely from our individual beliefs. Assuming you do not believe in hell (though maybe you do, I don't know) you are claiming that even though you don't believe this place exists, you think that someone who genuinely *does* believe such a place exists has the moral obligation to prevent "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Insults such as 'You're gay' are not an affront to gay people\nI've seen some discussion about this topic, where many kids and adults may call people something they aren't to try and insult them. For example: 'That's so gay' and 'You throw like a girl' type insults. Many people come to the conclusion that these type of insults are homophobic an"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "You're correct that saying \"you're gay\" is not necessarily insulting to gay people. If someone is legitimately behaving like a homosexual (in jest, or seriously), then there's nothing wrong with saying \"you're gay.\" In these cases, the phrase \"you're gay\" has power because the person is, well, acting gay. But if someone is doing something that has "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The idea of \"Buy local\" or \"Buy American\" is primarily grounded in selfishness.\nRecently there has been a shift from the industrial globalized system of goods (food, handmade items, clothing, etc) to more alternative systems like farmers markets, local businesses, and \"buying American\" (or whatever country the person lives in). \n\nHowever, this"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">You could argue that most companies that create their goods in these types of countries use exploitative labor practices and thus should not be supported, but instead of activism and pressuring companies to adopt better labor practices, \n\nWhy is voting with your wallet not considered activism?"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If you pay a flat fee for Internet, it is a nice and acceptable thing to leave an unsecured WiFi network for neighbors and travelers.\nMany times in my life, I have been helped out by a neighbor or business owner who left an unsecured or no-password WiFi network. I am aware that this practice is somewhat controversial due to hacking risks, but "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "You pay for Internet and leave a wifi connection open. Person X comes along and performs a crime on your wifi connection (e.g. distributes a copyrighted movie). The copyright holders or the authorities (or whoever, depending on the crime) traces the act to your registered Internet service and says that you are the criminal. \n\nEven if by some ch"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: There is No Free Will\nWith our ever advancing knowledge of neuroscience and the chemistry involved with it, I do not see any place for the idea that any animal, including humans, is truly capable of making choices. We are capable of recognizing choices, that is obvious, but I'm not convinced that the chemical pathways for neurons leaves any ro"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I'd go one step further and say that the concept of free will is meaningless in any universe. If you are subject to laws in which cause leads to effect without exception, you cannot have acted otherwise and therefore your will is not free. If you are not subject to such laws, you must be acting randomly (without cause), so your will is not your "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: There is no sound biblical argument that makes being trans-gender morally wrong.\nI'm not some hippy liberal christian, I'm a serious southern baptist Sunday school teacher. I think that after examining the Bible, there is no argument that being transgender is wrong. Indeed, there are only three main prongs of attack, all of which are incorrect"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I'm not a Sunday school teacher, so I have a question: does the Bible treat sex and gender as different phenomena? Because if the Bible treats sex and gender as the same thing, then having a vagina, for instance, means that your gender is female, and as such a person with a vagina who engages in sexual acts with other vaginal people is homosexual, "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: A geography question in Trivial Pursuit should no include questions like \"What state was ____ born in\"\nI know the dictionary definition does say \"Geography is a field of science dedicated to the study of the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of the Earth.\" but that does not mean what place one particular person was born o"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Rather than a strict scientific definition, Trivial Pursuit uses \"geography\" to mean \"knowledge about places\". It's not strictly correct, but it's logical. \n\nIf you want to ask questions like \"What state is home to the largest Cherokee reservation?\" (which seems like a legitimate question for Trivial Pursuit) what category should it be? It's not"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Timed essays like the SAT don't properly measure one's writing skills, nor their critical thinking skills.\nTimed essays, especially with as little time as the SAT gives, force test takers to come up with a BS answer without really thinking about it. As a result, they are either forced to justify an answer that they really aren't confident abou"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The SAT is designed to measure your aptitude for college so that schools can determine whether you are qualified for their programs. \n\nMost of the courses you take during college will have midterms and final exams that have time limits, and therefore the SAT accurately captures your ability to do well on those exams.\n\nOf course schools do care abo"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV:UN Peacekeepers should have the power to engage in offensive operations\nI recently saw a post from /u/kookoo831 and saw some very interesting responses to the exact opposite view which was, \"UN Peacekeepers should not have the power to engage in offensive operations.\" I don't know if this is my strong view as much as I just want to see the oth"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I think you need to define more clearly what you mean by \"offensive\"\n\nDo you mean that the UN should have the ability to deploy forces (from country's who provide them) to places that have not asked for their help? That would be offensive operations on the geo-political/strategic level.\n\nDo you mean that the UN commander of a deployed force should "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The most financially successful film released in 2014 was likely Planes: Fire and Rescue\n**TL;DR: Planes 2 likely made 24 times is production cost back in worldwide box office, blu-ray + dvd and merchandising. Transformers 4 (the highest grossing film worldwide) made roughly 15 times its production cost back. So, Planes 2 is the most successfu"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Let's assume there is someone who made a youtube video that cost nothing, and made some money from ad revenue. Their financial success, by your metric, is infinite. The metric seems to need some refinement."
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Singing well is largely natural and for most, no matter how much they practice, they will never be great singers\nI am a musician. I've played and composed music from the time I was 8, and one thing I've always wished I could do is sing, and sing well. I've watched every tutorial imaginable on Youtube, read books, gathered knowledge from every "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Depends on what you mean by a \"great singer.\" Years of practice alone will get you into a professional chorus. Genetics *and* years of practice will make you an opera star.\n\nHowever, there are some highly successful pop singers who have a great deal of production help with their singing. So you don't necessarily have to be a great singer to be a "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Tricky or odd grammar rules, although sometimes useful, should be done away with for casual conversation.\nThis has been lurking in the back of my mind ever since listening to [Word Crimes]( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc).\n\nThe English language has many [pesky grammar rules]( http://www.jpetrie.net/grammar/#past-perfect) that don’"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> I just think that we shouldn't be required to use them in casual conversation.\n\nYou aren't \"required\" to use them at all, either in writing or in casual conversation. If you use improper grammar in the cover letter for a job, you're not going to be arrested or fined or anything, but you're going to look less qualified in the eyes of the pers"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "[MOD POST] Best of CMV 2014\nAs 2014 draws to a close, it's traditional to look back on the year that was.\n\nHere at CMV we had over 10,000 posts and well over half a million comments. We've kept our little bot busy with over 6500 deltas awarded (so much for the meme that 'no one ever awards deltas').\n\nBut now, we'd like to see what you think was the"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "Here's one of my own favorites, posted shortly after Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist Church died, and reddit was mad as hell:\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/20xfch/i_will_be_desecrating_fred_phelps_grave_his/cg7nbsu"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: LGBTQ folks should be featured more prominently in kid's TV and education.\nLet me start this off by saying that I'm gay and 18 years old. It wasn't until I was 14 that I had known I was guy, although looking back it was already obvious in kindergarten. \n\nI don't want to sound like a douche, but we do live in a hetero normative society.\n\nI had "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I think I'm going to home in on one point: *kids'* television. Why is children's media considered separate from (young) adult media? Largely because Western society holds that childhood should be kept innocent of certain things. This is why pictures of children in war zones are considered more pathetic than pictures of other people in war zones. Se"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV- Mentally handicapped people should be held to more or less the same standard as neurotypical employees when working at their job.\n(Before I start a disclaimer: I posted this with the intention of learning more about something I'm not very educated about. Nothing I say was meant to denigrate or offend anyone and if it does I sincerely apologize"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I don't know what the arrangement is in your country, but in some countries the goverenment pays the employers to employ mentally disabled people, so it's not costing your employers anything to give Ricky a ''job'' whether he actually does any work or not ... it's just somewhere for him to go each day so that he might be able to do something other "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Riots and looting in Ferguson were for the greater good\nPlease leave the footnote below the following line, but remember to delete this sentence by replacing it with the body of your post. Thank you!\n\n"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Two things:\n\n1) This did not get people talking that much about the murder, about the racial aspect of it. It got people talking about firstly the use of police force, and secondly, the irrational response of the rioters in burning down a city they claimed to love.\n\n2) This is not a new development. This did not open anyone's eyes to something ev"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Debating the ethical or moral judgement given on the choice of method of suicide completely undermines the act itself.\nI don't think the title is that good, I couldn't say what I wanted to say exactly, but I will try to clarify my point.\n\nI see threads like [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/2qt63h/transgender_child_in_christian_f"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Even after reading your response to /u/Dudesan, I'm still not getting what your view is that you want changed.\n\nYou agree that some methods are more harmful to those left behind than others.\n\nYes, every suicide is a tragedy, and impacts many others.\n\nBut, I have a friend whose adult brother shot himself (I think at their parents' house). She and h"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Female-only gyms and women's shelters are not discriminatory… or are they?\nWell, while I was discussing the effects of feminism on another CMV post, a reddit user made a very good point in saying that female-only gyms and shelters are discriminatory. That was something I never thought about! I could honestly see how it could be discriminatory "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "They are discriminatory according to the definition of the word. But discrimination is not always a bad thing. What is a bad thing is wanting a women's only "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Employment sexism is justifiable. Oppress less, educate more.\n(1) There is many quantifiable differences between males and females. We can formulate trends and suggest who's more suitable for what, and assess trends' dispersion. To treat people regardless of sex is thus irrational, because sex plays a role, *in average*. It's *one of many* fac"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> There is many quantifiable differences between males and females. We can formulate trends and suggest who's more suitable for what, and assess trends' dispersion. To treat people regardless of sex is thus irrational, because sex plays a role, in average. It's one of many factors and it is completely justifiable to take into account. However, p"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Current US culture encourages mediocrity\nI could talk for days about this topic, but the evidence (a combination of anecdotal and empirical) has lead me to conclude that mediocrity and ignorance is actively, globally encouraged, and particularly so in the United States.\n\n* politicians can actually be criticized for being too smart, there shoul"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "As a graduate student, I can tell you that in higher education this is not even remotely true. We are constantly competing to publish better papers, in better journals, and picking apart each others work (peer review). I'm mostly curious though about where you are getting your information. Are you basing this off of actual sociological studies? If "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: There is only one \"right\" way to play the Mass Effect series (spoilers)\n*for title clarification, I am NOT referring to either of the paragon or renegade affiliations as the main topic for this post*\n\nThe Mass Effect games, however flawed though they may be, are some of my favorite games of all time. Now that my bias is clear, I want to say th"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> don't make stupid (YES STUPID) choices during the final ME2 mission. It's really not that difficult with a little common sense! RNG killed Mordin during the suicide mission? RELOAD A DAMN SAVE. It's worth it dammit!\n\nThe first time I played through ME2, I lost Thane on the very first decision. Need someone stealthy to infiltrate some ventilat"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: We shouldn't stop testing drugs on animals.\nIt boils down to one thing: After a drug has been invented we have two options: we can either test it on animals first before letting a human try it, or we can give it straight to humans and see what happens to them.\n\nIs it right to give a human a drug we haven't tested before? No. Is it right to giv"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Well, first of all, it's important to distinguish different kinds of drug testing. Your argument seems to be that, although animal testing causes a lot of pain, and is bad, it is better than not testing or developing the drugs. I would agree, in those cases when the drug is potentially life saving. It's harder for me to see how the ends justify the"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Any given aspect of the legal system should be short and simple enough that an average high school graduate could fully memorize it\nCLARIFICATIONS BASED ON ANTICIPATED CONFUSION: \n\n(1.) I'm **not** saying simple enough that **all** high school students **should** memorize them; I'm saying simple enough that almost anyone could, if they were st"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "many laws regulate things that are simply far too complex to simplify to that level. It generally takes an undergraduate college level education at minimum to understand something like international financial markets and to then effectively regulate them. Laws have to be made with a working knowledge of the system and their language will reflect th"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Otherkin are delusional and should be treated as such\nThe DSM-IV defines delusion as: \n> A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary.\n\nOtherkin, or animalkin, "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Since you mentioned the DSM IV, it is worth pointing out that all of the disorders listed in the DSM IV have one central piece of criteria that is at the heart of the diagnostic process (which I believe you've missed), and that has to do with the degree to which the disorder is disruptive not only to the person who has the disorder, but to the gene"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I think the song \"Animals\" by Maroon 5 promotes rape culture\nI recently was reading a CMV post on Robin Thicke’s song \"Blurred Lines\", which I have always disliked due to the lyrics, but am reconsidering due to the argument presented in a CMV. This got me thinking about \"Animals\", because while I find the song catchy and great, I sadly think "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The other comment is sexist, but the person is a red piller anyway. That's why I'm not going to bother addressing them. \n\nThe thing is, I don't see this song as rape-culture. \n\nIts a story about how **both** parties desire and lust for each other - in an animalistic way. Maybe they don't even get along except for the crazy sex, but the important pa"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Men should sit down to urinate in any private restroom.\nI have urinated standing up ever since I've been tall enough to accomplish the feat. Today, however, I just completed a between-terms cleaning of my bathroom after living with 3 other male roommates for 4 months and my view has been changed.\n \nAfter cleaning the inner bowl, each layer o"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "[To quote hank green:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_4EA-wrPc)\n\n> If you pee on the seat, any amount. CLEAN IT UP YOU TERRIBLE PERSON. and someone has to clean it up, and if it's not you, THEY WILL BE CLEANING UP SOMEONE ELSE'S PEE.\n\nI feel like this this sums up my position pretty well. When you stand up, you take a risk of making a mess. "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Using \"torture\" to gather information, but not confessions, should be allowed.\nI believe the US, or any country, should be allowed to use interrogation methods some may consider torture under the following simple guidelines: \n\n1. It is known for a fact the suspect has information needed to prevent a future suspected terrorist attack that has t"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The biggest argument against your view is that torture doesn't produce good information. Torture will only cause the victim to say anything to stop the torture. There is also the idea that our morality is what sets us apart from the bad guys, and torture undermines that.\n\n\n> It is known for a fact the suspect has information needed to prevent a "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Everything you can get from a closed relationship, you can get from an open one, and more. The demands of a closed relationship are unrealistic and hard to live up to. Monogamy should be a rare relationship type for hardcore exclusivity fetishists; open should be the normal default.\nI would be surprised if someone were to argue that love of a "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I question your use of the words fetish and dark when describing monogamous relationships. As someone in one of those, I can definitely say there's nothing dark about it. Neither I nor my partner feel chained or anything of the sort. We willingly entered this relationship and agreed upon the rules together. \n\nWhich should be the point of every rela"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The \"Fat Acceptance\" movement just encourages over-weight Americans to keep on being 'fat' while shaming those on the opposite side of the scale.\nSince America has a larger population in general compared to other populations, more people are able to speak out about being bullied for their size. As a reaction, in the US there is a backlash move"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I don't know if it is okay to give a 'deflection' in this sub rather than an actual rebuttal, but I will offer the following unless someone opposes:\n\nThe 'fat acceptance movement' is not really a popular thing; nobody outside of obscure corners of the internet takes it seriously. There isn't really any need to try to find logical flaws in it, or wo"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If you wouldnt want a highly evolved being to eat you, it's morally inconsistent and on some level wrong to eat meat.\nIt's morally inconsistent to make an exception of yourself. If you're a thief you shouldn't complain about being robbed.\n\nSince we (globally) justify eating almost any meat except humans by the fact that we're of a higher intel"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "There's a difference between \"being okay with something\" and making a moral judgment about it. I'm okay with eating a deer, but don't expect the deer to be okay with it. My cat is okay with eating a mouse, but I don't expect the mouse to be okay with it. This hypothetical higher being may be okay with eating me, but it shouldn't expect me to be oka"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: When making macaroni and cheese, it's better to mix the cheese ingredients into the cooked/strained noodles rather than mix them in the empty pot, then add the noodles\nThis has been a point of heated debate between my wife and I. I think that it's better to strain the noodles, put them back into the pot, then add the butter, milk, and cheese "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I tend to do it your way for convenience, but the risk is when you put the powder in, it clumps inside the noodles and then doesn't mix fully with the milk and butter. If you do it in a separate pot, its easier to get a nice consistent sauce that you can then mix in with the pasta more evenly."
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Making New Year's Resolutions is almost always a futile effort, and anyone who waits until the new year to change a huge aspect of their lives is deluding them self.\nWe hear it time and time again every new year. Our closest friends and families making new years resolutions. While I encourage people in improving themselves, I hate the idea of "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">**1. Wait until the new year starts.**\n\nBecause the new year has a tradition of having resolutions it's often a time of self reflection. The reason more resolutions don't start at other times in the year is probably because people don't often take the time to look at themselves. If June 25th was national self reflection day you'd probably see a"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The internet (or access to it) should be considered a fundamental human right.\nBefore I start, note that this is not a discussion about implementation. We don't say \"oh well it's too hard to insure people have free speech so we're just not going to have that as a human right.\" This discussion does not include how we would go about insuring or "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> With that in mind, denying people access to it or censoring it \n\nJust to clarify, can I assume from this that you define a \"fundamental human right to the internet\" as \"It would be inhumane for person/government A to actively prevent person B from accessing the internet\"? Or would you go a step further, and say that a humane society must prov"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I think being overtly paranoid about marketing and subtle ads is fucking stupid.\nI see a lot of the time people on reddit are jumping to crackpot paranoid conclusions every time they see a picture with some product hidden away in the background and accusing the OP of being a \"shill\" for the corporations (does this not sound like something a sc"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The trouble isn't really with subliminal advertising as you seem to be mentioning here, with a product hovering in the background of images and such. The big worry isn't about being a consumer, it's about being lied to as a consumer. \n\nI see this a lot more in the YouTube review and gameplay communities, but it applies here too. People are worried "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe criminal immigrants, legal or not, should serve their sentence and be deported to the country from whence they came\nHello,\n\nBasically, the idea is simple: install a system similar to a \"three strikes\" one. There would be a list of crimes which count as \"strikes\" (e.g. 1 strike for thievery, 2 for assault, 3 for murder/rape). The immi"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "* Different set of punishments for a different set of people for the same crime. This is not fair. \n\n* There is an implied accusation that immigrant criminals will offend, but Swiss citizens will not, which is racist/xenophobic. Why not send Swiss citizens who commit crime to another country?\n\n* Undue hardship - e.g. parent is deported what happe"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Tywin Lannister is overrated (Massive ASOIAF Book and TV Series Spoliers Follow)\n So this is something that I've been thinking for a while. I'm not denying that Tywin wasn't incredibly talented and generally good at ruling, but I feel that he makes a lot of decisions that are quite poor.\n\n1. His plan to capture Ned, now this fails because Jaim"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Tywin wasn't particularly talented however he was calculating and ruthless. He lost battles to Robb who was talented but ultimately defeated by Tywins calculated moves off the battlefield which house Lannister shared no blame in because it appears Frey acted alone.\n\nHe didn't fear Robert because Robert was indebted to him as well as being married t"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If you're able, European and subscribe even loosely to European values, you should be on the Ukrainian border, driving back Russians\nObviously I'm not there right now, but I'm curious if anyone can put my mind at ease that I shouldn't be. \n \nFeels to me as if Putin senses weakness in the Western world, with the US and Europe driven farther a"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Hysterical exaggeration is histerical. \n\nHow about you just say \"If you subscribe even loosely to European values, you should support an European opposition against Russia\". \n\nThere is no common European value that says \"you should always take up arms and risk your life for causes that seem vaguely justified\". "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If I'm ever on a jury, police testimony will hold no more weight to me than any other witness.\nI believe police testimony is no different and no more reliable than any other regular citizen's testimony. People can lie, and people can recall incorrectly; the fact that someone wears a badge doesn't change that fact. If it comes down to a cops "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Here's the difference between a cop and a civilian in court-- a cop has been in the same situation many times and is trained to be a good observer. A cop reporting his side on a shooting has been in shooting situations before and knows what to expect. It's not new to him so he can be more calm than someone who has never been there. A random pers"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If a religious person truly believed their texts were sacred, they would devote a far greater amount of time to studying them\nI find it very very strange that religious people (of any denomination, but I primarily encounter Christians) claim to believe that their text is sacred, directly created or somehow influenced by God, and not merely a d"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Some religions - Catholicism for example - traditionally say that lay people aren't supposed to read the text. That is a role for the clergy, i.e., only the Church can interpret and explain the text. Average people should just attend church and tithe. Buddhism has a similar idea, where the role of the sangha (monastic community) is to generate g"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I believe most people don't use social media in order to \"keep in touch with other people\"; I believe they do it to have a socially acceptable way to talk to themselves.\nThe majority of people do not use social media in order to keep in touch with other people. They use it for 2 reasons:\n\n1) to feed their ego - receiving satisfaction due to ha"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I mean, are you looking for statistics? I don't think anyone would deny that some people do you use it for the reasons you describe, but you yourself admit that some people don't. So how exactly do you leap to the majority? "
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The global dominance of the abrahamic faiths is largely an accident of geography\nI was at a christmas eve service last night (I'm Unitarian Universalist) and one of the hymns the choir did there, describing the birth of Jesus had it occurred in a Huron (Native American) community got me to thinking:\n\nA) Had a group of religions identical in al"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Christianity was primarily spread by the Roman empire. But Rome already had a state religion before it adopted Christianity. So the victory of Christianity over the Roman version of Hellenism can't be attributed to geography alone.\n\nLikewise, Islam was hardly the first religion that Arabia had seen. Its dominance there was not mere geography."
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: People over the retirement age (62) should not be allowed to participate in politics.\nI've noticed that nearly everyone in Washington is extremely old. I have always thought that that was a bad thing, because of a few reasons: 1. if you are already old, then the long-term consequences of your decisions probably won't happen until after you ar"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Should young adults with trust funds not be allowed to vote because they don't know what it is like to live pay check to pay check? What about terminally ill adults? They wont experience long term consequences. What about the unemployed? They don't pay income tax so they don't contribute (for the sake of argument). Can we just start taking away the"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: GNU HURD will never succeed\nMonolithic kernel is the main reason GNU Linux is only used on servers. Projects like Ubuntu have been trying to encourage a casual userbase, but GNU Linux is still mainly used for servers and people who are zealot about FOSS.\n\nI have been following HURD for ages. A FOSS OS, with hybrid kernel, is in everyone's drea"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": ">I believe HURD will never succeed. Can you prove me wrong?\n\nIt depends on how you define success. One view is that Hurd succeeds just by existing as an alternative should something happen to the politics of GNU Linux that would make it unusable.\n\nYou could see the first stages of this back when SCO brought its lawsuit against Novell/IBM and cl"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Nativity scenes are antisemitic.\nThis has nothing to do with the celebration of Christmas excluding religious minorities, it's because traditional nativity scenes reinforce negative stereotypes about Jews.\n\nAs the story goes, when Jesus was about to be born his parents were travelling to Bethlehem, but when they got there the inn was full, so "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Matthew 2:11\n\n\"And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.\"\n\nWhen the wise men visited Jesus, it was in a house. The Nativity scene is about the visit of the shepher"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I find nothing wrong with being attracted to sexually aware teenagers.\nNow personally I only find myself looking at 15, 16 year olds on up, never younger. I still remember these days and I pretty much wanted sex all of the time. What exactly is wrong with finding teenage girls attractive? The fact that they're sexually aware indicates to me th"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I think the simple answer is that all but the *absolutely most* sexually aware teenager is fully emotionally developed enough to fully understand the implications of a sexual relationship and in the case of sex between a minor and an adult this lack of development makes it almost always inherently imbalanced in favor of the adult (e.g. \"taking adva"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Most democracies are far too tolerant of extremism, especially the likes of neo-fascism, neo-nazism, radical Islamism and violent intolerance. The world has been to soft on these ideologies and they need to be eliminated whenever they appear.\nI think some of the biggest threats to global stability comes from the political fringes. It's either "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "How do you propose that current extremist ideologies be eliminated and stay eliminated going forward?"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The Gregorian calendar should be scrapped and replaced with something more logical.\nThe Gregorian calendar is an overly-complex and illogical way to mark the passage of time. In particular:\n\n- The months are uneven. It's confusing to have irregular fluctuations in the length of months. Only one month having 28 or 29 days? Alternating between ="
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> School and financial years are misaligned with calendar years. Why have the 2014-15 school year when one could make the entire year line up with the calendar?\n\nSchool and financial years are also misaligned with each other; in fact, every US corporation is permitted to observe a different financial year for tax-paying purposes."
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Health Insurance and Life Insurance should be combined\nHealth insurance companies want people to be healthy, or dead. Life insurance companies want people to be alive (regardless of health) for the duration of the policy.\n\nI think these types of insurance should be combined. I should be able to go out and buy a \"75 years of healthy life\" polic"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "This actually exists, it's called a [life annuity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_annuity). \n\nEDIT: this product will not cover health care costs the same way health insurance will, but you can purchase a Long-Term Care rider."
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Pet rehoming fees are not good for animals.\nThis isn't adoption fees, like those that go back to the shelter that neutered them and gave the animals necessary vet care and shots. I mean that people on Craigslist or classified ads, and some rescue organizations, who insist on a rehoming fee of 200-500 for what is a mutt puppy, with no papers o"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I do animal rescue. I've been a key volunteer at a small local rescue for the last 8 years. \n\nWe often hear the debate about adoption fees. Some people say \"adopters are doing you a favor by taking the unwanted animal\". Or they say \"asking more than a few bucks for an animal is ripping people off / slowing adoptions. \"\n\nHere's the deal:\nWhen dea"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: [US] Thanksgiving should be moved to the last Thursday in June, rather than November.\nAs we approach another major Western holiday, it occurs to me that the distribution of holidays throughout the year is really unbalanced. We're solidly in 'holiday season': where we go from Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve in a matter of 4-5 weeks. After the 'h"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> As a non-Christians, Thanksgiving is a chance to get together with family, eat good food and drink good wine, and be given time off from work.\n\nExactly, it's a secular replacement for Christmas. If there wasn't a secular holiday at the end of the year, the season would be exclusively celebrated by Christians.\n\n> it's always hard to travel i"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: If a highway has left-side exits - I don't have to treat the left lane as a passing lines starting 3-5 miles before I intend to take the left-side exit.\nThere have been a lot of discussion about only using the left lane only to pass.\n\nHowever, left-side exits present a glaring exception.\n\nNormally, I drive speed limit, and so, stick to the rig"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "5 miles before the exit means you're puttering along in the high speed lane for almost 5 minutes. Is that *really* necessary? It forces people to pass you on the right and it makes for a bit of a bottleneck. If people are honking at you in a regular basis, I don't mean to make you feel bad but it sounds like they are perceiving you as a haza"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: /r/Pcmasterrace shouldn't be allowed to force a subscription to vote, as its a form of vote manipulation and poorly indicates the size of the subreddit relative to those that don't require it\nOver at /r/pcmasterrace, the subreddit claims that you need to subscribe to vote to \"prevent shadowbans\". Not only do very few subreddits do this(the onl"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "You can disable CSS or use a mobile device to vote without subscribing as well. If you don't like the subreddit and it's content then just add it to your ignore list and never deal with it again. \n\nWhy should the whole subreddit be banned just because you don't like the way it is run? There are obviously people who enjoy that subreddit and communit"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Accepting a gift of money from someone as a token of appreciation is not rude, and refusing to accept it just makes things awkward\nThe other day I drove the daughter of a family friend to a bus stop that wasn't very far away. I was happy to do it as a favor, and didn't expect any payment for it. When I finally dropped her off, she offered me $"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I think \"polite society\" dictates that you say \"oh, no, there's no need!\" to the first offer, but then accept when the person replies \"no, please, I want you to have it.\" So the most proper police exchange would be: A: offer, B: refuse, A: offer again, B: accept and thank. \n\nI agree that an alternative that I frequently see (when my dad helps his f"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The claim that the Western culture is superior is false\nI hear it a lot on the internet, from Westerners of course, that their culture is invariably superior to other cultures. At first I ignored them since it's natural to be irrationally proud of your nation or culture, but now that I see things like protests in Germany, I'm starting to get s"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "What are you comparing \"Western culture\" to? And what do you define as indicators of \"superiority\"?"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The \"Trans-Panic\" defense is a valid defense and should be an acceptable defense California (where it has been barred).\nI support transsexual and transgender rights, but I feel like this defense, when used sometimes and under some circumstances does hold water. \n\nIn short this is the trans panic defense (also used for gays but I think that gay"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "What if they have Jewish heritage? Is it ok to kill them if they don't disclose or is only ok to kill people you don't like. "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The NYPD officers who turned their backs on Mayor de Blasio should be fired\nThis may sound a bit petty in light of the NYPD's other current problems, but I think it's a serious issue. Obviously I am as upset about Saturday's shootings (when two NYPD officers were killed) as everyone so don't think I'm trying to minimize that.\n\nHowever, bigger "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "I'm pretty sure NYC cops and cops in general are not \"at will\" employees. They cannot be fired without justification. Disrespect =/= dereliction of duty/incompetence/corruption etc and is not grounds for termination. This should be especially true for any branch of government, as the government is there to uphold the constitution (especially wit"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: THe Flash (Wally West) could beat just about any superhero in a fight\nThe Flash is way faster than most of you think. He is so fast the He thinks in attoseconds (an attosecond is the time it takes light to go from one cell to another). By the time any of them could lift a finger to attack him he would have already hit what a googolplex amount "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "What if it was a hero like superman who is immune to silly butterfly kicks and punches. \n\n"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I think health insurance is a scam and don't see any benefit in purchasing any policies.\nI used to be really good about getting health insurance. I'm young, got one in the event of a catastrophic event. I paid $300 a month for 10k deductible, and never really paid much attention to it.\n\nI've had some health problems over the last year and ha"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "A few months ago I had my appendix removed. Total billed expenses for the initial visit, the CT scan, the ER visit, the surgery, and the recovery bed topped $60,000. \n\nI paid $150 to my insurance. It took a little bit of wrangling because insurance companies so often get the bills wrong but according to my plan this is how much I owed so I eventual"
}
] | false
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: I don't have a problem with the U.S. torturing people.\nRecently in the news the C.I.A. and Bush administration have been under a lot of heat for torturing prisoners. In the grand scheme of things, what are a few lives compared to the safety of thousands of others. The people they are torturing are a global threat; it's not out of patriotism th"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "What about the fact that it doesn't work? Some people might agree that it's justifiable to torture a terrorist if he has the codes to a bomb that will go off in a few hours and that's the only way to get them. But I doubt it's very justifiable if you don't know who the terrorist is, you don't know if you even have the terrorist, and you don't know "
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: What some men call \"double standards\" are in fact not always \"double standards\" at all, because women have always been more sexualised. Link to case study in description.\n[This link here](http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/television/sunrise-weather-woman-nuala-hafner-attempts-to-chat-up-hunky-mystery-man-live-on-air/story-fnihmoiz-12"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": " Firstly, all you're saying is that historically women have been more sexualized. And? Let's take any other inappropriate action and treat it the same way. Historically white people enslaved black people. I'm black. If I were to enslave a white guy, that wouldn't make it any less morally deplorable. The same thing is happening here. If women sexual"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: The 'songs' that run throughout Tolkien's \"The Hobbit\" are pretty awful, and the book would be better with the poetry removed.\nI am rereading the Hobbit as an adult, and actually reading the poetry that I found too painful to read the first two times I read it as a teen.\n\nI'm no literature expert, nor an expert on poetry, but it just seems bad"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "To address one point, the \"English\" in the book is actually meant to be a translation of one specific Middle Earth language, the Westron or Common Speech. More info [here](http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Westron)"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Bullfighting and killing animals for fun is an OK thing to do\n***MY VIEW HAS BEEN CHANGED***\n\nWe can breed bulls, so why shouldn't we be able to kill them too? They're definitely not the most self-aware, cutest, or smartest animals to be worrying about.\n\nIf the bull in bull fighting was replaced with some more menial animal would more people f"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "> We can breed bulls, so why shouldn't we be able to kill them too?\n\nBy that logic I can have a child specifically to kill him for fun, and that would be ok because I made the child myself."
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: DPRK and Russian criticisms of human rights abuses in the US are legitimate, and deserve to be taken seriously.\nIn light of the recently released CIA torture report, as well as mass protests and demonstrations about the current status of race relations in the US, many world leaders, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Russian leader "
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "The criticism of the DPRK and Putin here is not that the criticism is necessarily wrong, but that it is purely opportunistic. That is, neither leader genuinely cares about human rights in the United States, and is just giving a criticism to get headlines and deflect from their own abuses.\n\nDo you think that the DPRK or the Russian government genui"
}
] | true
|
[
{
"role": "user",
"content": "CMV: Going to the dentist every 6 months is a waste of NHS money if there is nothing to worry about\nSo I have an appointment at the dentist tomorrow and to be frank its a waste of time IMO. I mean I go, get my mouth poked and that awful scaling thing that gives me a headache and that is it. I have got no ulcers, no blood, pain or anything that woul"
}
] |
[
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "It's actually about cost savings. A simple check up uses very little in the way of disposables, most tools are autoclaved and reused. The primary cost is doctor time. \n\nFixing a tiny cavity stops it from developing, meaning you can use a tiny dab of the filler/coating and it stops the decay there. Fixing a decayed tooth which is at the point of cau"
}
] | true
|
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