The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[CleverNickName]

Some people just want to argue and argue and argue. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. They’re always ready to fight and die on the tiniest, most insignificant hill.

"Of course you'd think that. Can you even prove it? Huh? And sure, that hill might be insignificant to you, but what makes you think that it's insignificant to anyone else? And I seriously doubt that anyone is actually dying on a hill--"

(gunshots, explosions)

 

[overgeeked]

Me: “I love a lot of trashy things. It’s okay to like trashy things.”

You: “You’re an elitist!”

Um…clearly you’re not actually reading my posts. Time for me to go back to reading The Shadow.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Me: “I love a lot of trashy things. It’s okay to like trashy things.”

You: “You’re an elitist!”

I've had this conversation a lot over the last few years. I feel like people have a hard time separating love or the enjoyment they get from something from the quality of the object.

On a related note, if I want to get into an argument with my wife, all I need to do is bring up this quote that Roger Ebert attributed to Gene Siskel: "There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact. When you say The Valachi Papers is a better film than The Godfather, you are wrong." I enjoy Raymond Chandler far more than William Faulkner. I know that Faulkner's the better writer in just about all aspects (Sanctuary is as good a noir as just about anything that Chandler wrote, and that was not the mode that Faulkner usually wrote in; as much as I love Chandler, I can't see him tearing off a novel of the style/quality of Absalom, Absalom! as a one off between Marlowe novels, just dipping his toes in literary modernism), but the heart wants what the heart wants.

 

[Hussar]

The tendency to conflate personal taste with quality is nearly universal.

 

[Thomas Shey]

So we are making sense of vampires now?

Since that was the whole point of this chain of discussion...?

 

[Thomas Shey]

If it's a public place why would you need a warrant?

Its not a public place. The point is that there's a sense where all buildings (at least in the U.S.) are owned by the government, and the warrant shows they've authorized you to enter.

 

[Thomas Shey]

How defensible is your home vs a zombie outbreak?

Pretty bad. Plate glass windows in the back.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

The point is that there's a sense where all buildings (at least in the U.S.) are owned by the government, and the warrant shows they've authorized you to enter.

Admittedly, I am not, have not been, and am likely not to be a home owner, so I may be missing some key details, and I may also just be misunderstanding, but where/how is there a sense that all buildings in the U.S. are owned by the government?

 

[Thomas Shey]

Admittedly, I am not, have not been, and am likely not to be a home owner, so I may be missing some key details, and I may also just be misunderstanding, but where/how is there a sense that all buildings in the U.S. are owned by the government?

Twofold:
1. Property tax. Virtually every place in the country charges property tax; if you stop paying them, you lose your house. So do you own it, or are you renting it?
2. Eminent Domain. Even when you aren't running into this problem, they can buy your house from you at any time, usually for going rate for the area, and you can't say no. Even though they have to pay, when you don't choose whether or not to sell something, do you really own it?

(Both of these apply to commercial and industrial property, too).

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Twofold:
1. Property tax. Virtually every place in the country charges property tax; if you stop paying them, you lose your house. So do you own it, or are you renting it?
2. Eminent Domain. Even when you aren't running into this problem, they can buy your house from you at any time, usually for going rate for the area, and you can't say no. Even though they have to pay, when you don't choose whether or not to sell something, do you really own it?

(Both of these apply to commercial and industrial property, too).

Thanks, I see where you're coming from now.