Favorite political books

[bathory]

“Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth” by Joe Conason (2003). It makes the case for taking the Liberal position on every significant political issue, and further argues that (according to polling data) an actual “supermajority” of Americans already DO take the Liberal position on most issues, but they don’t always vote that way. A bit out-of-date, though, so a few years later I also read…

 

“Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America” by Eric Alterman (2008). This is a more up-to-date case for taking the Liberal position on every significant political issue.

 

that chomsky book I read had polling statistics and the majority of america seems to lean left on a lot of big issues, especially socially

 

a surprising number of people support universal healthcare, but not when it's called "universal healthcare." they like the idea of a government helping its citizens, but when you call it "socialized medicine" they get scared because of the negative connotation

[bathory]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

[ILSnwdog]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

[bathory]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

[bathory]

and I think there isn't a whole lot left for me to learn about being a good republican

[laughedatbytime]

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx is fantastic.

 

Been getting into Communism and it's history lately.

Then try this one, in honor of its' 100 million victims.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6f/The_Black_Book_of_Communism_%28front_cover%29.gif/180px-The_Black_Book_of_Communism_%28front_cover%29.gif

[USB Connector]

When I want to read a book, politics is NOT what I go after.

 

but you read a lot of science fiction, and sci-fi is full of politics

 

even fantasy has politics

 

Exactly. Goob, if I remember correctly you listed Dune as one of your favourite books. That book was an exploration of politics just as much (if not more) as it was an exploration of the effects of drugs.

 

the sequels are similar, but a bit boring

 

I got about half way through the second book. It just doesn't seem to WANT to go anywhere. It just feels like the plot stands still. It reminded me of when I tried reading 2061: Odyssey three by Arthur C Clarke or So Long and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams. All the points were made and the book feels like a deliberate cash in on popularity.

 

I got about half way through the 4th Dune book - each one goes downhill a bit from the first one.

 

And as for politics in sci-fi, sure it's there as a concept, but it's still sci-fi, not real world intensity with very real consequences. It's quite removed IMHO, even if there are corollaries with modern society.

 

I understand where you're coming from. Same politics but the setting still allows for a sense of escapism without the stress that would come from a non-fiction book with a similar plot. That's part of the reason I love sci-fi so much. Sci-fi commentary becomes apparent by doing just that. You see other people's problems through an outsider's perspective, which makes the commentary so apparent. Some notable examples are the Ferengi in Star Trek, The Alliance in Firefly and the Agents in the Matrix.

 

Dune is special because the politics and tactics involved are very close to those we've been seeing for a very long time and there is relatively little exaggeration in many aspects of it unlike the examples I mentioned earlier.

 

I think I may have just stated the obvious. I wasn't sure with your last sentence.

[bathory]

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx is fantastic.

 

Been getting into Communism and it's history lately.

Then try this one, in honor of its' 100 million victims.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6f/The_Black_Book_of_Communism_%28front_cover%29.gif/180px-The_Black_Book_of_Communism_%28front_cover%29.gif

 

like I said, THIS is why no one posts in SOCN except a few gun nuts and reb, who I'm guessing is bill maher's account...

[ILSnwdog]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

[ILSnwdog]

and I think there isn't a whole lot left for me to learn about being a good republican

If you really read what people were posting in there, you would see that most of us "good republicans" can't stand Hannity.

[USB Connector]

and I think there isn't a whole lot left for me to learn about being a good republican

If you really read what people were posting in there, you would see that most of us "good republicans" can't stand Hannity.

 

I must have missed the plot of that book. Or did I just venture into SOCN?

[bathory]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

[bathory]

and I think there isn't a whole lot left for me to learn about being a good republican

If you really read what people were posting in there, you would see that most of us "good republicans" can't stand Hannity.

 

I must have missed the plot of that book. Or did I just venture into SOCN?

 

:goodone:

[HomesickAlien]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN? If so, I'm glad I haven't bothered to gain access to it.

[barney_rebel]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN? If so, I'm glad I haven't bothered to gain access to it.

 

You don't know what you're missing. Just make sure you know who to serve cakes to if you are a baker.

[ILSnwdog]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN? If so, I'm glad I haven't bothered to gain access to it.

 

You don't know what you're missing. Just make sure you know who to serve cakes to if you are a baker.

[Maverick]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN? If so, I'm glad I haven't bothered to gain access to it.

 

No, this is typical bathroy discussion. I only wish he'd stay out of SOCN.

[ILSnwdog]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

Are you Paul Krugman?

[Maverick]

Plato - The Republic

Aristotle - The Politics

Machiavelli - The Prince

Locke - The Second Treatise on Civil Government

[GeddyRulz]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN?

 

Yep, pretty much.

[Maverick]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN?

 

Yep, pretty much.

 

Oh come one! You know we can be a lot better than this. And at times a bit worse.

 

;)

 

It's too bad we can't talk about the Kennedy Assassination all the time. Now that was a good thread.

[bathory]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

Are you Paul Krugman?

 

he's smarter than hannity

[bathory]

also I can see why you dont post in SOCN much...it's hannity central

That's right. And we all share provocative images of Ann Coulter to jerk off to! :sarcastic:

 

Maybe if you stopped trying to generalize everyone in there, you could possibly learn something?

 

do you have anything to contribute to the thread? I realize you probably don't like to read because that's what LIBERAL COLLEGE PROFESSORS!!! want you to do, but if you only have your hannity rhetoric to put in this thread then you should just stay in SOCN where it's celebrated

I've finished college and listened to many a liberal professor. Learned a thing or two too. Have you been to college bathboy?

 

I have a doctorate in economics! :dweez: tax snowdog and LABT, give to the poor! :codger:

 

now go back to SOCN please

 

Is this typical of the discussion that takes place in SOCN? If so, I'm glad I haven't bothered to gain access to it.

 

No, this is typical bathroy discussion. I only wish he'd stay out of SOCN.

 

the right-wing circle jerk is 10 times dumber than what I say

[bathory]

sheldon, thanks for actually naming books, as opposed to snowdog who evidently does not read

[Mr. Not]

Plato - The Republic

Aristotle - The Politics

Machiavelli - The Prince

Locke - The Second Treatise on Civil Government

 

Nice