Disqus - Latest Comments for jenlindner

Re: Francis Hwang: Funded!

jenlindner — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:37:15 -0000

Hey super ditto Congratulations! Way to rock, Francis :)

Re: Francis Hwang: I have to return some friendship bracelets.

jenlindner — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:15:22 -0000

I know you love Easton Ellis, but is it because he writes about things you actually hate, basically? Or in other words, do you read, throw up, rinse and repeat with his books?

Re: Francis Hwang: I hate these people.

jenlindner — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:43:40 -0000

trip them as they walk by (and then run fast) :)

Re: Francis Hwang: Lara Logan, You Suck

jenlindner — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:37:33 -0000

M. Taibbi's my favorite journalist by far.

Re: Howard Zinn and Bill Moyers on Right-Wing Demagogues and Progressive Resistance | Media and Culture | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:09:30 -0000

more commenting.

Re: Howard Zinn and Bill Moyers on Right-Wing Demagogues and Progressive Resistance | Media and Culture | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:07:11 -0000

my comment.

Re: Not Your Father's Chamber of Commerce: National Organization Is Now a Tool of the Radical Right | News & Politics | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:52:51 -0000

more commenting. more. more.

Re: Not Your Father's Chamber of Commerce: National Organization Is Now a Tool of the Radical Right | News & Politics | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:47:19 -0000

more commenting

Re: Not Your Father's Chamber of Commerce: National Organization Is Now a Tool of the Radical Right | News & Politics | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:46:37 -0000

my comment is this: _______

Re: Let The Sun Shine In: Marriage Equality Comes to Broadway | Civil Liberties | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:31:49 -0000

jenlindner, what the hell are you thinking? you freaking hippie

Re: Let The Sun Shine In: Marriage Equality Comes to Broadway | Civil Liberties | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:28:20 -0000

let the sun shine in, the sun shine in

Re: 12 Hilarious Corporate Attempts to Look Green | Environment | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:17:04 -0000

and who would ever trust anything macdonald's says?

Re: 12 Hilarious Corporate Attempts to Look Green | Environment | AlterNet

jenlindner — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:16:03 -0000

who would ever think any hummer is "green"?

Re: Francis Hwang: Why is blackmail illegal?

jenlindner — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:16:05 -0000

Actually, I think the presumption that we're starting from scratch in this discussion is wrong. Blackmail is not a neutral entity whose benefits or harms are wholly determined by the circumstances of its use. It's a construct whereby one person economically benefits by threatening the harm of another. It's a protection racket. I'm sure I could use a nuclear warhead as a doorstop, keeping a door to a burning orphanage open and allowing all the little ones to escape unharmed. But that's not what nuclear warheads were designed or get used for the vast majority of the time. We shouldn't debate them as if their potential for good or evil was equally possible, it's mischaracterizing.

I don't think any law starts as an empty proposition, waiting for the investment of qualities according to circumstances. Laws are born as responses to specific circumstances. It's rights that are intended to exist independently of specific circumstances. But maybe it's time I read that article for myself.

Re: Francis Hwang: Why is blackmail illegal?

jenlindner — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:56:19 -0000

Yeah, but those things might have a benefit for all concerned parties, unrelated to economic gain. Maybe I sit right next to you at work and my suffering would lessen if you showered every once in a while. In fact, maybe the whole workplace would brighten. It's not just about the degree of harm, it's about what service it is done in and what it accomplishes.

What is my benefit to causing you harm apart from economic gain if I blackmail you? What is anyone's?

Re: Francis Hwang: Why is blackmail illegal?

jenlindner — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:08:09 -0000

I think it's for the same reason it's illegal to take out an insurance policy against your neighbor's house: it's destructive to sanction an economic interest in causing harm.

Re: Francis Hwang: More reax on Ruby & Rails & women

jenlindner — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:56:53 -0000

uh, completely. there are actually many and growing women-in-technology groups; ruby is sure to be a part of that; the best men can do is indeed to not act unwelcomingly. and who knows what friendships may start from that?

Re: Francis Hwang: More reax on Ruby & Rails & women

jenlindner — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:50:52 -0000

You know, I knew I could count on you to give this a real honest look. Glad you're out there doing what you do, Francis.

OK, so clearly there's one thing in conflict, which is really almost beside the point: open source/ruby == freedom of speech == this arena is comfortable/I am accepted so I can be honest.... as a guy/dude/nerd. And me being honest includes my sexual expression, my sexuality. Yeah, that's great, and you (meaning Matt) can be. It's just that you need to open your mind a little and realize that if you have your reasons for being "here," so do others. If they're women, realize they may have come here because it was a neutral zone, seemingly. A respite, the same way it's a respite for men-geeks who don't necessarily fit the mainstream sexuality standards for men. An arena where we/they/you can enjoy the kick-ass joys of some genuine mental freedom, and wherein we/they/you will be judged, presumably, on the strength of our/your mental abilities. Manna from heaven!

So to drag the things we may be escaping into this place is one pretty serious betrayal. Yes, you can, it's your right: free speech. But, once you've done so, you may have truly ruined what the point was supposed to be. And have made this place into just one more to escape from, not be your own real human self in, among other real human beings.

And at that point, don't start wondering why it's a non-stop sausage fest.

Re: Francis Hwang: What I like about capitalism: early thoughts

jenlindner — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:48:40 -0000

You know, I wonder if the experience of living and striving for common goals together isn't really all that's needed... seems to me that the balance between self-interest & common interest might be working fairly well, considering. Or at least does have a real, serious chance here. I think you're on to something crucial with this. But the elites thing reminds me of the "Would you care what the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing?" argument Marisa Tomei makes in My Cousin Vinny.

Did you see this: http://www.fastcompany.com/... I just did today, and I think it's very cool.

Re: Francis Hwang: What I like about capitalism: early thoughts

jenlindner — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:02:49 -0000

Hmm. I question some things here. I think our tenuous multiracial tolerance may simply coexist well with capitalism, but I question whether it's an inherent result of economics. Soviet Russia didn't invent pogroms against its Jewish population. Problems with racism in Europe (thinking of Jewish populations here too) go much farther back than their socialist states - all the way to feudalism, if I'm not mistaken.

America was a colony, an escape from Europe, specifically structured to be blind to racial differences: Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free in no explicit or implicit way says whites only. This is, in theory, totally separate from our economic system, even if the practical reason was poor tired & longing to be free makes a great labor pool/army. The point is those cultural ideas are a fierce part of the identity of this country, fueling our capitalist way of life but not, I am persuaded, an outgrowth of it. Capitalism here also coexisted quite happily with slavery after all, until those cultural ideas that said this nation is a project that champions social justice and transcends race translated into the action necessary to overthrow it.

In some ways the unchecked capitalism here is like a tapeworm working its way through the social justice project the nation attempts (to reuse that sweet analogy :). Growth totally unrelated to genuine needs and the capacity to consume is not an accidental sidestep, it's the logical outcome of a political system that entrenches economic power within one class of people. That class of people might as well then be as racist as the KKK in terms of the outlook they hold towards all below them, not to mention the natural world around them. A brown person is a servant; an ocean is a view; I think that to be unable to imagine life without that entrenched superiority is an addiction-like sickness.