fruitvilla

1 minute ago, Villa 59 said:

You only have one friend?

Not that many. I counted them twice.

I have must admit I have mixed feelings about BCFC

Most of all my school friends followed BCFC ...  I bear them no ill will

Similarly, having vibrant football teams is a sign that the region is doing well

The dark side of me would not object for BCFC to have a stint in League 1

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

But we defended WELLER.

Can the players who defended WELLER,  be called WELLIES?

8 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

And what are the foundations and ethos, the culture, of the country that these patriots belong to and hold so dear? I'm insinuating in my initial statement, and following statements, that there is a misleading pretence and facade about the way we go about living in this world we call home, if you subscribe to the narrative offered by the more influential governments of today. I'm sorry but I think Halliburton was pretty down with the invasion in the Middle East, and I'm sure a few weapons dealers were reasonably pleased with the contracts too.

OK you seem to be saying corporations have an agenda.  Yeah. The company I used to work for has a policy not to do exploration in unstable countries. And? 

Whether I subscribe to government policy or foreign bots is a little bit of mystery. But end of the day ideologies and nations still exist and no matter how you twist and turn you are still putting forward some ideology no matter how clumsily you seem to be expressing it.

Just now, GarethRDR said:

Is that only when he goes unobserved though?  Schrödinger's subs bench.

There is some debate on what counts as observation, but I take your point.

1 minute ago, villakram said:

If Mr. J. Stalin were your local political representative, would you vote to re-elect him or vote for the opposition candidate Mr. Pot?

Yes, I'm being facetious, but the peculiarities around her election have already been explained a few pages back, and fortunately (I guess??) my Aunt is not my Uncle. 

I am not being facetious ...  genuinely curious. How would you have voted? 

20 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Okay I pulled that percentage out of my arse (it's an annoying thibg to do ain't it?), but you get my point.

If you have said 51.2% everyone would have thought that you have calculated it.

44 minutes ago, villakram said:

Oh, I do apologize. You and @magnkarl can dock me a weeks wages, but make sure to send me an official warning in writing first or I'll lawyer up.

But I really would like to know if Greene was your Republican candidate how would you have voted? For, against (the most likely opposition candidate), or some third option?

5 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I'll see if I can Russell one up. 

I Dennett think you can.

1 hour ago, A'Villan said:

We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies.

OK I will have another go.

There are groups of people who still live in this world who subscribe to some form of nationalism. Seventy odd million people voted for Trump on a "patriotic" ticket. Brexit was fueled on nationalism. As are all the far right ideologies. 

So your statement we no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies is false. I am not arguing commerce and its vehicles are not important. Just that your initial opening sentence was over the top. And regarding commerce, when we have trans national corporations they will try to dissuade war with that nation. There has been the observation we tend not to go to war with nations that we trade with. 

Just now, sidcow said:

We already live in paradise. It's only those saddos who need to move. 

Kings Heath Paradise? Well it's not bad, I suppose, Traffic on a Saturday morning was hell.

11 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I agree when you start getting near The Black Country there's a definite twang. 

They can be unintelligible if they try. 

I remember going into a pub and thinking I can understand maybe one word in three.

I have lived abroad for the last forty years ... I have rarely met a Brummie of WM expat. Mancs, Geordies, Londoners are all over the place.

6 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

Not everything that can be counted, counts. And not everything that counts, can be counted.

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."

Shall we have a battle of catchy phrases or a discussion?

2 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

What? Get rich or die trying as the be all and end all of philosophical and cultural nature? If that's the case keep your silver I'll take the lead.

It's just a quote from a movie that's played as an intro to a song I like, but I think it rings true. The Poverty of Philosophy is another good track by that artist.

You have not showed your working.

1 minute ago, A'Villan said:

We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business. Capitalism and democracy are not synonymous, just as a monarchy and democracy are not synonymous. It's the rich, telling the middle class, to blame the poor. Tradition. 

Can you show your working please?

While you could visit Canada quite easily you would have to jump through a few hoops to live here. It was easy for me through an accident of birth. Ideologies abound. Seeing the world through the lens of corporations is an ideology itself. Your post contradicts itself.

16 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

I was thinking this was going to be more along the lines of “why do some teams attract football fans of a certain political persuasion and and others the polar opposite” (like St Pauli fans vs Lazio fans for instance). 

If this message board is anything to go by Aston Villa fans seem to be drawn from the political ‘left’.

Well my intention was not to exclude such deliberations ... Rangers and Celtic comes to mind: the religious split. But I doubt their fans are significantly practicing Christians, so what draws them to their respective bases ... history?

I'll pick on Mings again ...  in the nicest of ways. It has been said that he makes poor choices. I happen to disagree (in the vernacular), but what is the nature of choice?

9 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

So where does the fandom and football bit come in? 

 

I think you will find the goal was offside.

Well I was thinking of the duality Mings being brilliant and sh!te at the same time.

1 hour ago, fruitvilla said:

I tend to go to where the evidence leads me. Each to his own I suppose.

53 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

As do I. Evidence does not amount to proof though.

 

I tend to read a lot of stuff on this forum that I philosophically disagree with, so here is an opportunity to discuss the philosophical aspects of how we come to our positions.

In the US Politics thread, A'Villan said that evidence does not amount to proof. Philosophically I have to agree, using inductive logic will never lead to proof. But at some point we could amount sufficient evidence as to holding  a certain position as true or false [insert conspiracy theory de jour, here]. 

For me the only logical position is to be agnostic (philosophically) and carefully move forwards being prepared to admit that I am wrong. To be fair that only rarely happens.

But this thread is generally for philosophical aspects of any position we may hold.

Have fun.

2 hours ago, villakram said:

She is really good at not answering the question. 

I asked you a question too.

3 hours ago, villakram said:

Why are you so focussed on the village loon?

Because she represents the hundreds of thousands who voted for her.  Then there are the the millions of voters who voted for the Republicans who are supporting her today. She is not an isolated loon.

Here's a question: would you have voted against her had she been your Republican candidate?

3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

It can be argued that Reddit's campaign on Gamestop is a more effective demonstration of the power of democracy than the US election.

The thing that I am not sure about is: was this a good investment for for those that came to Gamestop's defence? If (a big if) the company's financial structure is unsound then what are the repercussions for those that bought stock at higher prices?  

I stress I would not recognize Gamestop even if I tripped over it.

Some hedge fund thinks a company is overvalued and bets against it. In practice I would sell the stock if I owned it. 

My thoughts as I recall:

1) I missed the first seventeen minutes

2) I don't get the downer on Troare ...  he looked OK certainly was not the "worst" player on the pitch. Tracked back. Certainly was not quick tracking back and that brings me me to the next point.

3) As a team we looked tired ... overall we were not quick to track back. Soton's wide runners were fast and we were slow to pick them up.

4) I am not sure of Dean's reticence to use subs ... would love to have a quiet pint with him to understand better his philosophy.

2 hours ago, villakram said:

You are projecting. Invoking Nazi's to smear me. Please stop doing that.

You are right the fascist, nazi, racist tropes are thrown around far too often.

But your posts do smear for themselves though.

7 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

Dean is brilliant manager and has worked wonders for this club, but he needs to use the squad better and make his favourites work a bit harder for the shirt.

Picking one's favourites does not sound brilliant to me.  My point is Dean's job is to bring on the whole team, ideally in lock step.  Also picking the "strongest" eleven does not always make sense. El Ghazi would never be considered in that eleven if circumstance  had not forced the issue. So some squad rotation makes sense ...  at least to me. Especially if we have the players to make it work.