User:Riskable

I'm not famous or particularly notable but I do have a few snippets of my own that I'd like to share. Here's some things I've said:

Things I've Said

• "I'd just like to point out a simple fact that everyone else seems to have missed: One has only to point a finger at the preceding generation to find exactly who is to blame for 'kids these days'." I posted this in a discussion on the Volokh Consipiracy website and it ended up in the main page of the article
• "You see a homeless man causing blight upon the landscape and call for justice. If the man and the blight are removed, do you declare that justice has been served? I say nay, justice has not been served. The blight has not been removed, it has simply become less visible. The man is still homeless."
• "If you elect leaders that act irresponsibly towards nature, you'll find that irresponsibility is the nature of your leaders."
• "I believe that no belief has a right to be free from criticism. Even this one."
• "In the heart of great injustice lies a popular belief and a sacred text backing it up."
• "Views from a great distance always miss details."* "Believing that details are unimportant is the mantra of a problem gambler."
• "An existence that demands the insertion and spread of its message is known as a virus."
• "The role of logic is to predict or ensure outcomes. It is fueled by knowledge. The role of reason is to understand or solve outcomes. It is fueled by logic. True wisdom only comes when logic and reason intersect."
• "One is not burned by belief. One is burned by believers."
• "Religion is a path that only leads away from truth."
• "The believer that chains himself to his sacred book may think that it he has latched on to vehicle that will carry him to paradise, but the truth is that he has only added a weight that holds him back."
• "I thought to myself, 'what would an atheist-Christian argument be like if the arguments were reversed?' Probably something like, 'Atheism is the only path to salvation! You must accept the truth into your heart or you will burn... Unbelievers.'"
• "Religion doesn't provide answers, it only teaches you to stop asking questions."
• "The advantage of a liquid diet is that you don't have to put up with the same crap as everyone else."
• "To change a person you can show them the light. To change a business it must feel the heat. Nothing motivates a company like the threat of burning money."
• "An education is what you make of it, but college graduates would have you believe that an education is what makes you." (from a discussion about how which school you go to is more important than the knowledge you gain from schooling--at least as far as a resume goes).
• "A damn is a gift everyone can afford."
• "Fighting for freedom is an admirable cause. Fighting for the freedom to oppress is not."
• "I have a license to kill -9" (Only Unix/Linux geeks will understand this =)

Poetry

Businesses don't have morals

A person can be taught to do right;

By showing them the light.
A businesses only changes its beat;

When it starts to feel the heat.

Reflections of an evacuation

Thousands of Americans fleeing a coming storm

Ignorant citizens, vehicles enorm
Patiently waiting, they burn their gas

They’ll eventually run out, going nowhere fast.

Here's an adaptation on Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem regarding his experience Nazi Germany. I wrote it here in reference to the Bush Administration spying on news organizations (illegally, without a warrant):

First they came for the terrorists

and I did not speak out
because I was not a terrorist.
Then they came for the friends of terrorists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a friend of a terrorist.
When they came for me
there was no one left
who could speak out

no one is free

Why I Quote Myself

In my opinion, it is hard to know when you've spoken something truly original. We are all the product of many that came before us. I've searched google for all of these and a few of them are off-shoots of other quotes (such as "showing a person the light") but the majority are entirely original.

How and why I quote myself (and why I don't think it is egotistical): When I'm done posting something to the Internet, I'll often review it to see if I what I wrote contained any particularly wise words. I then save them in my blog's quote database for future reference. By hand-picking your own writings one snippet at a time, you're really performing a deep self-analysis. It not only improves your ability to communicate what you believe, it reinforces your character and aids in hypocrisy prevention =).