[clue-talk] saving money with Linux

[grant at amadensor.com]

> I find it odd that some supporters of individual freedom and personal
> responsibility rail against individual moral compasses.  Usually this is
> because they defer responsibility to some other authority to say what is
> right or wrong rather than determining it by personal experience and
> reflection.
>

Individual freedom requires individual responsibility for one's actions. 
I cannot be held unaccountable for bashing in someone's head because I had
a bad childhood.

>
> Show me one example where an accredited teacher is unable to tell a
> student that 0 != 1 or any other inarguable fact?  (BTW I recommend
> reading up on the history of the zero.  It's quite fascinating.)  Last I
> checked, a teacher's responsibility is to correct students' understanding.
>  Sounds to me as a veiled attack on the (public) education system.  If
> you're arguing that educators have less authority over children, that
> comes as no surprise considering that authority has been eroded by
> Think-Of-The-Children and Parents-Always-Know-Best crusaders from the left
> and right.
>

They are no longer able to say a student is wrong.   I have seen this with
my own younger sisters and to a lesser extent with my children (we live in
a rural area where this is not as common.)    2+2=5 is not wrong, it is a
"different" answer.   The teachers are not allowed to use red ink, as it
may upset some.   They are not allowed to tell the students they are
wrong, even about factual things.   I saw this first hand in a school
district in the Denver metro area.

I have read a bit about zero, and while fascinating, I really like pi better.

> "Moral relativism is destroying any chance we have or remaining a civil
> society."  Doubtful.  Moral absolutism is more authoritarian and leads to
> a black and white world.  There's no need to think because something is
> either right or wrong.  You're either with us or against us.  Boy, that
> sounds familiar; catch phrase of the decade?  With moral relativism you
> actually have to take the situation into
> account.  (But thinking is hard! /sarcasm)  Not only is the world full of
> shades of gray, but it is actually filled with a spectrum of color.
> Otherwise, it'd be a rather drab place to live in.
>

Perhaps I used the wrong term with moral relativism.   There are
absolutes, on right and wrong.   Deal with it.   Here are the two guiding
principals I use for right and wrong:

1)  My rights end where yours begin.
2)  The ends never justify the means.


> Also considering the US has the highest incarceration rate of any nation,
> I don't thing we coddle criminals.  We arguably have a policy of no
> tolerance (even for non-violent offenses that do not infringe on the
> rights of others) and a policy of paying money to keep our problems out of
> sight---five figures per inmate.  I'd even argue that we're a worse off
> civilization for it.
>

Perhaps if prison were more unpleasant we would have fewer repeat
offenders.   They sue and win over no cable TV or only crunchy peanut
butter.   We spend huge money on keeping them there.   They should have
all necessities like food shelter and medical care, and some ways of
bettering themselves through education, but no luxuries, and they should
work enough to pay the costs of keeping them there.

> Prosecuting corporations shouldn't even be possible because of the idea of
> corporate personhood is a fallacy.  However, even if you do go after
> corporate (or political) leaders, even though ideally no one is above the
> law, in actual practice, being in a position to influence/write laws or
> being an insider affords a person some privilege, except in the face of
> overwhelming public backlash.  Unfortunately, above a certain level of
> power, justice isn't all that blind, but relative to other judicial
> systems, the US is probably fairer than most.
>

Perhaps holding those in charge personally accountable for the actions of
their organizations would fix some things.   Our just system stinks, but
it is still the best one there is.