Changes at Blizzard

[Shannow]

All that and good welfare and free healthcare, and essentially free university (if you're income goes sufficiently in excess of average you start paying back a total of 1/3 of the cost of the education, as part of your taxes - if you earn below the average, you pay nothing).

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup. EITHER you are right about welfare, and therefore the US is so crap because you are a genetically and culturally inferior culture, OR you are wrong, and despite Americans being only mildly retarded it is your right-wing economic policies, rather than your retardedness, that makes you worse off than us.

So which is it? I must say, I actually do agree with you. AUSTRALIANS can manage to have a great standard of living and minimal debt while also having good welfare, government funded universities, free health-care etc, but AMERICANS are just too damn crap to manage it. As I said in a recent post, it's like comparing ants (Americans) to people (first world countries) and expecting the ants to be able to build a statue under the same conditions as actual people.

I do feel sorry for you. It must really suck just being SO crap at everything that you guys can't even manage the basics of a first world country without going bankrupt, when you can just look across and see Australia doing it so easily.

Is it lead in the water over there, do you think? Religion perhaps? Or are you just naturally born inferior to us?

So which is it, Wunderpups? What is it about Americans that makes them so utterly retarded that they'd go bankrupt trying things that we can just take for granted over here in Oz?

FFS, it's obvious. The welfare system ensures that people can concentrate on their work instead of worrying what will be next week. They can also take their time to find a job in which they are the most productive instead having to take any crap job for which they are completely over-qualified just to keep from starving. And thirdly, they can negitiate from a halfway secure position, insuring that they get paid wages that are high enough to actually consume the produced products.
Free health-care leads to more healthy and productive citizens that continue to be productive into ripe old ages.
Free (inexpensive) education leads to a higher educated populace which in turn is one of the defining factors in an economically and otherwise successful state.
What you and your red friends are forgetting is that the rich down under don't get richer as fast as elsewhere in the world. You also have less people to look down on. How do you deal with the crap you have to deal with every day without that vent? Ha, you can't answer that, can you?!?
Damn, pathetic communists and their better working societies.


Wait, what I wanted to say: Keep your damn GD out of GG. This thread isn't about Oz vs US but about how shitty blizzard/activision/vivendi/(gaming) corporaions are.

 

[Wunderpurps]

It would pretty damn lol if the world's governments suddenly put out a joint press release saying 'We kindly thank the people of this planet for their participation in our centuries-long experiment to sort the planet's greedy scum from its other residents, allowing us to exterminate as appropriate. Special thanks go to Adam Smith, for providing such a convincing fictional account of world markets, which he created for the purpose of starting this experiment by drawing the less humane classes into a war for capital, and to Ayn Rand for her literary efforts dedicated towards saving the project from premature collapse when a few Russian participants attempted to end the experiment before all of the human scum could be identified. Executions will begin with former management of Lehmann Brothers at 12pm Thursday'.

Though as the guy above said, it really isn't an all-or-nothing choice, and Kwa's greatest weakness at the moment is that it's being portrayed in that manner, as though any government intervention = full-blown communism. When you get down to it, Scandinavia is a capitalist system, as is Australia, and yet we enjoy welfare and healthcare that the US lacks for fear of 'THE COMMUNISTTS!!!!!'. Moreover, such intervention actually HELPS the capitalist system over here, by filling investment gaps that the free market relies upon, but which are uneconomic for any one company to fill privately (e.g. investing in human capital through education, welfare and healthcare). Reaping the benefits of that kind of intervention doesn't mean that you don't see the need to allow the market to allocate resources to industries that have competitive advantages while letting uncompetitive industries fall.

Oddly enough, the US (even the US right) seems really into the latter kind of intervention - bailing out the 'too big to fail' banks, subsidising their agriculture to truly insane levels, protectionist manufacturing policies, etc. It seems that they're fine with 'socialism' when it benefits companies and harms consumers/taxpayers, but rage if anyone suggests intervention that benefits consumers.

From this and your posts in the Obsidian thread I can only think you are proud to be ill.

You can't understand the idea of grasping for greatness. How many people on welfare have done something great? None of the games you love would have been completed if their makers said "bitch my time is up for today I'm going home." Same thing for any great artists or musicians, they worked like mad to become what they did.

Welfare is not a blessing, but a curse, one that leads to weakness. Put everyone on welfare, then let anyone in who wants in, sounds like a recipe for success. Now countries like England are waking up to the reality they can't live like that any longer, now you'll see the chavs out on their own, but the jobs they should have done have been taken by people glad to survive in the meanest subsistence lifestyle imaginable. Good times are ahead, baby.

Ok Wunderpups, how's that US economy going at the moment? Cause the Aussie economy is still kicking ass - no global recession for us. Plus we've got one of the smallest debts in the developed world, both in total and as a proportion of GDP. All that and good welfare and free healthcare, and essentially free university (if you're income goes sufficiently in excess of average you start paying back a total of 1/3 of the cost of the education, as part of your taxes - if you earn below the average, you pay nothing).

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup. EITHER you are right about welfare, and therefore the US is so crap because you are a genetically and culturally inferior culture, OR you are wrong, and despite Americans being only mildly retarded it is your right-wing economic policies, rather than your retardedness, that makes you worse off than us.

So which is it? I must say, I actually do agree with you. AUSTRALIANS can manage to have a great standard of living and minimal debt while also having good welfare, government funded universities, free health-care etc, but AMERICANS are just too damn crap to manage it. As I said in a recent post, it's like comparing ants (Americans) to people (first world countries) and expecting the ants to be able to build a statue under the same conditions as actual people.

I do feel sorry for you. It must really suck just being SO crap at everything that you guys can't even manage the basics of a first world country without going bankrupt, when you can just look across and see Australia doing it so easily.

Is it lead in the water over there, do you think? Religion perhaps? Or are you just naturally born inferior to us?

So which is it, Wunderpups? What is it about Americans that makes them so utterly retarded that they'd go bankrupt trying things that we can just take for granted over here in Oz?

Boy you are ill.

Americans are fine. The 5 million drifters who glom onto our prosperity every year are hurting. It sucks to get shot if you are an indigent (actually victims of a crime are given free care, I should say it sucks to OD if you are an indigent), otherwise medical system here you don't wait for critical care or have some bureucrat decide certain tests aren't needed at all because they are cost ineffective as with your retarded system.

Economy is awful, yes. Meaning prices are going down, the people serving me meals can speak english, and I can get some service at the department store without threatening to burn the place down.

If this keeps up you might even have families making a living as farmers again. How fucking horrible would that be.

PS keep your stupid bullshit to GD, where you can talk about how hannibal got beaten to death by caesar in the arena then they salted the ground of carthage as he died, while cleopatra watched with tears on her face to your heart's content.

 

[St. Toxic]

When a foreign dictator does this kind of thing to his people, Americans are only too happy to get involved, but when it happens on their own soil and to their own citizens they do not care to intervene. Clearly it is because there is nothing of material value to be gained.

 

[Wunderpurps]

When a foreign dictator does this kind of thing to his people, Americans are only too happy to get involved, but when it happens on their own soil and to their own citizens they do not care to intervene. Clearly it is because there is nothing of material value to be gained.

The difference is they can walk out any time they want and are getting paid to sit there.

 

[Renegen]

So here's the question Wonderpups. Why are you trolling others with your political rhetoric? Why not instead troll them based on their game preferences? Tell us all how great DA2 is, or why COD resurrected the FPS. I guess you wouldn't want to troll based on games, then it would be obvious to everyone what a dumbfuck you are (and too scared to do it without an alt!)

 

[SCO]

It's because its Bryce.

 

[Wunderpurps]

So here's the question Wonderpups. Why are you trolling others with your political rhetoric? Why not instead troll them based on their game preferences? Tell us all how great DA2 is, or why COD resurrected the FPS. I guess you wouldn't want to troll based on games, then it would be obvious to everyone what a dumbfuck you are (and too scared to do it without an alt!)

Because dumbass, he is the troll not me, with his ra ra aussie nonsense in this thread and the Obsidian thread. I merely responded to his troll.

 

[St. Toxic]

Wonderpussy has a point. Australia a socialist paradise? Scandinavia an economical model to imitate? I want to know where Azrael gets his mind-candy, because that's some grade-A hallucinations.

 

[Wunderpurps]

His posts are becoming a cry for help.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Blizzard has been on the decline for years. WoW bankrupted them creatively. Jeff Kaplan aka Tigole Bitties is their lead MMO designer now. I mean... really...

Really? The fuck is Pardo doing then, scratching his balls?

What really pisses me off is that they wasted Mosqueira on Diablo 3, where he should have been working on Starcraft 2. The guy should have stayed with Relic.

 

[Metro]

Pardo hasn't been in charge/involved with WoW since I don't know how long. Certainly before the first expansion and probably earlier than that. I think most of the original team -- sans Kaplan and Afrasiaba -- were moved off of it a year or so after release.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Wonderpussy has a point. Australia a socialist paradise? Scandinavia an economical model to imitate? I want to know where Azrael gets his mind-candy, because that's some grade-A hallucinations.

If you can't get the sub-text, I'll point it out to you:

(1) Wunderpups starts trolling with his 'welfare is for the weak' shtick;

(2) I point out that if that was the case, then the US would be much better off than countries with much greater welfare systems, such as Australia. Note that I certainly don't consider Australia socialist - I was just adopting Wunderpup's own categorisation of any kind of welfare/healthcare = socialist (not one I agree with - Australia is a highly capitalist economy, it's just that the US economy is so right-wing it makes anywhere look socialist.

(3) OBVIOUSLY I don't seriously believe that Australians are 'better' than the US. I was pointing out that this is the logical consequence of Wunderpup's reasoning. I.e. if welfare is as awful as he says it is, then wow, musn't Australia be amazing to have decent welfare and healthcare and be in a financially better position than the US with minimal debt/unemployment.

It's called a reductio ad absurdum. Show that your opponent's reasoning leads to an absurd outcome (here the absurd outcome being that Australians are inherently superior to Americans). The guy you're arguing with can then either accept the absurd outcome, or concede that his own premises (that welfare is bad for a nation) are wrong.

FFS, how could that be anything but obvious.

And yes, I agree that this kind of stuff shouldn't leak out of GD, but I was responding to Wunderpup's trolling. I realise I probably shouldn't have taken the bait.

 

[Wunderpurps]

(3) OBVIOUSLY I don't seriously believe that Australians are 'better' than the US.

Yeah, the word for that is trolling, dumbass. You most definitely started this schtick before I mentioned welfare, not in one but two threads.

Just fuck off already, idiot.

You have successfully added Azrael the cat to your ignore list.

 

[Jaesun]

(1) Wunderpups starts trolling with his 'welfare is for the weak' shtick;

And then instantly posts :blah: AoD is shit, in the latest AoD news post.

It's not rocket science who's shitty alt it is.

 

[Azrael the cat]

(3) OBVIOUSLY I don't seriously believe that Australians are 'better' than the US.

Yeah, the word for that is trolling, dumbass. You most definitely started this schtick before I mentioned welfare, not in one but two threads.

Just fuck off already, idiot.

You have successfully added Azrael the cat to your ignore list.

Perhaps because you aren't the first individual to express such views in oh so polite a manner? If you look up those threads, you'll see that in each case I was using the same reductio argument. It isn't my fault if rather than adapting, you simply repeat the same old shtick that has already been shown to lead to an 'either US is shit or welfare isn't as bad as you're making it out to be'' outcome.

And you sound like such a nice happy young chap. Going by your demeanour, I'm sure that your attitude is working out for you really really well.

Edit: fuuuuckkk. Took the bait again. Apologies for poluting the thread - adding wunderbar to ignore list.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Too bad shitty alt's are not illegal outside of GD.

 

[Wunderpurps]

Too bad shitty alt's are not illegal outside of GD.

Better yet ban people who do nothing but accuse everyone of being alts. First who gives a fuck? Second, it's useless and annoying spam. It was amusing the first 400 times but when I got accused of being a bot it pissed me off. That's why Jaesun is also on my ignore list, that's all he fucking posts about. Get a fucking life. And no, I don't have any other account.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup.

Not wanting to get into the rest of the argument, but for someone that prescribes books about logic and arguments to his students, you are kind of shit at it yourself. There are many, many more than 2 possible explanations. It might be that Australia is situated close to high-growth regions while exporting raw materials, which is in high demand by said regions, whereas the US exports manufactured goods which are threatened by the competition from mentioned high-growth area. This is one of the multitude of explanations one could reasonably believe in. Your post is based on a logical fallacy called the false dilemma.

 

[Wunderpurps]

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup.

Not wanting to get into the rest of the argument, but for someone that prescribes books about logic and arguments to his students, you are kind of shit at it yourself. There are many, many more than 2 possible explanations. It might be that Australia is situated close to high-growth regions while exporting raw materials, which is in high demand by said regions, whereas the US exports manufactured goods which are threatened by the competition from mentioned high-growth area. This is one of the multitude of explanations one could reasonably believe in. Your post is based on a logical fallacy called the false dilemma.

Oh my god, so this guy is a professor? Australia, truly the land of decline.

 

[Cassidy]

Why don't you post as Bryce? Too ashamed that Roqua showed to the Codex how much of a balls capped queer you are to show up with your original account or/and butthurt because of the dumbfuck tag? It's not like we don't get it right away from your totally predictable behavior who you are anyway.

 

[Wunderpurps]

And another one. And why do you care? Because you are a loser.

 

[DragoFireheart]

And another one. And why do you care? Because you are a loser.

Sup Drog.

 

[Damned Registrations]

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup.

Not wanting to get into the rest of the argument, but for someone that prescribes books about logic and arguments to his students, you are kind of shit at it yourself. There are many, many more than 2 possible explanations. It might be that Australia is situated close to high-growth regions while exporting raw materials, which is in high demand by said regions, whereas the US exports manufactured goods which are threatened by the competition from mentioned high-growth area. This is one of the multitude of explanations one could reasonably believe in. Your post is based on a logical fallacy called the false dilemma.

Bzzzt. It's not a false dilemma when the opponent devises it for you. Wunderpup stated the 'possible' half of it: That welfare ruins countries. There was no allowance that perhaps it wasn't welfare that ruined england, but competing countries that fucked it over, or any other circumstances. He described the world as such that the only reason the country could possibly be in trouble is because of welfare. Showing that other factors exist was the entire point of Azrael's argument.

 

[Wunderpurps]

So, as I often say, you've got 2 possible explanations Wunderpup.

Not wanting to get into the rest of the argument, but for someone that prescribes books about logic and arguments to his students, you are kind of shit at it yourself. There are many, many more than 2 possible explanations. It might be that Australia is situated close to high-growth regions while exporting raw materials, which is in high demand by said regions, whereas the US exports manufactured goods which are threatened by the competition from mentioned high-growth area. This is one of the multitude of explanations one could reasonably believe in. Your post is based on a logical fallacy called the false dilemma.

Bzzzt. It's not a false dilemma when the opponent devises it for you. Wunderpup stated the 'possible' half of it: That welfare ruins countries. There was no allowance that perhaps it wasn't welfare that ruined england, but competing countries that fucked it over, or any other circumstances. He described the world as such that the only reason the country could possibly be in trouble is because of welfare. Showing that other factors exist was the entire point of Azrael's argument.

And here's why I didn't bother to argue logic point by point. It's meaningless to people who have no logic, apparently this includes even even professors who give logic courses.

I could run down the whole multithread discussion again and azrael's completely insane inability to see that there's a difference between working at Mc Donald's and getting exploited and working in the entertainment industry, but really what's the point?

So I'll just call straw man and declare victory, though I suspect it's not an intentional straw man so much as that he's just a fucking idiot/overliteral aspie.

And of course point out if you are "arguing" in a manner where everything you say is intentional gross misrepresentation of facts and your own views and you essentially straw man yourself on purpose, it's not clever it's just an idiotic trolltastic waste of time. And if you try to pass that off as something clever or even admit to it at all, well, you are truly a majestic person.

The great news is the herpa derp crowd can declare victory, too. Everyone is a winner. God bless the internets.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Bzzzt. It's not a false dilemma when the opponent devises it for you.

It is when you twist your opponents words into sounding like it though :/

Listen, I don't even think the anti-welfare argument is any good, but the false dilemma being devised isn't even related to the original argument, it comes completely out of nowhere. It also adds a couple premises that can't really be accepted without further argument. Really, his sentence is like a textbook example of "how to construct an invalid argument".