"We would all have gained something had it never existed." Fuck off, Mr. Wannabe Censor. Progress requires unfettered conversation of all types, not just the o

"We would all have gained something had it never existed." Fuck off, Mr. Wannabe Censor. Progress requires unfettered conversation of all types, not just the ones of which you approve. "... noduerme's deeply rude, ignorant, arrogant an[d] plain racist post." It was none of those things. What he said is basically correct, and it reminded me of 2005's Syriana, in which there was a conversation between Matt Damon as Bryan Woodman, an energy analyst, and Alexander Siddig as Prince Nasir Al-Subaai, successor to the Emir. NASIR: An ancestor of mine owned this bird's [falcon's] ancestor before Christ was born. Six more North Field blocks will be available for development. We would like to offer your firm the right to represent them. WOODMAN: If I were your economic advisor I'd tell you it's not the dumbest thing you've ever done, but it'll probably be the dumbest thing you do today. Probably. But why would you need an economic advisor? Twenty years ago you had the highest GNP in the world and now you're tied with Paraguay. Your second biggest export is second-hand goods. Followed by dates on which you lose five cents a pound. You want to know what the business world thinks of you. They think a hundred years ago you were chopping each other's heads off in the desert and that's exactly where you'll be in another hundred. So, yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriana I included the first sentence, about the falcon, because it shows that Nasir is proud of his people having been around for a long time, but that apparent plus is effectively countered by Woodman's observation about their primitive nature, and how the oil money is really the only thing keeping them from regressing. Sure, the film is fictional, but there is a lot of truth to be found in it.