Keeping in mind the age we live in and all of the weaknesses of human character, what is the ideal government? How would it be run?

I can totally feel your pain. Mostly all i can say is for you to remember that most of them are being idiots just to get a reaction out of you. Don't give them the pleasure of doing what they want. Use whatever methods you can to tune out, to stay calm and treat them with respect. Chances are that if you give respect for long enough, they will start giving some back. Or you can just be patient and wait for them to mature up... They are human, after all. They should not be totally incapable of reason. When in doubt, just speak to an intelligent friend, just to remind you that there are some sane people out there. Hope i helped (at least a little).

Back in the day, games were for those who were more devoted- they were created to be hardcore. As games became more popular, a wider range of people were introduced. Some were hardcore, but most were less so. In order to adapt to a changing market, games started to shift to the easier side of the spectrum, making it so that both the hardcore and the casual gamer could enjoy the art. In some ways, i like it better this way. There is far less frustration involved, and gamers can actually complete games without spending an unreasonable time at it. Because of this, creators can add more content, making a deeper game that players can still explore. On the the other hand, of course, there is a little less satisfaction having completed a game compared to the old ones.

thenumberone : So really this is a debate over the existence of necessary evil. Except in select cases, i am not personally a big believer. My thoughts are that what is necessary is always wise, and what is wise is never evil. Yet this forum states that America is both necessary (meaning its existence is wise) and still evil. This is quite contradictory. How can a system rely on a part that is truly corrupt? How can the world rely on a country that is totally evil? It can't.

MegaRevolution1 : I agree with you on all fronts. One of the ten most common historical constants of the world is that there is no limit to what human beings are willing to do to each other. It does not take very much for us foolish mortals to turn on each other, and the results are frightening to behold when we do. Rather than help the poor dying man, i can almost guarantee that most people shunned him when he got the plague. I can also put 10 bucks on the guess that there are people somewhere in the world who heard of this incident and are trying to get a hold of a strain so they can weaponize it and kill millions/billions more. Humans are by law selfish, brutal, and most certainly greedy. Apart from the obvious, one of the reasons why i saw this occurance as bad news is for the reason i stated earlier- some people somewhere are going to get the wrong idea.

Well I know I posted a rant in the apocalypse discussion a few days ago saying that there was no way that the human race was going to die out any time soon, but things like this make me second guess myself. The real problem is when everyone panics and thinks that the plague is going to kill the world. Then they get health departments to start giving off vaccines that kill more people than the disease itself, and people try to leave populated cities out of fear, only spreading the problem..... Yeah, we've seen stuff like this before. Look up the Mad Cow Disease that started in Europe. Officials believed that hundreds of thousands would die, but the actual result was 176. Don't get me wrong, 176 deaths is nothing to sneeze at (actually quite tragic), but it is also nothing to cause sheer panic over. But I tell you, bubonic plague...  that's bad news.

thenumberone : I should probably explain my rather poorly put phrase about debt by saying that Americans are in debt because they are such big customers for countries like China and Japan, who rely on the US for exports. If the US did not spend so much, it would be questionable where many of the modern wealthy countries would be. Although I do agree with you in the fact that if China took over the US because the Americans bought too much from them, it would be hilariously ironic. Basically one of the main things I'm trying to say is that sure, the USA is sporadic at best with its spending. But to be honest, if they were to just disappear tomorrow, I believe that the world would suffer more than you'd originally think.

Video games do not have a direct correlation to violence in teenagers, but they have been shown to drastically decrease attention span and patience. Obviously, a decrease in patience levels could make it harder for teens to get along with their parents and have a decreased tolerance to other teenagers. This could have a violent effect. But I believe that that is as far as effects go in terms of video games on violence. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, many video games require a different way of thinking than most habits in our day to day lives. Puzzles promote logical thinking skills, games like Little Big Planet and Minecraft do spark imagination in players. But truly beneficial games are few and far between. Although teenagers can have a problem with addiction and time management, apart from a generation of spectacularly lethal thumbs, I don't think video games have a true effect on players in terms of violence.

Which games are we allowed to do this on? Do you mean on the Vizzed site? I am sorry if this question seems incredibly dumb to you, I am just wondering. I mean, if I did it on Soul Silver, I could still take pictures and post them to prove my progress, and I would be able to work on it even when I do not have access to a computer (which is pretty much all the time- I have to share this thing with everyone else in the house. It's a miracle I get to stay on vizzed as long as I do). Thanks in advance.

I believe that there are in fact exorcisms, and in fact, the Vatican has licensed several in the United States. But in order for somebody to be possessed, it has to be by their own free will, by their own consent. They have to knowingly reject God and all things good in the world, and firmly believe that the Devil can give them what they want. If you are watching a movie of exorcisms, keep in mind the fact that this could only be you if you CHOSE it to be you. As long as you keep God in your heart and keep a good sense of what is good and holy, nothing should ever harm your soul.

Although, of course, the Bible never says specifically NOT to smoke or take in such harmful materials, I believe that pleasure for the sake of pleasure is never a good idea. Even while it may feel so great, I have taken the standard Health class and know that there is usually a crash afterwards as well. While there is almost certainly a chemical explanation for this as well, I'm pretty sure that at least part of that crash is your own guilt. Another thing is that weed is obviously against the law. One can take the Ten Commandments less literally and take the "Thou shalt Honor Thy Father and Mother" as a request to follow any figure that has the power to set down just rules (i.e the government). My last point is what Dragonlord Stephi has already stated, and that is that we should keep in mind the fact that we are all made in God's Image, we have Human Dignity. Our bodies are living, breathing temples of God, and anything we take in, so also does the temple.

I do not designate any specific time during the day for "prayer time," but instead make small side comments all the time. "Thank you God for this," or "This is beautiful God. How did you come up with this stuff?" I don't really need to say anything really, I just need to take the time to calm down and feel His presence- that is a form of prayer. And I do that constantly. Whenever I am feeling stressed out or harassed by things in life, it is easy to take a step back, take a breather, ask for a little help, and carry on with renewed spirit. 

It takes quite a bit to make me swear. When a friend slammed the door on my pinkie, I am fairly certain that I swore. But day to day, swearing is unnecessary. It makes one wonder how the world even came to be this way, with many people thinking of swear words as everyday, use them for all parts of speech words. I have several friends who can't go two sentences without dropping the f-bomb. I don't know, it has just become a sort of pet peeve of mine I guess. Swear words were never intended to be used all the time- they were intended to be insulting and were originally used by the lower class of society. Now they have lost some of their meaning and people are becoming tolerant of them. That should never happen. 

I would love to work as any sort of vet or anybody who gets to play with kittens . It is quite literally impossible to hate a job that does its best to make you smile with the world's most stereotypical happiness machine. Or puppies. Puppies are fantastic too.

I would, I am sorry to say, be unhappy to be an active duty soldier. For that reason, I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who do. I cannot imagine the sacrifices that have to be made, the days lost and uncertainties felt every moment of a soldier's life. Their sacrifices should always be honored.

How many ideas can you come up with for duct tape (or duck tape depending....)? I was thinking about this the other day and decided that I wasn't doing the stuff justice. Stories, history, theories, epiphanies, pics, anything to do with duct tape belongs here.

As many others have said before me, the chances that there is some sort of alien life are extraordinarily large. However, it is most likely not how the society traditionally believes about aliens. Most likely, the most common "alien" would be some sort of bacteria that exists somewhere other than Earth. It is already proven possible for bacteria to exist in arsenic other than the usual phosphorus. If species can exist in arsenic, why not other places? Then there is the fact that the sheer number of galaxies in our universe, and the high probability of Earth-like planets in at least one of those trillions of galaxies, point towards the possibility that there are alien species living somewhere out there. The thing is that it is also extraordinarily unlikely that we would be able to come into contact with them or vice versa. The distances separating us from most of the universe is unfathomable right now. Aliens would have to a.) know where we are b.) have the technology to reach us-period, and c.)be willing to spend hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, pft trillions of years- millions or billions of human generations (you never know- the lifespan of an alien might be different, but the idea is the same) to reach us. It just wouldn't be practical. Aliens=yes. Abductions and all that nonsense=no.

I suppose the whole world is entitled to their own opinions, but I would like to respectfully disagree about your judgment of Final Fantasy Tactics. For me, at least, it was phenomenal. Laws shouldn't be seen as a drawback to the game rather than a new challenge to overcome. I'm pretty sure that most of the tactics gaming world will agree with me on this point. There's also the fact that you can see which laws are coming up and avoid them as you please by moving a few extra spaces on the world map. There's just no point in trashing a game for one interesting challenge when the rest of it has so much to offer.

I can't tell if this point has already been made, so I am sorry if it has, but I will make your point right back at you: sure, the US has no right to nail the whole Muslim culture as violent homicidal terrorists just because of a few extremists. But at the same, time, Muslims can't nail the entire USA for being judgmental, intolerant jerks just because of the people who are. Your argument is a double edged sword. We should all stop passing the blame around, accept our own differences, and move on with our lives. The world would be a better place if we stopped judging others.

There are many aspects of America that would make people doubt its worth. But if I may point out, everyone does start with an equal opportunity of sorts. We can all receive an education, which among other things almost levels the playing field to a completely flat level. Our social mobility is off the charts (that is, the poorest of the poor can become the richest of the rich if they set their mind to it, and of course, the richest of the rich can become the poorest of the poor if they are not careful). And it is a free country. With few exceptions, citizens are allowed by law to practice any religion (the point that is made that people hate on certain religions is not valid- I hate Green Day, but that doesn't stop anybody from listening to it. Just because some people hate Christians or Muslims doesn't take away their right to worship), we have the right to say whatever we want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone or threaten national security, the list goes on. Another point: think for a moment about a world without us, without our military support and without our wild spending. Other countries love the fact that we are in debt, and thrive because of it. I won't go so far as to say that the US is the greatest of countries, as it does have a great deal of flaws, but if one focuses on only the flaws and neglects the positives of any country, then every country on earth should be condemned.

It is an undeniable fact that school sets up students for success in life. But in what way? Are we really going to need to know what date and time George Washington crossed the Delaware in order to do well beyond our life in school? How necessary is all this information that teachers cram into our heads? What is the point in taking an advanced science class if I want to be an English major? What's the point in mastering French if I'm never going to visit a french speaking country? I have a few personal ideas on this thought, but I will share them once several others have the chance to respond. So: why is school useful to YOU?