Only when it's fashionable.

[Black_Bird]

People who are patriotic when it's fashionable forget that questioning one's own government is patriotic.

 

[Sillyman]

But BB! Rampant jingoism is fun, profitable, and makes us feel good!

 

[Laurel]

Nothing more American than dissent.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
- the Declaration of Indepence

 

[Black_Bird]

But BB! Rampant jingoism is fun, profitable, and makes us feel good!

Yes, but rampant discontent make for better song lyrics.

 

[Sillyman]

Yes, but rampant discontent make for better song lyrics.

True. No song about how happy someone is really seems to go over that well these days.

 

[Black_Bird]

Nothing more American than dissent.

Our president is an incompetent pompous fool.

Just exercizing my right of free speech.

 

[Black_Bird]

True. No song about how happy someone is really seems to go over that well these days.

Except if your a twelve year old girl; N'Sync anyone?

 

[Sillyman]

Except if your a twelve year old girl; N'Sync anyone?

Actually even then. Most Boy band crapola tends to be about the singer being all torn up over the subject of the song because he was so incompetent.

 

[scylis]

what is this happy you speak of? i know nothing of this. is it anything like pain and suffering with which i am far more aquainted?

 

[Black_Bird]

what is this happy you speak of? i know nothing of this. is it anything like pain and suffering with which i am far more aquainted?

You know that feeling you get when your sword slices all the way through and you close your eyes to listen for the thump of a head hitting the ground. It's like that, except, no one has to die.

 

[Sillyman]

You know that feeling you get when your sword slices all the way through and you close your eyes to listen for the thump of a head hitting the ground. It's like that, except, no one has to die.

And sometimes it involves a pinata.

 

[scylis]

You know that feeling you get when your sword slices all the way through and you close your eyes to listen for the thump of a head hitting the ground. It's like that, except, no one has to die.

oh, you mean shame. all honor is lost (the honor sought to be regained) if the head hits the ground. the cut is not supposed to be clean. at the moment one senses an emotional outburst or even the slightest flinch, one must strike a quick blow that severs the spinal chord and most of the neck. only a tiny bit is not to be cut. the head falls forward but does not drop. death is attained before emotion is showed. honor is restored.

 

[Black_Bird]

Someone get me a shovel; it's getting deep in here.

 

[scylis]

seppuku is not for light small talk.

 

[Sillyman]

oh, you mean shame. all honor is lost (the honor sought to be regained) if the head hits the ground. the cut is not supposed to be clean. at the moment one senses an emotional outburst or even the slightest flinch, one must strike a quick blow that severs the spinal chord and most of the neck. only a tiny bit is not to be cut. the head falls forward but does not drop. death is attained before emotion is showed. honor is restored.

Where's your jug of sake?

 

[scylis]

Where's your jug of sake?

it was empty after a time, so i threw it at another ronin, defeated him soundly, and found his jug to also be empty.

the life of a ronin can be hard some days.

 

[Sillyman]

it was empty after a time, so i threw it at another ronin, defeated him soundly, and found his jug to also be empty.

the life of a ronin can be hard some days.

You have only yourself to blame for your unwise choice of opponents.

 

[scylis]

i have no one but myself to blame for my location. quiet contemplation on a lonely mountain generally means little sake is to be had.

now where's my writings? i'll finish that book, dang it! what do you think of this title: "The Book of Five Triangles." the triangles could be formed into a neat pentagon-shaped design with their corresponding kanji, earth, air, water, fire, and void*, neatly written inside them.

i know, stupid idea.

maybe if they were squares... or some sort of circle... hmmm... rings, maybe?

 

[Sillyman]

Did someone get a copy of Oriental Adventures?

 

[A Desert Rose]

People who are patriotic when it's fashionable forget that questioning one's own government is patriotic.

And one man's patriot is another man's terrorist.
Rose

 

[scylis]

Did someone get a copy of Oriental Adventures?

what are these "Oriental" adventures you speak of?

(no, somebody reads classic Japanese and Chinese liturature relating to warfare and combat. copies of which are now found predominantly in the business section of the bookstore)

 

[Sillyman]

what are these "Oriental" adventures you speak of?

(no, somebody reads classic Japanese and Chinese liturature relating to warfare and combat. copies of which are now found predominantly in the business section of the bookstore)

Many roads lead to the same path.

 

[scylis]

i find much of business's practices lacking honor.

 

[Sillyman]

i find much of business's practices lacking honor.

You can not feed a chicken with honor.

 

[scylis]

it is better to die with honor than live with shame.