User:Gun Powder Ma

One World. One Dream. Free Tibet 2008.

[edit] Range of topics

Outlook on the nature of discussions:

In some ways the observance of rules and the using of criteria resemble the employment of spectacles. We look through them but not at them. (Gilbert Ryle)
Contra principia negantem non est disputandum (approx. "It is not possible to argue with someone who negates the principles of communication/of a discussion".) (Latin phrase)

Outlook on history:

Happy the people whose annals are boring to read. (Montesquieu)
Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. (Friedrich Nietzsche)

Outlook on military history:

When they make a desert, they call it peace. (Tacitus)
Si vis pacem, para bellum. ("If you seek peace, prepare for war.") (Vegetius)
I have seen during my life many an old fool; but this one beats them all. (Hannibal after attending a lecture by Phormio, a court philosopher, on the duties of a general.)

Personal outlook:

No quarter to fanatics.
Be polite, but avoid political correctness.
Don't be an appeaser, don't be a warlord.
Have fun at Wiki, because otherwise it is not worth it.
For conjecture there is the whole Internet, but Wiki is for facts.
The opinion that everything is subjective is also a subjective opinion.
The opinion that everything is subjective allows for one exception. Itself.
Be reasonable, stay open minded, but don't shy away from coming to conclusions.
Life is short and Wikipedia's huge, and whatever we are contributing here, in a hundred year's time, or perhaps already tomorrow, nobody will give a damn about, so let's try to be nice to one another and have a good time.

Personal observations at Wiki:

Put two people in a room, and you will get out three opinions.
Political correctness does not solve problems, it ignores them.
Truth at Wiki is sometimes a function of the willingness to make reverts.
Everyone is biased, but people who are aware of their biases are usually less so.
"Eurocentrism" is usually the convenient blame by which another ethnocentrism tries to sneak in.
Presenting a multitude of different angles on subjects often leads paradoxically to less objectivity, since it buries the more viable standpoints among the lesser ones and tends to treat all views indiscriminately.