Comments by "John Roberts" (@view1st) on "National Geographic" channel.

  1. +ATHAMN I'm not disputing the fact that sexual intercourse before a certain age may be both physically and emotionally damaging. I believe that what you say based on your own personal experience is indeed true and can, furthermore, be backed up by plenty of examples. But even here, at best we can only make generalisations and exceptions to the rule will abound; not every child who has sex will die or be traumatised, many will not. Does this make your point invalid? No, I don't believe it does. But neither do I believe it justifies 'humanitarian intervention' either. Also, I think you're missing the point I was trying to make. My issue is with a society with one culture coming in and imposing - whether by naked force or some other form of (more or less coercive) persuasion - its ways upon another society whose culture differs from its own. I have nothing against a culture or society, of its own accord and without outside interference changing itself from within. What I object to is when someone from outside does so.
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  2. "Forcing a baby to marry is on par with a country forcing it's culture on another country." I think that statement is a illogical. Please tell me how an action performed in culture A constitutes forcing culture B to perform the same action. And the 'straw man' argument is where you attribute to your opponent things they didn't actually say/imply thus distorting and exaggerating what they actually did say. I don't see how I have straw manned my opponent. Please explain where/how I've (unintentionally) done so. And how am I trying to have it 'both ways'?
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  3. It's a pity they did not discover plastination or the type of embalming used on a certain little girl in Italy (whose name I can't recall). Mummification just leaves hard skin and bones.
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  4. Perhaps the inhabitants were atheist. The absence of places of worship and places of power is curious. Perhaps they haven't recognised temples or state buildings when they've seen them. It perhaps also gives weight to the theory that organised religion largely grew out of the need for leaders to harness its power to serve political ends.
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