200 Words on The American Flag

The flag does not need constitutional protection. Our republic has survived over two-hundred years without any amendment to ban the desecration of its flag. Burning a flag does not weaken our democracy. I am proud to live in a country which is strong enough to not only withstand, but also tolerate, such insulting, disrespectful acts. Only those who fear such expressions would propose to outlaw it.

The flag is not a holy relic, but a symbol of freedom. To jail flag burners mocks the very freedoms it symbolizes. You may be insulted and offended by what someone does to the flag, and you have every right to speak out against them and to insult them back. You do not have the right to use the government to enforce your views any more than you can call upon the government to enforce your religion on others. Spitting on a flag disrespects those who have fought and died to protect it; banning such politically charged speech disrespects them even more.

If politicians want to show their patriotism and reverence for their country, then they should enact laws that actually improve the country and the quality of life for all its citizens.

In the news I have no idea how long this link will be good for.

200 Words on Net Neutrality

The internet today is neither neutral nor free. Those who can afford better, faster servers and more bandwidth can serve more customers and reach more people simultaneously than those who cannot. Telecommunication companies charge hefty sums to supply and maintain the bandwidth purchased by the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo, in addition to the millions of DSL and broadband residential and business customers. Service providers can charge for higher classes of service when selling dedicated links within their closed network but the internet is not a closed, restricted network.

However, the internet must be content-neutral and free as is “live free or die” not “free toy with every kid’s meal.” We do not regulate phone conversations based who are speaking, what they are saying, or how much money they have paid. Some can afford more phone lines and talk to more people at once, but everyone’s phone call has equal priority in the network.

The value of information on the internet should be measured by its merit, not by the money spent to make it available. A free and open internet facilitates a free and open society. When everyone as equal access to all information and ideas, liberty flourishes.

200 Words on Faith in Science

For centuries, people have taken a few select sources, interpreting them and extrapolating beliefs from them to create a specific worldview and model of how the universe works. Contrast this with the countless volumes of scientific literature on every topic ranging from virology to astronomy, geology to quantum mechanics, which also describe the universe and provide models of their own. It is impossible for anyone to be an expert on all scientific branches that play into our understanding to the cosmos, so every scientist must defer to, and have confidence in, their colleagues in other fields and their findings. Scientists lack the luxury of having a single source, to look for answers to questions big and small. Since the body of knowledge is constantly growing and evolving with new discoveries and insights, often correcting or refining previous findings and conclusions, scientists must place their trust in the process of science. While some equate this trust and confidence to religious faith, it is wholly different. It is faith of sorts, but only in the sense that faith is a broad, ambiguous term. It is a rational hope tempered by skepticism and insistence on verification and accountability; scientific "faith" is never blind.

200 Words on Torture

Torture is evil. Those who advocate, support, or defend its use perpetrate evil. Any information gained through torture is unreliable, counter-productive, and only reflects what the torturer wants to hear rather than anything resembling truth. Torture cannot be condoned under any circumstance to any person, citizen or not, no matter the suspected crime or the imagined threat, whether performed on native soil or foreign shores.

Evil, even if conducted with good intentions, is still evil and any society who claims the mantle of righteousness, morality, and liberty must reject the practice of torture. Though clichéd and corny, the moral that the good must not employ the tools of evil, not "stoop to their level," and instead "take the moral high ground" still rings true. War can be a tool to (ultimately) stop violence, but torture is never justified. Excusing cruel and unusual punishment for the "greater good" only undermines the very principles for which the "greater good" stands.

Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations states it plainly: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Links:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

200 Words on Capital Punishment

The death penalty is not a deterrent. Murder rates are unaffected by the threat or practice of executions. Deterrence is only effective if the perpetrators expect to be caught, care about dying, or think through the consequences of their actions. Serial, spree, and thrill killers remain undeterred; crimes of passion and gangland violence continue unabated. Compared to life in a violent, dehumanizing, and overcrowded prison, death row offers no deterrent.

Closure is a myth. Causing the death of another, no matter how evil and deserving, neither honors a murdered loved one nor mitigates or compensates for the loss. Vengeance and retribution cannot heal emotional wounds; only positive, constructive acts can mend what has been broken. Besides, any hope of redemption are lost when the axe falls.

Executions are too final and absolute for an imperfect judicial system. Given the mistakes, misjudgments, and manipulation that can occur during a trial, the margin for error is too great to gamble with a person's life. A rush to execution only exacerbates this problem. Rather than rush automatic appeals and case reviews, justice is served with a life sentence. The costs of capital punishment are more than a free and just society can pay.

Links for more words:
Skeptical statistics
Animated satire

200 Words on Global Warming

That average global temperatures are rising and that the polar icecaps are melting are not in doubt; these changes have been quantified and verified countless times. That there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today than any other time in human history is equally evident. Given the inherently chaotic nature of climate change, there is no direct proof that humans are causing global warming. Even so, computer models strongly suggest that our production of greenhouse gases has definitely contributed to the climate change. Certainly more direct evidence and further study is required, but the correlation cannot be ignored.

Fossil fuels are only one piece in the complex puzzle of global warming, but it is a piece that we can directly control. Reducing greenhouse emissions by developing cleaner and renewable sources of energy will help reduce the risk of global warming. But it will also reduce local air and water pollution and reduce dependence upon foreign oil, which are practical reasons enough even if the threat of global warming is ignored. Doing nothing ensures that all these problems will worsen. This search will have a substantial price tag in the short-term, but the Earth is a long-term investment.

200 Words on War

An unfortunate consequence of our human condition is that some people simply do not respond to any measure short of violence and bloodshed. Force can and should be used to achieve positive change when all other diplomatic, economic, and peaceful means have proven ineffective. But war is not a blank check and every life lost is a price that the entire country pays. Every dollar spent steals money from education, healthcare, and vital services that keep an economy growing and prosperous. War saps a nation’s ability to respond to natural disasters, epidemics, and humanitarian crises at home and afar.

Sending men and women to fight abroad does not defend our freedoms. The United States is well prepared to protect itself against any foreign threat to its soil. The only threats to our liberty are from those in positions of power and influence within our borders who would strip away our rights through legislation, executive order, or judicial ruling. Calling upon the military to protect the liberties of those beyond our shores is noble, but not always wise given the obvious costs and contradiction of enforcing liberty and stability through external force rather than instilling and nurturing them through peaceful means.

200 Words on The Role of Rules

Roleplaying games are a collaborative, creative enterprise with multiple players collectively choosing what happens in the story. Through the course of the game, players continuously decide what their characters to, how they act and react, and what happens in the game world, such as weather and politics. The sole purpose of rules within an rpg are to help made good choices. Some players do not need any rules at all, beyond common social guidelines of civility and cooperation. For the rest, rules enhance the game by focusing and guiding the decision making process along lines that are appropriate for the game’s genre, tone, and setting, as envisioned by the game’s designer. The factors involved in the decision can include elements within the game world (character ability and opposing factors) and/or considerations of storytelling and meta-gaming. Rules aid cooperation and avoid disagreements among players because they can all refer to agreed upon standard. Randomizers, like dice, both serve as a neutral decision maker and expand creativity by providing results the players might not have chosen on their own. Most of the time, players are able to make good choices on their own and the rules should stay out of the way.

200 Words on Combat in Roleplaying Games

The physical struggle to survive is the most visceral form of drama and it readily translates into a game format. It is no wonder that combat is the most common form of conflict in roleplaying games, which are no different than video games in this respect. Like a dramatic fight scene from a film or novel, where the time scale expands to encompass the thrilling details of the conflict, there is simply more narrative potential with combat than other types of activities. While purely social interactions can have a similar dramatic weight, they rarely translate into game mechanics that properly convey their nuances as well as fights do.

Whether you want to make meaningful tactical choices, the fight to "come alive," or to simply be immersed in a compelling story, the combat rules must serve to make the gaming experience richer. Sometimes, drama is best served by fast and furious action; other times, a more deliberate approach is better. And it may differ from scene-to-scene within the same story. Whether they are light or heavy in detail, focus on narration or tactical gaming, the trick is to have combat rules that enhance the game without detracting from it.

200 Words on Marriage

Historically, the institution of marriage was not an equal partnership between a man and a woman. Marriage has rarely been about love and devotion, but rather power and economics. Traditional marriage (still practiced in much of the world) robbed women of their liberties, forcing them into unions from which there was no escape. Today, marriage is not only a solemn pledge, but also a social and legal contract that provides each partner with status and rights (and obligations) not available to single people or so-called domestic partners. That such rights and benefits cannot be extended to all women and men is a ludicrous notion for a society based on equality.

The only people who can devalue your marriage are you and your spouse. Marriage is not under attack by gays and lesbians, but by people who marry for the wrong reasons, fail to honor and respect their partner, or forswear their promises and commitments. The marriage of two loving adults should be celebrated, nurtured, and defended regardless of their gender, class, or race. There are too many loveless heterosexual marriages plagued by abuse and infidelity to deny marriage from devoted homosexual couples who genuinely love and respect each other.

200 Words on Intelligent Design versus Science

The concept that some biological features are too complex, too precise, or too specific to have been created by any other force than an intelligent designer is intellectual laziness. Evoking a designer is the null solution—it answers everything, and thus answers nothing. Disease, mental illness, lightning, and earthquakes can all be explained by a "designer," but there are better answers worth pursuing, waiting for us to find them. Science is that pursuit. Anything else is faith, and no matter how positive or well-intentioned, faith is not an excuse to live in ignorance.

Science does not have all the answers. There are many questions that science has not yet answered. But that does not mean that science is flawed or that there are answers out of its reach. Rather, science is a process, a means of studying and describing the universe. Science also represents a body of knowledge that is always growing and being amended and corrected as progress is made. Science takes time and patience, resources and dedication. In short, good science is hard work.

Like other well-proved theories, evolution is good science backed by decades of observation, testing, and refinement. Intelligent design is not.

Links for more words:
talk.origins
American Astronomical Society Statement
The god ate my homework
The Designer (Prove she's not!)

200 Words

Eric Hoffer wrote, "There is not an idea that cannot be expressed in 200 words."

I like distilling ideas and concepts down to their essences. I do this in my writing for A&E, the cost of which is based on page count, and my work in product marketing, where conciseness and clarity of a sales message is critical. 200 words is a good target. This gives the writer enough space to avoid being trite, but no time to be repetitive. Unfortunately, 200 words is not enough to make a good, comprehensive argument, with examples and preemptive responses to counter-arguments, but they are enough to get the point across.

Each week, I plan to have a 200-word essay on a topic. I plan to touch on anything and everything that comes to mind, from politics and religion, to gaming and current events. Though Hoffer's note states to ignore "a, of, the, and, etc." I will include those and just use the word counter tool on my word processor (OpenOffice, by the way), so I will actually be using fewer than 200 words. I hope it will be both fun and interesting and I may even open up comments.