Are you a fascist?

Take this little quiz and find out.

This quiz is designed only for right-wingers since sometimes they do not know if they are be fascists or not. I am assuming that the people who take this test, believe already that the state should not focus in trying to redistribute wealth, an essential part of the right wing thought.

Instructions
Answer all questions only once
Assign 0 points if A is the answer, 1 if B, 2 if C, 3 if D, 4 if E
Please be honest
Good luck

1. Do you consider that the nation, religion, political group or ethnic group you belong to makes you a human being of a different class?

A.- Not at all.
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

2. Do you believe that there are situations (e.g. danger to national security, fear to enemies) in which human rights (e.g. right to life, right to a fair trial, right against torture, etc) can be disregarded?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

3. Do you usually focus your energy against any particular ethnic group, ideology, religion or minority?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

4. Do you believe in the glory of the armed forces of the country you belong to?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

5. Do you believe in traditional gender roles?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

6. Are you against gay rights?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

7. Do you believe that the government has the right to control the media in special situations (e.g. war, national security?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.


8. Do you believe that the government has the right to use fear in order to make the general public aware of "a dangerous" situation?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

9. Do you believe that the highest authorities of a government have the right to use religious rhetoric in their communication with the people?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

10. Do you believe that the corporations and the government should have common goals?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

11. What do you think of labor power?

A. It is important and necessary
B. Usually necessary but occasionaly it is not
C. Sometimes necessary, other times not
D. Not necessary, with exceptions
E. Never necessary, useless.

12. Do you think artists are...

A. Important and necessary
B. Usually necessary but occasionaly not
C. Sometimes necessary, other times not
D. Not necessary, with exceptions
E. Never necessary, useless.

13. Do you think academics/intellectuals are...

A. Important and necessary
B. Usually necessary but occasionaly not
C. Sometimes necessary, other times not
D. Not necessary, with exceptions
E. Never necessary, useless.

14. In order to suppress/control crime you are willing to...

A. try to control it without violating the rights of the perpetrators or the privacy of the rest of the people.
B. try to control it without violating the privacy of the people.
C. attempt to reduce it as much as possible accepting abuses as "collateral damage"
D. violate the rights of perpetrators but trying to respect the privacy of the people.
E. violate the rights of perpetrators and the privacy of people, crime prevention and punishment is essential for the survival of society.

15. Do you believe that the state has the right to expropiate businesses or natural resources from their legitimate owners for the sake of national security or better economic handling?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes.

16. Do you believe that in case the liberals, socialists, communists, libertarians or anarchists are ahead on the polls, the government has the right to alter the results of the elections to avoid a government of any of those groups?

A.- Not at all
B.- Occasionally
C.- Sometimes
D.- Yes, with exceptions.
E.- Definitely yes


From 0 to 16 points: You are not a fascist. Try talking to your left wing partners to find common goals in the fight against fascism

From 17-48: You lean towards fascism. You have to clarify certain ideas and decide if you are willing to support what fascist governments have done in the past or what they are doing right now

From 49-64: You are a fascist. If you already knew about it, just acknowledge me as your political enemy. If did not know you were one of them, please start being honest to people and say what you are. There is nothing worse than hiding behind a conservative mask

Winds of change

I have decided to change the style of this blog. Until now, I have been writing what came to my mind, based on thoughts present for years and on ideas that appeared randomly. I have decided to write in essay format, in a more formal way. By doing so, the ideas might be expressed in a more clear way. In addition, English is my second language so I think some extra work has to be put in what it is written by me. When I went back to my old posts, this was the feeling: chaotic!

People who read the blog will let me know their feedback.

Uncovering hypocresy

Hypocresy

I read this in "The Art of Imperfection", the blog with the most beautiful name. At the same time it is an excerpt of an article that you can find in Common Dreams. As I said in my comment, I challenge the right to write something similar with respect to how the left thinks and lets see if there is at least 10% of their hypocrisy.

Here is the excerpt:

"Think about it for a second. Here's the way the extreme right-wingers - i.e., people you hear every day, all day, on TV and radio - have termed the debate:

If you fight for civil liberties, you're pro-criminal.
If you fight for justice in U.S. foreign policies, you're anti-American.
If you think people should have a right to determine their life partners and give them health benefits, you're pro-queer.
If you question the justice of a war based on false intelligence, you don't support the troops.
If you think the U.S. government should not be spying on its own citizens, you're pro-terrorist.
If you think the United States should not be torturing those it holds captive, you're coddling murderers.
If you think people should not be held indefinitely without trial or lawyers, you support terrorism.
If you think society should help the poor, you're soft on the shiftless.
If you want equal education for all, you're pro-black at the expense of whites.
If you want health care for all, you're a socialist.
If you think everyone has a right to a fair trial, you're soft on crime.
If you hope for a fairer tax system, you're for higher taxes.
If you want a government that helps people, you're for big government."

Another minor earthquake

I was woken up by a minor earthquake in Lima, Peru, about 45 mins ago (0645 GMT-5). 3.8 in the Richter scale. This one came with a lot of rumbling.

Evolution, creationism, fact, theory

This is a comment to a post in Crystal Clear

Here is a nice definition of theory
Theory: A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested OR is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
So evolution is a theory since it is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
Theory and fact are not mutually exclusive. Gravity is a theory, relativity is a theory.
In the case of evolution the fossil evidence show that species change and new ones are developed with time. So an association can be established. The association is between change in species and change in time. We can arrive to conclusions here in the same way we arrive to a conclusion from a retrospective study in medicine, i.e., establishing associations. Certain associations are powerful enough to accept a cause-effect relationship, i.e. change in time leads to change in species (there is no way that a change in species will lead to a change in time). How do you think we arrived to the conclusion of which antibiotics are best for pneumonia? Retrospective studies did it because ethical concerns made prospective studies impossible. In the same way, evolution cannot be proven prospectively due to lack of time.
Creationism is a belief, based on faith. There is no science there. It belongs to the territory of religion so it should not be included in school textbooks. Anyone is entitled to believe in creationism, even scientists if they wish.

Recommended

The Edge of Infinity , from Paul Davies, is a book which I highly recommend if you find A Brief History of Time ,from Stephen Hawking, too difficult to understand. Personally , I believe that it explains similar concepts in a more didactic way. Try it! Just click on the link or on the same book to get access for purchase.

Minor earthquake

At 1833 Peruvian time 2333 GMT a minor earthquake was felt in Lima. I was posting a reply in my blog and the floor started to move. I am quite used to these things, but hopefully this does not represent a mjor earthquake somewhere else or an earthquake in the middle of the Pacific that triggers a tsunami. If someone knows something significant about this, let me know and let other people know.

Not recommended

In my flight to Peru I read this book from Dan Brown. Although I was already disappointed by "The Da Vinci Code". I decided to give "Angels and Demons" a try. Let me go into my analysis.

It is very easy to read. Do not expect great literature, remember Dan Brown is not Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The actions described in the book are interesting, but too fantastic (more than in the Da Vinci Code)to be taken seriously. The end of the book is very bad. I will not tell you what happened, just that is an overused type of ending.

With respect to the scientific background, it is well known that antimatter is made all the time in particle accelerators. Particle collisions are done all the time. The idea for storing antimatter is interesting, but if it were as simple as it is mentioned it would already have been done. I know it is just a novel, but some people might really believe it and that is a real problem.

There are some important historical facts that are correct, specially the ones regarding the history of the Catholic Church and the relation of the Sun´s worship and Christmas. Morover, I learned about the Illuminati. The book gives the wrong message when it suggests that science and religion can accept each other when they are the exact opposite. The scientific method does not have space for faith and religion is all about faith. A scientist can have faith in a god, and, so as it does not interfere with his or her work, it is ok.

As a summary, I do not recommend it, but you should judge for your own self.

For you to think...

Hiroshima

The single-day human toll of the tsunami is comparable to the single-day human toll of Hiroshima. Humans can be as bad as the worst of nature. The difference is that nature does not know if there is people living along the shores of the ocean. The Hiroshima bombers knew it.


Tsunami

Racism against the tsunami victims?

I am using the logo of the Youth against Racism from Germany so I am including a link to them.

This is a comment I wrote in Bouillabaisse, Dianne Maire's blog, I encourage you to read it and to post a comment there because was I saw was really astonishing. The title of the original article is "Racism is a crime and should be punishable by law"

This is my comment:

I always take some time to read Dianne Maire's blog. I am surprised to see such virulent replies that started just from a plea for the tsunami victims. Racism is the result of lack of education. Education is the only tool we have to cover up our selfish nature. It then becomes a paradox for the racist because the ones who claim to be superior are actually the less educated, the ones who are unable to control their instincts, the ones who are more animal-like. So what can be done about it? Wait until humanity mixes all up so that no one can argue that he or she is superior based on skin color? That will probably take too long. What we need to do is convince our governments to inject billions of dollars in education, in showing real values to people so that they can accept differences and cover up our intrinsic selfishness that lead us into egoism and ethnocentrism. If we do not do that now, what is awaiting for us is a mega-fascist state that will be the source of wealth for a few and that will convert those "superior people" into automaton workers for their masters, with no freedom but to do their own job.

Understanding the kidney-2

The kidney is a very complicated organ as you could see from all the functions that it performs in Understanding the kidney-1. Animals also have kidneys and they function almost exactly as human kidneys, to answer one kid's question. This time I will focus in replacing the kidney when it stops working.

Life is not possible without kidneys. So if they fail, they have to be replaced. There are 2 forms of replacing kidneys that have stopped working. One is what is called dialysis and the other one is to have a kidney transplant.

Dialysis can be of 2 types. Hemodialysis is the one done with those big machines through which blood is passed. Blood is "cleaned up" by a filter and returned to the circulation. Although they are big machines, they do not work as effciently as a kidney and many substances are still retained in the body, which eventually might lead into harm. The second type is called peritoneal dialysis. It consists of a liquid that is placed in the abdomen (peritoneal cavity). In this case, the peritoneal membrane acts as a kidney helping in moving the waste products from the blood towards the liquid, which is exchanged several times a day. The exchanges can be done by the patient and need to be done in a very clean environment, to prevent bacteria to go into the abdomen.

Having a kidney transplant is the best way of replacing a kidney. However, it is not perfect because the person that receives the transplant needs to receive medication that will suppress his or her immune system in order to avoid rejection. Sometimes this suppression of the immune system can lead into severe infections. A patient with a kidney transplant needs to be very careful and responsible with the kidney he or she has received. A kidney transplant can come from a dead person or from a living donor. It has to pass lots of tests before being transplanted, because if not, it can be rejected very quickly. Not all people are good candidates to receive a kidney transplant.

Remember that these series are not intended to give personal advise, for that you need to seek help from your personal doctor. I am glad to receive questions so that I can post the next part.

Fear

This post is actually one that should follow The marks of free people which I wrote a couple of days ago. Fear is a way of controlling the minds of people, is a way of making people do whatever the individuals inducing it want. Fear restricts freedom. Fear has been used and is continuously been used by governments, terrorists and religious leaders to control our behaviors and to increase their power. The government that magnifies the risk of national security threats is as guilty as the terrorist who explodes a car bomb or as guilty as the priest who threatens believers with hell. They all have as goal to limit our actions, to blurr our minds, to make us propagate fear and finally and most importantly, to increase their own power.

What is the recipee to avoid being controlled? The recipee is the same that the one who make us free according to what I said in The marks of free people. Independent thought, rational skepticism and rigorous questioning should be part of our modus vivendi. We should not trust our governments. Being well informed is not just turning on the TV at 9 pm and watching the news given by a particular news channel. It is looking for the information in different sources and looking for different opinions. We should not trust our priests, fathers, pastors, imams, etc if they threaten us with hell. They might be worse sinners that we are. We should not let terrorists dominate our minds. I remember when the Shining Path (Peruvian terrorist movement)threatened us by saying that they will bomb our universities if we went to study the days they declared "armed strikes". Guess what: We did not listen to them... we were free.