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## [Quasi-Political] Thomas Friedman is an idiot.

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Psychic Robot
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### [Quasi-Political] Thomas Friedman is an idiot.

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Post by Psychic Robot » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:06 pm

And I want to punch him for shit like this:

> In his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman proposed The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, observing that no two countries with a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with one another, a version of the democratic peace theory. The argument goes that when a country has reached an economic development where it has a middle class strong enough to support a McDonalds network, it will not be interested in fighting wars anymore. Shortly after the book was published, the NATO bombing of Serbia proved the theory wrong, though in a later edition Friedman argued that this exception proved the rule: the war ended quickly, he argued, partly because the Serbian population did not want to lose their place in a global system "symbolised by McDonald's" (Friedman 2000: 252–253). Friedman framed this theory in terms of McDonald's Golden Arches "with tongue slightly in cheek" (Friedman 2005). Recently, Friedman has updated the theory with the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention (Friedman 2005). In 1998, McDonald's host countries India and Pakistan fought a border war over Kashmir. While not a full scale war, both countries flaunted their nuclear capabilities. At least two wars between McDonald's hosting nations have occurred since the NATO bombing of Serbia: the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon; and the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia.

Outside of fellating the Chinese at every opportunity, he has the arrogance and ego to propose something as pretentious as "The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention."
Fuck Thomas Friedman.

> Count Arioch wrote:I'm not sure how discussions on whether PR is a terrible person or not is on-topic.

> Ant wrote:

> > Chamomile wrote:Ant, what do we do about Psychic Robot?

> You do not seem to do anything.

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Gnosticism Is A Hoot
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Post by Gnosticism Is A Hoot » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:22 pm

Hell, normal Democratic Peace Theory is full of shit as it is. This is just...comical.
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Username17
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Post by Username17 » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Actually, the claim that no countries with a McDonalds had ever gone to war dates back to the early 90s or even before. People were spouting it to try to paper over what an asshole Yeltsin was. So not only is it retarded, and factually incorrect when he said it, it was recycled stupid and wrong shit.
But if you hate Thomas Friedman as much as I do, you might like The Mustache of Understanding.
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Gnosticism Is A Hoot
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Post by Gnosticism Is A Hoot » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:40 pm

> FrankTrollman wrote:Actually, the claim that no countries with a McDonalds had ever gone to war dates back to the early 90s or even before. People were spouting it to try to paper over what an asshole Yeltsin was. So not only is it retarded, and factually incorrect when he said it, it was recycled stupid and wrong shit.
> But if you hate Thomas Friedman as much as I do, you might like The Mustache of Understanding.
> -Username17

Brilliant.
The soul is the prison of the body.
- Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish
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Ikeren
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Post by Ikeren » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:54 pm

I was under the impression he was trying to sarcasticallly mock the idiocy of the democratic peace theory.
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Username17
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Post by Username17 » Thu Apr 28, 2011 6:56 pm

> Ikeren wrote:I was under the impression he was trying to sarcasticallly mock the idiocy of the democratic peace theory.

He actually makes democratic peace theory arguments all the time. He genuinely seems to believe that free markets and Chinese slave labor will make war obsolete.
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Cynic
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Post by Cynic » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:15 pm

Both India and Pakistan have Mcdonalds. Palestine has Burger king and Israel has McD. I suppose that in itself is a reason for war!.

> Ancient History wrote:We were working on Street Magic, and Frank asked me if a houngan had run over my dog.

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Josh_Kablack
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Post by Josh_Kablack » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:42 pm

But that theory is golden. Yinz just need to restate it in the universal form:
"If you look through recently developed economic enterprise or technological invention, you can find at least one such enterprise that's so new it is not shared between any nations who have started a war since its development."
And the best part is that you can restate is as the "4g Peace Theory", "The Higgs Boson Peace Theory" or even the "Manned Mars Mission" theory to sell more books.
Last edited by Josh_Kablack on Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"But transportation issues are social-justice issues. The toll of bad transit policies and worse infrastructure—trains and buses that don’t run well and badly serve low-income neighborhoods, vehicular traffic that pollutes the environment and endangers the lives of cyclists and pedestrians—is borne disproportionately by black and brown communities."
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sabs
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Post by sabs » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:43 pm

Wait, India has McDonalds, do they sell Burgers?
Or do they have McCurry
It is the European Union idea that if you tie Germany up economically to the rest of Europe, then those krauters will never again try to take over Europe. Again. For the 3rd time.
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tzor
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Post by tzor » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:48 pm

> sabs wrote:Wait, India has McDonalds, do they sell Burgers?

Yes.
You know, I've completely forgotten. My week long stay in Bangalore back in 2004 is a dim memory now. It was a nice mall complex and they were on the upper floor at the food court. If I recall I ate somewhere else; if you took all the time to head to India, why in the world would you go to McDonalds?
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sabs
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Post by sabs » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:50 pm

Because you're American, and most Americans are disturbingly small minded and unadventurous.
Not to mention, they probably heard that eating from street vendors in India would make you sick.
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tzor
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Post by tzor » Thu Apr 28, 2011 7:57 pm

Now that I am thinking of this, what does it really mean to have a McDonalds. Having a McDonalds does not really imply that it is a member of the local community. In many places in Europe, for example, it becomes the magnet for any anti-US sentiment. Many countries have McDonalds, but few are really rabid McDonald's fans. Even then you also need to consider the proportion of stores to population.
By the way, McDonalds is not the largest fast food chain. Ironically that now belongs to Subway.

> The Evil HuffPo wrote:McDonald's is no longer the world's largest restaurant chain. That honor now goes to Subway.
> The sandwich giant just passed the golden arches in terms of number of locations, according to the Wall Street Journal. Subway had 33,749 restaurants open worldwide at the end of 2010.
> McDonald's had just 32,737 locations open by the same point, the corporation disclosed in SEC filings.
> According to the WSJ, the chain just opened its 1000th location in Asia, and sees international growth as the future.

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Psychic Robot
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Post by Psychic Robot » Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:44 pm

> Ahmadinejad: "The U.S. Senate used an obscure parliamentary procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a bill reforming the American health insurance system."
> Ayatollah Khamenei: "Shut down the reactors."

EDIT: Holy shit, this guy is amazing.
Last edited by Psychic Robot on Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

> Count Arioch wrote:I'm not sure how discussions on whether PR is a terrible person or not is on-topic.

> Ant wrote:

> > Chamomile wrote:Ant, what do we do about Psychic Robot?

> You do not seem to do anything.

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Prak
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Post by Prak » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:08 pm

The one time I was out of country, I ate at a burger king all of once because it was right the fuck there, when I don't remember any other restaurants within a reasonable distance, cheap, and I knew it had something I would like. It was, as it is here, convenient. I do regret not having street vendor fish and chips while in england, but I think the one time I found a vendor, I wasn't in the mood for fish...
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.

> Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.

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Juton
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Post by Juton » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:39 pm

This may be unfair, but the test I use primarily to test whether someone is worth listening too or is a worthless sack of carp is their stance on the 2003 Iraq war. Friedman didn't pass that test, and has failed many others, it amazes me that that man still has a career.
Oh thank God, finally a thread about how Fighters in D&D suck. This was a long time coming. - Schwarzkopf
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K
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Post by K » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:13 pm

I thought that two countries with McDonalds went to war a few years ago?
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cthulhu
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Post by cthulhu » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:36 pm

I have total sympathy for eating Mcdonalds once or twice while overseas, particularly if it's for a protracted period. There is only so much rice a man can eat, and if you're in south east asia for a while you eat a fuckton of rice.
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Maj
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Post by Maj » Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:17 am

I've eaten at fast food restaurants overseas - mostly because I want to know how different they are from what we have here.
But I way prefer the local street food.
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Cynic
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Post by Cynic » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:19 am

There isn't actual beef patties in most INdian franchises. You'll see the McChicken or the McVeg.
Also the meat is usually Halal-friendly to soothe the muslim population as well as the hindu population.

> Ancient History wrote:We were working on Street Magic, and Frank asked me if a houngan had run over my dog.

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K
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Post by K » Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:05 am

American fast food in other countries always ends up a local variant. For example, in Japan the McDonalds put a fucking egg on the big Mac and what passes for meat in Subway is barely edible.
Starbucks is actually the same. For the price they charge, they must put that shit on a airplane straight from Washington.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin » Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:18 pm

My friend who lived in Germany for a while said that the differences between their McDonalds and the U.S. version basically summed up the differences between the two countries. German McDonalds serve beer, and charge you for condiments.
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Vnonymous
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Post by Vnonymous » Mon May 02, 2011 7:32 am

> Juton wrote:This may be unfair, but the test I use primarily to test whether someone is worth listening too or is a worthless sack of carp is their stance on the 2003 Iraq war. Friedman didn't pass that test, and has failed many others, it amazes me that that man still has a career.

I use a similar sort of test for checking financial commentators. If people predicted the GFC, then they are worth listening to(and I mean specifically, not alarmists who think the sky is falling all the time). An interesting thing to come out of this is that every single commentator or writer who thinks the crisis is ending/over is not worth listening to.
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echoVanguard
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Post by echoVanguard » Mon May 02, 2011 1:31 pm

There are a lot of cultural localizations in foreign franchises. McDonalds' in India primarily serve Chicken, Vegetable, or Mutton burgers (and cut them in half before serving - each customer gets half a sandwich). Kentucky Fried Chicken in China serves soup, and Chinese Pizza Hut locations serve pizzas with no cheese. I knew a young lady who emigrated from Beijing to America: upon arriving, she was ecstatic that all her favorite restaurants were here, and immediately went to eat at one - only to find that the food was radically different.
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