Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Total Recall

2008-11-17T18:58:26Z

Whitem420:

'''Total Recall''' is a [[Hollywood]] movie starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. It is based on the book by the science-fiction writer [[Philip K. Dick]], ''We Can Remember It for You Wholesale''.

Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quade, a Martian intelligence officer who has had his memory erased, and been placed in a new life on Earth. He remembers his real identity when he goes to a memory-implantation "travel agency" that accidentally unlocked his memory, rather than implanting memories of a "vacation." Quade goes to Mars where he joins Martian rebels in rebellion against his former boss, the dictator Cohagen, who controls Mars by controlling its air supply. Together with the rebels, Quade discovers and activates an ancient alien technology capable of providing Mars with plenty of oxygen.

Total Recall contains a number of liberal themes. It glamorizes terrorism, such as in a scene where the heroic Martian rebels bomb a public square in a terrorist attack. Conversely, it demonizes the government seeking to stop the terrorism as an oppressive police state. The film also makes villains of those who control resources in short supply, the way liberals today vilify oil companies. It also romanticizes an ancient alien race (like the Native Americans) by supposing that their prehistoric ways are superior to modern means, and are the only way to free humanity from want.

[[Category:Movies]]

Genghis Khan

2008-11-16T23:34:21Z

Whitem420:

[[Image:Khan.jpg|thumb|right|Genghis Khan]]
'''Genghis Khan''' (ca. 1162 to 1227 A.D.), or Chingis Khan, was the first great military leader of the [[Mongols]], a barbaric nomadic people from Mongolia. He was born as Temujin, into the Kiyan clan of the Borjigin dynasty, the ruling family of the Mongol tribe.

The Mongol elite abandoned Temujin's family when he was nine, after the rival Tatar clan poisoned his father, who was one of the chiefs of the Kiyan. He along with his brothers gathered followers and allied with his father's ally, Ong Khan, the leader of the Kereyid tribe. In the 1190's he had enough support among the Borjigin clans that they elected him the fifth Khan of the Mongol, and he took the name Chingis (meaning "Oceanic"), which came through Persian to English as Genghis. Jamugha, a rival claimant to the Mongol leadership, then gathered the neighboring tribes of Mongolia, the Tatar, Kereyid, Naiman, and Merkid, into a series of wars against Genghis Khan. He conquered them one by one, and incorporated them into his army, until in 1206 he proclaimed the Yeke Mongol Ulus, or Great Mongol Nation, which history came to know as the [[Mongol Empire]].<ref>Secret History of the Mongols, Paul Kahn, 1994</ref>

Genghis came to believe that Heaven mandated him and his descendants to conquer the world. Starting in 1209, he conquered Western Xia, (a Tibetan kingdom in China), Black Cathay (a Central Asian kingdom), Jin Dynasty (a Chinese kingdom based in Beijing), Khwarezam (a Persian empire), and numerous peoples in Russia. Before he died in 1227, he arranged to have his empire divided among his three sons who still lived, and the two sons of his son that predeceased him. Genghis's descendants conquered the rest of China, Persia, and Russia, briefly creating the largest land empire that history had ever seen.

Genghis's Khan's Mongols were known for their brutality, but historians debate to what extent Mongol propaganda rather than fact is responsible for this. His battles with [[China]] were extensive, and he would reportedly count the number of enemy casualties by having his victorious soldiers each cut off an ear from the fallen and bring them back to him. Genghis based his powerful army on [[meritocracy]]. Historians consider Genghis Khan a military genius. Genghis' horse armies were able to travel further in a day than any other army until the development of automobiles.<ref>Encyclopedia of Military History, Dupuy & Dupuy, 1979</ref>

Genghis Khan was communist in terms of organization, and a liberal, tolerant leader in religious matters who did not influence religious practice by his subjects. All he demanded was total obedience in temporal matters. Those who did not obey faced stiff penalties, usually execution. Ultimately, the states that succeeded his empire withered and died largely as a result of the Mongols' failure to develop conquered economies with their communist model (and resulting overreliance on free trade), and failure to choose a religion upon which to base their state and society (and resulting overreliance on an arcane set of tribal customs).

== References ==

<References/>

[[Category:Military Commanders]]
[[Category:History]]

Total Recall

2008-11-16T20:16:25Z

Whitem420:

'''Total Recall''' is a [[Hollywood]] movie starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. It is based on the book by the atheist writer [[Philip K. Dick]], ''We Can Remember It for You Wholesale''.

Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quade, a Martian intelligence officer who has had his memory erased, and been placed in a new life on Earth. He remembers his real identity when he goes to a memory-implantation "travel agency" that accidentally unlocked his memory, rather than implanting memories of a "vacation." Quade goes to Mars where he joins Martian rebels in rebellion against his former boss, the dictator Cohagen, who controls Mars by controlling its air supply. Together with the rebels, Quade discovers and activates an ancient alien technology capable of providing Mars with plenty of oxygen.

Total Recall contains a number of liberal themes. It glamorizes terrorism, such as in a scene where the heroic Martian rebels bomb a public square in a terrorist attack. Conversely, it demonizes the government seeking to stop the terrorism as an oppressive police state. The film also makes villains of those who control resources in short supply, the way liberals today villify oil companies. It also romanticizes an alien race (like the Native Americans) by supposing that their ancient ways are superior to modern means, and are the only way to free humanity from want.

[[Category:Movies]]

Philip K. Dick

2008-11-16T19:55:43Z

Whitem420:

'''Philip K. Dick''' is a popular author of [[Science Fiction]] novels and short stories. Dick was born on December 16, 1928 in [[Chicago]] and passed away on March 2, 1982 due to heart failure. His books earned him several nominations for the [[Hugo Award]] and [[Nebula Award]], including winning the 1963 Hugo Award for ''The Man in the High Castle'' about an alternate future in which Germany and Japan had won World War II and divided the United States between them, Germany ruling the East Coast and Japan the West Coast.

Dick was an atheist who had a number of spiritual experiences, visions, and revelations, but attributed them to his drug use, or mental illness. He routinely asserted the weakness of faith, such as when he said, "reality is that which, when one stops believing in it, doesn't go away." Many of his stories involve intervention into human affairs by fantastic, space-dwelling deities.

==Writings Made Into Movies==
* ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (1968) - ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982)
* "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" (1966) - ''[[Total Recall]]'' (1990)
* ''Confessions of a Crap Artist'' (1975) - ''Confessions d'un Barjo'' (1992)
* "Second Variety" (1953) - ''Screamers'' (1995)
* "The Minority Report" (1956) - ''Minority Report'' (2002)
* "Impostor" (1953) - ''Impostor'' (2002)
* "Paycheck" (1953) - ''Paycheck'' (2003)
* ''A Scanner Darkly'' (1977) - ''A Scanner Darkly'' (2006)
* "The Golden Man" (1954) - ''Next'' (2007)

==References==
[http://www.philipkdick.com Philip K. Dick, the Official Site]

[[Category:Authors|Dick, Philip K]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

2008-11-15T23:44:05Z

Whitem420:

[[Image:Nicolo.jpg|left]]
'''Niccolò Machiavelli''' (1469 A.D.-1527 A.D.) wrote "[[Prince, The|The Prince]]," an account of government in which the "end justifies the means." In a time when many political theorists idealized princely behavior around Christian ideals, Machiavelli held that a good ruler uses any means he determines are necessary to enhance and preserve his power, and to act in his state's interests. He also wrote "Discourses on Democracy" and "The Art of War." Historians consider Machiavelli to have been the thinker who laid the foundations for the [[Age of Revolution]].

Today the term "Machiavellian" describes a politician who spends all his time and effort on getting ahead and manipulating other people for his own gain; many [[liberal]] [[politicians]] can be called "Machiavellian."

Machiavelli, like many of the great [[Renaissance]] artists and thinkers, was a Lombard who lived in [[Florence]].

See: [[Machiavellianism]]

[[Category:Authors|Machiavelli, Niccolo]]

2008-11-15T23:38:56Z

Whitem420:

[[Image:Nicolo.jpg|left]]
'''Niccolò Machiavelli''' (1469 A.D.-1527 A.D.) wrote "[[Prince, The|The Prince]]," which is an account of government in which the "end justifies the means." In a time when many political theorists idealized princely behavior around Christian ideals, Machiavelli held that a good ruler uses any means he determines are necessary to enhance and preserve his power, and to act in his state's interests. He also wrote "Discourses on Democracy" and "The Art of War." Historians consider Machiavelli to have been the thinker who laid the foundations for the [[Age of Revolution]].

Today the term "Machiavellian" describes a politician who spends all his time and effort on getting ahead and manipulating other people for his own gain; many [[liberal]] [[politicians]] can be called "Machiavellian."

Machiavelli, like many of the great [[Renaissance]] artists and thinkers, was a Lombard who lived in [[Florence]].

See: [[Machiavellianism]]

[[Category:Authors|Machiavelli, Niccolo]]

2008-11-15T23:28:56Z

Whitem420: That wasn't a sentence, and Machiavelli never said that.

[[Image:Nicolo.jpg|left]]
'''Niccolò Machiavelli''' (1469 A.D.-1527 A.D.) wrote "[[Prince, The|The Prince]]," which is an account of government in which the "end justifies the means" (a ruler can use any means to gain power and rule his state). Historians consider Machiavelli to have been the thinker who laid the foundations for the [[Age of Revolution]].

Even today the term "Machiavellian" is used to describe a politician who spends all his time and effort on getting ahead and manipulating other people for his own gain.

Machiavelli, like many of the great [[Renaissance]] artists and thinkers, lived in [[Florence]].

See: [[Machiavellianism]]

[[Category:Authors|Machiavelli, Niccolo]]