At what point was he successful? He had the possession in his hands, then got his head blown off? What's the statute of limitations on success?

He was successful in doing what he set out to do.
Then he gets his head blown off, or other people find out and refuse to associate with him, or what he took has a curse on it, etc.

That is why henry quirk's simple views are invalid. Nothing is that simple, there are always repercussions.

I see your point.

But say henry quirk steals a pack of gum from joe's desk. Joe had forgotten he had that pack of gum; he never notices. henry quirk chews the gum, doesn't get any kind of strange illness, the wrappers don't clog up the garbage system, the gum biodegrades either inside or outside henry quirk...the world goes on and henry quirk dies of lyme disease related not to gum but to a camping trip he had gone on.

Short of eternal hellfire, there are no repercussions.

;)

Until his apparent success spurs him to bigger and better crimes for which he pays dearly.

or

Until he brags of his success to his wife during pillow talk and she refuses to ever have sex with him again.

lol

"You LIED to me. You said you bought that gum with your own money. I can never trust you again. "

I hear jets.

So there isn't any "free-gum" here?

"henry quirk is dead and Joe is in jail"

a false assumption...two of them, actually

first: i may not die...in fact: if i'm cunning enough, no one may die

two: assuming joe knocks me off, AND is cunning about it, my body may never be discovered


"There are always repercussions"

sure

the job of the wise criminal is to anticipate and minimize the repercussions


"Until his apparent success spurs him to bigger and better crimes for which he pays dearly"

a false assumption...the wise man possesses himself...that is: he possess the appetite, not the other way around


"henry quirk's simple views are invalid"

open your pollyanna eyes and LOOK at the world...what i describe up-thread is the way it works...always has, always will

you can dress it up anyway you like: the essential transaction is prey versus predator

choose your poison...

"there are different kinds of agency. Political (or historical) agency is not always open to everyone"

yes: but i'm talking about a very specific, and real, thing when i refer to 'agency'

that is: agency = the agent

the capacity for self-deliberation, self-determination, choice is integral to the individual...in fact: that capacity is synonymous with the individual

political/historical agency is another topic completely, one in keeping with that great, sometimes useful, fiction 'liberty/freedom'...

No. You're trying to distill life to elements. Life will always be compounds.

"You're trying to distill life to elements"

not at all!

my comments are meant to clarify, not reduce

murder, theft, propaganda, stupification.

"What do you hear when people say freedom?"

W.HI.P wrote: murder, theft, propaganda, stupification.

me: care to expand on that?

a non police state

1776

I can go to any church I want or not.

this thread asks a specific question.
its asking me what i hear when when people say freedom.
the first thing that comes to my mind when i hear the word freedom is the usa.
first thing that pops to my mind when mentioning the usa is murder.
the purpose of murder being theft.
propaganda is whats being pumped out of the media to cover up this theft and murder
stupification is the result of the system which is structured in a way to keep the masses stupid and powerless.

its a matter of control and power, not freedom.