Let's have a fantasy dinner party!

[Mota Boy]

My local paper has this every week when it interviews someone from around town. About 80% of the time the list will include both Jesus and George W. Bush. Sometimes they'll invite Moses and Abraham also (I'm guessing most of them haven't realized that Moses and Abraham were Jews). I'm interested to see what a broader segment of the population thinks.

Here are the rules: You can only choose four people. They can be living or dead, and while fictional characters are allowed, the practice is highly discouraged (and we're assuming that questionable historical figures - i.e. Socrates and God - exist).


My choices:

Jesus
Chris Rock
Ben Franklin
Scarlett Johansson/Julia Stiles


OK, you can't go wrong with ol' JC. You'll immediately solve two of the most mind-bending questions of the ages: "Was Jesus really the Son of God?" and "Does he know any good jokes?". Regardless of his divinity, Jesus was one of the most amazing philosophers of all time. Hopefully he had a sense of humor. Oh, and as a bonus, instead of running up a huge bar tab you'd just have to order water and BAM, endless wine.

Chris Rock - a hilarious comedian who is also intelligent and insightful. I imagine it'd just be a ton of fun to shoot the shit with him.

Ben Franklin - Awesome motherfucker. Not only brilliant, but also comes across as a fun-lovin' kinda guy. Both one of the founders of our country (among being a diplomat, inventor, publisher and philosopher), he also is attributed to the quote "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy".

And as for the women... you have to have some ladyfolk, and these women are not only beautiful, but also come across as brilliant and most interesting. If anyone can point out any wiser, foxier ladies then I'll rotate out Miss Johansson/Stiles.

So, this is my quick list (I just put a couple minute's thought into it). What's yours?

And anyone who lists all four members of the Offspring is one uncreative, dull motherfucker.

[Endymion]

Scarlett sure is a fox. as for franklin... i always loved what he told his son: "don't let schooling get in the way of your education."

anyway, my four would be...: Stephen Wolfram, Paul Reubens, Oliver Heaviside, and... hm, toss up between Andy Kaufman and John Keats.

[punk_flamingo]

Edgar Allan Poe
Jimi Hendrix
Station (as in the station fella from bill and ted's bogus journey - yes so he's fictional whatever)
Seth Green

Edgar Allan Poe - i love his work and it'd be awesome to talk to him about it and see what's really in his mind

Hendrix - he's my god...and he'd have weed

Station - come on the only words he says are "station" and he says it randomly...funny as

Seth Green - I need some eye candy..and he seems like a pretty nice guy

[wheelchairman]

hmmm

Karl Marx
Jesus
Kim Il Sung
Josef Stalin

Karl Marx- Perhaps he'd be kind enough to explain the more complicated aspects of his theory.

Jesus- Same reasons as Mota Boy.

Kim Il Sung- For a deeper explanation of the Juche idea.

Josef Stalin- I'd like his account of things.

[Wizard*SweetRockerGirl*]

god
raistlin
rhett
spike
dracula that would be fun lol

[[popple]]

Brandon Boyd
DJ Krush
Joss Stone
Prince

Brandon Boyd - He's so artisticly talented, I'd love to get to know him

DJ Krush - I love his beats

Joss Stone - Really fit and I wanna' write a song with her

Prince - Really funky and I'd like to know how he writes his songs

[MindlessSelfIndulgent]

I dont like dinner partys.

[sKratch]

hmmm

Karl Marx
Jesus
Kim Il Sung
Josef Stalin

Karl Marx- Perhaps he'd be kind enough to explain the more complicated aspects of his theory.

Jesus- Same reasons as Mota Boy.

Kim Il Sung- For a deeper explanation of the Juche idea.

Josef Stalin- I'd like his account of things.

I'm interested in your take on Stalin's tendency to have people killed.

[wheelchairman]

Hmm I don't really have an opinion. I don't believe most of what I read by Robert Conquest for example (he was a right-wing historian who I believe claimed that Stalin had 80 million people killed or something.) From what I've read, I believe the number was about 5 million. Many of whom were probably guilty of the crimes they committed. Although I am positive that there were those who didn't deserve what happened to them. And that is a tragedy.

The real problem is, that Stalin thought he could get rid of a political group by killing or imprisoning them, that's not very dialectic at all. What needed to happen was more debate for example. And the forcing of the farmers into the collective farms was very much distinctly against what communists had been writing about for years.

Anyways, it's hard to get a precise number of how many died in GULAG because a lot of things concerning Stalin's era was burned under Khruschev's break with Stalin. But I would say about 5 million is a good estimate.

[sKratch]

Do you agree with mass murder as a means of establishing power, though? Even if those killed were "guilty" of what they did, as you say (or I think it's what you're saying) their crimes didn't merit the penalty of death. From what I gather you believe the masses should have been legitimately convinced of the benefits of communism through debate and indoctrination rather than terror? Sorry I don't mean to be playing 20 questions but I just remember you as being more extreme, but perhaps my memory fails me.