Politics & Stuff

[Peppen 934]

That is more than normal though, at crisis, people deposit their hopes at more conservative political parties...

Not in Denmark's case though. The Conservative Party has never had as little support as of now. They are actually on the verge of not qualifying because of a severe lack of votes.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

@Fulham Broadway,@CHOULO19,

A bit late, but still:

I get where you guys are coming from - equality, harmony etc - but that's utopia. It's human's nature that prevents this from happening. Even if the wealth of all the people would be distributed evenly among everyone - it wouldn't stay that way even for a day. Naive and silly minded would be ripped off by others and this sort of discrepancy would once again be an actual problem. Out of curiosity: what have you guys done to relieve these kind of problems? (Poverty, environmental etc.)

I think you do the human race a diservice assuming human nature is against harmony and equality. There are plenty of studies that show that the human condition is actually imbued with these qualities. A child is born with no state of mind, and children actually cooperate with each other until capitalism intervenes. Genders are constructed, they get bombarded with adverts to have this and have that. A cult of the individual is fostered and engendered, and everything is competitive -this presents no threat to the rich and status quo. Collective action for the benefit of humanity as a whole is actively discouraged -instead there are collecting buckets for the disenfranchised.

What do I do ? Well I work full time, but take a day off every week to work unpaid for an organisation that helps people with all sorts of problems. Homelessness, shitty landlords, bastard exploitative employers etc. Its only one day a week, but if I can take one cuntish landlord or shitty employer that has used and abused people to court then it feels like i have earned a million dollars. I recommend it.

[EBH 283]

I do not understand the conservative... why they are trying to stop progress? We are not perfect, anywhere. Europe, US, any country, they all have long way to go to become the utopia... so why try to stop the progress? When it is perfect, then maybe you can say, if we change something now, then it could ruin us. But when you are not then any change is good.

[Stingray 9,441]

I think you do the human race a diservice assuming human nature is against harmony and equality. There are plenty of studies that show that the human condition is actually imbued with these qualities

True (although the child's mind is NO blank slate - it comes with crib sheets containing genetically encoded mental modules rich in content - eg. read The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker, The adapted Mind by Cosmides and Tooby, ....).

That idea on human nature is red in tooth and claw is actually raping Darwinism a bit. I myself translated a book called A Darwinian Left by Singer that focuses completely on the emergence of cooperative behavior.

For one, one of the most influential books in evolutionary theory is called: The evolution of cooperation. Furthermore : the main issue being debated on that matter in the field is the rise of altruism, compassion and the moral sense (The Origin of Virtue is a magnificent book). One of the most influential thinkers Robert Trivers who's major invention was the concept of reciprocal altruism in behavior studies.

However: there is a but. People do compete and are highly status sensitive. Grosso modo you could we have to main meta-motives in our behavior the agency motive that drives our dominance level (and activates our natural status seeking behavior) and the communion motive (which entices us to cooperate, form groups, be social, ...)

So both things are in our nature to be correct.

But: it is a giant leap gong from a factual observation (how we are as humans) to a moral one (we should be /do X). If you cross that barrier you commit the naturalistic fallacy and err.

So while being very careful, you could conclude that is IS possible to strive for more equality, knowing well the ideal blueprint situation will never be reached. But that does not disqualify attempts in doing so - to do that by saying people don't work that way - that's the naturalistic fallacy.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

So racism was in part abolished by Mandela then to everyones relief, the rich white landowners kept their massive plantations, the banks and mines were never nationalised, and the vast slums with their misery remain. Class society was left intact and everybody but the working class was happy, because societies divided along the lines of class and wealth are just fine and dandy, and completely legitimate.

Are They Fuck.

Mandela is only feted because he prevented an all out class war with the whites either being exterminated or driven back to Europe, and he oversaw the creation of a new black middle and upper class. Whoop-de-do. Thatcher ended up loving him for saving British investments.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Fact of the Day;

The US spends ten times more on weapons and ways of killing other human beings than it does on educating its entire nation.

63 percent of its annual $1 trillion budget is spent on the military.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Fact of the Day;

The US spends ten times more on weapons and ways of killing other human beings than it does on educating its entire nation.

63 percent of its annual $1 trillion budget is spent on the military.

Hardly a surprise. 40% of all money spent on weapons in the world is spent by the US. They used to spend more than the entire rest of the world combined before the financial crisis.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Hardly a surprise. 40% of all money spent on weapons in the world is spent by the US. They used to spend more than the entire rest of the world combined before the financial crisis.

Education is so important, but the UK is going the same way. I think the two biggest UK exports are weapons and whisky ! Met some really nice yanks when I was in the US though ,affable, friendly, but they wern't the brightest when it came to foreign matters,their view is totally Amerocentric -this presumably is down to the type of education. Most of the media as well, on the whole, was primarily aimed at dumbing down, with a slight hint that the rest of the world was inferior.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Yes, but they will all save Earth when the Aliens attack!

...or that is what Hollywood wants you to believe!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Education is so important, but the UK is going the same way. I think the two biggest UK exports are weapons and whisky ! Met some really nice yanks when I was in the US though ,affable, friendly, but they wern't the brightest when it came to foreign matters,their view is totally Amerocentric -this presumably is down to the type of education. Most of the media as well, on the whole, was primarily aimed at dumbing down, with a slight hint that the rest of the world was inferior.

Very true, but I don't think it's just down to lack of financing of the education sector or lack of interest of the American people in foreign matters but rather curricula that are designed to plant this mentality in the masses.

I was recently doing a little research about the neccessity of renewable energy for a uni project and I was absolutely shocked to find out that only 23% of GOP believe that global warming exists! You can't start to imagine the many millions and millions that oil companies spend each year to try to get people to believe that global warming is a myth through the media.

Capitalism allows you, with enough money, to buy the beliefs and opinions of a large of the masses without them even knowing.

[jasonlol 154]

if yall our interested this is a great 1 hour and 47 miniutes video on u.s israel relations. Talk was in 2003 and events since have validated the speakers arguments. Its a much needed moral defense of the state of Israel and why every freedom loving person should defend her. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/176196-1

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Very true, but I don't think it's just down to lack of financing of the education sector or lack of interest of the American people in foreign matters but rather curricula that are designed to plant this mentality in the masses.

I was recently doing a little research about the neccessity of renewable energy for a uni project and I was absolutely shocked to find out that only 23% of GOP believe that global warming exists! You can't start to imagine the many millions and millions that oil companies spend each year to try to get people to believe that global warming is a myth through the media.

Capitalism allows you, with enough money, to buy the beliefs and opinions of a large of the masses without them even knowing.

Yes I think youre spot on with the curricula.

The global warming argument seems to have become 'unfashionable' amongst the hipsters now, and though 'climate change' seems to have become the new tag, unless it directly affects people, they have enough on their plate generally surviving. To counter 'Climate Change' would mean an overhaul and restructuring of capitalism, and their precious profits, which seems unlikely. So its as you were, heads in the sand, and 'green' policies can continue to be indulged in by the middle classes