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| Thread: First-World Society |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 07:13 PM |
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First-World Society
i was going to post this in another thread, but felt this needs it's own topic. for starters, i'm going to post everything i see on t.v., about the society i live in, that i absolutely despise, and makes me wonder if we have all lost our goddamn minds:
i guess i'm not ever going to get it. all i see on t.v. is:
"you can trust us, we're on your side. forget about the embezzlement and racketeering. forget about the oil spill, and how our already millionaire ceo's stole from you to buy stuff, and how they will only serve a couple years, whereas a murderer will get years shaved off of their sentence for good behavior, but still get more years than 'white collar' criminals will EVER get. oh, and their prison is like a resort, too; compared to the real deal"
"try this medication that has worse side effects than your original ailment. approved by the FDA"
"my opponent was caught cheating/lying/stealing; and here's proof. vote for me"
"no, MY opponent was caught cheating/lying/stealing; and here's proof. vote for ME"
"the guy who has been in office has been cheating/lying/stealing for all the years that he's been in office. don't you think it's time that he was replaced with this guy walking his family down a street? he's a good guy, just look at him. HE'LL never screw you over like literally EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN EVER HAS. we promise. god bless america"
"are you republican? then you're what's wrong with the u.s. studies show that these people, who are republican, have no morals, and think evil is ok"
"are you democrat? then you're what's wrong with the u.s. studies show that these people, who are democrats, have no morals, and think evil is ok"
"the irs can take EVERYTHING AWAY FROM YOU if you avoid taxes. pay your taxes, so that people may spawn a jillion kids, and not work, but somehow still drive better cars than you do"
"you can have your license taken away from you if you don't have auto insurance. this cop enforces this law. he also may shoot you if you don't comply fast enough, according to lower-income housing polls, and popular media at this point in time"
"does your car insurance company not want to give you a fair deal? call us, we are the lawyers on YOUR side"
"do you own your car? have you bought and paid for it? think again, because you have to pay personal property tax on it. and if you refuse, we can take your car, that you already bought and paid for, away from you. forget that your other taxes should cover this. we own you. pay us money"
"the FBI has been selling guns to gun traffickers, which end up in the hands of gangs and drug cartels that never see a headline in the news. instead of focusing on these rampant criminals, what about all the CRAZY PEOPLE who live amongst you, and who live/study/work JUST LIKE YOU DO, who are shooting people up at random?"
"the NSA are tapping your phones, and every phone/computer/internet search engine you use is collecting information on you. forget that the internet was made by the government, originally for the military. use it for facebook, and tell us ALL about yourselves. we keep you SAFE, by knowing/suspecting/arresting anyone we think are terrorists, even if we have no evidence. thanks again for not paying any attention to the PATRIOT act. lol"
"don't you REALLY have a problem with gun violence in the u.s.? don't you think we should get rid of all these guns? why are so many CRAZY PEOPLE getting guns? we are these EVIL NUTJOBS continually killing people? black-on-black violence that happens far more frequently isn't the issue here, it's WHITE-on-every other color violence that is the REAL ISSUE, and is RUNNING RAMPANT, jesus help us. no, that's not a doctored photo. this guy is WHITE. you DO trust us, right? you're not one of those TINFOIL-HAT CRAZIES WITH A GUN, are you?"
"we keep putting camera's up everywhere outside of neighborhoods, you can forget about those camera's on your phones and computers(and the microphones), those are ONLY for selfies. and the camera's up everywhere else are FOR YOUR PROTECTION ONLY. sorry for that shooting, it's because we didn't HAVE A CAMERA UP TO STOP IT FROM HAPPENING"
"gridlock in all the airports in the u.s. today, as the software that keeps you safe by identifying terror suspects went down. good thing you took off your shoes, watch, necklaces and belt, right? THAT'S HOW WE KEEP YOU SAFE"
...i could go on and on and on with this snow. and it all serves to leave me doubting this thing called "free society". the game is rigged, people. what the snow is wrong with you all?
no matter how much evidence is presented to them every single day that their entire "free" first-world society is a joke(hint: it's in EVERYTHING THAT IS SAID ON THE T.V.); no matter how much people try to wake them up by whatever means possible... people keep drinking the snowing koolaid. what i want to know is, when the herders of society are going to stop putting strychnine in it, and switch to ricin?
*goes back to modding a game, and doing his best to ignore everything else having to do with a "free" first-world society*
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 08:05 PM |
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Stevie
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 08:06 PM |
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Two words: By Design.
This world we live in describes exactly what humanity is all about. This is all us at an existential level, a reflection of what we truly are. We created it, we're enduring it, and believe me it'll only get worse. I pity you fred, because on one hand you're not a happy ignorant like the majority, on the other you don't believe that salvation exists. And I myself don't think salvation at our hands is possible either, but my hope is not in the immanent, rather in the transcendent. God promised to deliver us from this farce and restore our fundamental being, if we believe in His Word and His Son, Jesus Christ. And I believe. I encourage you to do as well.
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Guide to a Great Heroes Game
The Young Traveler
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 08:16 PM |
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mvassilev said:
And yet it's still a great place to live.
compared to the 3rd world countries, of course; there's no denying that. but as a spoiled 1st-world country civilian, i know we can do better. and especially, as an american. i believe in what my country could be; the utopia the idea of it was designed around.
i know, i'm an idiot. usa'll never be the utopia i want it to be. or the mad-max version of it, either; which would be a close second. i was made for either of those realities; this one, not so much. it's extraordinarily taxing on me, the lies that are currently holding everything together. which is why i try to ignore it the best i can. i really cannot stand watching t.v., or most movies. everything seems to be perpetuating this fake-ass society, filled with fake-ass people, who have no imagination, grasp on reality, or will to come together as one to make any sort of utopia happen.
i despise the hippies, for giving up. i really do.
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Elodin
Promising
Legendary Hero
Free Thinker
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posted October 16, 2015 08:39 PM |
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Thomas Jefferson wrote:
Quote:
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.
A society is only as free as the people demand it to be. Politicians have learned that the attention span of the people is short. As long as the politicians dole out a few goodies to the people from the taxes taken from the people politicians can keep gathering more and more power to themselves. The gaze of the people is then on the pasture of their daily lives until the wolves devour them.
When the people demand that the government submit to the chains of the Constitution they can live free. Until then it is we the people who are chained and awaiting slaughter.
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Revelation
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Tsar-Ivor
Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
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posted October 16, 2015 09:01 PM |
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Quote:
A society is only as free as the people demand it to be.
This!
Resonates so well with what Tocqueville said as well. That: "In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve."
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"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny
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Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 09:06 PM |
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Quote:
"do you own your car? have you bought and paid for it? think again, because you have to pay personal property tax on it. and if you refuse, we can take your car, that you already bought and paid for, away from you. forget that your other taxes should cover this. we own you. pay us money"
I used to think being an owner was a good thing, but I'm not so sure anymore. I'm jobless and receive various help from the state, for example, I pay only 10% of my rent, and public transportation is almost free.
If I owned my accomodation, paying it would probably already cost more than a whole life in this flat, but even after paying it, I would still have to keep paying taxes til my death, because being an owner makes me obscenely priviledged, and the same for owning a car. and that's without considering that even though you are the "owner", they can still, as you said, take away your properties, or simply decide how you must and must not use it, like for every godamn little thing you want to modify in your house, you would need an authorisation from the mayor...
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Tsar-Ivor
Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
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posted October 16, 2015 11:13 PM |
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Tbh, I don't see much point of getting my license, the only use for a car I'd have is to drive back to my folks/family every couple of months, but frankly I can do that for 24 quid anyhow, don't need a car for it. Every type of store is within 10-20min walking distance, it's far more efficient for me to walk anyway, in this friggin city I can walk to any work place withing the same amount of time, and hell further away I can just get a bike.
Further down the line once I graduate I might consider getting my license (almost went for it in collage, but car just costs too much and the return doesn't justify it imho). The only thing a car gives is that sense of freedom of movement, you're not restricted can go where you want, whenever you want.
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"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny
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Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 16, 2015 11:24 PM |
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freedom of movement is the habitual argument, but cars are mostly used to go to work 
oh well, maybe you feel more free going to work in your car than in a bus. knowing that you work to pay the loan back
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted October 17, 2015 12:05 AM |
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Tsar-Ivor said:
Tbh, I don't see much point of getting my license, the only use for a car I'd have is to drive back to my folks/family every couple of months, but frankly I can do that for 24 quid anyhow, don't need a car for it. Every type of store is within 10-20min walking distance, it's far more efficient for me to walk anyway, in this friggin city I can walk to any work place withing the same amount of time, and hell further away I can just get a bike.
Further down the line once I graduate I might consider getting my license (almost went for it in collage, but car just costs too much and the return doesn't justify it imho). The only thing a car gives is that sense of freedom of movement, you're not restricted can go where you want, whenever you want.
People are believed to have moved faster on average in downtown London in horse & carriages in the 19th century than they currently do with cars. Kind of kills the incentive.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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Doomforge
Admirable
Undefeatable Hero
Retired Hero
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posted October 17, 2015 12:34 AM |
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Trust me, the 1st world society beats the 2nd world society (postsoviet crap countries like mine) anytime, anywhere. And let's not even mention the 3rd world like Africa.
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We reached to the stars and everything is now ours
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Tsar-Ivor
Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
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posted October 17, 2015 01:37 AM |
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Idk I think we need to define that term, empirically speaking third world refers to countries that rely almost solely on natural resources for their GDP, second world are developing countries and first world are the hard core production states. So that would rank Russia as a third world country lol so it's kinda deceptive.
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"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted October 17, 2015 10:08 PM |
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According to my knowledge (I checked again after reading your post), it's a technically obsolete terminology, first world countries are capitalist countries usually in alliance with NATO, second world countries are the Soviet bloc and third world countries are the ones that are so underdeveloped, they cant be categorized as either capitalist or communist.
In everyday language, we still use the terms first world country (usually to imply it's a rich country with constitutional rights and proper education etc) and third world country (usually to imply very poor countries with primitive regimes). After the collapse of communism, people hardly refer to second world countries anymore and that term is almost completely obsolete.
The categorization was inevitably an oversimplification to begin with in most cases anyway, since there are dozens of countries with unique conditions. Take Saudi Arabia, it's rich because of oil and definitely capitalist but if you look at the conditions regular people live, you can hardly call it a first world country. Then there are countries like mine, where some rural areas are somewhere between second world and third world standards, yet urbanized regions are like a moderate first world country.
Anyway, we all understand what the original post refers to is mainly wealthy countries governed by democracy and since fred is American, naturally, some of his complaints are specific to the U.S. Needless to say, things like corruption, bribery, public ignorance, disinformation through media are much worse in poorer parts of the world. Lucky Luciano had a phone in his cell, Pablo Escobar coerced the government into building his own private prison before turning himself in. But again, the original post does not claim that they have it worse anyway, I think what he means is, why can't we improve ourselves as a society when we have all the infrastructure and opportunity to do so, which is a good question. For example, I can understand if people in some Afghan village still think the world is 6000 years old but given the amount of scientific publication and budget spared to education, I really have a hard time understanding how a significant portion of U.S. citizens still believe that.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Hadji020
Adventuring Hero
The Underestimated
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posted October 17, 2015 10:19 PM |
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Edited by Hadji020 at 22:20, 17 Oct 2015.
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I don't think true good can come from evil.. or true freedom can be based on lies, theft and whatnot. All this crap needs to get torn down and remade anew.
When a foundation is rotten you can decide to build your house on it, but sooner or later it'll collapse.
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.::True Rebels Walk Alone::.
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 17, 2015 10:26 PM |
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artu said:
I really have a hard time understanding how a significant portion of U.S. citizens still believe that.
i know only a couple religious people myself, and i doubt even they believe that the world is only 6,000 years old. i wasn't referring to them, anyway. i was referring to the entire populace.
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artu
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted October 17, 2015 10:33 PM |
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I know, my example emphasizes how some things become less understandable when it's a first world country. And by less understandable, I don't mean one can comprehend it less, it's just that "uuh uhh" feeling becomes stronger.
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Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost
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Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 19, 2015 06:52 PM |
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I guess the main difference between countries is that in some of them, the elite have a harder time taking everything away from the population, like they have to find good enough lies to justify it.
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Neraus
Promising
Legendary Hero
Pain relief cream seller
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posted October 19, 2015 07:39 PM |
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Edited by Neraus at 19:40, 19 Oct 2015.
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artu said:
I really have a hard time understanding how a significant portion of U.S. citizens still believe that.
I blame Martin Luther
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Reading fred's list of statements/sentences/quotes reminds me of the reason why I always feel depressed in my spare time (I'm depressed part time, if such a thing exists), I came to rethink this quote "Religion is the opium of the people" and change it to "Politics are the opium of the people", and the reason is simple, politicians can't run a country based on my experience, they play a game of finding the largest consensus they can get, and they will always make the laws that appease the voters.
When you see politicians debating it's a ruse, that's what I learned eventually, here in Italy there are splendid examples of laws enacted by sheer ideological decisions.
We had a tax on the first home, an unpopular measure, but necessary, then came Berlusconi and removed it, guess what, 12 years later Monti arrives, and recycling a law suggestion of the old government makes a new tax for the first home, as of now Renzi is promising to remove it yet again.
And the best of all is the ideological backing of some of them allows them to deflect criticism, they basically passed a law two years ago that gave 80 € to workers, a law that would have been called a bribe had it been passed by the right wing government of Berlusconi but became an incentive since it was passed by the left wing government of Renzi.
Suddenly it's cool to be leftists, the "cultural elite" is made of leftists as I see it, and the mention of being right wing is already grounds of dismissal, but the funny thing is, many here want Berlusconi back, or even better, our old Benito.
I've become a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist for this reason, this led me to research and...
I think that lies are the daily bread of the youth, just citing a minor example (at least in your point of view), the unification of Italy was staged and the South wasn't as poor as Botswana in that period, Garibaldi came and bribed officials and convinced landowners to commit crime, and he introduced his fair share of criminals in the land.
That would mean that our history books are filled with lies, Garibaldi is the hero of Italy, the hero of the Two worlds, and yet he may be the reason we have a problem with the mafia if this is true.
But let's not forget that the English also had an hand in it, and best of all: King Victor Emmanuel II, Garibaldi and Cavour were all masons.
You can see where I'm going, when you discover these things you question if the people had any say, any power to decide the flow of events, what if actually everything in the last century was a ruse to establish a world government?
That however is preposterous and crazy, but in these years I learned that questioning the past means entertaining these things, and hoping such things don't happen.
I think the worst thing of our time is disinformation and the loss of our identities, and this is not a tinfoil hat theory.
Racism is not the way to go obviously, but nationalism is, in the sense of rediscovering our heritages, I am ashamed to say I don't know how to talk in Sicilian, I can spout some phrases here and there, but I don't know the language of my grandfathers, even if it is similar to Italian, it's not a ground for removal.
I get it, the world now is more interconnected than ever, but that doesn't mean removing our differences, why is it that diversity is our strength when we negate the difference between a Scot and a Briton? Why is it only relevant regarding your skin colour? Why is it that today, in first world countries people are more similar than ever and yet society fails to integrate Muslim communities.
How come 900 years ago a little island in the middle of the Mediterranean managed to pacify and collaborate with a Muslim minority when today there are Sharia zones?
And then I come to my conclusion: Today's world is a world for the rich, more than ever, if you're rich you can do whatever you want, get that great house, travel around the world, attend the best parties and have the best education and jobs.
This applies more today than in the past I think, due to the nature of modern societies.
Sometimes I envy those in third world countries if you can believe that, but I acknowledge the fact that I would probably die before building a good life there.
Truth be told, I'd have likes to live in the Middle Ages, you were sure of those who were above you, you could count on having your meal by the end of the day and the relative safety of a Lord that needed the most men he could.
Sometimes maybe, I think modern society isn't a state for men to live in, it feels strange looking back on history.
...
That was kind of liberating...
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Noli offendere Patriam Agathae quia ultrix iniuriarum est.
ANTUDO
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Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 20, 2015 12:01 AM |
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Neraus said:
And then I come to my conclusion: Today's world is a world for the rich, more than ever, if you're rich you can do whatever you want, get that great house, travel around the world, attend the best parties and have the best education and jobs.
This applies more today than in the past I think, due to the nature of modern societies.
or the nature of the economy. your money works everywhere, and to own something, you basically need nothing more than a document saying you own it, so you can own dozens of places in the world without having ever been in any of them... and screw people who actually live there, they had to be rich if they wanted to own the land where they are born.
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markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted October 20, 2015 03:16 AM |
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I'm a fish out of water...and would love to live a century and a half ago no matter what the difficulties were; it would be a trade-off that I would happily take. I’m sure there are places around the world that survive yet but health and hardship will not allow such a move for me.
Too many people today are wusses. They could not survive living life in times past when most worked. Watch a show like Tudor-farm and you'll realize not only is most of society lazy, they are dumber than a box of rocks. With all our <ahem> education is society truly smarter? I don’t think common-sense is very common anymore. “Common” speaks of a togetherness that doesn’t actually exist.
Speaking of common. Today in America, few people have any clue what a community is and with the EnterNet, this has only gotten and will get...worse. The youth today cannot know what our American society has lost. How can they when most of life has been seen from sitting behind some sort of a screen? Books tell your mind what to imagine, screens tell you...never mind...just stare and follow along. All you will need to do is react. I can tell you one thing for sure, no child is going to learn how important people in a small region are by sitting alone in a room occupied by electronic-gadgets. No amount of how-to videos is going to do that. Living and loving real living human-beings “in spite of themselves and ourselves” (all self) is an art-form that takes lots of time and effort to master.
Funny how society today is so, so, reactionary...eh? and yet so clueless when imagination and reasoning is needed. Everything is about emotion+buying, emotion+eating and emotion+voting.
Which leads me to; I saw something sad growing in my children when they were young. Of their whole family, I was the only voice saying that life is more than materialism-equals-pleasure; that work was good for us, mind and body. All they cared about was going from one thrill to the next. Now, that is a "spoilt" childhood that used to be reserved for the elite but what if it carries over into adulthood? As far as I can tell...it has and it seems everywhere. But what can one expect from a person that, from birth, was always handed everything they wanted? Is it reasonable to think that such as person is all of a sudden going to want to work for others and care nothing about what they get? I don't think so. I think another me-first has neen "programmed" for this consumer-nation controlled and directed by our lovely Corporations.
And Controlling-Corporations leads me to Face-Book. It is perfect for this nation. Why? Because it is NOT a FACE it is a “picture of a face” in a book. You have to be in the presence of another human being to see a FACE and get to know the person behind it. By the original definition, "on the face of it" is something to be seen or understood. A picture of a face anywhere on the net can be doctored or not even the one that belongs to said name.
And isn't that our politicians? I just love how they have convinced themselves that it is perfectly right to have 2 images/2 faces. One is the personal and the other the public. They actually believe this bull-tripe. They can be two or more completely different people, just like Jekyll and Hyde. That's why you can never know if you have caught up with the one that is telling the truth. And then there is the problem that the one might be lying about the other one. (if only it were funny) People complained when an Actor became President but since then I've l realized that event only stated the obvious...the whole shibang is an act to get at the feeding troughs of power and wealth. Governments in developed nations are all the same no matter the banner. A few people think and live as elites and to hell with the rest of us.
And here’s the result; our society has been stripped of good jobs, we still use resources like there is no tomorrow, children are raised poorly if at all, the elderly are a nuisance to be ignored, people are more cut-off from each other than ever and the people are led around by greedy propaganda. All this will lead to a demise like Rome‘s, that is already underway.
Btw, I saw something I think sad in a Documentary about an accidental discovery of a bog-corpse they believe was an Irish King; apparently there are many such findings across of all of Europe and Scandinavia. It was not the Doc that was sad but the huge machine “harvesting” the peat (that uncovered the body) from the bog that was sad. If you know about Irish & Scottish history, then you will know that Peat has been a source of heat for the very poor in hard times forever. So, it seems that just once more, across this beautiful Earth, some greedy so-in-so that has a Corporation, gets the usual blessing from his Government to plunder a country’s resources for his own wealth making the Government and the ONE very happy.
I survive both my illness and the times using the age-old; "Oh well, it could always be worse." But I have to say, after muttering it for the thousandth time I've lost some of the necessary conviction.
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