The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

How should society be organised, if at all?

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Science Fan
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by Science Fan »

VT: You should actually act more like a sensible adult. If you really do believe the childish nonsense you constantly write about Americans, then I'm done responding to you because you have to be completely insane then.
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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I really don't need to say anything. The Americans on here do it all for me.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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Science Fan wrote: Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:40 pm VT: You should actually act more like a sensible adult. If you really do believe the childish nonsense you constantly write about Americans, then I'm done responding to you because you have to be completely insane then.
Science Fan,haven't you noticed yet, that we are all insane here?

If you haven't noticed, then is that because you are sane? If you are the only sane one, then it is you who doesn't belong here.

However, if you are insane, too, and belong here, then it follows that you haven't noticed that we are all insane.

(Relax, SF, this was another attempt at joking ;-)
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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-1- wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:53 am haven't you noticed yet, that we are all insane here?
Speak for yourself. And SF has no discernible sense of humour btw.
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Greta
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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Take away the ideology and you have a discussion on how to run a society to best overall effect - both in terms of the people's happiness and general prosperity.

If there is too much equality then not much gets done. You need centres of excellence - monstrous bloated behemoths of power and wealth so as to embark on the largest projects.

However, if inequality is too great then there is social unrest, dysfunction and loss of the very synergies capitalism hopes to generate. At present persistent use of propaganda by Fox and others has helped keep the masses quiet about levels of inequality they might otherwise rebel against, but that little firewall appears to be gradually breaking down through a societal fracture - essentially between the Fox Tribe and the rest.

There is a balance to be found, if only ideology and political power plays didn't keep getting in the way.

I don't think talking about kindness will cut through any more. The level of misanthropy and societal divisions and objectification of "the enemy" are such that the suffering and death of others doesn't seem to matter to us as much as it once did. I guess in an overpopulated world there's a sense that, the fewer the people, the better. As with everything, scarcity raises the value of human life and oversupply reduces it.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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Greta wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:51 am As with everything, scarcity raises the value of human life and oversupply reduces it.
I've been saying the same thing about gods.

The reason the notion of "religious wars" started in the reformation, and never before, is due to the fact that there is a high demand for, and a horribly low supply of, gods. There is one available now. Everybody wants him.

Look at all the "independents". They deny that others have a right to their god.

The Jihad, the Csuhad, Northern Ireland war, uprest in Cyprus, unrising in Ceylon, everywhere, there is the problem of one god to be divvied up among many religions. Even this forum would not exist without that one-god-belief, because, frankly, it's this very one strife that separates us which keeps us together. Without the basic emotional commitment, that each of us have, there would be no arguments between the theists and the atheists. And without arguments there is no cohesive force on this forum. Once we all realize that there is a god, or some gods, or that there is none, then this site will become just one more dead-end Internet pages with cute cat pictures and funny stories that only a goat could enjoy.

I love you all. I never felt it, and obviously I never felt it so strong. I love the theists and the atheists. I love my greatest friends and my greatest enemies on this board. I love all the guys, and I love Greta, together with the other two or three or more women. I love Nick_A, and I love JohnDoe7, and I love Attofishpi. I love Trixie and I love Science Fan, and I love VeggiTaxiDermi. I love uwot and I love all the other trained scientists around here. I love you all.

This does not mean, mind you, that tomorrow I won't hate you all. So don't get carried away with my infinite love for you all just yet. Just take it home with you, and cherish it while it lasts.

I know I will.
Science Fan
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by Science Fan »

Greta: I largely agree with your last comment. I would add that I was watching a FOX NEWS clip the other day on youtube, and Tucker Carlson was claiming that the USA is controlled by some group, I can't even recall what he referred to them as, but he was definitely claiming some small group of people control the USA and that Trump was fighting against them. So, presently, FOX NEWS is endorsing a conspiracy theory, completely out in the open, actively endorsing a made-up conspiracy theory. Years ago, they had a late-night show with Glen Beck promoting a conspiracy theory claiming the Jews controlled the world, but it was dumped shortly after airing and not part of its regular news format.

Unfortunately, and I'll repeat that this problem is by no means confined to the USA, about 15-25% of the population in the west is completely out of their minds. Everyone who has any interest in keeping things sane has a vested interest in joining together to push back against this insanity.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

Who doesn't love a nice serving of irony with their morning coffee? :D
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Greta
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:34 pm Who doesn't love a nice serving of irony with their morning coffee? :D
Coffee or MDMA? :)

Makes for a nice change from the usual smell of napalm ...
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:34 pm Who doesn't love a nice serving of irony with their morning coffee? :D
I had lots of coffee this morning. After two days of none.

But hey, good things happen when you're euphoric.

For instance, I hadn't worked in 25 years. I am in my last year before retirement age, so I figured I should get a job.

I signed up to a Focus group earlier in the week. The meeting was today. As we were waiting in the foyer for the group to get quorum, they were asking us to help ourselves to soft drinks and sandwiches. I had three sandwiches, they were reeeeeally good. I was being nice to everyone, like I usually am with brand new people. I even offered my seat to a woman who came later, and there were no more seats.

So the group leader shows up. The recruiter lady, who was serving sandwiches, told me in a hushed voice, "please, i want to talk to you," and she ushered everyone else into a side room.

I asked her what was up, she said, I was the last one to be called, and they had one more body than they needed, so I can go home. I said, fine, thanks for calling me anyway, and she said, no, wait, here's your honorarium. And she handed me a hundred dollar bill in an envelope.

I was already laughing the proverbial laughter in the parking lot as I walked toward my bicycle. If my accounting is not mistaken, they called me in, fed me sandwiches and drinks, and when I was full, they paid me $100 and sent me home.

If this is what they call "work" these days, then dammit, gimme more. I have been away too long from the job market. I haven't realized this is how much things have changed.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

You could make a decent living off job interviews if they were all like that. When you think about it they should really pay unsucessful candidates for their time, especially as the whole process is a load of phony American-style bullshit now anyway.
How did you survive for 25 years? Are you are spoilt heir or something?
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:05 am You could make a decent living off job interviews if they were all like that. When you think about it they should really pay unsucessful candidates for their time, especially as the whole process is a load of phony American-style bullshit now anyway.
How did you survive for 25 years? Are you are spoilt heir or something?
I am a member of the Royal family. Not of England, but of Ruanda-Burundi. I am the seventh cousin, six times removed, of King Mbwaglanmbwa of the Drang dynasty. With special emphasis on the "nasty". The last time I was removed was in 2012. My mother was the princess of Zambezi, the river-god with human descendants, and my father smelled of elderberries.

Before becoming permanently unemployable, my job was in the business activity of exporting coconuts from their African plantations to Europe, via carrier-sparrows of African descent. I trained the pigeons who taught the sparrows where to drop their loads.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

-1- wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:04 am
vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:05 am You could make a decent living off job interviews if they were all like that. When you think about it they should really pay unsucessful candidates for their time, especially as the whole process is a load of phony American-style bullshit now anyway.
How did you survive for 25 years? Are you are spoilt heir or something?
I am a member of the Royal family. Not of England, but of Ruanda-Burundi. I am the seventh cousin, six times removed, of King Mbwaglanmbwa of the Drang dynasty. With special emphasis on the "nasty". The last time I was removed was in 2012. My mother was the princess of Zambezi, the river-god with human descendants, and my father smelled of elderberries.

Before becoming permanently unemployable, my job was in the business activity of exporting coconuts from their African plantations to Europe, via carrier-sparrows of African descent. I trained the pigeons who taught the sparrows where to drop their loads.
A 'Focus' group, not an interview. My mistake. I don't even want to know what a 'Focus' group is. :roll:
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

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vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:18 am
A 'Focus' group, not an interview. My mistake. I don't even want to know what a 'Focus' group is. :roll:
Since you are completely uninterested, I'll tell you what a focus group is.

It's an opinion-seeking device, different in form from surveys, but after essentially the same product. The product being what values or lack of, one sees in a product just about to be launched on the market; or similar.

The format of a focus group is an informal conversation between strangers and a group leader. The group leader is the one who knows what the product is, and s/he won't reveal what it is to the group; but will elicit opinions from the participants what they figure is good and bad in their opinion regarding the product.
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Re: The struggle the USA faces in accepting kindness for all

Post by Arising_uk »

-1- wrote:... The group leader is the one who knows what the product is, and s/he won't reveal what it is to the group; but will elicit opinions from the participants what they figure is good and bad in their opinion regarding the product.
This can't be right can it?
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