Depending on where we look, the universe is expanding at different rates. Now, scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed that the observation is not down to a measurement error.
Yeah this stuff is so tangled and difficult. I watched one of John Olivierās recent videos on chocolate production in places like Africa and it likewise messed me up a little - like, should I buy less chocolate, or more, which is doing less harm vs. good? Btw the answer, as you may have guessed it, is āyesā. Yes buying chocolates helps the poor farmers, while also yes it supports their near-slave-labor conditions, both. And fair-trade seems to mean little if anything at all. :-(
Ultimately I came down on the side that since they are doing this to themselves, the alternatives to cacao farming must be even worse? e.g. hunting in the wilds, or farming something to sell locally. And while the corpo execs seem to me to be greedy MFers just doing hunting of their own, for profits, they nonetheless are doing some amount of service, if they are offering this option to the farmers that they would not otherwise have.
The sticking point is the price: regardless of intention, does lowering that cause more chocolate to be sold, thus help the farmers more than raising it would? (I have no idea btw, thatās just what pops up in my mind) Also, I am so very far away from the situation that it is impossible to accurately judge anything - like Johnās video shows another video showing children walking through the fields harvesting cacao and ānot wearing safety gearā, but what is that gear, who actually needs it, is it always needed or only during certain seasons, so really how bad is it that these children, who importantly do this for fun, should have been wearing it?
It is good to ask these questions, but yes, dayum it is exhausting. Especially for every tiny little matter.
Though the authoritarianism video is a fairly central one in my mind, fwiw. Even your country, which we want to āescapeā to when things go bad in the States, may turn to it, as seems to be the global trend.:-( Anyway, enjoy!:-)
Oh for sure. These things are complicated and itās really hard to come up with a simple conclusion.
Authoritarianism definitely seems to be on the rise everywhere, although I still believe that most people are against it. You canāt really trust online sentiment and personally I havenāt encountered that many people IRL that would support something like that. My fear is that some people might not realize what theyāre voting for and what it really means but I still believe that most people are good and that we can get out of this mess before it is too late.
We are definitely not safe from it here in Canada so yeah, your escape plan might not work out. Things that happen down south often end up happening up here as well, with a little bit of delay. Canadians arenāt really that different from Americans and we consume the same type of media. Hopefully if shit does hit the fan, even the dumbest of voters will be smart enough to see that it is not something that they want and we can stop it before it runs rampant here.
I am curious: after having watched that video, do you still think most people are against it?
I think the opposite - people in cities tend to be, but a good 40-49% of this nation supported Trump in the last Presidential election, despite Biden ultimately winning and despite Trump having been impeached twice before that.
Countering that, the younger generations are more liberal, but we tend to eat our own, and e.g. the Gaza situation may generate a lot of āprotest votingā, the same as when Hillary Clinton was running and therefore while Trump did not āwinā so much as she lost, it could all end up happening again.
Americans are fat and lazy - thatās just our brand:-) - and to some extent the entire Western world is that way, but we do it to excess. By that same virtue, we are likely to convert into authoritarianism, possibly not even with a bang but with a whimper - not b/c of what we believe, but b/c we just donāt fight back against those who do have firmer convictions (right or wrong).
Thus, I hope you donāt take this the wrong way, but I hope that you lose your hope that āif shit does hit the fan, even the dumbest of voters will be smart enough to see that it is not something that they want and we can stop it before it runs rampant hereā, and start learning from our mistakes, by shoring up protections against it getting as far along with you. Which I guess you are doing, so I will hope that it works!:-)
Well thatās where we differ, Americans and Canadians. Canadians are on average much more liberal than Americans. We also have a very different political system. We actually have more than two options to chose from! Crazy, I know! The political system doesnāt control general sentiment of the population so things can still get hairy but nobody has started dismantling our checks and balances yet so at least weāve got that?
Our conservative party isnāt usually as bad as the American conservatives either. Although Bitcoin Milhouse and a couple other Conservative leaders are starting to spew some of the same ignorant bullshit, trying to get reactionary votes, I am way less scared about my future here than I would be in the US. We do have a part of the population that are getting sucked into it but itās really nowhere near as bad (yet, hopefully never). Weāve got Alberta thatās very conservative and very loud, theyāre basically Little Texas but whatever, theyāve always been that way. Theyāve never changed and they never will. Business as usual. Ontario is a bit scary with what Doug Ford is doing and even in my little province we have our own little conservative pissbaby, who is absolutely wrecking havoc but even other conservatives hate his ass so thereās a decent chance he gets booted out next provincial election.
Iām from French Canada, not Quebec but still French. Iām probably sheltered from it a bit as we are super liberal, much more than English Canada. I donāt really see that much insanity here, even in my tiny little fisherman village. Not to say everybody is cool. I have noticed a change in the way some people look at me in the past couple years, being a transwoman in such a small place where people have never really left their backyards and seen anything. Before it was mostly curiosity, surprise, whatever. Now I see people look at me in disgust and anger. Iāve seen a mother grab her kid and scuttle away to the other side of a store as if I could give them the trans. Iāve had someone spit in my sandwich at a fast food restaurant, although that happened in a neighbouring English city (Risky to do something like that here, I probably know your dad š).
Nothing anywhere near that kind of shit happened to me even just 2 years ago and Iāve been loudly trans here for over 7 years now. I 100% attribute that to the hateful and ignorant shit thatās being spewed out by the right and the crazy religious folk being picked up here by people who donāt know any better.
Shit, that was a rant. I donāt even remember what we were talking about. Sorry hahah.
Sorry but I did lolz at this - as if!:-P Part of the funny is that the Bible says āJudge not, lest you be judgedā, even though it also has a whole list of judgements for leaders, who were supposed to be held to a much higher standard. So to ignore the latter - letting leaders touch little children who would rather not - while also ignoring the formerā¦ they arenāt even reading their own book.:-(
Though I guess you see that it is not just Christianity. In some parts of the world it is Muslim, in others it is Hindu, in still others it could be Buddhism, or whatever. One day there will even be fundamentalist atheists I believe, despite how it promotes skeptical thought and so that is fairly rare for now, human nature is just that lazy!
Anyway I am proud of you. Stand up for yourself! That is definitely not my situation but who the fuq cares, b/c you need to be (free to) be you. And thatās the problem with Authoritarianism (hereās a another link to a whole other series on that if you want - this Innuendo Studies should have nothing whatsoever to do with HBO, and therefore you probably have seen it already:-P): they lack empathy and allow - even perform - the judgement onto others (except their leaders, who they conveniently exempt from all proper consequences of their actions), never dreaming that one day it will wrap back around to themselves. āFirst they came forā¦ā That process demeans us all, and yeah, one day it may be too late to reverse course. How ironic that you are showing compassion to them even while they spit at you (as Jesus would, hehe:-P). Stay strong, my sister in empathy!:-)
Speaking of, I hope you never catch up to us:-). Though as you say, the English speaking part is a bit closer to us in that regard, highly unfortunately:-(. Though, you still having a somewhat functional government does mean that you should be alright:-).
Though I guess you see that it is not just Christianity.
Nah, it is absolutely not just Christianity. I see all religion as the same thing. Itās the same people, just different stories. I include some atheists in there hahah. Fervent atheists and ābelieversā share many of the same traits. I donāt think the particular religion has anything to do with it, itās probably that people who are susceptible to following a religion are more susceptible to fall for tricks and support authoritarianism. I donāt wanna sound like I think Iām better than anyone who follows a religion. I think having some kind of belief system is essential and that we all have that built in us so itās kinda natural for people to gravitate towards religions. I have my own whacky belief system that Iām sure some people would scoff at but itās mine and it has served me well so far. I just think beliefs are a very personal thing and thatās how it shouldāve stayed. Religions are more about control than they are about beliefs and values.
Anyway I am proud of you. Stand up for yourself! That is definitely not my situation but who the fuq cares, b/c you need to be (free to) be you. And thatās the problem with Authoritarianism
Thank you! I am and I will continue doing so. I will not live in an authoritarian society. If you have but one ally in this fight against authoritarianism, itāll be us trans folk hahah. We will not be shoved back into the closet peacefully, this I can promise.
this Innuendo Studies should have nothing whatsoever to do with HBO, and therefore you probably have seen it already:-P)
I donāt remember it but apparently at some point Iāve watched the first two videos of the series. Iāll try to give it another shot hahah
they lack empathy and allow - even perform - the judgement onto others (except their leaders, who they conveniently exempt from all proper consequences of their actions)
Yeah those are the ones that really scare me. Some people are just sociopaths and sycophants, they need to be recognized for what they are but people canāt even tell whatās real and whatās not anymore. Weāve propped up these kinds of people for decades on TV and in the media and now people think thatās normal. Today I look at some of your politicians bickering and I feel like Iām watching an episode of Jersey Shore. Similar thing is happening with the current conservatives in Canada, itās actually painfully cringy to see. Itās like high school type of shit all over again. Not something we should be seeing in parliament.
How ironic that you are showing compassion to them even while they spit at you (as Jesus would, hehe:-P). Stay strong, my sister in empathy!:-)
HAHAH, yeah I am very far from being a Christ figure but many people have called me Jesus during my life. Mostly because of my hair, I did kinda look like your classic White Jesusā¢ š. I just have a really hard time abandoning anyone and I canāt stay mad at anyone because it absolutely eats me inside if I do. I always try to find excuses for peoples behaviours. My compassion might also come from a bit of a selfish place as there was a time where I couldāve probably fallen for shit like that, hell, I have. Iāve been a piece of shit in the past but it all stemmed from a combination personal issues and growing up in a very secluded environment. I donāt think I couldāve fallen as deep into hatred and ignorance as some seem to be these days but still, weāre not that different. I know why I was that way, I may not know why others are but I know why I was, and in the end I was āredeemableā. I think most people are and itās hard for me not to give everyone a chance.
Though, you still having a somewhat functional government does mean that you should be alright:-)
For what itās worth, I think you guys will be alright too. Have some faith :3 (But donāt stop doing what you do)
Spot on! Jesus Himself hated the religious hypocrites (āKarensā) of His day, calling them vipers and white-washed tombs, full of rot and decay even if slapped with a fresh coat of paint on the outside. Some people hear that and say ānaw, I think I, as a Bishop or Pope or whatever, know far better than Jesus what āChristianityā should meanā, and then proceed to fondle little humans, but others think the latter is detestable and enormously gross:-(. Humans gonna human I guess, but itās not all equally good or bad - some of it is INSANE, and inside of us all we know whatās what. Like if it happened to us or to someone we care about and we get mad, then we KNOW WTF is up. So those rich old white dudes (or equivalent thereof) are not even consistent with themselves, in that the walk does not match the talk, ergo it is false.
Ngl though, controlling the masses may have had a use, back in the day, before most people could read, by providing incentives for them to not kill and rape and steal and such. Even so, who can blame people then for being angry at finding out that their leaders donāt even belief the crap that theyāre preaching? Which ironically doesnāt even mean that it is false, just that I am agreeing with you about the need to dissect the issue by separating the ābelief systemā from the āauthoritarian religionā components. In any case, here in the USA the latter got hijacked and evangelical christians especially seem to almost equate āGod = vote for guns & conservatismā. I almost just said conservatism there except that itself is too bland for many of them, who want to continue pushing to ever more far-right schemes. āGodā for them is in-group selection.
Switching topics a bit, most of my friends online have been gay men. I am a cis het male btw, not that it matters but I am saying that I am friends with them not b/c of those shared aspects but more, I think, b/c they have empathy. People who have been through some shit end up having more ācharacterā than those who do not. Entitled/spoiled people are the types to spit in your food, never dreaming of what else you have been through, and then they go and add to that burden. THEY would not want that done to THEM, yet they do it to you. On the other hand, people who are heavily bullied may end up broken and mean to others, so I am not saying that exposure to trauma causes empathy, but I am saying that it is a necessary if not sufficient component, it seems to me. So you have had that opportunity that they did not, and chose to do something with it. And that is indeed something worth being proud of!:-)
If you like the videos then I am glad that I sent the link to remind you of them. They are not light fare, but I did so enjoy pouring through them slowly, digesting each one in turn. Itās like a college course in the material!:-)
As for the media on the other side, well, letās just say that Russia works in mysterious ways. Sometimes it is poisoning, but other times far more subtle. These days they are not even trying to be subtle anymore - Republican conventions are held in literal Moscow, as well as places such as Hungary. They are like minds, and Russia would be a fool not to partner with them, e.g. in that recent Tucker Carlson video interviewing Putin, if it would help speed the conversion of the USA from a foe to an ally. People do not spot it through b/c they are GOOD at what they do! Like, they poin ted out how Hillary Clinton was ācorruptā - b/c she WAS! The Supreme Court asked her to send all of her emails to them, and she told them ālolz no, Im gonna delete the ones that I do not want you to see firstā. Nobody can say that the optics surrounding that are anything remotely close to good. In fact, I gotta be careful here or I will go full-on rant on you, but remember that Trump did not win that election so much as she lost it (likewise, he did not win the Republican nomination either, so much as Ted Cruz lost it, after JEB botched the job). Whoever leaked her emails did the real work in that election - but then it was her actual words that she actually said and her actual actions that doomed her. Trump was outright shocked to have won - he never planned on it, did not really want it even, and gave some very serious thoughts to turning it down even! And even when he took it, he still just wanted to do the TV show that he had planned previously, on top of the job of being president. He is like a child - it is the situation that put him there, not (so much) his own intentions. In fact, I even have a little empathy for him too - he didnāt want it, but he did try, despite the job being well beyond his capacity, and thatās actually the tiniest shadow of a little light there (1 out of 1000 but stillā¦ it is worth noting and giving him that much credit at least; along with the blame for you know, the actual genocide of Americans by e.g. telling them that the virus was not airbone when he KNEW that it was).
Anyway, it is not ājustā the people that are broken, I agree, it is the SYSTEM. Although the system is made up out of people soā¦ thatās where I get lost. But that is also why I think what you are saying is good, about not abandoning people: b/c if enough people did THAT, then the system would not be the way it is today. Somewhere in there I do think that the carrot needs to be set down and the stick picked up, and I acknowledge that I have never figured out that the line that should distinguish between them, but I think that when you KNOW that the carrot is the thing to be done and you do it ANYWAY despite the cost, that is integrity. Which some few authoritarians that I have met personally I feel like also have, in that they turn to the stick too readily and without understanding it, but most - e.g. those who showed up at the capitol - do not, b/c how can you āprotectā the Constitution if you havenāt even so much as read it? A ācoupā to overturn something is NOT the same thing as āsavingā it, dummies!!!:-(
Which is why I have to admit that I have lost the faith: with ~80% of Americans being somewhere in the middle between the extreme left and right sides, and with good-hearted and honest people with some amount of integrity on both sides, yes and some child-like mindsets too, this isnāt something that most of us even seem to want to fight about? However, our media sells fear and extremism, and our politicians too, and with all these parasites sucking up our attention, how then is someone supposed to rise up and actually GOVERN? As ironically Biden has been doing, or at least trying to, though Congress and the Supreme Court seem more responsible for a goodly fraction of the issues that most average Americans are experiencing right now (not Gaza, but thatās a whole other thing, and frankly that doesnāt directly affect most āaverageā Americans either). I hope something will restore my faith, but I am not optimistic about that:-(. Therefore I believe that I am living in a dying country, but I do whatever I can to help others in my vicinity and abroad nonetheless, not b/c I think I will necessarily accomplish anything truly great there, but simply b/c it is who I am and how I want to be. We all need to live out our authentic lives, being our true selves:-).
Ngl though, controlling the masses may have had a use, back in the day, before most people could read, by providing incentives for them to not kill and rape and steal and such.
Oh yeah I 100% agree with that. Religion was basically a proto-government. Itās funny, reminds me of when I was in high school. I was part of the student newspaper and at some point I had written an article about religion and how it is basically an antiquated form of government and how it has no real purpose anymore. Edgy I know. The next Monday in school I heard about how the town priest had read the article during Sunday mass. Apparently he was NOT happy about it. I was pretty proud of that one, not gonna lie š.
People who have been through some shit end up having more ācharacterā than those who do not.
Yeah I think so too, but it can also easily go both ways, especially when you canāt manage to get out of said shit. (Nvm I see now that I should read a bit further before starting to type bahah)
I do believe however that the ones whoāve inflicted the most pain on others as a result of their own pain have the potential to be the ones who try their hardest to make up for their mistakes, which is why I try hard to not discount anyone. I might be wearing rose-colored glasses but I have to keep them on.
As for the media on the other side
Yeah the right associating with leaders such as Putin and OrbĆ”n is fucked up on so many levels. They definitely are good at what they do. Thatās one of the reasons I dislike how people on both sides treat each other like the other side is dumb. All sides have brilliant people and ignorant followers. And OF COURSE Hillary was corrupt, nobody who gets that far in politics has clean hands. Theyāre all corrupted in some way or another but not necessarily equally. Centrist cunts fuck off.
One of my best friends, brilliant guy, doctor of philosophy. A couple of years ago he decided he wanted to get into politics so he started small. He decided to run for city council here and won. It didnāt even take a year for him to absolutely hate the game. He said he could not sleep anymore, couldnāt handle how corrupted even stupid little city council members could be. He said there was no way for him to stay there without getting his own hands dirty and he wanted no part of it. Within a year he quit, and left the town to go teach halfway across the world at the University of Liverpool where he still is now. He couldnāt stand seeing these people anymore. It made sense then why our little town is dying. Even the tiniest amount of power is immense to tiny people. Iād like to see the day where we can offload a lot of these duties to some kind of AI, but thatās a whole other can of worms that we are not ready to open.
Trump is someone I have a very hard time having any empathy for, but yeah, I also have a teeny tiny bit, because he really is nothing but a child. However I donāt have any hope for him to ever turn around and do something good other than for his own selfish reasons. He is too old to grow up now.
Oh and on the subject of the Carlson-Putin interview. You wouldnāt happen to have a link for a re-upload? I still havenāt watched it because I refuse to even give it a single official view but I need to see it.
Anyway, it is not ājustā the people that are broken, I agree, it is the SYSTEM.
It is. We are all products of our environment. I donāt think we actually have much control over anything, not even ourselves. Thatās definitely one of my wacky beliefs. Iāve never been able to shake off the idea that we live in a deterministic universe so it is hard for me to stay mad at a person or a group of people when I donāt even believe they had any real control over their action. It would be like getting mad at the messenger. We still need to get mad and fight, but not the people. We need to fight ideas with better ideas. We need to love the people because they are us and we are them. Without them there is no us and vice versa. A world with no opposition is a world that would go sideways in no time.
In-fighting between humans has been a thing since forever and look where we are now. We are wayyyyy better off in most aspects than we were not that long ago. Itās easy to forget that when weāre forced to take a step backwards but we as a species will come back from this, we always have. At least, assuming we manage to heal our planet but unfortunately we canāt do that if we donāt somehow heal ourselves first.
A ācoupā to overturn something is NOT the same thing as āsavingā it, dummies!!!:-(
Yeahhhā¦ I donāt even know what to say about Jan 6th. That is such a messed up thing. I think that a lot of people who showed up at the Capitol didnāt have bad intentions, they were misled. Although Iām sure there were plenty involved that absolutely had bad intentions. Most of them problably werenāt there in person.
this isnāt something that most of us even seem to want to fight about? However, our media sells fear and extremism, and our politicians too
Thatās pretty much it. Most people donāt want to fight but the news, the politicians, corporations, whatever, theyāve all figured out that pitting us against each other was very profitable. Not only do we have parasites at home, we have parasites on the outside as well trying to creep in and profit as well. At this point it feels like we canāt trust anything or anyone, itās no surprise that there is a rise in conspiracy brains.
I hope something will restore my faith, but I am not optimistic about that:-(. Therefore I believe that I am living in a dying country
But you kinda are hahah, when have you ever seen something that is not dying in some way or another? All nations will eventually disappear or change into something completely unrecognizable. Either something new and better is born out of the seemingly rotting carcass that is the American empire, or something terrible to you will take itās place and that same cycle will repeat. Itās terrifying to think that we could lose our way of life, I tend to talk like Iām not scared but really Iām terrified. Itās the unknown part of it that is really scary.
I do whatever I can to help others in my vicinity and abroad nonetheless, not b/c I think I will necessarily accomplish anything truly great there, but simply b/c it is who I am and how I want to be. We all need to live out our authentic lives, being our true selves:-).
Those who aspire for greatness often end up accomplishing nothing. Youāre doing the right thing. Itās impossible for one person to change the big picture but you can absolutely change what is immediately around you and that is a very powerful thing. That is where we need to put our energy. I feel like the internet has done us a great disservice in that area. We are not ready to be so connected yet. Weāve lost the will to fight locally because we are way too overwhelmed with things that are happening where we are absolutely powerless to help. Take care of your close ones so that they can take of theirs. The rest will work itself out. This is no time for apathy.
(Are we going for the longest comment thread in Lemmy history or what?)
(There is a character limit for comments - or at least there was for Kbin.social and I assume for Lemmy as well? - so at the very least we are constrained in the length of each segment:-)
If you are interested, there is a book by the philosopher Daniel Dennett - who is a halfway decent author, e.g. of Darwinās Dangerous Idea, which is a DEEEEEEP look into evolution - called āBreaking the Spellā, where he delves into the mechanics of studying religion with the same tools that you would study anything else. The latter is really boring so that book of his I normally do not so much recommend reading in-depth, but in your case perhaps you would, b/c in it he says things vaguely similar to what you are saying. Chiefly, that tribalism was adaptive to the evolution of mankind, and while nationalism helped lift us up beyond that, the next step was due to religion, which allowed us to cross national boundaries. Like, āHEY there fellow Pastafarian brutha/sistah - [Joey from Friendās voice] how you doin?ā
So I would call it like a āmeta-governmentā, due to how it sits on top of existing governmental structures. Like in a lot of European countries - e.g. Spain - people that I have talked to that grew up there were angry b/c they paid one set of taxes to their government, and another set of taxes to the Catholic Church all the way in Rome, which like Americans they were subjected to ātaxation without representationā, and worse yet they simply had no choice in the matter at all - they did not āchooseā that religion, but merely by being born there that choice was made for them.
Ngl, but the Catholic Church does do some good stuff - and whenever it e.g. feeds the hungry, visits the sick and constrained in prison, whenever it does as the Bible says and ātakes care of widows and orphansā, THAT is awesome and I support THOSE efforts 100%. Ofc when they lie and steal and cheat and murder and rape then THOSE efforts I am 100% against. I used to be very angry at the Catholic Church for a long time myself, though fortunately I healed, and now I see that the people inside of it do what they do not even just in spite of their religion, but sometimes because of it, though we are imperfect humans, and some are fairly deadly. It is just that with any political structure, or religious, or anything at all involving humans (and also chimpanzees, not only our closest living relative but also one of the only other species on earth that takes active delight in murder!), a close watch must be kept on it to ensure that it does not go astray.
And yeah, I keep hearing stories of people who step up to be that kind of old-school āstatemenā rather than a ācareer politicianā, who cannot stand it and must leave. The literal DEATH THREATS offered to those people, by the most extremist among us, coupled ofc with the actual murders (like the Boeing whistleblower), have made me realize that the concept of āIlluminatiā is absolutely real - maybe not as an actual irl society with a special ring and what-not, but obviously power corrupts, and obviously those who have it will concentrate the highest amount of resources to themselves - thatās just human monkey nature.
I also quit something - a teaching position, not politics - and I have a great deal of sympathy with what he went through, it is not easy to just walk away, but ofc it would have been far worse if he had stayed and compromised himself. Everybody just said ātry to do the best you can, and help those who you canāā¦ implying to ignore everyone else, just take the money from the parents and run, never mind that one person physically cannot do the task justice, oh and then double the number of students on top of that, b/c why the fuck not, the computer will do all the āreal workā anyway, right? :-| I would rather Epstein myself than heap such heavy burdens upon people though, saddling them with large debts while not helping them get ahead in life, and worse making them think they know something, by altering the externally-reviewed scores so that the school (I donāt want to say which one) could avoid losing its accreditation, which it had already been warned about previously and was in danger of it happening again. You REALLY cannot help people, when the entire system is stacked against you to prevent that. Or perhaps I am naive and I should have stayed in, to be āone of the good onesā, except I just am not that kind of person. It would have killed me, inside. So yeah, I GET IT. Somewhat, or at least think I do:-).
And yeah, maybe your town will die off then. Perhaps evenā¦ I doubt you will take this the wrong way so I will go ahead and say it: perhaps it should? Survival of the fittest and all, and that applies to towns just as well as species, and even the United States of America: if we do not āfitā into the existing world structure, then we might go down, at Putinās behest but also by our own stinking bloody hands, b/c we are too stupid to realize that the whispers he sent to us (e.g. āthe vaccine is harmfulā) were not real nor even āour ownā.
AI will not be ready in time for us - maybe some future generation, but not us. Nor would we really want it to - shows such as Wall-E (and I have read similar stories for that identical concept written decades prior to that) have convinced me that when life gets comfortable enough, people will simply give up and allow āmommyā(/ādaddyā) to take care of them. Which is, to a large degree, the very thing that has put America into this mess we are in now? Laziness, more than any other singular factor.
Try to have empathy for Trump: fuck we all know that he does not deserve it, but it is not for him, it is for you. I donāt care one bit about him, but I donāt want you to have that monkey on your back, as the saying goes. He is a scared, whiney, piss baby who puts dumps into his diapers and then has trouble walking about. He acts that way out of fear, and b/c he knows no other way. In MANY ways, him being put in charge was not his fault, but rather those of people who are far more crafty (and have espionage capabilities) than he. He is a victim too - he is not just a symptom, mind you, being also a cause, but among the many things that he is, a victim is one of them. You or I possibly could have ended up there as well. Except, and this is the part I am learning more recently, we NEVER would - maybe if our entire backstory had been different, but as we are now and looking forward, we NEVER would have allowed that. There truly is a RIGHT and a WRONG, and Trump is all kinds of the latter. He is barely more than a monkey, while we have moved upwards by the power of Mind, and short of like dementia or some such, I cannot imagine anyone who has done that could ever turn back down. I used to shy away from that thought, b/c it seems not humble (in the midwestern USA that is YUGE to never appear anything other than humble:-P). But now I realize what true humility is: finding the Truth, whatever it is, and paying homage to that. Which makes him, and more importantly the system that put him there, my enemy. And even so, I still have empathy for the fuckerā¦ but I would still consign him to jail.
Likewise, I refused to watch the Tucker Carlson video too:-). But if you donāt want to watch the whole thing - like me:-) - here is one with just the highlights and commentary from the GREATEST PERSON ALIVE ON THE PLANET EARTH RIGHT NOW, Jon Stewart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2h3KnWAWY. It is The Daily Show, which I believe should not be HBO, so I hope you can see it.
Determinism: I also believe that. I cannot prove it though, so I donāt hold to it too hard. Also, it doesnāt really matter, to me, b/c even if things were fore-ordained, we donāt know what those things are, so we must treat each new event as totally not that way, yes? :-P Itās just an abstract idea in my head, consistent with there being 2 time dimensions (if I am remembering that correctly), or anyway if there is just the one, then it may be something along the lines of an exapanding wave of matter as it moves outwards from the Big Bang at constant velocity. If that were true, then time travel should be impossible, b/c once the wave passes, past times literally do not exist anymore, nor do future ones yet. An alternate formulation is that both past and present DO exist, and if we had the technology then we could travel along it, always āforwardā but bucking the universal constant outwards pressure and instead returning to a āpastā time/space continuum. Also, an outside observer could āseeā our future. Then again, a āGodā (like The Matrix computer), could foresee the future in other ways, not with foresight but simply with raw power, just like the Russian leader Gorbachev said āwe will bury youāā¦ and then decades later, it is happening - he meant it, he set things in motion to make it happen, nobody bothered to try to fight back, and, here we are). I think these thoughts are straight-forward from Einsteinās theory that time & space are far more connected than people previously conceived. Ofc we do not āknowā, but is fun to conjecture nonetheless:-).
But then I read something from CS Lewis that entirely changed my thinking on that subject forever (one of his deep philosophy essays, I do not now recall which one). Yes, we may be pawns on a chessboard, but who is to say that WE are not ALSO the players!? If life is a video game, WE could be the characters, but āWEā could ALSO be coming down into our avatars from above. Truth tends to be stranger than fiction, and we truly donāt know whatās what, so any explanation could be the One. It could be just as likely that we are all āoneā, part of Gai and each having a dream of our own lives as if we are separated.
And moreoverā¦ damn I hit the character limit. Well, for now I will continue to a part 2, but I need to stop doing that at some point:-P.
Yeah this stuff is so tangled and difficult. I watched one of John Olivierās recent videos on chocolate production in places like Africa and it likewise messed me up a little - like, should I buy less chocolate, or more, which is doing less harm vs. good? Btw the answer, as you may have guessed it, is āyesā. Yes buying chocolates helps the poor farmers, while also yes it supports their near-slave-labor conditions, both. And fair-trade seems to mean little if anything at all. :-(
Ultimately I came down on the side that since they are doing this to themselves, the alternatives to cacao farming must be even worse? e.g. hunting in the wilds, or farming something to sell locally. And while the corpo execs seem to me to be greedy MFers just doing hunting of their own, for profits, they nonetheless are doing some amount of service, if they are offering this option to the farmers that they would not otherwise have.
The sticking point is the price: regardless of intention, does lowering that cause more chocolate to be sold, thus help the farmers more than raising it would? (I have no idea btw, thatās just what pops up in my mind) Also, I am so very far away from the situation that it is impossible to accurately judge anything - like Johnās video shows another video showing children walking through the fields harvesting cacao and ānot wearing safety gearā, but what is that gear, who actually needs it, is it always needed or only during certain seasons, so really how bad is it that these children, who importantly do this for fun, should have been wearing it?
It is good to ask these questions, but yes, dayum it is exhausting. Especially for every tiny little matter.
Though the authoritarianism video is a fairly central one in my mind, fwiw. Even your country, which we want to āescapeā to when things go bad in the States, may turn to it, as seems to be the global trend.:-( Anyway, enjoy!:-)
Oh for sure. These things are complicated and itās really hard to come up with a simple conclusion.
Authoritarianism definitely seems to be on the rise everywhere, although I still believe that most people are against it. You canāt really trust online sentiment and personally I havenāt encountered that many people IRL that would support something like that. My fear is that some people might not realize what theyāre voting for and what it really means but I still believe that most people are good and that we can get out of this mess before it is too late.
We are definitely not safe from it here in Canada so yeah, your escape plan might not work out. Things that happen down south often end up happening up here as well, with a little bit of delay. Canadians arenāt really that different from Americans and we consume the same type of media. Hopefully if shit does hit the fan, even the dumbest of voters will be smart enough to see that it is not something that they want and we can stop it before it runs rampant here.
I am curious: after having watched that video, do you still think most people are against it?
I think the opposite - people in cities tend to be, but a good 40-49% of this nation supported Trump in the last Presidential election, despite Biden ultimately winning and despite Trump having been impeached twice before that.
Countering that, the younger generations are more liberal, but we tend to eat our own, and e.g. the Gaza situation may generate a lot of āprotest votingā, the same as when Hillary Clinton was running and therefore while Trump did not āwinā so much as she lost, it could all end up happening again.
Americans are fat and lazy - thatās just our brand:-) - and to some extent the entire Western world is that way, but we do it to excess. By that same virtue, we are likely to convert into authoritarianism, possibly not even with a bang but with a whimper - not b/c of what we believe, but b/c we just donāt fight back against those who do have firmer convictions (right or wrong).
Thus, I hope you donāt take this the wrong way, but I hope that you lose your hope that āif shit does hit the fan, even the dumbest of voters will be smart enough to see that it is not something that they want and we can stop it before it runs rampant hereā, and start learning from our mistakes, by shoring up protections against it getting as far along with you. Which I guess you are doing, so I will hope that it works!:-)
Well thatās where we differ, Americans and Canadians. Canadians are on average much more liberal than Americans. We also have a very different political system. We actually have more than two options to chose from! Crazy, I know! The political system doesnāt control general sentiment of the population so things can still get hairy but nobody has started dismantling our checks and balances yet so at least weāve got that?
Our conservative party isnāt usually as bad as the American conservatives either. Although Bitcoin Milhouse and a couple other Conservative leaders are starting to spew some of the same ignorant bullshit, trying to get reactionary votes, I am way less scared about my future here than I would be in the US. We do have a part of the population that are getting sucked into it but itās really nowhere near as bad (yet, hopefully never). Weāve got Alberta thatās very conservative and very loud, theyāre basically Little Texas but whatever, theyāve always been that way. Theyāve never changed and they never will. Business as usual. Ontario is a bit scary with what Doug Ford is doing and even in my little province we have our own little conservative pissbaby, who is absolutely wrecking havoc but even other conservatives hate his ass so thereās a decent chance he gets booted out next provincial election.
Iām from French Canada, not Quebec but still French. Iām probably sheltered from it a bit as we are super liberal, much more than English Canada. I donāt really see that much insanity here, even in my tiny little fisherman village. Not to say everybody is cool. I have noticed a change in the way some people look at me in the past couple years, being a transwoman in such a small place where people have never really left their backyards and seen anything. Before it was mostly curiosity, surprise, whatever. Now I see people look at me in disgust and anger. Iāve seen a mother grab her kid and scuttle away to the other side of a store as if I could give them the trans. Iāve had someone spit in my sandwich at a fast food restaurant, although that happened in a neighbouring English city (Risky to do something like that here, I probably know your dad š).
Nothing anywhere near that kind of shit happened to me even just 2 years ago and Iāve been loudly trans here for over 7 years now. I 100% attribute that to the hateful and ignorant shit thatās being spewed out by the right and the crazy religious folk being picked up here by people who donāt know any better.
Shit, that was a rant. I donāt even remember what we were talking about. Sorry hahah.
Sorry but I did lolz at this - as if!:-P Part of the funny is that the Bible says āJudge not, lest you be judgedā, even though it also has a whole list of judgements for leaders, who were supposed to be held to a much higher standard. So to ignore the latter - letting leaders touch little children who would rather not - while also ignoring the formerā¦ they arenāt even reading their own book.:-(
Though I guess you see that it is not just Christianity. In some parts of the world it is Muslim, in others it is Hindu, in still others it could be Buddhism, or whatever. One day there will even be fundamentalist atheists I believe, despite how it promotes skeptical thought and so that is fairly rare for now, human nature is just that lazy!
Anyway I am proud of you. Stand up for yourself! That is definitely not my situation but who the fuq cares, b/c you need to be (free to) be you. And thatās the problem with Authoritarianism (hereās a another link to a whole other series on that if you want - this Innuendo Studies should have nothing whatsoever to do with HBO, and therefore you probably have seen it already:-P): they lack empathy and allow - even perform - the judgement onto others (except their leaders, who they conveniently exempt from all proper consequences of their actions), never dreaming that one day it will wrap back around to themselves. āFirst they came forā¦ā That process demeans us all, and yeah, one day it may be too late to reverse course. How ironic that you are showing compassion to them even while they spit at you (as Jesus would, hehe:-P). Stay strong, my sister in empathy!:-)
Speaking of, I hope you never catch up to us:-). Though as you say, the English speaking part is a bit closer to us in that regard, highly unfortunately:-(. Though, you still having a somewhat functional government does mean that you should be alright:-).
Nah, it is absolutely not just Christianity. I see all religion as the same thing. Itās the same people, just different stories. I include some atheists in there hahah. Fervent atheists and ābelieversā share many of the same traits. I donāt think the particular religion has anything to do with it, itās probably that people who are susceptible to following a religion are more susceptible to fall for tricks and support authoritarianism. I donāt wanna sound like I think Iām better than anyone who follows a religion. I think having some kind of belief system is essential and that we all have that built in us so itās kinda natural for people to gravitate towards religions. I have my own whacky belief system that Iām sure some people would scoff at but itās mine and it has served me well so far. I just think beliefs are a very personal thing and thatās how it shouldāve stayed. Religions are more about control than they are about beliefs and values.
Thank you! I am and I will continue doing so. I will not live in an authoritarian society. If you have but one ally in this fight against authoritarianism, itāll be us trans folk hahah. We will not be shoved back into the closet peacefully, this I can promise.
I donāt remember it but apparently at some point Iāve watched the first two videos of the series. Iāll try to give it another shot hahah
Yeah those are the ones that really scare me. Some people are just sociopaths and sycophants, they need to be recognized for what they are but people canāt even tell whatās real and whatās not anymore. Weāve propped up these kinds of people for decades on TV and in the media and now people think thatās normal. Today I look at some of your politicians bickering and I feel like Iām watching an episode of Jersey Shore. Similar thing is happening with the current conservatives in Canada, itās actually painfully cringy to see. Itās like high school type of shit all over again. Not something we should be seeing in parliament.
HAHAH, yeah I am very far from being a Christ figure but many people have called me Jesus during my life. Mostly because of my hair, I did kinda look like your classic White Jesusā¢ š. I just have a really hard time abandoning anyone and I canāt stay mad at anyone because it absolutely eats me inside if I do. I always try to find excuses for peoples behaviours. My compassion might also come from a bit of a selfish place as there was a time where I couldāve probably fallen for shit like that, hell, I have. Iāve been a piece of shit in the past but it all stemmed from a combination personal issues and growing up in a very secluded environment. I donāt think I couldāve fallen as deep into hatred and ignorance as some seem to be these days but still, weāre not that different. I know why I was that way, I may not know why others are but I know why I was, and in the end I was āredeemableā. I think most people are and itās hard for me not to give everyone a chance.
For what itās worth, I think you guys will be alright too. Have some faith :3 (But donāt stop doing what you do)
Spot on! Jesus Himself hated the religious hypocrites (āKarensā) of His day, calling them vipers and white-washed tombs, full of rot and decay even if slapped with a fresh coat of paint on the outside. Some people hear that and say ānaw, I think I, as a Bishop or Pope or whatever, know far better than Jesus what āChristianityā should meanā, and then proceed to fondle little humans, but others think the latter is detestable and enormously gross:-(. Humans gonna human I guess, but itās not all equally good or bad - some of it is INSANE, and inside of us all we know whatās what. Like if it happened to us or to someone we care about and we get mad, then we KNOW WTF is up. So those rich old white dudes (or equivalent thereof) are not even consistent with themselves, in that the walk does not match the talk, ergo it is false.
Ngl though, controlling the masses may have had a use, back in the day, before most people could read, by providing incentives for them to not kill and rape and steal and such. Even so, who can blame people then for being angry at finding out that their leaders donāt even belief the crap that theyāre preaching? Which ironically doesnāt even mean that it is false, just that I am agreeing with you about the need to dissect the issue by separating the ābelief systemā from the āauthoritarian religionā components. In any case, here in the USA the latter got hijacked and evangelical christians especially seem to almost equate āGod = vote for guns & conservatismā. I almost just said conservatism there except that itself is too bland for many of them, who want to continue pushing to ever more far-right schemes. āGodā for them is in-group selection.
Switching topics a bit, most of my friends online have been gay men. I am a cis het male btw, not that it matters but I am saying that I am friends with them not b/c of those shared aspects but more, I think, b/c they have empathy. People who have been through some shit end up having more ācharacterā than those who do not. Entitled/spoiled people are the types to spit in your food, never dreaming of what else you have been through, and then they go and add to that burden. THEY would not want that done to THEM, yet they do it to you. On the other hand, people who are heavily bullied may end up broken and mean to others, so I am not saying that exposure to trauma causes empathy, but I am saying that it is a necessary if not sufficient component, it seems to me. So you have had that opportunity that they did not, and chose to do something with it. And that is indeed something worth being proud of!:-)
If you like the videos then I am glad that I sent the link to remind you of them. They are not light fare, but I did so enjoy pouring through them slowly, digesting each one in turn. Itās like a college course in the material!:-)
As for the media on the other side, well, letās just say that Russia works in mysterious ways. Sometimes it is poisoning, but other times far more subtle. These days they are not even trying to be subtle anymore - Republican conventions are held in literal Moscow, as well as places such as Hungary. They are like minds, and Russia would be a fool not to partner with them, e.g. in that recent Tucker Carlson video interviewing Putin, if it would help speed the conversion of the USA from a foe to an ally. People do not spot it through b/c they are GOOD at what they do! Like, they poin ted out how Hillary Clinton was ācorruptā - b/c she WAS! The Supreme Court asked her to send all of her emails to them, and she told them ālolz no, Im gonna delete the ones that I do not want you to see firstā. Nobody can say that the optics surrounding that are anything remotely close to good. In fact, I gotta be careful here or I will go full-on rant on you, but remember that Trump did not win that election so much as she lost it (likewise, he did not win the Republican nomination either, so much as Ted Cruz lost it, after JEB botched the job). Whoever leaked her emails did the real work in that election - but then it was her actual words that she actually said and her actual actions that doomed her. Trump was outright shocked to have won - he never planned on it, did not really want it even, and gave some very serious thoughts to turning it down even! And even when he took it, he still just wanted to do the TV show that he had planned previously, on top of the job of being president. He is like a child - it is the situation that put him there, not (so much) his own intentions. In fact, I even have a little empathy for him too - he didnāt want it, but he did try, despite the job being well beyond his capacity, and thatās actually the tiniest shadow of a little light there (1 out of 1000 but stillā¦ it is worth noting and giving him that much credit at least; along with the blame for you know, the actual genocide of Americans by e.g. telling them that the virus was not airbone when he KNEW that it was).
Anyway, it is not ājustā the people that are broken, I agree, it is the SYSTEM. Although the system is made up out of people soā¦ thatās where I get lost. But that is also why I think what you are saying is good, about not abandoning people: b/c if enough people did THAT, then the system would not be the way it is today. Somewhere in there I do think that the carrot needs to be set down and the stick picked up, and I acknowledge that I have never figured out that the line that should distinguish between them, but I think that when you KNOW that the carrot is the thing to be done and you do it ANYWAY despite the cost, that is integrity. Which some few authoritarians that I have met personally I feel like also have, in that they turn to the stick too readily and without understanding it, but most - e.g. those who showed up at the capitol - do not, b/c how can you āprotectā the Constitution if you havenāt even so much as read it? A ācoupā to overturn something is NOT the same thing as āsavingā it, dummies!!!:-(
Which is why I have to admit that I have lost the faith: with ~80% of Americans being somewhere in the middle between the extreme left and right sides, and with good-hearted and honest people with some amount of integrity on both sides, yes and some child-like mindsets too, this isnāt something that most of us even seem to want to fight about? However, our media sells fear and extremism, and our politicians too, and with all these parasites sucking up our attention, how then is someone supposed to rise up and actually GOVERN? As ironically Biden has been doing, or at least trying to, though Congress and the Supreme Court seem more responsible for a goodly fraction of the issues that most average Americans are experiencing right now (not Gaza, but thatās a whole other thing, and frankly that doesnāt directly affect most āaverageā Americans either). I hope something will restore my faith, but I am not optimistic about that:-(. Therefore I believe that I am living in a dying country, but I do whatever I can to help others in my vicinity and abroad nonetheless, not b/c I think I will necessarily accomplish anything truly great there, but simply b/c it is who I am and how I want to be. We all need to live out our authentic lives, being our true selves:-).
Oh yeah I 100% agree with that. Religion was basically a proto-government. Itās funny, reminds me of when I was in high school. I was part of the student newspaper and at some point I had written an article about religion and how it is basically an antiquated form of government and how it has no real purpose anymore. Edgy I know. The next Monday in school I heard about how the town priest had read the article during Sunday mass. Apparently he was NOT happy about it. I was pretty proud of that one, not gonna lie š.
Yeah I think so too, but it can also easily go both ways, especially when you canāt manage to get out of said shit. (Nvm I see now that I should read a bit further before starting to type bahah)
I do believe however that the ones whoāve inflicted the most pain on others as a result of their own pain have the potential to be the ones who try their hardest to make up for their mistakes, which is why I try hard to not discount anyone. I might be wearing rose-colored glasses but I have to keep them on.
Yeah the right associating with leaders such as Putin and OrbĆ”n is fucked up on so many levels. They definitely are good at what they do. Thatās one of the reasons I dislike how people on both sides treat each other like the other side is dumb. All sides have brilliant people and ignorant followers. And OF COURSE Hillary was corrupt, nobody who gets that far in politics has clean hands. Theyāre all corrupted in some way or another but not necessarily equally. Centrist cunts fuck off.
One of my best friends, brilliant guy, doctor of philosophy. A couple of years ago he decided he wanted to get into politics so he started small. He decided to run for city council here and won. It didnāt even take a year for him to absolutely hate the game. He said he could not sleep anymore, couldnāt handle how corrupted even stupid little city council members could be. He said there was no way for him to stay there without getting his own hands dirty and he wanted no part of it. Within a year he quit, and left the town to go teach halfway across the world at the University of Liverpool where he still is now. He couldnāt stand seeing these people anymore. It made sense then why our little town is dying. Even the tiniest amount of power is immense to tiny people. Iād like to see the day where we can offload a lot of these duties to some kind of AI, but thatās a whole other can of worms that we are not ready to open.
Trump is someone I have a very hard time having any empathy for, but yeah, I also have a teeny tiny bit, because he really is nothing but a child. However I donāt have any hope for him to ever turn around and do something good other than for his own selfish reasons. He is too old to grow up now.
Oh and on the subject of the Carlson-Putin interview. You wouldnāt happen to have a link for a re-upload? I still havenāt watched it because I refuse to even give it a single official view but I need to see it.
It is. We are all products of our environment. I donāt think we actually have much control over anything, not even ourselves. Thatās definitely one of my wacky beliefs. Iāve never been able to shake off the idea that we live in a deterministic universe so it is hard for me to stay mad at a person or a group of people when I donāt even believe they had any real control over their action. It would be like getting mad at the messenger. We still need to get mad and fight, but not the people. We need to fight ideas with better ideas. We need to love the people because they are us and we are them. Without them there is no us and vice versa. A world with no opposition is a world that would go sideways in no time.
In-fighting between humans has been a thing since forever and look where we are now. We are wayyyyy better off in most aspects than we were not that long ago. Itās easy to forget that when weāre forced to take a step backwards but we as a species will come back from this, we always have. At least, assuming we manage to heal our planet but unfortunately we canāt do that if we donāt somehow heal ourselves first.
Yeahhhā¦ I donāt even know what to say about Jan 6th. That is such a messed up thing. I think that a lot of people who showed up at the Capitol didnāt have bad intentions, they were misled. Although Iām sure there were plenty involved that absolutely had bad intentions. Most of them problably werenāt there in person.
Thatās pretty much it. Most people donāt want to fight but the news, the politicians, corporations, whatever, theyāve all figured out that pitting us against each other was very profitable. Not only do we have parasites at home, we have parasites on the outside as well trying to creep in and profit as well. At this point it feels like we canāt trust anything or anyone, itās no surprise that there is a rise in conspiracy brains.
But you kinda are hahah, when have you ever seen something that is not dying in some way or another? All nations will eventually disappear or change into something completely unrecognizable. Either something new and better is born out of the seemingly rotting carcass that is the American empire, or something terrible to you will take itās place and that same cycle will repeat. Itās terrifying to think that we could lose our way of life, I tend to talk like Iām not scared but really Iām terrified. Itās the unknown part of it that is really scary.
Those who aspire for greatness often end up accomplishing nothing. Youāre doing the right thing. Itās impossible for one person to change the big picture but you can absolutely change what is immediately around you and that is a very powerful thing. That is where we need to put our energy. I feel like the internet has done us a great disservice in that area. We are not ready to be so connected yet. Weāve lost the will to fight locally because we are way too overwhelmed with things that are happening where we are absolutely powerless to help. Take care of your close ones so that they can take of theirs. The rest will work itself out. This is no time for apathy.
(Are we going for the longest comment thread in Lemmy history or what?)
(There is a character limit for comments - or at least there was for Kbin.social and I assume for Lemmy as well? - so at the very least we are constrained in the length of each segment:-)
If you are interested, there is a book by the philosopher Daniel Dennett - who is a halfway decent author, e.g. of Darwinās Dangerous Idea, which is a DEEEEEEP look into evolution - called āBreaking the Spellā, where he delves into the mechanics of studying religion with the same tools that you would study anything else. The latter is really boring so that book of his I normally do not so much recommend reading in-depth, but in your case perhaps you would, b/c in it he says things vaguely similar to what you are saying. Chiefly, that tribalism was adaptive to the evolution of mankind, and while nationalism helped lift us up beyond that, the next step was due to religion, which allowed us to cross national boundaries. Like, āHEY there fellow Pastafarian brutha/sistah - [Joey from Friendās voice] how you doin?ā
So I would call it like a āmeta-governmentā, due to how it sits on top of existing governmental structures. Like in a lot of European countries - e.g. Spain - people that I have talked to that grew up there were angry b/c they paid one set of taxes to their government, and another set of taxes to the Catholic Church all the way in Rome, which like Americans they were subjected to ātaxation without representationā, and worse yet they simply had no choice in the matter at all - they did not āchooseā that religion, but merely by being born there that choice was made for them.
Ngl, but the Catholic Church does do some good stuff - and whenever it e.g. feeds the hungry, visits the sick and constrained in prison, whenever it does as the Bible says and ātakes care of widows and orphansā, THAT is awesome and I support THOSE efforts 100%. Ofc when they lie and steal and cheat and murder and rape then THOSE efforts I am 100% against. I used to be very angry at the Catholic Church for a long time myself, though fortunately I healed, and now I see that the people inside of it do what they do not even just in spite of their religion, but sometimes because of it, though we are imperfect humans, and some are fairly deadly. It is just that with any political structure, or religious, or anything at all involving humans (and also chimpanzees, not only our closest living relative but also one of the only other species on earth that takes active delight in murder!), a close watch must be kept on it to ensure that it does not go astray.
And yeah, I keep hearing stories of people who step up to be that kind of old-school āstatemenā rather than a ācareer politicianā, who cannot stand it and must leave. The literal DEATH THREATS offered to those people, by the most extremist among us, coupled ofc with the actual murders (like the Boeing whistleblower), have made me realize that the concept of āIlluminatiā is absolutely real - maybe not as an actual irl society with a special ring and what-not, but obviously power corrupts, and obviously those who have it will concentrate the highest amount of resources to themselves - thatās just
humanmonkey nature.I also quit something - a teaching position, not politics - and I have a great deal of sympathy with what he went through, it is not easy to just walk away, but ofc it would have been far worse if he had stayed and compromised himself. Everybody just said ātry to do the best you can, and help those who you canāā¦ implying to ignore everyone else, just take the money from the parents and run, never mind that one person physically cannot do the task justice, oh and then double the number of students on top of that, b/c why the fuck not, the computer will do all the āreal workā anyway, right? :-| I would rather Epstein myself than heap such heavy burdens upon people though, saddling them with large debts while not helping them get ahead in life, and worse making them think they know something, by altering the externally-reviewed scores so that the school (I donāt want to say which one) could avoid losing its accreditation, which it had already been warned about previously and was in danger of it happening again. You REALLY cannot help people, when the entire system is stacked against you to prevent that. Or perhaps I am naive and I should have stayed in, to be āone of the good onesā, except I just am not that kind of person. It would have killed me, inside. So yeah, I GET IT. Somewhat, or at least think I do:-).
And yeah, maybe your town will die off then. Perhaps evenā¦ I doubt you will take this the wrong way so I will go ahead and say it: perhaps it should? Survival of the fittest and all, and that applies to towns just as well as species, and even the United States of America: if we do not āfitā into the existing world structure, then we might go down, at Putinās behest but also by our own stinking bloody hands, b/c we are too stupid to realize that the whispers he sent to us (e.g. āthe vaccine is harmfulā) were not real nor even āour ownā.
AI will not be ready in time for us - maybe some future generation, but not us. Nor would we really want it to - shows such as Wall-E (and I have read similar stories for that identical concept written decades prior to that) have convinced me that when life gets comfortable enough, people will simply give up and allow āmommyā(/ādaddyā) to take care of them. Which is, to a large degree, the very thing that has put America into this mess we are in now? Laziness, more than any other singular factor.
Try to have empathy for Trump: fuck we all know that he does not deserve it, but it is not for him, it is for you. I donāt care one bit about him, but I donāt want you to have that monkey on your back, as the saying goes. He is a scared, whiney, piss baby who puts dumps into his diapers and then has trouble walking about. He acts that way out of fear, and b/c he knows no other way. In MANY ways, him being put in charge was not his fault, but rather those of people who are far more crafty (and have espionage capabilities) than he. He is a victim too - he is not just a symptom, mind you, being also a cause, but among the many things that he is, a victim is one of them. You or I possibly could have ended up there as well. Except, and this is the part I am learning more recently, we NEVER would - maybe if our entire backstory had been different, but as we are now and looking forward, we NEVER would have allowed that. There truly is a RIGHT and a WRONG, and Trump is all kinds of the latter. He is barely more than a monkey, while we have moved upwards by the power of Mind, and short of like dementia or some such, I cannot imagine anyone who has done that could ever turn back down. I used to shy away from that thought, b/c it seems not humble (in the midwestern USA that is YUGE to never appear anything other than humble:-P). But now I realize what true humility is: finding the Truth, whatever it is, and paying homage to that. Which makes him, and more importantly the system that put him there, my enemy. And even so, I still have empathy for the fuckerā¦ but I would still consign him to jail.
Likewise, I refused to watch the Tucker Carlson video too:-). But if you donāt want to watch the whole thing - like me:-) - here is one with just the highlights and commentary from the GREATEST PERSON ALIVE ON THE PLANET EARTH RIGHT NOW, Jon Stewart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2h3KnWAWY. It is The Daily Show, which I believe should not be HBO, so I hope you can see it.
Determinism: I also believe that. I cannot prove it though, so I donāt hold to it too hard. Also, it doesnāt really matter, to me, b/c even if things were fore-ordained, we donāt know what those things are, so we must treat each new event as totally not that way, yes? :-P Itās just an abstract idea in my head, consistent with there being 2 time dimensions (if I am remembering that correctly), or anyway if there is just the one, then it may be something along the lines of an exapanding wave of matter as it moves outwards from the Big Bang at constant velocity. If that were true, then time travel should be impossible, b/c once the wave passes, past times literally do not exist anymore, nor do future ones yet. An alternate formulation is that both past and present DO exist, and if we had the technology then we could travel along it, always āforwardā but bucking the universal constant outwards pressure and instead returning to a āpastā time/space continuum. Also, an outside observer could āseeā our future. Then again, a āGodā (like The Matrix computer), could foresee the future in other ways, not with foresight but simply with raw power, just like the Russian leader Gorbachev said āwe will bury youāā¦ and then decades later, it is happening - he meant it, he set things in motion to make it happen, nobody bothered to try to fight back, and, here we are). I think these thoughts are straight-forward from Einsteinās theory that time & space are far more connected than people previously conceived. Ofc we do not āknowā, but is fun to conjecture nonetheless:-).
But then I read something from CS Lewis that entirely changed my thinking on that subject forever (one of his deep philosophy essays, I do not now recall which one). Yes, we may be pawns on a chessboard, but who is to say that WE are not ALSO the players!? If life is a video game, WE could be the characters, but āWEā could ALSO be coming down into our avatars from above. Truth tends to be stranger than fiction, and we truly donāt know whatās what, so any explanation could be the One. It could be just as likely that we are all āoneā, part of Gai and each having a dream of our own lives as if we are separated.
And moreoverā¦ damn I hit the character limit. Well, for now I will continue to a part 2, but I need to stop doing that at some point:-P.