would you please educate yourself as to simple facts of economics and economic history before you vomit this quasireligious belief system of yours in defiance of reality and obvious facts?
you need a central reserve, you idiot. it's not because the Bilderberg Group wants to impoverish you for fun, or whatever the paranoid schizophrenic narrative it is that underlies your delusions. it's to prevent this:
WHY did these bank runs happen, genius? WHAT safeguard prevents them, einstein?
please, start with that link, and EDUCATE YOURSELF, you deranged fool
power in the hands of ron paul, who thinks like you, will destroy our economy. i know you don't understand this, that's what makes you so goddamn dangerous. that so many crackpots are out there like you who believe this ignorant tripe about economics
without a federal reserve, we get bank runs. which means you can work hard for 10 years, then POOF! it's all gone in a panic. or put it in your mattress. and it's worth less over time due to inflation or the robbers get it
there's no fucking way i'm voting for a guy so economically illiterate and clueless he wants to get rid of the federal reserve and put us back on the gold standard. this is the same class of idiots who believe in creationism and birthers/ truthers: insane beliefs in contrast to obvious facts. this is someone who must never hold power, or our economy is doomed. you don't save us form plutocracy by destroying the economy
is having no economy better than a system where our politics is influenced by the rich and corporations?
ron paul's economic beliefs will destroy our economy. and then, yes, rich people and corporations will have less influence in washington dc. because no one will have any money to give
abolish the fed? the fucking gold standard?!
have the simple lessons of bank panics in the 1800s left no impression on you? and of course, they haven't because those who embrace ron paul's economic beliefs probably know nothing about the subject matter of banking panics in the 1800s. because they are economically illiterate: they have economic beliefs in direct contrast to simple and obvious lessons of economic history. ignorance is bliss. ron paul's economic beliefs are a quasireligion in defiance of simple obvious economic facts
The moron vote is herded like cattle by demagogues who are paid to do so by the Faux News corporate propaganda machine. The demagogues appeal to their prejudices, to ignore the policies that might hurt the plutocracy. So you have the insane situation where the lower middle class hates health care reform, where they are the actual benefactors of health care reform. We have a dynamic where their health and the education of their children is damaged by policies they fully support, because they believe fairy tales like welfare queens with 20 kids and lazy illegal immigrants, that that is the real threat. And they don't want to reward these stereotypes. When of course it is themselves who are having their benefits removed, and the real threat is the corporation who doesn't want their bottom line impacted and the health care insurance corporation who wants the money to keep flowing in the wasteful healthcare system we have.
So what do you do? Forget the morons for a moment, you can't do anything about them. Aim like a laser beam on one issue that even the morons understand: corporate influence in our politics. Keep up a constant drumbeat of how our elected representatives represent the influence of those who pay for the reelection campaigns, rather than the actual people they are supposed to serve. Even a moron can get behind that. It will take time, but enough inertial movement will eventually be established that the point will be too loud and obvious, and even the demagogues can't distract the morons anymore from the real tragedy going on.
It is "We the people", not "we the rich people and the corporations." Hammer on that point every day. This is the weak point in the propaganda machine that the lower middle class morons are currently under full influence of. Their standard of living gets worse every day. And it is exactly because of the agenda of those who pay for the propaganda machine that keeps them spellbound. Break the spell. Show the little plutocrat behind the curtain creating the illusion of the fake frightening Oz.
such as happiness of the societies fighting, economic capacity, as determined by cultural proclivities, etc. you can't win a war if it is at the expense of making your society miserable, for example, or destroying your economy
everyone knows the cynical observation "might makes right"
but few appreciate the subtle prologue: "right makes might"
wars are constant. battles are won and lost. but the victor in the long term is eventually the society that best organizes its society to maximize happiness and economic output. and then the losing society copies those values, perhaps improving upon them
the most potent destroyer of freedom in the entire history of mankind, by orders of magnitude, is no government, it is drug addiction
there is no stronger bars that the most depraved government can build then the bars the drug addiction place in your mind. a constant interrupt switch "get high... get high... get high" makes unable to work, maintain a relationship, think thoughts of philosophy, art, design, anything deep because of the pain of withdrawal
and this is the real story of the history of opium addiction, and "little or no social problems" from 100 years ago, you idiot:
drug addiction as a tool to destroy a society you want to subjugate
i understand that people here detest government regulations and impositions on human freedoms. but why that means we have to accept a far worse form of freedom destruction, drug addiction, is beyond my understanding
they were trying to appeal to english speaking olympics visitors in 2008, and the translation server crashed, but they thought the error message was the translation, so we get:
Anybody who meets with someone else and compromises is a politician. Governing anything: a household, a town, a country, is a form of compromise. Civilization is impossible without governance.
Those three sentences are facts. Try to understand them, and begin to actually matter to reality
voting makes a difference, because i live in a democracy, asshole. and if my society ever stops being a democracy, it will be because the majority of people think like you
i'm sorry for whatever personal psychological problems you have where you believe you have no control over your life. but don't project your personal failings onto my reality. life is what you make of it, and if you choose to make of your life the life of a slave, don't make that lame of choice of yours hurt my life. i am a free man. but you, the way you think: you have a slave's mentality. those who do malicous things in this world DEPEND upon cattle like you to think the way you do about how reality works. but i won't let your resignation to accept whatever bullshit they try to feed you also mean that i have to take that bullshit to
the most frustrating thing, for people like me, free men, is to be dragged down by people like you with a slave's mentality. read this:
In the learned helplessness experiment an animal is repeatedly hurt by an adverse stimulus which it cannot escape. Eventually the animal will stop trying to avoid the pain and behave as if it is utterly helpless to change the situation. Finally, when opportunities to escape are presented, this learned helplessness prevents any action. The only coping mechanism the animal uses is to be stoical and put up with the discomfort, not expending energy getting worked up about the adverse stimulus.
again, i'm sorry for your psychological problems. but stop projecting your personal failures onto my politics. you have control in your society, whether or not you believe it. i don't believe i have control in my society. i know i do. because i am a free man
try to figure out where your life went wrong and how you might find the courage to try to matter again. if you can't do that, then shut up and fuck off, because you are nothing more than a useless self-chosen slave at this point in your life, and your mentality is toxic to democracy
if you don't participate in your democratic society, you are helping the side you like least win
those with ideology you dislike depend upon you to not participate. they understand how you think, and all they have to do is act ugly enough, and you just cede to them power
so there's nothing principled or conscientious about you abstaining. it's just stupid and self-defeating
show that you care enough to try to matter. that's more important than a "conscience" that thinks standing around idly while evil happens is any sort of conscience
it just pisses me off that someone is applying analysis to a throwaway comment as if it were a technical specification. just look at my larger broad point, don't nitpick. go ahead and criticize my larger broader point if you want, you don't have to agree with me. but please assume i understand the obvious, don't assume i'm an idiot who wants to shut off cell phones on trains
every choice you ever make in your entire life, on every single topic, from the most personal, to the most small, to the most cosmic, to the most mundane, to the most crucial, is a compromise
you will, forever more, in your entire life, and as long as human beings with free will exist in democratic societies, only get a choice of candidates that only approximates your values, anyone's values. you get a choice: vaguely grey area candidate this, or vaguely grey area candidate that. no better than that. welcome to reality
that you don't get to vote exactly for your ideal hero as your candidate, who matches your values 100%, therefore, you're not going to vote: that only tells me you are a fool
what you just said earns you, from me, instantaneous disrespect and disgust
because, in essence, what you are saying is that you are too good for us. you will not sully your "principles" to submit to an ugly process that might mean you have to recognize that life has compromises. no: fuck you, you are cluelessly idealistic. there's nothing wrong with being an idealist. but there's something wrong with being so idealistic that recognizing basic facts of political reality is an insult to your cognition
you don't have principles. you have high minded impossible standards that life will never live up to. and rather than live with the basic truth of the ugliness of the world, such as it is, and help to make it better by participating in it, you'd rather hide in your ivory tower and pretend you know better than us. no, you know less than us, because you believe your abstention makes you superior. it makes you inferior, for failing to recognize that your participation is the only way any of your ideals get realized. you tweak your ego at the expense of actually mattering to the world. you are a narcissist, preserving the ego at the expense of participating in your society, there is nothing "conscientious" about your behavior, that's just how you rationalize your complacency to yourself (since it is flattering to your ego, you narcissist)
For the longest time, I admired Brazil, among other countries, for forcing people to vote.
Because one of the reasons sometimes the suckiest politicians get elected is because people don't vote. Remember how close the 2000 election was between Gore and Bush? Did you vote?! We would not have invaded Iraq in 2003 if something like 0.002% of useless turds actually got off their asses in 2000 and spent 15 minutes at a polling station instead of at a video game console. No: the Democrats are not the same as the Republicans. Gore would not have invaded Iraq. That's why your vote COUNTS. (Now we will hear some assholes argue why Gore would have invaded Iraq, rather than concede the simple and obvious point that your vote matters.)
You get the government you deserve, and if you don't vote, then your government shows as much interest in you as you do in it when it comes time to actually PARTICIPATE in the formation of your own fucking government. People died so that your leader is chosen by you. People are dying today to get that right in other countries. And some people could care less. Some pathetic losers would rather play video games.
But then I realized, when this Jedi story was discussed awhile back, from an Australian census I believe, that some people just don't take life seriously. And you can't force them to.
That, if forced to vote, you'd see Bullwinkle and Kodos and Senator Palpatine winning thousands of votes.
You can't force people to care.
So, while I still admire Brazil and other countries for forcing people to acknowledge they should participate in their democracy, because it is such a gift, I don't push the issue anymore. Now, all I do is, when I hear someone complain about politics, I ask them "did you vote?" And if they go "no," I simply walk away and that person is simply dead to me forever more and I have zero respect for them. For being such a complacent hypocritical empty tool.
There are some things in life which are actually important and not funny. YOur religion? Jedi? OK, that's funny. But voting? Vote, damnit, it's not a joke. Thousands may die because you couldn't be bothered and some sycophant of the oil industry got in a position to fulfill Neocon masturbatory fantasies, nevermind your own country's domestic ruling agenda.
Is that you are 100% correct about american dirty tricks. But in your mind, this means Iranian dirty tricks are excused or unimportant or you even believe irsnian propaganda: that the green movement is all cia skulduggery and has no root in Iranian public opinion, for example. Im certain the cia funneled money to the green movement. Im also certain the green movement has genuine roots in Iranian public opinion. Therefore, why do you support an illegitimate govt, the current Iranian govt, and believe their lies, just because you dislike the usa?
In other words: be my guest, dislike the usa. You have every right and reason. But why, in your dislike of the usa, do you condone, excuse, and otherwise believe the lies of a govt that does far worse? In other words, in your rejection of one devil, why does it follow you must embrace a worse devil? Why can't you condemn BOTH?
"you didn't write a 25 page technical spec in your throwaway slashdot comment, therefore I will assume you don't understand common sense and reject your obvious and simple point"
Slashdot Mirror
it's like listening to a goddamn creationist
would you please educate yourself as to simple facts of economics and economic history before you vomit this quasireligious belief system of yours in defiance of reality and obvious facts?
you need a central reserve, you idiot. it's not because the Bilderberg Group wants to impoverish you for fun, or whatever the paranoid schizophrenic narrative it is that underlies your delusions. it's to prevent this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banking_crises
WHY did these bank runs happen, genius? WHAT safeguard prevents them, einstein?
please, start with that link, and EDUCATE YOURSELF, you deranged fool
power in the hands of ron paul, who thinks like you, will destroy our economy. i know you don't understand this, that's what makes you so goddamn dangerous. that so many crackpots are out there like you who believe this ignorant tripe about economics
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ECONOMICS
without a federal reserve, we get bank runs. which means you can work hard for 10 years, then POOF! it's all gone in a panic. or put it in your mattress. and it's worth less over time due to inflation or the robbers get it
there's no fucking way i'm voting for a guy so economically illiterate and clueless he wants to get rid of the federal reserve and put us back on the gold standard. this is the same class of idiots who believe in creationism and birthers/ truthers: insane beliefs in contrast to obvious facts. this is someone who must never hold power, or our economy is doomed. you don't save us form plutocracy by destroying the economy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banking_crises
i don't know
is having no economy better than a system where our politics is influenced by the rich and corporations?
ron paul's economic beliefs will destroy our economy. and then, yes, rich people and corporations will have less influence in washington dc. because no one will have any money to give
abolish the fed? the fucking gold standard?!
have the simple lessons of bank panics in the 1800s left no impression on you? and of course, they haven't because those who embrace ron paul's economic beliefs probably know nothing about the subject matter of banking panics in the 1800s. because they are economically illiterate: they have economic beliefs in direct contrast to simple and obvious lessons of economic history. ignorance is bliss. ron paul's economic beliefs are a quasireligion in defiance of simple obvious economic facts
abolish the federal reserve, go to the gold standard, etc.
if you need explained to you why this is fucking stupid, you are also economically illiterate
go read up on the banking panics of the 1800s and tell me why you want this era to return. here, start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_run
to ron paul and his supporters: try to actually educate yourself on economic history before you try to put forth an opinion on the subject matter
it's like some sort of quasireligion in defiance of all obvious facts and simple history on the subject matter. delusional
such as firewater and the native american experience
The moron vote is herded like cattle by demagogues who are paid to do so by the Faux News corporate propaganda machine. The demagogues appeal to their prejudices, to ignore the policies that might hurt the plutocracy. So you have the insane situation where the lower middle class hates health care reform, where they are the actual benefactors of health care reform. We have a dynamic where their health and the education of their children is damaged by policies they fully support, because they believe fairy tales like welfare queens with 20 kids and lazy illegal immigrants, that that is the real threat. And they don't want to reward these stereotypes. When of course it is themselves who are having their benefits removed, and the real threat is the corporation who doesn't want their bottom line impacted and the health care insurance corporation who wants the money to keep flowing in the wasteful healthcare system we have.
So what do you do? Forget the morons for a moment, you can't do anything about them. Aim like a laser beam on one issue that even the morons understand: corporate influence in our politics. Keep up a constant drumbeat of how our elected representatives represent the influence of those who pay for the reelection campaigns, rather than the actual people they are supposed to serve. Even a moron can get behind that. It will take time, but enough inertial movement will eventually be established that the point will be too loud and obvious, and even the demagogues can't distract the morons anymore from the real tragedy going on.
It is "We the people", not "we the rich people and the corporations." Hammer on that point every day. This is the weak point in the propaganda machine that the lower middle class morons are currently under full influence of. Their standard of living gets worse every day. And it is exactly because of the agenda of those who pay for the propaganda machine that keeps them spellbound. Break the spell. Show the little plutocrat behind the curtain creating the illusion of the fake frightening Oz.
so you would also advise me to vote for a racist candidate because our immigration policy needs changing?
hey, asshole: why don't i vote for the candidate i'm comfortable with?
ron paul is delusional, his economic beliefs are insane and archaic. so no vote for ron paul
there is a corollary to that observation:
the victors are the ones with the better ethics
such as happiness of the societies fighting, economic capacity, as determined by cultural proclivities, etc. you can't win a war if it is at the expense of making your society miserable, for example, or destroying your economy
everyone knows the cynical observation "might makes right"
but few appreciate the subtle prologue: "right makes might"
wars are constant. battles are won and lost. but the victor in the long term is eventually the society that best organizes its society to maximize happiness and economic output. and then the losing society copies those values, perhaps improving upon them
memetic evolution
or just down to not having enough to eat and the weather too cold
the famous graphic:
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters
logistics: getting supplies to the front line, is more of a deciding factor in any war than how lethal your armament is
and the wise defender does not fight the front lines, they fight the supply lines
I agree with Ron Paul 100% that we need to get corporate influence out of our politics.
However, everything else he believes will destroy our economy, his beliefs are economic suicide.
We don't defeat the plutocracy in Washington DC by embracing a vision even worse than the plutocracy.
you forgot the "don't try this at home, kids"
no, seriously
the most potent destroyer of freedom in the entire history of mankind, by orders of magnitude, is no government, it is drug addiction
there is no stronger bars that the most depraved government can build then the bars the drug addiction place in your mind. a constant interrupt switch "get high... get high... get high" makes unable to work, maintain a relationship, think thoughts of philosophy, art, design, anything deep because of the pain of withdrawal
and this is the real story of the history of opium addiction, and "little or no social problems" from 100 years ago, you idiot:
http://opioids.com/opium/opiumwar.html
drug addiction as a tool to destroy a society you want to subjugate
i understand that people here detest government regulations and impositions on human freedoms. but why that means we have to accept a far worse form of freedom destruction, drug addiction, is beyond my understanding
democrats suck. therefore, that republicans suck more is excusable?
they were trying to appeal to english speaking olympics visitors in 2008, and the translation server crashed, but they thought the error message was the translation, so we get:
http://boingboing.net/2008/07/15/chinese-restaurant-c.html
so would it be like divide by zero if machines try to map the real world and encounter a bit of the real world mimicking machine world fail?
"The Sun somehow survives close call with badass comet Lovejoy. Meekly vows to be more respectful next time."
Anybody who meets with someone else and compromises is a politician. Governing anything: a household, a town, a country, is a form of compromise. Civilization is impossible without governance.
Those three sentences are facts. Try to understand them, and begin to actually matter to reality
voting makes a difference, because i live in a democracy, asshole. and if my society ever stops being a democracy, it will be because the majority of people think like you
i'm sorry for whatever personal psychological problems you have where you believe you have no control over your life. but don't project your personal failings onto my reality. life is what you make of it, and if you choose to make of your life the life of a slave, don't make that lame of choice of yours hurt my life. i am a free man. but you, the way you think: you have a slave's mentality. those who do malicous things in this world DEPEND upon cattle like you to think the way you do about how reality works. but i won't let your resignation to accept whatever bullshit they try to feed you also mean that i have to take that bullshit to
the most frustrating thing, for people like me, free men, is to be dragged down by people like you with a slave's mentality. read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
this wikipedia entry describes how you think:
again, i'm sorry for your psychological problems. but stop projecting your personal failures onto my politics. you have control in your society, whether or not you believe it. i don't believe i have control in my society. i know i do. because i am a free man
try to figure out where your life went wrong and how you might find the courage to try to matter again. if you can't do that, then shut up and fuck off, because you are nothing more than a useless self-chosen slave at this point in your life, and your mentality is toxic to democracy
except that every election, past, present, and future, in any democratic society possible, is a choice between two evils
because politics is nothing more than a process of compromise. and every compromise can, and is, described as a form of evil
so your entire point is completely moot. you are always voting for the lesser of two evils, forever, for anyone, for any society
to not make peace with that realization just means you do not understand the nature of life
mod parent up
if you don't participate in your democratic society, you are helping the side you like least win
those with ideology you dislike depend upon you to not participate. they understand how you think, and all they have to do is act ugly enough, and you just cede to them power
so there's nothing principled or conscientious about you abstaining. it's just stupid and self-defeating
show that you care enough to try to matter. that's more important than a "conscience" that thinks standing around idly while evil happens is any sort of conscience
it just pisses me off that someone is applying analysis to a throwaway comment as if it were a technical specification. just look at my larger broad point, don't nitpick. go ahead and criticize my larger broader point if you want, you don't have to agree with me. but please assume i understand the obvious, don't assume i'm an idiot who wants to shut off cell phones on trains
every choice you ever make in your entire life, on every single topic, from the most personal, to the most small, to the most cosmic, to the most mundane, to the most crucial, is a compromise
you will, forever more, in your entire life, and as long as human beings with free will exist in democratic societies, only get a choice of candidates that only approximates your values, anyone's values. you get a choice: vaguely grey area candidate this, or vaguely grey area candidate that. no better than that. welcome to reality
that you don't get to vote exactly for your ideal hero as your candidate, who matches your values 100%, therefore, you're not going to vote: that only tells me you are a fool
what you just said earns you, from me, instantaneous disrespect and disgust
because, in essence, what you are saying is that you are too good for us. you will not sully your "principles" to submit to an ugly process that might mean you have to recognize that life has compromises. no: fuck you, you are cluelessly idealistic. there's nothing wrong with being an idealist. but there's something wrong with being so idealistic that recognizing basic facts of political reality is an insult to your cognition
you don't have principles. you have high minded impossible standards that life will never live up to. and rather than live with the basic truth of the ugliness of the world, such as it is, and help to make it better by participating in it, you'd rather hide in your ivory tower and pretend you know better than us. no, you know less than us, because you believe your abstention makes you superior. it makes you inferior, for failing to recognize that your participation is the only way any of your ideals get realized. you tweak your ego at the expense of actually mattering to the world. you are a narcissist, preserving the ego at the expense of participating in your society, there is nothing "conscientious" about your behavior, that's just how you rationalize your complacency to yourself (since it is flattering to your ego, you narcissist)
For the longest time, I admired Brazil, among other countries, for forcing people to vote.
Because one of the reasons sometimes the suckiest politicians get elected is because people don't vote. Remember how close the 2000 election was between Gore and Bush? Did you vote?! We would not have invaded Iraq in 2003 if something like 0.002% of useless turds actually got off their asses in 2000 and spent 15 minutes at a polling station instead of at a video game console. No: the Democrats are not the same as the Republicans. Gore would not have invaded Iraq. That's why your vote COUNTS. (Now we will hear some assholes argue why Gore would have invaded Iraq, rather than concede the simple and obvious point that your vote matters.)
You get the government you deserve, and if you don't vote, then your government shows as much interest in you as you do in it when it comes time to actually PARTICIPATE in the formation of your own fucking government. People died so that your leader is chosen by you. People are dying today to get that right in other countries. And some people could care less. Some pathetic losers would rather play video games.
But then I realized, when this Jedi story was discussed awhile back, from an Australian census I believe, that some people just don't take life seriously. And you can't force them to.
That, if forced to vote, you'd see Bullwinkle and Kodos and Senator Palpatine winning thousands of votes.
You can't force people to care.
So, while I still admire Brazil and other countries for forcing people to acknowledge they should participate in their democracy, because it is such a gift, I don't push the issue anymore. Now, all I do is, when I hear someone complain about politics, I ask them "did you vote?" And if they go "no," I simply walk away and that person is simply dead to me forever more and I have zero respect for them. For being such a complacent hypocritical empty tool.
There are some things in life which are actually important and not funny. YOur religion? Jedi? OK, that's funny. But voting? Vote, damnit, it's not a joke. Thousands may die because you couldn't be bothered and some sycophant of the oil industry got in a position to fulfill Neocon masturbatory fantasies, nevermind your own country's domestic ruling agenda.
so would i genius
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2576386&cid=38388884
Is that you are 100% correct about american dirty tricks. But in your mind, this means Iranian dirty tricks are excused or unimportant or you even believe irsnian propaganda: that the green movement is all cia skulduggery and has no root in Iranian public opinion, for example. Im certain the cia funneled money to the green movement. Im also certain the green movement has genuine roots in Iranian public opinion. Therefore, why do you support an illegitimate govt, the current Iranian govt, and believe their lies, just because you dislike the usa?
In other words: be my guest, dislike the usa. You have every right and reason. But why, in your dislike of the usa, do you condone, excuse, and otherwise believe the lies of a govt that does far worse? In other words, in your rejection of one devil, why does it follow you must embrace a worse devil? Why can't you condemn BOTH?
"you didn't write a 25 page technical spec in your throwaway slashdot comment, therefore I will assume you don't understand common sense and reject your obvious and simple point"
pffffffft
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2576386&cid=38388884