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Posted
1 hour ago, Slacks said:

To just be good to each other? 

It seems so easy, but we just won't do it. 

Because we live in a world of scarcity. It's truly that simple.

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Posted

It's the story of humanity. Long after we are all gone people will still be doing the same horrific things to each other. History shows this to be true. Demented people are going to keep being born and the process of being horrible to others will start all over again with generations of people well down the road.

However, in your own life you have control over what is right in front of you. Be kind to those that you can and help those that need it. The rest of it is out of our hands. You do the best you can to leave your small corner of the world in a better place than when you showed up to it. 

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Posted
33 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Because back in the late 1980s two idiots failed their high school history exam. 

LOL - I am pretty sure the mistreatment of humans, by other humans, predates the 1980's; by several millenia. 
When I was young someone read me a book, it was an interesting read and told many stories from long, long ago; including this one story about people of a certain heritage who were enslaved because of who they were, then along came a new leader of the slaves and he was able to lead them out of slavery (but they are still hated by others in their region and by Nazi's)

Spoiler


How Did Moses Part the Red Sea? - WSJ

 

Posted
7 hours ago, Slacks said:

To just be good to each other? 

It seems so easy, but we just won't do it. 

Do your part as best you can.  I will too.  Don't vote for unkind people.

I know I'm going to sound like a cultist, but I've been using Sam Harris' Waking Up ap for the past few weeks, and while I can't say other people say I'm kinder, the ap is kind of amazing so far in terms of making me very aware in the seconds after when I've done something unkind, or the source of anger, etc. I don't know if anyone is noticing, but I feel like my attention is turning a bit toward others and how I can be good to them in small ways.

But this is a politics board, and the challenge of course, is whether this attempt to have an overall calmer and kinder approach to individuals is a help or hinderance in terms of one's political action.  

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Posted

To quote the great poet Marshall Mathers, "We ain't nothin' but mammals ..."  Sure, we're a bit smarter than most and have developed tools to make more resources available to the species. When it really comes down to it, though, for a good chunk of society, if they decide that someone else has something that they "need", they can be just as savage as any other mammal to get it, taking into account what they think they can get away.  That's why shit goes south so quickly in emergency situations - perception of "need" goes way up, perception of consequences goes way down , and people will do ridiculously shitty things.  That's one of the few situations when a belief in Sky Daddy can be useful to society - but even then, people will rationalize some awful behavior.   

Posted
2 hours ago, Wally Fairway said:

LOL - I am pretty sure the mistreatment of humans, by other humans, predates the 1980's; by several millenia. 
When I was young someone read me a book, it was an interesting read and told many stories from long, long ago; including this one story about people of a certain heritage who were enslaved because of who they were, then along came a new leader of the slaves and he was able to lead them out of slavery (but they are still hated by others in their region and by Nazi's)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

How Did Moses Part the Red Sea? - WSJ

 

 

I wrote the initial post after a bit if biblical reflection. Those people of certain heritage, having gone through many things, referred to those not of their heritage as dogs. 

Whether the stories are true or not, the thoughts of people are in there. 

Posted
2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

Because Kings/Leaders/Oligarchs with it all have convinced those with less than them that others with even less are trying to take what little they have.

IMG_2464.png.6fc63dfb7c5e1386ad323e4539f90b52.png

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Posted
8 hours ago, Vegas64 said:

Because we live in a world of scarcity. It's truly that simple.

The thing is, we don't, at least not in the modern world. We have the technology and ingenuity to feed and house every human being ten times over and everyone could live happy and confortably. There would still be super rich people and not so rich people but we could end poverty in a year or two if we all agreed to make it happen. We dont though . . . . 

5 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Because it isn't as profitable.

I thought these two posts were very appropriate.

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Posted

Too many Americans fail to understand they are “what’s for dinner.”

As LBJ said: “If you can convince the lowest white man that he is better than the best colored man, he will not notice you picked his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on, and he will empty his pockets for you.” 

IMG_1962.thumb.jpeg.5ca2329bfaa23ffc8a30e59ebcdd27d4.jpegIMG_1650.thumb.jpeg.d1610055a2f92919e0154279b1ab71f0.jpeg

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Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, Slacks said:

To just be good to each other? 

It seems so easy, but we just won't do it. 

Because we’re rats continually opting for the dopamine hit of anger and resentment instead of doing the tougher work.

Because moneyed interests draw strength when we’re divided and not advocating for the 99%, so their effective propaganda networks foment discord.

Because Bob Stoops.
 

Edited by Degenerate Gardner
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Posted
18 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

Because we’re rats continually opting for the dopamine hit of anger and resentment instead of doing the tougher work.

Because moneyed interests draw strength when we’re divided and not advocating for the 99%, so their effective propaganda networks foment discord.

Because Bob Stoops.
 

image.jpeg.65a5aef20d695863213c90c9a8001d23.jpeg

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Posted
11 hours ago, Vegas64 said:

Because we live in a world of scarcity. It's truly that simple.

Only because fuckfaces like Elon have 400,000,000 all to themselves 

Just now, berlinerbaer said:

Only because fuckfaces like Elon have 400,000,000 all to themselves 

Jesus, I forgot 3 zeros

Posted (edited)

A passage from Blood Meridian has always stuck with me when I wonder this:

“A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”

Part of the epigraph from the beginning of the novel:

Clark, who led last year’s expedition to the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, and UC Berkeley colleague Tim D. White, also said that a re-examination of a 300,000-year-old fossil skull found in the same region earlier shows evidence of having been scalped.
     –The Yuma Daily Sun

Edited by Damor
muledick
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Posted

I don't know. Maybe a lack of empathy. Our rugged individualism is incongruous with collective good. So we are pitted against one another for resources, jobs, and opportunities. This time period is eerily reminiscent of the 1920s when another wave of anti-immigrant history was parrotted by people looking to sew hatred and division. Only that time it was the Irish and uppity blacks daring to escape the oppression of Jim Crow only to find the North's version of it. 

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Posted
7 minutes ago, mdmost said:

I don't know. Maybe a lack of empathy. Our rugged individualism is incongruous with collective good. So we are pitted against one another for resources, jobs, and opportunities. This time period is eerily reminiscent of the 1920s when another wave of anti-immigrant history was parrotted by people looking to sew hatred and division. Only that time it was the Irish and uppity blacks daring to escape the oppression of Jim Crow only to find the North's version of it. 

sow*

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