I applaud you Chappie, nicely done and well-timed. People have to realise that the Divide and Conquer strategy, deployed by agents of the self-dubbed "elite", is one of their most successful weapons used against us. It's nothing more than a rather effective psychological operation put out as bait to be taken by the weak, the easily manipulated. Once we all see it for what it is, it will cease to be an effective tool in their arsenal and it will dry up and blow away. Until then, gullible people with misplaced rage will pathologically continue fighting one another over inane, differences and assumed superiorities. We fight one another, whilst our collective enemies use this to distract our focus and fortify their war against us, laughing all the while at our stupidity.

We're getting played people and it's time to wake the fuck up and get our shit together. These differences will seem trivial once we realise we're all getting screwed from the top down by predator scum who look down on ALL of us the same, and treat us all like their livestock.

Capitalism is everyone's enemy

Lol as you type that on your smart phone connected to your internet, sitting at home with heat and ac and your own personal automobile parked out front...

And?

You say this cause you haven't found a way to use the system to provide you with what you want. I say want cause if you are getting what you need obviously that won't provide you with happiness.

I have and find it works just great. It's all about fortitude and resolve more so then hard work. People always settle cause its easiest. I don't understand that concept because I always want more.

Some say I been at it for this long and my situation still sucks. Well have you tried to adapt and overcome? Probably not cause its what I have always done and seemed to work out.

Poor or impoverished people are always gonna bitch about what they don't have cause they want shit too, but they want the few of us that have busted our ass to pay for it. Well fuck that cause if I did it you can to.

What a load of shite. You need to look up the term 'collective unfreedom'. Though, I have to say, you've very succinctly summarised the "I'm alright Jack" argument for capitalism.

Then stay bitter and hateful cause that seems to be working don't it?

This from a guy who has just been blaming the poor for their poverty. Jog on.

I blame poverty on people that choose to dwell on it and make it their lifestyle.

It's a mindset that is easy to get out of

Poverty is born out of greed. Greed is when you take more than you need. Who has more then they need but the wicked?

Typically Education is related to poverty. The less educated statistically tend to be more impoverished. When people escape the system of poverty it's more often than not related to greater education. Problem is the system knows this and will not fund educating the poor, instead they make them more dependent on being impoverished as a means to be subsidized.

It goes the other way too though, because those who are poor are born in shitty neighborhoods with shitty living conditions and shitty schools much more often. They come from broken homes more often. They come from families and parents that also never went to school more often, families that can't afford to pay their tuition. The odds are stacked against the poor in pretty much every conceivable way.

Making more than you need is a matter of perspective. Who determines how much is too much? You? A group of politically elected bureaucrats? Bernie Sanders? Should everyone live in a sort of grey shared misery as long as one person is not at the same level? To be sure, there is inequity in the world. There always has been and there always will be. Consider this. People are motivated by many things including money. Some people are creative and as a result of their creativity in combination with the motivation of money, they build something that makes them insanely wealthy. Then they keep developing things that people like and buy which makes them wealthier. I would put Steve Jobs in that group. Do you think for one minute that if there wasn't an insane amount of compensation for himself and his employees he could have hired the incredible talent that built Apple computers? Do you think random people off the street could have done the same thing? People are worth whatever other people are willing to pay them.

The notion that we are all somehow equal and should all have equal incomes is both idealistic and childish. At least in the US, you have the ability to pursue your dreams. It happens every day. Some succeed some fail. But it's possible and a lot of people come from nothing and become wealthy.

The communist/socialist ideal of the proletariat being equal and all receiving equal incomes has proven to fail every time. Just look at the Soviet Union. In that world, You will always have intelligent and creative people who won't participate because there is no reward, and you will always have freeloaders who love the system because they don't have to do anything and can still be provided for. Then you have the rest of the population that lives a grey existence of monotony because they are just getting by.

Nice way to live huh?

Mammon is a sin for a reason. Taking more then you need of anything is greed, plain and simple.

So you are a Christian?

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.” - Jiddu Krishnamurti

Don't bother responding to my last post.

I looked through your history. You're an idealistic moron. The kind of person that will continually regurgitate the parts of Bible that suit your agenda, but wipe your ass with the rest of it.

Godspeed.

Those that can have it because others won't strive to get it. Lol you want to say oh greedy so and so. I say they got it cause they wanted it and either had someone that worked to get it for them or they did it themselves.

Either way you want it then you go find a way to get it that doesn't include violence or some way that would harm others.

Either way you want it then you go find a way to get it that doesn't include violence or some way that would harm others.

"The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men, the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy and invincible determination - a purpose once fixed and then death or victory." - Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton

I'm with you brother.

Never heard that quote before. It's just something I have noticed thru my life is that those that have not are always bitching about how damn much of a struggle it is and how those that do should share some of the wealth.

Fuck that you find a way that allows you to have some of that you desire. The choice you make to get it will have an impact on your life so choose wisely.

So many in here cry about shit all the time yet many I bet still stay at the shitty job making shit money cause they have settled. Their mind says oh you are a good worker bee and you deserve more.

Well fuck you cause you don't deserve shit in this world. It's not ment to be fair or we would have all been astronauts or whatever your guidance counselor said you were gonna do.

We need people in society to pick up garbage and clean up vomit. That's the way the world is. Be a responsible human and own that job 100% and it will get you further in life.

I have had so many shitty jobs that were just stepping stones to better. Now at 37 I have a career that I love, but I am always looking for something better cause that is what I do.

but I am always looking for something better cause that is what I do.

We all are, some just need to be reminded from time to time.

"A rising tide lifts all boats."

Godspeed.

Now at 37 I have a career that I love, but I am always looking for something better cause that is what I do.

Meanwhile Rothschild, Jr. was born a billionaire in part with money taken from you and I and will never have to work an honest day in his life...

Blah blah so the fucking fuckery what. Doesn't matter. Why you give a damn about him? The time and energy you will waste could have been applied to more fruitful endeavors for yourself or the ones you care about.

The point is that the circumstances people are born into and the things that happen in their lives aren't the same and to say that everyone can have what you have, or everyone can have what Rothschild, Jr. has, is simply not true.

Still about him. Why does he matter?

To you he doesn't. You couldn't pick him out in a line up I am betting he couldn't you either.

Focus on you.. Just you and the immediate ones you care for.

I do focus on me. I'm fine, my loved ones are fine, there are many people who have it a lot worse than I do. But that doesn't mean I only care about myself or that I ignore injustice and oppression. Being selfish is part of what's gotten us where we are - the world could be a better place than it currently is for all of us.

That's your view and Noble just not realistic.

Do you genuinely believe anyone and everyone can escape poverty so long as they work hard enough at it?

Are you really saying people choose to be poor?

Yeah cause I have been there. No resources or anything. Picked myself up got a shitty job, and slowly got myself out of it.

When I was just utterly fucked I did bitch about things I didn't have. Sleeping on the sidewalk without a blanket freezing to death getting fucked with by kids. And said screw this and worked my way out of it.

It's about choice and those that choose it will stay there.

So you think there are enough opportunities for upward mobility for everyone to escape poverty? You literally think that because you got lucky and your hard work paid off, everyone is capable of doing well for themselves? You don't think people can work hard and remain poor?

I don't think I am "lucky" I don't think anyone is. I think that you choose to make it or you don't. Work isn't hard it's just something you have to do. Like it or not that's the way it is.

Of course I don't think there are enough opportunities to go around, but on that same argument that isn't part of the whole equation because many won't work to get it.

They expect it to be given to them. For those that are willing to go for it sure there is enough.

I also believe that those who you say are working hard and are still poor are by choice. You don't have to kill yourself to make it in this world. They settle for what's handed to them. I seen it time and time again stay with a company for two decades and think they give a fuck about you? Lol

There isn't anyone that cares about you more then you. So keep that mindset. Selfless acts of being that worker bee are so stupid. You have to adapt and overcome or you will fail.

just for posterity's sake, I assume you are a male. Second nationality and age?

Not trying to "out" you just want to paint a better picture. If you think these things, like Gender, age, and race have nothing to do with yous ability to pull one up by their boots straps, you might want to research some of the more common experiences, and not basis your opinion off of one experience.

I had a similar discussion with my roommates about how most companies don't observe any holidays and place it upon the worker to pick and choose when they want off. They've been lucky enough that they've had vacation and holidays every job they've ahd(crazy sounding right). They for the life of them could not wrap their heads around the fact that there is nothing that forces a company to give you any time off. Then tried to say that it's because of the government that they get days off.(governement employees don't work, so we don't have to either) If you did not know there is no law that requires any business to grant specific days off. These are benefits to working where ever you work.

So as "easy" as it may have been for you and your situation, it does not mean its is equally as easy for others? Like I'm a tall person, so for me touching the ceiling is easy, high shelves are my friend. All these experiences are easy for me, for no active reason. I don't have to put extra effort into being tall, I'm already tall. So while you were strong-willed and determined in the face of sleeping on the sidewalk being tormented by passersby others won't have the same reaction or even the same mental tools to cope with such an experience.

I am male

37

Native American

Was beat thru my birth to around 17 years old. Put into a hospital 2 times when I was a toddler and had to learn to walk and talk again.

Been homeless before cause my father told me to stand on my feet like a man. Did that for 2 years but still had a job. Wouldn't take a hand out for shit cause I didn't earn it.

Currently making 87k a year have a wife and son. Own everything save the house that we rent cause I don't want that kinda debt right now with uncertian return.

Been at my job for 5 years but served in the Navy for 7 at one time.

My views are my own I realize that. Also don't feel people try hard enough. I know when I didn't then I got bad or no results. When I applied myself it always worked for the better.

Many people feel they should be Pat on the head and given a glass of milk before bed cause I feel it's parents fault for raising such a inept person.

World is hard it's going to be. You get thrown a lemon you make orange juice so everyone can say how the fuck did you do that. It's what I have always done once I realized it's the way it is.

Nothing and no one will change it cause it can't. The way of humanity will falter. People don't want to contribute then they should be left to die. Progression of the species is more important then you, me, or anyone else.

Someday I have a feeling this is what it will come to. Cause people with my mindset are the ones that run this world. So do it or don't.

Which country are you from?

United States of America

You're lucky. I can agree or disagree with you depending on the context.
If we talk global, then I strongly disagree. If you have the opportunity you should visit a third world country like mine.
You'll get a different idea of poverty.

I did visit some third world countries while in the Navy they usually have this unyielding faith in some God. They should blame him or her.

Just because I was born in a certain place at a certian time I won't feel bad for anyone else. Luck of the draw and they lost.

This guilt that is the new trend for people is stupid. I see no point in it cause it is a waste of time. My time is more important then to waste.

OK, you did visit some poor countries so you know their reality... You have an interesting and somehow entertaining point of view. Which is no surprise to me. I think many people could share your opinion. Not me.
Yes, it's a waste of time thinking in others... /s
Enough said. People reading this can make up their own conclusions.
Good luck.

The reason I have my view is cause if I was there it was because people needed to die. Someone somewhere decided that is what needed to happen and I was just there because being the right hand of the devil is better then being in his path.

Sorry my warped view bothers some, but understand that your views are foreign to me.

yes. it isn't hard. stop spending money. start earning money.

The hundreds of kids who died from diarrhea today had more resolve than you, I guarantee it.

Well sucks to be that bad off. I am not. Either is my kid. So doesn't matter to me.

You want harsh reality that is what I will give you. I don't give a fuck about anyone else but my wife, son, and myself.

They don't care about me cause they don't know me. So fuck it. Why give a damn about someone a world away? It's simple you don't. Society says you should have empathy and donate that shit they need for their survival.

Screw that they should have done it for themselves or had someone that cared about them other then those not responsible for their well being.

People gonna die it's just gonna happen. Why be sad? Try to stay positive.

Like the aid that was going to help them could now go to someone else. Or maybe them dying will help to prevent it later on. You can try that if it helps you.

I don't give a fuck about anyone else but my wife, son, and myself.

Just say this up front next time. It explains everything else you're saying without all of the other words.

You didn't get that already?

Explain to me why someone that doesn't know me has my best personal interests in mind and why I should give a damn about their well being?

Because we're all inhabiting the same planet and working together is both more effective and more enjoyable to all parties than working against each other, blaming each other, and not giving a shit about each other. Personally I wish you and your family all the best regardless of the fact that you don't give a shit about me or anyone else.

That's cool man but I don't see how you can wish me the best. I may be content with chopping people into 50 pieces and mailing them to every state.

That really the best? Cause you never know if the person you are talking to goes home each day and pets a lamp.

I get your nature of caring and say good on you. But I guarantee you that you won't make it further in life by caring about others. Just don't work like that.

Then I won't make it further in life, I've made peace with that possibility. I'm plenty content with where I'm at right now and who I am. I'd rather be poor and full of love than "rich" and full of hatred.

I ain't rich by any means. But I am very happy with my current situation. For now. I will get better at life before I die.

I wanted to say that it isn't that I hate everyone. That takes too much time that I could use for something that will help me go further in life.

We are all on this planet, thing is thou that you got to take your piece or someone will take it from you. You do realize that don't you?

If we're sitting here on reddit with a computer using the internet, we already have plenty big enough a piece. There are people who have never even seen the internet before or touched a computer. We are among the lucky ones and we should realize and appreciate that. How much is enough? Taking from others is just bringing more misery into the world than already exists for the sake of our own ego and selfishness. I would rather work together with others and try to create something better for us all. Maybe it's a pipe dream but whether it is or not I have no interest in selfishly taking from others and giving to myself. I already have enough.

Let me ask you this: if you could take $100,000 from a person but you had to see the consequences of this with your own eyes, if you had to see this person every day starving in the street outside your window, groveling for change in their own filth, and eventually just dying in the gutter... would you still take the money?

If by taking you mean directly no I wouldn't cause that is something I didn't earn. It wouldn't be moral which oddly enough I have, but I don't have empathy.

Now if they were starving and it was a competition or something and I did earn it then fuck yes I would. Cause its important for people to fail at things.

Just like my sons school asked me to buy shit for the entire grade I told them no.

Just because I make 5x the annual income of 80% of resistants doesn't mean I am there to make sure their children have what mine does. It's detrimental to their knowledge that sometimes your best just isn't good enough.

If their parents cared they would strive to make their good better and their better the mother fucking best.

Word for word I said that at the PTA.

People may not like it but thruout my life if I failed at something I did it again to fail better till I succeeded.

i love this guy.

Fuck you /s

Lol either way it don't matter. But hey thanks for the love.

And when you say you did it so can others (attitude), where were you born, by what income level were you raised within, and how available was education for you? You are aware that being born in a certain place and time to whomever you are born to is accidental and the roll of the dice, right?

Oh my god really?

Let me guess aliens can come take you away and probe your ass too? Come on who cares about all of these hoops you keep putting up. You either do or you don't. The challenges you must overcome in life is what makes you.

Obviously being so poor you can't afford to pay attention would be a great obstacle to overcome. Why not just do it and say yeah works how goddamn awesome.

No you come on here and say the Walton's did this and Rothschild family fucked me. You think they are the richest people too. Or where the root of all this shit comes from. Grow up and open them eyes. It's society that keeps itself down

They being elite don't worry about you cause you won't mobilize to do anything. Rich stay rich cause we let them. You wanna make a difference don't participate. Be the example and find ways you can impact.

Betting if you do all you will think is that you are not making a dent and your right because you won't stay positive and want instant results. Shit takes time. You feel it shouldn't.

Me thou I don't give a flying fuck. I am more then happy. Been playing "The Division" and drinking orange monster cause it tastes good.

Not caring cause my bills are paid, and the world is spinning.

What are you talking about?

I've found people that ascribe to this philosophy are usually unaware of all the advantages they've had, or ignorant to how many less advantages other people have....how much harder it can really be for someone with a lack of those opportunities.

Advantages you say. I say life is what you make of it with what you have available to you.

Lol no. Socialism/Communism is.

Deal with it.

Please elaborate. I would like to see that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes#Red_Terror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes#Land_reform_and_the_suppression_of_counterrevolutionaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward

Really though, this is 2016, if, like, you weren't so ignorant and did your research, you would, like, know so much, more

http://www.heritage.org/index/book/chapter-1

Here's like, a good start. But, like, you know, its 2016. So like, get with the times. Its well known, to like, everyone

(This got way longer than expected. Wall of text incoming.)

I dont think I asked you how to use google, I asked your opinion on the subject, but its ok if you want to hide behind wiki links and attack me with sarcastic nonsense.

Yes, lots of people died on these revolutions, but it doesnt argue against the ideology, it just shows that it takes lots of effort and blood to dismantle the current system, in which a huge number of people die everyday because of money-digging imperialism. But of course you dont care about innocents in Africa and the Middle East being target of US blood spillings for money, you are a "hard worker" and thats why you "live well" under capitalism. Capitalism works only by granting a decent living for a few in the expense of the exploration of the majorty, and thats something economic develpoment is never going to change, no matter how much they try to convince you of that. Now, I could get into modern day work-slavery, but I guess you would dismiss that too as "not being an issue".

From the last link (which i didnt have the time to read completely yet)

[Free market] therefore provide the environment that can best inspire people to develop practical solutions to economic and social challenges

Thats my problem with it. Which people? The poor with no access to education? Third-world industrial countries factory workers? No. You need capital to create business, so thats out of the poor's reach. Also, businesses dont change the life of the poor because the profit from economic growth is channeled to the burgeoise. When the article says it does improve poverty, its because outsourced production makes life better in rich countries while developing and poor ones are left in chaos. I know that well, since im from Brazil.

Im not trying to say socialism is the perfect alternative, but capitalism is perfect at masking its own wrong doings and brainwashing people into thinking its the only alternative, so much that people dismiss socialism/communism without even doing research. Thats what im sick of. Sorry again for the wall of text, but I prefer doing that rather than linking isolated sources which dont show the real picture.

Capitalism has historically done more to lift all people out of poverty than socialism and communism has. A common modern comparison was when Boris Yeltsin visited a Houston super market and exclaimed how crazy it was to have all these different types of foods all stocked. More jarring to him was that the super market didn't have lines going out the door for the basics.

What this (and many other examples) seems to signify is that when you give people more freedom compared to a centrally planned economy: people are happier, able to do jobs they love, can reinvest back in the community, and are able to raise a family, amongst many other things.

Some socialists and communists may take issue with the label "Centrally Planned" but as all real-world examples have shown, both socialism and communism end up with a powerful central government, and powerful central governments, no matter what type of economy the actual country has, seem to be predispositioned to violence and ineptitude. A latest example of this would be Venezuela.

Lastly, if you take a look at Thailand. It isn't turning socialist or communist or anything, but they do have a military junta in command of the country and economy. Prior to the coup, Thailand was on pace to be a South Asian economic powerhouse. Since the military has seized control of certain aspects of the country, and violently halted freedoms that the Thai people enjoyed just a few years ago the economy has been trending downward, as well as the value of the Baht.

How?

On the contrary, it is everyone's salvation, as evidenced by the billions of humans it has lifted out of poverty of not only income, but more importantly, the will to live free. Socialism, communism, whatever anti-capitalist crap you are selling is a cancer.

There's a major misunderstanding about what "socialism" and "capitalism" really are. Marx originally referred to Socialism as an intermediary state between capitalism and communism. Marx called for workers to own the implements of capitalism. In some models of socialism, this equates to worker representation on the boards of the corporations in which they are employed. In Germany, around half of the board positions are inhabited by workers. This is a proven model which motivates workers while at the same time leads to better working conditions and higher productivity.

Capitalism is a very generic term and generally means private ownership of the implements of capitalism. You can have both a socialist system and a capitalist system in the same legal system.

Your seeming defense of socialism is misguided. The problem with socialism and the reason it fails is that the state owns, or in pseudo socialist systems, controls the means of production. It is a sad irony that the younger generation in America recognizes the crony capitalistic corruption of the state yet believes empowering the state even more will improve things. Any system that empowers the state over the individual's right of free exchange is not only doomed to failure but makes slaves of the people in the process.

The fact that the under 30's do not understand the basic inherent value of capitalism versus any state coerced economic system is an incitement of the public school system. All one needs is common sense and the ability to reason to know these truths but since those things are no longer being taught we will likely end up as subjects of a tyrannical central authority that supposedly knows best how to take care of us.

You may be reading things into my comment. Socialism isn't a single system, nor is capitalism. There are different models of socialism, just as there are different models of capitalism. Does that make any sense?

Capitalism and socialism are generic terms. In general, capitalism refers to private ownership of production/industry/etc... whereas socialism is an intermediary state between capitalism and communism. There are also different models of communism, believe it or not -- some are wildly different from others. This is political science 101.

In the German model (which is capitalistic and socialistic), corporate boards are staffed with 50% workers. In the US model (which is capitalistic and socialistic), some workers are paid stock options as a bonus, which means they own part of the system of production.

Paid by whom? You act as if the management of a company are not also employees. Even owners are employees if they are running the company. The whole us versus them, covetous world view is what make anything other than the liberty based economic systems such as capitalism, evil.

That's not my opinion, that's the German system of labor representation. "Labor" or "worker" refers to unionized, in general. If you find that disturbing, more power to you.

Well said.

I agree. I think there is a very coordinated effort to divide and conquer movements, and society as a whole. Once people are separated, they are easier to control. Groupthink sets in, Stockholm Syndrome takes over, and anyone who has an opposing viewpoint is silenced by the smaller, limited group that is left. It's the fall of every major social movement.

I have most recently noticed this with Black Lives Matter. I was involved in early protests. There were many marches in many cities, all around the country. It was a very vibrant, active, and diverse group. For example, although I am white, I am very sympathetic to the cause. If we do not stop police from murdering people in the street, and additionally obstructing justice when they need to be held accountable, it won't be long until they start murdering many more people, of all races. Additionally, the hyper-militarization of the police is a frightening trend. Currently it disproportionately harms minority communities, but it will soon harm us all.

After a while, the group started to splinter in multiple different directions. I think a Soros-funded group called "Freedom Arts Society" infiltrated the group. They started showing up to any and all protests, with what was apparently the sole purpose of making a protest look like a protest. They carried the same signs to all of them, which were all about labor rights. Black Lives Matter? Labor rights signs. Immigration reform? Labor rights signs. Syrian refugee rally? Labor rights signs. It was an odd choice, particularly for SJWs that are so militant about staying on message with movement groups.

The BLM leadership split off into several different and smaller leadership groups. They all had related names and missions, but none were particularly focused on BLM anymore.

A core group of BLM leaders kept the BLM chapter going. However they made the group a "cultural safe space." I am split on my decision about that - while I'm disappointed I can't join and participate, and I also see a huge irony in discriminating an entire race to discuss racial discrimination, I understand their analogy to battered women's groups not allowing men. They feel like it is necessary for them to heal.

But I did notice - after the group split in many different directions, you didn't see BLM protests anymore. Nobody was in the streets anymore. They were all going in separate directions, working on separate issues, and not working on the primary cause anymore. It's the largest real life example I've seen of divide and conquer so far.

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? It is because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind. ~ J. Krishnamurthi

More

That's a nice ideal. But it's a fantasy. Think back to your High School days. Remember the different social cliques that formed? The evil ruling elite didn't create those. They formed naturally. It's Human nature. Collectivist really need to accept that this is the nature of Man. And that trying to force different groups to live together actually results in more violence. It has to be a natural process left to it's own to happen or not.

There are a lot of things that humans used to do that we grew out of. Maybe it's time to get over war and divisiveness. Even if the whole population thinks there will always be wars and divisiveness, let it be known that there is at least one person who believes it is possible.

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

If fifty million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. ~ Anatole France

If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. ~ Jim Rohn

One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

It is hard to free fools from chains they revere. ~ Voltaire

Grasshopper, look beyond the game, as you look beneath the surface of the pool to see its depths. ~ Master Po

Most people drive thru life with the parking brake on. ~ Lance Bradley

The vast majority of mankind is trapped within perceptual prisons. ~ Shawn Mikula

Once all struggle is grasped, miracles are possible. ~ Mao Zedong

If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. ~ Ancient Chinese Proverb

What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? ~ Ursula K. LeGuin

Spiritual maturity is a lifelong process of replacing lies with truth. ~ Kurt D. Bruner

Philosophers have merely interpreted the world. The point is to change it. ~ Karl Marx

There are three truths: my truth, your truth, and the truth. ~ Chinese proverb

Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth. ~ Jean de la Bruyère

In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself. ~ Albert Einstein

Insanity in individuals is something rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. ~ Nietzsche

In order to learn, one must change one's mind. ~ Orson Scott Card

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. ~ George Bernard Shaw

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong. ~ Voltaire

Men who believe absurdities will commit atrocities. ~ Voltaire

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

War is an instrument entirely insufficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses. ~ Thomas Jefferson

You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race. ~ George Bernard Shaw

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them. ~ Albert Einstein

Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear, kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor, with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it. ~ General Douglas MacArthur

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. For if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. ~ Nietzsche

trange is our situation here upon Earth. ~ Albert Einstein

How long would authority ... exist, if not for the willingness of the mass to become soldiers, policemen, jailers, and hangmen. ~ Emma Goldman

Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarreled with him? ~ Blaise Pascal

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Would you like to liberate yourself from the lower realms of life? Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. ~ Lao tzu

Ignorance is always afraid of change. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors. ~ William R. Inge

When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. ~ Eugene V. Debs

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace. ~ John Lennon

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. ~ Albert Einstein

When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. ~ George Bernard Shaw

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. ~ Kahlil Gibran

On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points. ~ Virginia Woolf

Those who hate and fight must stop themselves; otherwise it is not stopped. ~ Spock, Day of the Dove

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority. ~ Thomas Huxley

Your every decision conspires to make this moment happen. ~ Christi Philpott

I saw a human skull the other day. There was an inscription below it: ‘Look long and hard at me, for I was once as you are and you will soon be as I am. ~ Unknown

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

its a great ideal. But its nonsense. As long as everyone or even groups, cliques and tribes, have a perceived threat or their own self interest at stake, this is all just tomfoolery. "Well if everyone just got along" is a really grandiose way of thinking and unrealistic. Also, throwing a bunch of quotes from a bunch of people in ivory towers, doesnt really prove your point. It more points to have far gone these people are.

Of course it is not nonsense. Your attitude is nonsense. You remind me of Lord Kelvin:

"I am afraid I am not in the flight for “aerial navigation”. I was greatly interested in your work with kites; but I have not the smallest molecule of faith in aerial navigation other than ballooning or of expectation of good results from any of the trials we hear of. So you will understand that I would not care to be a member of the aëronautical Society."

"No balloon and no aeroplane will ever be practically successful."

Only severely brainwashed, perverted people with a serious case of anal cranial inversion do not wish and work for the improvement of humankind. Mankind has improved and will continue to improve despite the efforts of the naysayers. Slavery was considered a divine right as the bible so eloquently points out. It is now illegal. Humans got past cannibalism. Civil rights was tomfoolery to many. Space flight was tomfoolery to many. The defeat of the British empire was tomfoolery to many. You do realize that the list is very very long about things that were considered impossible and tomfoolery that later became reality. You can't be so naive to think otherwise. Humans can get past war if all the poopy heads could wrap their minuscule brains around the fact that things can get better.

Some people just enjoy watching the world burn. Some work to extinguish the flames. Personally I will grab a water bucket. Others will spew complete nonsense that fires are unquenchable and just watch. Unbelievable as it may seem some actually start destructive fires.

Quotes absolutely prove my point, it's just that some are not wise enough to realize their significance. People that hold back human advancement are the ones that are way way too far gone.

great Aflred quote.

Yet those were the years of our adolescent folly, the ones we look back at with great embarrassment. It is truly is our human nature but so is violence but we still attempt to control that. It does have to be a natural process but it's still influenced by societal values. For example, it's probably a bit natural for young boys and girls to separate but that can be reinforced by something the children watch on TV about boys and girls being different. I saw a lot of that as a kid, something as simple as "eww, that's a girl's bike!", "eww, boys are soo gross!". It might be fantasy to hope for everyone in the world to lose their false identities but it's not fantasy for the individual who practices it.

Jav's right. there is more history backing our genetic greed and desire to create casts and cliques similar to tribes. Your perspective is akin to the YMCA participation program. Science has proven several times over that this concept is chemically damaging children by putting their reward system in their brain into overdrive. The fact is that we socially progress faster than we chemically and genetically progress and idealistically, we all want to get along. When everyone has their own personal agendas at stake, it wont happen

Might be why we usually look back at our history unfavorably. For all our progress, we look back at the wars, the slavery, the exploitation and brutality, examples of which are extensive and global. Freedom from bondage is a common theme, making up the founding mythos of many nations and peoples. Yet, as we progress technologically, there is a feeling and a hope of improving our own nature, of rising from savagery.

Out of all the crap we teach our kids, I don't think instilling values of tolerance, inclusion and conflict resolution are so bad. Forcing inclusion or exclusion, yes that's wrong (for example no matter how much my parents tried, I never got along with my brother) but as I said kids will feed off societal values for what's right and what's wrong and I doubt you think India's established caste system is the pinnacle of human achievement. Is it better for the child to be taught to establish a pecking order and treat others better or worse based on it? Well most people say high school sucked just for that reason. Or would it be better to teach a child to get what they want in life but try not to step on anyone else's toes on their journey or simply don't be a dick and don't let anyone be a dick to you.

I am saying that where we want to be vs. where we are as a species are two different things. On a time scale, we are barely out of the stone age genetically, but societally we are a million years ahead of ourselves.

we should all stand for each other's right to think differently even going so far as to defend our worst enemy's right to be our enemy in the fist place,

This means that we should stand for the right of the person who thinks we should all think the same.

So, who will prevail in the end?

It's only my opinion, but I don't think there is an end. I don't think things just end and stop changing, especially when they involve people and their ideas and opinions.

Nature is balance and abhors a vacuum, this is why safety is an illusion. Know your place in the world, or stumble around until you find it.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain

actually, we defend their right to free speech, but i also have a right to tell them how i feel and to be offended. Don't perverse our freedoms.

I don't see any way to come together. It seems like people require years of education to learn not to be fooled by the same propaganda. There's never a way to get everyone on the same page.

regain control of the media

Destroy the Propaganda?

Fascist.

sure

Documentaries are a great way in my opinion

The Internet? Lol

"As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie motherfuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole." —Felipe Coronel, aka Immortal Technique

except there is very little racism

They always make you think it has to be one or the other.

Elections are a good way to divide.

Thank you for this post. Seems like every time I'm in a discussion about sexism or racism, I hear people immediately target the opposition's most extreme members(eg. "Fucking feminazi's are all fat ugly man haters" or "Men are all disgusting pigs, and I can't feel safe if there's one nearby"). Yeah, these are genuine issues, but by focusing on the worst of humankind and letting personal bias rule you, you are hurting and even reversing the process. I really do think humankind is slowly evolving to a point of harmony. Give it a few more generations, we'll get there.

Remember when the whole country was shifting the conversation towards police militarization and brutality and then a bunch of shadowy money poured into specific black activists groups who shifted the topic away from the police state issue and into a rhetoric fueled race debate. That was a bummer.

Great job, thanks for posting.

While I agree with the premise on a grand scale, the simple fact remains that here in America, our 2 party system pretty much forces this on us. I've always felt the Repubs and Dems are different wings of the same bird, meaning the elite. While I recognize the us versus them game we play enables the elite further, I still feel small victories are possible. String many small victories together, and now all of a sudden real change is possible and not just a pipe dream. We have a long way to go but at least people are voicing some opinion on the matter instead of silently being lead to the slaughter.

Republican have been gullible too long believing in exaggerated terror claims and blaming blacks. Allowing the Rich to get richer. There's only a one party problem

Here's a nice little cartoon that illustrates this principle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVh75ylAUXY

Cannot agree more with everything you said in your title. However...well...we absolutely, definitely are divided, unfortunately. There is tons of division in this sub, tons of racism, tons of hate that goes on daily. And this is indicative of the bigger picture/of what goes on in the world itself.

And like you said in your title, this is exactly how TPTB want it. This is exactly what TPTB constantly foment.

We have to fight against it. This is how we would absolutely win and evolve and improve.

Together we stand. Divided we absolutely fall.

There are a few things I notice right away with this whole situation. It seems like this new generation has had it good as far as race relations for the past 8 years. This current generation was in middle school when Obama was elected now they are in their 20's and voters, activist.

Now, us older generation who has actually seen race related issues looks at this like its low on the scale of what we went through.

BUT it is similarly early familiar. It seems to be a push for communism ideology, mentality. This generation has never known the sticks and stones words do not hurt me concept. Everyone needs a safe space and protection against bullying, bullying words are punishable by harm and death according to this generation.

We have seen this before, Syria, Egypt, Occupy, Anonymous, Apple fan boys, everyone at this point is a pawn.

If you speak your mind you are a raciest, if you associate with someone that has raciest mentality then you are also a raciest. This is literally the best way to divide a nation, a group. By self control. Notice how you must really think before speaking your mind these past few months.

There is a game being played and all are on the same side. You have to choose which elite it will be, history shows us that they all are friends.

Unless people stop being politically correct they will continue to be segregated. All politcally correctness does is force labels upon people and divide them into nice neat little groups. This is segregation among all groups not just one. And until this type of thinking changes we cannot move on. It is a shame that there has to be division amongst us all and we cannot just see people for who they are a human being. Not black, white, gay, straight just a simple human being.

Too late. At this point there are people dumb, uninformed, and willfully ignorant enough to actually be enemies of freedom and peace.

At the same time, working to understand the plight that certain groups go through is an important part of forming a more cohesive society.

i KNOW that black people face a different police violence and I don't want my family to ever have to face that- but If I don't acknowledge and stand up for marginalized groups, it will eventually happen to me.

It is a hippie pipe dream. Just start talking about the 2016 election. We're so polarized. Until we get rid of the two major parties, we will continue to fight each other and be on Team A and Team B. It wasn't as bad when politics was just about running a government - now it's about moral issues, life philosophies, and pretty much everything. You can't claim to be on some team without offending someone now.

It's a noble ideal, but I'm afraid that people who echo your sentiments often ignore the base realities that such biases against races and genders exist even outside the realm of economic condition. Until those inherent injustices are acknowledged and rectified, meaningful unity is impossible.

TL;DR you can't just write off racism and sexism because of "the powers that be", it needs to be rectified at the ground level on an individual basis.

Without diversity which will also produce negative aspects as well as positive ones there will never be any progress. To think otherwise means we also believe in sunny days forever asnd do not see how sunny forever days will kill and shrivel up the land around us. Even in nature we require winds, storms, ice and snow. Without those deverse envirnoments there can not be any renewls.

Living in complete harmony and peace is unatural in this world. This world is designed to want to achieve our best but it also uses negative aspects to get us there. Our goal is to learn. But perfection is outside of our grasp while living on this planet.

Race, sex, crime, and privacy are all dog whistles to distract from the real issue of class. Any form of unity must be disrupted.

Every time I try talking about this- some trouser stain comes along and starts the cycle all over again. I don't think most people can function without some sort of psychic dumping ground- some nebulous personality or concept to blame for all their life's failures.

Left vs Right, Men vs Women, Blacks vs Whites, etc. are all very ad hoc positions without any depth of thought.

In my opinion, the truest actual division is between authoritarians and libertarians. Everything else is obfuscation.

Whether or not "they" divided us, we as human beings had primal instincts to divide since the early times.

The primal impulse is primal for a reason. We have learned how to condition ourselves away from it for a better societal good. Every time some politician exploits the primal fear for political gain, we lose as a society.

lol that's not how nature works... having "primal" instincts evolved as an evolutionary strategy. Those who don't play along with nature, get replaced by those who DO play along with nature. You not being racist, won't stop others being racist. In fact, they would just pick up on that "evolutionary weakness" and turn it into an advantage for them.

This is true. It's a natural part of the Human animal. And they use it against the masses as a form of control. Notice immigration is a BIG thing for them these days. Going as far as to flood Europe with millions of people that bring little useful skills to the table, and commit a lot of crime. This is pure divide, and rule strategy practiced since the time of Rome. Their end game is to dissolve all borders so they can mix us up, and then use the natural chaos that results to be able to rule over us as we will be too busy fighting each other to ever unite against the common foe.

kudos, great communist manifesto. Division and greed are apart of human instinct. Here's your participation trophy.

I don't think you understand that it's not about them dividing us. It's about us wanting to be divided and them picking up on that and using it.

Trump doesn't give a hoot. The people he attacks the most are all the groups of people he hires. He just knows there's a lot of scared racist white people and caters a message to them and their NEED to be divided.

They're not dividing us. We are divided and they are capitalizing on it.

there's a lot of scared racist white people

I love the casual bigotry against white people - and ONLY white people - that spews from the lips of the left.

You would never say "there are a lot of scared racist black people that Al Sharpton caters to."

You'd never say "there are a lot of scared racist Latinos that La Raza caters too."

The left always and only attacks white people as "racist."

It's pure, unadulterated bigotry.

Why wouldn't I say that? There's plenty of racist black people who Al Sharpton especially caters too. I actually got beaten up by a few of them when I lived in Wisconsin. There's also plenty of racist Latinos. Don't know who La Raza is, but if he's catering than he's catering.

And it wasn't casual or inclusive of all white people. Just a like a fucking Right-winger to take my statement out of context. I said Trump knows there are scared racist white people who he's catering too. Which is true. I didn't say "whites are the only racist people". Just like Al Sharpton caters to scared racist black people.

What a fucking joke. I thought I actually said something that was untrue until I realized you're just being an idiot.

And I'm a Republican whose tired of the GOP being fiscally liberal and spending all their money on being socially conservative.

My, my, my comments must have struck a nerve.

Yep. Stupidity, accusations and misrepresentation usually strike a nerve in most people.

Self-righteous people often react with hostility when their own immoral attitudes are pointed out, as you just did.

Haha! XD Is your day that boring? Sad part is, you're probably still at work getting paid for it. Don't miss my desk job.

imagine something that is not and cannot be real, by definition, because the laws of physics prevent it from being that way

imagine if we ignore science, logic, reason, and millennia of human experience

Nah, I’ll stick with reality.

What law of physics are you referring to?

What does science have to do with the way an individual chooses to act on their convictions, and how they expect others to act on theirs?

I think I wasn't clear enough with what I was trying to say. Can you briefly tell me what it is you think I was trying to say so I can see if that's right?

What does science have to do with the way an individual chooses to act on their convictions, and how they expect others to act on theirs?

Because objective truth exists, regardless of what people want to lie to themselves. Moral relativism is the psychological cause of all modern degeneracy. Some viewpoints are wrong, period, end of story. I refuse to compromise my beliefs–based in fact–to accommodate them.

I think it's only being intellectually honest to distinguish beliefs into two categories. One category is scientific beliefs, like the acceleration of gravity being 9.8 m/s on earth. I agree wholeheartedly that this belief is not relative, because it is a strictly defined value. The other category is where I think we disagree, and it's beliefs about the value of things. Think, for example, of your opinion on abortion. You may believe it's great (or you may not), but either way there's bound to be someone who disagrees with you. Neither of you are wrong in any objective way. No equation in physics can ever give a strict valuation of abortion, or demonstrate why it's great or not great. It's a value judgment. Neither the person who believes abortion is great nor the one who thinks it's not great is "wrong" in any objective sense, and their beliefs are true for each of them. Wouldn't that constitute a relative truth? What's true for one (i.e. "abortion is great") is not true for the other.

Now I agree these two categories are fundamentally different and shouldn't be lumped together or talked about as though they're the same thing. Do we agree on this point?

Neither of you are wrong in any objective way.

Murder is always wrong.

Now I agree these two categories are fundamentally different and shouldn't be lumped together or talked about as though they're the same thing. Do we agree on this point?

Subjectivity exists. In personal preferences–food, drink, music, favorite color, animal, type of house, etc. Not in social issues. Not in economic issues.

I don't think what you're describing has anything to do with moral relativism, I think that term describes this type of statement: "What about Hitler's reign was really wrong? Under his leadership Germany actually came back from their depression and had a great economy, some would say that it was the best era for Germany, who decides what is good and what isn't? To some, Hitler's reign was the best time for Germany, and to flat out call that time period a failure simply is wrong because while some suffered, many other prospered. Can you really subjectively say that there was anything wrong with his reign?" Oh god I realize how stupid that example was, forgive me for resorting to another Hitler discussion, but basically I think moral relativism has nothing really to do with what you're proposing, just that people relate based on common goals rather than opposing ideas on solutions. That we don't succumb to the hegelian dialectic that the elite impose on us, and break down the illusion.

What kind of hegelian dialectic does the elite impose on us?

The secret to a great relationship is learning how to disagree and still love that person. Applying that to the rest of the world is the real challenge, and the ultimate one.
Have you learned how to disagree without hate?

Have you learned how to disagree without hate?

Yeah, it’s called STAYING APART. The opposite of multiculturalism.

White Christians need to unite against their enemies, because Muslims, blacks and Jews are conspiring to destroy them. The Muslims and blacks are led around by their noses by the Jews, who are orchestrating the attack on the white race. Unless whites unite, our race will be gone in a century or two. We have the power to save it and restore its strength, but it will require courage and conviction in the rightness of our cause. All our enemies have to use against us are lies. Once you recognize this, you have freed your mind. Western civilization is white Christian civilization, and if it is to survive, white Christians must survive.

No one cares

Yeah Christians NEVER did anything bad /s

What about us white atheists?

Nature is balance and abhors a vacuum, this is why safety is an illusion. Know your place in the world, or stumble around until you find it.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain

just for posterity's sake, I assume you are a male. Second nationality and age?

Not trying to "out" you just want to paint a better picture. If you think these things, like Gender, age, and race have nothing to do with yous ability to pull one up by their boots straps, you might want to research some of the more common experiences, and not basis your opinion off of one experience.

I had a similar discussion with my roommates about how most companies don't observe any holidays and place it upon the worker to pick and choose when they want off. They've been lucky enough that they've had vacation and holidays every job they've ahd(crazy sounding right). They for the life of them could not wrap their heads around the fact that there is nothing that forces a company to give you any time off. Then tried to say that it's because of the government that they get days off.(governement employees don't work, so we don't have to either) If you did not know there is no law that requires any business to grant specific days off. These are benefits to working where ever you work.

So as "easy" as it may have been for you and your situation, it does not mean its is equally as easy for others? Like I'm a tall person, so for me touching the ceiling is easy, high shelves are my friend. All these experiences are easy for me, for no active reason. I don't have to put extra effort into being tall, I'm already tall. So while you were strong-willed and determined in the face of sleeping on the sidewalk being tormented by passersby others won't have the same reaction or even the same mental tools to cope with such an experience.

its a great ideal. But its nonsense. As long as everyone or even groups, cliques and tribes, have a perceived threat or their own self interest at stake, this is all just tomfoolery. "Well if everyone just got along" is a really grandiose way of thinking and unrealistic. Also, throwing a bunch of quotes from a bunch of people in ivory towers, doesnt really prove your point. It more points to have far gone these people are.

Blah blah so the fucking fuckery what. Doesn't matter. Why you give a damn about him? The time and energy you will waste could have been applied to more fruitful endeavors for yourself or the ones you care about.

The point is that the circumstances people are born into and the things that happen in their lives aren't the same and to say that everyone can have what you have, or everyone can have what Rothschild, Jr. has, is simply not true.

Fuck you /s

Lol either way it don't matter. But hey thanks for the love.

That's your view and Noble just not realistic.

You may be reading things into my comment. Socialism isn't a single system, nor is capitalism. There are different models of socialism, just as there are different models of capitalism. Does that make any sense?

Capitalism and socialism are generic terms. In general, capitalism refers to private ownership of production/industry/etc... whereas socialism is an intermediary state between capitalism and communism. There are also different models of communism, believe it or not -- some are wildly different from others. This is political science 101.

In the German model (which is capitalistic and socialistic), corporate boards are staffed with 50% workers. In the US model (which is capitalistic and socialistic), some workers are paid stock options as a bonus, which means they own part of the system of production.