Bitcoin Forum
May 02, 2024, 09:34:05 PM *
News: Latest Bitcoin Core release: 27.0 [Torrent]
 
  Home Help Search Login Register More  
  Show Posts
Pages: « 1 ... 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 [56] 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 ... 155 »
1101  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 18, 2019, 03:39:01 PM


Oh boy, you are digging your hole even deeper.

Any entry-level econ course would do:
https://economics.yale.edu/courses/econ-110b-01-introduction-microeconomic-analysis-1
https://economics.yale.edu/courses/econ-111a-01-introduction-macroeconomic-analysis

To which of the four areas: education, healthcare, food, and shelter, we don't have rights?

Is someone denying you any of those things because of who you are?

The US has the best education and healthcare on this planet.  Food is cheap and abundant.  There are places in the US where living expenses are lower than in many places in Latin America or Asia, not to mention European countries or Canada.

US citizens have more RIGHTS than citizens of any other country on the planet.

PS. Just because you cannot buy your pony does not mean that you don't have the right to buy that pony.

PPS. On second thought, I think you should take an elementary English language class.  You are confusing (and redefining) the meaning of English words. 

You added a word to my statement that changes the whole thing and then claim I don't understand the word. 

I didn't say right to BUY things and I think you know and are being intentionally misleading.  If you have no money, its going to be difficult to get all four of those things.  45,000 people die each year because they cannot afford healthcare and don't have insurance.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2018/10/15/study-45000-deaths-per-year-due-to-lack-of-health-insurance/

  When people talk about healthcare as a right, or any of those things, we are talking about it being an entitlement that everyone has a legal right to regardless of what they have done previously.  Any honest person would have acknowledge someone saying "healthcare should be a right" as such because everyone has  already has the right to buy these things pretty much anywhere.   We have a right to a lawyer.  That doesn't mean we have to go and hire a lawyer because if we can't afford it, one will always be provided.


Quote
a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.

You also make the bolded statement with no supporting evidence (its false)
Quote
But Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that releases an annual report on freedom around the world, measures it in terms of civil liberties and political rights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World#Country_rankings
We have a lot of rights  and freedoms but theres about 40 countries ahead of us in this metric.



I did no such thing.  I copied your post verbatim.  You said that we need to give people rights to all these necessities.

I think what you wanted to say is that we need to give those things to people for free or for the price they will be able to afford.

and this massive subsidy would come from where?  Who is going to pay for it?

Are you willing to ask the poor people to help me pay for my collection of Mercedeses and BMWs and my collection of Rolexes?
I feel it is my right to those things, and I feel that you personally should pay for some, or maybe even all of it.

1102  Other / Politics & Society / Re: why socialism? on: October 18, 2019, 01:10:35 PM
I was speaking about literature and present day parties, and wasn't denying the existance of perversions of the ideology.  I don't know what you saw as a kid but are you sure it wasn't "everyone is treated equally" because everyone having equal worth/rights as a human, equal power in democracy and equal treatment under the law is very often misinterpreted as "everyone is the same and makes the same paycheck". 

But if you're basing your world view off of what you saw in school and on tv as a child, you're already off-base anyway.

So what now? Are you saying that the Warsaw Pact countries were not communist?

Rewriting history, aren't we?

Do you think you can do a better job than the KGB?  You can talk nonsense about equality and inequality ad nauseam, but do you think you would be able to organize and run a communist state?  If you think you can, you are delusional.

NKVD types could not do it, and a snowflake raised in the US can?

What is your aim in all of this?  Fame? Saviour complex?  Megalomania?

Do you think you are "the ONE" to save the planet?

If you think you are, I suggest you hire a team of psychiatrists to work on you 24/7, one professional is not enough.
1103  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 18, 2019, 11:49:36 AM


I thought I got through to you.  I guess not.

I repeat.  There is no theft under the capitalist division of labor.  The free market is the most efficient system to self-correct any price dislocations (when workers are underpaid or overpaid).  Market participants are willingly participating to exchange goods and services.

If you happen to use the inefficiencies of the free market to your advantage, all the power to you.  
You just use the opportunity available to all.  You are not stealing from anyone.

When a lioness sees a gazelle she will not wait for other lionesses to come around, she will go for the kill.

Capitalism best resembles nature.  Are people being taken advantage of?  Of course.  No question about it.  
There are many overpriced products/services being bought/sold as we speak.  Calling it theft is disingenuous.

Participating in the market is not a choice when the resources necessary for survival are all tied up in said market.  I'd be fine with captialism if we gave everyone rights to the things that are necessary and let the free markets decide who gets the luxuries.  

Just re-read your post again and let it sink in.

Capitalism does not take away your rights.  Quite the opposite.

What do you want the "resources necessary for survival" to be tied to?

I think you are just confused.  I suggest you take some Econ 101 class.
I clearly said capitalism would work in a system where we gave people rights to necessities so they didn't have to depend on markets for those things.  Education, healthcare, food and shelter. 

Which school's econ 101 class are you referring to? This topic was not addressed in any  lower level econ classes at my schools.  I'm not confused, I'm just incorporating ideas and thought processes that are well beyond an introductory level course. 

If you look past the 100 level courses, you will find more advanced courses that actually address human development, well being, poverty, inequality and how all of those things fit in with economics.

So a person basing everything off of an econ 101 course is obviously not going to understand the perspective of someone who is incorporating courses and research from multiple fields. Heres some course suggestions

Principles of welfare economics
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/economics/14-01sc-principles-of-microeconomics-fall-2011/unit-4-welfare-economics/principles-of-welfare-economics/

Econ 345a. Welfare Economics and Equity
https://economics.yale.edu/courses/econ-345a-welfare-economics-and-equity

PS 20000: Introduction to Poverty Studies
https://sites.nd.edu/connie-snyder-mick/files/2015/07/PS20000SyllabusSP11official.pdf

Economics 390: Income, Wealth, and Health Inequality in the United States
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.brown.edu/dist/1/24/files/2018/10/Econ-390-Syllabus-2018-1-18mphp4.pdf

Simply reading the papers in the syllabi would go a long way. 

Oh boy, you are digging your hole even deeper.

Any entry-level econ course would do:
https://economics.yale.edu/courses/econ-110b-01-introduction-microeconomic-analysis-1
https://economics.yale.edu/courses/econ-111a-01-introduction-macroeconomic-analysis

To which of the four areas: education, healthcare, food, and shelter, we don't have rights?

Is someone denying you any of those things because of who you are?

The US has the best education and healthcare on this planet.  Food is cheap and abundant.  There are places in the US where living expenses are lower than in many places in Latin America or Asia, not to mention European countries or Canada.

US citizens have more RIGHTS than citizens of any other country on the planet.

PS. Just because you cannot buy your pony does not mean that you don't have the right to buy that pony.

PPS. On second thought, I think you should take an elementary English language class.  You are confusing (and redefining) the meaning of English words. 
1104  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 17, 2019, 08:18:46 PM


I thought I got through to you.  I guess not.

I repeat.  There is no theft under the capitalist division of labor.  The free market is the most efficient system to self-correct any price dislocations (when workers are underpaid or overpaid).  Market participants are willingly participating to exchange goods and services.

If you happen to use the inefficiencies of the free market to your advantage, all the power to you.  
You just use the opportunity available to all.  You are not stealing from anyone.

When a lioness sees a gazelle she will not wait for other lionesses to come around, she will go for the kill.

Capitalism best resembles nature.  Are people being taken advantage of?  Of course.  No question about it.  
There are many overpriced products/services being bought/sold as we speak.  Calling it theft is disingenuous.

Participating in the market is not a choice when the resources necessary for survival are all tied up in said market.  I'd be fine with captialism if we gave everyone rights to the things that are necessary and let the free markets decide who gets the luxuries.  

Just re-read your post again and let it sink in.

Capitalism does not take away your rights.  Quite the opposite.

What do you want the "resources necessary for survival" to be tied to?

I think you are just confused.  I suggest you take some Econ 101 class.
1105  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 17, 2019, 01:46:51 AM
Your conclusion implies that you believe stealing is ok because it always happens.  You excuse capitalist theft because the victims of said theft have a possibility of avoiding it someday.


and you have jumped to that conclusion after observing the behavior of humans in different types of slave systems.  You haven't observed the prevailing mentality in any system where freedom is the default for comparison, nor have you contemplated the possibilities of a such hypothetical system.  Everything seems impossible until it happens for the first time.  

I thought I got through to you.  I guess not.

I repeat.  There is no theft under the capitalist division of labor.  The free market is the most efficient system to self-correct any price dislocations (when workers are underpaid or overpaid).  Market participants are willingly participating to exchange goods and services.

If you happen to use the inefficiencies of the free market to your advantage, all the power to you.  
You just use the opportunity available to all.  You are not stealing from anyone.

When a lioness sees a gazelle she will not wait for other lionesses to come around, she will go for the kill.

Capitalism best resembles nature.  Are people being taken advantage of?  Of course.  No question about it.  
There are many overpriced products/services being bought/sold as we speak.  Calling it theft is disingenuous.
1106  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 17, 2019, 01:06:47 AM


You are forgetting that many educated people do not want to be rich (yourself included), they want to be workers (and stay poor) all their lives.

How are you going to pull them out of poverty?

BTW, you cannot educate people who do not want to be educated.  The desire to change their lives has to come from within.

I think the problem in bold is that you have a lack of knowledge of the poor.  ...Baseless assertions...

Now you really pissed me off. You motherfucker, you know nothing about being poor and eating from the dumpsters.  I was fucking homeless, ate from the dumpsters, and slept in public parks.  You little twit.  That is who you are, you know shit and you think you can save the world with your bullshit propaganda which does nothing but instills hope in other lazy, criminal minds.

So shut the fuck up with your bullshit.

You know shit, are lazy as fuck and are looking for an easy way out, you will die poor, so will your children and grandchildren.


I'm really confused because you definition of poor seems to be changing within every post.  What is your definition of poor?  You said poor people want to stay poor then you said you know what poor people want because you were poor, then you said know nothing about being poor yet somehow will die poor and then you said my children and grandchildren (who don't exist) will die poor and all of this with no explanation.   

It seems like you are just ranting out of anger and throwing words at the keyboard.  Like, do you really think a lazy person would go through all this trouble to try and explain poverty to people who clearly don't give a damn about what happens to poor people in this current system?  I may be an ineffective teacher but definitely not a lazy one. TECSHARE has been in my class for a few years and still thinks its about the USSR. 

My assertion was not even baseless.  My assertion was based on your statement that poor people "want to stay poor".  What evidence do you have of that?  I've worked with thousands of adolescents and I've never met a single one who wanted to stay poor.  This is why I have the privilege of a more diverse perspective.   I've worked in poor schools and rich schools and had the opportunity to see the differences first hand and experience how poverty affects education.

As for tecshare...Just because I haven't personally been poor doesn't mean I haven't learned about the experience by accompanying poor children in their academic journey.  I've also done service and work in homeless shelters, soup kitchens and NGOs in Brazil, Peru, Kenya and Cambodia.

With all that said, research is more valuable than experience in the context of a generalized discussion.  Experiences can be anecdotal and due to chance.  I have both so I also have the ability to recognize when the mechanisms I've learned about through research are being experienced by people in front of me.   I've used my privilege to work to bring people up. 

So here I am talking about mechanisms backed by trends in data and research going against one person who thinks the fact that they ate out of a dumpster gives them the authority to refute entire bodies of research on poverty and psychology. 

and another person who thinks any criticism of capitalism is an endorsement of the soviet system because they think there are literally only two ways to setup a society

When you are homeless, anyone who eats every day is not poor.
When you are working for $20/hr, homeless people are poor.
When you are making $100/hr, people who make $20/hr are poor.
When you are financially independent, people who work are poor.

Today, I am financially independent, I have retired at 52 a few years back.  To me people who are not financially independent, have to work to make a living, are slaves to the system and are poor.   That was not the case 35 years ago when I was homeless.

My world view might be different from 90% of the population but it is based on many things, mostly on what I experienced in my life.

Most people keep working until they die, even when they become financially independent.  Many slaves did not leave their masters even after they were emancipated.  Many 'wage' workers will continue to be 'wage' workers all their lives, giving them money, or changing the system, or killing all the rich people will not change them, they will still want to work as 'wage' workers.  That is just how people are.

If this was not the case, you would never see older 'wage' workers.


You're coming to this conclusion based on solely on transitions from one degree of slavery to another.  Slaves did not have freedom after slavery.  Many had the opportunity to leave their plantation and become sharecroppers where they would have no rights and earn less than the sum of what they were provided as slaves.  Many would starve and suffer even more under those conditions.  The descendants of slaves just got freedom of movement in recent decades and are still struggling for equal rights today.    Capitalism is only marginally better.  Some of systems you call communism were also essentially slavery for the masses by the government.


Now you are catching on. Capitalism provides you with an opportunity to become a free man. I am not saying it is easy.  I was probably an exception, skipped a generation or two, but what I am saying is that it is possible.

Workers' slave mentality persists no matter the system.  You can change the system but you cannot change that slave mentality.
1107  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What are the things you hate about Islam! on: October 15, 2019, 10:15:12 PM
I don't hate Muslims at all but I find some of their beliefs so weird. What I can't believe is that they're not allowed to eat pork or any food with pork's blood. I heard that their reason why they are not allowed to eat such kind of food because their Quran says that pigs are filthy animals. Am I right with that?

Another belief they believe in which I can't perceive is that they are ready to die for their Allah. They are so brave for doing it in all fairness but I still think it was idiocy, no offense but it makes no sense to commit suicide just for their god.
Scientifically it has also been proven that pork meat is the filthiest  diet to consume, because they have different harmful agents like parasites, bacteria, toxins,  we all know that pig meat is high in fat and cholesterol which cause heart diseases.  The Quran proves it,  scientifically it has also been proven too why will a good Muslim wanna eat it

As for the case of those who do commit suicide,  and covering their fake believe that Allah sent them,  it's a big lie,  it's in the Quran that anyone who committed suicide will be severely punish on the day of judgement with whatever he or she used in committing suicide. Islam is against committing suicide

When they fight the enemies of Allah and die, they go straight to heaven according to Allah, you ignoramus.

How can you be so ignorant of what Islam teaches, and what Jihadists actually stand for?  They want non-Muslims out of Muslim controlled lands.  That is what Muhammad wanted, and he would be proud of the terrorists flying into buildings in non-Muslim lands.  In their eyes, and the eyes of people like Muhammad, they are defending Islam.

You suffer from cognitive dissonance.

As for pork, it was first mentioned in the Jewish Bible, Leviticus 11:7-8, millennia before 'Allah' copied it into the Quran. LOL.

There is nothing wrong with eating any meat, including pork.  The ideas in the Bible and subsequently in the Quran were brought up by people (Allah, Yehowah etc) who knew nothing about toxicology.  And you are perpetuating this nonsense.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/sweating-pig
1108  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Religion of Peace? Why Religion At All on: October 14, 2019, 07:38:48 PM
It's easy in today's world to blame Islam of backwards savagery against women, children, etc. Yet this is still protected by the left?

Why? When at the same time Christianity is under attack in the modern political and social climate. Other than the obvious propagation of pedophilia by the Catholic church, Christians' rape and pillaging days are over for the most part.

Other than instinctual human greed, religion has caused more conflict in human history than anything else. Why do we still need it? Are there any merits left?

I understand a common argument here may be that it instills fear in common folk and helps to provide them a reason to behave but we shouldn't need the fear of deities smiting us to act as a normal citizen and respect others' rights. You can also be a hopeful human being without religion. This is not a debate of "not all the religious folk are bad eggs" the debate here is why it still exists in any form in the year 2019.

Well, you cannot deprive from anyone the right to believe in God, because Islam kills people in the name of God or Catholic church has been blamed for pedophilia etc. Those are just some minor incidents which stigmatize their whole beliefs.
You can live under Peace if you believe in different religions as well. You only have to be educated and respect others.

If you were educated you would know how to determine if something is true.

Religious dogma, Islam is no exception, is utter nonsense.

However, I would fight for your right to believe in it as long as you keep it to yourself.
1109  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Religion of Peace? Why Religion At All on: October 14, 2019, 02:40:07 AM

Everyone in this world looking for their own benefits so they are hiding under the religious thing,in my places Muslims and all other religious people were living in peace so why we see Islam as good but some Muslims are bad.We cannot oppose everyone just because of 10% doing the things in wrong way.

Islam bad; Muslim hypocrite.

Islam tell Muslim kill other people - https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/violence.aspx. Islam bad.

Muslim hypocrite. Muslim say Islam good, but not obey Islam; not kill other people. Muslim want peace. Muslim not want Islam violence. Muslim not good Islam person. Muslim hypocrite.

ISIS good Muslim. ISIS obey Islam. ISIS do violence like Islam say to do.

Cool
in fact all religious goals teach goodness and peace. any religion never teaches barbarity, it's just that humans involve religion to commit barbarity.

ISIS is a terrorist, radical Islam and in my opinion the beginning of ISIS was formed not from Islamic religion, but there is a group that wants to expel Islam. You do not consider Islam as a religion of violence, Islam is broad and has many sects / groups.

in Asian countries, it is agreed that ISIS is a terrorist and must be opposed. As an example in Indonesia, don't try to save the ISIS flag, then you will be arrested and processed according to the law.

Terrorist : Islam people + Non Islam people

ISIS : From US to make some bad thing about Islam

I am a Muslim and I never taught about we need to kill someone,Islam is peace not violence...
I agree with you, I'm sure you know the real Islam.


The point is this regarding Islam. Is Islam what the vast mass of Muslims say that it is? Or is Islam what the Koran and Hadiths say that it is?

If every Muslim is his own authority regarding what Islam is, then Islam is an entirely broken religion. Why? Because every Muslim thinks about his religion at least slightly differently than all other Muslims. But mostly because there are many factions of Islam that say that Islam is something different than all the others.

If every Muslim is his own authority, but fundamentally says that he bows to what the Koran and Hadiths say, then why don't Muslims obey the Koran all the way like ISIS attempts to do? How is ISIS attempting to obey the Koran all the way? Here's how:

The Koran and Hadiths say 3 basic things for Muslims to do:
1. Obey the Koran and Hadiths, and live in peace with all other Muslims;
2. Live in peace with the infidels while trying to convert them to Islam. This may take some time;
3. If infidels won't turn to Islam, ultimately destroy them. How much time to give them? This is a judgmental thing. The Koran and Hadiths prescribe the time limits and the circumstances for Muslims to make their move.

Does Islam call for violence? In the Koran and Hadiths it does. See http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/quran/023-violence.htm.

So, what is a Muslim? Someone who picks and chooses what he will believe about Islam? Or someone who does the things that the Koran says as listed 1, 2, 3, above? A Muslim can't do what the Koran says if he doesn't know what the Koran says. A peaceful Muslim isn't doing the violence that the Koran calls for. But ISIS is... peaceful to other faithful Muslims, but violence to non-violent Muslims who won't destroy the people of other religions like ISIS is doing.

If you are a peaceful Muslim who won't destroy people of other religions, you are at best a very weak Muslim. Why? Because you aren't following the basics of Islam as written in the Koran and Hadiths.

Cool

between the two. namely Islam that is said by the Koran & Hadith, Islam is also as said by most Muslims namely (Ulama: religious leaders or religious leaders whose task is to protect, foster and guide Muslims both in matters of religious maupum daily problems that are needed both in terms of religious and social)

You are wrong to say that Islamic law is only the Qur'an and Hadith.

In Islamic law there are 4 namely:
1. Al-quran (the most important and irreversible source of Islamic law, al-quran separates between right and wrong)
2. Hadith (the second source of Islamic law after Al-Qur'an. Hadith is all forms of behavior of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, both in the words, deeds, and
    decrees of the Prophet)
3. Ijma '(a legal agreement taken from the Fatwa or deliberation of the Ulama about a case that is not found in the Qur'an or hadith law. But the
    reference must be in the Qur'an and Hadith. Ijma' at the present time taken from the decisions of Islamic scholars.
4. Qiyash (is explaining the law of something that is not in the Qur'an and hadith by comparing it to something determined based on the Qur'an and
    Hadith)

Language in the Qur'an is complicated, it needs interpretation by someone who is an expert in the fields of religion and language. imagine 1 word even 1 letter in the quran has millions of meanings. The interpretation of the Qur'an as you say 1, 2, 3, is wrong. If a Muslim does the 3 things above, then what happens? ,, yes, I say war. this world will be destroyed if Muslims do the 3 things above.

as said by a hadith:
"Know that the people before you from the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) are divided into 72 groups, and in fact this ummah (Islam) will split into 73 groups, (as for) seventy-two will enter Hell and one group will enter Paradise, which is "al-Jama'ah."

the ulema and other extremist groups agreed that, ISIS as (khawarij) adherents, namely the concept of paganism of people outside the understanding embraced by certain groups. One of the evidence that strengthens the allegations of ISIS as adherents of the khawarij is that it is easy to disbelieve other parties indiscriminately. For ISIS, justifying the blood of those who are against it is the right thing, even if the opponent is Muslim. No wonder why ISIS is so easy to execute people outside of its group.

The Quran and the wisdom it contains should be dismissed outright by any person living in the 21st century.  With no exceptions.

It is a collection of nonsensical 'sayings' collected and written by some military commanders daydreaming about conquering the world and subjugating all conquered peoples.  Scientific nonsense, full of contradictions.

I have no idea why anyone would pay any attention to this book.  If you want to read something interesting start with

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1.Best_Books_Ever

1110  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 13, 2019, 09:26:30 PM


You are forgetting that many educated people do not want to be rich (yourself included), they want to be workers (and stay poor) all their lives.

How are you going to pull them out of poverty?

BTW, you cannot educate people who do not want to be educated.  The desire to change their lives has to come from within.

I think the problem in bold is that you have a lack of knowledge of the poor.  ...Baseless assertions...

Now you really pissed me off. You motherfucker, you know nothing about being poor and eating from the dumpsters.  I was fucking homeless, ate from the dumpsters, and slept in public parks.  You little twit.  That is who you are, you know shit and you think you can save the world with your bullshit propaganda which does nothing but instills hope in other lazy, criminal minds.

So shut the fuck up with your bullshit.

You know shit, are lazy as fuck and are looking for an easy way out, you will die poor, so will your children and grandchildren.


I'm really confused because you definition of poor seems to be changing within every post.  What is your definition of poor?  You said poor people want to stay poor then you said you know what poor people want because you were poor, then you said know nothing about being poor yet somehow will die poor and then you said my children and grandchildren (who don't exist) will die poor and all of this with no explanation.   

It seems like you are just ranting out of anger and throwing words at the keyboard.  Like, do you really think a lazy person would go through all this trouble to try and explain poverty to people who clearly don't give a damn about what happens to poor people in this current system?  I may be an ineffective teacher but definitely not a lazy one. TECSHARE has been in my class for a few years and still thinks its about the USSR. 

My assertion was not even baseless.  My assertion was based on your statement that poor people "want to stay poor".  What evidence do you have of that?  I've worked with thousands of adolescents and I've never met a single one who wanted to stay poor.  This is why I have the privilege of a more diverse perspective.   I've worked in poor schools and rich schools and had the opportunity to see the differences first hand and experience how poverty affects education.

As for tecshare...Just because I haven't personally been poor doesn't mean I haven't learned about the experience by accompanying poor children in their academic journey.  I've also done service and work in homeless shelters, soup kitchens and NGOs in Brazil, Peru, Kenya and Cambodia.

With all that said, research is more valuable than experience in the context of a generalized discussion.  Experiences can be anecdotal and due to chance.  I have both so I also have the ability to recognize when the mechanisms I've learned about through research are being experienced by people in front of me.   I've used my privilege to work to bring people up. 

So here I am talking about mechanisms backed by trends in data and research going against one person who thinks the fact that they ate out of a dumpster gives them the authority to refute entire bodies of research on poverty and psychology. 

and another person who thinks any criticism of capitalism is an endorsement of the soviet system because they think there are literally only two ways to setup a society

When you are homeless, anyone who eats every day is not poor.
When you are working for $20/hr, homeless people are poor.
When you are making $100/hr, people who make $20/hr are poor.
When you are financially independent, people who work are poor.

Today, I am financially independent, I have retired at 52 a few years back.  To me people who are not financially independent, have to work to make a living, are slaves to the system and are poor.   That was not the case 35 years ago when I was homeless.

My world view might be different from 90% of the population but it is based on many things, mostly on what I experienced in my life.

Most people keep working until they die, even when they become financially independent.  Many slaves did not leave their masters even after they were emancipated.  Many 'wage' workers will continue to be 'wage' workers all their lives, giving them money, or changing the system, or killing all the rich people will not change them, they will still want to work as 'wage' workers.  That is just how people are.

If this was not the case, you would never see older 'wage' workers.

1111  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: October 13, 2019, 05:03:36 PM

The happiest wives in US are religious conservatives
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/leftists-outraged-over-evidence-that-happiest-wives-in-us-are-religious-conservatives
Quote from: Jonathon Van Maren
October 8, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – One of the most consistently interesting things about our cultural debates surrounding marriage and sexuality is the resistance that many of those on the secular side of the spectrum exhibit towards the slowly growing mountain of evidence supporting the fact that our Judeo-Christian values are often essential to both social stability as well as personal happiness. While the soft-core porn mags sold at supermarket checkouts urge young men and women to engage in sizzling sexual experiments and public sex education teaches children to believe that anything is on the table, social studies tell us that we are robbing them of the future many of them desire—or will desire in the future.

Let’s take a look at just two recent reports. The New York Times, as The Blaze noted at the time, “caused an avalanche of anger” after they published a report by the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institution finding that “the happiest of all American wives consider themselves religious conservatives.” 

A tweet sent out by New York Times Opinion was apparently particularly galling: “It turns out that the happiest of all wives in America are religious conservatives, followed by their religious progressive counterparts.”

In the report, researchers detailed the fact that women who report having “above-average satisfaction with their marriages” are often both religious and conservative, and the New York Times op-ed on the findings noted that “Fully 73 percent of wives who hold conservative gender values and attend religious services regularly with their husbands have high-quality marriages. When it comes to relationship quality, there is a J-curve in women’s marital happiness, with women on the left and the right enjoying higher quality marriages than those in the middle—but especially wives on the right.”

This should not be particularly surprising. Those who believe that marriage is a sacred institution constituting a life-long, monogamous commitment to one person are, generally (and statistically) speaking, going to enter marriage with a radically different perspective than those who believe the whole thing can be called off with less difficulty than a cell phone contract. 

If, as many religious people believe, marriage is a covenant rather than a contract, this has obvious implications for both entering marriage and exiting one. If divorce is not seen as the exercise of the opt-out clause in a civil arrangement but rather, as Peter Kreeft once put it, “the murder of the one flesh” union, then the severing of the marital bond is obviously far more significant than our current social norms would have us believe.

The same is true for sexual activity prior to marriage. I recall one older fellow I worked with years ago asking me, with disbelief, how I could conceive of entering a marriage without first sleeping with my partner. After all, he explained, you wouldn’t purchase a car without test-driving it first. Side-stepping the offensiveness of his comparison of a spouse to a car and marriage to the purchase of one (the unspoken and perhaps unrecognized implication that a “newer model” might be preferable down the road did not come up), the evidence simply does not bear out the idea that multiple sexual partners prior to marriage is beneficial to committing to one person for a lifetime. In fact, it is rather bewildering that so many seem to believe that promiscuity is good practice for monogamy.

This, too, was once again proven by sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger of the University of Utah over at the Institute for Family Studies. He found, unsurprisingly, that Americans who had only ever slept with their spouses were by far the most likely to report that their marriage was “very happy.” Conversely, women who had between six and ten sexual partners in their lives reported the lowest odds of marital happiness (thirteen percentage points lower than women who had only reported one partner.) The same proved true for men, who also reported lower marital satisfaction after one partner, although their satisfaction did not dip as low as it does for women.

According to The Atlantic’s report on the study:

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, when it comes to sex, less experience is better, at least for the marriage,” said W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociologist and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. In an earlier analysis, Wolfinger found that women with zero or one previous sex partners before marriage were also least likely to divorce, while those with 10 or more were most likely. These divorce-proof brides are an exclusive crew: By the 2010s, he writes, just 5 percent of new brides were virgins. And just 6 percent of their marriages dissolved within five years, compared with 20 percent for most people.

Other studies’ findings have also supported the surprising durability of marriages between people who have only ever had sex with one another. In this latest study, women who have had one partner instead of two are about 5 percentage points happier in their marriages, about on a par, Wolfinger says, with the boost that possessing a four-year degree, attending religious services, or having an income over $78,000 a year has for a happy marriage. (In his analysis, he controlled for education, income, and age at marriage.)

If our governments were genuinely interested in promoting personal happiness and social stability, public sex education would be conveying the findings of these reports and many, many others that concur. 

The ideologues running our education system are not committed to doing what is best for those in their charge, but instead promoting their own set of beliefs—beliefs, it must be pointed out, that have led to a polarized culture with rates of family breakdown unheard of in human history outside of war or natural disaster. Many young people in our society today are searching for answers, and those answers will not be found in what the secular establishment is offering. They can be found in the beautiful traditions we cast aside.

Or, happiness is determined solely by the positive cultural interactions in the society you happen to live.  Not the superstition one adheres to.

Rape, abuse, murder, corporal punishment is prevalent in all cultures, regardless of the details of the corresponding religious cult.  I would venture to say it is more prevalent in societies where such incivilities are sanctioned by the divine powers.

Maren's sententious rhetoric is not only void of any substance, it completely ignores non-Christian, yet happy Americans.
1112  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 13, 2019, 04:18:19 PM
Such behavior is related to the character and morale of each person.
Due to different circumstances, problems in the family or in society, or bad influences from friends, many people never get a moral compass for life and they don't really learn to differentiate between good and evil.
Sometimes it is possible to make behavioral correction with children, but with adults only punitive measures can help.

Hey look Ma, we've got Mr. Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights here.

Beating anyone is not moral you little freak.

I don't see him advocating beating anywhere in his statement... I think you need to calm down just a bit.

Where did you see me write about the beating?
I confess that English is not my first language but I think i was very clear in my post.
I am not talking about beatings, but about the instruments of the rule of law and legal responses to breaches of the law.
Legal responses can be counseling, anger control courses, correctional homes and up to jail time.
BTW, behavioral correction with children refers to additional education and work with children, namely by professional persons, psychologists and educators.
I hope everything is clear now.


Sorry, I have mistaken you for a strict Bible follower. I read too much into our previous exchanges on religion.  I assumed you still follow your childhood indoctrination.  For that, I apologize.

Proverbs 13:24 - "Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them."
1113  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 13, 2019, 12:55:26 PM
Such behavior is related to the character and morale of each person.
Due to different circumstances, problems in the family or in society, or bad influences from friends, many people never get a moral compass for life and they don't really learn to differentiate between good and evil.
Sometimes it is possible to make behavioral correction with children, but with adults only punitive measures can help.

Hey look Ma, we've got Mr. Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights here.

Beating anyone is not moral you little freak.
1114  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Where do you stand on abortion? Let's have a civil debate. on: October 12, 2019, 04:51:23 PM
George Carlin summed it all up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgjGwOByays
1115  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: October 12, 2019, 04:04:24 PM
I would like to tow a different line here. I want to say of a fact that one's religion influces an individuals health either negatively or positively and there has been a lot of research on the positive influence of religion and ones faith on one's health.

So does joining a gym or a cooking class.  What is your point?
1116  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What are the things you hate about Islam! on: October 11, 2019, 08:59:30 PM

The fact that Islam is a supremacist, imperialist political ideology masquerading as a religion.
Refer to Judaism as well
The fact that Muslims do not kick out Islamists and Jihadists from their ranks.
I didn't see many priest being kicked out of the church for pedophilia

The fact that the Quran contains scientific nonsense and contradictions.
What about the bible, any trace of that big boat where two of each species sailed during the judgment day.
Or about the earth was made in 7  days .... What about that magical cup that changes water in wine ?

The OP was about Islam.  So don't change the subject. All religious texts are utter nonsense.  The Quran is one of the latest versions.

If you are so interested in all the nonsense in the Bible, here it is:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1367154.0
1117  Other / Politics & Society / Re: What to do about people who believe that stealing is ok on: October 11, 2019, 07:52:32 PM


You are forgetting that many educated people do not want to be rich (yourself included), they want to be workers (and stay poor) all their lives.

How are you going to pull them out of poverty?

BTW, you cannot educate people who do not want to be educated.  The desire to change their lives has to come from within.

I think the problem in bold is that you have a lack of knowledge of the poor.  ...Baseless assertions...

Now you really pissed me off. You motherfucker, you know nothing about being poor and eating from the dumpsters.  I was fucking homeless, ate from the dumpsters, and slept in public parks.  You little twit.  That is who you are, you know shit and you think you can save the world with your bullshit propaganda which does nothing but instills hope in other lazy, criminal minds.

So shut the fuck up with your bullshit.

You know shit, are lazy as fuck and are looking for an easy way out, you will die poor, so will your children and grandchildren.
1118  Other / Politics & Society / Re: why socialism? on: October 11, 2019, 07:38:43 PM
^Its not proactive.  Excessive wealth and hoarding is already a form of violence.  Mitigating that is defense of said violence.

10 seconds google search:

https://www.affordablecolleges.com/rankings/community-colleges/

Most offer state grants. Welding, electrician, plumbing professions are way better than some 'wage' jobs at retail or a fast food joint.

For those more ambitious, accounting, business administration, followed by scholarships to universities.  

Don't tell me you cannot find a solution.  Tell me you don't want to look, that I will believe you.

1.Well thats just cute but what about people who can't get into the country?

2. What about the people in the country who can't afford to pay rent without working, even if their tuition is paid for by a grant, where will they live?

3. How will they eat?

4. who will take care of their kids?

5. What about the people whose bosses won't give them flexible hours to attend classes and study?

and then when they graduate they are back working a (slightly better) job where their labor value is still being stolen and they are paid a higher wage.  Starting your own company in an established industry (the kind you are taught about in college) requires an immense amount of capital.  W

6. Where will this capital come from?  

7. How will they compete with huge corporations that offer more competitive prices because they have the advantage of stealing labor value from thousands of workers?

8. What if they get sick at any point in the process?

If you can magically jump through those eight hurdles, there are definitely opportunities in the market that some poor people can rise into and fill but this is an extremely competitive path and only the most outstanding individuals will earn their way to freedom.  That is the exception not the rule.  Most of the poor are stuck poor regardless of what they choose.

re: 1. They can seek opportunities in their own country or immigrate to other countries where there are more opportunities for them.  Learning foreign languages is always very important.  Free resources are available on the Internet.
re: 2. Banks give student loans
re: 3. noodles and crackers for few years, basically subsisting.
re: 4. Give up their kids for adoption, they should not have had kids to begin with.  It was very irresponsible for them to have kids, to begin with.
re: 5. You change the job. Or quit altogether and find a part-time job while attending school full time.
re: 6. The state and the loans from the banks.
re: 7. Wow, before you can compete with large corporations, you need to upgrade your intangible capital, your skills.  BTW, the profit margins of large corporations are dismal, as a small service business, you can undercut them price-wise very easily.
re: 8. They have to get better, then continue when they get better.

I jumped through all of these hoops except for the #4, all without the Internet.
1119  Other / Politics & Society / Re: why socialism? on: October 11, 2019, 05:44:05 PM


Any rational worker would understand his predicament and would do anything in his power to change it.  Investment, education, looking for better places to sell their skills, starting their own business to sell their skills and abilities, saving money comes to mind.

You cannot blame the system for the actions of irrational workers. 

Workers in today's capitalist societies have more choices than ever before in history.  The same cannot be said about communist societies.
There is no mechanism for a worker in the communist society to become financially independent.  The communist system explicitly prohibits it.
Remember the famous rule from both the Soviet constitution and the Bible: "He who does not work, shall not eat".

You suggest good alternatives to being a wage worker but wage workers don't have access to these alternatives because they don't have the money or time to make the change. 

Wage workers depend on their wages.  They can't just stop working to start their own business because they depend on that wage to get their next meal and make their next rent payment. In the labor market, there is always a greater supply than demand so wages are constantly suppressed and there is no free time to do the things you are mentioning.

How can someone get education when education is not free and their wage is their only source of income.   Avoiding starvation and homelessness is not irrational. 

*Ignoring soviet strawman*



10 seconds google search:

https://www.affordablecolleges.com/rankings/community-colleges/

Most offer state grants. Welding, electrician, plumbing professions are way better than some 'wage' jobs at retail or a fast food joint.

For those more ambitious, accounting, business administration, followed by scholarships to universities. 

Don't tell me you cannot find a solution.  Tell me you don't want to look, that I will believe you.
1120  Other / Politics & Society / Re: why socialism? on: October 11, 2019, 01:15:16 PM

...

Any rational worker would understand his predicament and would do anything in his power to change it.  Investment, education, looking for better places to sell their skills, starting their own business to sell their skills and abilities, saving money comes to mind.

You cannot blame the system for the actions of irrational workers. 

Workers in today's capitalist societies have more choices than ever before in history.  The same cannot be said about communist societies.
There is no mechanism for a worker in the communist society to become financially independent.  The communist system explicitly prohibits it.
Remember the famous rule from both the Soviet constitution and the Bible: "He who does not work, shall not eat".
Pages: « 1 ... 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 [56] 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 ... 155 »
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.19 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!