George Carlin describes today's world eloquently...

[BitterTea]

Look on the bright side...there are worse places to have been born that the US.

"Look on the bright side...there are worse plights to have been born into than slavery."

Still not a justification for slavery.

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[Hawker]

Look on the bright side...there are worse places to have been born that the US.

"Look on the bright side...there are worse plights to have been born into than slavery."

Still not a justification for slavery.

Being born in a rich free county makes you feel that you are as badly off as the people shipped to the plantations and worked to death.

Are you asking for pity?

[BitterTea]

Look on the bright side...there are worse places to have been born that the US.

"Look on the bright side...there are worse plights to have been born into than slavery."

Still not a justification for slavery.

Being born in a rich free county makes you feel that you are as badly off as the people shipped to the plantations and worked to death.

Are you asking for pity?

Do they not teach analogies in your public school system?

[Hawker]

Look on the bright side...there are worse places to have been born that the US.

"Look on the bright side...there are worse plights to have been born into than slavery."

Still not a justification for slavery.

Being born in a rich free county makes you feel that you are as badly off as the people shipped to the plantations and worked to death.

Are you asking for pity?

Do they not teach analogies in your public school system?

Comparing being born rich and free with being born a slave is a very bad analogy. 

[BitterTea]

Comparing being born rich and free

Bullshit, on both counts.

with being born a slave is a very bad analogy. 

I was merely trying to get through to you that

Look on the bright side...there are worse places to have been born that the US.

is not a justification for binding me to some dead men's signature, any more than

Look on the bright side...there are worse plights to have been born into than slavery.

is a justification for slavery.

[Hawker]

You are American.  On a global standard, you are born rich and free.  Instead of comparing yourself to a slave, why not count your blessings?

[BitterTea]

You are American.  On a global standard, you are born rich and free.  Instead of comparing yourself to a slave, why not count your blessings?

"You are a house slave. On a plantation standard, you are born rich and free.  Instead of comparing yourself to a field slave, why not count your blessing?"

Still not a justification for slavery. How many times do we have to go through this?

[Hawker]

You are American.  On a global standard, you are born rich and free.  Instead of comparing yourself to a slave, why not count your blessings?

"You are a house slave. On a plantation standard, you are born rich and free.  Instead of comparing yourself to a field slave, why not count your blessing?"

Still not a justification for slavery. How many times do we have to go through this?

Endlessly.  You are obsessed with being like a slave.  I happen to think that slavery was very unpleasant and you trivialise it by comparing your good fortune with the misery of slaves. 

You are not a slave.  Your life is not remotely like that of a slave.  Stop being so immature. 

[BitterTea]

Endlessly.  You are obsessed with being like a slave.  I happen to think that slavery was very unpleasant and you trivialise it by comparing your good fortune with the misery of slaves. 

You are not a slave.  Your life is not remotely like that of a slave.  Stop being so immature. 

It's. A fucking. Analogy.

"... count your blessings" is to levels of freedom

as

"... count your blessings" is to levels of slavery

Neither one is a justification for the grievances inflicted upon the relatively better off.

edit... a simpler analogy in the hope that you can wrap your head around it...

BitterTea, the relatively wealthy, relatively free United States Citizen is to the average human being on the planet

as

the house slave, the relatively taken care of, relatively free slave is to the average slave

Nowhere in there am I saying that BitterTea == slave

[Hawker]

Endlessly.  You are obsessed with being like a slave.  I happen to think that slavery was very unpleasant and you trivialise it by comparing your good fortune with the misery of slaves.  

You are not a slave.  Your life is not remotely like that of a slave.  Stop being so immature.  

It's. A fucking. Analogy.
...snip...

It fails as an analogy and frankly its insulting to try to ask for pity in such silly terms.  For all I know you have real problems that I would sympathise with.  But I don't see being born American as a reason for pity.  You have no reason to compare yourself to a house slave, field slave or any other kind of person who wasn't born in freedom.

[BitterTea]

It fails as an analogy

No, it doesn't, and you can change that fact no matter how hard you wish it to be.

[Hawker]

It fails as an analogy

No, it doesn't, and you can change that fact no matter how hard you wish it to be.

You are American.  Born free in the richest country in the world and you can't change that fact no matter how hard you wish.

[BitterTea]

You are American.  Born free in the richest country in the world and you can't change that fact no matter how hard you wish.

How is my relative freedom relevant to the question of whether I should be bound to a document to which I never agreed?

[Hawker]

You are American.  Born free in the richest country in the world and you can't change that fact no matter how hard you wish.

How is my relative freedom relevant to the question of whether I should be bound to a document to which I never agreed?

The "should" has no real place in that sentence.  Its the nature of life that you can't choose where you are born into.  Just like you can't help it if you acquire eye colour from your parents, you can't help but acquire nationality from the circumstances of your birth. 

[BitterTea]

The "should" has no real place in that sentence.  Its the nature of life that you can't choose where you are born into.  Just like you can't help it if you acquire eye colour from your parents, you can't help but acquire nationality slavery from the circumstances of your birth. 

You make this too easy!

Why should some people be born into the bondage of slavery? because people like you allow it

Why should all people be born into the bondage of nation-states? because people like you allow it

[Hawker]

The "should" has no real place in that sentence.  Its the nature of life that you can't choose where you are born into.  Just like you can't help it if you acquire eye colour from your parents, you can't help but acquire nationality slavery from the circumstances of your birth. 

You make this too easy!

Why should some people be born into the bondage of slavery? because people like you allow it

Why should all people be born into the bondage of nation-states? because people like you allow it

The legal system you are born into can't be changed.  You can improve it by, for example, abolishing slavery.  But you can't decide "The legal system didn't apply to me."  It does.

[BitterTea]

The legal system you are born into can't be changed.

Why? Says who?

You can improve it by, for example, abolishing slavery.

So, those who despise slavery must work within the system that created, supports, and profits from slavery... in order to end slavery? Think about this idea for more than a few seconds.

But you can't decide "The legal system didn't apply to me."  It does.

I'm not saying it doesn't. It does because if I act otherwise, I will be murdered and my murderers will be celebrated. I am saying "nobody should be bound by a contract to which they did not agree".

[Hawker]

The legal system you are born into can't be changed.

Why? Says who?

You can improve it by, for example, abolishing slavery.

So, those who despise slavery must work within the system that created, supports, and profits from slavery... in order to end slavery? Think about this idea for more than a few seconds.

But you can't decide "The legal system didn't apply to me."  It does.

I'm not saying it doesn't. It does because if I act otherwise, I will be murdered and my murderers will be celebrated. I am saying "nobody should be bound by a contract to which they did not agree".

That's exactly how slavery was abolished in most countries.  People worked within the system and changed it.  The US is not going away and I doubt you want to leave your country so I suggest you accept that any change has to be done on the basis of persuading people its a good idea.

Being part of a society as a result of being born into it is not a contract.  It no different from inheriting hair colour.  If you have some idea as to how people could change that fact, I'd be interested to read it.  

[BitterTea]

That's exactly how slavery was abolished in most countries.  People worked within the system and changed it.

Define "the system".

It no different from inheriting hair colour.

*facepalm*

You say my analogies fail...

You are so fucking brainwashed.

[cbeast]

It's funny, but I was going to write about this Carlin bit right when I ran into this post earlier. Atlas and I seem to be on the same wavelength, but with inverse phasing and opposing direction.