Well I don't want to risk my freedom, growing crops on company land, but it'd be a damn site better than a government cheque in my hand.
I find it entertaining that you presume to know what I do or do not know. I completely grasp the concept of exchange, apparently even better than you. The need for a medium of exchange springs directly from the belief that one should be compensated for his or her work which in turn comes from the base instinct of people to be selfish & to only work when selfishly motivated. The motive of betterment of our kind as a whole just isn't enough for most people. Worth in society is based upon wealth in that society. The more you have the more you are respected. Such is the way of materialism. No the worth of a musician vs a financier is not a valid example. Whichever has more is more important.
I have questioned this drug testing for >40 yr: ever since we stood in formation in Navy boot camp while we learned some poor, naive recruit tested positive. I heard all kinds of phrases bandied about by people more familiar with drugs & testing than I: "false positive" was one; an oxymoron if there ever was one. Eventually, the recruit's specimen was retested, we learned, & came back negative. The center of drug testing for the DoD & the fed. in general in 1977 was Research Triangle Park, NC,, which was basically founded for that purpose. I gradually concluded that drug testing was the biggest fed. boondoggle; & not single fiscal conservative, so-called, questions it. Add that to fed. subsidies for private industry & the public works project that is the U.S. war armaments industry, & I don't care about our welfare programs. Too many military (enlisted) families take food stamps; but the DoD still shoots its load on that idiotic drug testing.
I commented on what you showed in a specific comment, not on what you (allegedly) know. Apparently reading with discernment is a challenge for you. Odd that nobody I would number as a friend would believe that the worthiness of a person is well correlated with a person’s wealth. Strikes me as an attitude an embittered Marxist- or a college professor in one of those trendy “studies” disciplines- might have. Oh yeah, lotsa overlap between those two categories.
It's this kind of personal bullshit that pollutes the forums. Keep it to yourself and stick to the subject. If getting personal like this is what you need, I doubt you'll be around here very long. Be civil or be gone, same as the rest of us.
Well he did misrepresent the nature of my comment by confusing two separate thing: “show” and “know”. And he was none too pleasant about it. Guess you don’t think that slinging around barnyard epithets pollutes a forum, eh?
I agree in principal, but it is important that people are given a chance to find work and make something of their lives. To determine the often fine line between people who are willing to work and the scroungers will be a major challenge. Their will always be a danger that the best con-men will win, while genuine people will suffer.
You presumed to know that I had no grasp of the concept of a medium of exchange. That would imply that I must, therefore, have no knowledge of the subject. I obviously proved you wrong. If you feel you must stoke your own ego with petty insults that is your right. However if you are not going to actually try to refute anything offered counter to your prior statements then perhaps you should just bow out now. I'm not here on these forums to bandy witless words with people who can't be bothered to actually form a reasonable argument. If pointing out the inherent flaws in modern society makes me a "Marxist" then I'll gladly accept that stereotype. Far as I can see the only way for humanity to evolve past it's current self defeating state is to understand the underlying problems inherent to that state & seek answers that will allow it to rise above.
Folks, let's try not to spin this out of control. Personal attacks get people banned. I don't make the rules, I'm just calling out the bullshit.
Quite right to do so & I do apologize. Should be able to put someone in their place without also resorting to witless words.
I and many other people who I know, judge people my their skills, either in the sciences or the arts, regardless of the size of their bank balance; To me, Anna Fedorova is worth a dozen city bankers.
As do I. I was referring to the overarching concept of what those who hold the reigns of society today determine as worth. The average Joe doesn't have the time to worry about such things, which is exactly why he doesn't bother to put a stop to such detrimental concepts
The strange thing to me is why we seem to place such high values on people kicking a ball around a field, while people with true talent are so often disregarded. When you get a chance, do listen to the video. Rachmaninoff suffered a period of deep depression and concluded that he would never write another note. The cloud lifted and his magnificent Op 18 piano concerto was born. Who better to relive the emotion that shines through the work than Anna. It has always been my ambition to play this work, but sadly my skills at the piano are not up to it.
i think we mostly just place high values on what there's a market for. or in other words, whatever a high number of people value. it's kind of like the family feud concept, it's not about finding the right answer, it's about finding the common answer. that said, i don't think that making music is any more or less true of a talent than being good at a sport. it's just a different talent.
We've built our society upon competition & valuing the strong arm over the keen mind or nimble hand. That is why we elevate sports so highly over all other forms of skill. Also I did watch the video. It was truly beautiful, not so much my taste in orchestral music but still beautiful.
In a different thread I proposed something like that and you didn't seem to like the idea. I said something about wanting to turn on C-SPAN and seeing senators piss in cups.