Why do we reward stupidity?

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by lunarverse, Sep 26, 2010.

  1. neodude1212

    neodude1212 Senior Member

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    I'll put it to you this way. True compassion is a rarity, and when it's witnessed it's exceedingly beautiful.
    I am not perfect and I recognize this. I also recognize that no one else is perfect either.

    For this reason I am actually offended when someone attempts to point out the "wrong" with the world, particularly under the guise of calling out hypocrisy. It's crass, and it doesn't help anyone, and the irony of that type of accusation simply overrides any capacity for compassion that I might possess and have the grace to display.

    The point is that, while yes, we are all connected, you feel that there is something wrong that is harming that connection. You apparently feel that there is something that needs fixing. On the other hand, I am aware that things fix themselves. It's the ebb and flow of nature, and no amount of shopping at Walmart or refusing to watch reality TV is going to help or hinder that process.
    There aren't enough cigarettes or fat people in the world to change that.






    Right now my role in this thread is the valiant defender of the common man, the noble protector of the people.
     
  2. psychedelicg1rl

    psychedelicg1rl Member

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    What I find very sad, and have written many letters, and have protested for is, the fact that crappy food is cheap, and getting a book for your kid is cheaper at walmart, than local book stores that rack up the prices. and then it leaves those of us who are poorer than most, to feel like we have to choose between being healthy and actually eating. Or getting that book at walmart bc we cant afford to buy it at the local book store run by locals. I try to contribute to local stores, run by families just trying to get by, instead of megacorporations. but the sad thing is even they have to pay the big time corporation our government to own that store. Some things are hard to avoid. I do my best, and I think that is all any of us can ask for, that people try to make an difference or try to do the right thing. Most of all I try not to judge people, bc I do not know what theya re going through at this time. I have 2 kids, and live off of one income, that isnt much, so sometimes I have to buy crappy food. but I am starting to grow my own food, and when I move to co, I plan on growing most of my own food, so we can eat healthy all the time for cheap. bC really if I dont make the change for ourselves, no one else is. We all have to make that change for ourselves, and not expect anyone else to make it for us.
    I like the way you think luna, and I appreciate your rant.
    It is really not as hard as people think to stand up for what you think is right. It is just most people dont realize that they as a people can do so. and they need to wake up. Some people are happy eating crappy food, and buying crap at walmart,a nd others want to make it easier to eat healthy for cheap, and be able to support local people.
    I am trying. and I am glad I can at least say that.

    my 2 cents on the matter.
    I am not going to go into obese people, bc my mom and dad are both obese, and they werent always, and I dont really know what to say on the matter. Bc they always eat healthy and still obese. Lack of time for exercise was their "excuse".
    I love them to death but I do worry about losing them all the time.
     
  3. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    See now this is good discussion material. Isn't it better than you calling me a poo-poo head me telling you that you're wrong?


    Just as the human body heals itself so does the natural order of things. But that order is constantly impeded when we have people making us live a certain way, and others saying, "it's their fault." Healing starts from the inside out. How can one be allowed to heal when they're constantly badgered by society in general for being a certain ethnicity, a certain weight, they have a certain habit, etc?

    Take the story or Les Miserables for example. Jean Valjean is in jail for 10 years and treated like an animal. When he gets out and is supposedley free, people still treat him like a criminal, so he acts like a criminal. Only when he is treated with brotherly compassion from a preist does he begin to heal and become a kind human being.

    How can we expect people to show us compassion when we treat them poorly? My own behaviour in this thread was a perfect example. If you decide that I am a shit for brains bafoon who talks in circles, then that's all I'll ever be to you. If someone treats me or someone I care for poorly, then certainly I will lash out. If we decide that any one group or certain person is responsible for the state of modern society, how can we ever expect them to act compassionate? Unless they are naturally a kind person?

    If you want compassion from your fellow man and woman, treat them with compassion. As long as I am treated like an idiot I will act like one. When people decide that we are brothers, only then will we be.

    Though your cause seems noble, you can never protect man from himself.
     
  4. stinkfoot

    stinkfoot truth

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    Yes... but individual degree of involvement depends on which resources one opts to consume. Retail inventory movements are sort of a ballot box of what is going to be provided for consumption down the road. We vote for more McDonalds crap by buying it. We vote for more Walmart expansion by shopping there. We could demand in many other ways... like writing letters and speaking out but the lone "voice" of dissent will be handily drowned out by the overwhelming voice afforded to the masses who spend. It's how they harvest money... THEIR money that we each happen to be temporarily holding small amounts of.

    It begins with brain washing... the notion promoted via the indoctrination system which includes but is not limited to public education. The premise promoted is that the government is there to protect us and our freedoms and rights- the definition of which we largely leave up to the government. The problem is that the government works to protect the interests of big business- they only work to sell us on the notion that these interests are for our good. The news treats public health issues like diabetes, cancer, and all manner of exotic neurological disorder as idiopathic- that is they don't know what causes it all when in fact the causes are stuck in our mouths in the form of colors, preservatives, flavors, excessive sugars, and other additives there for the purpose of profitability.

    The truth is there in tiny print on ingredients lists and we ignore it not only because reading it requires effort but also because we believe it's the government's job to ensure that everything on grocery shelves is safe... and our sense of entitlement whispers in our ear that the food giants exist to provide us sustenance. Besides, if we do get hurt by it we can sue for a windfall without any mind to the fact that the court system is set up to reward those with deeper resources to retain skilled representation regardless of culpability. The "evil" corporation can exhaust your resources with endless appeals subsequent to a judgment in your favor. Time and again we allow ourselves to be sold a bill of goods by elements of the government and corporate world who prove themselves to be liars and thieves. it is willful stupidity that permits us to believe it. We freely volunteer to be guinea pigs to the food and drug industries every time we shove their concoctions down our pie holes without checking out the ingredients.

    In reality we bring most of our problems on ourselves by not looking at the reality of the food industry whose primary purpose is to turn a profit using whatever means afforded them. The laws governing them specify how close they can come to poisoning us and robbing us and they toe that line... and we express our approval at the check-out line.

    Yes, we all are part of the problem because we consistently FAIL to make informed choices in the retail marketplace as well as FAIL to demand better of those we send to office. It's not just the fact that we consume resources, it's the fact that time and again we FAIL to make informed choices that are in the interests of the corporate entities offering them up and not in our own interests.
     
  5. junglejack

    junglejack aiko aiko

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    Germany needed someone or something to blame for the the depression and lack og work that they were going thru- The Jews were singled out, as they seemed an easy target.


    Hitler wanted change. He needed followers. He began by holding meetings and giving speeches, each time gaining a larger audience. He found his power in his speaking ability and in the messages he delivered about Anti-Semitism. He focused on the working class, and it began to work. People responded to him and his message.


    By 1930 the Nazi Party became the second largest political party in Germany.

    How did it get so large? In the late 20,s the United States economy crashed, and this had an effect all over the world. Germanys economy after WWI was built on loans, especially for the United States. When the U.S. economy collapsed so did Germanys. Millions were out of work, their savings disappeared, they had to sell their homes and inflation was incredibly high. They felt hopeless.


    Hitler saw his chance. He spoke and people began to really listen. He held his audience captive by telling them his dreams for Germany - to rebuild the army and prepare to fight communism. He promised jobs for everyone, and intended to once again instill pride in the homeland and the Aryan race. At the same time he aroused Germans to hate Jews, Communists and any other political enemies.



    By 1932 over 3 million Germans were out of work and more leaders looked to Hitler for answers. They looked to the military for the promise to rebuild, the industry/business leaders for factories to support the rebuilding and the people for the jobs it all would bring.

    Leadership was needed and the President of the German Republic called on Hitler to form a new government and to become chancellor of Germany.

    Hitler would make sure that the Nazi Party would gain control in the next election in any way he could. They would arrest any political enemies, burn buildings and blame it on the Communists and instill fear that Russia was trying to invade Germany. With all this turmoil Hitler called on the President of Germany to sign an emergency decree “for the protection of the people and the state."

    The emergency decree was signed . This gave Hitler and his party total power. He and his party could control what was written in the papers and said on the radio. They could open mail, read telegrams and listen to phone conversations. The German people could not express their opinions freely for any reason. Homes could be searched and property taken without reason.

    This decree made Hitler the supreme ruler, the dictator over all of Germany, and these are the major factors that allowed Hitler to rise to power. and as dictator he started WWII.

    Didnt mean to type a history lesson- -but WW2- eventually freaked out the USA- we were freaked out at all communist plots- that lasted all the way to the 60,s (domino theory)- and caused us to get involved in Korea & Nam-

    sorry just couldnt stop-
    jack
     
  6. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    Yes. And in the same way we have control over to what degree we contribute to the state, we can also control to what degree we treat our fellow man and woman, thus contributing to the state of man's morality. If enough of us all decide that smoking is digusting, it will eventually go away; look at the laws that are currently in place (at least here in Canada); you can't smoke indoor, can't smoke within 30 meters of a building, can't smoke in a public area like a park, can't smoke in your car if there is children in it, can't smoked in a parking garage or covered driving are.

    This is progress in the right. Enough of us decide that smoking is nasty, so we do something about it in collaboration with each other. But what about all those people who have decided that junkies are bad so drugs have to go, or that obese are the problem so they have to go? Should we get rid of pain killers because some abuse them? Get rid of marijuana because some people turn into idiots after smoking? Should we "get rid of" obese people? Should we blame them and say that they're wrong? As with smoking, obesity can be controlled and can disappear if only we would understand that obese are not monsters who ruin society, but are people who have simply made bad decisions. Who living to this day has not made bad decision? They need compassion and help perhaps, not judgment and condemnation.

    I think it was George Carlin who once joked about how words are not bad until they're put into a context. Drugs are the same thing. Drugs are fine if used in a way that is comfortable for the user. Food is only bad because of what has been done to it. And although no one is forced to eat shitty food, should we blame someone who's overweight? They didn't ask to have shitty food placed all around them. Yes, it is up to the individual to use discretion. As it is with drug use. Drug users are not criminals, they are sick people who may have addictive personalities. No one makes another overweight. No one (besides the govenment) gets another hooked on drugs. But the fact of the matter is that there are smokers, there are drug users, and there are overweight people. We can either help them and in turn help ourselves, or we can blame them and throw them to the wolves while the rest of us go about our hypocritical lives.

    We need to decide that poison in cigarettes, drug abuse, and bad food are responsible, not smokers, drug addicts, and the overweight.
     
  7. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    ?

    I didn't mean that like it may have sounded. All I meant was that even an evil bastard like Hitler can be liked if he is willing to invoke change, regardless of what kind of change that is. Let's hope next time it is change for the better.
     
  8. thedope

    thedope glad attention Lifetime Supporter

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    This is a really funny development and it is not like it was not predicted.,

    Both criticism and flattery are vain assessments[/B]

    The reason I point this out in the first place is because the effort itself is not only vain in its assessment but also vain as remedy. Consider that it looks like we are pointing out a true error. There is no such thing. Truth and error are different orders of things and the integer true error is a mythical animal with two heads that go in different directions.

    What we are really doing is trying to measure a persons contribution to the world, a qualitative judgment. All that judgment does is give you the verdict, not a solution. Bottom line we must care for ourselves, master our own contribution in order to fully contribute. Understand that when we point to an outside source as the reason for our own discomfort, it is we that are in need of healing.
     
  9. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    I still don't consider an effort towards what is right to be in vain. Though most of this thread has been evidently. I suppose I should have opted for going outside and talking into the wind.

    You're right. And it'll prove to be vain when trying and have people see something from another point of view that is not their own. As Stinkfoot said a few pages ago, people will only ever see what they want to see.
     
  10. hotwater

    hotwater Senior Member Lifetime Supporter

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    Damn, looks like someone just put on a few pounds sheesh :rolleyes:


    Hotwater
     
  11. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    And now for some levity...


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2wST3eLBg"]YouTube - Bill Hicks - 'Smoking'
     
  12. thedope

    thedope glad attention Lifetime Supporter

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    You make an important point. How do we encourage change?
    Through attraction. Mass accumulates mass.
     
  13. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    And how do we encourage mass attraction? By abolishing vanity by means of realising that we're all vain hypocrites. The more people realise this and are willing to change it, the bigger and more attractive the mass becomes.
     
  14. onesublimesister

    onesublimesister Member

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    Thanks for putting that in what has become the "fat" thread.:D
     
  15. lunarverse

    lunarverse The Living End

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    I noticed this thread was somewhat popular in the beginning when people thought it was a, "who's more wrong," thread. But since developing more of a "we're all to blame," point the audience has worn quite thin.
     
  16. thedope

    thedope glad attention Lifetime Supporter

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    Sorry, wasn't immediately aware of the punishment.
     
  17. onesublimesister

    onesublimesister Member

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    I know, but that's because you don't judge, so you don't think like that.

    Unfortunately, as much as I try not to judge people, I still know how they think because I have been under their scrutiny my whole life.
     
  18. onesublimesister

    onesublimesister Member

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    lol.... I know huh. Once they realized they might actually have to turn off American Idol and maybe own up, they peaced out!
     
  19. thedope

    thedope glad attention Lifetime Supporter

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    Not in this house.

    Do you think people who judge you are telling the truth?
     
  20. onesublimesister

    onesublimesister Member

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