seeds wrote:
…(though it is kind of hinted at in Newtonian physics in the axiom “for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction”).
That’s not what Newton’s 3rd law means; it is referring to a reaction that happens at the same time as an action–like when a gun recoils backwards when you fire it–not to some future react of an action that happens now or in the past.
seeds wrote:
However, as it relates to the deeper realm of mind and spirit, it’s just a little harder to pin down what specific action or cause is responsible for a particular reaction
Personally, I never thought the universe cared much for human affairs. Our fates seem pretty arbitrary (which is different from random). Not that I don’t think there is a purpose or intention to the universe’s machinations, just not one that cares much about setting right all human wrongs.
seeds wrote:
So, to my mind, what we are experiencing is the result of the ever-growing accumulation of the bad karma we’ve been sowing across the globe for the last seven or so decades that is now coming back to tear us apart in a way that has pretty much blinded most of us as to just how immoral we’ve become.
In a way, I agree. A lot of the shit we’ve done in the past is now coming back to bite us in the ass (especially the way media has tranformed and evolved through the decades), but this is how we learn. You can’t learn without going through these trials and tribulations.
seeds wrote:
And if you are having a difficult time with accepting the fact that the people of America (generally speaking) ← Generally speaking? 
→ have lost all sense of morality,…
…then, harkening back to what I said earlier,…
…explain to me how a former representative of the American government, again Madeleine Albright, could so calmly and callously proclaim (on national television) that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children (in the 90s due to our sanctions) was “…worth the price…” of whatever imperialistic goal we are attempting to achieve in the Middle East?
I explain it by saying this Medeleine Albright must be a cold, cold human being indeed, maybe without soul, but when did Madeleine Albright suddenly become a representative of all Americans?
seeds wrote:
Man, that’s some really dark stuff there that we…
← Agreed →
(as taxpayers who paid her salary to represent us)
…are all tainted with (as we are all tainted with America’s many other evil deeds).
Except those who refused and were thus jailed for tax evation, but you never hear from them.
For those who do pay taxes, no one ever paid to have Madeleine Albrought say those callous words. Politicians take our money and do what they want with it. We pay them in the hopes that they will do with it what they’re supposed to. Most of us don’t want to go to jail, or make our children suffer, or our families, or our employees who depend on us for their livelihoods, so we pay our taxes. That some of it goes to corrupt causes is not our fault. It’s the fault of those who are doing it despite knowing better.
Besides, don’t you pay taxes?
seeds wrote:
I mean, what evaluation can you make of a country that, according to Google AI, “…consumes around 25% of the world’s resources, despite only making up about 5% of the global population…”?
That it’s industrious?
seeds wrote:
Furthermore, seeing America’s moral deterioration from yet another direction, have you heard the words to the song called “WAP”?
Read this Wiki blurb:
Wiki wrote:
“WAP” (an acronym for Wet-Ass Pussy) is a song by American rapper Cardi B, featuring fellow American rapper Megan Thee Stallion…With sexually explicit lyrics which made it gain popularity, the song reached the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
I don’t really follow Cardi B or Megan Thee Stallion, so no I’ve never hear of WAP. And based on the wiki description, I don’t think I want to.
seeds wrote
I get a laugh out of mentioning “WAP” on these forums, and that’s because the younger people who frequent these philosophy sites get all upset with me because they see absolutely no problem with the “WAP” song, or others like it.
← Not a suprise →
However, that, in itself, is the problem.
Why?
← Yeah, why? →
Because they haven’t been alive long enough (like some of us old farts) to see how far we’ve descended into absolute vulgarity and indecency from what was “publicly” acceptable back in the 50s and 60s when I was growing up (indeed, poor ol’ Dick Clark is spinning in his grave).
You’re an old fart?!?! And here I took you for a young college student! What are you doing still being liberal?! 
This “descent” as you call it is simply a consequence of rapid change. Society has changed a lot since the 50s, and our values and morals are no exception (this incidentally is one of my biggest pet peeves with Star Trek–it depicts a world of incredible technological advancement yet we’re supposed to believe that all our values and cultural beliefs remain the same). Of course it’s going to look like “descent” from the point of view of someone who values 50s and 60s morality and cultural beliefs, but the word “descent” implies a pinnical, an ideal, of moral purity from which one can descend. But what if this is just change, just evolution? What if our morality and values, on both psychological and neurological levels, must morph and adapt in order to survive? What if different times and different circumstances call for different moralities? That we have distanced ourselves from the morals and values of the 50s and 60s is undeniable, but notice that “distanced” is a value-neutral term compared to “descend”, and it’s most likely inevitable that a morality distant from our own is going to seem “evil” or “corrupt” (or “wayward” at best).
seeds wrote:
And the question is, where is the bottom to this descension?
I’m prepared to say it’s bottomless.
seeds wrote:
Anyway, the point is that I’m speculatively suggesting that all of the above is all a part of the necrotizing karma that is eating away at the heart and soul of America and is about to bring our little experiment in democracy to an untimely demise,…
…all with Donald J. Trump…
(the man with the Golden Thunder Pot; the man who pretended to perform fellatio on a microphone at a recent presidential rally)
Now that I gotta see!
I’m actually incline to agree with you that America has been in decline since the 50s and 60s, but I think for different reasons. I blame Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, but you might have your own reasons. That is, of course, relative to my morality.
Now what if Trump ends up fulfilling his list of promises in the OP (are they promises?)? Would that be the necrotizing karma that you’re predicting? Which one of those 5 items would count as necrotizing karma to you? While America is presently in a state of decline, Trump may not be the ultimate culmination of this decline but it’s savior. Maybe the amount of decline America has experience from the 50s to now just is the totality of its necrotizing karma, and Trump is here to say: Enough! America is hereby redeemed! ← America Will Be Great Again!
Bob wrote:
Apparently, his ‘landslide’ was the third of the electorate that didn’t vote, not that there was a major shift in those who did vote.
What do you mean, Bob? Are you referring to the fact that most of those who didn’t vote would have voted Democratic if they voted? I’ve noticed that too. There’s a great youtube video by Nick Johnson, an independent (amature) journalist and youtuber, that exposes this. Let me see if I can dig it up. Suffice it to say, it seems like the black community in America, or at least the “hood”, is disappointed with both parties and is therefore dropping out of the race (so to speak). Well, guess what! Trump won! Need I ask why? All I can say is I hope their supposed indifference holds true.
It’s funny how Democratic voters tend towards rejecting the system all together and not participating in it while Republican voters tend towards using the system because they believe in it. What do you think the outcome of that arrangement is?
Here’s the video:
And here’s a video showing the exact opposite:
Mind you, the former is pre-election, the latter is post-election.
By whom? 
