The most important things that a president should do, huh? 
American democracy is non existance thats why we we dislike the americans… i as a british person dislike the americans as a healthy man would dislike a disease ridden man, im afraid that britain will catch your filthy rotten politcal diseases. We already begun to desend into illness… tony blair is out there bumming america like our lives depended on it, if you ask me we dont need america… you need us. Your economy is collapsing, your presence in iraq is soon becoming a second vietnam, physical disasters are killing thousands (caused by global warming), your a main target for terrorism and your ruled by an infant minded idiot. You have already begun to spread your politcal disease onto us as we are now linked with you and are recieving terrorist attacks which the terrorists have said is because we have supported you. Although you are often credited as being a succesfull and powerfull military nation i actually think you are rather pathetic… you lost vietnam, you barely won iraq and as for the second world war that was just a case of us losening the pickle jar and you popping it off. but no ‘you’ were apparently the heros, yeah right… you didnt give a shit until the japanese attacked, the only way you could end the war was to nuke innocent japenese.
But for some reason we have been enfactuated by your culture as you constantly pump more and more films and tv into our country, but now i think youll find it is backfiring and the british culture is quickly becomeing american hating…
In no particular order I would, if I were you, read a basic economics book, maybe something on global macroeconomics, and also a good, basic book of the history of the 20th century.
Best of luck to you, sir.
A dollar on gas huh? well as I recall, as soon as port fourchon went down gas went out and if you ignorant theory on gas prices was true because we were stealing gas from Irag we would not be in this mess now.
There are lots of causes for hate. Some justify the hate. Take Hitler’s Germany as a clear example. There were a lot of good reasons to hate it. Some of the causes, can be less justifiable. Envy, frustration, a deep feeling of humiliation at having been passed by by progress and civilization. And, of course, the projection of self-hatred on others so those others can be blamed for the failures which are one’s own fault. These are not complicated psychological defense mechanisms. They are common among individuals. And they are common among groups too.
The New York Yankees are disliked (and even hated)
and disparaged because they win a lot of World Series. It is natural.
And then, of course, there is the Andrew Carniege reason. It is said that Andrew Carniege. the steel billionaire once remarked about a man who would not speak to him, “I can’t imagine why he hates me. I never gave him any money”.
Of course, it would be fallacious to infer from the fact that X is hated, that X should be hated (that the hatred is justified).
Yes and no. Those who are envious of America are already spoiled from being exposed to the sensationalism. Lacking the competence to understand the long-term dangers of American politics and life-style, they are easily persuaded to feel cheated, as if they are missing out on a “better” life. However, the “freedom” and “wealth” portrayed in the American image is an illusion, yet because it appears, in comparison, to a communist nation as an alternative to the otherwise strict and conservative life-style they live, it becomes a desire. In other words, the disease is spreading through-out the world and nations are slowly succumbing to the influence.
The human being is a natural consumer who has a tendency to become weaker and need more to sustain itself. This tolerance for contentment increases as the struggle to survive decreases. The easier it is to live, the easier it becomes to die; the organism is no longer hardened through trial and the overall health is diminished. This is a decent metaphorical depiction of Capitalism- exaltation of maximum pleasure in a short-term duration at the expense of long-term survival with mediocre pleasure- better to own three TVs and four vehicles in a world that will last X amount of years than to own one TV and one vehicle in a world that will last Y amount of years.
China, for instance, watched the robust economy thrive for the last twenty years in America, and so began a conversion to incorporate the principles in an attempt to attain what was regarded as a progressive political system. Other nations are doing the same thing.
What is missed completely is that such vibrance is a temporary state, which eventually results in exhaustion, though this cannot be predicted practically; one can’t be sure that a population of four million people practicing a Capitalistic system will inevitably end in a collapse. It is believed that problems produced, the side-effects, can be remedied while the system is in progress. Often enough this results in what Sartre called “practicio-inert,” or what can be understood as a solution for a problem that creates more problems itself. For example, automotives were created to increase the speed of transportation…now all we do is sit in traffic jams which defeat the purpose, not to mention the destruction of the environment by making synthetic substances which wouldn’t occur ‘naturally’ in the environment.
And global warming is an excellent example. Industry compromises the health of the atmosphere for immediate solutions to ‘modern living,’ so that today we live easily in the midsts of our ‘products,’ but tomorrow we will not, because of the practicio-inert we have created to ease temporary difficulties in modern life.
The envy is there, right beside the incompetence. The secret diagnosis is this: nihilism resulting from religion. The human race is terribly sick and irresponsible because it supposes that the universe is ‘under control’ by a supporting hand.
The hatred for America is well placed by those nations that have the competence to see the fundamental problems. This hatred is not envy, it is instead opposing toward the negligence and carelessness, and rightly so. Unfortunately it is an inactive hatred without the courage to intervene and attempt to dispose of America like one would a diseased neighbor. Political sanctions are a bitch nowadays, and no country can just declare war on another and blow the sonofabitch up. WW2 was the last great effort, and WW3 will never happen I’m affraid.
It comes down to a simple elucidation: those who have to ask why America is hated do not have the competence to know why. Some are intelligent and some are not. And, believe it or not, remaining ignorant is part of the agenda in the Capitalistic ploy. Education is cheapened on purpose to keep Amercians stupid and “buying.”
This disaster is SO PERFECT its is almost as if there was a God pulling strings. I can’t imagine how things could go so terribly wrong without some kind of warranty intervention.
It all started with the priests, and, perhaps the greatest defining historical event in the history of the earth was when the pope talked Ghengis Kahn out of attacking Rome. I have an intuition that had he cut that bastards throat we would be in these problems today. Don’t ask me how I believe this or to explain events in some kind of chronological order to justify such a belief. I’m thinking that Ghengis would have prevented Jesus Christ from existing and causing such a calamity to happen on earth. Democracy has ruined everything.
I think there’s a lot of truth to this. Look at how lovable the Red Sox were while they were losing. Then, they finally win it all and people start to root against them.
Good point.
I agree with the rest of what you wrote but i had some sort of ocd attack and didn’t want to waste virtual space or something…
anyways… that’s an interesting theory about Khan, when I watched the movie ‘Hero’ (if you haven’t seen it this might not make much sense) I had a similiar thought, "What would have happened if say someone similar to the emperor had taken over the whole world… not just China. Someone with fair enough qualities, Hitler wouldn’t work of course because he believes in you know… killing off a bunch of people and weird experiments and shit.
This of course wouldn’t be a socialist gov… rather a monarchy but even still…If that had have happened… it would be close enough to a communist society eventually i would think because like I said… the emperor would have fair enough attributes that once actualized, would most likely continue to guide the future country/world down a reasonable path… .k now I forgot what I was talking about.
Oh yeah… so say that the world existed in the perfect socialist state that you seem to envision. So far it sounds good to me… but the main problem I have with going any farther is with art. I feel like art is somehow lost when you move into a socialist society. Art is born out of the struggle… before tech is the was the struggle to live… now it’s about the struggle with living… but either way, I feel like a true socialist society… one that cannot be influenced in the least by an outside source would loose what it is is to be creative… think about it… we do it to survive, in business the more creative idea is the one that works… rock and roll, blues… it’s all born out of that struggle.
Anyways… how do you feel about that?
Not necessarily, Gobbo. You should check the ideas of Feuerbach regarding the separation of the scientific from the aesthetic.
There will always be struggle, and there will never be a ‘perfect’ state in which individuality is lost or artistic expression is sacrificed. A world united under one government is still struggling. Against what? Natural disaster. Only now, rather than fighting each other, the human race will begin a fight against entropy. In this struggle we retain our imaginations and fantastic goals, we can still create:
Colonizing outer-space. Inhabiting other planets. Science-fiction becomes real practice. The human race spreads to all corners of the galaxy and beyond…life expands forever and will never die. By the time our sun runs out of fuel, we’ll be on the other side of the universe, using a new star to give us warmth and light.
What magnificent beauty! Finally, after thousands of years, the human race gets its shit together and unites as one force: intelligent life.
Or, we blow ourselves up and call it a day.
you’re right… there is always a struggle… I still see it as a tradeoff though.
I suppose all things change including our concept of creativity and art… but think about star trek when they enter the holodeck or something… they replicate the past.
Ok… this might be a better way of putting what I’m thinking about:
Do you agree that there are periods of time in certain places where art just seems to come out of the woodwork? For instance the blues in the 30’s (it was the 30’s right?) or… the 90’s music scene in seattle (nirvana, STP, soundgarden, pearl jam, smashing pumpkins, alice in chains)
If you agree with that… then I ask if you would agree that that for a while at least… our artistic output and general thinking would be lowered… at least until we got into some space type shit.
Communications I find obscure the otherwise defined areas and time where true art really flourishes… yah natural disasters happen, but they’re localized… I feel like overall, capitalism is a better situation for artistic growth… but I also feel like overall, capitalism will most likely destroy us.
Gobbo:
Alright, how about this. Here is a blues song written in the year 2050, after humanity is united under one rule and has begun its space project:
"I can’t quit you, space, oh…ooo…wooah…
You’re sold cold, baby-doll, but I got faith…yeah…yeah…
I’ll find a sun to shine in my face…
And forgive you for your solar-flare haste…
What a waste…
Needa bose-einstein condensate…
Change matter to a different state…
[Chorus]
She’s so dark, and ain’t got no air…
Gotta find some water…
But I don’t know where…
Oh…ooo…wooah, I got those intersteller blues…
Need space boots…
Gotta sell my shoes…
Etc., etc.
So you see, we can still create art and express our sentiments toward existence. Its the subject of that art, my man, that has always historically been a form of protest against human coercion.
Yeah you’re not getting what I’m trying to express … but then again I barely am
my mind is weird that way.
Actually, I am able to see how art could flurish under a good socialist or communist system. Now art is frequently tied up with marketing and so is the pretty whore of capitalism.
The fact is that if we were not living in a capitalist system time and resources would increase in their availability. That’s because only what was needed would be made. The amount of time spent at work would drop like a rock for many people. This would allow for increased creativity in the general population, as long as their was a fair means of deciding how art gets distributed, then we would likely have more of it with less uniformity.
Also, OG your last post about Star Trek was hard to follow. I read it three times!
Interesting economic theory.
So who gets to decide what’s “needed”?
Yeah I’ll admit that one was a little out there…
Jerry
It would either be through a collective committee or some type of voting mechanism. It would most likely be much the same as today only without the emphasis on profit.
For instance, when a city commissions a new statute for the center square artists present their work and they are evaluated by a committee. If you want a loan for a business then your claims are evaluated by a loan officer. However, in my situation you would be evaluated based on the feasibility of your idea and its service to the public. Of course the bigger the project the more that it would have to be evaluated. This would cut down dramatically on the use of recourses and redundant products.
So, basically, it would be a system wherein everybody would be forced to live in accordance with the subjective values of some committee.
Got it.
Agreed. I also believe art would flourish extremely well under a socialist system because people would be creating art out of their love and passion for art, and not for money.
This is also the case with areas other than art as well–journalism is one that comes to mind.
Under a socialist system people would choose a profession because they love it, not for the salary the position gives. Thus a majority of the people would be devoted to their profession and their work. Therefore, the overall quality of work from that profession, such as music or journalism, would be higher.
Hello F(r)iends,
To add to Jerry’s skepticism, I would like to introduce this:
[size=150]Scarcity - limited resources, unlimited wants.[/size]
-Thirst4ConsumerChoice
Jerry
A much worse system is already going on. There are “committee†designed to maintain a segment of the population poor as a ready workforce for the rich. Meanwhile, I am describing what amounts to a real democracy.
Resources: in a system like I mentioned there would be still be limited resources, but there would be the ability to stretch them much further. That’s because there would be less trash being produced just to make a quick buck. We would all be able to get one really well-made toaster instead of the now twenty different mediocre ones that pointlessly exist now. Actually, twenty is probably a low number on that.