Comments

  • The ABCs of Socialism
    I'm just pointing out that socialists , for all their demands for fairness in society ,have no problem sponging off of those who earn less than them . — Chester

    So you don’t believe that teachers are worth paying much, if anything, or at least not worth a pension? Is or was your work worth having the ability to comfortably retire?

    Teaching is basically a closed shop unionised protection racket...teachers are virtually unsackable, that's why there are so many shit ones. — Chester

    They’re not virtually unfireable. Also, I don’t think that you understand or appropriate the position that public school teachers are in and the kind of protections they may need.
  • The ABCs of Socialism
    In the UK the left dominate areas of government employment , for instance teaching. I read once that teachers used to be the biggest single group within labour party membership. People on the left (like most teachers) have no issue with people like me (in the private sector) paying large amounts of tax to ensure that they (teachers) have a much better pension plan than I could ever afford. — Chester

    Teachers in the county that I live in are reasonably well compensated, have good benefits, and have a pension plan. They are also unionized.

    So to look at it the other way around, you have no problem with not organizing and getting more for your work.
  • The ABCs of Socialism
    Maybe the relative lack of working class resistance over the last fifty years has a lot to do with Americans simply being more economically comfortable than the preceding decades.

    Enlightening lectures. :up:
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪NOS4A2
    I thought you said that you weren't Russian.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    You cant have looked very hard. — DingoJones

    That we need to look hard for bad journalism doesn’t do much to support your argument.
  • Are drugs bad?
    A person that is prescribed anti-anxiety medication to help with anxiety is equivalent to a person who uses amphetamine or ecstacy to enjoy his/her life more or to distract themselves from emotion pain. — ttjordy

    I’ve been prescribed anti-anxiety medication in the past and have also had ecstasy. The latter may have played a part in the former, now that I think about it. Anyway, it’s interesting that you see an equivalency. Given that you know an anti-anxiety prescription implies a rather sever degree of stress/suffering, it seems to suggest that you use recreational drugs at least primarily to temporarily escape emotional pain.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    I tend to think of him fondly as a rascally pet troll.
  • A Theory of Information
    Apparently, you have mixed-up some of Plato's theory with Aristotle's theory of Forms. — Gnomon

    No, I've leapfrogged Plato, Aristotle, and Enformation, to realize the true nature of reality. I hereby introduce the new paradigm, coining it: Unifilm.

    uniform-logo.png

    Unifilm unites all of reality and dissolves all dualities. Physical and metaphysical forms are one and the same, and all are unchanging and eternal. In your ignorance, you might ask why things appear to change. They don't! Consciousness creates the illusion of change by percieving the unchanging forms in sequence, like the illusion of motion created in viewing a film strip.

    Cinema [reality :wink: ] is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out. — Martin Scorsese

    Of course, this means that everything is predetermined and there's no free will. Still, kinda cool though, right?!

    Uni: combining form.

    Film: a thin flexible strip of plastic or other material coated with light-sensitive emulsion for exposure in a camera, used to produce photographs or motion pictures.

    Martin Scorsese: Italian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor, whose career spans more than 50 years.
  • Psych question: What is the root cause of depression?
    I would guess that the most fundamental cause is stress, with perhaps a genetic predisposition that stress tiggers.
  • A Theory of Information
    I don't really give much thought to such questions. — Gnomon

    Then let's think it through together, shall we? :smile: :chin:

    You've made what I think are two significant postulations, which are:

    • Forms are timeless and unchanging
    • Forms can only be proven to exist in the metaphysical realm

    If forms are unchanging then there can't be 'ideal' forms, because all forms would necessarily be unchanging. For instance, if a 'metaphysical circle' is an 'ideal' form then what is a metaphysical circle with a slight difference of some kind? It cannot be that the ideal form changed to become unideal. They would simply be two different unchanging forms and therefore neither of them could be considered an ideal form. This would extend to all forms, of course, which is nonsensical because if forms are unchanging and eternal there would really be just one eternal unchanging form. An unchanging thing cannot exist in a realm where things change, to put it simply.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪DingoJones


    Besides what Benkei points out, I did a search for journalists reporting that “Trump told people to drink or inject bleach” and all I could find were headlines about him suggesting that injecting disinfectants might work as a treatment.

    Another failure to support your claims with evidence.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪DingoJones


    That and what proceeded it, like the following.

    I meant that TDS has people relegating Trump to the person no longer worthy of respect or fairness, that they view Trump as evil and therefore a guilt free punching bag. What does it matter if you arent fair or respectful to pure evil? ... — DingoJones

    It’s unclear if you’re saying that only deranged people can view Trump as evil or that demonization is an expression of derangement. In any case, your meaning is not clear, to me at least. And then in addition to this the bullying thing somehow fits.

    Wouldn’t an example help to show how this all works? I honestly don’t get it.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Dont see how an example would be any more clear. — DingoJones

    You don't see how evidence would support your views or argument, seriously?

    I think you want an example so you can argue about the example instead of what im actually talking about. You want to argue about Trumps character. — DingoJones

    You're not arguing about Trump's character. You're arguing about the character of others in relation to TDS in some way that is unclear to me. If you have no interest in making it clearer to me that's your choice.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪DingoJones


    Is it impossible for you to point out examples so I can get a clear picture of what you’re talking about?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    I cant help but see you seem to be taking the “weak character” comment personally. Is that what you actually want to discuss? Whether or not I think you have weak character? — DingoJones

    One of the three discussions I started on this forum was about TDS. I think it's simply a method to invalidate any criticism of Trump, in the minds of his supporters. I don't recall it ever being applied to an individual. I suppose that's because if it were applied to an instance of it then an actual criticism would need to be taken into consideration.

    I wasn't aiming that at anyone in particular — DingoJones

    Were you aiming at a fictitious person then?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Well no one could sensibly say Trump doesn't throw out childish insults, but I was specifically talking about something else and don’t see the relevance of your comment.
    You don’t need to bring up the things Trump says and does anytime someone mentions some other bad act. We get it, eeeeeveryone gets it.     — DingoJones

    I think you've misunderstood. I gave an example of bullying without legitimate criticism or your definition of TDS, if I follow your reasoning. You've offered no examples whatsoever. Maybe you're afraid that if you gave a real example of someone bulling Trump without a legitimate criticism the cool kids won't like you?
  • A Theory of Information
    The Forms are timeless and unchanging, but our perceptions of them differ for each perceiver. — Gnomon

    So you believe that, for instance, people differ in their perception of a geometric circle, or rather in their concept of a circle? Also, do you believe that perfect circle's exit in "real world space-time" or do ideal forms only exist in the "realm of ideas"?

    If you could try to clarify these points I may be able to compare our understandings.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    They have a particular taste for abusing an easy target, like a bully who picks on the unpopular kid so he can satisfy his weak character while still maintaining social favour with the other kids. — DingoJones

    Just one of countless...

    Truly weird Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky reminds me of a spoiled brat without a properly functioning brain. — DJT
  • Collaborative Criticism #2
    ↪Nils Loc


    Weird. Not much weirder than watching caged animals though, I suppose.
  • A Theory of Information
    . . . . followed immediately by "I favor Realism" — Gnomon

    You equate realism with materialism?

    While waiting for tech support, I followed your link to the elaborately elucidated B/A principle. In one part it says,"Ultimate or absolute reality (ideality) doesn't change, but your conception of reality does." Can you explain what you mean by that?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪NOS4A2


    In any case, DJT's hyperbole is effective on his supporters, but not anyone with the ability to reason.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪NOS4A2

    When asked about Cotton's early warnings [about coronavirus], McConnell said: "It came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment." — praxis
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    I’m not sure. — NOS4A2

    It is hard to keep up with all the alternative truths.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪NOS4A2


    Didn't Mitch say that they can't do impeachment and deal with corona at the same time?
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Impeach Obama!
  • Why are we here?
    The main issues that I think praxis might have with your theory (and I don’t want to assume here, only attempt to translate into something less personal) may have to do with the gap in your explanation at this level, which I’m afraid isn’t convincingly ‘filled’ for me, even by Blog 74. — Possibility

    I haven’t read anything about his theory, being the filthy philistine that I am. It’s curious that he claims to have resolved the rift between idealism and materialism and yet says himself “I favor Idealism.”
  • Collaborative Criticism #2
    ↪Nils Loc


    I don’t know why I’ve always liked the Kafkaesque kind of writing but you make it look effortless.
  • Mysticism: Why do/don’t you care?
    You said,
    I don’t think we can begin to imagine what is beyond our little fishbowl of experience.
    — praxis
    Obviously, we have begun to imagine.     — Harry Hindu

    I wasn't claiming that we can't begin to imagine.
  • Collaborative Criticism #2
    I would personally like to see where this could be taken in terms of a philosophical piece — I like sushi

    Yeah I was just kinda fooling around but that would be a good exercise. I'd very much like to improve my writing. I just read through the first thread.
  • Mysticism: Why do/don’t you care?
    We thought of life by analogy with a journey, a pilgrimage, which had a serious purpose at the end, and the thing was to get to that end, success or whatever it is, maybe heaven after you’re dead. But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played. — Alan Watts
  • Collaborative Criticism #2
    May 9, 2020

    I noticed when folding laundry this morning that there wasn’t a stack of pants, and realized that I haven’t worn them in weeks, maybe even since this journey started. Part of the reason is because of the fair weather, which I’m grateful for, but the other reasons is simply that there’s no place to go where it might be inappropriate to not wear them. Dances, concerts, galleries, and so many other things need society, and society is the one thing that we don’t have on this lonely voyage.

    Discipline has been waning and there have been rumors of mutiny. The rhumb lines are not straight, is the continuous refrain. Is this the only song that they know how to sing? If the world is flat then we’re all doomed to fall at the end, others say, so it doesn’t matter. I say pretend it’s a sphere and perhaps live a few more days. Stretch it out and live without living, or finally live.

    Everywhere is marked “ecco i draghi,” and not just the unknown regions anymore. How long can we take this of faith? I’ve never seen a dragon, much less an invisible one. Can we fight it? Unknown. Will it kill us? Unknown. Will it always be there? Unknown.

    Our course takes us to the edge of the world. When we get there I fear it will be too late to turn back and we will fall, or perhaps we're already falling. Maybe we've always been falling.
  • Mysticism: Why do/don’t you care?
    I think you just posted examples of how we imagine what is beyond our little fishbowl of experience. — Harry Hindu

    Did I? The things that I mentioned are pretty unremarkable and I think show the how limited our imagination is, and not how otherworldly expansive it could be in an altered state. Like our dreams, visions in altered states may offer insights about ourselves or the mind in general, but the elements are comprised of our worldly experiences. Even if there were a premonition that proved to be true, it is still limited to the world we know and human concerns.
  • Mysticism: Why do/don’t you care?
    ↪Harry Hindu


    Buddhists see past lives, Christians are one with God, some people see ghost girl... and yeah, cults and religions are built around these experiences. People like Timmothy believe they’ve found the way to free the mind and save humanity or whatever. At the risk of philistinism, it’s all bullshit. An asshole is going to be an asshole after ‘enlightenment’. They might even be an asshole with a more inflated ego, because they’ve experienced selflessness, oddly enough.

    I don’t think we can begin to imagine what is beyond our little fishbowl of experience.
  • Why are we here?
    ↪Possibility


    Don’t go think’n that with all your fancy words and learn’n that ya ain’t one of them filostines.
  • How open should you be about sex?
    tenor.gif
  • A Theory of Information
    Philistine : a person who is hostile or indifferent [ to alien ideas ], or who has no understanding of them. — Gnomon

    Quintessential Gnomon, dishonestly bending the truth to fit his incoherent narrative and oblivious to how utterly transparent it is.

    If you're here to fool people, please try harder.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Trump brutally attacked by his own party.

  • Coronavirus
    Banks, governments, corporations, investors, individuals - part of the problem is that everyone owes each other and uses debt to pay for debt and because money has been so cheap (credit is - or was - so massively available) it's gotten easier and easier to think this bonanza can just keep going. — StreetlightX

    I understand that it's not really a bonanza, at least for the vast majority, but a Ponzi scheme. A scheme too big to collapse but doomed to a gradual decline. Despite Trump's best efforts, he wasn't able to deliver the promised 4-5% GDP growth, for instance.

    Getting a better picture of all this lately, it's remarkable how governments can continue on this course with so little safeguards in such a fragile system. Corona has shown how abruptly it can collapse and at just about any time.
  • Mysticism: Why do/don’t you care?
    This being my presumption of why mystics and mystical traditions have often been deemed dangerous heretics or heresies by those who are religious fundamentalists. — javra

    Depatterning may threaten to disrupt whatever order presides. Nixon claimed that Timothy Leary was "the most dangerous man in America."
  • How open should you be about sex?
    ↪NOS4A2


    It’s a shame that such repression is common.
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