Random Politics & Religion #00

Cuba gives its 'unconditional support' to Venezuela against US

This is like the rivalry between New Zealand and Australia, except thankfully, we're not geographically attached.

You mean between the US and everywhere else.

Well, New Zealand isn't wearing the US either, although I think our PM would like it if we did, he's been sucking up to Obama enough lately.

Why would you trust any large group? The dynamics of mob mentality (social psychology if you prefer a less on-the-nose name) are well-documented. People can be made to agree with or even believe in something that is objectively false by simple social pressure from strangers, much less their peers, and I'm not talking about politics here, I'm talking about the length of a line or something else with a measurable and correct answer.

I trust individuals.

More people/entities than anyone will admit.

Individuals are too unpredictable. Groups of people are much more predictable.

Which makes them easy to manipulate and subject to distrust.

I trust mob mentality when I control it.

Instead of being a factor of resistance, I rather be the factor of control.

Besides, Ramy trusts people and entities more than he lets on. I'm just trying to let him figure that out.

I trust in Captain Jack Sparrow.

"You can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest, but you never know when an honest person will do something... stupid"

To some point you have to trust "entities" as it were. I don't live in my house with a tinfoil hat jumping every time the doorbell rings.

Well, that's a lie, but only because I don't expect people to visit me and the doorbell going off startles the ***out of me. But that's not the point.

I obviously have to trust things like banks to handle my money, payroll personnel that I'll get paid, doctors who treat me, etc.

But it's a necessary trust, regulated by laws and professional standards and the like, and I enter into these, err, "trusts?" knowing there's some level of risk associated.

What I'm saying is when it comes to the people running corporations or governments and the like, I know damn well they don't have my best interests in mind.

You wire the doorbell to the trapdoor welcome mat...

Is this your first day being a crazy old white guy!?

Those are some very telling (but not surprising) statements.

The notion that anyone has any sense of control amazes me, though. Even Congressmen who can decide whether or not to turn a country into a contiguous sheet of glass nonetheless bow to their fear of losing their illusion of power and/or the money that comes with it and allow themselves to be easily and cheaply bought and sold by lobbyists and party members. If they were at least looking out for their own personal well-being, they'd make a lot more money.

Kind of what I was thinking too.

I told you I'm several years behind you in this process!

Even more revelations into your psyche.

Why do you think you have to be the one everyone has your best interests in mind when they make decisions that effect everyone?

That's the catch 22.

Nobody (outside of your communal patriarchy) gives a ***about you personally. And you should never expect people to do so. That's just selfish to even expect that.

Because what is best for you is not best for society. Especially when it comes to governmental policy.

I'm a strong believer of the "support oneself first, and others second" philosophy. I take care of myself, and I expect you to do the same (take care of yourself, not of me).

I expect businesses to take care of itself (and it's owners). I expect the government to take care of itself (and it's citizens). I expect states to take care of itself (and it's citizens).

That's the degree of trust I'm referring to.

I don't expect people to do so. Which is why I'm a fan of things like collective bargaining. ^^


Clearly you lack an understanding of the scope of my inflated sense of self!

Idiots are easy to control, and the more people you get in a group, the stupider they become.

Because all it takes is one person directing traffic and all of the sudden you have yourself a bunch of lemmings.

So...
You think government and corporations aren't worthy of your trust but, you/we need to trust them for some reason. I'd guess that it's because you don't have any faith in yourself that you can make your own decisions. I truly apologize if that sounds harsh, but I cannot think of any other way to say it. You don't feel confident in making those decisions for yourself, so you want someone else to do it. I mean there are things I don't think I should decide for myself or be responsible for, but they are few and far between.

I just don't understand why on earth you think the government will do a better job than some corporation.

Yes, I know all about Bavarian fire drills. And owing to a quirk of my neurological wiring, I very rarely fall victim to them, so the notion that normal people do is very foreign to me.

The problem here is that they don't. We could go down a rather long list of "owners" (here defined as the executives rather than the stockholders who more literally own a publicly-traded corporation) who have bankrupted the company for their own immediate gain and who so badly treat their employees and even customers that the whole enterprise falls apart.

I get the idea you're saying. I get that, in theory, if people would just take care of themselves, everything would work. But people don't. Long-term planning for most humans goes out maybe as far as next week and even highly successful and very rich executives have shown to be every bit as short-sighted. We can find-and-replace to suit government, too, obviously. In fact, if anything, government is more prone to this kind of short-sightedness because even Senators who've been in office for three decades are ruled by the constant cycle of elections that hamstrings any plan designed to last longer than a couple years.

Post again.

You are abnormal. It is common knowledge that you can direct people in almost any situation just by creating the need for them to listen.

Please do. For every single corporation that falls under your criteria, I will post 3 that do not follow that method. I promise you, your list will end far before mine.

Not really? I mean, I see where you're going with that but I think it over-simplifies and assumes a bit much.


Probably not for dissimilar reasons to those that make you think the opposite, just processed a little differently.

It worked! You might be on to something kingnoobie... /pats

Wow, you're really that into drinking the Kool-Aid. Not worth it to argue with someone buried that deep.

Of course, I suspect your investment in this idea is motivated strongly by self-interest. Most people don't get trust funds from parents who made a ton of money as independent artists, even though I could list off quite a lot of independent artists worth a very hefty amount.

Wait, I'm more than willing to prove you wrong, and all I get is a "no u" response?

Seriously, post your "list" of executives (you can just post companies instead) who:

A) Own more in the company that they drove into the ground than their other owners.
B) Bankrupted the company for their own immediate gain.
C) Badly treated their employees and/or customers for said gain.

I can already guess 2 of those on that list:

1) Enron.
2) Bain Capital (although it technically doesn't fit the criteria you yourself laid out).

So, what are you waiting for? Oh right, you don't want me to prove you wrong. I get it, your ego is getting in the way of you actually learning something today.

My Eggos get in the way of me learning anything, any day.