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Page added on July 28, 2018
American Society Would Collapse If It Weren’t for These 8 Myths
Our society should’ve collapsed by now. You know that, right?
No society should function with this level of inequality (with the possible exception of one of those prison planets in a “Star Wars” movie). Sixty-three percent of Americans can’t afford a $500 emergency. Yet Amazon head Jeff Bezos is now worth a record $141 billion. He could literally end world hunger for multiple years and still have more money left over than he could ever spend on himself.
Worldwide, one in 10 people only make $2 a day. Do you know how long it would take one of those people to make the same amount as Jeff Bezos has? 193 million years. (If they only buy single-ply toilet paper.) Put simply, you cannot comprehend the level of inequality in our current world or even just our nation.
So … shouldn’t there be riots in the streets every day? Shouldn’t it all be collapsing? Look outside. The streets aren’t on fire. No one is running naked and screaming (usually). Does it look like everyone’s going to work at gunpoint? No. We’re all choosing to continue on like this.
Why?
Well, it comes down to the myths we’ve been sold. Myths that are ingrained in our social programming from birth, deeply entrenched, like an impacted wisdom tooth. These myths are accepted and basically never questioned.
I’m going to cover eight of them. There are more than eight. There are probably hundreds. But I’m going to cover eight because (A) no one reads a column titled “Hundreds of Myths of American Society,” (B) these are the most important ones and (C) we all have other shit to do.
Myth No. 8—We have a democracy.
If you think we still have a democracy or a democratic republic, ask yourself this: When was the last time Congress did something that the people of America supported that did not align with corporate interests? … You probably can’t do it. It’s like trying to think of something that rhymes with “orange.” You feel like an answer exists but then slowly realize it doesn’t. Even the Carter Center and former President Jimmy Carter believe that America has been transformed into an oligarchy: A small, corrupt elite control the country with almost no input from the people. The rulers need the myth that we’re a democracy to give us the illusion of control.
Myth No. 7—We have an accountable and legitimate voting system.
Gerrymandering, voter purging, data mining, broken exit polling, push polling, superdelegates, electoral votes, black-box machines, voter ID suppression, provisional ballots, super PACs, dark money, third parties banished from the debates and two corporate parties that stand for the same goddamn pile of fetid crap!
What part of this sounds like a legitimate election system?
No, we have what a large Harvard study called the worst election system in the Western world. Have you ever seen where a parent has a toddler in a car seat, and the toddler has a tiny, brightly colored toy steering wheel so he can feel like he’s driving the car? That’s what our election system is—a toy steering wheel. Not connected to anything. We all sit here like infants, excitedly shouting, “I’m steeeeering!”
And I know it’s counterintuitive, but that’s why you have to vote. We have to vote in such numbers that we beat out what’s stolen through our ridiculous rigged system.
Myth No. 6—We have an independent media that keeps the rulers accountable.
Our media outlets are funded by weapons contractors, big pharma, big banks, big oil and big, fat hard-on pills. (Sorry to go hard on hard-on pills, but we can’t get anything resembling hard news because it’s funded by dicks.) The corporate media’s jobs are to rally for war, cheer for Wall Street and froth at the mouth for consumerism. It’s their mission to actually fortify belief in the myths I’m telling you about right now. Anybody who steps outside that paradigm is treated like they’re standing on a playground wearing nothing but a trench coat.
Myth No. 5—We have an independent judiciary.
The criminal justice system has become a weapon wielded by the corporate state. This is how bankers can foreclose on millions of homes illegally and see no jail time, but activists often serve jail time for nonviolent civil disobedience. Chris Hedges recently noted, “The most basic constitutional rights … have been erased for many. … Our judicial system, as Ralph Nader has pointed out, has legalized secret law, secret courts, secret evidence, secret budgets and secret prisons in the name of national security.”
If you’re not part of the monied class, you’re pressured into releasing what few rights you have left. According to The New York Times, “97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in plea bargains, with defendants pleading guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.”
That’s the name of the game. Pressure people of color and poor people to just take the plea deal because they don’t have a million dollars to spend on a lawyer. (At least not one who doesn’t advertise on beer coasters.)
Myth No. 4—The police are here to protect you. They’re your friends.
That’s funny. I don’t recall my friend pressuring me into sex to get out of a speeding ticket. (Which is essentially still legal in 32 states.)
The police in our country are primarily designed to do two things: protect the property of the rich and perpetrate the completely immoral war on drugs—which by definition is a war on our own people.
We lock up more people than any other country on earth. Meaning the land of the free is the largest prison state in the world. So all these droopy-faced politicians and rabid-talking heads telling you how awful China is on human rights or Iran or North Korea—none of them match the numbers of people locked up right here under Lady Liberty’s skirt.
Myth No. 3—Buying will make you happy.
This myth is put forward mainly by the floods of advertising we take in but also by our social engineering. Most of us feel a tenacious emptiness, an alienation deep down behind our surface emotions (for a while I thought it was gas). That uneasiness is because most of us are flushing away our lives at jobs we hate before going home to seclusion boxes called houses or apartments. We then flip on the TV to watch reality shows about people who have it worse than we do (which we all find hilarious).
If we’re lucky, we’ll make enough money during the week to afford enough beer on the weekend to help it all make sense. (I find it takes at least four beers for everything to add up.) But that doesn’t truly bring us fulfillment. So what now? Well, the ads say buying will do it. Try to smother the depression and desperation under a blanket of flat-screen TVs, purses and Jet Skis. Now does your life have meaning? No? Well, maybe you have to drive that Jet Ski a little faster! Crank it up until your bathing suit flies off and you’ll feel alive!
The dark truth is that we have to believe the myth that consuming is the answer or else we won’t keep running around the wheel. And if we aren’t running around the wheel, then we start thinking, start asking questions. Those questions are not good for the ruling elite, who enjoy a society based on the daily exploitation of 99 percent of us.
Myth No. 2—If you work hard, things will get better.
According to Deloitte’s Shift Index survey: “80% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs” and “[t]he average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime.” That’s about one-seventh of your life—and most of it is during your most productive years.
Ask yourself what we’re working for. To make money? For what? Almost none of us are doing jobs for survival anymore. Once upon a time, jobs boiled down to:
I plant the food—>I eat the food—>If I don’t plant food = I die.
But nowadays, if you work at a café—will someone die if they don’t get their super-caf-mocha-frap-almond-piss-latte? I kinda doubt they’ll keel over from a blueberry scone deficiency.
If you work at Macy’s, will customers perish if they don’t get those boxer briefs with the sweat-absorbent-ass fabric? I doubt it. And if they do die from that, then their problems were far greater than you could’ve known. So that means we’re all working to make other people rich because we have a society in which we have to work. Technological advancements can do most everything that truly must get done.
So if we wanted to, we could get rid of most work and have tens of thousands of more hours to enjoy our lives. But we’re not doing that at all. And no one’s allowed to ask these questions—not on your mainstream airwaves at least. Even a half-step like universal basic income is barely discussed because it doesn’t compute with our cultural programming.
Scientists say it’s quite possible artificial intelligence will take away all human jobs in 120 years. I think they know that will happen because bots will take the jobs and then realize that 80 percent of them don’t need to be done! The bots will take over and then say, “Stop it. … Stop spending a seventh of your life folding shirts at Banana Republic.”
One day, we will build monuments to the bot that told us to enjoy our lives and … leave the shirts wrinkly.
And this leads me to the largest myth of our American society.
Myth No. 1—You are free.
And I’m not talking about the millions locked up in our prisons. I’m talking about you and me. If you think you’re free, try running around with your nipples out, ladies. Guys, take a dump on the street and see how free you are.
I understand there are certain restrictions on freedom we actually desire to have in our society—maybe you’re not crazy about everyone leaving a Stanley Steamer in the middle of your walk to work. But a lot of our lack of freedom is not something you would vote for if given the chance.
Try building a fire in a parking lot to keep warm in the winter.
Try sleeping in your car for more than a few hours without being harassed by police.
Try maintaining your privacy for a week without a single email, web search or location data set collected by the NSA and the telecoms.
Try signing up for the military because you need college money and then one day just walking off the base, going, “Yeah, I was bored. Thought I would just not do this anymore.”
Try explaining to Kentucky Fried Chicken that while you don’t have the green pieces of paper they want in exchange for the mashed potatoes, you do have some pictures you’ve drawn on a napkin to give them instead.
Try running for president as a third-party candidate. (Jill Stein was shackled and chained to a chair by police during one of the debates.)
Try using the restroom at Starbucks without buying something … while black.
We are less free than a dog on a leash. We live in one of the hardest-working, most unequal societies on the planet with more billionaires than ever.
Meanwhile, Americans supply 94 percent of the paid blood used worldwide. And it’s almost exclusively coming from very poor people. This abusive vampire system is literally sucking the blood from the poor. Does that sound like a free decision they made? Or does that sound like something people do after immense economic force crushes down around them? (One could argue that sperm donation takes a little less convincing.)
Point is, in order to enforce this illogical, immoral system, the corrupt rulers—most of the time—don’t need guns and tear gas to keep the exploitation mechanisms humming along. All they need are some good, solid bullshit myths for us all to buy into, hook, line and sinker. Some fairy tales for adults.
It’s time to wake up.
60 Comments on "American Society Would Collapse If It Weren’t for These 8 Myths"
eugene on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 7:50 am
Couldn’t agree more. But ignorant Americans babble in conversations that have no connection to reality. May whatever higher power you believe in help you if you try to say anything different.
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 8:32 am
If we were truly a free people,
I could burn garbage & furniture
in my suburban backyard.
Go Speed Racer on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 8:32 am
while shooting guns in the air.
Shortend on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 8:43 am
Cant be that bad if Millions are attempting to jump the Wall!
Sissyfuss on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 9:16 am
GoSpeed, I live in the boonies and burn my garbage and shoot my gun but not in the air. You’re missing out on life from the get go, Goget.
Davy on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 9:31 am
“But ignorant Americans babble in conversations that have no connection to reality.”
I see that with many here so I wouldn’t act like you are much different
Shortend on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 9:43 am
I’m FREEE…I throw out my waste motor oil in the sewer down the block where I live.
Bloomer on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 9:46 am
The people who live in democratic countries continue to vote for and support politicians who pass laws against their best interest. They promote laws, bills, statutes and judges who benefit the rich. You get the government you deserve.
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 10:35 am
Why Workers Are Losing to Capitalists
Automation and offshoring may be conspiring to reduce labor’s share of income.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-20/why-workers-are-losing-to-capitalists
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 10:37 am
Democracy is fucking stupid..That is why all the great ancient philosophers hated it..The only people who can win are snake oil salesman..And once they get elected they sell out all the people to the special interest..
I wish we had a leftist strongman take over like Lenin..
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 10:53 am
When your South Pole doesn’t hide your south hole.
https://i.redd.it/effu5qftsoc11.jpg
john kelley on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 11:59 am
Every once in a while you guys reprint articles like this one which leaves me sad to watch this excellent website become irrelevant.
Davy on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 12:05 pm
John, this site is full of extremist anti-Americans. There are Americans, Anglos, and Europeans that make up this group. The owners are on the same wavelength. It is sad there is not more balance and objectivity here. Anti-Americanism goes with the territory of being an ex superpower but not to the level it is taken here.
Cloggie on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 12:39 pm
John, this site is full of extremist anti-Americans. There are Americans, Anglos, and Europeans that make up this group. The owners are on the same wavelength.
Perhaps all these people mentioned have concluded, unlike you, that 1-percenter oligarchs no longer represent the best interests of normal Americans, especially not white Americans.
But hobby-prepper empire Dave remains loyal to the intentions of the deep state, although he knows he is playing with fire and has an Italian escape route in place, just in case.
Cloggie on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 12:53 pm
The US empire essentially is a media empire. Retired journalists from the German branche (ARD) report that all major “news” agencies are being fed by the Pentagon, that employs 29,000 people, just to generate news stories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko5-FGu7eBM
One giant brainwashing machine.
Davy on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 12:58 pm
Sure, neder, call me deep state Davy. More like something less dramatic like I believe in American critical along with be critical of other global powers. You are among the worst for a rabid anti-American agenda that does not make sense and dwells in a fantasy land of a resurgent European empire. I pretty much ignore your regurgitate copy and paste scriptures verses but if you like I will devote more time to exposing your lilies and distortions like I used to.
Cloggie on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 1:09 pm
but if you like I will devote more time to exposing your lilies and distortions like I used to.
Actually I would love to be “moderated” in all things history.
Now what is you proof that Hitler and not Roosevelt-Stalin wanted to conquer the world?
Tic-toc-tic-toc
Anonymouse1 on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 1:33 pm
Hey exceptionaltard, when did you downgrade your pal cloggen-kike here, from ‘neder-nazis’ as you call it, to just ‘neder’? Is it because you finally realized that calling a jew a ‘nazis’ is kind of redundant, so, you just decided to shorten it for the sake of not having to peck it out on your little cell phone so much? Im guessing that must be it.
Btw, wtf is ‘neder’ supposed to mean anyhow? Do you even know, or have any sort of clue or idea what that supposed to mean? Or is that just another symptom of crazy AND stupid with you? Not defending your autistic fake fraud pal of course, but watching you meander around here, is akin to observing all those mentally disturbed people that (unfortunately) wander the streets in ever growing numbers, talking to themselves and generally acting strangely.
Davy on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 1:51 pm
Asperger, I am still waiting for a real comment out of you not your troll baiting. It is going on 4 days already. Tic tic tic toc
Anonymouse1 on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:05 pm
So, you have nervous tic problem now, in addition to OCD, paranoia, anger issues, delusions, and just general stupidity?
Got it.
So, what does ‘neder’ mean to you, dumbass?
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:08 pm
In Reality, Every Night Is ‘Purge’ Night
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/in-reality-every-night-is-purge-night/
Outcast_Searcher on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:10 pm
OTOH, there is the myth that the Cassandras spread around that collapse is constantly imminent. Never mind that they’re constantly wrong, for decades on end.
I won’t disagree with the substance of most of the myths.
Hard work CAN get you ahead, but you have to add being smart and FRUGAL to it — and you also have to have some luck (stability, health, opportunity, etc).
OTOH, whining about 63% of Americans doing little or no saving says far more about character and self control and work vs. spend ethic than it does about the lack of ability or opportunity for those 63% (or at least the vast majority of them) to save anything.
It’s about priorities. The main reason I was able to retire fairly comfortably at 48 from a rapidly worsening corporate environment was I made frugality, saving, and investment right at the top of my priority list my entire 33 year high school, college, and work career.
I never had some kind of giant income either.
There was a whole lot more sacrifice and discipline in that than luck or having much handed to me (my parents did help with college).
Outcast_Searcher on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:14 pm
And how is whining about inequality going to fix it? Teaching people basic skills/values like frugality, savings, investment, home economics, a strong ethic, and the value of a good education (i.e. seize and prioritize the opportunities you have) would do FAR more to give people the OPPORTUNITY to do reasonably well financially over time than any number of well meaning but ineffective social programs. (Just look how much “good” the “war on poverty” has done in the US. If it had done much good, liberals wouldn’t be constantly screaming about supposed poverty.)
Outcast_Searcher on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:15 pm
Should have been “strong work ethic” in the previous posts. I HATE not being able to edit these posts.
onlooker on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:57 pm
Outcast, you are not a black person born in a modern day American ghetto, if you were you would not speak like that. You are also not from a poor country, addicted to drugs, with a major impairment/disability I assume also. Your talking points fail to account for the environment in which person is raised, the particularly difficult circumstances some must overcome or the negative vicissitudes that life throws at people often
john kelley on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 2:58 pm
Thanks Davy.I am on here every day for the energy news and insights same as when TOD was around .You always take the time to help me understand and I appreciate it.
onlooker on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 3:05 pm
John, why irrelevant. Don’t you think the masses should wake up to the true state of the US and world
Boat on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 4:04 pm
Onlooker
That would be a waste of time. Humans are reactionary.
Boat on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 4:12 pm
Giving blood to buy guns seems like a way to make money. By the time your 70 you should have accumulated hundreds. Go to a gun show and bingo! You know how many beers you can get for $thousands? during happy hours?
GregT on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 4:42 pm
“John, this site is full of extremist anti-Americans.”
The article was written by an American Davy. Things aren’t going to get any better unless people wake up.
“It’s time to wake up.”
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 4:49 pm
davy
Nothing is more extremist than zerohedge..And your support for foreign dictators like Putin..
Outcast the top ten percent hold 80 percent of all the wealth in America..That is why we have an inequality crisis..But don’t worry when society collapses soon we will all be on the same level again.
https://imgur.com/a/pYxKa
MASTERMIND on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 4:52 pm
Greg
You can’t wake people like Davy up..He is to weak minded..Difficulties in life are what make the mind strong..Davy has had no difficulties thanks to his wealthy parents..He won’t believe anything that doesn’t make him “feel good”..
JuanP on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 6:16 pm
Did Davy just develop a new personality?
onlooker on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 6:21 pm
Boat, I do agree with your statement.
“That would be a waste of time. Humans are reactionary.”
Anonymouse1 on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 6:24 pm
Yes and no Juan. The exceptionalturd does not have much of a personality left to develop. Not at all suspicious when a brand new ‘friend’ shows up out of literally, nowhere, and then, goes out of the way to credit the turd of all people, with this howler, in the eceptionalturds own words (obviously)…..
“You always take the time to help me understand and I appreciate it.”
RoFLMAO. Something about that statement doesn’t quite ring true, exceptionalturd.
You get an ‘E’ for effort. Get it… ‘E’
Anonymouse1 on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 6:38 pm
Oh BTW, davyturd, you can stop using your ‘mushmind’ sock puppet to continue dropping (false) ‘hints’ that you come from a wealthy background. No one is falling for that particular pile of manure from you any longer.
In case still haven’t figured it out yet, no one would care much even if you truly were ‘wealthy’. Even if you were, the only thing it mean, is that you are are sick, delusional well-to-do exceptionalturd. As opposed to the sick delusional COMMON exceptionalturd, you actually are.
Only a common, lowly, consumer-serf like yourself, raised in the media-driven, status-conscious circus that is amerikan ‘culture’, feels the need to put on airs, as they say, the way you do.
Makati1 on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 8:39 pm
” We were a rich country with a very strong military and tremendous capability in so many ways. We’re not anymore.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-28/will-next-steps-iran-point-towards-new-big-three-or-world-war-iii
“Trump’s domestic critics face the terrifying prospect that he could emerge as the greatest peacemaker in modern history, as well as restorer of America’s economic might.”
Or will it be WW3? We shall see. Tic.Toc.Tic. Toc. Time is running out.
twocats on Sat, 28th Jul 2018 9:35 pm
the main reason there isn’t rioting in the streets is that rioting assumes a crowd that is at a fever pitch in unison. we are too disjointed most of the time to achieve that level of synchronicity.
2) on a singular level, a large portion of the global population, even if they could afford a gun, acquire it, train on it, would not actually be able to acquire a target worth killing long enough to make anything other than an attempt that would likely fail. the super-wealthy are not soft targets.
the myths above are too esoteric. the hard truth is that the wealthy today don’t just have money – they have super powers.
Cloggie on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:02 am
Poland is one of the countries that massively resists taking in fake refugees from Africa. Now Poland sees itseld forced to take in foreigners after all because of dramatically collapsing birth rates. Country of choice:
Philipines.
Reason:
Cultural proximity (Catholic rather than Muslim)
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/polen-will-fachkraefte-auf-den-philippinen-anwerben-a-1220658.html
Areas: healthcare, construction, IT.
By 2030, 20% of the required jobs will not be fullfilled.
Draconian measures to increase birthrates, like taxation or government propaganda, are apparently not considered.
Cloggie on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:21 am
“Outcast, you are not a black person born in a modern day American ghetto, if you were you would not speak like that. You are also not from a poor country, addicted to drugs, with a major impairment/disability I assume also. Your talking points fail to account for the environment in which person is raised, the particularly difficult circumstances some must overcome or the negative vicissitudes that life throws at people often”
The typical progressive attitude… these poor people are what they are because of the “environment”, boohoo.
onlooker fails to realize that these people ARE the ghetto. If you let them in your society, they are going to crash your society.
There is only one real reason why America is going to crash, and it aint stupid peak oil or, in the short term, climate change.
The one real reason is mass immigration from the third world. America will be the first formerly white country to return to the stone age. Reason: (((media))) brain poisoning with “racism” poison pills.
Even the #1 do-gooder and hardcore Christian Albert Schweitzer came at the end of his life to a conclusion that might shock the Christian hobbyists, who prefer to virtue-signal (from a safe distance):
A word in conclusion about the relations between the whites and blacks. What must be the general character of the intercourse between them? Am I to treat the black man as my equal or my inferior? I must show him that I can respect the dignity of human personality in every one, and this attitude in me he must be able to see for himself; but the essential thing is that there shall be a real feeling of brotherliness. How far this is to find complete expression in the sayings and doings of daily life must be settled by circumstances. The negro is a child, and with children nothing can be done without the use of authority. We must, therefore, so arrange the circumstances of daily life that my natural authority can find expression. With regard to the negroes, then, I have coined the formula: “I am your brother, it is true, but your elder brother.”
There is an even more controversial quote, that the guardians of his heritage emphatically denied that he ever said it:
I have given my life to try to alleviate the sufferings of Africa. There is something that all white men who have lived here like I must learn and know: that these individuals are a sub-race. They have neither the intellectual, mental, or emotional abilities to equate or to share equally with white men in any function of our civilization. I have given my life to try to bring them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must retain this status: the superior and they the inferior. For whenever a white man seeks to live among them as their equals they will either destroy him or devour him. And they will destroy all of his work. Let white men from anywhere in the world, who would come to Africa, remember that you must continually retain this status; you the master and they the inferior like children that you would help or teach. Never fraternize with them as equals. Never accept them as your social equals or they will devour you. They will destroy you.
Regardless if Schweitzer said the 2nd quote, it is true anyway.
Dooma on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:44 am
“John, this site is full of extremist anti-Americans.”
You are so right Davy. So I decided to scour the internet and find some articles on the subject of how N America is a misunderstood, peace-loving nation that avoids conflict with other countries at all costs. How war is a last resort and human casualties the MAIN priority.
Small problem though, I couldn’t find ANY articles (outside of America) that were pro American?? So maybe you could write a little piece on how much of a pacifist, misunderstood country the US is? Perhaps you could write a weekly post on your pacifist ideals? I for one would be an avid reader of how you would justify why your country is always being picked on.
You could talk about how you have such a HUGE military which is only for good and how it has never fired a shot in anger. I don’t know, that is just a suggestion.
An explanation such as this would be an excellent opportunity to balance the ‘scales of extremism.’ Show those rabid anti-Americans just how wrong they have it about the best darn country scattered around the planet.
Makati1 on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:54 am
Dooma, I laughed as I read your post. Is “John” another of Davy’s sock puppets? It seems there is no one here who agrees with his rabid defense of the indefensible. It must be frustrating to be a majority of one. LOL
Dooma on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:57 am
Clogggie, I have many Phillipino friends from my days as an aircraft mechanic.
I think that Poland is making a wise choice by accepting migrant workers from the Philippines. They are (mostly) polite, friendly, very hard-working folk.
To think of them running around and pinching the local woman on the arse seems about as likely as Trump closing his’ Twitter account.
Phillipino people have been sent around the world and have worked in the jobs that the locals will not touch. Unfortunately, they have also been the victims of rape by their ‘bosses’. Especially by pigs in the KSA.
IMHO, they are quite good at assimilating, and I hope that the Polish treat them well.
Dooma on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 12:59 am
Lol, how accurate Mak. I think that Captain America is getting quite delusional lately.
john kelley on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 2:43 am
Wow,posting on this site is like walking thru a minefield.You guys crack me up the way you talk to each other.I have learned most of what I know about the energy predicament from all of you .In the past month or so I have thanked you personally onlooker and you JuanP and MASTERMIND all for helping me to understand (you could bring up those posts,I don’t know how).My impression is that you guys actually like each other and you enjoy what you do here.The webmaster throws some raw meat into the arena and you guys tear it and each other up without mercy .That’s the way you teach about energy here and when you go out of your way to help me I am going to say thank you.I enjoy the inventive putdowns,the imaginative turn of phrase as you work at insulting each other, it adds comic relief and makes this serious matter a little easier to digest. Your teaching style fits me just right.
Makati1 on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 3:25 am
john, after five years of Davy’s bullshit, it is not entertaining, just annoying. He is the only one here who rabidly defends the dying empire.
Makati1 on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 3:33 am
Dooma, as you probably know, there are about 10 million Filipinos working all around the world, about 1/3rd of which are working in the Us. My mom had a Filipina nurse when she was hospitalized for a few weeks, years ago, and they became good friends. You can see why I chose the Philippines to retire to. Your comment: “They are (mostly) polite, friendly, very hard-working folk.” is spot on! AND, they speak English. LOL
deadly on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 4:38 am
You can’t believe anything about the American Dream, there ain’t one. Just like George Carlin quipped, it’s a big club and you ain’t in it. Get over it. Just go on out and do what you gotta do, birds have to swim, fish have to fly.
How things were in Ancient Rome
Recently, prisoners in several states have sued regarding the death penalty and the use of solitary confinement. The Trump Administration has eased some of the restrictions that were imposed by former President Obama and his Justice Department. All I can say is that the prisoners are lucky they did not live in the ancient world – there was no concept of cruel and unusual punishment.
The ancient Romans had no such punishment as life in prison. They could have considered housing, feeding, clothing, and giving medical care, at state expense for a person who broke the law, a total waste of public money. Rome, the capital, had over a million people in 100 C.E., and only one prison. When I visited its ruins years ago, I was surprised how diminutive it actually was. It was reserved only for important prisoners, such as leaders or kings that were defeated by the Roman army during war. The building would have been dark, damp, smelly, full of rats, and the convicts were chained. They might be tortured regularly and, after the emperor tired of displaying them in public during festivals, they were executed.
Many people are astonished that the Roman Empire, with a population at its height of over 35 million people, had many civil laws; such as those regarding property rights, sales of merchandise (slaves, for example, had a warranty), divorce, and policies regarding standard weights and measures. However, they had very few criminal laws, except those regarding patricide as well as incidents involving state security such as treason.
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Punishments for crimes – whether slave or free – were usually carried out in rapid succession. For minor offenses, this might include a severe beating, being flogged or branded on the forehead. More severe crimes might receive a punishment of putting out the eyes, ripping out the tongue, or cutting off ears. The death penalty included being buried alive, impaling and, of course, crucifixion.
The Romans did not hesitate to torture before putting someone to death. One such punishment was sewing a bound prisoner in a heavy sack with a snake, a rooster, a monkey and a dog, then throwing the sack into the river. One can only imagine the agony inside. This punishment was usually reserved for patricide, or a son who killed his father.
For this reason, almost all Roman homes had bars around the windows and literally barred their doors at night. The streets were unlit and no one ventured out after sundown. In the Bible, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan who helped the man beaten and robbed, while other passersby ignored him. The Romans understood this all too well, for the incident would not have been unusual.
Consider yourself lucky to live in a civilized world.
In Rome, you had to mind your p’s and q’s, pay attention, or you might end up in a sack with a dog, a rooster, a snake and a monkey.
A couple of years in a prison would have been out of the question.
That’s what the Good Samaritans do, the civilized people, not what the Romans would have done.
Davy on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 5:07 am
“john, after five years of Davy’s bullshit, it is not entertaining”
Good, Billy 3rd world, this means mission accomplished. You have been moderated and daily get your extremism neutered. That has to be uncomfortable. What a pussy can’t you take a challenge?
Davy on Sun, 29th Jul 2018 5:22 am
“Small problem though, I couldn’t find ANY articles (outside of America) that were pro American??”
Well, dumba, that was some nice Anglo hypocrisy and jealousy. You stupid people, mostly Canadian and Australian, can’t stand that you are irrelevant. The English on here are for the most part descent. I am all for American critical. The US contributes many of the problem in the world today but it is not the problem and others are nearly as bad. At least the US is full of self-reflection. No other nation as some many of its own people that are American critical. You can’t say that for China because it is dangerous to be so. Dumba, your brand of emotional anti-Americanism combine with intellectually lite topics of anti-Americanism is so easy to moderate. You people circle jerk then think you have done something smart. The people I admire are objective, balanced, and their comments educate. Antius is a prime example of a good board member. They can be self-critical. You extremist on the other hand are braggarts and narcissists. Neder, greggor, and billy 3rd world are the worst. These guys think their shit doesn’t stink for some reason. You, dumba, are a loud mouth kid that says stupid things. You give a coherent comment even less than anonymous the Asperger clown kid from Canada. All the kids on this site, mm, asperger, and you are an example of the future we have and it looks bleak from the standpoint of our human resources. Then we have boney juan that flipped out the other day because he got too serious about is little internet battle. He is definitely off the meds. That sums up the site scum that I try to clean up daily.