Disparities

[thenark]

I am sick of people, and our lousy society. If our society and way of life were able to be personified, they would be so corpulent and decadent that it wouldnt not be able to move under its own power, it would need someone to wheel it around on a bed. If our society was a horse, we'd have to shoot it. Now people can call me a communist, or a coward, or ungrateful, but capatalist and market democracies are just as much dictatorships as the former Iraqi government, or the leaders of communist. And the most terrible part about it is that we cant see that its a dictatorship, we honestly believe that our governments are doing things in our best interests, but our governments do nothing. Capitalist and market "democracies" and just a name for what the ruling class, or the wealthy want to do today. Albiet, our dictatorship doesnt persecute us or torture us, not on an organized scale, but they dont need to. We have television and movies and alot of other things which tell us what we have to be in order to fit in. And if you think I'm wrong about that, think back to your years at elementary school, if you were different from the percieved norm, you were harassed and beaten, and if you saw anyone out of the percieved norm, you went out of your way to make them feel like their life was worth next to nothing. If You Were Too Fat, Or too smart, or too dumb, or too tall, or not wealthy enough, or different in any way from the rest of the children, they would ride your ass into the ground.

I dont think anyone gets made fun of for being overweight in sub-saharan Africa.

And third world countries, dictatorships if you will in africa, asia, and south america. Their biggest problem is that their governments are so corrupt, that very little money ever makes it to social programs to improve health, or educate, or find clean sources of water and food. And those lucky few who embezzle the country dry, why they are doing little more than living the american dream, starting out as a farmboy in rural iraq, or mozambique, or Sierra Leone. And eventually having more money, and palaces, and cars and toys than anyone could ever want. These people all got their ideas for needing wealth from north america. Before you blame Iraq or Zaire or Yemen, take a look at yourselves, the embezzlers of foreign treasuries are just trying to be more like us.

If people had enough to eat, I dont think they would feel the need to blow themselves up on an Israeli bus. If people had adequate healthcare, they wouldn no longer feel the need to fly an airplane into a building. If people had a source of clean water, and maybe a little understanding, they wouldnt feel the need to build weapons of mass destruction.

I could be wrong of course, but I'll decide that after I see Tom Cruise mastermind the bombing of the whitehouse, or a widespread biological attack. How many rich people have you seen kill themselves and others in an attempt to be heard?

[karasz]

i dont know whether to clap at that or cry...

<clap><clap><clap><clap><clap><clap><clap><clap><clap>

i dont cry... ever...

well written nark...

[ben-e]

ever think about being a writer of some political colmn in a big national paper because you could do it and do it well.

[Nirvana13666]

You are absolutely right Nark. I really think you put the whole picture into the best words available. America labels people as terrorists and never even bothers to look passed that. Many people perform attacks out of pure hate but many others feel like there is no way out. What would you do if you saw there was nothing you could do to make your life better? What if you were born without freedom and opportunity? I’d feel really damn angry and wanna reek havoc on the world.

[bumcheekcity]

Nark. You expressed my views and even though people have already said so. You are right.

Please dont make me admit youre right again... I'm really not good at it.

[thenark]

Funny that people should find this well written or me being right, I jsut failed a paper that I wrote along the same lines.

[Shih]

It should be fun to see how much flak I take for this. I gotta disagree with some of your points Nark. Jefferson once said "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." He was right sitting there blaming the goverment is a cop out it always comes down to individuals and the choices they make.

People may be influenced by the media but they aren't controlled by it. The mass media does what they do for money. They make that money by showing people what they want to see. It's not the govement that determines your viewing preferences, is it?

I seem to remember being in elementary school spending most of my time protecting my friends from bullies. Maybe you should look at the money America spends on relief efforts worldwide and see we really do a lot of good for the world in general. And no I'm not putting anything specific down because I can't remember them and don't want to put out false info. Besides you're right about kids taking hell in elementary school, but this isn't the only country where that happens. Get any group of kids together and someone's going to take some hell.

Now the point of this isn't too say America is perfect by any means. I'm a military brat from a five generation military family, and have seen some fucked up things but that isn't the whole of it. Just look at both sides.

[Jimsween]

At 4/27/03 10:23 PM, thenark wrote: Before you blame Iraq or Zaire or Yemen

Zaire doesnt exist anymore, it is now called the DRC. They had a civil war and the communists took over.

[TheShrike]

Well..

Well said... Don't know if I have anything to add.

*claps*

[Lord-Miroku-Sama]

Well said, Man that's a long post.

[bandy82]

Wtf i mean really what kind of stick is stuck up this guys ass. dude yea the type of guy who takes life way to seriously u need to jus chill and let people do their thing without have to throw your critical 2 cents in..and i cant believe you guys thought that this guys shit is even worth reading let alone gettin compliments.

[bandy82]

but after rereading some of it you do make a couple good points but seriously you worry about other peoples shit way too much

[JMHX]

Two points:

1. Bandy is a moron. OMG U NEED TO NOT TAKE TEH LIFE SO SERIOUZ FOR CARING ABOUT EVERYTING! OMG! U R TEH LOSERNESS! Shut up, Bandy.

2. Very, very well written, Nark. I have nothing I could add that could make this any better. You have finally hit on a perfect gem.

*applaud*

[ben-e]

ok so you are the type who rides the fence post. you have to different opinions. first you say its poor then you say oh yah it is alright you seem to me like the 14 year old weed smoking dumbasses that thinks he knows what he is talking about. man get realy LIFE ISNT PERFECT. i am sorry to burst your little bubble but your in a real world there ARE things wrong and they DO need to be fixed. thenark was comenting on a few of these and if you are just to ignorant to see his points through that haze of smoke and ÿhallucinations then i think ur best off in general with all the other "pot heads"

[JMHX]

That was loco stuff right there.

[Jimsween]

Shutup swager, we all know that your thenark.

[Jonas]

At 4/30/03 10:19 PM, swager wrote: thenark was comenting on a few of these and if you are just to ignorant to see his points through that haze of smoke and &yuml;hallucinations then i think ur best off in general with all the other "pot heads"

You were okay, until you messed with marijuanaclock...
That's just mean...

[thenark]

I am not swager, as god is my witness I am not. And for christs sake jimsween, I get one good topic and you still have to dump on it.

[Taxman2A]

Hold on a minute here. Almost everyone is patting thenark on the back without any criticism whatsoever? what?! On the Politics Forum?!!

*Shakes head in disgust*
What are we coming to here?

thenark- I don't think your post is entirely bad, and you do make some good points, but I can't agree with everything here... let's sort some stuff out.

At 4/27/03 10:23 PM, thenark wrote:

Now people can call me a communist, or a coward, or ungrateful, but capatalist and market democracies are just as much dictatorships as the former Iraqi government, or the leaders of communist.

I beg to differ. Yes, it is true that there is somewhat of an oligarchy in our society where the rich have greater impact than the poor, but let me share you an anecdote about life in Iraq.

While none of us here have ever been to Iraq, just three weeks ago I had an encounter with a man I will never forget. I was at a gas station, filled my tank, and went to go pay the cashier. I was wearing a shirt that said "USMC" on it, and the cashier, a man of middle eastern descent asked me if I was a Marine. I told him I was. He thanked me for "what we were doing in his country", and I told him to not mention it, it was our job. The store was empty except for the two of us, and as I took my change to leave, he stopped me- and said "I first came to the US years ago. When I was young my father was told he must enter the Republican Guard. He hated Saddam Hussein, so he refused to enlist. The next week two men came to the door, and shot my father in the head. Then they gave my mother with a bill for the cost of the bullet."

I don't believe that George W. Bush is that much of an improvement over Clinton (whom I didn't like either), and as a matter of fact, read some of my older posts on the board, and you will see that at first I was completely against the war in Iraq. That converstion changed my opinion completely.

Don't compare our society to a dictatorship- it simply is not the same. Yes, rich people have more rights and power over the poor, but it is not ultimate power. Things here are not perfect, but in this society we do have the power to change them. In a true dictatorship the only way to change things is by killing those in charge.

[Shih]

Hear, Hear Taxman.

*applause*

[bumcheekcity]

Is all anyones going to do on this topic applause?

[Slizor]

People may be influenced by the media but they aren't controlled by it. The mass media does what they do for money. They make that money by showing people what they want to see. It's not the govement that determines your viewing preferences, is it?

The government and Capitalists (who own the mass media) are one and the same.

I seem to remember being in elementary school spending most of my time protecting my friends from bullies. Maybe you should look at the money America spends on relief efforts worldwide and see we really do a lot of good for the world in general.

Relatively you spend a hell of a lot less than most developed countries. And "relief" is also defined in some strange terms *cough Israeli gunships *cough*.

TaxMan: A dictatorship is not defined by its methods. It is a type of Government where the majority of people don't have power over the descision-making...or maker. Just because people don't get shot because they don't join the army doesn't change the way the government works.

[JMHX]

Where the hell is this topic going, anyway?

[Shih]

Hell in a handbasket?

[JMHX]

At 5/5/03 10:59 AM, Shih wrote: Hell in a handbasket?

You are skilled in capturing the essence of words, but....touch!

Damn, it doesn't work. The accented 'e' used to be ALT+0233.

[Shih]

At 5/5/03 11:04 AM, JudgeMeHarshX wrote:

At 5/5/03 10:59 AM, Shih wrote: Hell in a handbasket?

You are skilled in capturing the essence of words, but....touch!

Damn, it doesn't work. The accented 'e' used to be ALT+0233.

I try Judge.