[Subjectivist]

I would say leftist is the preferred model by those pulling the strings globally, it allows the rich more power and control then the right versions (IMO the right is allowed in the US because of innovation it produces). The political system is an influence but I don't think it is the root of the matter. The money system is the root of the matter... but then again this came about as a result of human nature so it's kind of like good luck trying to fix this feature lol.

Yeah it sounds wonderful in the abstract and the sales pitch, but the reality never even resembles what is promised. Cuba after the "revolution" Hungary in 1956 or Nicaruagua in the 1980's each were a case where the average citizens fled when they were given the chance. Even today North Koreans still occasionally "defect" to the south.

[ralfy]

The global economy is dependent on increasing sales of goods and services to growing consumer markets, and coupled with financial speculation backed by the same.

[Newfie]

Here’s how deeply we don't give a hoot about the poor or disenfranchised or those who can not serve us.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You'll go down in history"

So think about that story.

Rudolph had a physical abnormality, for which he was shunned. He was “poor” in the sense that he was excluded from the general society. The Big Mahof knew about Rudolph, as evidenced in that he knew how to tap him when it got foggy. But he had not intervened previously, he didn't give a whit about poor Ruddy.

Yet when it got nasty they went to Rudy. “Do this job for us and we will let you into the social circle.”

Ruddy could have told them to sod off but he played along and became part of the “good guys gang.”

And there you have it, from childhood we are acculturated to using those less fortunate and different for our own needs and ignoring those poor souls who are never called upon.

We are genetically programmed to be what we are; clever critters who need to succeed within the tribe in order to successfully propagate. The telling of the story simply normalizes this behavior.

It is in our basic nature. Which is neither good or bad, nature has no morality.

Which means what ever morality you assign is an arbitrary construct.

That there are some common rules, don’t kill someone from your own tribe, simply means that these rules generally help the tribe succeed.

That things are not working well in our current situation is because we have grow far beyond historical levels and have innovated wildly. So our species is in uncharted territory. We are attempting to use skill sets adapted for small hunter gather the tribes in a vastly larger industrial/technological setting.

We are bring sticks and stones to a high tech gun fight.

[dissident]

Nicaragua is a really poor example. Placing it in the same category as the lunatic kingdom of North Korea is just detached from any reality. Ortega's Sandinista's were leftists. I know, a bad word. In spite of all the smear, Ortega is the one who is still around after winning a few elections. Meanwhile the Contra terrorists had to self-isolate in an enclave because they are reviled. The problem with applying the whole communism vs. freedom story to Latin America is that it is total BS. If you have fascist dictatorships like the one in Cuba and many other Latin American countries, you can expect a backlash and revolutionary movements. That is a universal feature and applies to Iran as well.

There is a lot of phony concern for the starving poor once the lickspittles are removed from power as in Venezuela. All sorts of inane fiction is concocted about how great life was there before Chavez. And how supposedly the criminals in Venezuela are all the sole responsibility of the leaders and not of foreign meddlers like the USA. The USA was engaging the Soviet criminal underclass before the collapse of the USSR. It has been using the same dirty tricks to regime change non-compliant countries in its "back yard". Recall that the USA was the prime sponsor and supporter of all those death squad juntas in Latin America basically from before WWII. Any democratic leftist movement such as those tolerated in Europe was smeared as communist and used as a pretext for mass murder. This is especially true in Argentina. There were no communists in Argentina but that did not stop the mass repressions.

Americans screwed up democracy in Latin America (it came around in spite of US meddling and not because of it) and Iran and still have the gall to wave their sanctimonious hypocrite fingers in everyone's faces while faking moral authority. Get stuffed.

[Subjectivist]

Here’s how deeply we don't give a hoot about the poor or disenfranchised or those who can not serve us.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You'll go down in history"

So think about that story.

Rudolph had a physical abnormality, for which he was shunned. He was “poor” in the sense that he was excluded from the general society. The Big Mahof knew about Rudolph, as evidenced in that he knew how to tap him when it got foggy. But he had not intervened previously, he didn't give a whit about poor Ruddy.

Yet when it got nasty they went to Rudy. “Do this job for us and we will let you into the social circle.”

Ruddy could have told them to sod off but he played along and became part of the “good guys gang.”

And there you have it, from childhood we are acculturated to using those less fortunate and different for our own needs and ignoring those poor souls who are never called upon.

We are genetically programmed to be what we are; clever critters who need to succeed within the tribe in order to successfully propagate. The telling of the story simply normalizes this behavior.

It is in our basic nature. Which is neither good or bad, nature has no morality.

Which means what ever morality you assign is an arbitrary construct.

That there are some common rules, don’t kill someone from your own tribe, simply means that these rules generally help the tribe succeed.

That things are not working well in our current situation is because we have grow far beyond historical levels and have innovated wildly. So our species is in uncharted territory. We are attempting to use skill sets adapted for small hunter gather the tribes in a vastly larger industrial/technological setting.

We are bring sticks and stones to a high tech gun fight.

It is funny you bring this up, when I was six and a true believer in Santa I was thinking about how I identified with Rudolf. When I realized how badly Sanra treated him until he needed a favor I became very upset and told my mother she shouldn't trust Santa. He only helps people to make them feel like they owe him something.

[JuanP]

Here’s how deeply we don't give a hoot about the poor or disenfranchised or those who can not serve us.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You'll go down in history"

So think about that story.

Rudolph had a physical abnormality, for which he was shunned. He was “poor” in the sense that he was excluded from the general society. The Big Mahof knew about Rudolph, as evidenced in that he knew how to tap him when it got foggy. But he had not intervened previously, he didn't give a whit about poor Ruddy.

Yet when it got nasty they went to Rudy. “Do this job for us and we will let you into the social circle.”

Ruddy could have told them to sod off but he played along and became part of the “good guys gang.”

And there you have it, from childhood we are acculturated to using those less fortunate and different for our own needs and ignoring those poor souls who are never called upon.

We are genetically programmed to be what we are; clever critters who need to succeed within the tribe in order to successfully propagate. The telling of the story simply normalizes this behavior.

It is in our basic nature. Which is neither good or bad, nature has no morality.

Which means what ever morality you assign is an arbitrary construct.

That there are some common rules, don’t kill someone from your own tribe, simply means that these rules generally help the tribe succeed.

That things are not working well in our current situation is because we have grow far beyond historical levels and have innovated wildly. So our species is in uncharted territory. We are attempting to use skill sets adapted for small hunter gather the tribes in a vastly larger industrial/technological setting.

We are bring sticks and stones to a high tech gun fight.

It is funny you bring this up, when I was six and a true believer in Santa I was thinking about how I identified with Rudolf. When I realized how badly Sanra treated him until he needed a favor I became very upset and told my mother she shouldn't trust Santa. He only helps people to make them feel like they owe him something.

ROFLMFAO! Thanks for the best laugh of the day. That is a wonderful anecdote!

[Newfie]

I felt kind of out n a limb with that Rudolf rant, that it might be seen as attacking an American icon. I am relieved to hear the above comments.

[careinke]

Here’s how deeply we don't give a hoot about the poor or disenfranchised or those who can not serve us.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games
Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You'll go down in history"

So think about that story.

Rudolph had a physical abnormality, for which he was shunned. He was “poor” in the sense that he was excluded from the general society. The Big Mahof knew about Rudolph, as evidenced in that he knew how to tap him when it got foggy. But he had not intervened previously, he didn't give a whit about poor Ruddy.

Yet when it got nasty they went to Rudy. “Do this job for us and we will let you into the social circle.”

Ruddy could have told them to sod off but he played along and became part of the “good guys gang.”

And there you have it, from childhood we are acculturated to using those less fortunate and different for our own needs and ignoring those poor souls who are never called upon.

We are genetically programmed to be what we are; clever critters who need to succeed within the tribe in order to successfully propagate. The telling of the story simply normalizes this behavior.

It is in our basic nature. Which is neither good or bad, nature has no morality.

Which means what ever morality you assign is an arbitrary construct.

That there are some common rules, don’t kill someone from your own tribe, simply means that these rules generally help the tribe succeed.

That things are not working well in our current situation is because we have grow far beyond historical levels and have innovated wildly. So our species is in uncharted territory. We are attempting to use skill sets adapted for small hunter gather the tribes in a vastly larger industrial/technological setting.

We are bring sticks and stones to a high tech gun fight.

I wish this board had a LIKE button.
+1