...who thinks the internet has insane political implications, such as "we don't have to continue to live this fantasy of we are all separate entities who must compete and shouldn't work together, because we can connect and work out our differences with words like mature people", or "we don't need representatives in democracy anymore because we can use the internet to put everything to a vote very easily and quickly"... or "people are reading and writing a lot more so politicians should instead of debating in television settings where there are tons of distractions and the useless beauty competition, actually spell out and defend their ideas in a public space..."?
Well regardless of the Internet or not, we are all competing separate entities, it's just the fact that the "government" has its hand in what should be normal and healthy competition. The "government" relies on coercion to keep this machine, that although imploding rapidly, running in order to pay for special interests and what not. I like the idea of the +1 like for an Internet-based voting system, but I think there would be some implications like people hacking the system, rigged totals and stuff of that nature. I do think this is the right way to go, though.
smoking is still healthier than fascism. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6PeOMCRzh0]Smoking is still healthier than fascism! - YouTube[/ame]
I just came in here to say fuck Democracy. So if me, you and laylow vote for a ban on you from this website, and me and laylow vote yes while you vote no, do you think its okay for your ban because it was democratic?
In where? English lesson: *Laylow, You, and Me. (It's an issue of respect.) Better question (I'd like this to be put this to a vote): Do you really think i'd care? (Even better question: Do you think anyone would care?) As to your silly question... "Do you think its ok?" Well you'd have to put it to a vote open to everyone in the community, make sure everyone knew what and when the vote was, and try and get as many people to vote as possible. Just to get an accurate depiction of what everyone feels would be best. Fair's fair...
So whatever the majority enact becomes moral just by the act of voting? Murder, theft, rape, etc.? All that is ok as long the majority agree?
That is a silly question indeed, so i'll give you a silly answer: yes. Morality is a human concept, and so is the easter bunny, so who could decide what is moral or what is easter bunny besides humans? Now. A better question: Are you actually that alienated from your species to think that that would ever happen?
You are assuming the majority will always vote on the basis of what they believe to be moral. That isn't what happens. The majority will vote for what benefits them at the expense of the minority. One example is taxing the rich unfairly with a progressive income tax. Nothing can be done about that because the rich are a small percentage of the voting population, so what we have is an immoral progressive tax system. Democracy is just tyranny of the majority. It's happening now. The US government steals and murders, with the majority consent.
And capitalism is a tyranny of the wealthy (in the real world.) What we need is an informed and empowered majority. Way less then half the population actually voted, so that's actually not a true statement. Most of those who did vote were either ignorant (Republicunts) or compromised by the politics of fear and guilt (Demoristicrats).
Capitalism is the free exchange of goods between people. To say it's tyranny of the wealthy doesn't even make sense. Capitalism is a series of constant mutually beneficial exchanges. I'm not talking about just people who voted. Many don't vote but still give a passive acceptance of the state and it's actions. If the majority were truly anti war, for example, there would be no more wars. There always exists majority consent, whether it be active or passive. When people no longer consent the state's power vanishes.
I want to live in theoretical land as well some day. Passive acceptance or militant indifference? What if we fixed the voting system, nixed the electoral college, and dissolved the two-party system? Maybe people don't vote because they only see two people on the t.v. screen who aren't talking about the issues at all, and are instead only involved in personal attacks and pandering to their party lines. To me it's inexcusable, but there seems to be a general myopia for one reason or another. If we elected better leaders i do think things would change. The state is a tool, it could (in theory) be used for good things. Maybe someday we can use it to put these corrupt bankers behind bars... Certainly it is not perfect, demonizing seems childish though, it is not an inherently negative concept, see peaceful states. When people stop viewing it as the flag, political and religious buildings, and start viewing it as the people and Earth right around them this would be obvious.
Alright, I just want to ask you some things. I'm not trying to be hostile, I just want to learn your perspective. You've spoken out against capitalism, saying it leads to such things like tyranny of the wealthy. But what is the solution to capitalism? Solution to corporate greed? Any particular economic theory that you support? Any schools of thought that you like? There's a few schools of thought that I know of that specifically critique capitalism. I'm just curious of different perspectives. I like to expand my knowledge as much as the next guy.
Actually what Laylow said is true. If you buy something for $200, you value it for more than $200. And the person selling it to you values it for less than $200. Both benefit; niether person's hand is forced. If you sell (and provide that benefit) to millions of people, you're compensated for each transaction, and thereby very wealthy. But I guess thats just evil, right?
That nauseating feeling of an empty stomach is wanting you to tell me who's free not to buy food? Who's free of the thirst of water? Shall we keep playing this game while these are still not a given in a human life? Are you going to argue that hands aren't forced here? If you don't think it's a game then tell me what it is. And sugar coat it all you want, but not everything that is bought and sold provides a benefit. A good example is weapons. It's not just governments playing this game either, so don't make it a state vs. no state issue. If you want to know whether its evil or not ask yourself. Both dealer and buyer may benefit in voluntary exchange, but what about bystanders caught in the crossfire when these toys are put to play? So we're anti war, whoopty doo, its obviously a waste, but what do we do about it besides briefly acknowledge it then pretend its not happening and continue the (mostly) free market game? This equation i crave to cut myself out of, my time and effort spent, the same time and effort spent to make such nightmares real. "I open up my wallet and its full of blood"= Godspeed You Black Emporer. I'm as much to blame as anyone else and I accept that. I have no system we can replace the current one with(corporatism, crony capitalism what have you). At least not a totalitarian one. It's a local system I implement called treat your neighbor how you'd want to be treated were you in his/her position to the best of your ability. Create smiles create laughter. Only i no longer know my neighbors or what i'd want were i them, so where to put the unused energy? If we're on a mission to make the world a better place (which i see no other point of this subsection otherwise, it is a marijuana forum, none of us will ever be politicians so why should we argue about such grandiose things, and if you read between the lines its what were all trying to get at) why not pick one issue that we all agree is fucked beyond belief and collaborate our efforts to stop it. There are plenty of ways to feel bummed, i don't need to come here to get that. How about we come up with a real solution besides posts to divide the bummers... There are intelligent minds here. How about a peace manifesto? End the war on terror (or war of terror) or were firing all your asses. Someone comes up with a draft we pass it around, edit it, and then use the web to try and get it signed by the masses and send it to the crooks. Something along the lines of: stop using our money to fund this thing you call a war and making us the enemies of the world, or were cutting the chord. As a citizen that you claim to protect, I am telling you that I am not afraid of Muslim extremists, so stop acting like you are doing me a favor, and stop killing peoples' families with the money i just gave you for welfare. Signed we the fucking people. I'm tired of arguing about whether the chicken or the egg came first. I'm tired of reading about all of this evil that no one is ever going to do anything about but say "hey look at how bad these guys got it all mixed up, listen to me, let me make the rules, let me tell you what its all about." Why should we sit around and wait for some political messiah to save us... Alright goodnight I'm going to sleep. I'll check out you fuckers' criticisms tommorrow. "It's just a ride." - Bill Hicks