Society Blogs (898)

If you don't trust what the government tells you, and you don't trust what the "establishment" says, that could be viewed as healthy skepticism. But if you then go on to believe what some dubious character on YouTube tells you, solely because it goes against the establishment, not only might you be throwing the baby out with the bath water, you could well end up in the drain with them.

And that is Mr. Wilson's piece of wisdom for today.

May the Devil be with you. He's not such a bad old fella.

No, that isn’t a book by Jane Austen, but merely the subject of this blog.

I am not a Socialist, but I don’t consider that fact should deny me access to basic common decency, nor, indeed, common sense. There is quite a lot of anti-socialist sentiment here. The thought process seems to go something like this: If that is a socialist idea, it must, by definition, be bad. That is a stupid way to think. No ideological movement has a monopoly in good or bad ideas.

The vast majority of us live in societies. We have to implement socialist ideas for society to work. If you begrudge paying more into the system than you are getting back out of it, and you cannot bear the thought that someone else might be getting more out than they are putting in, then go and live in the middle of nowhere, on your own. Some people are all too ready to exploit the benefits of living in a society without having any willingness to contribute to it.

I used to spend quite a lot of time on philosophy forums before I found this place. Every now and then, someone would create a thread outlining their argument for the existence of God. It is amazing how many untrained bedroom philosophers think that they have managed to do what so many “great” thinkers throughout history have never been able to do; prove the existence of God. Invariably, they merely provide proof of their own stupidity.

Whether it be because God does not exist, or he arranged it that way, I think it can be safely said by now that the existence of God is unproveable. That is quite a remarkable thing when you think about it: I cannot think of anything as prevalent as God without their being a shred of proper evidence for its existence. Of course, attempting to prove his non-existence is equally futile.

Now, belief in God is one thing, but some of the whacky beliefs about God are quite another. And it isn’t just God, I include his arch enemy, Satan, in this. Satan is just a metaphorical thing to some people; just a personification of a sort of “spirit of evil” that is the cause of all the World’s ills. That’s not too bad, although it isn’t the most sensible way of looking at our misfortunes. But things become much too bizarre not to protest when assertions of Satan’s physical worldly presence are being scattered all over the place. Especially when people are being urged to take some course of action in response.

Satan seems to come in various forms. He might appear looking like a very keen body builder, but with red skin and a pair of horns. He very often seems to turn up with a goat’s head. That has always struck me as a strange choice of identity on the part of the evil one. I know a bad-tempered goat can be hazardous to be around, but it is hardly the most effective image for evoking fear and respect.

Anyway, the good news is that there is a way to avoid the clutches of Satan. The bad news -yes, good news and bad news seem to be inseparable on these occasions- is that we somehow have to believe something that only an advanced crackpot could have any hope of believing. I don’t know the details in the small print, but if we will only believe a set of absurd notions about God, we will be swept up beyond Satan’s grasp, and it will be on a day that is always very imminent but never actually arrives. We will be raptured, to use the jargon. It sounds quite nice until you hear the terms and conditions.

Prophesies seem to be very much in vogue lately. It is a disgrace that we were warned of the coming of Donald Trump hundreds of years ago, yet we still let it happen. The trouble with prophecies is that they never seem to come to light until after something you can loosely attach to them has happened.

It is thought mean spirited by some people to criticize religious beliefs, and I agree to some extent. When the criticism is unprovoked and done with the sole intention of offending, I think it deserves condemning. But when criticism is not unprovoked, and is a response to claptrap that others have been posting, I think it is justified.

I’ve learnt so much about life from the blogs here; stuff I really needed to know but was blissfully ignorant of. I have always been very keen on knowing the truth, even when it hasn’t been what I have wanted to hear. I think the most shocking thing that I have been made aware of here, is that the main stream news is systematically withholding the truth and downright lying to us. That really knocked me for six, I can tell you. As a lifelong devotee of the BBC, I have always had complete faith in their accuracy and impartiality, and to find out what is really going on with them is devastating. It stops you in your tracks and makes you wonder who on earth you can trust. It put me into quite a state of depression for a while, I don’t mind admitting it, and I think I would still be in total despair now were it not for one glimmer of hope; one shinning beacon in the darkness. Thank God for YouTube. Thank God there are public spirited people out there risking everything to get the facts to us. The gratitude we owe them for revealing the truth that the mainstream media is trying to keep from us is beyond calculation.

Looking back on it, I should have known something was going on; the signs were there but I guess I just didn’t want to see them. It’s so obvious now; the way the BBC never even mentioned any of what Satan was getting up to, and not a peep about the imminent coming of the Lord to sort him out. Why did I never question it? The way they only showed Obama coming across as intelligent, civilised and statesmanlike should have set the alarm bells ringing. All those apparent qualities were a sure sign of his depravity, yet I completely missed it. The BBC let me believe that Bill Gates was just a very successful business man who puts some of his billions into philanthropic projects. If that isn’t the hallmark of a sinister character, I don’t know what is. Why I didn’t spot it at the time, I cannot explain. Now, thanks to YouTube, I know he is a threat to mankind. I don’t know what he wants to do to us all, but I know it’s something really terrible.

It is an absolute disgrace how my government has misled me into believing that the best way to avoid becoming infected by the virus is to stay at home, in isolation. My own common sense told me I should be out, mixing with other people, but no, I just foolishly trusted what I was being told. The mainstream media were simply a compliant mouthpiece for establishment lies, when they should have been exposing them. It was so naive of me to believe that my government would never stoop to the lengths of shutting down most of the country in order to achieve their ambition of having a gigantic hole in the economy.

So, thanks, BBC, for stabbing me in the back after all the years of loyalty I have given you. Well I have done with you, and all the rest of the mainstream media. You can all go and suck a fat lollipop, as far as I’m concerned.

I'll forget your name in 10 seconds, but I will remember your face. That's a family trait I blogged about and try to change, especially since I'm in sales. I'm in trouble If I don't write your name down first. Dimples, overbite, big nose, bad cheeks... those 'features' are what makes you... you.
The game changer is everyone is wearing masks now. I cannot see your face so I look at other features to recognize you. Another trip to Walmart this morning and I realized, hair, boobs and butts have become the new means of recognition.

...tag.) sword of g'd./ red crayola

The teacher./ Tull, Jethro
....o5...) beyond nature / keaggy
Oracle / hedges
..slide rule / douglass
D.) .pointing UP / Reed....[ deut.9:11
Turn the page / Ruskin
........ 7. ) Listen, Learn, read On../ d. Purple
Lmtd...attn....span...
...theater....) ) 101. End of th wrld as we kno.../ rem.
....50...eYe am a scientist / guided by voice....
51..Until the end of the world / U2...} Mt.28.....

I've got into the habit of playing the card game solitaire on my computer lately, when I can't be bothered to do anything else. We always called that game patience where I come from, and I'm very reluctant to accept it as solitaire. It has occurred to me that, as life goes on around me everywhere, I'm playing solitaire. Now that would have never happened If you Americans hadn't changed the name.

I don't usually get involved with this sort of speculation. That's partly because I don't know enough about it, but mainly because I have always considered things like this to be a load of rubbish. But, still, it does make one think.

I wonder if -and I'm only throwing ideas around here- God sent this virus to show us what an incompetent idiot Donald Trump is. I think this is one to run past string.

"The only thing that stands between us and our bliss are the grievances we imagine we hold justly against what is/was. Nothing happens to us. It all happens for us. It's the exercise of our own magic in finding the pearl that redeems the muck that teaches us to be more and more what we truly are eternally."

So, shall we make a pearl together?

MAGAs, I do not believe you are bad, heartless people. Actually, the only thing I have against any of you is your continued support of trump, and I think I should tell you why trump so upsets me.

We all go through traumas in life, and I've had my share. I'm a survivor of long term abuse (emotional and physical/s*xual) by a p*dophile when I was just a little kid. It was my grand uncle and he got away with it using psychological tactics that terrorize a child more and more so they will not tell what's going on. I know how these abusers work and trump is doing to the whole country what my grand uncle did to me and my little sister--slowly turning up the abuse. It scares me on a primal level. I've never felt so vulnerable and incapable of defending myself and my country and those I love since I was that 5 year old.

It naturally makes me very angry. I want to defend myself and I can't because I must abide by the very law that he tramples in utter defiance and lawlessness every day. And we know the man is a rapist and that he has raped little girls and adult women. It sets me off and it's not his politics. It's the abuse. The phucker is an abuser and you people who support him must be either all rapists and abusers -- or you are clueless to what he is doing because you have been lucky enough to have never seen this behavior before--so you don't recognize it.

Either that, or you've all seen it so much that there's something wrong with your minds: You know what he's doing and you approve or just think it's normal--the way things are, natural. Or maybe you're indoctrinated politically or so full of rage/hate convoluting your perceptions that you can't help but identify with him and his constant defiant tantrums.

Whatever you think gives you just cause to continue supporting him, my fear is that your support marks you all as sociopaths who likely use his bombastic intimidation and lawlessness in your own relationships--or maybe you feel someone is doing all that to you--and supporting trump is how you get even with the world. Whatever it is, surely there must be a way to address your grievances without destroying the whole world for whatever it is that has made you so angry that you refuse to see all the suffering he is causing and simply say "Enough".

I may look at comments but I'm unlikely to participate much. This venue is toxic. With this blog, I hope to make it a little less so. Y'all think and feel before you reply, if so inclined. I am ready for a meeting of the minds/hearts. I've shown you mine. Is there anything loving/constructive in any of you? Show us your jamb.

Obviously, government officials, movie stars and public figures live by different standards when it comes to a stay-at-home order. Mayor Becky Ames of Beaumont, Texas gets caught when a photo of her surfaces at a closed nail salon. She's issued an apology:
"As an elected official I am held to a higher standard, I regret my action that day. I am honestly sorry and I pray that you will forgive me."
According to the district attorney: “We are reviewing to determine if there was a violation."

I wager they will wash it away.

You say there are more?