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Artful Dodger: That sounds like a loaded question. But I do find it convincing, after impartial & diligent scrutiny....so I will now incorporate it into my overall argument. lol
The Usurper:I knew a potato farmer named Richard. Well I only knew about him. He was a ruthless boss and controled every aspect of the lives of those that worked for me.
He shipped his potato crop all over the world. And thus the name for a ruthless leader began. The ships were known as Dick's Tater Ships. After a while, the words blended together. Today, we call all ruthless leaders, after Richard the potato farming giant.
Once the people have lost both psychological & material means of self-defense, open dictatorship becomes possible. And that is the ultimate goal: a one-world dictatorship, under whatever name you care to give it. With technology this has suddenly become a real possibility.
The Usurper:I worked at a job where they violated our right to bare arms. I complained and even filed a lawsuit, but the judge said the firm I worked for had a right to a dress code. So I had to wear the long sleeve shirts as part of my uniform.
Bernice: According to our political philosophy, rights are God-given and cannot be abridged, except in individual cases where some have trampled the rights of others, i.e., through criminal acts.
I'm not familiar with the details of the Port Arthur Massacre so have no opinion whether it constitutes an example of the Problem-Reaction-Solution model.
But your post makes my point in the following way: the "thank god that we do not have the right to bear arms," is an example of how the people can be persuaded to demand the removal of fundamental rights, for security's sake. This can apply not only to the bearing of arms, but of other rights also.
1. We have the right to peaceful assembly and to redress grievances. But if instigators to violence are planted in a peaceful demonstration, the result is a crackdown on all public protests, their cordoning off into "free speech zones," etc. And the public in general may accept this because, after all, we can't have violence in our streets.
2. We have the right to keep & bear arms. But enough seemingly random violence in our cities & schools, etc., and pretty soon the people themselves (enough to make a difference) are crying for the removal of this basic right...an armed citizenry to withstand tyranny.
3. The Oklahoma City bombing is a good specific example. What was one major result from it? That was Clinton's Anti-Terrorism Bill, which removed some of our basic freedoms and eased restrictions on the military's involvement in domestic law enforcement.
4. The War on Drugs has been used to curtail our freedoms in many & various ways. This fits the model when it is realized that the CIA has been heavily involved in smuggling drugs into our country.
5. 9/11 is a textbook example. The process runs thus: a) create the Problem b) which forces a Reaction among the people c) then provide the Solution.
And again, it is in seeing Who Benefits from these insidious processes that we recognize the perpetrators. As a general rule, the result of the process is, less rights for the people, more power for the government....i.e., the centralization of authority.
The Problem-Reaction-Solution model postulates that we DO have unscrupulous government actors, even in Western democracies, who would like to reduce our freedoms and, if possible, move us into a dictatorship where their needs would be met at the expense of liberty for the people.
The best method for this, however, would be through subterfuge...i.e., get the people to choose less freedom in exchange for more security. This is where Problem-Reaction-Solution comes in as an effective means.
In a fullblown dictatorship, Problem-Reaction-Solution is strictly unnecessary. The government just muscles the people and does what it wants. Communist Russia & Nazi Germany are two good examples from opposite political poles....where each merges into its opposite on the circular political spectrum.
But for Western democracies, because they have overcome the darker forms of tyranny in the past, and where Freedom is ingrained among the people as a Birthright, brute force is not a sufficient means for unscrupulous government actors to impose their will, at least not until or unless the power residing in the people is dramatically reduced.
Thus, we have Problem-Reaction-Solution as an effective tool of manipulation.
Asunto: Re: "isn't freedom to speak our minds a great thing?"
Artful Dodger: It really is the most wonderful thing. Long live the Internet and long live the 1st Amendment! :o)
Good post, Art. I said before and I repeat....you've not used a heavy Moderator's hand, even as passionate as you are on certain topics....but restraint rather has been your hallmark. I commend you for this.
Here's the deal on deleting posts. I've deleted one (that I remember) and that person was contacted. According to the BK guidelines, a person should be contacted. I'm going to try to clear this up.
In the meantime, cooler head will prevail. The politics board can be attract some pretty heated exchanges. Don't I know. So when that happens, people need to go to their corners and take deep breaths. Then rejoin the fray. In the end, it's all for fun. We're not going to change the world. If we're lucky, we might change a mind or two and an issue here or there, but even if we don't, isn't freedom to speak our minds a great thing? ;)
Bernice: I had a post diappear once from here a few days or a week ago. I don't think Art had a hand in that one either. Some Silent Monitor decided it was out-of-bounds, I am supposing....
Asunto: Re:What might one call someone who habitually snipes at the posts of others without contributing much to any conversation in particular? :o)
anastasia: I think a burlap bag is what was available in those days. Also it could be tied quickly and still give the snipe wiggle room. The most important point, as I recall, was standing perfectly still and waiting....
anastasia: What is so confusing to me about it? Go back to my previous post. You might notice two words there that I, for some reason, wrote in bold. Now begin to ask yourself: "Why did he write them in bold?" and you may find the answer.
Pedro Martínez: what is so confusing about that statement to you? man=humans the earth is always refered to in a female term...it has also been called Gaia,after the Greek supreme goddess of Earth.... I don't make this stuff up,lol....earth and moon are seen as female...the moon and it's "cycles" (oiy..sorry to go THERE,lol) the sun is male...big burrly ball of light in the sky...
Artful Dodger: we do the same thing....all kitchen waste (apart from onion family) goes back into the ground. All else is sorted and put into appropriate bins for collection. Normal rubbish (if there is such a thing) gets collected once a week and all recycled rubbish gets collected every fortnight.
We have a funny little man in our area that walks the main road everyday picking up all tins bottles etc and takes it in his plastic bag with him....I always felt sorry for him but then realized that he was worth a lot of money as he took all the stuff home and onsold it LOL....also he get plenty of exercise as well hahahaha
Czuch: I compost all the time and recycle everything. Lots of people do. And there are organizations that adopt parts of our highways and keep them clean. Plus many people take great care of the land, which they should. We are stewards of what we have an we ought to take good care of the land for ourselves and future generations. ;) And BTW, I'm not a greener nor an environmentalist
Asunto: Re:What might one call someone who habitually snipes at the posts of others without contributing much to any conversation in particular? :o)
The Usurper: It's called sniping. When a guy does it, you call it a snipe from a sniper. When a lady does it, it's a snipe from a snipette. There's a whole branch of study called "Snipology" where people study the sniping tactics of people. Also, there's snipe hunting, which has nothing to do with sniping as a snipe is also an animal that only comes out at night and snipe hunting is popular in different parts of the world.
Bernice: I always love your posts. But really, those "cutting remarks" aren't meant to be so...but to point to the path of knowledge & the way out of ignorance. ;o)
Asunto: Re: "It's early days yet for us as a race."
(V): As usual, you do not surprise me with your intuitive grasp of things, but it is always a pleasure to read.
I think the great "heresy" that wove its way into Christianity is the idea of "separateness," that God is external from his Creation acting upon dead matter, or that fundamentally the Universe(s) is not one great organism both spiritual & material existing in many gradations.
Not that only Christianity has suffered from this delusion, but we all "see through a glass darkly," in these relatively early stages.
Another problem with Christianity as a religious movement, I think, is it's separation from the essential anti-Imperialistic message of Christ & the early Church, to the Imperialism of Rome. In the 4th century Rome co-opted the Church and Christians began to think in a Roman legal framework, and to systematically eliminate (through Church Councils) all the finer points & interpretations that were a part of the vast Christian heritage during its first 3 centuries. Thus began the Dark Ages, where knowledge becomes an evil-in-itself because of the light it sheds on individual minds....a very bad thing for those whose goal is to control you.
But I can't do it all for you. If you have no real interest in this topic outside a Politics board on BK, and no source of political information outside of Fox news and related media, there's not much I or anyone else can do to enlighten you.
"GERRY": In certain respects this world is a projection of the human race's mindset. In certain respects this is a learning ground to as stated in gospel 'create the Kingdom of God' while on earth.
As said in the Gospel of Thomas by Jesus. "Heaven is in us and around us."
The Usurper: Symbolism is a very important part of scripture, It is said that there are four levels of interpretation regarding Jewish scriptural writing. There is also a saying that to save the world you have to save one person only.... yourself.
Just the start of Genesis has several meanings, including one that goes with the idea of the God inside and those who have lived in darkness. The cry "Let there be light"
As for the spirit...... some would say that is present and visible everywhere if you have the ability to see it. It's not just in us but exists in it's holy form everywhere. And seemingly.... as some know... especially visible around those in need of extra support.
The only problem I have today with certain Christians is their seemingly trust in the word of others without using their mind and soul to reflect and feel the word of God. As certain philo's would say they have given up their ability to be like God aka an unmoved mover and in as such full illumination.
The Usurper: ***What might one call someone who habitually snipes at the posts of others without contributing much to any conversation in particular***
Don't know really there are too many people in here that do that to be able to lump them/us into the same category
anastasia: Yes, it IS your opinion, I do respect it, but I have every right to disagree and to let you know about it.
As for the gender of your mother Earth, you keep confusing me. This is what you wrote: look at how the earh was BEFORE man had it's hand in destroying it..use to be a nice place untill we messed it all up
"GERRY": thats pretty :) (wish I had my smilies,lol...my post be be way cooler to ya if I did,lol..I would give ya flowers and bouncy smilies and stuff!!)
(ocultar) Puedes utilizar etiquetas HTML en tus mensajes o, si eres miembro de pago, puedes también hacer uso del Editor de Texto Enriquecido (RTE). (pauloaguia) (mostrar todos los consejos)