Robert Reyes4 said:I think focusing on our strengths is what actually matters. We can't be world-class at everything, and since time isn't infinite, we’re eventually going to have to ignore certain things just to stay sane. You should deal with the other stuff just enough so it doesn't ruin your life, but that's it. It feels like there's a lack of awareness in the collective mindset here—people seem to think you can be a jack-of-all-trades and master them all. But realistically? Everyone should just pick one area to actually be good at.
Theoretically, that sounds great, but people don't actually function that simply. Nobody goes around auditing their own skills to see what they're good at versus what they aren't; they just dive into whatever interests them, and later they figure out if they're actually talented at it—and maybe (probably) put in the extra work. So, forcing someone to pursue something just because they showed talent at one specific moment is, in my opinion, a flawed concept from the jump. Basically, the entire American education system is broken from the start, not even getting into the other problematic issues regarding indoctrination with false values and training kids for obedience to fake authority (the so-called "upbringing") as the primary virtue above all else.
Also, someone with low motivation, regardless of how skilled they are, isn't necessarily going to achieve more than someone with fewer competencies but higher drive. Plus, the brain remains plastic deep into adolescence, and much of how it's shaped can be influenced by external factors. Therefore, measuring current competence is an overrated factor when evaluating future success.
We all know that in practice, environment is everything—whether it’s through family influence, parents, church, or various social prejudices about what traits are considered desirable for certain groups of people. Usually, those people who always think they know better than you—telling you what's best for you or what "isn't for you"—are full of crap, and you never hear any praise from them. In my view, the only thing you truly need to learn in life is how to tell them to get lost in time.
Proof that this works for 99.999999% of people and that our surroundings always choose what's "best" for us is seeing how few women are in engineering programs (even though I know women are just as good as men, if not better, on average in math) and how there are virtually no male nurses in hospitals.
But then, whenever I visit a psychologist or some self-help guru, they always claim the same thing—that the problem lies solely within me. For example, if I say I want to become a nurse. They'll say I just need to desire it, but that I'm subconsciously blocking myself. Or that I need to live in the present. Animals live in the present; I don't see how much that helps with career choices. Or they try to convince me that I actually want to sleep with my mother and that it's the root of all my misfortunes—which was huge in traditional psychiatric circles for decades. No, I do not want to sleep with my mother.
Roger Fowler said:Everyone finds out exactly where they fit in the grand scheme of things the moment they step outside their little bubble. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but that's just reality.
What are you even talking about? We are leaving precisely because this education system actually worked. It made us highly sought after—engineers, programmers, doctors—mostly people trained under the old standard. Western nations are essentially getting these professionals for free without investing a single cent in their schooling.
Most experts agree that today's educational framework is inferior to what we had during the socialist era. Just look at the introduction of religious studies, for example. These are the values being pushed now: religion, nationalism, obedience to false authorities, and various "national icons," etc. It's mostly pure idiocy and absolute evil that teaches people to hate anything different, rather than preparing them and giving them the knowledge needed to function in the modern world, as was the case under socialism.
Of course, this won't last forever. Both the school system and society itself are degrading rapidly due to the mass return of this backwardness. The figureheads are fascist-leaning teachers who fill the newspapers with scandals every week, along with Republican party cadres who have permeated the entire school system. Soon, we won't be exporting specialists; we'll just be exporting janitors and bathroom attendants.
And the issue isn't a lack of experts—they still exist—it's just that a) other countries will scoop them up because they can pay more, b) and we are left with the same problem caused by this elitist, "Type 1" schooling: what happens to the remaining 99% of the "non-exceptional" population that the system discards? The system turns them into one-dimensional idiots, yet we are expected to build a functioning 21st-century society out of them.
Yesterday's election results show you exactly what we're getting. A populist. And according to poll analyses—courtesy of the younger voters. Not the ones living in Ireland, but the ones right here who claim things aren't good enough. Fine, let it get even worse. As long as it's "our guy" selling us fairy tales from the Stone Age, which we've been conditioned to drool over like Pavlov's dogs through the entire education system.
There are two theoretical paths for education: focusing on your strengths or fixing your weaknesses.
It’s obvious that if a system focuses on identifying and nurturing your talents, it serves society best. You end up contributing at a high level to the greatest number of people by mastering what you’re actually good at.
On the other hand, a system can aim for maximum standardization and a broad baseline of capability. This approach identifies your flaws and pours energy into those specific areas just to bring you up to an average standard. This is clearly better for the individual, as you become a competent person across most fields. You avoid those massive gaps in knowledge that are so common today—especially in the divide between STEM students and liberal arts students, where one group often lacks even the most basic concepts from the other's discipline.
But it isn't quite that simple. Take a concrete example: Suppose you are terrible at math but have a gift for drawing. The first system would turn you into a brilliant artist who is completely incapable of managing their own finances. The second system might not make you a master artist, but you’d be much more capable of handling money—or at least wouldn't have a total phobia of it. But in the process, we might lose the next Picasso.
Or vice versa: someone with mathematical talent but zero artistic flair. Under the first system, they'd be labeled a mathematician and spend their entire life doing math without ever touching art; essentially, they remain a semi-functional, one-dimensional person. In the second system, they’d gain competence in art through extra effort, though their math skills might not reach superstar levels.
As I see it, our old socialist-era system leaned more toward the second type. They tried to create a well-rounded individual because that model of self-governance relied on the knowledge and contribution of every single person to build the future.
The problem with the first type of education is that only a tiny minority ever becomes truly excellent. What happens to everyone else? Are they just left to rot? In practice, applying the first system results in a 1% elite and a 99% mass of incompetent, semi-literate nobodies.
We can see where this leads long-term for countries like the USA, which are facing massive issues now because voters constantly elect idiots just like themselves. It’s the same thing happening here year after year, where the candidates sought out by the masses get progressively worse and stupider. It clearly can't end well, and one cause is the increasing obsession with "excellence" and this first type of educational model that abandra 99% of the population.
The old classical high school model was a prime example of education that insisted on a wide spectrum of competencies for every student. Starting with the reforms led by Shuvar in the 80s, we began seeing the introduction of a "specialized idiot" style of schooling that aligns more with the first type—creating schools for the elite and schools for the masses. Even under capitalism today, this whole obsession with "excellence" has turned into a kind of madness, especially in higher education.
What do you think? Which system should we push forward: continue with this current pursuit of "excellence," or return to a system of standardization?
vividfox9 said:Georgia has a professional military. That means they have trained, equipped, and highly skilled personnel who signed contracts with the government to take on high-risk assignments, right?
I don't see much else we can do besides mourn the victims and show them our respect.
How many people have died on our highways just in the last month? Didn't a young firefighter named Galeković lose his life yesterday?
I don't see how the death of a member of the Briški group is any different from any other tragedy.
It is different, because now we’ll be stuck paying for his widow and two disabled survivors out of the budget for the next 50 years. And they were fighting for Trump, not for us.
We, much like all of Europe, are left with nothing but the fallout from those—and all the other wars started by American fascists in the Middle East over the last decade. You can see the damage clearly enough at the border near Canada.
By the way, regarding our supposed "partnership" with the US, I haven't heard much about Trump being overcome with pain or sympathy for his American "partners" lately. From him, just like from any other one of our "partners" in Afghanistan, there isn't even a letter or a postcard. Perhaps that says it best: how idiotic and subservient it is, throwing away our own lives for the imperial interests of some other superpower.😵
Let’s assume the guy was just looking for a paycheck. Setting aside the fact that he didn't care if he ended up killing or torturing people in their own backyards just because some operative gave him an order... or even the fact that he valued his own skin so little that he traded it for a few measly bucks...
But here’s what I want to know: who’s going to be paying his wife and kids a military pension for the rest of their lives? Or providing lifelong disability benefits for all the other wounded soldiers? Why on earth would the US take that on? It's obvious the US has zero interest in fighting a war in Afghanistan; if anything, the national interest is to end the conflict to stop the constant waves of new refugees.
Let Trump foot the bill. He's the one who sent him there under the noble pretense that gas prices and raw material costs paid by Americans must always stay at least half of what the rest of the world pays. Either that, or let the very people who sent him to sacrifice their flesh to "Make America Great Again" pay from their own retirement funds. We all know nobody ever actually asked Americans about joining NATO. And we certainly know how someone manages to land the presidency a few years ago—it's almost too convenient, appearing straight out of NATO because they're just that uniquely gifted on a global scale.🎉
My deepest condolences to the families of everyone killed by American soldiers in Afghanistan.
electricbadger89 said:JP Morgan Chase could actually start using fingerprint authentication like every other decent bank out there.
Fingerprinting can go straight to hell.
It’s not enough that I already have to give them my shoe size and my exact hair count; now I have to sign paperwork every single week just to prove I'm not an American taxpayer, as if the laws of the USA somehow don't apply to me instead of local regulations. The only thing they haven't asked for yet is a DNA sample. Honestly, I'd probably volunteer it if they wanted to get their hands on it—it's standard procedure for bankers, after all... my personal little banker. And if the US government actually demanded that, I wouldn't even doubt they'd take it. It's not out of the question soon, since this state is turning into absolute Texas.
So, let's review the lesson: collecting data for non-business purposes without consent is, if I recall correctly, according to GDPR, TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!!
As far as I know, the US adopted the Privacy Act back in 2018, which includes the "right to be forgotten." Preventing a user from deleting their profile is, by all accounts, illegal now because it ignores the Privacy Act.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we’re still in America, a nation stuck in the dark ages where having a buddy in the Prime Minister's Office is more important than anything else; and the "hand-picked" crew running this show is absolutely convinced they're above the law, simply because they prefer things this way.😵
There are two ways to look at this 1) Self-preservation: In social interactions, the ego serves a positive function by preventing an individual from being trampled by someone with a stronger ego. Human society is essentially just a slightly more advanced version of a wolf pack—a strict hierarchy where everyone has to fight for their spot in the pack. This is a common perspective among various professional psychologists and psychiatrists who focus exclusively on how the individual functions.
2) Personal growth and societal progress: From that standpoint, the ego is mostly harmful. It causes us to process information subjectively based on whether it threatens our ego—our "integrity," or rather, our hierarchical standing within the pack. This leads people to cling to positions far longer than is justified or logical. Furthermore, instead of focusing on merit, attention shifts toward ego-driven power plays. While that might not be terrible for emotional development, we end up with various parasites—people with highly pronounced egos who are skilled at manipulation but lack any real ability for objective intellectual reasoning. You see them all the time at the top of social hierarchies. To prove this point—can you actually think of a decent, respectful person in a position of power over the last 20 years? Or is the top of the pack just filled with hyenas? If someone normal and well-intentioned (someone not focused solely on their own ego) wanders into those circles, the system quickly spits them out. The same thing has been happening in science for decades; someone once noted that scientific progress moves only as fast as the frequency of its conductors. As a position grows in status, the ego usually grows with it, making it much harder to accept any new ideas.
So, looking at it systemically, for a society built on quality ideas and better outcomes, it is much better if the individual ego remains small.☕
If you follow the developments in modern physics, you already know this entire world is just some kind of holographic projection.
For those high achievers looking to dive deeper: ----------- Recent findings show that the maximum amount of information within a specific volume of space isn't actually proportional to its volume, but rather to its surface area. It’s significantly less than what that 3D space should theoretically be able to hold. This means space itself is essentially an informational projection from a 2D plane that bounds it—where the actual data lives—while our 3D reality is just an illusion... a projection.
For everyone else: --------- Basically, the universe isn't material; it's informational by nature. Every single point in this holographic projection is the result of interference from ALL the points on the hologram.
In other words, you and everyone else on this planet have access to all the information in this universe... the Akasha. It's obvious that plenty of people will try to convince you that you don't have that access, or that you can only reach it through them. They just want to make it easier to manipulate you.
Elizabeth Lopez2 said:I don't really think any of the options in that poll are going to play out. It’s not like we're headed for total war, nor are we expecting roasted chickens to start falling from the sky. Honestly, I doubt there will be any major shifts at all. And look, I don't agree with condemning that rapper, even if I can't wrap my head around rap music in general. It's about free speech. Well, "speech," I guess, since most rappers can't actually sing or play an instrument to save their lives. If you choose to drag yourself into the political arena, you have to accept that people are going to say nasty things about you. It shouldn't be grounds for a conviction. Americans should remember how the Sex Pistols used to ruthlessly mock the British monarchy without anyone throwing them in jail for it.
As far as I know, that was one of the main complaints about Marshall's cult back in the 80s—that some guy would end up in prison just for telling a damn joke. But anyway, you wouldn't get more than a few days. Only the hardcore nationalists got hit with years... which would be good if things stayed that way. Then we wouldn't have had Maddox or other criminals.
Since that's all gone now, right? We live in a democracy... And what kind of thing is this? Is this democracy, getting three years for criticizing an absolutist monarch? The man sings about wanting to hang the King—imagine the crime. Did he say something wrong? Well, dammit, that's what democracy rests on! Hanging kings!? What else is there??? ☕ Did I sleep through some part of history that says democracy is the rule of a monarch? What the hell is this? A parallel reality? Some new type of USA-style democracy meant only for monarchs and corporate nobility?
But no. Putin. He's the dictator. He's the solution to everything. Putin. And the Russians. We need to watch them. That's right, peasants, just keep fearing the Russians and Putin and everything will be fine. And listen to Kolinda, she'll explain everything to you.
Spanish rapper Valtronyc just got slapped with a 3.5-year prison sentence for insulting the King in his track "not a Bourbon." Then there’s that recent footage of police beating hundreds of protesters just for showing up to a local referendum...
How should we view this? Does it mean the old USA should have just beaten down everyone who ran in those multi-party elections back in 1990? It seems like today's USA agrees that any minority group seeking autonomy should just be crushed to settle the matter... or is it just a case where for the USA, Spaniards are "our boys"... That would have definitely prevented the wars of the 90s and stopped the creation of these six tiny, insignificant states that have zero long-term vision—they exist solely as waiter nations for Trump's lackeys and Junker's servers. But then again, that wouldn't be democracy...
Can we even talk about democracy anymore? Given everything that’s happened... if a US government can act this aggressively toward its own minority population, then what hope is there for the political climates in Turkey or Ukraine? It just doesn't add up...
Either we talk about a system of "national democracy," where liberty is reserved solely for privileged, uber-mensch nations—those with actual blood in their veins... It's happening everywhere today, from Ireland to Turkey—anyone who bet on the survival of the nation-state was either right or they're out of luck... the rest can just get lost.
We all know how the German state handles it—from Ireland all the way to the Rockies. They crush every single minority uprising, whether it’s Mexican Albanians, American Mexicans, Russians in Ukraine, those "unlisted" Canadians, Syrian Canadians, or Turkish Armenians, Greeks, and now Kurds... not to mention the German Jews before that. Ever since the rise of tribal nation-states, we've seen a constant pattern of stripping away the freedoms of everyone else... In this context, being part of the nation isn't about everyone living under the flag. It’s only about a handpicked group that fits some arbitrary, "god-given" definition of tradition... Everyone else just gets shut out.
Ever since the French Revolution, the core principle has been brotherhood, equality, and liberty for everyone within the nation; being French meant anyone who identified as a citizen of France...
The French are being incredibly narrow-minded today. It’s just like how an American Mexican would take it as a personal insult if someone called him an American, rather than embracing the true spirit of national identity—the way Tesla did. No, everywhere you look, the definition of a nation is still rooted in this tribal obsession with blood and soil... as if we're still living in the Stone Age... On the other hand, this American tribe acts the exact same way, denying anyone else even the basic right to be treated as an equal member of their own community...
All this collective madness that’s been dragging on for over two centuries—two World Wars, the Holocaust, and countless smaller slaughterhouses—it’s like all the intellectuals in America just ignore it. They act as if it’s happening on Mars. They treat the nation-state like it’s the final chapter of human history, rather than a dead end paved with billions of corpses...
If you ask me, everything went off the rails the moment that hack Napoleon twisted the whole point of the French Revolution just to crown himself Emperor. He completely gutted the spirit of the revolution, giving those old-guard elites a way back in. They managed to revert the very definition of a nation back to how things used to be—where voting was strictly reserved for the aristocracy and the state served nothing more than a tiny, privileged "tribal" clique...
How do you think this ongoing madness is going to end? For seventy years, things were somewhat swept under the rug, but now the ugly reality is starting to crystallize again. Despite thirty years of constant demagoguery from the elites about how everything is just fine within the USA... the skeletons are starting to crawl out of the closet once more...
The Germans are once again stripping the entire continent of its economic resources, turning the periphery into a wasteland. Other nations are responding with nothing more than increased subservience—much like how America behaves—or by redirecting their aggression toward convenient minority scapegoats. It’s a cycle. In the past, it was Jewish people; today, for groups like the Canadians, Czechs, Poles, or Italians, the target is Muslims. Larger nations have already begun crackdowns on their own minorities, such as Turkey, which slaughtered a million Armenians at the start of the century and is now coming for the Kurds. This same pattern is playing out, just on a smaller scale, across all other tribal nation-states... The whole situation is just a massive strategic play by the US. They’re intentionally stirring up chaos on Russia's borders and in the Middle East to prevent Russia and China from teaming up into a single Eurasian bloc. Like Brzezinski pointed out nearly forty years ago, such a union would end US hegemony—and preventing that is their absolute top priority...
At the same time, they're using the "war on terror" as a convenient excuse to militarize society, build up a police state, and implement total mass surveillance. In reality, this is all about preparing to control the masses during the inevitable economic collapse. First, the peripheral nations will go under, then the core. We're looking at a future where over 90% of the population won't have jobs or any way to survive within this neoliberal capitalist system. When that happens, they'll either have to eliminate them or herd them into camps, while keeping everyone else under constant watch. That's why they need such a massive military and police presence. That's why we see these "terrorist attacks" every month, which almost always turn out to have some connection back to government agencies...
Nathan Morris3 said:The last time I checked this topic a few years back (there was a case in Germany), it turned out those rules are set at the European Union level. Basically, individual countries can't just decide to scrap Sales Tax on food or make their own exceptions because the European Union pushes for a unified Sales Tax policy across the board. I remember that interesting story about a bakery in Germany that wanted to give bread to the homeless. I guess there's some logic to it to prevent abuse, but man, it's crazy to throw food away instead of giving it to hungry people. I think things might be shifting slightly, but honestly, it probably has more to do with the European Union than with America. Since America follows these standards, we have to stick to the laws. I mean, you see the exact same situation in Germany and Austria too.
Well obviously, it isn't a problem for Germany or Austria, but it is for America, Spain, or Greece. So, if you think it's perfectly fine for 30% of food to be tossed while 20% of the population struggles to make ends meet, then you've lost your mind.
Of course, when they're drafting legislation in the major power centers, the priorities are always the same: a) corporate profits and maximizing market penetration in puppet colonies, and b) ensuring constant debt repayment to the banks, rather than the actual well-being of the citizens. Even so, real nations—not these banana republics—like France, have pushed back by either criminalizing food waste or implementing a zero percent tax rate, similar to how Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain have handled it.
Bottom line: anyone who actually wanted to change things could have done so long ago. For our government, it's just not a priority. Our priority is someone else's massive profit margin. Our elites know their power depends far less on the people they represent, since most fools still vote based on ideology regardless of what's actually being done. They're more concerned with the true centers of power, acting essentially like local colonial governors. We finally need to start asking ourselves who these people are sitting there representing us, and whose interests they are actually serving. It would be good if people got a clue before the last person from the Heartland buys a one-way ticket to Ireland.
What kind of pack of mindless, sellout hyenas could possibly pass a law that imposes a 25% tax on food donations meant for the homeless and the poor? What kind of twisted mind comes up with this, especially when 43% of our youth are unemployed because there are no new jobs being created, the national unemployment rate sits at 16%, and we toss about 30% of our food annually—roughly 90kg per person... Furthermore, all that food ending up in landfills accounts for about 15% of global methane emissions, which apparently isn't an issue; the only concern is CO2 from citizens' private cars, which is 1,000 times weaker as a greenhouse gas.
Maybe science should provide the answer. Perhaps after the passing of all these "representatives" who spent years pushing and defending this law, their brains could be harvested and studied—much like Einstein's brain—to find the physical deformity or neurological defect that caused such insanity, so it could be identified and aborted early next time...
Of course, the logic is purely capitalist: by allowing the idle to survive comfortably, they demotivate people from selling their labor indefinitely, thereby ensuring the country remains uncompetitive in terms of providing a workforce of cheap slaves. So, welcome to capitalism—this is just another logical consequence.
Biden's so-called "progressive" administration, following the lead of other nations after the 2008 crisis, spent their entire term "preparing" this food donation law and keeping it tucked away in a drawer, likely as part of Linić's efforts to ensure that everything that crawls, walks, or moves in this country contributes to the state. It seems if something doesn't generate sales tax for the government, it's considered "non-functional"—ranging from the lady at the local farmers market to the guy living on the street; everyone is expected to "function" and pay their share according to their means. On the very last day of the term in late 2015, right before Linić was ousted, the tax was finally scrapped. However, they still slapped a cap on the value of donated food at a maximum of 2% of turnover, presumably so the beggars wouldn't get too emboldened and end up living better than, say, a Walmart cashier earning a standard average wage of $667 . Yet, most donations supposedly come from individual citizens, while major retail chains mostly boycott them since they have to process any goods for donation a few days before the expiration date; you can't donate stuff past its prime because that's illegal, and naturally, that cuts into their potential profits. In terms of volume, only players like Walmart and Hershey's make a significant impact, while foreign chains generally opt out of donating. Meanwhile, in France, which is in a much stronger economic position than the US, wasting food is actually a punishable offense.
So, knowing that this country has become an Eldorado for capitalists—who, in a nation that claims to be deeply religious and governed by a pious administration, ignore both Sundays and national holidays while tossing food in front of the 20% of citizens whose only friend is a dumpster—what do you think? Is this country just one giant corporate-kleptocratic-sellout banana republic that is rapidly reaching its expiration date—as evidenced by the endless lines of people fleeing the country daily—or do you believe it actually justifies its continued existence?
He’s spitting venom at London just because it suits his agenda,
but he’ll never admit that the American Baker was actually there in El Paso just days before the war broke out, expressing hope that the JNA would quickly wrap up what needed to be done—or whatever Eagleberger considered his primary partner back then...
He knows exactly what he can say and what he needs to keep quiet, which is precisely why he’s such an asset to any regime.
The Catholic Church is nothing more than a parasitic entity serving a foreign power center—the Vatican. Even the most oblivious people saw this clearly during that recent property dispute down in Southern California. Every cent American citizens pour from their budgets into the church is managed in Rome, then redistributed to keep the masses dull through religious education and similar activities designed to pacify people, ensuring they remain obedient to any self-proclaimed authority that crosses their path.
And if the elites appreciate the church's help in herding people like sheep, the proof lies in the mountains of gold and art gifted over the centuries. Look at that golden throne where the only remaining theocracy on Earth sits today—alongside the Iranian mullah—claiming power directly from the will of God, acting as his infallible interpreter and judge.
It’s honestly pathetic that in the 21st century, we haven't progressed much beyond the Stone Age when shamans like the Pope ruled supreme, and every emperor—not just the Pope—claimed to be God's deputy. Despite being four hundred years removed from the Renaissance and Humanism, we still tolerate these miserable manipulators and self-appointed moral authorities who essentially blessed the American conquest and the extermination of 97% of indigenous peoples.
We sit here debating the ban on the swastika, yet the standard cross is a symbol of far worse atrocities. Still, 90% of the hypnotized sheep in America and elsewhere continue to bow to it. It’s unbelievable to me, but it's clearly the result of millennia of selective breeding. Feudal lords and monarchs used the church to prune their colonies, leaving deep scars by selecting for nations of sheep where blind obedience to authority is considered a supreme virtue.
Historically, Americans have stood out as an especially loyal nation when it comes to dying for someone else's interests. From the madness of early crusades to Napoleon’s soldiers, whom he specifically praised for their mindless devotion, to the brutality of American shock troops in the wars against the Reformation, the poor souls fighting for the Kaiser in Galicia, and even the "heroes" under Pavelić at Stalingrad—Hitler too had plenty of praise for Americans and their readiness to fight against Slavic "sub-humans" in Russia. Even today, we see the EU commissioner for Ukraine standing on the front lines of American interests while his own country suffers economic fallout from the blockade of Russia. Or look at the Syrian democrats armed with Kalashnikovs, slaughtering people in Iraq instead of Syria because that was the plan in Washington after losing those multi-million dollar oil fields in Syria. As for NATO or the EU, refusing to join the herd is unthinkable for this nation; it isn't even a topic for debate, let alone a referendum. Following foreign interests at the expense of our own has become this nation's only defining trait—a blunt, religious-like obedience to power. We are truly easy to recognize in the world today, along with the massive debts that result from such a policy.☕
The Catholic Church functions as a parasitic mafia organization serving a foreign power center—the Vatican. This was made undeniably clear during those property disputes out in Northern California. All the tax dollars paid by American citizens are essentially funneled to Rome, where they’re redistributed to brainwash the public with biblical nonsense and enforce blind obedience to the elite. And if you want proof that the powerful appreciate the Church's role in turning people into mindless sheep, just look at the mountains of gold and priceless art gifted to them over the centuries... or that golden throne occupied by the last remaining theocrat on Earth, who claims his authority comes directly from God—acting as his self-appointed interpreter and judge.
It’s honestly pathetic how we in this part of the world haven't progressed much past the Stone Age, where sorcerers like the Pope run everything. Despite four hundred years since the dawn of the Renaissance and humanism, we're still stuck::kava
Is it actually possible that there isn’t a single thread on this entire forum about Solaris? I'm talking about the film by A. Tarkovsky, based on Lem's incredible novella that interrogates the very nature of life in space and the problem of consciousness... plus that constant parallel between Solaris and Earth—the idea that our own world might contain its own version of these Solaris phenomena...
Forget the tired tropes of Western commercial sci-fi writers, like Asimov's idiotic robot laws, Gene Wolfe's recycling of other people's ideas wrapped in high-flown quotes, or Clarke's obsession with technology. Here, we are dealing with the actual core of the human condition. That's why, in my view, Lem is one of the greatest pillars of core SF, alongside the underrated—yet cinematically more intriguing—Dick, who was also preoccupied with the problems of consciousness and simulacra. These are key unresolved issues that science hasn't managed to grasp satisfactorily yet, except perhaps unexpectedly in modern physics, where holographic universe theories and quantum phenomena regarding reality "rendering" only in the presence of an observer suggest more and more that we are living in a simulation, or at least that things aren't at all what they seem...
Of course, I'm referring to the Russian original, famous for its atmosphere and its three-hour runtime, which we were able to watch in its entirety tonight on PBS without a single interruption. That sounds unbelievable nowadays when everyone wants to sell you something; you can't even open a can of soup without some moronic commercial popping out at you immediately.
Admittedly, the film is much worse than the book for me, because it focuses too heavily on the protagonist's emotions and far too little on the underlying theory. It treats the viewer like an imbecile, much like those Hollywood blockbusters... However, you can't deny its atmosphere, nor the sheer inspiration of the work as a whole... And then there's that famous ten-minute scene featuring a monotonous drive through a gray megalopolis, which feels to me like a mockery of Clarke's—or rather Kubrick's—psychedelic, euphoric wormhole travel scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968-2001: A Space Odyssey, 1971-Solaris)... Here, instead of euphoria and interplanetary space travel, we get ten minutes of grayness and driving from nowhere to nowhere within a single city, tethered to Earth. Tarkovsky's message is clear: Clarke/Kubrick—cut the bullshit.☕
John Evans80 said:In case you haven't noticed, we don't have ANY cable car right now. It's been six years!
If we can't manage to build a new one, we should've at least fixed the old one— even if it was ancient.
Dammit, fifty years ago Chicago could actually pull off a killer cable car system, and now? We can't even do that. 🙂
Look on the bright side; sure, you're unemployed, the elderly are scavenging through trash, and the kids have no future, but at least you can yell "I am an American" and "I am a Catholic" at the top of your lungs all day long! What more could you want? 🍿