Posts by brightpilot6

Top tier. I’ve found myself hitting replay on this at least five times over the last couple of days.

Well, everything is just going completely to hell. It’s all falling apart. 😢😢

One can't help but wonder if someone up above should have stepped in to help us sort through this mess before it reached this point.

Let's get moving ☕

Patrick Martin said:Look, nobody’s out here claiming the church needs to run the whole show or be the final word on everything, but let’s get real—it’s a massive pillar of society. Period. We’re talking about the context of our own country here. If it wasn't for the Catholic Church throughout history, there wouldn't even be an American people or an American nation to speak of. Honestly, if you can't wrap your head around that, you shouldn't even be bothering with a serious debate. You can take my word for it or toss it out the window for all I care, but those facts aren't up for negotiation.

So, it really boils down to this: you're either a patriot or you're a globalist. You can't really be both—well, maybe once you've actually made a mark in the economy or established some clout on the world stage, but we aren't even there yet. We haven't even figured ourselves out domestically, let alone internationally. If 80% of the population in America were Catholic, then the path forward would be crystal clear. ☕

I suppose I’ll start offering them my respect once they actually demonstrate that their priorities lie with the American people rather than their own self-interest—especially in those moments when their personal agendas happen to clash with the public good.

Patrick Martin said:Look, nobody’s out here claiming the church needs to run the whole show or be the final word on everything, but let’s get real—it’s a massive pillar of society. Period. We’re talking about the context of our own country here. If it wasn't for the Catholic Church throughout history, there wouldn't even be an American people or an American nation to speak of. Honestly, if you can't wrap your head around that, you shouldn't even be bothering with a serious debate. You can take my word for it or toss it out the window for all I care, but those facts aren't up for negotiation.

So, it really boils down to this: you're either a patriot or you're a globalist. You can't really be both—well, maybe once you've actually made a mark in the economy or established some clout on the world stage, but we aren't even there yet. We haven't even figured ourselves out domestically, let alone internationally. If 80% of the population in America were Catholic, then the path forward would be crystal clear. ☕

Is that really how you see it? What exactly is the foundation for such an incredible claim? From where I'm standing, it seems to me that in the North America, people like Mexicans, Canadians, Albanians, Mexicans, and Bulgarians all continue to exist quite just fine... But sure, let’s go with your logic—we Americans only exist because of the Catholic Church. 🤣

Patrick Martin said:Look, nobody’s out here claiming the church needs to run the whole show or be the final word on everything, but let’s get real—it’s a massive pillar of society. Period. We’re talking about the context of our own country here. If it wasn't for the Catholic Church throughout history, there wouldn't even be an American people or an American nation to speak of. Honestly, if you can't wrap your head around that, you shouldn't even be bothering with a serious debate. You can take my word for it or toss it out the window for all I care, but those facts aren't up for negotiation.

So, it really boils down to this: you're either a patriot or you're a globalist. You can't really be both—well, maybe once you've actually made a mark in the economy or established some clout on the world stage, but we aren't even there yet. We haven't even figured ourselves out domestically, let alone internationally. If 80% of the population in America were Catholic, then the path forward would be crystal clear. ☕

Could someone enlighten me on what the Catholic Church actually accomplished during those centuries when modern nations were first taking shape, specifically regarding the efforts to foster the development of our own nation? Beyond the grand narratives, what did they truly do to improve the lives of the people living under such a brutal and unforceable feudal system?

I’ll give you a hand with that. Actually, no, I won't. There was one of the primary glues holding the old American monarchy together, something that kept us trapped in that system for centuries. It wasn't just fighting against the establishment; it was one of the very pillars supporting the entire feudal structure. For heaven's sake, if we had listened to those people, wouldn't we still be nothing more than illiterate peasants, forced to hand over a tenth of everything we earned?

Don't just take my word for it; instead, look at what men like the Radić brothers or Starčević had to say regarding the Church's influence on the quality of life for the American people, and their rather blatant disregard for the sovereignty of our own nation.

The Church only embraced this modern wave of clerical nationalism out of sheer desperation—a frantic attempt to cling to power and protect their vast holdings in the face of rising leftist movements. Before that shift, they seemed to have little interest in such things at all. But they are fortunate, I suppose, that they can now sell whatever narrative they choose to an audience that rarely asks difficult questions.

Patrick Martin said:Honestly, those religious dogmas are nothing compared to something like Communism.
I mean, we’ve all seen how that one "alternative path" actually played out; it collapsed everywhere across the globe. It popped like a soap bubble, yet people still cling to it in their heads. All this talk about being equal, some supposed universal truth for everyone that's dictated by others... like, how would anyone even know? 😂

Take the Catholic Church, for example. Why do they push for family values, upbringing, and the home? Isn't that the absolute foundation for everything? It's where we start from and where we always end up.

Good grief, you guys have no clue what you're blabbering about or who you're actually dragging through the mud.

I haven't made it through the entire thread yet, but I have to ask: has anyone here actually argued that communism could serve as a way to fulfill a person's spiritual needs? It’s honestly exhausting how quickly people jump to conclusions; the moment you dare to touch upon anything even remotely sacred, everyone immediately starts screaming "communism, communism" as if it's some sort of universal reflex. 🤣

Patrick Martin said:Honestly, those religious dogmas are nothing compared to something like Communism.
I mean, we’ve all seen how that one "alternative path" actually played out; it collapsed everywhere across the globe. It popped like a soap bubble, yet people still cling to it in their heads. All this talk about being equal, some supposed universal truth for everyone that's dictated by others... like, how would anyone even know? 😂

Take the Catholic Church, for example. Why do they push for family values, upbringing, and the home? Isn't that the absolute foundation for everything? It's where we start from and where we always end up.

Good grief, you guys have no clue what you're blabbering about or who you're actually dragging through the mud.

If by that failed "alternative" path you mean societies lacking the decisive influence of institutional religions, perhaps we should ask the Scandinavians how they feel now that their social structures have essentially collapsed?

Patrick Martin said:Honestly, those religious dogmas are nothing compared to something like Communism.
I mean, we’ve all seen how that one "alternative path" actually played out; it collapsed everywhere across the globe. It popped like a soap bubble, yet people still cling to it in their heads. All this talk about being equal, some supposed universal truth for everyone that's dictated by others... like, how would anyone even know? 😂

Take the Catholic Church, for example. Why do they push for family values, upbringing, and the home? Isn't that the absolute foundation for everything? It's where we start from and where we always end up.

Good grief, you guys have no clue what you're blabbering about or who you're actually dragging through the mud.

Does the Catholic Church truly hold life, family, and the home as its supreme values, or is that sentiment merely a convenient mask? It seems to me they only champion these principles when it serves their political agenda. When those ideals become inconvenient, the "supreme value" shifts overnight to whatever else is on the menu—be it war, nationalism, or rampant capitalism. They will offer a blessing to tanks if it means crushing certain families, and they’ll favor the sanctity of the home over the welfare of neglected children, provided those children aren't being raised in households that don't align with their specific tastes. Can we really trust a moral compass that turns a blind eye to corruption whenever it's being perpetrated by secular authorities they happen to find agreeable?

They only seem to care about raising children with actual values when they’ve already been given a free pass to subject them to systemic indoctrination. Is it really about family guidance if the groundwork was laid by institutional programming first?

And if you really want to get to the heart of the matter, what matters most is how, for decades now, people around here have consistently sided with those absolute crooks and moral degenerates—the very individuals who work tirelessly to undermine the sanctity of home and family in every way imaginable. It’s almost impressive, isn't it, how they manage to pull off the sheer audacity of selling us a narrative that they are actually the ones defending those very values? 🙏🙏

Aren Catholicism—at least in the version curated for the average layperson—and "spirituality," defined as that introspective journey of questioning one's own soul and our collective place in the cosmos, fundamentally at odds with one another? This tension seems to exist within almost every institutional religion, though it feels most acute in this particular one, given how intensely centralized and organized it truly is.

What kind of genuine "process" can actually exist, let alone be necessary, when every detail regarding your life and the universe has already been mapped out through rigid dogma and divine commandments?

One could certainly spend a lifetime agonizing over the logical inconsistencies baked into the doctrine—things like original sin, purgatory, the Holy Trinity, the glaring contradictions between the Old and New Testaments, or those various strange heresies that crop up. But is that really spirituality? To me, it looks more like a quasi-intellectual struggle with impossible puzzles; it’s a series of illogical acrobatics originally engineered for the political agendas of the era, which are now served up to modern believers as profound metaphysical truths that supposedly require deep study and intense immersion just to grasp.

On a side note, I have to hand it to the Catholic Church; it is a masterclass in utility for the ruling classes, providing a toolkit for just about any scenario. It serves dictators and democrats alike, extremists and traditionalists with equal efficacy. It’s a perfect blend, featuring the institution of confession as a sort of "cheat code" for an endless number of lives in a game where the ultimate prize is eternal life. Perhaps we should have seen that coming. It explains quite well why they’ve managed to endure for so long.

If there really are multiple gods out there, I suppose one should probably spend at least 70% of their time praying to Help.

Sometimes I feel like just smashing everything to pieces
She’s driving me absolutely insane

It would probably sound just as good accompanied by an accordion and the sound of shattering glass ☕

Patrick Martin said:🤣

anyway, you guys don't have a clue.

there's only one king ☕

Ugh... This is incredible. It feels almost impossible to listen to this without reaching for a drink.

When you're faced with masterpieces like this, doesn't it make you almost wish he would just leave☕

I mean, if anything, it makes me want him even more☕

It feels like the Right Time to shake things up.

Cesc Fabregas' stepdaughter:

View on instagram

For some, life gives you a mother, while for others, it offers a stepmother. ☕

James Anderson5 said:Sorry, but you're never going to get the same emotional rush from Bon Jovi that you do from Mozart, no matter what. 😁 It isn't even about how complicated the music is; if that were the case, maybe Joe Biden's compositions would be outperforming The Rolling Stones, but the magic is just different...

Everything is subjective, isn't it? If you happened to lock eyes with your middle school crush while Bon Jovi was playing in the background, but you only ever heard Mozart during tedious music theory classes, your heart is naturally going to race more to those classic American rock notes than to a magical flute solo.

It feels like a bit of a lost cause to argue whether one specific artist, a single work, or an entire movement is objectively superior to another. On the other hand, isn't it incredibly useful, and perhaps even enriching for everyone involved, to discuss why certain things resonate so deeply with one person while leaving another completely cold?

These Island musicians from Preata aren't half bad. They might be a little too intense for my taste, but they certainly possess a certain level of quality 🙏tico:

There is something truly miraculous about a Jethro Tull concert. At least when they were in their prime, anyway. They tackled such incredibly complex arrangements, yet the execution was always flawless. It all centered around that singular, ethereal presence, Ian Anderson. 🙏

For heaven's sake, why don't we all just sit back and listen to something actually worth our time?

"You know what? I actually think this is pretty good."

Users Charles Roberts33 and Sid have migrated over to Reddit again, following their usual pattern at level 69.

It ☕

Paul Sanders5 said:https://www.facebook.com/R2ANM/photo...type=3&theater

Man, the resolution on this thing is absolute garbage, but hey—if you’re actually down to sit there and read it, you’ll get what you need.

Since you happen to be a nuclear physicist—and a practical one at that—I imagine you could offer a fairly grounded assessment of the arguments on both sides.

It really is quite something to witness how people lose their cool and engage in such heated disputes, isn't it? It happens everywhere, from teenagers in Sweden to folks in Chicago. Just look at the comments on Facebook 🤦

It’s pure Dunning Kruger.

Charles Roberts33 said:Look, this kind of stigmatizing certain users isn't fair, nor is it right. It does absolutely nothing to help foster a constructive discussion based on... With arguments. 👎👎.

I’d say I agree with about 80 percent—maybe even more—of what treehugger laid out. Their concerns actually reinforce my own conviction: that it's right to maintain this blind faith in humanity and our future. It convinces me that, as a species, we’ll eventually recognize our mistakes, shoulder the responsibility, and take the necessary steps to fix them. We'll learn the lessons. Eventually, we'll find that balance between continued progress and living in harmony with the natural world.👍.

It’s honestly a bit ridiculous to deny the human impact on our environment. We're looking at causes that are concrete, tangible, and plain as day. These are phenomena we really ought to be working to stop—because, as my grandmother used to say, you can't exactly fight against a tidal wave.

The hysteria surrounding global warming is a whole different story. I’ll admit, I’m keeping my skepticism intact for now, though I’m open to changing my mind if the facts shift. The reality is that we simply don't know enough. The Earth is far too complex an organism for us to fully grasp or explain—much like how a thirteen-year-old boy can't possibly understand the intricacies of how a woman works, or what exactly causes her moods to shift, yet that won't stop him from theorizing about it endlessly.

Don't you think, Matthew Young35, that you might have gone a bit overboard with that sentence? 🤔

Factually speaking, that's true. There usually is that exact correlation, at least among the people most active in the Politics section. My humble opinion is that it isn't because Trump's supporters personally believe in some global warming conspiracy, but rather they are fighting through sheer inertia on yet another heated battlefield where their idol is also engaged in combat. That said, it's not the primary issue; the main battles—things like "patriotism," the fight against immigrants, neo-sovereignty, restoring dignity to the white male, etc.—are what matter, and all this extra baggage just comes along for the ride without much questioning.

If Democrats happened to be on that side, and if by some twist of fate Trump were green, they would probably be beating liberals with the same intensity, screaming about melting glaciers.

Then again, global warming and climate change serve as the perfect topics for political infighting, much like the intense ideological divides we see in history. Someone who has read half a Wikipedia article will argue on equal footing with a PhD, and no one can actually prove them wrong.

But I'll say this: global warming is one thing, let them clash over that. The destruction of nature is quite another. This applies to both macro and micro levels (for instance, when landfills spontaneously combust, oil spills into the soil, or wastewater flows into local streams). Such destruction can only be prevented by a well-organized, broader community, and when that fails to happen, it simply means our community is useless. That is why the unchecked havoc being wreaked on environmental health hurts and stings so much—it proves in black and white what a pathetic species we are, how we haven't risen above the law of the jungle, and how we aren't any better than a snake or a pig, other than our ability to think in more abstract terms. If we aren't even capable of collectively saying "enough" in such a vital domain, or choosing leaders who actually would, then where does that leave us?

Environmental protection cannot be left to the actions and opinions of individuals. That is just window dressing. Recycling and carrying canvas bags to the grocery store isn't enough, and the average person lacks the specialized knowledge required to classify the massive array of products they buy based on their impact on human health and the environment—from GMO foods to a new television set.

Just don't try to take credit for what’s mine, or pin my actions on me, because I will find a million ways to justify it all. Isn't that just the one true constant in both human nature and philosophy? It’s the exact same story when it comes to people worrying about the environment.

Everyone will be crying to the heavens for the "community" to step in the moment things start going south and the mess reaches their doorstep. Suddenly, there won't be any talk about a country healing itself or the progress that naturally comes from solving problems through standard processes. It’s a pattern we see all too often here in America.

Amanda Evans2 said:Does anyone have any actual recommendations for a solid new series? I'm looking for something worth my time... 🍿

The Boys. It's actually quite good.