I just realized I’ve never really written about how I make a living doing what I do, which is odd because it’s easily the most interesting aspect of my weird little operation here. I’ll put the information out there just in case it’s useful to anybody.
Like anyone else who criticizes capitalism within earshot of hardcore capitalism enthusiasts, I get the “and yet you participate in capitalism ha ha” line all the time. They claim that because I have links to Patreon and Paypal at the bottom of my articles I am hypocritical for criticizing capitalism, which is silly for a number of reasons.
It’s silly because we live in a capitalist society which requires participation in capitalism to engage in, so it’s a lot like telling prisoners who complain about the prison system that they are being hypocritical because they live in prison. It’s also silly because it implies that the only people who can criticize the status quo are those living in a log cabin in the woods with no electricity eating squirrel meat and yelling their grievances into a hole in the ground.
And, in my case, it’s also silly because it’s less true of me than it is of most people.
I make my living entirely from the goodwill of other people. I work as hard as most people, but I don’t charge money for my labor; I work for free and demand nothing from anyone who enjoys the fruits of my labor. All my work is free to view, free to republish, free to use, free to alter, on no conditions whatsoever; even my books are comprised entirely of stuff that’s free to view online. There is no trade, and there is no exchange; you already have the product. I just have a digital tip jar at the bottom of every article that people can toss a few coins into if they want to.
I decided early on in this commentary gig that I wanted to write about the healthiest things I can possibly write about from the healthiest parts of myself, and if I’m going to get paid I want it to be by the healthiest impulses of the healthiest sort of people. In my case that means writing from every angle I can about the ways our society is unhealthy and how it can move toward health, and it means doing so in full dependence on the goodwill of people who care about the same thing.
As near as I can tell the major problems with the world I am leaving to my children ultimately boil down to the fact that money tends to elevate the very worst kinds of people: those who are willing to step on anyone to get ahead, even if it means impoverishing everybody else, or starting wars, or destroying the ecosystem we all depend on for survival. My goal has been to try and “hack” this trend by getting money to reward health instead, thereby allowing me to embody the opposite of the disease and proving that a better way is possible.
Because money is power and money rewards sociopathy, we wind up ruled by greedy sociopaths. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that wealth has been shown to kill empathy in those who have it, which makes sense if you consider how money functions as a kind of prosthetic goodwill currency. Without a lot of money you depend on the goodwill of your neighbors to get by; you need to always be attuned to what their needs are, how you can help them, and how they’re feeling toward you in order to make sure they’ll help you fix your car when it breaks down or whatever. If you are wealthy you don’t need to think about goodwill at all, so that attunement to other people’s needs and feelings will atrophy.
By contrast, in societies that aren’t dominated by money, goodwill is the prevailing currency, and sociopaths tend to wind up dead. From Scientific American:
In a 1976 study anthropologist Jane M. Murphy, then at Harvard University, found that an isolated group of Yupik-speaking Inuits near the Bering Strait had a term (kunlangeta) they used to describe “a man who … repeatedly lies and cheats and steals things and … takes sexual advantage of many women—someone who does not pay attention to reprimands and who is always being brought to the elders for punishment.” When Murphy asked an Inuit what the group would typically do with a kunlangeta, he replied, “Somebody would have pushed him off the ice when nobody else was looking.”
In such tribal cultures your worth is measured not by how much money you have, but by the extent to which you improve the quality of life for those around you. If you make life pleasant for the collective you’ll receive plenty of goodwill from them, and if you make life unpleasant for them you run out of goodwill and get pushed off the ice. But in our society a kunlangeta’s disregard for goodwill and his willingness to do anything for profit could make him a CEO.
My goal here is to get by on goodwill currency instead of kunlangeta currency, while hopefully helping to move us out of our kunlangeta way of life.
This is why I don’t have any tiers or rewards on my Patreon page; it’s important to what I’m doing here that it be an entirely goodwill relationship on both ends, because in my experience the healthiest relationships all come from a mutual desire to give freely while the unhealthiest are “you give me that I’ll give you this” transactional relationships. I put just as much effort into my work whether I get a lot of money on a given day or none at all, and patrons get the same whether they give me two dollars or two hundred. That way we’re all operating entirely from intrinsic motivation, driven by the inner rewards of having done something helpful and advancing something we value, rather than the extrinsic motivation model of capitalism that is driving our world toward disaster.
And that’s ultimately what I’d like to see for humanity going forward: a world where we’re not stepping on each other and our ecosystem in pursuit of profit, but collaborating with each other and with our ecosystem out of intrinsic motivation toward the common good of all beings. My way of life is the best personal testament I can offer that such a world is possible.
And seeing that it is possible is the first step. Mark Fisher writes:
Watching Children of Men, we are inevitably reminded of the phrase attributed to Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek, that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism. That slogan captures precisely what I mean by ‘capitalist realism’: the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it.
I am trying to help us all imagine a coherent alternative to it. I don’t know precisely to what extent my path can be traveled by other people, much less by the entirety of our species. But walking this path for myself has given me a lot of hope that I can leave my children a much healthier world.
___________________________
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89 responses to “My Experiments With Hacking Capitalism”
To live in the world and yet not be “of it”. It’s a lifetime tightroap walk. One should have a safety net while trying to stay above the mess down below. And there never seems to be a lack of those who can’t wait for you to fall.
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consciously choosing to use capitalist tools to fight the capitalist system is one thing, claiming you have no choice but to participate in the capitalism that exploits and oppresses you while complaining others who do and claim the same is completely different.
complaining about or criticizing others… no edit button?
I would like to comment about your article about —Taiwan—. In my view, it matter revolves not about who governs the island of Taiwan but who governs the sea lanes and underwater assets controlled therefrom. If China, huge negative consequences to the free world, to Vietnam, to the Philippines and to the US. No, this isn’t Hong Kong redux. Think again. Thanks
Keep on hacking, Caitlin. That’s a very powerful path you are walking on, aligning your values with how you earn a living. Inspiring!
The good news is that capitalism has been dying since the late 90s (I think the focus on driverless cars and space travel are about how they are trying to reinvent and resuscitate capitalism).
We are now in the times of post-capitalism — whichever way that’s going to go. Yanis Varoufakis has been saying lately that we’re moving towards techno-feudalism. Currently three corporations own or control 90% of the companies on the NYSE. Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates and the like are moving towards turning us all into serfs again, like the way things were at the dawn of capitalism a few centuries ago.
Capitalism is a big problem — a big impediment to creating a better world for the 99%.
It’s funny I have vacationed in both Florida and Cuba. In Cuba, I found the service and wait staff warm, inviting, friendly and very happy. (even though they have put up with the courage of COMMUNISM!) (Sarcasm)
In Flordia (yes most folks were friendly) but there was always an air disconsolation with service and wait staff (as if it was bad and they were resigned to it). Whenever I said thank you their answer always was ‘UH HUH’ never ‘You’re Welcome’.
I do my very best to NOT be a consumer and I try to share with outs as much as I can.
Today finally I have become a ‘Caitlin monthly contributor’ – for one simple reason, Caitlin articulates so much of what so many of us feel with such prolific astounding precision and guile. Logic dictates this kind of effort must be financially supported. 🙂
oops that was meant to read with others not outs
Caitlin, I LOVE YOU! 🙂
Nice voice but, “no comprenda”, on the language.; probably doesn’t matter on a personal level, I’ve slept maybe 12 hours in as many days. Something very vague seems about to wash over our civilization with the force of a tsunami, but I don’t know what, but doubtless, it’s not water. Well, good luck to you.
It’s not about to.
is the nature of ingrates to return evil for good: and the moralists in all ages have incessantly declaimed against the enormity of this crime, concluding that they who are capable of hurting their benefactors, are not fit to live in a community; being such, as the natural ties of parent, friend, or country, are too weak to restrain within the bounds of society. Indeed, the sin of ingratitude is so detestable, that, as none but the most inhuman temper can be guilty of it, so, in writing to men, there is no occasion to use many words, either in exposing the vice itself, or dissuading people from the commission of it.
Therefore it is not likely that a person of Aesop’s sagacity would have compiled this fable, without having something else in view, besides this trite and obvious subject. He certainly intended to put us in mind, that as none but a poor silly clown would go to take up a Snake and cherish it, so we shall be very negligent and ill-advised, if, in doing good offices, we do not take care to bestow our benevolence upon proper objects. It was not at all
unnatural in the Snake to hiss, and brandish his tongue, and fly at the first that came near him; as soon at the person that saved his life as any other; indeed more likely, because nobody else had so much to do with him. Nor is it strange at any time to see a reprobate fool throwing his poisonous language about, and committing his extravagancies against those, more especially, who are so inadvertent as to concern themselves with him. The Snake and the reprobate will not appear extraordinary in their malevolence: but the sensible part of mankind cannot help thinking those guilty of great indiscretion, who receive either of them into their protection.
Please apply Occam to Aesop. Get some sleep, dude. If the world comes crashing down, you want to be well rested to enjoy the show.
This song is about a toxic relationship, nations can have them too.
On her way to work one morning
Down the path alongside the lake
A tender-hearted woman saw a poor half-frozen snake
His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew
“Oh well,” she cried, “I’ll take you in and I’ll take care of you”
“Take me in, oh tender woman (come on in)
Take me in, for heaven’s sake (come on in)
Take me in tender woman,” sighed the snake
She wrapped him up all cozy in a coverture of silk
And then laid him by the fireside with some honey and some milk
Now she hurried home from work that night, as soon as she arrived
She found that pretty snake she’d taken in had been revived
“Take me in, oh tender woman (come on in)
Take me in, for heaven’s sake (come on in)
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake
Now she clutched him to her bosom, “You’re so beautiful,” she cried
“But if I hadn’t brought you in, by now you might have died”
Now she stroked his pretty skin again and then kissed and held him tight
But instead of saying thanks, that snake gave her a vicious bite (oh…)
“Take me in, oh tender woman (come on in)
Take me in, for heaven’s sake (come on in)
Take me in, tender woman,” sighed the snake
“I saved you,” cried that woman
“And you’ve bit me even, why?
And you know your bite is poisonous and now I’m gonna die”
“Oh shut up, silly woman,” said that reptile with a grin
“You knew damn well I was a snake before you brought me in”
“Please take me in, oh tender woman (come on in)
Take me in, for heaven’s sake (come on in)
Take me in tender woman,” sighed the snake
Sighed the snake
“Take me in, tender woman” (come on in)
Sighed the snake, sighed the snake
“Take me in, tender woman”
Sighed the snake
This poem has (again) has denigrated a whole species — just as the bible, and all three monotheisms, use the snake as a symbol of evil and cruelty. There are many species that survive, either to protect themselves or procure food. They are not evil nor malign: it is just the way they have evolved to survive.
I suggest the readers of this poem read “The Snake” by D.H. Lawrence for a balanced appreciation of the natural world.
the big diff is between share and take.
for a long long while we’ve lived under take. now the planet is telling us, even if our religions are not, heaven is really supposed to be on Earth after our birth;
not one you have to die for after our lives here on Earth..
maybe life is a tryout or maybe it’s own reward.
give me liberty from want, yeah, and make sure you include freedom from take.
to each, from each, accordingly. make no mistake.
i think: you’re doing the right thing. get a good grrrl award, right life living. such as zen. then put a few of these pieces together and make it a book. employ the book stores, the printers, and make them happy and also make money. a lot of it is addictive, but money is a tool.
careful there, making money is not exactly the same as taking it. so i believe telling the truth is more important than anything. and you, we here, all of us, seem to be trying that also. we share.
e.g., jesus said, “the poorest are dearest to me.” and so the Gazans, e.g., would be; and his church remains silent since Islam is not only poor it has rich and none of it believes what we do most likely no. Net-man-yahoo becomes Hitler, the jews, zion for sure, become nazis and the new jews are living in Gaza under fire and brimstone.
no one is dear and no one can share. the poor are not pure and the rich are oblivious to their own cruelty.
truth was the one time source and reason to call it the holy land and now the truth is totally dead…unless you count the babies killed in their bed.
so far from an answer…spelled share.
I agree with Caitlin: “we wind up ruled by greedy sociopaths because money is power and money rewards sociopathy.” But we are not doomed to financial slavery forever. Many liberators realized that criticizing capitalism and plutocracy achieves nothing, so they resorted to terrorism. But Yeshua, whose name means Liberator in Hebrew, explained how a minority of honest, alert, educated and skilled people can indirectly precipitate the downfall of the evil empire. He instructed His followers to withdrawn financial support and cooperation in state crimes against humanity. Read more of this here: http://www.wisdompage.com/2013%20Articles/Molyneaux%20essay.pdf
Yeah me and Yeshua are screaming in the wind and posting a list on our fridge about boycotting Israel and the rest of them. Meanwhile, the kunlangeta tired and no longer active old fart keeps spewing his wisdom, which ought be evident ain’t based on nothing other than kunlangeta getting nothing done. Sitting in a hut and slowly dying of old age and inactiveness. You admit it upfront so can you deny it?
~
I don’t give a flip in the 21st century what some Yeshua, regardless of what his name means, said to some Hebrews pertaining to minorities cause seems to me it is all a bunch of kunlangeta hot air. I take stock in what is happening on the ground and I’m tired of babies dying and children starving. I’m tired of Gaza and Yemen suffering of innocence. I’m tired of all the BS. Are you? If so, come out directly and proclaim it.
~
I think when it comes to Liberty and liberating things that justice must be served and I think the time for Justified Retribution is at hand and the time is now.
~
There are some who admit defeat but still try to spew wisdom from the Ivory Tower, and why would anybody listen to them? There are some who are ready to fight and they will fight with all they have, and please count me amongst them. I’m an active fighter and I won’t give up and I’ll take that to me grave cause I ain’t no kunlangeta.
~
We need kunlangetas but we don’t need any insight from anybody who declares themselves from the get go as tired and no longer active cause you must know if that is how you are then you already are a lost cause and you have no wisdom to share. Change your name if you want to be in the game, but otherwise go away quietly. Maybe you fought the good fight, maybe not. Stop telling those of us fighting about all your wisdom cause the fight is still on big time and you did not stop it, so now it is up to those of us who came after you who maybe have some wisdom beyond your ability to sense. Get a clue please and try to help the fighters and stop spewing your nonsense.
~
52421813pm
… “the fight is still on big time” and venomous retribution will bring peace to the planet my Lord?
And the probability of peace, sir and/or ma’am? It is incompatible with civilization and replaced then by but violence in the absence of civilization. Your human birthright is not a pretty thing. Wishing is for the emotional content of children. In the midst of Mr. Buffalo’s rantings and ravings there is a kernel of the truth about how to weed a garden.
Israel: Profile of a Terror State
By Donald Monaco, May 23, 2021
Israel’s crimes against the people of Palestine reveal a record of barbarism and cruelty unmatched in the modern world except for the unrivaled chronical of suffering resulting from murderous wars perpetrated by U.S. imperialism in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Nicaragua, and beyond.
And India, whose barbarism on the people of occupied Kashmir is as cruel as the abov cited cases.
Can you hear me applauding? !
“Because money is power and money rewards sociopathy, we wind up ruled by greedy sociopaths… I’d like to see for humanity going forward: a world where we’re not stepping on each other… collaborating with each other and with our ecosystem out of intrinsic motivation toward the common good of all beings.”
In the human jungle here on Planet Earth, the purportedly evolved bipeds that think They are the real King of the Beasts are a fundamentally unhealthy mix of creatures. We have the pleasant house cat (person) living in the same room with the vicious mongrel (person or group). We have the docile cow and deer (people) living shoulder-to-shoulder with large beasts with great big teeth (groups of predator people) that are itching to devour the innocents and tear them limb from limb. In short, we have billions of people on the Earth who have no logical or sensible or even moral reason to be living next to each other. The Givers and the Takers. The Evolved and the Devolved. The Admirable and The Abominable. The Angels-In-Training and The Devils-In-Practice. The people who want the best for themselves and the Human Family and those who live solely to use, abuse, dominate, humiliate, and crush the life force out of the all others.
Can a more humane system exist for humans? As an aspiration… as a hope for Humanity… and as a dream to be striven for in life… sure we can have a more human way of living with and sharing an economy with others. BUT… not as long as we have an unhealthy mixture of creatures living side-by-side with each other.
The best we can achieve under this current unhealthy and toxic mix of human misery shoved together (and billions more on the way) is that groups of like-minded people can come together and build self-contained communities that seek the welfare and benefit and prosperity of all of its members set away from all those who seek to prey upon them. Will that solve all the problems? Of course not. People are people. And People are flawed beings who aren’t always motivated to overcome the defects in their nature and character. But trying to live together on a smaller scale and at least trying to find people that share some foundational ideas of trying to live the Golden Rule and working to improve one’s self and the larger group is a start.
A Wise One said that we should ‘Live IN the World but not OF it’. One way is to get the hell away from those who only seek your demise.
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/05/23/vt-blockbuster-exclusive-why-israel-surrendered-to-hamas-smuggled-horror-video/?mc_cid=5748c6697e&mc_eid=7ffdc3ce6d
May I suggest you tend a very objective eye to Veteran’s Today. I followed them for years until they began straying quite off in left field to the point of ridiculous.
In the article you referenced, while the portrayal/subject is tragic regardless, I find it curious how well edited and collaborating the sound track was for an alleged “smuggled” video. Just saying. Can’t ever forget we are dealing with psychotic word master contaminants
across the board.
And while they can look impressive, petrol bombs aren’t that effective against armoured vehicles and well-equipped security forces. If they were, many governments around the world would have been toppled long ago.
We need to up our game.
Caitlin is quite right to condemn the simpletons who accuse her (or anybody) for using “capitalist” tools to fight capitalism. One of the essential dicta of socialism is that we do not operate under conditions of our own choosing. We must conduct our fight under the conditions in which we actually live, and must use the tools available to us under those conditions to advance our cause. Only people who do not have the intellectual capacity to realize this make this accusation. End of.
Caitlin, you are an awesome human (plus all the other things you Do). Thank you for coming to me. I honor you and wish for your continued …er…uh… sharing (?).
Much love and appreciation.
Well articulated. It also brings to mind that we keep raising the bar on people such that in order to participate in society, there is immense pressure for greater participation in materialism. It is far far harder for someone to truly ‘drop out’ today than it was even 30 years ago. Today, internet connectivity, a smart phone, access to a computer, a vehicle, direct deposit, and credit cards are simply ‘table stakes’ to be able to participate in the most basic functions of this society.
I’ve been living deep in the woods for the last 20 years and don’t find it that difficult to imagine a coherent alternative to capitalism. Everything we need is in place except it is all going in the wrong direction, away from care. Retrieve your imagination that the system has been trying to destroy. Money is not complicated, that complexity is used to hide the truth. “The problem of the modern economy is not a failure of a knowledge of economics; it’s a failure of a knowledge of history. Do not be alarmed by simplification, complexity is often a device for claiming sophistication, or for evading simple truths.” J K Galbraith. What we need to do is change the money system from private to public, not that it fixes everything but it would make everything fixable. Understanding the role of money is important, don’t let superstition keep you in the dark.
Agree conditionally. If the concept is Modern Monetary Theory, then I think it is naive.
~
BK
524211213
Catlin, thanks – another thought provoking article. I argue in support of capitalism many times, and I try to define which aspects of ‘capitalism’ I respect and support. Crony capitalism, that version of capitalism that involves government, is not the one I support. Free market capitalism, i.e. capitalism without government involvement, is the version I do support.
Interestingly enough, free market capitalism, in the United States, may have only been found in colonial and pioneer days, days when government had no control over business. For example, in the early days of Auburn, NY, local businessmen believed they needed a new mill, so they gather together the money needed, and one year later the mill was built and operational. Government was NOT involved at any level at all. In today’s crony capital world, you could not fund and create that operational mill in one year’s time. Big business and its intense government regulations would simply prevent any small business efforts like that to happen. Sad, eh?
The solution to the crony capitalism problem, in my opinion, only comes about when government controls go away. Humans need freedom, not regulation. That means no more communism, and about 90% less government involvement in our lives. Can we do it? I may not live long enough to see the wealthy and powerful families in America be shut out of the governing process, but that’s what needs to happen. In my opinion.
Agreed. Wholeheartedly.
~
BK
time stamp: 524211212
All capitalism is vile and evil. I work for its overthrow every day of my life and always will.
Well that is all fine and good but lets distinguish between capitalism of the large gubment sponsored corporations versus capitalism amongst local citizens just trying to trade their goods. Maybe there should be another name for local folks just trying to make a living and selling their trade goods to nearby communities for the benefit of all.
~
Do you see the difference between these two things?
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Maybe one of them needs a new name so as to avoid confusion amongst the socialists. The socialist have great ambitions but they never seem able to reach them, so maybe needs to be a new name for that as well. What do you think Carolyn?
~
Because this confusion has caused a lot of unnecessary harm and delay in achieving common objectives that we all want to happen. Kropotkin espoused taking away from those who were making goods that were wasteful socially speaking and I agree with him in his time, but nowadays I think we need to be a bit more sophisticated to achieve the objectives that we all share collectively.
~
Can you agree with this or are you a forever unsatisfied socialist?
~
That is a serious question, so please respond with graciousness if you can cause it was queried with no bad intent, but rather, it was asked as if we were sitting together at the Table of Peace. I want you there if you can attend.
~
Peace,
BK
Very good, John … We call what you’re talking about “Utopian Capitalism”, or “Libertarian Capitalism”, or even “Randian Capitalism” … Good luck!
Lets call it Libertarian Capitalism. I like that. Thanks Victor – I consider you an internet friend.
~
I want to be able to make something that I have worked my whole life to learn to make and I want to be able to sell or barter (barter is better if you must know) what I make with neighbors who have likewise learned to make things that we all need to survive day-to-day.
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Our lives might be humble and they might be simple, but we all would make things and we all would feel good about our neighbors and barter with each other to make everyone’s life a bit better. It would be so easy in the modern age and it is gonna happen. I feel it in my bones and it gives me joy to realize this.
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Imagine that if you can.
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Neighbors live close by, they are not across oceans, and they have neighborly needs and all neighbors in this dream land I’m imagining would take care of each other because that would be in everyone’s interest. It is so simple it is in our DNA and it ought be evident. What is the hold up of taking care of your neighbor and vice versa I ask? What is keeping this from happening? It just makes too much sense.
~
So simple I could spit it at your face.
You have hit the nail on the head here. Alexander Dugin alludes to similar goals. True options are never offered up lest the masses choose wisely. Most simply have no conception that the world could be organized in any manner other than those proffered.
NN
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Thanks.
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Lets proffer up something better if we can. Lets do it. Lets let the proffering be out there on the airwaves and free for all. How about that proffer?
~
Shall we? Lets.
BK
52621744pmest
A poem..
proffer up what you can proffer what is proper and correct
~
don’t tell me bout your supposed rights just proffer up something works for both of us
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you got your rights I got mine, but when you proffer it up it makes me feel all good and warm
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you proffer yours and I’ll proffer mine. At the table of peace so much is proffered up it is almost as if we are living in a dream land of proffering, but it is the Table of Peace and you would be amazed at what can happen!
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Peace is easy and this poem is over but it ain’t nothing like the poem by DH Lawrence and goodness gracious me that poem about a snake had my heart all a flutter….I would of proffered it up to the snake but no chance for that now was there?
~
end of poem
BK
52621750pm est
Sounds like profferteering. And off to the punitentiary.
By the way NN, I’m gonna start something new here that I think will be fun. I’m gonna start commenting on the image that folks posting here have to present themselves.
~
So I will tell you this.
~
Your eyes seem crossed but I like them nonetheless. your arms are balanced and I appreciate that. You smile, if one could call it that, seems like it could eat me up, and I like that as well.
~
Goodness Gracious me. I think I like you NN. I consider you an internet friend on the quick.
~
Some friends last and some don’t. Consider Victor for example, just to be a bit mean about it, and Vic will appreciate this. I consider him a serious friend who understands metaphorical sentiment and ain’t that all we got when we type on the internet in the land of bits ands bytes.
~
So just like the nydick, you don’t always agree with your friends, but if you decide somebody is your friend, then you understand that.
~
Some of my friends from this place, or those I thought might be friends have departed, but guess what, even though I’m not a psy-op it is easy to find them cause it just sort of happens. Happened to me just yesterday. Saw some posts from Newton Finn and somebody else who used to post here more often.
~
Funny how things are so connected and how small the world really is when you think deep down.
~
I proffer that idea up for consideration. It is not hard to trade with you neighbors especially when the gubment realizes it is in its own interest to mind its business which ain’t the business of local transactions amongst folks just trying to make a living.
~
Lets make it happen.
~
BK
52621806
won’t be proofing this message…figure out the typos for yourself….your damn straight I got an attitude, but you can rely on the goods I plan on selling in the not too distant future. I proffer them up.
There will be future moniker image comments and i proffer that up in lieu of the goofy long-winded ranting and raving of mine I had ready to go with a click… I dismissed it in a heartbeat and didn’t look back. I proffer that up as well.
~
BK
52621842pm
ps – come on – really – lets make it happen!
Khatika too is gone it seems. Into the ether.
Capitalism seems to require a lot of regulation by governments and other state institutions, including powerful agencies of coercion — armies, cops, secret police, surveillance, legislators, lawyers, etc. etc. etc. By ‘capitalism’ I don’t mean any old private enterprise, but the dominant form in the developed world: a ruling or leading class which lives by the possession and control of capital, who extract value from a working class, people who have to work for capitalists for a living, or think they do. Cronies? Sure — birds of a feather flock together.
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People could organize themselves in different ways. Socialism and communism would be great but they would require people to take responsibility for themselves, their neighbors, and their environment, and most people seem to want bosses instead. Bosses and tribes. And so that’s what they get.
@John Sutherland — you seem to have your own version of how capitalism developed in the US. Back in the early colonization and pioneer days, corporations only existed when the gov’t gave them a charter to exist. They could only exist if they were providing a necessary good to the community, or their charter would be revoked. Fast forward a couple centuries and it’s the corporations (through campaign funding) that control the gov’t.
Capitalism is the problem, not the type of capitalism. You don’t need capitalism to buy and sell things. Don’t need capitalism to have free markets. Don’t need capitalism to make stuff. It is very efficient in helping the rich getting richer — but not so good for the 99% and the Earth in general.
Stephan Borau:
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You got one big eye in the middle (almost) with one pupil and some rather large lips painted up nicely. Big brain on your head but it has no skull. Your arms ain’t really balanced cause one is shorter than the other. The shorter one however is higher up relatively speaking in regards to the direction of the brain matter. Your legs look sweet to me in my imagination……….ha, ha. I like balancing on my toes or my heels if need be.
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I appreciate your comment, but lets not get lost or caught up in semantics. I think your point is truly very similar to the on made by @John Sutherland…….so again, please. Lets not fall into the trap the “left” so-to-speak always seems to do when there is too much chatting – that being getting lost in the semantics, when in reality most of us pretty much agree. Semantics are critically important, but we all define words in meaning and context a little different when they are nothing more than bits and bytes. Better to be at the Table.
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I think many agree on what is wrong and what direction things ought move towards for a better future for both us and future generations. Plus, not sure you are correct regarding Charters given back there in the 16th, 17th, and other centuries. I mean seriously, give me a list of revoked charters to back up what your saying if you don’t mind. I think the list would be short, or it would only include entities interfering with the agenda of the “few” who really could give a flip about the community supposedly being provided with the goods they needed to live a life of dignity.
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Anyhow, we know the situation now with respect to Corporations, which truly are NOT ALIVE. So lets start making changes so that even they remember whom they are subservient to in the end if they hope to survive and contribute. At the end of the day, they are subservient to the People. When things are local this is evident for all.
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Lets make it happen shall we sweet legged one?
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Peace,
BK
527211027est
Just to close the loop on this, I want to change an itty bit of my text above. Here is the change.
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“…….in the end if they hope to continue and contribute.”.
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Only living things “survive”. Inanimate things, like river rocks, continue. So for the sake of semantics, I proffer up that correction. Please note it and I’m not a robot either.
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527211050
Commendable, Caitlin, and as you say most people cannot do that. I think people beat them selves up imagining they are practicing capitalism when they are not practicing capitalism at all. Capitalists practice capitalism. A plumber with a truck full of tools who has a hired assistant, for instance is not a capitalist nor is he practicing capitalism, he is practicing free enterprise. Yes, we have an economy we call capitalism because it is dominated by the capitalists who are parasites on free enterprise. They do that with their debt-money system. The creation of money exclusively as debt is the critical, destabilizing flaw in the world’s economy because it concentrates wealth systematically, requires economic growth or it crashes, and pushes predatory competition. This debt-money system has severe psychological consequences for society which include individualistic non-cooperation and unethical behavior. It is usury, the abuse of monetary authority for personal gain, it is the sin of sins, the progenitor of the 7 deadly sins. Money is about governance which is why the wealthy capitalists want to control it for their own capitalist interests, capitalist interests not in plumber’s interests, not in a shop-keepers interest, not even in a factory owner’s interest. Capitalism is the private control of money for profit, its not fixing someone’s sink for a few dollars..
Um, I like to be the plumber in my own home, but when I need a professional to get a job done, then I call the professional to do the job. I’ve worked hard most of my life dealing with environmental regulations and other total gubment BS like this but after awhile you learn how the “system” works and then you try to get advantage I suppose or maybe you just go off to be by your lonesome.
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That is why I dropped out of it cause I felt in my heart how impersonal and inhumane it was all becoming. It just seemed to be getting worse and worse and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I dropped out of it all after a lifetime of hard working and learning about environmental regulations. If you want somebody to help you get out of an environmental regulatory quandary then maybe I could help you. Check out my website if you want to know more. No link will be provided. Regardless, and I mean that, the beauty is I have no debts. I own my home. I own my vehicles. I ain’t a rich person, but I have no debts. Get out of debt and then you are free more than you might ever hope to be. Then you can post messages on websites such as this.
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If Jefferson was alive today this is what I think he would say and I’ll try to keep it simple.
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I loved all the ladies I loved and I still love them and I love all the children and their children – black and white and all color inbetween. I love all the good things that we made happen, I loved it when it was happening, but I don’t love what the country we thought we were founding has turned into. I think it is a travesty. It is full of shame – way more shame then I have been accused of.
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Take out the CIA first and the other intelligence agencies is what I think ought happen, but I’m sitting here in my grave as the 3rd President remembering all the things I loved. I know I was wrong about so many things, I know I shouldn’t have had slaves. I know the whole idea of slavery is in contrast to the many other ideas of my high-imagination, but I lived in my time the best I could and I hope you do the same. Seems to me some blood needs to be spilled on the tree of Liberty, but maybe my 20 year timeframe was naive. Maybe it takes longer for blood to boil. Hells-bells I know I could be wrong about that and add it to the list. Did you ever meet Washington up close? What an obstinate asshole he was. I suggest you study up on Madison, he was a friend of mine, and in Virginia, when we make friends, we help each other out.
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Now go study some history and do it with humanity is what I think. Do it while we still have some time, and then together, we will teach the psychopaths one at a time what it means to love something more than you love yourself.
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Did you ever see Madison’s wife? She was something else.
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Good ideas only die when good People lose touch with what it is that makes them what they are and what they were and the less gubment the better is what Jefferson would say and Madison as well. Just leave us alone and let us grow the crops they naively thought.
Oh to be in the18th century, but maybe things haven’t changed much really. Just like then there are a bunch of pompous ones who think they pull all the strings.
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So how about we move on past 20th century thinking and start dreaming about a better future? How about that or are you still filled with angst associated with the troubles from the past? My advice is that you move on from that. Learn or Die.
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BK
524211245
A plumber with a truck full of tools may not be capitalist, depending on definitions, but a water company probably is, and for most of us, one presupposes the other. A plumber’s business, capitalist or not, depends on capital.
But capital does not have to be held by private individuals.
Capital is a taking of the universal. Who takes it, or how it is taken, does not address the manner in which it is taken.
This is unrelated to Caitlin’s post today, but it’s a story Western mainstream media have been making much of, and it caught my eye.
Belarus recently forced down a plane travelling in its airspace, and arrested a Belarusian journalist, Roman Protasevich, who was on board. There has since been an outcry from Western leaders, who have called it state-sponsored terrorism, demanded a forceful and unified European response, and even claimed the passengers’ lives were somehow endangered.
I’m not condoning or supporting what Belarus has done, but the Western outrage is a sharp and telling contrast to the reaction when a plane carrying the Bolivian president was forced down in Vienna, in a very similar manner, because it was thought Edward Snowden was on board. Did these same Western voices scream ‘international terrorism’ then? Likewise, did the head of NATO protest the US ‘extraordinary rendition’ program, in which people were kidnapped from various countries and flown to torture centres, including Guantanamo Bay? I think in both cases the answer is no.
What about the contrast is speaks to regarding the dignified Mr. Craig Murray and of course Julian Assange.
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The hypocrisy is so blatantly obvious any hesitation on justified retribution is washing away amongst those who care about future generations.
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Eat that up and think about Ian and thanks for you comment. It is appreciated.
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BK
524211111
I see Glenn Greenwald is making more or less the same point.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/as-anger-toward-belarus-mounts-recall
From Greenwald’s article:
“The dangers of forcing down airplanes in order to arrest someone who is suspected to be on that plane are manifest. The danger increases, not decreases, as more countries do it.
But no journalist, especially Western ones, should be publishing articles or broadcasting stories falsely depicting Sunday’s incident as an unprecedented assault that could be perpetrated only by a Russian-allied autocrat. The tactic was pioneered by the very countries who today are most vocally condemning what happened. Any reporting of this story that excludes this vital history and context in favor of a false narrative of this being “unprecedented” — as is true of the vast majority of Western media reports about what Belarus did — does a grave disservice to both journalism and the truth. If it is outrageously dangerous and criminal to force the downing of a plane to arrest the passenger Roman Protasevich, then it must be equally dangerous and criminal to do the same in an attempt to arrest suspected passenger Edward Snowden.”
I think this captures it.
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Truth has been so offended, Lady Libra, who holds the scales, has decided. Let there be blood and let be the blood of those who dare to enter the cave of zero and infinity. Let my friends eat them up one at a time..
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I don’t know about you Ian, but I don’t mess with Lady Libra and nor do I mess with Lady Liberty. I love the ladies and I love when they share their love with me.
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Ha, ha.
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Internet friend or not Ian?
Ha, ha. (that was rhetorical…..
BK
524211203
Hey Ian, didn’t see the dignified Mr. Craig Murray’s name there, he is a lover of his homeland Scotland, nor did I see Julian Assange’s name, so if you thought you were posting a get out of jail link, what you posted don’t cut it.
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You see I was falsely accused at this place, and yet, I contribute nonetheless because I believe in good discourse.
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It is high time Julian Assange was released from prison for speaking truth to power and it is high time to stop those who think they are pulling all the strings cause we know already and we are getting more and more pissed off as the absurdity of it continues day after day.
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My advice for those who think they are “elite” is to take a look in the mirror and afterwards give up everything you have cause it ain’t gonna get you any sort of salvation and the peasants already know this so what is taking you elite m-effers so long to learn?
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Justified Retribution is not a concept to be taken trivially. So eat that up Ian.
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If I was forced to vote who was the “psy-op” between myself and you, you know how I would vote don’t you? Plus, ……….oh screw it.
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Ian, tell us something about yourself. I know your mom was a bridge master, and I know you appreciated my Boston Massacre picture, reminded you of something happened in England (Peterloo massacre I think it was), but besides that I don’t know much about you other than how smart you are.
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So come on Ian. Tell us something about yourself, and if you don’t mind, have you contributed to this site? I have. I’m a contributor but not necessarily a patron. I might be later, but time will tell.
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Come on Ian – tell us what you know.
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BK
524211158
I think for many, many whose thoughts wisely remain within, if the plight of Julian Assange continues in the same direction, and he as well as the dignified Mr. Craig Murray, who best I can tell has nothing but love for his home country, continues upon the same trajectory, then I think those who quietly hold onto their wisdom will unleash some justified retribution upon those perpetuating suffering of innocence, and if you think this though has malice, then you fail to understand what it means to cause no harm.
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Soon, the Table of Peace will be set and then shortly thereafter, after a time of transition, peace will become the new narrative, and who could have a problem with that?
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Establish peace first, and then fruit and bounty won’t be far behind especially since those who want peace have learned the hard lessons of suffering in the 20th century and we will know when somebody, individuals…one at a time….are acting in a way to keep peace and Mutual Aid from happening.
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We will find you, you will be exposed, and peace will happen with or without you. So my advice it to get with game cause we ain’t living in the 20th century any more are we?
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BK
524211924
Here is another link I think matters.
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A link provided with respect is is awaiting prison time and at some point the unfairness of everything needs to get some sunshine. One thing at a time, and a present this link of somebody I respect, but if I was alive when Biko got killed then I’d be up in flames about that is well.
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https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/05/eu-states-combined-to-force-down-snowden-flight/
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The hypocrisy is so obvious we totally know and we will track you down one at a time those of you perpetuating this suffering of innocence. We will hunt you down, we will trap you in a corner, and you will learn about justice up close and personal.
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Not playing around.
BK
524211922
Caitlin, you most often put all your capitalist eggs in one basket. Just because a system allows the creation of monsters does not mean the system is monstrous. Socialism has proven itself to be capable of the very same level of monstrosity, or worse. When one endorses government, which is founded on the notion that they and they alone have authority to kill you if you don’t go along, one has endorsed the creation of Psychopaths In Charge. The sane do not even consider such authority to be valid. That very same government is also guilty of the creation of corporations, which have a similar end effect, and are indeed partners in their crimes. If I am very good at making chairs, and you are very good at raising goats, why should we not exchange chairs for goat meat, or milk? Both of us benefit. The fault in all forms of government resides in violent force. Without which government cannot exist. If I’m forced to make chairs, and provide them to whomever, no one benefits. Charity disguised as entitlement is not beneficial to either party. Governments have stolen our humanity, by replacing our charity/sympathy/ compassion etc. with the largesse of stolen property handed out to “voters”. By corporations pretending to be charitable to increase their market share, quite often “charity” for profit. The Gates foundation comes to mind. The individual is the smallest and most abused minority. Without the innovation of individuals, whether in product, philosophy, consciousness, or spirituality, etc.no advance is made. Collectivism drives us to the lowest common denominator, and when one realizes that half the people you meet are below average intelligence, improvement in any aspect of life becomes unlikely. Without the opportunity to excel, excellence doesn’t happen. Collectivism is what we all currently suffer. By threat of death. Your method of funding requires you to put forth a product that people deem worthy of financing. Without that motive, you may as well put forth your daydreams while sitting on the toilet. You, Caitlin, are an individual who is capable of putting forth such product. Should you be penalized for it by being collectivized?
I reject your premise stated thusly: “When one endorses government, which is founded on the notion that they and they alone have authority to kill you if you don’t go along, one has endorsed the creation of Psychopaths In Charge.”
If, instead, the premise is that governments were initially founded as a means of mutual defense, then it becomes more easily seen as beneficial. The band of ancients bonded together to keep roving animals and humans from taking animals they have kilt for their food, from taking the grain they have harvested to provide for the lean times of winter, to assure that all of them working together can provide for all. Then no one needs the authority to kill. And if they have no need for authority other than to recognize the dangerous psychopath amongst them, they have kunlangeta.
Frank,
I want to thank you personally for teaching me today. It has made it a good day for me cause I learned something.
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I think kunlangeta is a most important concept and I’m happy to discover today there is a word for it, but at the same time, there are some of us who ain’t gonna sit around and watch it all come tumbling down. If you want to be a hermit practicing kunlangeta then do it I suppose, but don’t cast no judgement upon those of us who are willing to fight. We have family that we love.
~ https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/submission/5418/KUNLANGETA
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Perhaps the kunlangetas have got an important message to send, but too many of them and then what happens next? Don’t ask a kunlangeta this question because they will not understand. They just sit around in ivory towers and huts and feel all smart and such and don’t make much of any way change for the better, so what good are they those of us who want to be collective inquire amongst ourselves as we ponder the future?
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Love is the bottom line and……..love is the bottom line.
524211134
LOVE
Protection, of property and freedom is the only valid ethical purpose of government. The instant it departs that and starts “regulating behavior”, with the threat of violence, it loses any ethical foundation, and inevitably becomes tyrannical. Sane people have no desire to do such to their neighbors, and so psychopaths take over. Unfortunately, it appears that they just can’t remain within that boundary. They insist upon using the same force they use against the Mongol horde against their own people. The point missed is that all the evils attributed to capitalism are in fact the product of government that has escaped that boundary. That is quite prepared to steal the product of the individual capitalist, which is no threat at all to the general welfare. In fact, one can only gain from free enterprise is by providing a product or service that people need or want, at a price they are willing and able to pay, at a level of quality and responsibility they find acceptable. In other words, by serving their fellow man. Instead we have corporations in league with the government that created them taking such service and the profits thereof for themselves, and all the attendant bribery, of the common person, the corporation, and fellow members of government. Which is the current state of practically all nations.
“all the evils attributed to capitalism are in fact the product of government”
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Capitalism has thrived on such practices as the exploitation of child labour, the payment of starvation wages, and ‘externalising costs’ , ie dumping pollutants into rivers and so on.
While Socialism simply exterminates them, by the tens or hundreds of millions. I condone none of these evils and they can easily be defeated by not buying their products. I would also suggest that the vast majority of such abuse is carried out by corporations, which are a creation of the state and in league with it.
Where I live, and this probably goes for many developing countries, child labour and starvation wages are practised more by small companies such as brick factories than by corporations. (Nearly all capitalist enterprises externalise costs to some extent.) Boycotting bricks effectively means choosing to be homeless.
While I agree with almost all your sentiment regarding “the gubment” what you seem to be expressing regarding “collectivism” strikes me as discordant. I don’t agree with it.
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There is a place for gubment, but any gubment that hopes to last is subservient to the People. It is as simple as that. It is a tool and like all tools can be wielded with proficiency.
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Any tool that takes on a life of its own is a tool to be thrown in the trash bin.
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BK
524211123
In the high-minded rhetoric of the author of the U.S. Constitution:
“… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,…”
That systems of government allow or even encourage the rise of psychopaths to positions of power, where they legislate and dictate the sole authority to kill as their governing principle, then government is an imperfect creation, certainly.
No doubt there was high-minded rhetoric, but sons of bitches been way longer than 20 years since the tree of liberty had some blood spilled for the sake of the future and keeping the gubment in its place. That place being – subservient to the People.
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Simple as that and the effing clock is ticking….
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Boycott Israel and Boycott Saudi Arabia and boycott the companies that make the weapons of war for profit. Boycott the whole lot of em.
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BK
52421143
Great post. If government were a voluntary service organization, instead of a force and violence ridden human control system, I would have no argument against government. But, it isn’t, so I do.
Yeah. We have all had enough of “force” and “violence”.
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Gubment as it exist today is nothing but a tool gone crazy in the minds of some old fools, sort of like Kissinger, upon whose grave I hope we all get a chance to piss on in memory of the 20th effing century.
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Meanwhile, most of my effort will be put forth building new mills to make the goods we need to survive and get better. Slowly but surely.
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BK
524211220
I like the general trend of the article — and if you/we can get there w/o arriving at an insect society – it sounds like a good place.
Robert Frost’s observation:”good fences make good neighbors” – and the reality of non-local communication (ESP, telepathy, etc.) make it sound a tad creepy for someone who thinks solitude is also good for the soul.
A very refreshing and uplifting article/expression. While reading, the following came to mind (from more than 12 years ago): “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix
https://seaclearly.com/2010/10/01/one-love-song-around-the-world/
Most people get by in life with a few sophisms enabling them to discredit interlocutors whose thoughts they don’t have the capability or the willingness to reflect upon because ultimately most people believe what they want to believe and what they want to believe is what’s beneficial to them and makes them feel comfortable. It’s a mere expression of the survival instinct. The rest is justifications. So they forbid you to criticize capitalism because you live by its rules. Yet they’ll also forbid you to criticize their political faction(s) if you DON’T live by their rules, i.e. if you don’t vote. If you refuse to choose between the plague and the cholera proposed to your suffrage, you’re not allowed to criticize either of them – let alone both – or even explain why you refuse this rigged choice having nothing to do with your constitutional right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. If you live in a foreign country, you’re not allowed to criticize your interlocutors’ political faction(s) because you’re a foreigner. They’ll always find a sophism to cancel you instead of debating your thoughts, which is why political debate has turned into a marketing campaign for a boxing match funded by the rich – whom you are not allowed to criticize because you’re not rich. However, as popular wisdom has it, never justify yourself. The people who like you don’t need it and those who don’t won’t listen anyway :o)
(Another fine post……)
Now to be practical about it, from my perspective, is there a way to make a one-time contribution without having to sign up for anything? I ask again, cause I’ve asked this elsewhere – is there a simple button I’m missing? I clicked around anything in this regard.
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I’ve got a few fine one-ounce silver coins (Libertads from Mejico!) worth that I want to send to us as US bucks per today’s spot value (27.8 in the US dollar as I type), but I don’t want to sign up for anything. I just want to give you some currency. I want to share some of my hard earned money because I support your message. I appreciate it and I want to contribute, but I’m not interested in any sort of monthly plan in this regard. I’m sick of that business model.
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No need for any response. I’ll figure this out. Either I can send you a one-time no strings attached donation, and I’ll be public about it when I do it, or I can’t. If I can’t, then at least know this. I tried.
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Peace and thanks,
BK
I found the link. Contribution on its way.
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It will be approximately $58 us bucks.
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thanks for all you do…….hard these days to deduce what used to be obvious.
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Peace is easy and thanks again, I found the link. I hope it works.
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BK
52421958
Money has been sent. There was a fee which seemed a tad top-heavy, but money was sent regardless because I’m a man of my word and god knows I ain’t no psy-op. Oh no, I’m a living breathing human being who has been studying my whole life for this moment in time we find ourselves and I need all the internet friends I can get but I ain’t looking for “likes”.
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I’m looking for friends.
BK
524211003
Yeah, I came back to the UK in 2012 after living mainly elsewhere from 1995 on-, knowing that I would get a basic pension and could probably survive. Since the mid-80s I have not worked for money anyway, although I have done many things and worked on and off as a healer since 1970 and group consciousness focaliser, putting music on the back burner except in Spain where I busked and played festivals. Lived with NO MONEY at all for 4 years. You have to get your hands dirty, whether recyling or planting. It’s DOABLE .If you learn about WILD PLANTS you have no fruit and veg bills. Now I’ve got 176 mainly songs on YT and write occasional articles. We just have to find a place/space where we are not performing too many injuries and injustices so we have enough peace of mind/soul amidst the turmoil that we can afford to give it away freely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGJUYaFl4Hk ‘Living Outside the Law’ Ariel 1978
After watching the very funny British sitcoms Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister, I looked up in Wikipedia the actor performing the minister’s role, Paul Eddington, to first discover that he had registered as a consciencious objector and then when asked in a BBC interview how he would like to be remembered (as he was moribund), he replied: “A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it to be, ‘He did very little harm’. And that’s not easy. Most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm. If I could be remembered as having done very little, that would suit me”. I loved that and immediately joined the club :o)
Yeah, I came back to the UK in 2012 after living mainly elsewhere from 1995 on-, knowing that I would get a basic pension and could probably survive. Since the mid-80s I have not worked for money anyway, although I have done many things and worked on and off as a healer since 1970 and group consciousness focaliser, putting music on the back burner except in Spain where I busked and played festivals. Lived with NO MONEY at all for 4 years. You have to get your hands dirty, whether recyling or planting. It’s DOABLE .If you learn about WILD PLANTS you have no fruit and veg bills. Now I’ve got 176 mainly songs on YT and write occasional articles. We just have to find a place/space where we are not performing too many injuries and injustices so we have enough peace of mind/soul amidst the turmoil that we can afford to give it away freely.
I don’t think that was a whole week off, but maybe that’s the point of capitalism, I tend to believe that the real problem is that overall humans appear to be a failed species, sure there’s a lot of nice people in the world, but big deal; what of it? For so long they believed that they were the best that there ever was but now finally, slowly, they’re beginning to realize that even bugs are smarter than humans, but hey. God says we’re the greatest there ever was; who would ever want to argue with that? I know that’s a rather mean evaluation of humans, but isn’t being mean what humans are mostly all about? I hope you enjoyed your days off, but just like Jesus, people hate anything that isn’t pure hate and now thanks to science we know that it isn’t one species, but two, but even that should be ignored, if you sleep with venomous snakes and one day it bites, well blame it on you not the snake.
Why would anyone sleep with a venomous snake?
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I saw a sweet big ole black snake in my yard two days ago and damn after I saw it I knew that was a good omen.
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Still looking for the easy button, but I’ll find it if it exists. Probably it is right in front of my face.
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Incidentally, if the snake had been a copperhead, as we got them round here where I live, I’d of let it be if it wasn’t messing with me, but god knows I would never sleep with it. How foolish is that?
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Black snakes will kill a copperhead in a heartbeat is what I think I may have read on Wikipedia……I like snakes so please don’t denigrate them.
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BK
52421951
Oh and lastly and finally and god knows I got better things to do, but to set the record straight, based on what I just read, black snakes actually don’t kill other snakes. They could care less about copper heads cause there are baby squirrels to be found and consumed.
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Still if it came down to a fight between a black snake and an agitated copperhead (we got them in these hearn parts and they like to keep to themselves), my vote is for the black snake cause it would wrap itself around the copperhead before the venom killed it.
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If the copperhead made a successful strike then they could just both die together, but odds are, the black snake will prevail, so if you are a copperhead – watch out!
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Today’s Poem!
For this very reason, and there must be at least hundreds of variations.
https://youtu.be/ULx9k2QkL94
Funny, if you sleep with a venomous snake then you are playing with the “devil” so to speak and while there might be short term pleasure and hopes of remedy, in the long run we all know the outcome and it is the same old story. I like snakes, but who wants to get bit venomously?
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Here is a better song. It is one of hope for better times.
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https://habibkoite.bandcamp.com/track/nteri
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Habib Koite.