If there are so many conspiracy theories, why is life in the states so good?

a reply to: VoidHawk

That's another thing, we don't have flouride were I live. The vaccine thing is sketchy, do you think they are spiking it with something?

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Working your 9-5 job isn't that much different from slavery.

The difference is in one it's completely voluntary,your paid and you get benefits. The other your forced into work or else physical punishments or in some cases death. Huge #ing difference dude.

a lot of older people fail to realize wages topped out a while ago and now the young working age have college loans on top of that.
For example when my father talks about his early adulthood he made 12/hr in 1990 and it was tough with house payments. This is equivalent to 22/hr nowadays using government data.
he was a construction worker.
A lot of young adults would kill for 22/hr nowadays.

Just a total disconnect. this is before accounting for college loans, highly increased healthcare cost.

Life is difficult and painful at times for everyone but in the first world you can at least overcome most financial difficulties and enjoy a decent standard of living if you have enough focus and determination.

It's important to be aware of the bad stuff that goes on but not so important that it destroys your will to succeed and blinds you to opportunity. Too many people use it as an excuse to not try.

a reply to: areyousirius360

You make a good point that we in the West are so materially and at least nominally free that what have we really a right to complain about with all these wonderful creature comforts.

Good question

a reply to: areyousirius360

Detroit?

a reply to: NateTheAnimator

If you say so. Try to make it without having a job in today's society, you'll have a hard time doing that.

No job? No money. No money? No food or home. No food or home? You'll live a miserable life, and that's not much better than a slave getting whipped for trying to escape his captors. At least with a slave being whipped it was somewhat quick, if you're homeless it's slow and drawn out agony. It's no different from someone being captured and thrown into a slave camp in the middle of a desert. You can leave, but you will have a hard time getting anywhere in the middle of the desert. Just because they give you the option to leave doesn't make you any less of a slave to them.

You go to work and benefit your boss more than you do yourself. They get the biggest slice of the pie while you lick crumbs off the floor. But hey, at least they brush them off for you, right?

Today's society is modern slavery, they've just convinced us it is not. "Take pride in us taking advantage of you", that's their motto and people believe it.

a reply to: areyousirius360

If there are so many conspiracy theories, why is life in the states so good?

Machiavellian tactics. Push them as much as you can, but not enough so they will revolt.

You would be hard pressed to find a Politician or CEO that hasn't studied Machiavellian tactics.

Also while life is great for you and me, I'm fully aware that there are many people and children that are struggling because of actions or inactions of gov't and corporations.

IMO its not about how good the States is compared to other places, but rather what can we do as a nation to further evolve Humanity to the next step.

Sadly I don't think that is on the agenda, but ought to be for a nation to call itself a super power. Especially if we ever want to make it to a Kardashev type 1 civilization and not destroy ourselves.

a reply to: interupt42
The smart ones read sun-tzu, Machiavelli was an exile who failed.

a reply to: areyousirius360

The smart ones read both.

a reply to: areyousirius360

Sounds like you're really enjoying yourself.

What part of the US to you live in?

a reply to: interupt42

I think the lesson in Machiavelli's the prince is fear is more potent than love because love lets you down where as fear is reliable.

My life is great! I'm enjoying retirement at the age of 62 but I realize that not everyone is in the same situation.
We raised our kids and got them educated without loans. We worked multiple jobs to do so. We made financial mistakes when we were young and had to work more than one job to pay for those mistakes. BUT---we learned from those mistakes---we learned that you don't "have to have" anything beyond food and shelter. In the process our children learned that cable tv isn't a "need" but a desire. Same with phones.
Our children are now raising children and educating them. I am thankful on a daily basis that they learned from our mistakes rather than doing the stupid stuff we did just because some advertisement on tv told them they must buy this or that to be a normal human being. At least we taught them that being different from the crowd isn't a bad thing when the crowd is heading over a cliff. They've taught their children to work for the things they desire in life. They've all had jobs since they were old enough to mow a lawn, wash a car or rake leaves.
We also taught them to help those who aren't as fortunate. They were taken to Habitat for Humanity house sites when they were big enough to be "general labor", picking up refuse, fetching and carrying for the skilled workers. They were taken to the local food bank to donate food they had bought with their own money to help those who needed food. These traditions have been handled down to the grandchildren who have helped build houses, plant gardens and provide transportation to veterans who have none. Among other things.
We all know there are bad things happening in the world. We do what we can to combat the nasty stuff and enjoy the love and affections of our family and friends. We work to defeat the bad stuff by creating a lot of good in our local community.

a reply to: TerminalVelocityon the side

Being poor in America means having a place to stay with heat and air conditioning, running water, public schooling, a car, a flat screen TV, a cell phone, clothing, food, etc.

The poor in America live better than the upper and middle class in most of the rest of the world.

It is all relative though. Those of us who have seen real poverty in third world sh*t holes know how good we have it.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1
It seems to me that you have convinced yourself of something, not that people with jobs are misinformed about their situation.
Apparently, simply having a job is considered slavery by you. How is it that you propose supporting yourself without working?
Whether you work for someone else or are self-employed is up to you. You can be the employee or be the boss. That's the difference between society today and slavery. The slave can't change the situation. Citizens can.

Having been in both situations, being the boss/being the employee, I can honestly say that I preferred being the employee because being an employee let me go home and not have to worry about the job. Being the boss did pay more in dollars but wasn't worth the costs involved in time for family.

You aren't in the middle of a desert. You're in one of the most vibrant and exciting societies of all time. Get out there and grab a handful of the opportunity all around you. Never let the bastards get you down!

a reply to: areyousirius360

I'm confident the people dealing with the methane leaks in Ca feel life isn't all rosey.

a reply to: diggindirt

We have all been enslaved to our Corp. Government and owned by the British Crown and the Vatican. But that doesn't mean we always will be. Reset is coming soon. Brace yourselves.

a reply to: areyousirius360

You're probably not crazy, you're probably just very well-adjusted and balanced; in the flow, so to speak. Spread it around!

a reply to: interupt42
To be fair here, anyone who has a college education should have read Machiavelli and many others as well.
Those same tactics could be said to apply to adolescent behavior could they not?
If you have ever had long-term dealings with teenagers you know their favored tactic is to test the absolute boundaries. Some will test them to the point of getting "smacked down" in some way for their aggression. When all admonitions fail, punishment must follow.

It is up to us, the people, to set the agenda. It's why we must on occasion rise up and "smack" the government when they trespass on the rights of the people. They must be shown their boundaries just as that willful teenager must be shown boundaries.