Are people who work at banks "innocent"?

Originally posted by OutKast Searcher


They provide a valid service to those people who wish to use it. If you don't want to use it...don't...if you do...then it is there for you.

It's that little thing we call "freedom".

Oh so now banks provide freedom? Our system is almost set up so you HAVE to have a bank account. And have you ever read the fine print when sign a bankers contract, whether an account, or loan, or whatever? You call that freedom?

The "quality of life" that bank so generously provide for us has been going downhill since the 60s. We have less disposable income than our parents, greatly due to the Fed and illegal banking and investing practices. What are you talking about?

Originally posted by NewlyAwakened
Happy?

No, not until everyone can act like a responsible, loving human being.

External condemnation never helps anyone, as pretty much every great spiritual teacher throughout history, and any decent psychologist or sociologist, can confirm.

Tell that to Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi, Jesus, a million other people who have condemned others actions.

Originally posted by aching_knuckles
Tell that to Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi, Jesus, a million other people who have condemned others actions.

And how did those they condemned react? With their hearts, or with their egos?

If trying to change the world through trying to control others (which category condemnation falls under), versus trying to change oneself, actually worked, we would already be living in paradise. All I see anywhere, especially on boards like these, and threads like these, are people calling each other evil and demanding things of them. Man, if that worked, the world should be perfect by now!

But all I see in response is, predictably, blowback. There is no learning, no understanding, no synthesis, just blowback.

But the leaders you cite, while they may have appeared to condemn like you do in this thread, went about it in a completely different way. Consider:

Who said "Be the change you want to see in the world"? Gandhi
Who said "The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek"? MLK
Who said "Judge not, that ye be not judged"? Jesus

Raising awareness of how a lowly bank teller is helping the corrupt system is, of course, commendable. But doing so by comparing them to Nazis is only going to have the opposite of your intended effect.

People do not change within through coercion. Change within occurs only when a person realizes, on a deep level, a truth. Raising awareness, planting "mental seeds", is the best we can do in a venue like this. Whether those seeds sprout in time depends on the other person (and in part on the quality of the seed).

reply to post by NewlyAwakened


What about Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple? Civil disobedience from MLK and Ghandi? They werent "telling others what to do", they were making the change they wanted to see.

The moneychangers had a little blowback on Jesus as well.
MLK experienced a little blowback, most likely from the CIA.

If people cannot control their reactions and get angry when they hear the truth, thats on them, not me. I agree, it would be peachy if everyone would just do it themselves, but for some reasons, most humans need a kick in the ass to get going, and even then they usually quit before they start.

Regardless, if you want to discuss that, lets start a new thread on it.

As far as Nazi comparisons, why is everyone so bent out of shape? You arent allowed to compare anybody against the measuring stick of evil? I see it as a valid comparison because 1) they are ignorant, and believe what they are doing is "right" and "just" 2) they all use the excuse "im just following orders/procedures" and think its ok (where the original comparison came from) 3) they are ruining society through their actions.

Would it make everyone feel all warm inside if I compared them to Nazis that stole invaluable artwork instead of Nazis that shot people?

reply to post by aching_knuckles


first of all you need to come up with showing Jesus was a real person. Your reading of the bible, a book written by some guys, is a fictional tome.

Don't you think your exagerating somewhat?

...@ aching_knuckles - rough crowd, huh?...

...last night, i participated in a thread where the op was shocked that someone's previous behavior mattered in a current incident...

...i thought - well, there ya go, thats a big chunk of whats wrong with society and why our government is so out of control... too many refuse to look back on the past to see how we got here or they want to pretend they didnt help get us here or it wasnt their fault cuz they were just trying to survive...

...deflections, excuses, rationalizations - used em myself in countless situations because sometimes its very hard to admit that you have some responsibilty for where you are and what you did to get there...

...short story...

...everytime i had a baby, my pappaw would ask me "you figure out what caused that yet?"...

...my answer was always the obvious and said with plenty of laughter, even after a 10pounder that made me wanna slap her father so hard his daddy fell down...

...a few days before pappaw died, he asked that question again... i wasnt pregnant nor had i just given birth... in fact, i was no longer capable of either... so, i thought about his motivation for a bit and, then, suddenly it was clear...

...the correct answer had always been "because i chose to go down that road"... he sighed, then said, "finally - better late than never"...

...so, thats my contribution to this thread - except to repost the following wise but very simple truth...

Originally posted by Alethea
by complying, yes, we are helping the corporations. People always have a choice between right and wrong. You can sacrifice your morals and dignity, or you can sacrifice the job and find another one.

Wow peeps is this for real..
They are just as guilty as all of us who use the banks and support them...

reply to post by aching_knuckles


you make an very good point. whilst i would not blame bank tellers, they are indeed the ones enforcing the rules.

it is a hard one, but i disagree with all those that keep saying that they were doing their jobs, they are just trying to make ends meet etc, as pointed out so were a lot of people in history that commited crimes against people, it was not an excuse then.

however at the same time comparing bank tellers to nazi's is a bit far, but i agree they share some responsibility, but not as much as higher ups. but to say they share no responsibility is just excusing ignorance on the employee's part.

if what they are doing is wrong and they are unaware of it but still enforce it, then it is their lack of knowledge and their lack of care in what they are actually doing that is the reason.

if somebody sold fireworks to children because their boss told them they would lose their job if they do not, and it is against the rules, should they be excused because they were just doing their job, or hold to account for selling them to children. if they were unaware that it was wrong to sell to children is that an excuse?

Originally posted by purplemer
Wow peeps is this for real..
They are just as guilty as all of us who use the banks and support them...

maybe read the whole thread before making a statement you think sounds really smart.

The banks are the emodiment of much that is evil.
The psychiatric sicness which is encoded into our monetary and banking system is tainting our entire civilisation with unrealistic,poorly thought out,principles, and values.
The wealth of the civilisation is sufficient that nobody starve or lack for the nessessaries.....
A great redistribution of wealth and resources is in order for us to survive in peace.
Or sooner or later a tipping point will be reached....

I use banks out of necessity, not because I love them.

I wonder if those protesting the comparison with Nazis are even aware of the Nazis at Nuremberg defending their actions with "I was just following orders", and how society worldwide decided that this was not an acceptable defense and found them guilty of war crimes. I don't think anyone is saying bank tellers are as morally corrupt as Nazis, but both bank tellers and Nazis make moral choices (which are not always black and white).

I have no access to the CEOs of banks to tell them I think many of their policies are not customer-friendly. If I told the tellers that, they have no authority to change the policies. There is little or no way for me to effect change. Protesting on ATS is one of the few outlets, and I doubt the bank CEOs care about our opinions.

That said, you never know who is trying to bring about change from within the system. I have heard it said that "banks are a necessary evil" but I think we could do better. Although banks are a Mecca for the greedy, at least they concentrate the greedy in one place so the less greedy know where the greedy are.

Are people who work at Wal-mart or Wal-greens innocent?

Its almost the exact same question.

If ( I'm not saying there is) there was a conspiracy in the banking world to control the planet, do you think most involved in said area would know, or only a select few?

As long as we are doing this, if you are an American and you pay taxes you are complicit in the murder of civilians in other countries.