Birdy

um..... sweet.

Yup. Er... anyway... our parents, teachers and friends tell us that we should be learning because ______ or we should be improving ourselves because _______? Because there's always something better out there to become and that we can always be more. The downside of this is the creation of the idea that what we are today isn't enough to be happy or content with. Lesser things have caused chronic depression on a good day and world wars on a bad day. If i were to get a life sentence tomorrow, I don't want to be depressed thinking about what i've yet to achieve, but rather, think 'fuck yah' at what i've done.

I don't think it intends to be about control or repression, but that is what it achieves. So remove malicious intent from the equation, and the answer is yes - parents, but also friends and strangers - because unfortunately, this is a cycle that's been going on for a long, long time - longer than i would ever care to trace my family tree (and i like that kind of thing). I have more to say... but gotta run.

That's just it - it's coming to grips with your IDEA of perfection not actually BEING perfection. A ideal utopia of rainbows, unicorns, lollipops and flowery meadows doesn't, nor will ever exist. The ideal job, the ideal man, the ideal house, the ideal garden - all doesn't exist, BECAUSE your job is perfect, the man too, the house, the garden, the everything. Perfection is your state of being right now and tomorrow and the next day, all in correlation with everything surrounding you. Flowers and plants and toads and clouds are all perfect just the way they are, but mankind is the only in the universe that strives for this self-created idea that we're not perfect and we never can be. But WE ARE. We're in the here and now, who we are today is the epitome of perfection. In the world around us, what happens this second is perfect in comparison to everything around us. What happens in the next second, perfect, the second after that, perfect, and so on down the line. I AM perfect, and so are you. The individual shouldn't be something we romanticize, because it's not something we're wooing or lusting after, or whatever. It's just us, in our rawest state, stripped of the lies society has been feeding us since breath #1.

I kinda view libertarianism now like you're hanging on to the last few strands of bullshit because you're afraid to say fuck it and just be.

put that in your pipes and smoke it. :rollweed:

I don't even know how to really say this. But, it's stemming from a lot of bad news and loss and life reflection and watching movies like Eat, Pray, Love and contemplating what matters and what doesn't... in life. How i look back at all the arguments, the opinions, the accusations of right and wrong and realize in my ripe 32 years that none of it matters. Politics is the perpetuation of the world's biggest lie that's been passed down from generation to generation since man time's existence. A lie that tells us how to live, how to behave, what to say and how to say it. It tells us that we're wrong, that we're not good enough and that we're far from perfect. Telling us that perfection doesn't even exist, when really... it does. It makes us strive to false ideals, never happy with who we are, always on paths to self-betterment, never content. It makes us judge one another, insist on our ideas and dismiss anothers. And really, we sit back and for the most part, blindly let it. Instead of realizing that who we are is perfection, what we think is right and what we do today matters nothing to anyone but ourselves. The key to our individual happiness is saying 'fuck you world' and once we conquer ourselves, we save mankind. The self is what matters, everything else falls into place when you've got that balance. So yah, i'm back on individualism, because life's short and i'm not one for living a lie.

Oh god no. I've intentionally spread the truth - the incumbent is a piece of work and a half. He drops 'don't's when it should be 'does not', or 'youze guys' this and it 'ain't' that. I sit on the board of a local theatre which JUST opened, and he was the bain of our existence for the last few years, continually bashing everyone and everything involved in it, saying that we should abandon the project after 10 years of restoration and 8 million dollars of federal and provincial grants. Abandon it? Why? So we can guarantee CK never gets another cent of federal and provincial spending? Then, when we finally had our press conference to announce it's 'Opening', dufus incumbent is there to cut the ribbon, smile for the cameras and commit his full support. Very frustrating for the amount of hard work, time and money that people have put into the project, and now the bonehead is riding the coattails as if this was something he helped to make happen. Election time bullshit. Speaking of, a multi-million dollar condo/boutique hotel was recently announced for downtown Chatham, and during the press conference the developer clearly stated that the entire project depended on Hope's re-election and he's the real reason this guy is about to inject millions of dollars into the project - weeks before the election this comes out. What ensues is a town in uproar, accusing the incumbent of unfair politics and the developer of bullying the democratic process, yadda yadda yadda... and then, just a few days ago, the news sources print a retraction from the developer - stating he 'clearly didn't think' and of course, this project is not dependant on Mayor Hope's re-election. Riiiiiiiiight. Suddenly dufus' campaign took a hit and out comes this. Anyway - sorry for the rant! I'm a bit hardcore when it comes to municipal politics and the fact that we have an idiot at the helm, who unfortunately used to be president of the CAW down here means we have to campaign extra hard this time around to get rid of him. Hence, being one of 'those' people.

Don't be naive YT, democracy was watered down long, long ago. Actually, i'm highly suspicious that democracy may not even exist. And yes, i'm one of 'THOSE' people and for the record, there's nothing undemocratic about changing my name for internet purposes. My real name isn't Birdy.

Chatham-Kent Mayoral Candidates:

I don't shop there... i hate their parking lots and I hate Bill Clinton for his China trade agreement, and hate Walmart for hooking American manufacturers in the '80s with their 'Buy American' strategy, only to turn it around in the '90s with their 'lowest price guarantee', shopping 80-90% now in China. But I think perhaps economists, manufacturers, unions and the capitalist society of yesterday are the naive ones. To think that we were somehow immune or protected, that we could continue dictating to the consumer the price and the means, seems like an act of stupidity in hindsight. It was only a matter of time before the consumer stuck up for themselves, and Walmart gave them that voice, on a major scale, and voila - here we are now. So yah, inevitable combustion or third world country? We export cotton, they import t-shirts.

Walmart's going... smaller! Wal-mart to Go Smaller in U.S. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550243762557882.html?KEYWORDS=wal-mart I've yet to decide whether Walmart's plunging us into third world status or whether they're saving us from inevitable combustion. Either way, the future scares me.

Seriously! The raccoons around here are crazy. Here's proof: I've yet to witness any staring at me, but kev o'b's fb status the other day made me think he ran one over!

I've done it, even for this recent election. It's the technological age's equivalent of lawn-sign wars.

Interesting article that touches on the dangerous practice of mass-producing bread: Modern Bread, the Broken Staff of Life http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/bread.htm I think the key words here are 'done properly'. The argument goes both ways for this thread, eating a paleolithic diet with 'cared for' meat can lead to all of the above as well. The real lesson here is what both you and YT point out, it's time for society as a whole to start finding these topics interesting.

hell yes. welcome to politics.

Exactly. I guess i just need to be content with my yearly contribution, and hope that once in a while it makes people think, even if for a split second. And if not, let them think i'm a crazy beeyatch, saying to themselves 'here she goes again'! :laugh: Indifference is key, even for me. It's why I put so much emphasis on the importance of family and the role of teachers... get 'em while they're young!

haha, i do my fair share of pushing back... i don't know if this forum can handle any more!

I avoid this thread because i think the hopes of a middle ground too far gone. I seem to be becoming less idealistic as time goes on. Trait of age maybe. Kind of sad. It doesn't matter who is cast in the role of the bully or the bullied, the only thing that matters is that both are participating. Fwiw, i hear you as well.

Simply? Because everything in this world starts with the simplest idea. It's like the class clown in school who bullies, poking fun and then when the bullied kid becomes upset, retorts 'whaaat!? we're just having a little fun, what's your problem!?' The bullied kid feels less because someone is telling him he's different, he's something to be laughed at. Is it right that he should feel less? Why? Because he's not the same as his nemesis? Doesn't believe what they do? And then, instead of listening to his parents who tell him to walk away, he decides to fight back, looking for the ugly in his nemesis to start a war with, and so it continues, and it gets uglier and uglier as time goes on. Yet, if the bully didn't bully, or if the bullied simply walked away like he was told, the war wouldn't have continued. What's there to fight when you don't let it affect you? This is what i was referring to when i said we'd be better off in letting indifference take over. I get that some of this stuff is funny and i'm not trying to be a buzz kill. Generally, i steer clear of this thread - but Thorgnor posted and i wanted to see what he was saying - we have a history of fun debates over religion. But funny as it may be, it's the kind of humour that comes at another's expense - and the consequences of that... well, i've outlined above.

Well to each their own, I suppose. I've said my yearly piece in this thread and really have nothing more to say other than what i've posted. You may love it for your reasons just as much as I hate it for mine. To each their own - continue on! And for what it's worth Dr. Evil Mouse, I haven't been posting on this site for over a year, only came back recently, did respond to you in my 'Veganism can't save us' thread... and before then, you were on a jambands sabbatical. I'm not ignoring you.

Haha! To threaten with eternal pain, damnation, whatever, or to threaten with shame, ridicule and a label - the level of poison depends on who it falls upon. I could care less if someone says to me believe this or you'll burn in the fiery depths of hell, or conversely, if they call me crazy or absurd for believing something different, which is really, in effect, what this thread does (maybe not intentionally). I'm not trying to claim moral superiority AT ALL, but rather to point there's always a 'this' and always a 'that'. The sooner we allow ourselves to shrug it off with indifference, the sooner each side loses it's audience, which really, is what these vapid pep rallies are all about. This has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to find something funny, but rather finding it sad that as a community, judging by the size of this thread, we generally aren't that accepting. Just because 'they're' not accepting in the first place, doesn't excuse us either.

if i were dead, i may have just rolled over in my grave. i hate this thread, have always hated it, have come in here from time to time over the years to express my dislike, always unsuccessfully communicating what you just successfully communicated. with my reason, what makes the videos, images and articles quoted, rejoiced and laughed at in this thread any better than buddy on the bus trying to convert you with his evangelical wisdom? nothing. there's no difference (to me at least). moral superiority is the devil in disguise.

Nestle has nothing on Monsanto.