Apparition of Jack

@Leo Gura Rape doesn't have to rely on physical force to occur, there can be psychological or emotional coercion involved instead, which would be how most female-on-male rape occurs. You're right that 99% of guys never have to worry about being physically overpowered and raped by a woman, but rape is so much more nuanced than that. Perhaps an ugly boss gets her cute young employee blackout drunk at an office party, and he wakes up to her sucking his dick, and he's too freaked out / drunk to do anything but he feels disgusted the whole time. This is still rape, even if there was no physical domination involved, and the guy would feel just as bad as any other rape victim. That's nothing to mention things like statutory rape committed by female teachers against teenage (or even pre-teen) students...

"How Grug download fire?"

@Hello from Russia Well, that's how most people today think of it yes, but historically libertarianism has actually been associated with left-wing ideas and it was only in the 70s that it started to be more associated with the right-wing. Libertarian Socialism is basically socialist thought that rejects the authoritarianism and statism of things like Soviet communism. @Leo Gura Well, by libertarian socialism I mean the worldview (I know I know, dirty word) of treating everyone with respect regardless of colour, gender, etc., being distrustful of authority, being distrustful of states and state forces, downplaying the importance of money in human affairs, collectively producing goods, relying on human goodwill and co-operation to manage our problems instead of coercion, and so on. By social democracy I mean relying on parliamentary democracy to create the best political outcomes for everyone (even if it involves compromise), realising that money and markets are unavoidable but using it to uplift the most people, realising that states and authority and coercion are necessary even if they should have oversight, and so on. Basically I accept the need for money, states, coercion, etc. but endeavour to create a world where these things are unnecessary. You could say it's a form of prefigurative politics. It's like being both utopian and pragmatic at the same time.

@Leo Gura I call myself a libertarian socialist, but in practice I lean more towards social democracy, because like you say you can't solve massive collective issues with a bunch of local-sized worker councils. Yet, I don't feel like there's a contradiction between the two - for me libertarian socialism is more of a mindset, a way of treating other people and what I expect of myself, whereas social democracy is the nuts-and-bolts solutions to the material problems the world faces. My libertarian socialism informs my social democracy and my social democracy grounds my libertarian socialism. Does that make sense? Am I thinking too much about these things?

@Opo 14

@Leo Gura Shhhh don't give me ideas

@Gesundheit What a lot of guys think of "masculine power" comes at the expense of feminine power, but any power than relies on suppressing another isn't actually power at all

@Vagos Premature death can still be counter-productive because then you'll have to deal with your karma in the next life (if you accept reincarnation), making it harder to self-actualise and awaken. Like Leo has said survival isn't just about survival, it's also about transcendence, which you can't do if you die. Of course you're right from an Absolute perspective there's no difference between saving the earth and destroying it, but so long as people haven't yet awakened and burnt off their karma there'll also be reasons to keep people alive, at least on the relative plane.

Reality IS a paradox

@Bjorgan Why not be your own solid masculine frame? Having external role models is nice but there's no reason you can't manifest yourself to be the sort of presence you see lacking in the world.

@Eren Eeager On the surface libertarianism might seem reasonable. A lot of our hassle in modern life has to do with government red tape, wouldn't getting rid of it make everything better? < That's the logic anyway. What libertarians fail to see is just how necessary red tape and regulations are to creating a safe, well-functioning society. It's not a coincidence that most libertarians tend to be white and male, since these two groups are often the most oblivious to just how necessary government is, since these people are the ones that have it easiest in society when it comes to job opportunities, wealth, education, etc. and don't see just how much they benefit from government.

@Hello from Russia Liberals believe in social freedoms like gay marriage and marijuana use, but will also support a degree of government intervention into the economy such as public housing or minimum wages to prevent it from being too cruel on workers. Libertarians usually also believe in social freedoms (although some can be conservative), but will oppose almost all government interventions into the economy because they believe the free market is the "fairest" method of distributing resources. If it ends up being cruel they don't usually see that as a problem.

I’ve found my intuition often resides in my gut, hence “gut feeling.” Sometimes if I’m unsure of the right course of action instead of focusing on my mind I’ll focus on my gut instead, and I’ll get a clearer picture. Also keep in mind the devil will try to trick you with it’s own fake version of it intuition. Let’s say you’re feeling lonely and your friend invites you to a party, however you’ve been developing yourself so the idea of drinking doesn’t appeal to you that much, and your gut is even saying you won’t enjoy it. However, there might also be another voice saying “Go, you might meet some spiritual people there!” It doesn’t matter that you can feel that no one there will be interested in spirituality, the devil is trying to come up with excuses to get you to go so you don’t have to deal with that loneliness, which might even be beneficial for you to face that night. Whether you’ll listen to the devil or not depends on how conscious you’re prepared to be in any given situation and how much you’ve refused to listen to it before.

@Dazgwny Probably best if you posted this in its own thread

@Husseinisdoingfine Being self-depreciating is a good way to make yourself seem less threatening and less egotistical to other people, and hence more likely to listen to you. Of course sometimes it's good to show a sense of self-confidence too, but it all has to do with context

I wouldn't call Spain or Portugal Green, they might have a couple of Green parties but the average population is closer to Blue/Orange. They're still dealing with the fallout from authoritarianism that only ended ~40 years ago which is relatively recent by Euro standards.

@Robi Steel Way, wayy too much ideology, stage Blue conservatism and 4D chess dude. I know you're young and you're just starting out your political journey, but frankly - and this is going to sound a little mean - but your political analysis is hopeless. I know I'm just a random guy on the internet, but if you want my advice, I'd say one of the biggest things you're lacking at this stage is the ability to listen deeply to other's perspectives and adapt your worldview accordingly. If I were you, I'd focus on doing exercises to increase my ability to be non-judgemental, to see things from other's perspectives, to become aware of my biases, and so on. Honestly, these skills will be crucial if you really want to push your life to the absolute maximum, otherwise you run the risk of living a half-assed life. Up to you.

@Leo Gura Jesus fucking Christ I know I shouldn't be surprised but still...

@Enlightenment Let me ask you a question - why do you think black people commit more crime than white people statistically speaking? Why would you be more likely to commit crime if you were a black man than if you were a white man? What conditions would exist around you that would make that more likely?

@rnd Denial? By loudly proclaiming to do the opposite of what you really do, you can pretend to feel better about the bad stuff that you do. "I'm SUCH a health freak!" is a good way to avoid thinking about the fact that you've just eaten your third chocolate cake this week.

I see social media and the internet at large as kind of like being cars. When cars were first invented, people driving them was a pretty chaotic affair. Things like speed limits, traffic lights, seat belts, etc., as well as just the general attitude of "good behaviour" one has when driving a car, all hadn't been invented, and as a result there was an absurdly high number of crashes and fatalities associated with them. It was only after time, through a process of trial and error, did humanity start to regulate the use of cars (both collectibely and individually) so that they could be both safe and effective. The same thing is happening with the internet. The internet is at most only about 30 years old, and as far as mass adoption of it you're looking at 15 to 20 years maximum. That's still really early days for a technology that has had such a massive impact on our ways of life. Of course mistakes were going to be made. People have gotten addicted to it, used it for all sorts of nefarious purposes, made terrible decisions on it, been taught the wrong things about it, weaponised it, etc. Major companies have even exploited evolutionary psychology to make more profits from it, if that doesn't tell you how immature we've been with it I don't know what does. What I think we're starting to see the beginning of though is a major effort to try and regulate it (both through laws and our own personal behaviour) so that the worst effects of this new access to communication are mitigated. I think the idea the internet being a place where it's acceptable to just be a random online troll is slowly fading away, and people are realising that the internet more or less forms a core part of our social identities now. When I log on to twitter these days what I think I am witnessing is a creeping recognition that what you say has real-world consequences, even if it's online, and that when you have too many people being assholes to each other constantly everyone suffers as a result. Of course, since this is still a new process these efforts are going to be rather crude and blunt at first and it'll come across as needlessly puritanical and hair-triggered, but over time people will just begin to accept that internet interaction has to be polite and respectful as the rule.

Now that would trigger stage Blue

The way I look at socialism vs capitalism is less of a question about economics (otherwise you could call the USSR a capitalist country and the US a socialist one) and more of a question about mindset / cultural attitudes. A self-described socialist, if you sat them down and talked about the need for markets, the efficiency of private innovation, the complexities of running a big business, etc. they'd probably eventually come around and say you have a point. Likewise, if you told a self-described capitalist about the need for collective programs, public housing, strong worker's rights, etc. they'd eventually come around and say you'd have a point too. In terms of pure economics, the two systems are quite malleable. However, that socialist and that capitalist would still feel like they're a socialist or capitalist, but won't be able to explain why. And again I think it's because these things are cultural attitudes, not economic ones. A socialist person will tend to favour co-operation, community efforts, putting their needs aside for the "greater good", ending arbitrary hierarchies, and so on. A capitalist person will tend to favour competition, individual efforts, putting their desires first, maximising their own power, and so on. The thing is really, you can do both of these things no matter what political system you're under. An ambition entrepeneur in a capitalist country will turn into an ambitious party member in a socialist country, and a worker's manager in a socialist country will turn into a worker's activist in capitalist country. So while it's true that economically, all countries have always had a mix of socialism and capitalism, I think there has to be a very real mindset shift from individualist, capitalist-ic mindset to a more communalist, socialist-ic mindset, if we're going solve the problems of racism, climate change, inequality, etc. People will naturally have to be more community and co-operation-oriented rather than individual and competition-oriented, regardless of what name you give the system they're living under. This is of course the shift from Orange to Green, which will require a lot of visionary ideas in terms of politics, economics, art, music, culture, relationships, spirituality, etc. in order to fully manifest. The average human of 100 years from now will be a naturally more co-operative and community-oriented than the average human today. At least, I hope so.

@Nick_98 I don't know about other people, but plants have a very conscious energy to me and being around them always helps me feel centered / awake / calm etc. I'm not sure about plants themselves awakening you, but I would say that being around them might raise your consciousness and make you susceptible to getting deeper insights than you would have if you were just around man-made stuff all the time.