Gesundheit

I didn't say that. Although, now that you mention it, I'd like to introduce you to one way Abraham reached his conclusion that there's an external God who dropped us here. One of his biggest arguments is animals. He thought that the fact that we can tame and use animals was a huge indicator that God designed them for us in this manner so that we can make use of them, i.e. ride them, make clothes, milk them, etc... I just thought this would be an interesting perspective to entertain.

@NOTintoxicated Actually, you're just calling out your closed-mindedness, irrationality, misinterpretation, and lack of nuance. Unless you're willing to change that and show some maturity, you can excuse yourself from further embarrassment. I am having a discussion with a mature person, don't interrupt like a 5 years old keyboard warrior. @Forestluv Let's recap... You claim that systemic racism exists. I bring up presidency, which is the most powerful position within government, because that's how systemic problems get solved, i.e. from within the system. That was my original argument. I choose Obama in specific because he can't possibly be racist against his own color. I could have chosen anyone else, and have already mentioned the other presidents in a question which you basically ignored. You bring up a successful black celebrity, which has no influence on or even business with systemic racism. And that's a textbook example of a strawman argument. You ignored my main argument and created one of your own and then argued against your strawman. This is where the other person here is getting confused about. For whatever reasons, he simply fell for the strawman argument you made, and then he started attacking me like an agitated child. You keep ignoring my perspective and on with the strawman. Now, I need to clarify that I have no horse in the game and that I'm just an outside observer. So, I don't have the same attachments or biases that you have. This helps me see with clarity. On the other hand, I'm not well-educated about your culture or history, so my perspective is not necessarily technical. You should be able to discern what's technically correct after you let go of the attachments and biases. But for now, I think you could benefit from taking my perspective into account. We basically have the same position, which is equality for all, but the difference between your stance and mine seems to be the ground layer on which each of us is basing his sentiments. For example, the fact that you resorted to logical fallacies tells me that you are grounding your sentiments in emotions, rather than logic. This is not to say that I'm being rational or that you're being irrational or that logic is better than intuition. I think there's value in your stance, but I also think it could benefit from some more nuance. For example, I think it's damaging to poc to be sympathized with in this way. Why? Because it confirms the already existing inequality instead of focusing on moving forward. On the one hand, I think sympathy is a really good orientation to adopt when arguing with a white racist, because it points to the injustice directly, and racist whites need to be faced with the truth directly, because many of them are just blatantly blind. On the other hand, I think offering sympathy can be useful sometimes, but with issues such as racism I think it can be quite counterproductive. I would bet that many blacks in America have an internalized inferiority complex because of this sympathy. They probably genuinely believe that they're less and that they're inherently faulty, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not that I blame them for that, but that I don't support them having this mindset. Successful blacks are certainly not of those. There are many blacks who made it to success because they're dedicated and hardworking. They've overcome the challenges and come out on the other side better than before. If they were to blame inequality and injustice, they would have probably been stuck forever with victim mindset. Take Kevin Hart, for example. Not only he's black, but he's also short. That's two disadvantages in the American dictionary. But look how he made it through to celebrity regardless. So, you might need to reevaluate your stance. But again, I'm not taking the strawman as the main argument. I don't think Kevin Hart should become a black people rights activist. In fact, I agree that that's counterproductive and would hurt him and all poc. I think that being a black celebrity is in and of itself one of the best things a black man can do. But when it comes to Obama and presidency, the same standards don't apply. If you (Americans) perceive that him becoming president is a big deal and a huge improvement, then that's just pathetic. And it would be just an indicator of how racist most Americans are, though many are covert about it, including poc themselves (they're shooting themselves in the foot). But let's leave Obama alone for a moment. What about the other presidents who I suppose were not actively racists at the very least? What have they done to improve the quality of life for poc? Is systemic racism increasing or decreasing? And finally, I am waiting to see what will come out of Biden. I don't wish to come here after 4 years and hear the same powerless victim justifications. If racism doesn't improve under his administration, when will it ever improve?

Thanks. I wasn't familiar with the concept.

@NOTintoxicated That's your misinterpretation right there. I was pointing to something else entirely. I was pointing to various things that Forest said, and your interpretation is not any single one of them. An example is when he said that it's not fair to place high expectations on poc because they're oppressed. That leads to disempowerment and victim mindset imo. Just because someone has been treated poorly does not make them less. I've been treated poorly, does this mean I should not think of myself as an equal anymore? It's problematic to take this position because it assumes that poc are inherently less due to poor social rights, and it treats them as such. So instead of helping them out of inequality by empowering them with a mindset of full equality and responsibility, you end up confirming inequality and injustice whilst thinking that you are solving them. Embarrassed yet?

Where did I ever say that?

Yes, and it's also a great way to fuck up your blood circulation.

@Hulia I revoke your misandry. But you need to sign a few papers first cuz I see misogyny as an overcorrection Everyone is different, and even the same guy can go through difficult times and become more emotional sometimes. So there's no simple answer to that. There have been times where I would cry on a daily basis many times a day. And there have been other times where I would be totally emotionless. Right now I'm closer to emotionlessness. I haven't cried in months. Although I shed a few tears here and there. It depends on what's going on with my life. But generally, I think men don't experience emotions the same way women do. Generally, men are more logical with their emotions. And women are more emotional with their logic. Duh.

@NOTintoxicated You aren't seeing the validity of what I said even though I'm on the same side. So, you're basically fighting with yourself. Relax a little bit. Your silly online reactions count for nothing in the real world, and only highlight the fact that you're currently triggered and therefore blind, or that you're too closed-minded to begin with.

@Forestluv I feel the sentiment/overcorrection you have for poc is somehow disempowering to them because it leads to victim mindset. Not that I disagree on the position itself. Just the way it's being presented. Look for possible biases within your last reply.

So for Nixon, it was easy. But for Obama, it was hard. To me, that means one of two possibilities: The public support is actually representative of the American society, and the majority of Americans are racists. This won't go away with law upgrades. In fact, it will probably get worse due to the backlash. The racism is inherent in the psyches of many Americans, and that's their level of development. Your stories don't hold up, and Obama was just lazy. He's definitely not alone. But the question is "what did he do about the situation?" Not "did he or did he not achieve total equality?" He might not have been able to achieve a lot, but if he tried, he would have been able to make some progress at least. So again, what did he do about racial inequality? And what about the other 10 (not sure about the number) presidents in between him and Nixon? Were they all racists whether active or passive?

My thread of yesterday was of a similar nature, why did you lock it? I wanted to understand so I asked a question. My question was fair and within the guidelines. Why did you lock it?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misandry "Misandry (/mɪˈsændri/) is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against menor boys in general. Misandry may be manifested in numerous ways, including social exclusion, sexism, hostility, gynocentrism, belittling of men, violence against men, and sexual objectification."

@Forestluv @Zeitgeist If what you're saying is true and so glaringly obvious, then what did Obama do about it during his administration? Or is he racist too?

I can see that racism still exists, but calling it systemic racism in a first world country sounds way off. The example you provided here is not evidence of anything systemic. If anything, you're imagining things, and that seems a bit paranoid. Maybe what you said is true and maybe even it's exactly because of the reason you highlighted. But that doesn't mean there's systemic racism. That would only mean that some rich whites are racists, and since they have influence because of their money, they have the ability to manipulate the law to their benefit, that's all. There's no need for conspiracy theories here.

Maybe evolution is the mechanism by which those higher beings decided to create us?

A human is basically a highly sophisticated robot. I mean looking at humans, that becomes very obvious. Not much difference between any human and a robot except the levels of sophistication. It's like we've been designed by even more sophisticated beings who possess higher intelligence than us. And so we are capable of designing crude humans in comparison to us. And in turn, robots also are capable of designing crude robots in comparison to them. I wonder if that's correct. And if it is, I wonder does it ever end?

I don't think effortlessness equals happiness. Maybe OP does, in which case they would be deluded, imo.

@Someone here Try not to be here or now. Can you?

Though, it's gonna haunt you in exchange. Entities gotta survive somehow. Psychic readers are revolutionary remnants of stage Purple society. What they mean by entities is similar to what we call microbes and viruses nowadays with science, or maybe simply any form of disease. But their methods are outdated and mostly placebo, so the money would be better spent on a doctor appointment.

It is, so there's no need for a "what if?" question to begin with.

Recognizing the unrecognizable (non-spiritual entry) Chaos is the problem. It cannot be recognized because it's always changing randomly by definition. You can't create a routine or be disciplined in a highly unstable environment. Not only that, you will most likely find yourself addicted to all sorts of the stuff that are low on your priorities list, and you will find a hard time trying to get rid of them only to fall back into them time and time again. It's like gravity in this environment started increasing slowly right after the "Arab Spring", and it kept increasing over the past 10 years until it became x100 times stronger than it was before, and it's still increasing. The reason why this is, is because you when have the intentionality of doing something, but then reality surprises you with a bunch of unexpected events, you will still have the intentionality of doing but then you won't be doing what you were supposed to be doing, simply because your environment doesn't allow you to do it. I need to learn how to shift between the two modes/moods (Doing vs. Being) quickly. If I master this, I will become invincible regardless of environment. Imagine setting out to go camping, only to find out later when you arrive that you forgot to bring your tent. But you're already in the woods in the middle of the night, so what do you do? If you already knew that you wouldn't have a tent, you would have prepared differently. And that's basically my everyday life. When there's a task that requires co-operation from the external environment, it doesn't work out easily and I have to jump through hoops every single time in order to make it work, because the environment I'm living in is highly unstable. This creates frustration and dismantles focus very easily, sometimes it even gives me thoughts of hopelessness, but I pick myself up and keep going. On the other hand, I mean with spiritual practice, when I decide to meditate for example, I can do it easily for very long hours because it's not dependent on the external environment as much as it is dependent on me. When I went on my 10-day retreat, I knew exactly what I was going to be doing, which was just being, and that's why it'd worked out very well, because I set out the intentionality not to be doing anything, and I successfully did it, or didn't do it (however you want ). The internet is the only almost free and accessible resource that I currently have (2$ per month). If I decide to dedicate 2 hours everyday to attend an online course, I most certainly won't be able to make it through. Why? Because I don't have a stable internet connection, or even stable electrical supply. The electricity goes down every now and then (and with it goes down the internet), without a particular pattern, and sometimes without a reason. Within one hour, it might go down several times or it might not go down at all. In fact, it took me a couple of tries to post this, luckily the computer doesn't forget what I write. This limits my ability to do anything productive that requires a stable electrical supply/internet connection, which in the modern world is really a basic thing, but I don't have it because of the current situation of my country. What makes the problem even more tricky is not-knowing whether or not the electricity will go down within the next hour, or even the next two or three hours. So, there's a perception of an unactualized potential that seems possible to actualize, but the problem is that there's a high risk of it not being actualized regardless of your efforts, so there's a high risk for wasting time and energy. When you are faced with this, you will naturally gravitate towards other unproductive behaviors which at least guarantee you the effort or somehow the reward, because you don't have to worry about actualizing them because you already know that you're wasting your time anyway. The mind is smart, so it will choose wasting time only instead of wasting both time and energy. It chooses the less of the two evils. The energy that would naturally be spent on maintaining a goal and following through with it until actualized would no longer be required, because a pointless behavior already has no point except itself. That's probably what makes my unwanted patterns so persistent. It's because there's little to no possibility for me to replace them with wanted patterns. Before the "Arab Spring", I rarely had any bad habits. All of them developed later after life became chaotic. It's frustrating that there are no patterns or stability in my environment. That makes it extremely difficult to manage and navigate life. If there was a particular pattern, living here would still be limiting, but that would at least allow me to predict what I would be doing. It would give me clarity and allow me to construct my day however I want by creating a down-to-the-minute plan that I can stick to and follow regularly very easily. If there was a particular pattern. Survival is easy, regardless of circumstances. The real challenge is to thrive in this underprivileged position that I woke up someday and found myself in. It won't be easy, but I vow to take this challenge and beat it like I've beaten all the other challenges that'd faced me. I swear nothing is going to stop me. Just sit back and watch. All the challenges and hardships that I have faced and overcome will only add to my strength and growth. I will not allow anyone or anything to hold me back. I will do everything to move out of this country, probably find some way to go to the US and meet many of the people that I know from this forum if they're interested. Mainly I wanna meet Leo, Nahm (must), Forest, Loba, and some others. My dream country is Australia. But I will swing by Europe and India to meet other forum members, like Someone here. Or I will stay here, become rich, create stability for myself first and foremost, give back to my family, and then maybe I'll help others. This is basically my dreamboard. So, what am I doing now to move towards my dreams? Well, like I said in a recent entry, I'm learning web development. I've just gotten started and already finished both HTML and CSS. But I can't learn online, due to the situation I explained above. So, I download free courses and watch them on my Android tablet. There's this amazing Egyptian YouTuber who is doing a really fine job at this, even though I would have preferred courses by native English speakers, but I didn't bother to look and I already started with him. Maybe I will watch an English JavaScript course after this one? Maybe Indians are better in this area. We'll see. So, anyway, I am currently taking his course on JavaScript, and have already finished about 20% of it. But ironically, even something as simple as that is a struggle. We only get about half the day worth of electricity, the other half we live in almost total isolation from the world (sometimes 12 hours without separation, and sometimes even more than 12 hours). So, I can't watch the course anytime I want because the Android tablet can make it up to 4-5 hours max, and then I need to recharge it, which is really good compared to my phone which is now wrecked I almost forgot about it (crazy how I thought I couldn't live without it, turns out it's not bad at all, in fact I even feel freer). So anyway back to the topic, those 12 hours still cannot run all of the electrical devices that we have, so it's very limited. For example, I currently have a 2 amperes subscription. That means I can only run electrical devices as long as my consumption is below 2000 watts. If I exceed this limit, the electricity goes down. I can't afford more than that because it's very expensive. So, I can't run the PC besides anything else like a refrigerator or the washing machine. There's more painful details, but you get used to it that it stops being painful or maybe you become numb to it, or maybe both. I wouldn't know. But this electricity situation is only happening in my city. The whole country is nasty, but my city is on a different level of nasty. Corrupt leaders are exploiting us because they're from a different Islamic sect. The "president" and his people are Ali Shia, and my city is mostly Sunni, so they exploit us in specific because of this silly difference. It's not really because of the difference between belief systems, rather it's because of the political difference that is attached to each sect. In most other cities, electricity has a recognizable pattern, and it's extremely cheap. The city in which I did my retreat, the pattern was mostly 3 hours on 3 hours off. Sometimes 4 on, 2 off. They don't treat us like humans. No wonder why I don't feel like a human! Anyway, so I want to become a web developer and designer because I find myself naturally inclined to these kinds of things. It's easy for me to learn anything about computers, and I already have some experience in this area. The problem, though, is that I don't have a laptop, only a desktop PC which is extremely dependent on electricity and also outdated. A laptop would not turn off if the electricity went down. A desktop PC is still workable as long as I don't have to deliver work on a minute-to-minute basis. You think poverty is a mindset? Well, what about your arrogance and ignorance? I'll see y'all soon on the other side.

@IAmReallyImportant Thanks, man! Appreciate the sentiment. I try to keep my focus on the future. What's in the past is in the past. I honestly don't feel anything about him. Such experiences are mind-opening even if they're damaging, too. There's always value and lessons that we can extract from any experience, and eventually they make us stronger. Always moving forward ??

Well, then, let me clear that one up for you too. In my country, and under the current circumstances, if you are educated, in many cases you have lesser chances of growing wealth than if you aren't. Why? Because most of the jobs that require higher education are regulated by the government, and the government controls your salary because it's mostly communist. So my higher education flies right out of the window, like many others here. Let's take a simple example; An already established house painter who does not even have a high-school degree can make more than a lawyer or a doctor or an engineer because he can price his service depending on the customer. Unless you are willing to go illegal, your higher education is a limitation rather than an advantage. If I spent my earlier years learning the house painter profession instead of applying to medical school (we learn it unprofessionally from established painters), I would have probably been able to leave the country or make a fortune here. That's just one example out of many, and I didn't even go near people who own a supermarket or a piece of land, or basically anyone with inherited money or a capitol. A normal uneducated guy who works a simple job in a factory makes something around what a General Practitioner does. In short, it's the other way around here. So, that shows how there are no rules for wealth. No mindset could ever make you rich, and no mindset could ever make you poor. Unless you're extremely unfortunate, you can always choose not to be poor. But if you are, then it's almost impossible to break out of it. I said almost because I believe I can. I have made a journal entry about this and will post it soon.

He used to make me work all the time nonstop even when there was nothing to do. He used to make me wash his car, clean his toilet, wash his dishes, etc... The salary was too low because he convinced me that he was teaching me his profession. So I was doing all that and basically convicing myself to be grateful for it.

It may be a total noob question, but I'm curious about the reasoning behind that.