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Everything posted by BlueOak
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BlueOak replied to actuallyenlightened's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
Musks real estate portfolio: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-los-angeles-homes-real-estate-portfolio-photos?op=1#musk-put-the-home-on-the-market-for-95-million-in-may-2020-but-made-one-stipulation-whoever-purchased-wilders-estate-could-not-tear-it-down-or-remove-its-soul-13 Musks collection of cars. https://www.hotcars.com/every-car-elon-musks-personal-collection/ Musks Private Jets: https://simpleflying.com/elon-musk-private-jet-guide/ I was going to list his boat, but I've seen conflicting numbers for it, consider it hundreds of millions. What was the point again? Most of their wealth is locked up in investments. Yes, that is what makes them money, that's how rich people get richer and poor people get poorer because they pay for it. There is X amount of wealth in society, if the rich have more, the rest of us have less. The argument that they'll move elsewhere is always flawed, and it's kept us in this dire situation for far too long. They already DO move their labor where it's cheapest. The tax is on profit, not production, transport, or distribution. If you are saying they won't sell in our markets anymore, I've got news for you: someone else will. @actuallyenlightened The better and only argument is, that they pass on the cost to consumers, but that is and should be regulated. -
None? I heard that Thailand and Singapore were quite welcoming, but this list puts Thailand dead last almost. https://www.statista.com/chart/10804/the-countries-most-and-least-accepting-of-migrants/ I am finding most of the data out of date, this is 2020. Sweden, for example on this list is going through a big anti-migrant backlash. There have to be some countries out there that welcome workers or income. None spring to anyone's mind? I think the official figures haven't fully accepted the new anti-migrant reality yet in most places, that's why I can't find an answer that lines up with my experience. This list: https://www.y-axis.com/blog/top-10-most-accepting-countries-for-immigrants-in-2024/ Living here and talking to people, I wouldn't put the UK on there at all. We are more anti immigration than I've ever seen. What do people think about Canada, Norway, or New Zealand on this issue? It at least puts Singapore up there on this link.
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@Karmadhi If we lean more into the Russian perspective, some consider it a civil war. You might understand it better through that lens. Yes, it does make Ukraine fight harder. In life, we often create what we don't want. They have created a much stronger national identity in Ukraine. Russia are also used to violent suppression working domestically (civil war thinking), and this explains why police units were among the invading force, they expected to be suppressing a civilian minority. They'd underestimated how much Ukraine has changed, and still do. Just like people underestimated Putin's will to use force. Because both sides have pulled apart from each other to the point they didn't understand one another. Yes. However, because I am directly being threatened by Russian state TV each month. The UK received a Russian threat every month for most of the war. You can understand why I am not fond of Russia gaining more power than they have. Flip this to the European view, especially those states closer to Russia, and then consider they have a history of being invaded by Russia or having their governments meddled in. You can then understand why they would not react positively to this development. If you threaten to use something many times and then don't use it, the threats become less potent. The power of nukes used to be the fear associated with them, this was much more effective when it was unspoken. Unspoken and unknown threats are much scarier than something that is out in the open to be studied and talked about. As I say, Russian diplomats and top officials, or their state TV threaten to nuke the UK every month or so. It just became expected that they would threaten again. Call it whatever you like as a title, let's not get hung up on semantics, he wants a greater Russia. He's convinced his population and his ego to gain more land and influence as a means to achieving this. Another imperialist power is not good for the world. China is another one doing the same thing. I never liked America doing it because you saw all the wars that happened, do we want a repeat? Because that's what we are getting. This is the first time you've not considered Europe properly in your post. Europe, if it wants to, can take Russia in a straight fight, it has ten times the economic output and considerably more population. What we both understand, I think, is that Europe has many voices, not one. The appetite for violence is not as great as it is in Russia. Which is something Putin banked on in this strategy. The EU = 448.7 Million people Turkey = 85.3 Million People UK = 67.6 Million people Total = 601.6 Million people Russia = 147.2 Million people *Before the war exodus EU's GDP = $19.35 Trillion UK's GDP = $3.495 Trillion Turkey's GDP = $1.114 trillion Total GDP = $23.9 Trillion Russian GDP = $1.862 trillion There is no contest here; if NATO went to war even without America, Russia would not win it. If Russia and China were together, that would be a different scenario. All that said:
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This is my turn to grin. I can count the times, on one hand, that anyone in a discussion has heard of any socialist idea I put forward. I've been in a lot of discussions :D. There is maybe 1 socialist in a thousand now, at least in political spheres, more in regular life perhaps. *This is probably an exaggeration in a rare left-wing channel for example like the majority report, but not outside of it. They'll be arguing about two concepts, and I'll come in with a third which makes them both stop.
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People associate workable solutions involving the state or a collective group of people, as bad. Before they have even considered them. People should not live in fear of an arbitrary label or dismiss related things under a wide label, without first examining them individually. This is why we have an unending homeless problem, poverty, and a war on drugs. These are parts of ourselves, and our society, that we fear, belittle, or shun because they require socialist policies to address collectively. This keeps us in stage orange permanently. Many of my views are not authoritarian and therefore not communist, so this is not me defending communism. I imagine I'd argue with a communist, but I wouldn't label his points as bad before I listened to them. I understand you probably experienced some of the tail end of these things firsthand, and moved or were moved somewhere more liberal, and that was your or your family's life path. So your bias is to label an umbrella term as bad. I used to do that with authoritarian views, but I have tried to reverse it.
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I'm half Scottish and half English.
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I didn't write the themes, they were decided on by a collective mind. You'd be hard-pressed to argue that communism isn't the boogieman over in America and the UK. One mention of the communist party sunk Corbyn's campaign, and it is constantly stated as a great evil or something to fear.
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I'll copy-paste what I've written before. I bemoan this most in America, as I idealized the country at one point, but understand that I am referencing most of the Western world to a greater or lesser extent.
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I did not. I said they embody half of the themes of fascism, and the republicans embody most of them. Combined, they make the government, which means America is almost fascist.
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The Republicans embody almost all fascist concepts, and the Democrats embody half of them. Did you read the themes in the link, I've done a few posts on them in the past, and if pressed I can do it again but I might as well just quote what i've written already. I understand that it isn't completely fascist, but it's a relatable enough term at this point. This isn't bashing America overly much, the UK is getting closer to it too, the world is, which is why we are going back to the period when nation-states fought wars over land. That is what the breakdown of globalization means, and the elimination of the leftwing balancing out nationalist and imperialist voices.
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Thank you for giving me a bit of culture. @Davino Let me offer someone who is more recognized now, so you may have heard, but still opens up my heart every time he plays. Many of the songs are unique, so if you like any, have a look around on the channel.
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BlueOak replied to enchanted's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Light hits the prism of Earth to split into things you can see, taste, touch, and are affected by. Vibration creates different densities etc. If you mean, how does that happen, you are it. You are infinity, you are everything, and you've created your senses in this body to perceive this type of reality. Study what light is if you want to know more about this particular reality. -
If you are going to give people a better one yes. https://www.politicalcompass.org/ What you'll find is resistance and confusion when you take a dual concept across society, and either try to collapse it entirely or broaden it to something more informative. I'd be dishonest if I didn't mention duality manifests things, so having a dual concept in a government allows it to do the same. That doesn't mean the pendulum doesn't tilt across four political axis when modeled that way, because it does.
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It does, it was insightful. Thank you for the advice and for relating it to your own experience. @Javfly33
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BlueOak replied to Soullee's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
Do you ever find one part of your mind at odds with another part? In most people, this plays out by wanting to do something and sabotaging it, or by having a dilemma (two equal choices). If you are more sensitive or focused, you can catch the competing thoughts. The usual way to solve this is to do both somehow or combine the two. Collapsing a duality. You've saved yourself a few lifetimes because you'll know if anything is talking to you at any point after the death/life illusion is over, it's just you. Tell it to politely go sit down for a while and give you a rest, or just smile and enter a calm state (something you've been practicing meditating right?) Remember, you are talking to yourself always. When you read these words, you'll give them meaning, represent them to yourself, and maybe give yourself an emotional response. I cannot reach into your mind or emotions and give you those things, you do it all. You can also just move out of these things entirely because it's all in your mind. Someone will say there is no calm state, there is no smiling :). Well I'm doing it, and I'm not really here either. Its just energy moving in a certain way. -
BlueOak replied to Inception's topic in Spirituality, Consciousness, Awakening, Mysticism, Meditation, God
When you open your third eye, to get a glimpse of reality, it can feel like this. For the logically minded, imagine if you could see radio waves, in a city you'd be in a lightning storm or ocean. The visual spectrum is very small, the third eye allows a certain amount more to be seen. greymen, black voids, and spheres of light as examples. Yes this is all in your mind, but so is the apple, the chair you're sitting on, or this conversation. For me, this is where the grey alien subject comes from, or the spheres of light people say they see. People who say they are seeing demons are either experiencing psychosis, having another spiritual experience, or have their third eye open. Learning to close off these spiritual centers to give themselves a break is sometimes all they need. -
Yes. Half of the US is fascist. Russia is fascist, or at least: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruscism 35%, Trump's core base is no ally to democracy. 60% is mostly right-wing of some denomination, with some being centrists. 5% I'd estimate, are actual leftists on the political compass. Why do I say fascist? Look at the themes of fascism on the right here, and you will see both parties embody some of them, while Republicans embody most. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
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A monster like Stalin would have eaten it for breakfast and asked for seconds. The people make the culture. What people keep calling 'the west': all their Authoritarians, Liberals, Libertarians, Socialists, Capitalists and Conservatives wouldn't have developed into that society in the first place, so they wouldn't need to address the part of themselves contributing to the problem. What makes you think a leftist is incapable of organized force or violence? Do you mean because the left has been suppressed to the point of being ineffective lip service? Well, whose fault is that exactly? The right and most western liberals are included in 'the right' along with conservatives.
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@Karmadhi The likelihood of Russia, Iran, and China going to war with NATO rises by the day. It's never been as close as this in my 40 years of life. That's why countries in NATO have been stepping out of their arms treaties, so they can scale up their militaries without their neighbors knowing the details of their troop deployments. Traditionally, this is used when getting ready for war. That's why you see all the ballistic missile testing, and people talking about conscription to their populations. Putin keeps saying he wants to take former USSR land back for Russia. He is Russia, and if the opportunity presents itself, he will. His base like that idea and is sold on an imperialist greater Russia concept. That has been the pattern of Russia's foreign policy for decades. You say how can he? This is exactly the point: if he's held up in Ukraine, he cannot, because he can't fight a war in Ukraine and at the same time fight a war in the Baltics behind a frontline he's already engaged in. Even if they had the equipment, Russian logistics are garbage, because their infrastructure is terrible. You repeat that we have nukes. They are not the deterrents they were, the fear associated with their mention has diminished. Until they are used again. Putin's overuse of their nuclear threat is like the boy who cried wolf. I seriously doubt they would be used to fight a conflict along the border either, not when other options are available. Nobody wants to end the planet. So let's talk about conventional forces. It's been simulated in war games that if Russia pushed tanks to Kaliningrad, NATO even with America's help couldn't stop the tanks from getting there to cut off the Baltics, without America's help, there is no way. Thankfully, with Finland and Sweden's assistance, the Baltic Sea would probably remain accessible and provide a lifeline now. Both of these things I've heard those in the Baltics fear and praise, respectively. The conclusion is: that people don't trust Putin in Europe; he's created a lot of fear and uncertainty. So holding him in Ukraine removes all doubt or uncertainty about what he will do next. People in Eastern Europe never trusted Russia due to their long history of conflict, and Russia's meddling in their domestic politics, this now extends to most of Europe. Nothing he or you say will remove that uncertainty due to his actions and choices. I don't just mean the war, I mean the threats, the blackmail, the espionage, the assassinations, the constant cyberwarfare, and how his troops have acted like monsters during their war in Ukraine. GDP per Capita GPD per capita doesn't take into account the vast land-use it's put over. In Russia's case, it is extreme to maintain its infrastructure, which is why that infrastructure is in such poor condition. Show me a few places outside of St. Petersburg or Moscow that are places you are calling modern? (or whatever term you prefer) Even in those cities outside of the financial districts, they are not pretty. Ukraine only had a few decades apart from the USSR, but it prospered in that time because its level of corruption was constantly going down, and they are continuing to weed out corruption out of necessity.
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This channel overstates things, but they provide helpful summaries on the ground regardless. So take this as Russia threatening Israel not to respond further, no more or less.
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Or I define feminism differently to you, which I suspect is the case. For me, it's an interest group within society campaigning for equal rights. Like any such group, when it achieves equality, it's doing its job, when it unbalances things, it's not. This can only ever be achieved when family is a central virtue in society, not an unhelpful necessity. Example: A healthy maternity leave to encourage having kids. I would equate women getting 2 years off to raise a kid as equality because, in my ideal reality, the family would be the core value it was based on. In my reality, men would be happy that a woman was getting 2 years of paid leave to raise a child properly. Jobs would be done for the family, rather than seeing it as an inconvenience. Then everyone wonders why people are not making families anymore: It's considered an inconvenience, at the least its difficult to time it right. Men blame the feminists. Women blame the misogynist. Both genders would be better off focusing on promoting healthy family values, and then people would aspire to healthy family values. How is that achieved? In many different ways. I'd use education and teach a special interest subject called family values, next week: financial acumen, - social skills - emotional awareness, and then back to family values. Cloaking it under religion doesn't work these days, only being honest with people and teaching them these concepts at a formative age. *I know someone is going to come back with I saw this crazy woman or man on the internet and he/she was shouting all this.... they were bitter and twisted. I know I've heard it all. It's what happens when you want something like companionship or love (consciously or unconsciously) but never get it for long enough.
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You are describing someone who doesn't know what most emotions are, or how to process or experience them. It could also be you are doing things so far out of alignment with yourself that you feel nothing at all from them, or both of these things. I was like that at one point, aside from anger or depression, I'd switched off my emotions so I could survive. It's a common thing in trauma. I still find recognizing things like love difficult, or not overthinking things, as examples. Back then, all I knew how to do was try to survive, all I did was toward that end. Without the emotions inside of us to let us feel the richness and depth of life, we are like husks of ourselves just surviving. I am still overly focused on survival, but I fought to get my emotions back. To feel everything, it took work on myself, understanding what had happened to me, and why I did what I did, to begin to realize what normal emotions were. I had no money for a therapist so I used people like Teal Swan's videos on emotions to begin to identify them. She's got some really good beginner content on emotions, just search under an emotion name on her channel to find them. Joy, Happiness, Fear, anger, etc. I slowly worked through these and spent time with myself to correct what I'd done to survive as a kid. Another way is to listen to songs and try to feel the words, to connect with the singer. Play music, write, do art, express yourself, and try to put those emotions onto something or somewhere. Processing these emotions when I'd just evaded them all my life was difficult. However, they give life depth and meaning, so it was worth it. It was also quite addictive at first, like getting legs to walk on for the first time. Emotions are very helpful in understanding yourself. Not relying on the logical construct in your mind that you've created to describe yourself, which has altered itself every day you've been alive. When you can feel what makes you happy, then finding the core of that is what you look for in your career. Same for pride, or other emotions you want to experience in life. The negatives you use to avoid what you don't want to do. When you have that core emotion and you know what triggers it, then you look for a way it can earn you income, survive, and prosper from it. At least, living happily is the dream for many of us, but first, you need to know what happiness feels like and what triggers it in you. I hope it helps. @bringa
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Can I give you a slightly hurtful but hopefully useful bit of advice, @Leo Gura Maybe you don't need different courses, just different sales pages. The way the life purpose informational page is listed immediately put me off. It's laid out like a cheesy 1980's sales pitch. The whole slimmed-down white page look immediately appears like an MLM scheme would be laid out. Please don't take this too hard, you help a lot of people, it's just me talking about my impression of those layouts in the past. If you want to bring in new people, try to present the information in a completely new look/way somewhere else and see if you get different customers. I realize this layout has worked for your existing customers, maybe 3 other types of sales pages would bring in more people. Your only problem is, how do you get those three types of sales pages in front of different people? Rotate the existing one? Put a sales page somewhere else, like a satellite site? Use one for an advert? Though an updated 2.0 life course wouldn't be a bad idea at some point, its what people do to reward themselves for the effort they put in. Then you can discount 1.0 and sell on that too.
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Yeah. It's time I moved countries or planets :). Ghosting is somewhat like avoidance. It might be ghosting a partner because you are going through a tough period, whether it's related to the partner or not. Dropping all contact rather than engaging with them. I'm not permanently in a ghost pattern but I have my moments still. This week was a harder week than usual, so I appreciate the reply. A healthy mind picks and chooses their career, a person running a ghosting pattern will pick a career with less care and then try to spend 60 hours a week there to avoid life. Ditto gaming in solitude, drinking themselves to distraction, or any activity that takes them so far away from everything or everyone else, that they bury themselves away from the world. It's difficult to see sometimes because someone could do these things because they love work, or they want to live in solitude in nature.
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BlueOak replied to pregnantplatypuss's topic in Society, Politics, Government, Environment, Current Events
I realized an amusing thing here. That it's 'okay' for liberals to sabotage leftists who aren't liberal. But leftists must always still be loyal to liberals. Half of his party sabotaged Corbyn, rather than falling in line as they preach when their leader is in position. Yet for me to suggest doing that is somehow the worst thing ever.