sweden is a terrible country

[Kaios]

I only asked you to explain your point better Jalpha, I don't pretend to know everything and there is plenty I still have to learn but that doesn't change my overall view that people need meaning in their life, not handouts.

Where you get that pic? lol .. awesome.

It's from a children's series called Pingu, I watched this show as a kid too and I really enjoyed it. I'll never forget the episode with the creepy walrus thing that chases Pingu around because that thing always freaked me out.

[mgmmads]

yea, Denmark is way better.

[sMartins]

It's from a children's series called Pingu, I watched this show as a kid too and I really enjoyed it. I'll never forget the episode with the creepy walrus thing that chases Pingu around because that thing always freaked me out.

Eheh I see, looks like a good show!
Edit: Oh yeah I remember it now, just watched on youtube.

[Jalpha]

Nice.

people need meaning in their life, not handouts.

≠ people who don't work as hard as you do deserve a miserable existence. What those people need is meaning and a high standard of living. You don't understand their situation quite obviously. How is the complete lack of a social net working out for an economy that was established off of slavery? No free healthcare and no social safety net to speak of. I'm not even sure what Canadas excuse is except maybe their proximity to the USA.

Now I'll hit you with how different my persepctive is. In my opinion there is a current shortage of unemployed, because a high level of unemployment results in large national projects which advance society. It is one trigger. There's a lot to be said for stability though you know.

[Kaios]

Nice.

people need meaning in their life, not handouts.

≠ people who don't work as hard as you do deserve a miserable existence. What those people need is meaning and a high standard of living. You don't understand their situation quite obviously. How is the complete lack of a social net working out for an economy that was established off of slavery? No free healthcare and no social safety net to speak of. I'm not even sure what Canadas excuse is except maybe their proximity to the USA.

I already explained earlier that Canada does have a universal health-care system and most provinces also provide social assistance. There is also the Canada Child Tax Benefit, Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Employment Insurance, the Canada and Quebec Pension Plan, Workers' Compensation, public education, social housing and social services.

Anyways, who exactly are we talking about here? Because I don't think we are referring to the same kind of people as I never stated anyone deserves a miserable existence although I do think suffering is an inevitably for anyone in life (to varying degrees of course) and persevering through that suffering might improve the character of the individual. When I talk about people needing a sense of meaning or purpose I'm usually referring to people around my age (ie. millenials but also gen-z), I say this not because I'm unsympathetic to the plights of individuals and families that struggle financially considering I am one of them too, but rather there is more to life that goes beyond the simple need of financial stability. My view of the world has actually changed quite radically as I've gotten older, I've stopped blaming my problems on the world around me and started taking responsibility for my own decisions in life.

Perhaps one's meaning in life could be built around pulling those people out of the poor conditions they live in and that is a noble goal itself, merely pointing out that they exist does not resolve anything.

I don't feel the need to address the slavery thing because I think that's a rather pointless argument to make, no one in our time has lived through slavery and I'm confident a majority of people agree that it was and is terrible.

Now I'll hit you with how different my persepctive is. In my opinion there is a current shortage of unemployed, because a high level of unemployment results in large national projects which advance society. It is one trigger. There's a lot to be said for stability though you know.

See, I think that's a fair point to make. Regardless of your political point of view most people you meet in the world are reasonable people and all we really need to do to make those things happen is talk to each other and work together in order to benefit society as a whole. People who think of the ideas and those who implement them working in unity.

[Jalpha]

I'm indicating that the financial system adopted and spread by the USA is unsustainable and a part of the reason for that is because it was built upon a foundation of slavery.

[Kaios]

No system is perfect, ideologies of the right-wing and the left-wing have both killed their fair share in the world. The Great Leap forward was a boon for China economically and yet Mao killed almost 100 million people. I can agree that capitalism isn't perfect and surely is responsible for some suffering but what you may or may not agree with and what I believe is that in the grand scheme capitalism has benefited the world more than any other system before it.

You have to be very careful messing with these things especially in the state of identity politics we are at now, extremism on both ends of the spectrum are growing and this is exactly what could lead in to civil war. Individuals should be superordinate to the state, when you start piling people in to groups and defining an oppressor and oppressed that is when you get in to tribalism and tribalism invites the threat of violence.

[Karede]

I can't remember who did the study but I remember reading that average IQ has been declining in the West as the study indicated intelligent people are having fewer or no children in comparison to the number of children being born to those with lower IQ's. It was estimated at .12 to 1.6 points of decline every decade since the Victorian era.

That is a pretty scary statistic though when you think about it even if it may not come as a surprise to most.

Edit: Here it is.

Couldn't possibly be compounded by huge numbers of immigrants from areas with lower average IQ, could it?

[Jalpha]

Stability is a good thing. Culture preservation for the sake of misplaced national pride coupled with a stubborn resistance to change is not a good thing.

[Kaios]

Couldn't possibly be compounded by huge numbers of immigrants from areas with lower average IQ, could it?

It certainly could be, I didn't read all of it and there is many other studies that study is based on too.

Stability is a good thing. Culture preservation for the sake of misplaced national pride coupled with a stubborn resistance to change is not a good thing.

Show me where the peaceful revolution is, I only see confused people waving signs around in the streets purporting to be against oppression and patriarchy and racism while oppressing the speech of others and hurling insults like nazi and fascist with no real basis for saying those things.