Posts by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
(DIR) Post #9gd63B0YXafzsMpQie by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T13:42:15.577168Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
If you accept a mortgage without having to pay an initial deposit, then you are just as greedy and shortsighted as the bankers you are borrowing from.And when the market crashes, your decision to accept a free lunch contributed towards that.You do not need to be an expert in economics or finance, but you should have the common sense to understand risk.
(DIR) Post #9gdGapIsk7Avwr5Ihc by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T15:40:23.782408Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@ella_kane It is, and I think that it should be an option for people who have stellar credit histories. That means that the bank has considered the risk, and finds it acceptable.But when banks start providing easy credit to everyone and their dog, there's a crash coming. Credit shouldn't be too easy to obtain.
(DIR) Post #9gdH3FQFEA0x3w53o0 by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T15:45:32.238907Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@hcs Yes. Blaming an abstract entity for our problems is very tempting. What people seem to miss when talking about abstractions is that 'the system' is not a monolith, but rather a composite of all our decisions and biases.
(DIR) Post #9gdHmZmOO1NpEM3QS8 by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T15:53:43.975261Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@hcs @ella_kane Was that before the 2008 crash? I was offered a $1000 credit card at age 18 just because I opened a bank account. No questions asked. I didn't even activate it.I wasn't so wise with the next card I was offered, and ended up understanding what interest means, the hard way. Luckily, I insisted on having a low credit limit. Right now I only use a credit card to maintain a good credit history, and pay the balance in full every month.
(DIR) Post #9gdHoxLviG9ev8oNkm by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T15:54:10.430167Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@hcs @ella_kane Curiously, I remember people defaulting on their debt, and banks making only half-assed attempts at recovering the money.
(DIR) Post #9gdMNmivcgXduJQqZM by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T16:45:16.651981Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I have been reading some writings by primitivists and neo-luddites. It makes for a gripping read. I have finished Kaczynski's 'Industrial Society and its Future', Darren Allen's '33 Myths of the System' and am currently reading the Dark Mountain manifesto. They all argue, one way or another, for the ideal of the noble savage. Civilization, they say, has been an unmitigated disaster, and only by dismantling it can we return to a state of grace. Kaczynski introduces the interesting notion of the 'power process' and 'surrogate activities'. Basicaly, the power process can be defined as meaningful, goal-oriented activity. In a state of nature this was the goal of daily reproduction of human life by procuring bare necessities such as food and shelter. In industrial society this process is usurped by 'artificial needs' and taken advantage of by 'the system' to ensure 'obedience'.The problem with Kaczynski is, of course, his value system. His judgement of what is 'natural' and 'artificial' are purely arbitrary, and it could be easily argued that civilization and all its 'surrogate activities' are merely ways of meeting natural needs, such as the need for novelty and creation. Marx already saw humans as the 'animal laborans' (working animal). Civilization does, indeed, grow from the fact of wealth accumulation. Once wealth is accumulated, man can then start turning his attention from mere survival towards values such as beauty, goodness, and truth. Kaczynski would have us reject all these 'surrogate activities' and return to the freedom of searching for the bare necessities of life.This is why we need to come to terms with an author before accepting his judgements. Kaczynski's notion of freedom is a bleak one. But it is equally true that in the midst of our capitalist plenty (and waste), we have given up much that is important in terms in human dignity and freedom, in exchange for comfort.
(DIR) Post #9gdU2zD4nsSiBW7vua by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-10T18:11:10.222563Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@hcs I wonder why people have different loci. Is it just a matter of temperament and parenting style, I wonder?
(DIR) Post #9gfx0nmTbxiF96upOa by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-11T22:45:07.216873Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I am a pessimist. I believe that the world is filled with deception, duplicity, and disillusionment. I also believe that this is no reason to become neurotic, bitter, or resentful.
(DIR) Post #9ggw2W8gGikMDJW1GC by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T10:08:57.652584Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@tim That's precisely the reason one does not become bitter or resentful.
(DIR) Post #9ggyLnsCl0Hics8IzI by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T10:34:50.564913Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
The left used to pride itself on its command of science and engineering. Now, the pseudo-left has embraced science denial. Some trans activists deny sexual dimorphism, and men are allowed to compete in women's sports (with predictable outcomes). Fat activists criticize Cancer Research UK's campaign raise awareness that obesity is an important risk factor for cancer.Science cannot explain everything, but ideology explains nothing.
(DIR) Post #9gh1q2THLXYES0aCzg by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T11:13:55.513816Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@rice I feel like my dominant Ti asks me to do 'other things that make sense' but my Ne and inferior Fe say 'BUT I WANT TO PLAY!'
(DIR) Post #9gh3IYK6cAlXIhS7pw by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T11:30:15.972564Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@lauraritchie I would love to learn the cello. Never touched the instrument, though. I always hesitate because my posture tends to be tense and my fingers are not the nimblest...
(DIR) Post #9ghAVAbYoHdpBOa3NY by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T12:50:58.746756Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
"Although the ideological approach to politics is widespread, I do not claim that all contemporary conservatives, feminists, liberals, nationalists, socialists, and so forth are ideologues. Many people are strongly committed to political views without commitment to their ideological versions. Politics need not be ideological, although it ofen becomes so when non-ideological policies are consistently challenged. Then their defenders need to justify them, and this often, but not always, leads them to appeal to the ideological version of their previously non-ideological view.Ideologues often combine their view with moralism and thereby reinforce the political appeal of the ideal embedded in their ideologies by the claim that following it is an overriding moral requirement. They routinely claim that their ideology’s hierarchy of values is not just political but also moral, and that it is the key to the improvement of society and individual lives. If the policies that follow from an ideology are justifed both by their necessity for solving pressing political problems and by being requirements of morality, then ideologues and their followers can see themselves as doing not only what needs to be done, but also what it is morally obligatory to do."John Kekes, The Nature of Philosophical Problems
(DIR) Post #9ghAnDqTV5SgRhAGTw by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T12:54:14.429902Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Of course, political philosophy should have a moral component that is abstract (the common good) without falling into moralism. It should remain pragmatic and realistic without falling into whatever a bad reading of Machiavelli is.
(DIR) Post #9ghgXHf6juWABOI8O0 by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-12T18:49:55.640805Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@hcs I shudder to imagine what the next decade will bring.
(DIR) Post #9gjDOx3swFi7cXTXQ8 by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-13T12:32:52.804694Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The need to feel superior to others is a normal human need. We like to think of ourselves as the smartest person in the room; if not the smartest, then at least the cleverest. If not the cleverest, then perhaps the humblest, strongest, or nicest. It is counterproductive to judge this from a moralistic point of view, as if all intentions must be pure to be valid. We all have needs and vulnerabilities that are the product of our temperaments and our earliest years.We should be aware of these drives and ask ourselves why we want what we want. These motivations will colour everything, from our romantic relationships to how we see the world, and how we think it ought to be organised.
(DIR) Post #9gjFUllm2EnYFDuEAi by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-13T12:56:20.810340Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@CorvusRobotica It's an emergency right up there with a catastrophic gas leak.
(DIR) Post #9gjFZx6nIvLSrND30C by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-13T12:57:19.467124Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I heard someone say that sugar is poison.Really, guys?
(DIR) Post #9gjFrssNmMY2wh1EvI by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-13T13:00:32.095853Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@AtomicBlond Disappointing people and wagging fingers since 624 b.C.
(DIR) Post #9glDzQQfcJ2NRYRdmS by willtochaos@pleroma.soykaf.com
2019-03-14T11:48:55.348599Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@zemichi @louisoft01 Challenge accepted.cuteshoes.jpg