Ah, BGW . . .
You've been absent much, of late . . .
Good to see you again . . .
oops, i missed an entire page!
oh well, nothing much changed, let it stand
Ah Bo, well said, and really nice to see you again.
gee setanta, didn't realize my webCam was 'on' ("see");
compliments of the season (someone's birthday party, i hear)
and on the lovely hat!
Hey BGW. Long time no see.
Yeah, let it stand. Same old, same old.
Am I the only one in Canada that is getting burried in snow?
Cav; you too; i've been bad, shirking my organizational duties, and letting actual 'life' interfere with virtual life; bad habits i know........
I'm with you on the delis in Kensington, and the shops. Given that I live pretty much by St. Clair and Spadina, there are tons of great restaurants nearby, and shops. Jamaican, Peruvian, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Portugeuese and Italian butchers, pretty much everything you could ask for in just a few streetcar stops.
With a name like Montana, what can you expect?
Besides is's much more cozy 'under' the snow, than on it!
My sweetiepie would make me walk . . . no streetcar for me . . . I gave her all my TTC tokens when she visited at Thanksgiving--i never use them . . .
Right guys; but the important thing to note, is that while the food is very different, and unusual, we get to realize that the people who make, and consume it are just like the rest of us, with the same specialties, short comings, dreams, and qualities as everyone else! And these properties do not relate to any outward 'clues' of colour, dress, language,etc.
T.O. (I refuse to succumb to Tdot) has a fair snow cover at the moment.
BoGoWo wrote:With a name like Montana, what can you expect?
Besides is's much more cozy 'under' the snow, than on it!
I know. I was just asking for it with that name.
and Canada is the land of plenty; you get what you ask for (if the funding hasn't been cut!)
Noah, do you really enjoy seeing the suffering of others because it makes you feel better about yourself?
That is not true for this American.
It is also hardly a taboo to mention the negative parts of American history. My sons learn about the trail of tears and slavery in public high school. And we talk about these issues as a family.
I think this particular rant does explain your posts though.
Perhaps you feel bad about the feelings of bigotry, competitiveness and bitterness. If you can ascribe these feelings to the other people here you will feel better about yourself.
Maybe you have gotten the figurative grade of 65% for personality.
Most of us here are too polite to mention that we all got 'A's.
Noah, like Frank said, clarify your post in one paragraph. Preferably with easy to understand words. Perhaps you can get this thread on topic again.
I did mention you had alot of guts, didn't i? :p
My simple proposition is that when humans see other humans as competitors, due to a culture that promotes hyper competition to fuel economic activity via materialism and status, then humans will not be their brothers keepers and attempt to help better the lives of the disadvantaged or unfortunate.
I gave plenty of social psychological ways that people benefit from the existence of disenfranchisement of others. However, one of the biggest ways that people benefit from others is via economics. The Laws of capitalism and free market is predicated on the law of supply and demand. The was it goes is like this, if something is in demand but supply does not meet the demand, then the value of what is being supplied increases. If there is an oversupply of something in demand, then the value of what is supplied is reduced. Consequently, if education is demanded in the economy and the supply of educated people does not meet demand, then those with education benefit from the increase premium from the misfortune of those without education.
The USA loves to preach about the value of education, yet, when budgets get tight, education funding is always one of the first things cut. This is because there is no NEED to educate the entire populous, because that is not what the economy is demanding. If you over supply education relative to demand for it, it reduces the value and incomes of the current educated over time. The economy has demand for good paying, mediocre paying and low paying jobs, nearly equally distributed. Thus, if one educates the entire adult population with college degrees, who will perform the low-end dead end jobs?
So economically the law of supply and demand allows many people to benefit from the lack of skills or education of others
It is deeper than supply and demand. I believe someone else has already mentioned the evolutionary imperative to pass on one's genes. "So economically the law of supply and demand allows many people to benefit from the lack of skills or education of others." This is typical of the sort of vague statement you tend to make in your rants. How do you propose that anyone redress this putative imbalance? Who is to be considered responsible for supplying the lack of skills and education?
If you do not understand economic theory and capitalism, just say so Setanta, do not try to hide by some amorphous much deeper theory. Yeah, it may be much deeper, but until you take us to those depths…we will have to settle for the superficial SUPPLY/DEMAND theory of economics.
It should be the moral imperative of the government to promote equality. However, in representative republic that is of the people for the people and by the people, the people (the majority) prevents this from manifesting due to the relative competition that they are in with other Americans for income, wealth and status.
Again, it's not either/or. Supply/demand is not mutually exclusive with other factors.
