OpenStars

So that's why we live in this perpetual capitalist hellscape, sheesh just let ~~Prometheus~~ Jesus get it over with already!? :-P

Also... ouch! That sounds vaguely painful, methinks, maybe? :-D

That is why they selectively read from passages - both amongst themselves (ignoring the parts where they were commanded to help others) and those they had read aloud to their slaves (there is where they read all those other passages!).

Picking and choosing whatever people would like to believe - e.g. "God wants me to be RICH!" - is a very lucrative business model for pastors/priests/ministers. And quite a comfortable one for the believer too. None of those pesky "commands" like how the worker deserves his wages.

It is exactly like how on January 6 the self-styled "patriots" rose up to "defend" American democracy. Jesus / God's message - Love One Another - is fantastic, too bad the religion part gets in the way of it.

John 13:12-17

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13%3A12-17

Yes, but what have you done for me lately?

Linux users: I too might be one at heart:-). Maybe? Though I do so love my Mac... it has such a pwetty candy shell - and it is even more POSIX compliant than Linux! :-P

Thoughts v. Actions: Our rights are steadily being taken away, though more often we simply given them away. I mentioned Mac vs. Linux so perhaps that is a good example: iOS is horrible, having everything locked down and not able to connect to your own device to do anything with it. Then again, Android is becoming increasingly like that as well, ever since Google got its hooks in. And yet, it is possible to administer your own device, even if it gets harder & harder over time. Mac OSX isn't so bad, for a computer that you control, but iOS is, therefore that is where I draw the line.

For cars, what if like a police-person demanded access to your vehicle, and if their company override did not work, they could confiscate the car? Do you "own" your own vehicle? Worst of all, you have to pay the full price as if you did, so you do not even get the benefits of leasing - like if a hurricane destroyed it, who loses out - you or the company that leased it to you? (I don't even know, does leasing work that way!?:-P) - and yet you depend on "leasing" the software, in perpetuity. So one day, if someone gets the bright idea that "going green" means not doing anything at all to actually work towards saving the planet, but instead everyone has to buy Musk-brand EVs (others have not been pre-approved so do not qualify), then at that point yeah I'd consider jailbreaking a car. Though the risk could be that you could lose the whole vehicle - Might may not Make Right, but it sure can be a powerful jackboot to come down upon your neck, if it so chooses. So like everything else, it would be a cost-benefit tradeoff.:-|

I don't know if good & evil are human conventions - I mean obviously to some extent, definitely the part about what we "accept" is - but also, most people innately seem to feel certain things, so by virtue of being "natural", are those things that are in-grained and inherent in us (and also other animals as well) the Truth, that we need to discover and obey b/c that is what will generate maximal Happiness for us?

To clarify, I am not "pushing" for the death of democracy. I am worried sick that it is coming, regardless of my wishes either way. I do not control the Maga-hat-Repubs, nor the corporate-stooge-Democrats either, and it looks like both sides are in agreement that e.g. the bottom HALF of all of Americans "should" only have 2% of the entire wealth of this country. I did not make that figure up btw... (article 1, from 5 years ago, and updated article 2). Why that is relevant is that no matter who wins the next election, the "American Dream" (white picket fence, ability to afford a child, 2.3 dogs or whatever) has already died, at least for the simple majority of citizenry.

Perfection & mistakes: setting aside a God or even a rung further down to a mere Creator, if we had a perfect "Father" or "President" or some such, or even "boss" at work, then would they not allow us to make our own mistakes, as part of thier being perfect? How else could we possibly learn? How else could we possibly be happy, if we were all robots will no free will, or more precisely not even the illusion of thus? On the other hand, sheeple gonna sheep, and that's all there is to it: for many, what religion (or politics, or anything at all) "means" is that some book said it, hence it MUST be true - they don't bother to figure it out, or even to search for proper interpretations. B/c they are stupid... and we have to come to terms with that - they just do not have capacity to evaluate such things, therefore they do not. Especially a parent/couple spending all of their time raising kids. I find that irl I have much more in common with people of all religions who are thinkers, than I do with people who may just so happen to believe similar word-sounds as myself, but who don't have the faintest idea what those concepts even mean. Hehe, Jesus Himself agrees: "be ye either hot or cold, but for fucks sake, at least care about it one way or the other you f-ing plebes!?" (hehe, I may have modified that slightly:-D)

You are an awesome person and I love hearing how you think:-).

Simple: when someone decides to put them in charge. Before then, they are simply "folk", and since intelligence is to a large degree domain-specific (in contrast to attitudes such as wisdom, the willingness to learn from mistakes, either made by oneself or others), someone could be perfectly happy, willing, and capable of e.g. oh let's say running a farm, or doing a minimum wage job such as working at a fast-food restaurant. But that does not necessarily translate well into "citizenship" i.e. voting (+ other things too, but that is the main, minimum-entry one), which requires a level of education in the complex matters of economic policy, foreign affairs, or hrm... I dunno, maybe starting with the ability to simply name the 3 main branches of government?

It is dangerous for them to vote yes, but they do not know that. Would you ask your dog to fly? Or your car to "do more with less" as in go a greater distance with less gasoline?

i.e., don't hate the playa, especially instead of working to change the game.

There is a fascinating video series on YouTube by Innuendo Studios called The Alt-Right Playbook that explains far better than I what I am attempting to convey.

Basically, it is not nearly as simple as that - yes there are elements of the conservative movement that use violent propaganda, but often it "hides" its true intentions well, and instead merely talks about the love, peace, and saving little babies aspects. Once you get drawn into those, the layers of the onion begin to peel back, and you get drawn in deeper, and deeper still, but at first, it is important to note that they have candy-coated "nice" versions as well. This makes it far more dangerous than it would be otherwise, if it were instead just straight-up Nazi propaganda visible to everyone from the start.

And yes, "collaborators" hurt people, arguably more so than full-on true believers, if only b/c there are so very many more of the former compared to the latter. Please note that I did put the word "good" in double-quotes, thereby calling into question whether it could fully apply - and yes I realize I am being inconsistent in that, b/c I also put the word "collaborators" that way too, that time more for the different reason of emphasis, but hopefully this deeper explanation helps to clarify. i.e. intentions matter, for some things. e.g. these self-described "good" people may not deserve to be killed for their involvement in their crimes, though neither should they be allowed to retain a leadership position, especially over & above those of us who... you know, actually read books & know stuff. This is why I did not put the word kind-hearted in double-quotes, in the sentence overall of "many conservatives are... kind-hearted people", b/c that one I truly do believe in. i.e., kind-hearted, not necessarily clear-thinking, as those are entirely disjunct concepts.

As is often the case, Truth is somewhere in-between the extremes. They can be "good" as in kind-hearted people, yet "bad" at fulfilling a leadership role, at the same time. And they can also be gullible, as too can liberals - we should all strive to not fall into those, or any, traps imho.

I think many conservatives are "good" (to the extent that any of us are, really), kind-hearted people. The movement itself is not, but the people who believe in it tend to fall for certain types of errors, e.g. being gullible.

Though many are not that way, and liberals also tend to fall for different types of errors, ironically also being gullible if we think our leaders give a damn.

The important thing is that our overlords want to keep us at each other's throats, as if it is two parts of the common man that are fighting against one another, when really it is the wealthy who regardless of which side wins the election, swoopes in to buy the political players and get their own interests, at the expense of the common man.:-(

What ladder?

Actually... yes, it literally is. They focus on what is effective, and if the pushy behavior works for them to get what they want, they do it. And it does. So they do.

But I did not say that I knew them! :-P

However, at a guess, she has trouble letting go of her "baby boy". That type of marriage would be quite difficult, for the new wife & especially the husband caught in the middle.