Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Jeffrey, yes, that is an interesting observation. We put our focus and attention on these mandalas that are only abstract representations of reality. But the layers of delusion are many.
"America" -----> Word -----> Symbol -----> Concept
Concept is the end point here. We can't de-abstract beyond that. Some things we can, but with country, race, caste, and religion, we can't. They are concepts to begin with.
The word is never the thing it refers to, but in this case of country or nationality, there isn't even a "thing".
Wage slavery - that is something that happens all across the globe, particularly because centralized power exists, whether we identify that power as "democratic" or "tyrannical". It doesn't matter. What matters is that power grows and sustains as collective benefits decrease.
I think the centerpoint isn't the governments in democracies at least I observe in US. The center is the corporations. The government caters to the corporations.
I think the centerpoint isn't the governments in democracies at least I observe in US. The center is the corporations. The government caters to the corporations.
Yes, and in at least somewhat of a democratic structure there is some check on power. Power doesn't come from collective interests. Power comes from personal interests.
Corporations, on the other hand, are tyrannical in nature. They are ruled from the top-down, and within, are basically the antithesis of democratic process. They also happen to have been given the same rights as human beings, although corporations don't die, don't go to jail, can merge with other corporations, and can move around the world at will. Now they can spend as much money as they want on elections. The same marketing firms that sell products sell politicians now. Even the magazine, "Ad Age", which is the main magazine of the advertising/marketing industry, awarded Obama's campaign "Marketer of the Year" in 2008.
Government and corporations are so intertwined it's sometimes hard to distinguish the two.
It's true but everything else posted that's not good about America is pretty applicable to most countries too.
Again, what is applicable is power, whether in the form of a democracy or dictatorship. The very nature of power runs against the collective interest, because the collective is always sacrificed for the growth and sustainment of power.
Power is tangible. We can perceive power through our senses. Power is not just an abstract concept. Countries and nations are - those are just abstract concepts.
Comments
"America" -----> Word -----> Symbol -----> Concept
Concept is the end point here. We can't de-abstract beyond that. Some things we can, but with country, race, caste, and religion, we can't. They are concepts to begin with.
The word is never the thing it refers to, but in this case of country or nationality, there isn't even a "thing".
Corporations, on the other hand, are tyrannical in nature. They are ruled from the top-down, and within, are basically the antithesis of democratic process. They also happen to have been given the same rights as human beings, although corporations don't die, don't go to jail, can merge with other corporations, and can move around the world at will. Now they can spend as much money as they want on elections. The same marketing firms that sell products sell politicians now. Even the magazine, "Ad Age", which is the main magazine of the advertising/marketing industry, awarded Obama's campaign "Marketer of the Year" in 2008.
Government and corporations are so intertwined it's sometimes hard to distinguish the two.
Power is tangible. We can perceive power through our senses. Power is not just an abstract concept. Countries and nations are - those are just abstract concepts.