EchoesofMourning

I must admit, I've done no in-depth investigation of Marx. If you would care to enlighten me, what is the driving force behind Marx's society?

hahahahahaha... That's fantastic! It really makes you take a step back and look at what we use on a daily basis. Everybody has had issues in one way or another with computers - it's weird that we just accept it, instead of demanding a better product.

Thank You! Many people do, but unfortunately most are unwilling to stick to their beliefs when the shit hits the fan.

It's very easy to justify what you're doing by claiming that your morals insist that you do so, however as soon as you get into a position on power and start enforcing your morals above all others you start down a very slippery slope. That does not mean that certain sets of morals should take precedence over others. If you have a particular set of morals that demands that you kill and drink the blood of virgins, I'm sorry but you'll have to change them to stay in my country. All I'm saying is that morals are a good justification for some actions, and insufficient for others. One cannot make much of a general statement on this topic.

In theory and on paper, Communism is the perfect system - everyone cares about one another and looks out for one another, and everything works out fine. There is a problem however, and that lies within people. People look out for one person first, and that is themselves - the world is not populated with Mother Teresas. Because of this, Communism has never worked, and will never work - people were, are, and always will be corrupt.

The problem here is not just self esteem, it's bigger than that. Everyone worries about their kids, that's normal, but somewhere in the last number of years, this worry has mad a change. Everyone is so concerned for their children that they are being smothered and ruined. For example, I was walking by a playground one evening, when one of the children nearby got it into his head that he had some sort of problem. He shouted for me to "fuck off". I can't speak for anyone else, but if I had of done that to someone bigger than me as a child, I would have gotten the everliving crap kicked out of me. Sounds nasty, but after a couple of incidents like that I learned my lesson and stopped doing that. Now however, that sort of behaviour is abuse, bullying, or whatever else society can come up with. 'nuff said.

All of the talk about 'nuclear bomb production' and all that sort of stuff is just a sleight of hand. If everyone is looking at anything that *could* be a nuclear facility (The quality of United States intelligence data...), they won't look any further into other motivations. Think about it - attacking a country because they have an assault weapon - not only is it awfully presumptious, it's asking for trouble. No, Weapons of Mass Destruction is that phrase that everyone loves to hate - it gets the blood boiling while corporations rub their greedy little hands together. The United States is an economic giant, but it is on the decline - it does not posess the resources to sustain itself, and it is expensive to constantly import them at prices set by another country. What, may I ask, are Iran's chief exports?

In and of itself, the Charter is not racist. It contains an amendment in Section 15 however, that adds some grey area. The amendment allows for 'programs' designed to be a some sort of great equalizer - programs to make sure that everyone has the same sort of opportunities. The problem arises when one looks at the programs themselves. Again, there is nothing wrong with offering things like scholarships to people. The problem is that these programs are obsolete, and ultimately demeaning to everyone involved. Take, for example, the manner in which the Canadian Government treats Native people. Somewhere along the line, Native people became a burden of the state. The government hands money, land and opportunity to the group left right and center, but they are not required to pay taxes. Scholarship programs number in the hundreds for this group of people - and yet everyone always talks about how poor and 'downtrodden' they are, how they struggle to get an education. The fact is that they are not a 'poor' or 'downtrodden' people, and there's no reason that they should have access to money, land or opportunity that is not offered to everyone. These programs are creating an entire generation of people that are growing up learning that they don't have to accomplish anything themselves, Big Brother will look after them. As a country, we are creating a generation of laziness, and it will only get worse unless something is done about it. What I advocate is simple - if equality is the goal, then be equal. If you are going to offer a group of people anything based on their physical makeup (skin colour, heritage, etc...), then it should be offered to every group of people. If there are still going to be scholarships for Native people based on the fact that they are Native, I want to see scholarships for White people based on the fact that they are White.

I guess that's technically true - humanity was not always necessarily always like that. Perhaps I should rephrase: Disregarding times when getting mauled by a sabre-toothed tiger was a pressing worry in humanity's mind, religion has always existed. Whether or not he was called as such, every group would have had a 'shaman', even if it was simply the person who could make a fire. Names aren't important, and whether the person is called a 'magic-man' or a pope, his role is the same.

"Communities: Human communities organized themselves before there was religion. Human communities today organize themselves without religion. Frankly, I see no case to meet in this part of your question. How would we? By just carrying on without it. No problem." Religion has been around as long as people have - it just wasn't as well organized. Tribal shamans, medicine men, these 'primitive' forms of religion have been around forever. The difference is not in religious belief, but the institutions that support those beliefs.

Of course Bush will attack Iran. The United States is an empire (not physical, like Rome, but economic), and the only way for an empire to survive is to continue to expand. When this growing empire encounters something that doesn't want to go along, the empire's only choice is to destroy it. This conflict in the Middle East has been fought before, but it hasn't been pursued to this level before. It will play out, and my prediction is that it will get bigger. Sooner or later another country, probably China, is going to step in and stop the big bad states from throwing its weight around - and mark my words, that's when the blood is really going to start to flow.

It's funny how racism is something that only a white person can do. It's all right for a black comedian to go up on national television and call me a 'cracker' or whatever else he can come up with, but if I were to say 'nigger' on the same venue, I would be crucified. I am curious about the justification for this action. Please take note that I am not supporting the use of derogatory terms in any way, shape or form, I am simply looking for an explanation as to why it is okay for some ethnic groups to use these terms and it is not ok for others.

It's more than that. Everybody knows that TV programs the youth of the country, and to a lesser extent, the adults, but TV is where most of the population of the western world gets their information about the events of the world around them. Okay, this alone is a dangerous situation, but when you look at how many people control the flow of information, it becomes terrifying. A select echelon of people control what the majority of people in the western world know about what's going on around them.

Religion( or more specifically, the church) is the product of people - an organization - and as such it suffers from the same problems that any group of people does. Sooner or later a power-hungry and immoral person will take control and abuse the power bestowed upon him. This has been repeated in the past, is being repeated right now, and will continue to be repeated in the future - it's the nature of people.