I consider an -ism bad by examining and comparing how much practical variety results from a particular -ism's theory. If variety is very small and the result is bad, then u can very much blame the -ism, if variety is large then definitely not the -ism's fault, but more the individuals.
I agree that blind nationalism can be very detrimental to a country. Progress is the only way that a country can better itself, and it also must have citizens who are well informed and educated so that they make decisions that will improve the quality of life for their nation. Of course a nation must also have good foreign policies, which makes for better relationships with other countries, and try not to force their policies, beliefs, and form of government down other peoples throats.
Copland, Sibelius, Dvorak, Chopin, Grieg, Elgar, R.V. Williams, Smetana, the Big Five Russians...embedded beautiful motifs into their masterworks that were inspired by love of country...are we richer for these gifts?
Nationalism is the bread and butter of the continued use of government ( initiation of violence ) to solve complex social problems. "Nationalists and patriots can go fuck themselves. They have done nothing to further society.
@Stephen5000 Yeah true. Like I'm not so keen on uganda after their anti-gay bill, but I'm sure most Ugandans are nice people. Although there really needs to be some kind of education campaign to promote gay rights.
religions can't be nationalistic but they make up for it by being elitist. The awful atitude of believers to non believers is in some cases at least as disgusting as the worst excesses of nationalism. The west is often accused of being institutionally racist and personally i would not entirely dismiss the suggestion but the way in which religion divides and treats people is just as bad. The muslims who burn't down the danish embassy were tarring all danes with the same brush.
I'm trying to remember something I heard that was real similar to the bit in the description, George Carlin maybe? but yeah, that's how I look at it too. Also, you look good in a beard.
I don't think we would be able to even fight in wars if it wasn't for our uncanny ability to disassociate from the people we are fighting against. The skill was useful back in the day as far as evolution was concerned because tribes were forced to compete for resources that were short in supply or they would perish but now it's really hurting us.
@dawn0293 Yeah. Dehumanizing the enemy is the only way for regular people to be able to kill each other. And yeah, there's certain "instincts" that we have which we really need to learn how to get rid of, because they no longer serve a purpose.
@ChaoticSupernova aw dangit, you just reminded me of a whole part of the video I forgot to add in, which is that you can't be proud of something you had nothing to do with. You can't be proud of your race, where you were born, etc.
I do think it makes a certain amount of sense to be proud of your culture because although it's something you really don't actually choose, some people decide to embrace their culture more fully; i.e. lebanese who get really into lebanese cuisine or whatever
-you can't be proud of something you had nothing to do with.
I disagree to an extent. I'm proud of being descended from people who were smart, and daring enough to leave Europe when things got rough. Who came to America, and help build a country that was, and still is the envy of much of the world. I'm proud of the country they helped build. Why shouldn't I be? I see nothing wrong with nationalism, it's "blind nationalism" which you mention at one point that's the problem.
It's "blind nationalism" that breeds and us vs them mentality. I consider myself a nationalist, but I recognize that some countries are better at some things than mine, and that we should learn from what they are doing right as well as learn from what we, and others are doing wrong. All countries ARE NOT created equal. some are more worthy of being proud of than others.
@TheNakedAtheist Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do. For me, being proud of the fact that my ancestors left Germany and settled in Russia during the 1600s sometime makes just as much sense as me being proud that your ancestors left europe and came to the states at some point. Neither are things that I personally had anything to do with. To me pride is synonymous with a sense of accomplishment, and neither of those were my accomplishments.
@ubergossen "Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do."
Because people like to associate themselves with people who have achieved great things, because deep down they hope that some of that greatness will rub off on them.
-Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do
So you've never been proud of your parents, or siblings, or friends??? I'm proud of my country for providing me the opportunity to be successful, while keeping me safe from foreign aggression. Proud of it's achievements. Pride is not necessarily something you only feel for yourself, or your own personal achievements.
That being said it's a personal pride as well. I have as much to do with the accomplishments of my country during my lifetime as anyone else. I served in the military, I vote, I pay taxes, so yes I'm proud of us, and proud for what we as a nation accomplished before I was born.
One more point. My father was born with debilitating birth defects. He was hospitalized for the first 12 years of his life, and was never expected to be able to get out of bed, let alone walk, or live any kind of normal life. Not only did he walk he went to school, put himself through college, raised a family, became a successful, and respected artist, author, politician, teacher, and father. IF IT'S NOT pride I feel for him for what he was able to overcome, what would you call it?
@TheNakedAtheist Yeah I guess I understand your point about being proud of others achievements, that's tied in with empathy. You feel bad when people you care about get hurt and you feel proud when they achieve something.
But extending this to things that are more happenstance I'm still not so sure about. You happen to be someone who was born to American parents, I happen to be someone who was born to Canadian parents. Maybe I can be vicariously proud that my dad passed his lsats or whatever
@TheNakedAtheist As for my country, I've barely paid taxes, basically sales tax, quebec school tax and a bit of property tax, since I'm under the minimum salary for income tax. I haven't had much of a real job, pretty much my life has been useless so far as far as Canada is concerned. Just been sapping resources. So I don't have any right to feel proud about what my country has done since I seriously had no part in it.
Maybe "pride" is the wrong word. Maybe appreciate is a better one. If I lived in Canada with it's gay marriage rights, and universal health care to name just a couple of things. I'd appreciate it, and feel loyal towards it for espousing the same values I hold dear. The U.S. has freedom of speech, separation of church and state laws, as well as human rights values (that it doesn't necessarily live up to) that are almost unrivaled even in the western world. Values that I espouse.
@TheNakedAtheist Yeah, well maybe there are two kinds of pride. Pride in your own achievements and empathetic pride in the achievements of others. Or maybe it's the same thing, I dunno.
But I definitely think pride on chance events is misplaced.
@TheNakedAtheist I think maybe what he is getting at is a sense of pride representing a sense of ownership over someone else's achievements. I love it when my kids do well at something which thankfully is often.
-I love it when my kids do well at something which thankfully is often.
Well I was going to mention the pride I have in my daughter, but that is in a sense a personal pride. I think I had quite a bit to do with the person she's become, although I might be fooling myself. :p
good stuff. i agree the "us vs them" mentality is either instinctual, or deeply ingrained. but its not always healthy, sometimes its downright detrimental, and it can easily be a short cut to thinking.
I agree that nationalism helps drive societies forward, as long as nationalism does not get confused with inherant national superiority. @0:48, please dont say, "while we were evolving" as it gives the idea that we have stopped. At some point our species stopped have to compete with other species for survival on a large scale and so the threat of survival came from our own species. This is the rise of xenophobia. You may have won at Hockey, but our beer is better then yours so take off, knob. :D
@savageecho What I mean is that on a timescale, 99.99% of our evolution into homo sapiens sapiens happened before the agricultural revolution.
So modern culture doesn't really play any role in the way we're physically evolved.
As for how we're evolving now, environmental pressures are largely absent because of modern medicine and society in general. There are still a few things that will kill you before you get a chance to mate, certain diseases, also..
@ubergossen I understand what you meant in the general, I was simply trying to point out that evolution doesn't stop. We do not have the same environmental factors driving it but other factors, social and bacterial for instance, that still effect us and not all mutations are good, like your eye sight. I would just hate for you to be quote mined. The in-group/out-group mentality largely evolved due to the threat moving from environmental to social.
@savageecho There's the fact that certain things that would have killed us in the past no longer do, which is leading to a kind of "devolution". For example, I can't see for shit without my glasses. Very low probability that I would have been able to pass my genes on back in the day. With glasses, people like me are now leading to a human race with increasingly poor eyesight.
The japanese in the second world war were pretty brutal even if they weren't resisted, from what I gather. The attitude of the locals didn't make much difference to them. This was of course during the period when their chief executive was their actual god, polytheism aside.
@Fjarhultian Yeah well, rape and murder of civilians on a massive scale, as well as actual state sanctioned rape, the "comfort women" system. And yeah, State Shinto, so they believed their culture was the world's foremost culture sent on a divine mission and that their emperor was literally a god.
I agree with you 100% ubergossen. Although I'd like to throw North Korea out there as the most nationalist country on the planet. The entire country is like the most devoted fundamentalist religious people you can think of but toward the Kim Sung-Il dynasty.
@Vol7ar haha yeah North Korea is pretty fucked up. I dunno how much of that is people just going along with what they have to do to not get arrested and how much is people actually embracing the ideology.
It's weird how one of the worst countries to live in in Asia can be the most nationalistic. But I guess not that weird considering that according to wikipedia there's like 5 internet connections in the whole country.
i dont think my countries the best. every country has beautiful things to offer. but i am proud of my country aswell :D.I just keep in mind that my country isnt better than any other country.
My national pride extends about as far as my support for my favorite football team. I cheer for Americans in the Olympics or other international competitions, but that is about all. I personally find the current state of my country to be an embarrassment to civilization. If we really want to be the "leaders of the free world" we think ourselves to be, we have a LONG way to go.
Uber, your a Canuck? Canada rules ay? Ha, there's some nationalism for you. Good post. I support the Venus Project, and think that there should be no such things as countries. There should only be Earth.
@herpiethelovebug Yeah, I think the idea of no countries is probably totally impractical for a while at least. You need to divide up populations into administrative regions or else nothings ever gonna get accomplished, the whole world would be way too big and diverse to be run by one central government, pretty sure.
Also there's the fact that most people in most countries would never want to merge with another country... too much nationalism haha. But maybe that could change.
@ubergossen Actually, no government would be needed eventually. Once the planet had a electronic "nervous system" and everything could be maintained by machines, there would simply be no need for them. Mankind would have to adjust behaviorally, that would be hard for our generation, but future generations would be just fine. If you have the time, (took me months to figure it all out) look into the Venus Project.
Yeah, I think it's a 100% unrealistic idea for our generation and likely at least a few generations after us, but definitely totally a possibility for some point in the future.
@ubergossen Actually, something may happen sooner than you think. I think the ponzi scheme that is the monetary system is going to implode pretty soon. Maybe in 2011. Once lots of people become dissatisfied, they will start looking at alternatives. I'm not saying it would be the VP, but I think a drastic change is just over the horizon. I just can't see millions of unemployed putting up with welfare. Technological unemployment is really starting to ramp up. Of course, I may be wrong :)
@herpiethelovebug Yeah we'll see. Water shortages and other global warming related things as well as just a lack of natural resources because of overpopulation is also going to shake things up in the next century. Who knows what things will look like in 2110
The united states' variety of nationalism has resulted in a state of mental isolationism. I'm pretty sure we are one of the countries worst at finding other countries on the map.
I mean, what percent of Americans think they're country has the best education system, highest quality of life, and is the most developed?
How many of them can name three countries with universal health care?
Surely this bodes poorly for our decision making on such issues.
@JoesephKatana Yeah, well I think Americans generally think that the rest of the world doesn't matter so they don't bother learning about it, even to the point of not knowing where most other countries are... and even to the point of not knowing where the States is on a globe haha, I've actually seen statistics about that, something like 15% which is totally mind blowing.
But at the same time, it makes sense. I live in a country which doesn't really make much of a difference to the world,
@JoesephKatana And even still, the better part of the news I hear is about Canada. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, so I can imagine that pretty much all the news would be about the States. And I think Americans know that they live in the most powerful country, so they have a "why bother" attitude towards learning about what's going on in the rest of the world. It's not as important.
Nationalism is as stupid, harmful and outdated of a tradition as religion. But there is so much 'patriotic' rallying going on that very few people realize the irrationality of their views. You have people calling each other anti-americans in the U.S., you have eurosceptics in the EU... it's sad, as almost anything that defines humans.
Nationalism is the natural love to the community that you belong.
Now is "politically correct" to be anti-ationalism.
We have an example where internationalism failed too, namely communism!
VyckRo 2 weeks ago in playlist Uploaded videos
Dumb dumb fool you animal
megaloethor 5 months ago
I consider an -ism bad by examining and comparing how much practical variety results from a particular -ism's theory. If variety is very small and the result is bad, then u can very much blame the -ism, if variety is large then definitely not the -ism's fault, but more the individuals.
p.s This is in a more global sense.
Trinivalts 6 months ago
@Trinivalts hm yeah. So are the results of nationalism extremely varied or not, in your opinion?
ubergossen 6 months ago
@ubergossen varied of course, every nation is nationalistic more or less.
Trinivalts 6 months ago
What I said about nationalism is in theory of course, but to put it to practice now that's the challenge.
Hotleather31 1 year ago
@Hotleather31 indeed
ubergossen 1 year ago
I agree that blind nationalism can be very detrimental to a country. Progress is the only way that a country can better itself, and it also must have citizens who are well informed and educated so that they make decisions that will improve the quality of life for their nation. Of course a nation must also have good foreign policies, which makes for better relationships with other countries, and try not to force their policies, beliefs, and form of government down other peoples throats.
Hotleather31 1 year ago
Copland, Sibelius, Dvorak, Chopin, Grieg, Elgar, R.V. Williams, Smetana, the Big Five Russians...embedded beautiful motifs into their masterworks that were inspired by love of country...are we richer for these gifts?
schmeckensie 1 year ago
You're too sexy, I have to minimize my internet browser to pay attention to what you're saying!
hotch1776 1 year ago
Nationalism is the bread and butter of the continued use of government ( initiation of violence ) to solve complex social problems. "Nationalists and patriots can go fuck themselves. They have done nothing to further society.
g0at 1 year ago
I like meeting people from different countries. They offer new perspectives.
Also, if and when I say I hate certain countries, it really means I hate their governments and leaders. I reserve judgment of individual people.
Stephen5000 1 year ago
@Stephen5000 Yeah true. Like I'm not so keen on uganda after their anti-gay bill, but I'm sure most Ugandans are nice people. Although there really needs to be some kind of education campaign to promote gay rights.
ubergossen 1 year ago
religions can't be nationalistic but they make up for it by being elitist. The awful atitude of believers to non believers is in some cases at least as disgusting as the worst excesses of nationalism. The west is often accused of being institutionally racist and personally i would not entirely dismiss the suggestion but the way in which religion divides and treats people is just as bad. The muslims who burn't down the danish embassy were tarring all danes with the same brush.
ooglebydoogleby 1 year ago
I'm trying to remember something I heard that was real similar to the bit in the description, George Carlin maybe? but yeah, that's how I look at it too. Also, you look good in a beard.
NoWittyNamesLeft 1 year ago
I would argue that what the US is doing is just as bad, but they have a better propaganda machine working for them.
tml4873 1 year ago
@tml4873 mmm disagree. China lost 10-20 million people fighting Japan in WWII. The scale of death in Iraq doesn't even come close.
ubergossen 1 year ago
I don't think we would be able to even fight in wars if it wasn't for our uncanny ability to disassociate from the people we are fighting against. The skill was useful back in the day as far as evolution was concerned because tribes were forced to compete for resources that were short in supply or they would perish but now it's really hurting us.
dawn0293 1 year ago
@dawn0293 Yeah. Dehumanizing the enemy is the only way for regular people to be able to kill each other. And yeah, there's certain "instincts" that we have which we really need to learn how to get rid of, because they no longer serve a purpose.
ubergossen 1 year ago
I agree that Nationalism is not as good as it is made out to be. The place of your birth is purely chance.
ChaoticSupernova 1 year ago
@ChaoticSupernova aw dangit, you just reminded me of a whole part of the video I forgot to add in, which is that you can't be proud of something you had nothing to do with. You can't be proud of your race, where you were born, etc.
I do think it makes a certain amount of sense to be proud of your culture because although it's something you really don't actually choose, some people decide to embrace their culture more fully; i.e. lebanese who get really into lebanese cuisine or whatever
ubergossen 1 year ago 2
-you can't be proud of something you had nothing to do with.
I disagree to an extent. I'm proud of being descended from people who were smart, and daring enough to leave Europe when things got rough. Who came to America, and help build a country that was, and still is the envy of much of the world. I'm proud of the country they helped build. Why shouldn't I be? I see nothing wrong with nationalism, it's "blind nationalism" which you mention at one point that's the problem.
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
Continued...
It's "blind nationalism" that breeds and us vs them mentality. I consider myself a nationalist, but I recognize that some countries are better at some things than mine, and that we should learn from what they are doing right as well as learn from what we, and others are doing wrong. All countries ARE NOT created equal. some are more worthy of being proud of than others.
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do. For me, being proud of the fact that my ancestors left Germany and settled in Russia during the 1600s sometime makes just as much sense as me being proud that your ancestors left europe and came to the states at some point. Neither are things that I personally had anything to do with. To me pride is synonymous with a sense of accomplishment, and neither of those were my accomplishments.
ubergossen 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@ubergossen "Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do."
Because people like to associate themselves with people who have achieved great things, because deep down they hope that some of that greatness will rub off on them.
SAsgarters 1 year ago
-Well, I just don't understand why you would be proud of something you didn't do
So you've never been proud of your parents, or siblings, or friends??? I'm proud of my country for providing me the opportunity to be successful, while keeping me safe from foreign aggression. Proud of it's achievements. Pride is not necessarily something you only feel for yourself, or your own personal achievements.
(cont)
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
(cont)
That being said it's a personal pride as well. I have as much to do with the accomplishments of my country during my lifetime as anyone else. I served in the military, I vote, I pay taxes, so yes I'm proud of us, and proud for what we as a nation accomplished before I was born.
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
Continued...
One more point. My father was born with debilitating birth defects. He was hospitalized for the first 12 years of his life, and was never expected to be able to get out of bed, let alone walk, or live any kind of normal life. Not only did he walk he went to school, put himself through college, raised a family, became a successful, and respected artist, author, politician, teacher, and father. IF IT'S NOT pride I feel for him for what he was able to overcome, what would you call it?
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist Yeah I guess I understand your point about being proud of others achievements, that's tied in with empathy. You feel bad when people you care about get hurt and you feel proud when they achieve something.
But extending this to things that are more happenstance I'm still not so sure about. You happen to be someone who was born to American parents, I happen to be someone who was born to Canadian parents. Maybe I can be vicariously proud that my dad passed his lsats or whatever
ubergossen 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist As for my country, I've barely paid taxes, basically sales tax, quebec school tax and a bit of property tax, since I'm under the minimum salary for income tax. I haven't had much of a real job, pretty much my life has been useless so far as far as Canada is concerned. Just been sapping resources. So I don't have any right to feel proud about what my country has done since I seriously had no part in it.
ubergossen 1 year ago
@ubergossen
Maybe "pride" is the wrong word. Maybe appreciate is a better one. If I lived in Canada with it's gay marriage rights, and universal health care to name just a couple of things. I'd appreciate it, and feel loyal towards it for espousing the same values I hold dear. The U.S. has freedom of speech, separation of church and state laws, as well as human rights values (that it doesn't necessarily live up to) that are almost unrivaled even in the western world. Values that I espouse.
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist Yeah, well maybe there are two kinds of pride. Pride in your own achievements and empathetic pride in the achievements of others. Or maybe it's the same thing, I dunno.
But I definitely think pride on chance events is misplaced.
ubergossen 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist love?
ooglebydoogleby 1 year ago
@ooglebydoogleby
I don't think so because I feel similarly (though perhaps to a lesser degree) towards anyone who succeeds in the face of adversity.
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
@TheNakedAtheist I think maybe what he is getting at is a sense of pride representing a sense of ownership over someone else's achievements. I love it when my kids do well at something which thankfully is often.
ooglebydoogleby 1 year ago
-I love it when my kids do well at something which thankfully is often.
Well I was going to mention the pride I have in my daughter, but that is in a sense a personal pride. I think I had quite a bit to do with the person she's become, although I might be fooling myself. :p
TheNakedAtheist 1 year ago
Well spoken.
jamesgaspard 1 year ago
good stuff. i agree the "us vs them" mentality is either instinctual, or deeply ingrained. but its not always healthy, sometimes its downright detrimental, and it can easily be a short cut to thinking.
gothatfunk 1 year ago
I agree that nationalism helps drive societies forward, as long as nationalism does not get confused with inherant national superiority. @0:48, please dont say, "while we were evolving" as it gives the idea that we have stopped. At some point our species stopped have to compete with other species for survival on a large scale and so the threat of survival came from our own species. This is the rise of xenophobia. You may have won at Hockey, but our beer is better then yours so take off, knob. :D
savageecho 1 year ago
@savageecho What I mean is that on a timescale, 99.99% of our evolution into homo sapiens sapiens happened before the agricultural revolution.
So modern culture doesn't really play any role in the way we're physically evolved.
As for how we're evolving now, environmental pressures are largely absent because of modern medicine and society in general. There are still a few things that will kill you before you get a chance to mate, certain diseases, also..
ubergossen 1 year ago
@ubergossen I understand what you meant in the general, I was simply trying to point out that evolution doesn't stop. We do not have the same environmental factors driving it but other factors, social and bacterial for instance, that still effect us and not all mutations are good, like your eye sight. I would just hate for you to be quote mined. The in-group/out-group mentality largely evolved due to the threat moving from environmental to social.
savageecho 1 year ago
@savageecho yeah. I'll add an annotation.
ubergossen 1 year ago
@savageecho There's the fact that certain things that would have killed us in the past no longer do, which is leading to a kind of "devolution". For example, I can't see for shit without my glasses. Very low probability that I would have been able to pass my genes on back in the day. With glasses, people like me are now leading to a human race with increasingly poor eyesight.
ubergossen 1 year ago
The japanese in the second world war were pretty brutal even if they weren't resisted, from what I gather. The attitude of the locals didn't make much difference to them. This was of course during the period when their chief executive was their actual god, polytheism aside.
Fjarhultian 1 year ago
@Fjarhultian Yeah well, rape and murder of civilians on a massive scale, as well as actual state sanctioned rape, the "comfort women" system. And yeah, State Shinto, so they believed their culture was the world's foremost culture sent on a divine mission and that their emperor was literally a god.
ubergossen 1 year ago
I agree with you 100% ubergossen. Although I'd like to throw North Korea out there as the most nationalist country on the planet. The entire country is like the most devoted fundamentalist religious people you can think of but toward the Kim Sung-Il dynasty.
Vol7ar 1 year ago
@Vol7ar haha yeah North Korea is pretty fucked up. I dunno how much of that is people just going along with what they have to do to not get arrested and how much is people actually embracing the ideology.
It's weird how one of the worst countries to live in in Asia can be the most nationalistic. But I guess not that weird considering that according to wikipedia there's like 5 internet connections in the whole country.
ubergossen 1 year ago
Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you.
Fjarhultian 1 year ago
i dont think my countries the best. every country has beautiful things to offer. but i am proud of my country aswell :D.I just keep in mind that my country isnt better than any other country.
69southpole 1 year ago
Great video. I agree 100%.
Having grown up with the internet, the thought of nationalism makes no sense to me whatsoever,
LordNapalm 1 year ago
@LordNapalm Yeah, one on one conversation with people from a bunch of different countries is the death of nationalism.
ubergossen 1 year ago
My national pride extends about as far as my support for my favorite football team. I cheer for Americans in the Olympics or other international competitions, but that is about all. I personally find the current state of my country to be an embarrassment to civilization. If we really want to be the "leaders of the free world" we think ourselves to be, we have a LONG way to go.
MyPisceanNature 1 year ago
Nice beard, mines better
NikEmmer 1 year ago
@NikEmmer Beard? That's just my 5 o'clock shadow.
ubergossen 1 year ago
Uber, your a Canuck? Canada rules ay? Ha, there's some nationalism for you. Good post. I support the Venus Project, and think that there should be no such things as countries. There should only be Earth.
herpiethelovebug 1 year ago
@herpiethelovebug Yeah, I think the idea of no countries is probably totally impractical for a while at least. You need to divide up populations into administrative regions or else nothings ever gonna get accomplished, the whole world would be way too big and diverse to be run by one central government, pretty sure.
Also there's the fact that most people in most countries would never want to merge with another country... too much nationalism haha. But maybe that could change.
ubergossen 1 year ago
@ubergossen Actually, no government would be needed eventually. Once the planet had a electronic "nervous system" and everything could be maintained by machines, there would simply be no need for them. Mankind would have to adjust behaviorally, that would be hard for our generation, but future generations would be just fine. If you have the time, (took me months to figure it all out) look into the Venus Project.
herpiethelovebug 1 year ago
@herpiethelovebug Cool, yeah I'll look into it.
Yeah, I think it's a 100% unrealistic idea for our generation and likely at least a few generations after us, but definitely totally a possibility for some point in the future.
ubergossen 1 year ago
@ubergossen Actually, something may happen sooner than you think. I think the ponzi scheme that is the monetary system is going to implode pretty soon. Maybe in 2011. Once lots of people become dissatisfied, they will start looking at alternatives. I'm not saying it would be the VP, but I think a drastic change is just over the horizon. I just can't see millions of unemployed putting up with welfare. Technological unemployment is really starting to ramp up. Of course, I may be wrong :)
herpiethelovebug 1 year ago
@herpiethelovebug Yeah we'll see. Water shortages and other global warming related things as well as just a lack of natural resources because of overpopulation is also going to shake things up in the next century. Who knows what things will look like in 2110
ubergossen 1 year ago
The united states' variety of nationalism has resulted in a state of mental isolationism. I'm pretty sure we are one of the countries worst at finding other countries on the map.
I mean, what percent of Americans think they're country has the best education system, highest quality of life, and is the most developed?
How many of them can name three countries with universal health care?
Surely this bodes poorly for our decision making on such issues.
JoesephKatana 1 year ago
@JoesephKatana Yeah, well I think Americans generally think that the rest of the world doesn't matter so they don't bother learning about it, even to the point of not knowing where most other countries are... and even to the point of not knowing where the States is on a globe haha, I've actually seen statistics about that, something like 15% which is totally mind blowing.
But at the same time, it makes sense. I live in a country which doesn't really make much of a difference to the world,
ubergossen 1 year ago
@JoesephKatana And even still, the better part of the news I hear is about Canada. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, so I can imagine that pretty much all the news would be about the States. And I think Americans know that they live in the most powerful country, so they have a "why bother" attitude towards learning about what's going on in the rest of the world. It's not as important.
ubergossen 1 year ago
Well said, sir.
EscpdFrmPsykward 1 year ago
sincerity > nationalism.
quexalcoatl 1 year ago
Nationalism is as stupid, harmful and outdated of a tradition as religion. But there is so much 'patriotic' rallying going on that very few people realize the irrationality of their views. You have people calling each other anti-americans in the U.S., you have eurosceptics in the EU... it's sad, as almost anything that defines humans.
playgrrrr 1 year ago 2