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[–] doginventer [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Hi zen music.

I think you have touched on an important point when you say ' I can't see why the TPP authors would not wait us out.' because it shows that these things do not just happen by themselves. The relative empowerment of an ever shrinking number of individals is in itself a precarious position and requires ever more extreme measures to avoid collapse.

Overpopulation is, I believe, a myth, even if localised overcrowding and deprivation are obvious. Humans are the most valuable resource, and I think it is telling that the proven method to reduce birth rates is to increase the material security of the population.

There is undoubtedly a great deal to depress and discourage us, but I think we should resist the urge to think that any given scenario is inevitable.

I find that Voat in particular can be pretty overwhelming in its focus on the problems of the world, but even here theres plenty to smile about - not least that we all struggle to have our little say. I think that Voat would likely be an early victim of the internet controls in the current crop of trade treatys, and that alone would make it worth speaking up about, but no single solution is going to make everything better.

Billions of us living up to the best of ourselves is my hope. : )

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[–] zen_music ago 

You take a very encouraging attitude, and I appreciate it. Certainly I enjoy, far out on the edge of Earth as I am, a pretty positive society in general. And I agree about Voat's tendency to slide into dark conjectures.

I've tried to adopt this idea: "If it's all biased, your best answer is to read all of the tissues of lies, and hope the truth falls somewhere in the middle". Sadly, reading links from Voat, and then links from those links, has often led me to feel these dark themes are corroborated. It gets harder and harder to believe there isn't a "deep state", and the TPP is one of the best blowtorches heating up that idea today. The old saying: Just because you re paranoid it doesn t mean they aren t out to get you. (My punctuation just went for shit, I hit some random key)

I do believe in the essential goodheartedness of my fellow man. I have never been in a place where it was really tested, never inhabited an "it's you or me, buddy" society. I have no way of even imagining what the people feel like who have erupted onto the world stage with their deprivation and desperation, much less how the elites feel who command all these different armed forces. Nor do I understand the armed forces very well, beyond the savage joy of using the most destructive tools in the modern world. In a way, I'm glad not to deal with that, it's a terrible life no matter where on that scale you are. I hope to die before it becomes the world setting for society.

What I meant to point to with that link about "Gray State" was that we are not really very far away from many of the social forms that were shown to us in the past couple of years with "The Hunger Games" - the difference being that we could not rely on a "positive" outcome, if you could even call it that. I remember a poignant drawing from years ago: on one side of the room, a Samurai warrior stands in a martial arts pose in his leather armor, his arms cocked in a combat-ready stance, his meditation and resolve apparent on his face... while across the room, a man with a revolver has just shot him in the heart, and in the moment we see the warrior, he has yet to fall. Like Wile E. Coyote.

I wish I felt better about all this.

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[–] doginventer [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I agree there do appear to be powerful hidden forces at play, and the sense of forboding is pretty inescapable.

My (admittedly limited) understanding of the armed forces includes the knowledge that many are serving, and dying, in defence of the good values they believe in, not merely the joy of destruction. My experience in life has been that good and bad individuals can be found in all groups and we should concern ourselves with our own contributions.

I find that in my heart I believe in the ultimate victory of good over evil, and I think that even if that turned out to be wrong, I wouldn't regret having taken that position.

Who knows eh, even great zen masters couldn't be sure if they were butterflies dreaming they were men, or men dreaming they were butterflies.

I wish you love x