What a fucked up world this is.

[Rev. Stuart Campbell]

Like all other animals, we're designed to fight, we're designed to fear and attack those from other tribes and packs...

Designed? Design is caused by a designer. Who designed us then??

A pissed monkey, it would appear.

[IronGiant]

Maybe i'm just getting old but it seems that technologies improve but the mindset remains the same.

I've thought that for quite a while now. If anything, sociologically speaking I think we're degenerating.

[Guest]

You know, as fucked-up as this world may be, I really think pistachio nuts are a-ok. Better than ok actually - really quite good. And I'm eating some right now.

So it's not all bad.

[koworld]

Maybe i'm just getting old but it seems that technologies improve but the mindset remains the same.

I've thought that for quite a while now. If anything, sociologically speaking I think we're degenerating.

Oh we are absolutely improving - no doubt whatsoever on that one. But look where we're improving from and you realise that Stuart is right: people are cunts, all of us. I mean that seriously - oh Christ yeah personally, I hate war and I'm nice to kittens but when push comes to shove? I'd kill.

[hairy_pete]

Fundamental.

Fund A Mental.


Religion's the problem. At least those that claim they're the One True Religion and all the others are the Disbelievers/Heretics/whatever, and thus must either be converted or otherwise eradicated.

Islam is approx 1500 years old now. Where's Christianity been in 1500 A.D.? Look similar? Coincidence? Nah. Just history repeating.

[Dvorak]

people are cunts, all of us. I mean that seriously - oh Christ yeah personally, I hate war and I'm nice to kittens but when push comes to shove? I'd kill.

/me pushes koworld just out of curiosity.

[koworld]

people are cunts, all of us. I mean that seriously - oh Christ yeah personally, I hate war and I'm nice to kittens but when push comes to shove? I'd kill.

/me pushes koworld just out of curiosity.

PM me your address

Also could you post me a shotgun please?

[Dvorak]

Curiosity satisfied.
People are cunts.
All of us.

[arron]

If you're concerned with handfuls of death and suffering now, then there's lots more in the future..and we cannot avoid it. We pay for what is going to come from our actions, and a life without death and suffering is not possible.

* halfsmiles, and lowers gaze to the floor *

[Tmuk]

Fundamental.Islam is approx 1500 years old now. Where's Christianity been in 1500 A.D.? Look similar? Coincidence? Nah. Just history repeating.

That's quite an interesting observation. I hadn't thought of that before.

[biggestjim]

Religion's the problem...

Religion is a problem because of people - in fact 'people' is the problem.
Someone also could say that 'money' is the problem, but that's only (just as religion) because people can't handle it.

History & now tells that men/governments/UN can't and won't solve the problems that surround us.

After years of study I see & believe this:

"On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

"I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.

"Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

Ask yourself the question: (before flaming me to pulp )

What is more shocking: the fact that someone's quoting & (believing in) Jesus, or that Koworld admits that he'd kill if push came to shove?

Personally I'd never-ever kill no-one, although I can think of situations in which it could be tempting to do so. That worries me a lot.

Btw, I do NOT think that I'm better than anyone else, so please treat me gently.

Ta!
Rob

[phattslagg]

Like all other animals, we're designed to fight, we're designed to fear and attack those from other tribes and packs...

Designed? Design is caused by a designer. Who designed us then??

Try replacing 'designed' with 'have been selected by the process of evolution', and it might make a little more sense

Fortunately/unfortunately much of the human species has managed to sidestep the process of evolution in recent years.

This situation in Russia really is upsetting me at the moment, but in many ways it pales into insignificance compared to the actions of the Janjaweed in Darfur. At least the kids in the school still have a chance.

We pay for what is going to come from our actions,

Pah. Karma/schmarma. Heaven and Hell. Same concepts, different clothing. IMO both are only applicable to the living, and as such reserve their effectiveness exclusively for the very few of us who actually give a damn.

[arron]

It would be best to quote a sutra here, one of the first that I remember hearing..

Once there was a woman named Kisagotami, whose first-born son died. She was so stricken with grief that she roamed the streets carrying the dead body and asking for help to bring her son back to life. A kind and wise man took her to the Buddha.

The Buddha told her, "Fetch me a handful of mustard seeds and I will bring your child back to life." Joyfully Kisagotami started off to get them. Then the Buddha added, "But the seeds must come from a family that has not known death."

Kisagotami went from door to door in the whole village asking for the mustard seeds, but everyone said, "Oh, there have been many deaths here", "I lost my father", I lost my sister". She could not find a single household that had not been visited by death. Finally Kisagotami returned to the Buddha and said, "There is death in every family. Everyone dies. Now I understand your teaching."

The Buddha said, "No one can escape death and unhappiness. If people expect only happiness in life, they will be disappointed."

We pay for what is going to come from our actions,

Pah. Karma/schmarma. Heaven and Hell. Same concepts, different clothing. IMO both are only applicable to the living, and as such reserve their effectiveness exclusively for the very few of us who actually give a damn.

Even if you believe in karma or not (which at this point in the conversation is irrelevant) - the results of your actions can be seen in the here and now. Even the most bloodiest conflicts throughout history have started off with a single agressive action, an insult, a single gesture of indifference, a single thought. All mighty oaks start with a single seed. All great wars start from a single event. After a while, once both sides have started retaliation and counter-retailation, we forget the seed and only see the complex branching of action leading to death and pain, and as the shadow grows, it affects more and more people.

I know little of fighting wars through personal experience, but I can see how they start, and how they end. Surely if you knew both of those things, it would be easy to see how to start one is merely to finish it, to little benefit of all caught up in it.

[PVB]

Like all other animals, we're designed to fight, we're designed to fear and attack those from other tribes and packs...

Designed? Design is caused by a designer. Who designed us then??

Try replacing 'designed' with 'have been selected by the process of evolution', and it might make a little more sense

Not evolution; Chariots of the Gods baby:

http://skepdic.com/vondanik.html

[aurora]

The Rev's hit the nail on the head - the world's population keeps growing and everyone wants their piece of the pie, but the earth's resources are finite. Something's got to give, and it's going to get damn ugly when it does.