Anyone remember the Y2K scare of the late 90's? It would've been nice if it happened... (781 hits)
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Submitted by Dalai Queso (View user info) at 2006-08-26 10:54:11 EDT
...After all the mayhem, death, and destruction of course. People deprived of comforts they've become so accustomed to as to take for granted can get violent with little additional provocation. But what good are these "comforts" we so take for granted? Have they really improved the quality of life?
I think industry, technology, and science have been a terrible detriment to humanity.
It all boils down to access. Cars get you from your origin to your destination far faster than you could ever walk. Cell phones allow communication between two or more people anywhere in the world given proximity to a communication tower. A computer and internet connection provides access to a wealth of information; the extent of which has never been available to mankind in history. All our industry, technology, and science provide us with is access of some form or another.
This access has created a damaging environment for humanity. Anonymity has replaced community. What good are all your comforts when your stressed to maintain them? You struggle to accrue wealth to support your comforts and conveniences, to be free of financial woe. The stress of your struggle will inevitably lead you to seeking additional comforts, deepening your debt, and creating a vicious circle. Even wise use of money still leaves a person wanting what is so forcefully marketed to them.
If fame and money are as wonderful as TV tells you, and financial security in excess is bliss, why are so many of the "fabulously wealthy" still so unhappy? Celebrities have no privacy. Executives have no peace. Magnates have no joy. Still unfulfilled, most will pursue power. We all know what happens when an individual or organization gets too powerful. If you dont, your heart is blind to the truth due to your own denial.
Let's ponder for a moment the ancient American Indians. You might say they were deprived, for lack of transport, money, entertainment, and "things". I say they were wealthy with community, wisdom, and beauty. Smog had no definition to them, pollution was not a concept. Diet was what they ate to live, none would disguise toxins as convenience food for financial gain. They were raised by their loving family and community, not by mass media and heartless social pressure to conform.
I highly doubt they ever sat around complaining about being bored. There was always an elder with a story to tell, a pristine forest to explore, a landscape to admire the beauty of, a tribe member to play with, or simple chores to perform. I would be hard pressed to imagine one of them collapsing into a nervous breakdown from the stress of a hectic life. I would trade all of my "comforts" for the calm and relaxed bliss of the ancients.
Even crime was far less of an issue, if any at all. If a man murdered another man, he best run far away, lest justice be served to him by the community he violated. Each member was accountable to the whole tribe. In such a community setting, one would avoid wronging the other and bringing shame to himself and his family, as honor was still valued. Reputation was more than a means of access. A name had meaning beyond a label.
The world has lost so much because of invention. With all of our technologies, conveniences, pleasures, and indulgences, why do men insist on creating weapons of further destruction? You give men science, they produce horrific bombs. What atrocities will man contrive with further technological innovations? Eventually the knowledge and power will meet with mankind's self destructive tendencies if nothing stops us from getting to that point. Supposedly a bomb already exists with the capability of igniting the very atmosphere we breathe, effectively destroying the entire world with a single detonation.
The nation has been manipulated into a situation of dependancy. Man has come to need his destruction on wheels to survive in this world. Cars operate on destruction, as do all internal combustion engines. Thousands of explosions per minute drive the systems of automobiles, generators, lawn care equipment, and more. Each explosion furthers the slow death of our planet. Mankind has duped itself into being dependant on that which destroys his only home in the universe.
For what? Comfort? Convenience? For greed. For pleasure. For selfishness. We continue to destroy the planet with no regard to generations to come. Through abortion man outright ceases the generations to come! Mankind only exists in the here and now, for the next paycheck to fund his selfish survival.
Even the food establishments capitalism has caused to thrive destroy in that they pollute and harm the body. Obesity plagues the nation despite it's social repercussions. Yet society glorifies the slim individual despite the fact they destroy their body as much as the glutton through smoking, drugs, drinking, unhealthy foods, and more! The message is that self destruction is permissable so long as you are attractive. I highly doubt the ancient Indians of America peddled trash of the mind such as that.
Unfortunately, mankind will by no choice of his own forfeit the guilty pleasures he has worked so hard to attain. The end is indeed near, destruction of mind, body, and planet abounds. People cling so desperately to their life on this planet among the destruction and ruin. Few stop to consider what happens after this life anymore. The ancients of the world were all very concerned with the afterlife, in every culture. All were keenly aware of an eternal existence beyond life on earth.
Knowledge of the world has led to denial of the spirit. I will not venture beyond this point as I subscribe to a specific belief system shared by a very small number that is ill recieved by the general population. I conclude by imploring you to consider what is beyond your distracted life. Life is indeed short. Don't "live it up", plan ahead!
User Reviews
Submitted by Sepsis (user info) at 2006-08-28 19:35:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-08-28 16:23:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Y HALO THAR ETS
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2006-08-28 16:19:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I didn't even write that... I don't stoop to insults... This is irritating.
Submitted by jojo747 (user info) at 2006-08-28 15:01:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I can't stand when people write your when they mean you're.
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-08-28 10:27:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2006-08-28 10:15:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Wow. I've been on this site for awhile and I haven't seen an attempted insult that lame since KoolMang was here. Did you pat yourself on the back when you wrote it? In the review before the one addressed to me, you railed on about petty name-calling and bickering, attempting to place yourself on the moral high ground. 14 hours later, you shit hypocrisy all over yourself in your comments to me. I'll send you a case of paper towels to help clean that up.
I gave you a 0 rating, which means I thought this was worth reading. Hell, I even thought you had a few decent points and in fact, I share several of those same views. So, anyone with the slightest ability to infer context should probably take my comment as tongue-in-cheek. I mentioned the Unabomber because the anti-technology undertone of your post brought him to mind. It wasn't an insult. I wasn't attacking you. If it wasn't for technology, you wouldn't be able to broadcast these words across the globe, or did that paradox escape you? Get over yourself because apparently you aren't half as intelligent as you try to convey through your writing. If my comment was all it takes to get you to expose yourself as a complete hypocrite, maybe a forum where your posts get rated and commented on isn't for you. You can start a blog where you don't allow feedback. Get thicker skin, douchenaut.
Additionally, my pedophilia is coming along just fine, thanks. It's getting hard these days, what with the FBI and advocacy groups watching over things, but I get by and manage to do pretty well. Alas, baby rape is only one of my thousands of talents, so at least I have something to fall back on.
Oh wait. I forgot that you've got very limited reading comprehension and inference capabilities, so I should go ahead and let you know that that last paragraph was sarcasm. Thanks for playing. Now run along and prepare for doomsday; the adults want to talk.
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2006-08-28 02:11:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Silverwolf, what brings the unabomber to your mind? Is this a man you masturbate furiously to regularly that would cause his mention in your comment, or do you have some legitimate basis for your accusation? At least Jack made at least one of his attacks worhty of at least one counter argument.
By the way, SilverWolf, have you overcome your pedophilia addiction yet?
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2006-08-27 13:12:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Who knew Theodore Kaczynski had a protege?
Submitted by TheCrystalShip (user info) at 2006-08-27 12:32:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
I read to, "I would trade all of my "comforts" for the calm and relaxed bliss of the ancients."
Then do it, nothing is stopping you.
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2006-08-27 09:19:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I only want to put my thoughts out for any who are interested to read them, like most Uberites. You few who responded are hardly representative of Ubersite as a whole, as such you've failed to change my opinions in the least. You embarrass yourselves with your mannerisms and responses. Your petty name calling an arguing fails to accomplish anything. Some of you have shown yourselves not even worthy of any more of my time.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-27 00:39:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Although the Indians did come up with kickass catchphrases like, "Today is a good day to die," and "firewater.*"
*They would have called it silkwater if we had traded 20 year old single malts for pelts instead of rotgut whiskey.
Submitted by whiskey_jack (user info) at 2006-08-26 21:29:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You act as if American Indians choose to live the way they did. As if they had some sort of advanced knowledge of the foils that come with civilization and choose to stay in their nomadic hunter/gatherer groups. When really they simply didn't fully figure out the most basic agriculture. Thats really the main difference between the hunter/gatherers and American Indians of old and modern society. They're not nobler than us, we just advanced past them which brought problems along with all the good. Douche.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-26 20:43:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2006-08-26 18:14:33 (#)
Ranking: 0
Jack, never before in history has such destructive power been in the hands of man. 1000 years ago they fret of heathens and evil, positive a cosmic force would cease their existence. Today, anyone with a certain degree of access could initiate a nuclear world war, destroying the world completely, thereby ending it.
<<The idea of a nuclear war is paranoid BS. Even if some fuckjob terrorist set of one or two or more nukes, countries holding their own bombs wouldn't just fire away because all of us realize the consequences of that action. We all drive cars, two tons of potentially destructive macinery. Every once in a while some freak rams his car into another car or a crowd or a building. Do the rest of us lose our collective mud in a domino-effect of car ramming? No.>>
And you could attain a wealth of information on any and all religions through the internet, but all that knowledge will not give you the faith to alter the fate of your eternal essence
<<I suggested you Google religion not to learn, but to see how many other people there are out there already adhering to a great number of faiths.>>
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2006-08-26 20:21:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
No one understood what that was about and it was obvious that it would never happen. *yawn*
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2006-08-26 18:14:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Jack, never before in history has such destructive power been in the hands of man. 1000 years ago they fret of heathens and evil, positive a cosmic force would cease their existence. Today, anyone with a certain degree of access could initiate a nuclear world war, destroying the world completely, thereby ending it.
And you could attain a wealth of information on any and all religions through the internet, but all that knowledge will not give you the faith to alter the fate of your eternal essence.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-26 17:34:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I highly doubt they ever sat around complaining about being bored. There was always an elder with a story to tell, a pristine forest to explore, a landscape to admire the beauty of, a tribe member to play with, or simple chores to perform. I would be hard pressed to imagine one of them collapsing into a nervous breakdown from the stress of a hectic life. I would trade all of my "comforts" for the calm and relaxed bliss of the ancients.
<< An elder with a story to tell? The bookshelves are full of autobiographies, and many are accessible for free on the internet. When was the last time you and your friends went to a retirement home and listened to the wisdom of your elders? They are waiting, with stories to tell. We still admire our landscapes, and with modern travel, we can see landscaped the ancients could not imagine. And remember - as they grew crops and chopped down trees, the Indians too changed the landscape - not on our scale of course, but they did have an impact. Nothing that is completely passive survives for long in this world.>>
Even crime was far less of an issue, if any at all. If a man murdered another man, he best run far away, lest justice be served to him by the community he violated. Each member was accountable to the whole tribe. In such a community setting, one would avoid wronging the other and bringing shame to himself and his family, as honor was still valued. Reputation was more than a means of access. A name had meaning beyond a label.
<<People are still accountable today. That is why we have endless debate over the prison system and the death penalty. Crime was less of an issue in ancient days because in most societies a severe violation of the law resulted in death. Today we debate the intent and merit of a transgressor before they are punished - it is called a trial.>>
The world has lost so much because of invention. With all of our technologies, conveniences, pleasures, and indulgences, why do men insist on creating weapons of further destruction? You give men science, they produce horrific bombs. What atrocities will man contrive with further technological innovations? Eventually the knowledge and power will meet with mankind's self destructive tendencies if nothing stops us from getting to that point. Supposedly a bomb already exists with the capability of igniting the very atmosphere we breathe, effectively destroying the entire world with a single detonation.
<<The Indians used what technology they had at the time to kill their enemies as efficiently as possible. They used knives, spears, arrows, and fire. Why do you think they were so willing to take guns in trade when white men offered them? To protect themselves from the whites AND other tribes. If they were the noble savages you see them as they would have refused the guns. Again, I am NOT excusing what Europeans did in the Americas, but I do think you have to reconsider your notions of these first inhabitants of our lands.>>
The nation has been manipulated into a situation of dependancy. Man has come to need his destruction on wheels to survive in this world. Cars operate on destruction, as do all internal combustion engines. Thousands of explosions per minute drive the systems of automobiles, generators, lawn care equipment, and more. Each explosion furthers the slow death of our planet. Mankind has duped itself into being dependant on that which destroys his only home in the universe.
<<The Indians became dependant on the horse. Before that, ancients depended on slaves. What id your point? Every society strives to ease existence.>>
For what? Comfort? Convenience? For greed. For pleasure. For selfishness. We continue to destroy the planet with no regard to generations to come. Through abortion man outright ceases the generations to come! Mankind only exists in the here and now, for the next paycheck to fund his selfish survival.
<<...We? As is, we all do this? Type the words 'charitable organization' into Google and see how many results you get.>>
Even the food establishments capitalism has caused to thrive destroy in that they pollute and harm the body. Obesity plagues the nation despite it's social repercussions. Yet society glorifies the slim individual despite the fact they destroy their body as much as the glutton through smoking, drugs, drinking, unhealthy foods, and more! The message is that self destruction is permissible so long as you are attractive. I highly doubt the ancient Indians of America peddled trash of the mind such as that.
<<The further back you go in history, the less tolerant all societies were of the grossly deformed, the obese, the frail, the ugly. If anything, we are more accepting today because people with these so-called limitations have so many outlets through which to express themselves. I have red hair, a slight deformity of my toes (although to me it is perfectly normal and everyone else seems strange) and I like having cats around. If uber was a village four hundred years ago I would be highly suspect, and if there was a big storm or the crops died, I might be accused of being a witch. Today I am just called gay by the likes of Caulaincourt. That I can like with.>>
Unfortunately, mankind will by no choice of his own forfeit the guilty pleasures he has worked so hard to attain. The end is indeed near, destruction of mind, body, and planet abounds.
<<People were saying just that in the year 1000.>>
People cling so desperately to their life on this planet among the destruction and ruin. Few stop to consider what happens after this life anymore. The ancients of the world were all very concerned with the afterlife, in every culture. All were keenly aware of an eternal existence beyond life on earth.
<<Google 'religion.'>>
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-08-26 17:34:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Let's ponder for a moment the ancient American Indians. You might say they were deprived, for lack of transport, money, entertainment, and "things". I say they were wealthy with community, wisdom, and beauty. Smog had no definition to them, pollution was not a concept. Diet was what they ate to live, none would disguise toxins as convenience food for financial gain. They were raised by their loving family and community, not by mass media and heartless social pressure to conform.
<< You ARE kidding, right?
I hate these bullshit generalizations about the noble Indian. Yes, many aspects of their life were admirable, but consider things given to us by our technologically advanced civilization used to make life better by most of us.
Refrigerators reduce the risk of being poisoned by spoiled meat. Eyeglasses help us read. Comfortable shoes and beds and insulated homes help prolong our lives by maintaining our health. Note that I do not endorse the overabundance we see in regard to surgery, mood altering medications, and drugs for which a market is created through near hysteria, such as cholesterol controllers.
As for community... If you loved someone from an enemy tribe, you were an outcast. If you were lesbian or gay, you would be an outcast. Children born with gross physical deformities would not last long.
<<Every society has flaws.>>
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-08-26 15:17:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well written.
the point of existance is what? self preservation? continued existance? at the expense of others. selfish self preservation.
who is better equipped to survive to pass his genes on: the guy in a wool jacket with his finger on a button that kills 50,000, or the indian facing a dry spell?
if you think they didn't have the same instinct back then as we do now, i would argue with you.
but5 we all know how i like arguinlg
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-08-26 13:05:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This way of life cannot sustain itself.
It will end with a bang, not a wimper.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-08-26 12:49:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Indeed.
While it would be nice to be able to have a simpler life the fact is I would be dead without the modern world and its tech. Go tech, woo!
Submitted by ih8u2man (user info) at 2006-08-26 12:29:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
jERICHO IS DA BOMZORS.
Submitted by Sideburns (user info) at 2006-08-26 11:38:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I remember the Y2J scare. That was awesome. Jericho is awesome.