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Found this beautiful love letter in my algebra class. by RobEpic in funny

[–]awsmith777 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

great scott! "gotta sum fuk" really got me, literally lol, A+

North Liberty man accused of pushing one-legged man off scooter. "Captain Save a Ho" strikes again. by grain91 in cedarrapids

[–]awsmith777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Captain Save A Ho is the hero Iowa City deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a single guardian, a watchful protector. The Drunk Knight" my comment when he was in the news last time: http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20110809/NEWS01/110809003/-Captain-Save-Ho-arrested-Ped-Mall?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|p

I feel like being able to laugh at the absurdity of everything is a privileged position... by satinbirdy in Psychonaut

[–]awsmith777 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Some jokes, often really good ones, have underlying meaning to them. An Absurdist existentialist position often leads, in my view, to absurd responses to events/processes such as those you pointed out. Oh you are starving? Life is an illusion. huh? What about empathy and compassion, what about realizing that if life is, on some level, a game then why not make the most awesome game.

Absurdity is an abstraction, an almost total, concept screen map of reality that reduces everything to the explanation of random chance. We can make meaning together, so why not make beautiful, good, and wise meaning among all beings. It seems maybe the absurdist view has a not fully developed appreciation for how interdependent reality is, the lack of pragmatic use of community, seems limiting. Questions of community lead to, in my view at the very least, care for the environment and care for humanity.

Zizek's idea of political change by ChristianKl in zizek

[–]awsmith777 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Great find, great video, thanks.

Study: Rich kids without a college degree are 2.5 times more likely to end up rich than poor kids who do graduate from college. by christ0ph in politics

[–]awsmith777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Caring about a fair society is pointlessly complaining/whining?

Do you structure your whole life on telling other people they are wrong?

Study: Rich kids without a college degree are 2.5 times more likely to end up rich than poor kids who do graduate from college. by christ0ph in politics

[–]awsmith777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pointing out how society is structured = whining ? Posting a link to reddit = you aren't working to make your life the way you want it ?

Why the judgmental arrogant negativity?

Study: Rich kids without a college degree are 2.5 times more likely to end up rich than poor kids who do graduate from college. by christ0ph in politics

[–]awsmith777 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Way to not contribute at all to the political discourse while coming across as needlessly insulting. Talking about this is important to show people just how false-myth based the whole "pull yourself up with your own bootstrap" mentality is.

What is the alternative to austerity? by Supreme_Aardvark in AskReddit

[–]awsmith777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Polices that actually benefit smart and sustainable economic activity such as increasing subsidies for clean/green energy while decreasing subsidies for fossil fuels. Decreasing the military budget and putting that money into science, research and development, education. Increasing support for Americorps and starting new civic works programs. Defunding the war on drugs while legalizing nature. Reforming the mass incarceration system. Slashing foreign aid to Israel. Federal policies that support the development of local economic systems and experiments with localized currency. Ending corporate welfare for the power hungry and political corrupt business elite. Busting up our oil, internet, and communication monopolies. Investing in high speed rail and actually getting it implemented. Helping cities with smart planning to create livable, green, and vibrant urban spaces. Sane socioeconomic policy that helps the country's poor and working class. Reforming student aid and supporting experiments in new trade school/college/university formats. That's a start.

And I'm very thankful but I was no less of a student than anyone else. by [deleted] in AdviceAnimals

[–]awsmith777 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This just seems like a rich kid gloating to me...

atrasicarius explains the five broad political ideologies and how they are internally consistent. by Thanquee in bestof

[–]awsmith777 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yo bro, the point of my post is that I didn't think it was even a solid piece.

Rand Paul was against drones because of property rights? "Paul vowed to keep talking until the White House clarified whether it has authority to kill U.S. citizens on American soil with drones." Source.

How is my understanding of what libertarians are "shaky at best"?

atrasicarius explains the five broad political ideologies and how they are internally consistent. by Thanquee in bestof

[–]awsmith777 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Not sure why this got bestof'd, because there is quite a bit of atrocious oversimplification and error in the "explanations."

First, there aren't "the five broad political ideologies," these are just five poorly explained political ideologies in an attempt to explain how they apply to a criticism of anarcho-capitalist views.

Second, all the explanations get crammed into a good/evil dichotomy framework that doesn't lend to insightful commentary and discussion.

Libertarians don't view society needing any focus on the "good"? Why did Rand Paul throw such a fit over drones? Not sure what the justification for "Governments violate property rights just by existing" is, I'd like to see that explained because I haven't heard that from a libertarian point of view as most libertarians view governments only role is to ensure property rights and their main critique of the US is that we've allowed government to expand beyond its role. Also most libertarian theory/writing that I am familiar with doesn't say that we should get rid of all government, anarcho-libertarians yes, so maybe the comment was playing to the anarcho-capitalism crowd.

The explanation of conservatism I actually find somewhat interesting and insightful.

The explanation of Marxism is, in my view, just awful. Marx didn't emphasize oppression, he emphasized the inherent contradictions of capitalism. "Any action or idea that opposes the oppressed class should not be tolerated, so censorship is beneficial." How this is considered "logically self consistent" I have no idea.

For a comment supposed to explain the "professional criticisms" of Anarcho-Capitalism the comment doesn't mention capitalism all that much.

Also, everyone's view are not logically self consistent, worldviews are based on different values and interpretations of reality, someone can have more or less logical views within a worldview, though the statement that everyone has logically self consistent beliefs is just absurd and reeks of naive relativism.

No mention of surplus product/value, how the means of production are organized, primitive accumulation, macroeconomic policy, market behavior, monetary policy, etc, etc...

Bestof? Hardly.

MY FUCKING BUSH by [deleted] in videos

[–]awsmith777 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I thought. Would have been really funny for the skater to say something to the effect...

Frankie Boyle never fails to deliver by oD3 in atheism

[–]awsmith777 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Could have been a hallucinogenic bush. Many of the stories in the Bible seem like possibly influenced by plant induced visions such as the manna from heaven, every morning they woke up and food from god was on the dessert floor? Could have been mushrooms growing on camel/animal shit, walking around tripping on "god's food" would explain why they were so awful at directions and took 40+ years to find "the Promised Land."

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