Think!

[Elyris]

Uhm ... what about dropping random thoughts in one or two sentences and let them fly around ... and let's see what others see (explanations can follow of course)


Hmm - let's see: From two days ago: Winners are weak.

[Xacoon]

Interdasting thread

My favorite poem: "More strange than true: I never may belive these antique fables, nor these fairy toys. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, such shaping fantasies, that apprehend more than cool reason ever comprehends."

[spudtrooper15]

Interesting talk I had with my brother the other day. We were talking about how the United States is known as the "free world" and how the president is titled the "leader" of the "free world."

Would a free world need a leader? That's kind of contradictory to the whole ideal of being free. Interesting...

[Elyris]

Hmm. I think it's because those are words mainly used by the media - and as far as I could observe they don't really think about what they proclaim, at least when it comes to inner logic. It this case I guess it simply sounds somehow appealing. 'free world' indicates that it's somehow better than the rest (interesting point here: it also sounds as if it's more than just one country) and 'leader' makes it sound extraordinairy powerful, in combination with the first also indicating again 'better than the rest' (often in the sense of 'morally').
My thought: both terms are medial hoaxes (at least in their roots) of some sort and it has only little to do with the reality. A country is a country and the elected 'head' might be the one with the highest position, but isn't by far the only one deciding things (so no 'leader' here as a leader simply can decide at any given point, which isn't quite how things work in reality). Maybe those terms were picked because they sound falshy and cashy. No matter what it is you pick an unfitting term for (considering reality) if it's repeated and repeated all over again (especially from people who are in positions of 'trust' to the listener) it starts to stick to peoples minds and the unrelistsic/unfitting term is automatically associated with what it 'describes' and from a certain point on reality becomes marginal as practically everybody is riding on that wave and who dares to doubt is simply 'cut off' from the rest of society (so to speak). This is also a a main mechanism of manipulation and propaganda, but obviosuly a very old one .... and often used without people who start it really realizing what they do apparently (of course no one wants to hear that but it's simply how it works).

So I guess my answer to your question in short would be: If you take the terms as they are it really don't make much (to any) sense. But if you put them in the context they're used it's easier to understand where that comes from.

(Besides: journalists seem to tend to pick up or make up words or terms as they might help raising the numbers of readers or listeners - often without really thikning it through ... and more often than they really should. 'The 4th power with the job of observing, investingating, revealing and informing.' somehow just turned out to be 'yellow press deluxe' - what a shame.)

[spudtrooper15]

Exactly. In today's 'Merica there are fewer and fewer free thinkers. I like the refer to them as the American Sheeple. Because that's what they are, they eat up whatever bs the media feeds them and don't stop for a second and think about challenging what they hear. They're just concerned with the newest phone or tablet that's coming out.

This led me to put a new twist on an old saying: "Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by how many things his cell phone can do."

[Elyris]

Well as of the - how it seems - 10 people - of the norhtern hemisphere who hasn't got such a thing and isn't planning to get one I may say that I can't help but wonder just how 'normal' it became to give all higher brian activity to such a ridiculous expensive piece of plastic (not to mention the fast-spreadingaddictive disorder that afflicted vast layers ofhte population).

[spudtrooper15]

Your guess is as good as mine. Its just sad that even in schools here kids can't take home text books at night to do their homework because they just have a set for the class, instead the teachers tell them that if they have a question that they just need to "google it." Seriously...

[Elyris]

I don't know why people think that 'the west' is threatened by by people 'from outside' so much - we are pretty much capable of ruining ourselves effectively ... no one would have to move a finger for that. Stupidity, greed and hybris of many and especially those with power are the biggest threat for this planet.

[spudtrooper15]

You said it. The US government as a whole is a big pompous douchebag who thinks they need to police the world and tell everyone how to live. We need to spread democracy and "fix" everything. And we wonder why everyone hates the US and it citizens...thanks government.

[Kiyevanie]

Oh, I don't think everyone hates all US citizens. I can state for a fact that there are exceptions... me, for example, has a weak spot for several US citizens

But in general it's true - your guys' government ain't exactly competent in Public Relations. Trying to tell other people in other countries what to do usually tends to those people showing you the finger. Plus, the whole NSA spying stuff didn't exactly help.

On the other hand a lot of governments are very good in doing a very poor job... probably because for being part of a government you need a certain mindset.

Personally I think that every single country has it's percentage of okay people and of idiots, so I usually judge people about who they are, not in what country they were born or live in.

[Elyris]

True that.

[flighter]

I think that intelligent people can't hate large groups of people (having these groups based on nationality, sexual orientation, political views or other factors). We can only hate certain members of mentioned groups

[Elyris]

Oh .. oh ... but I pretty much dislike 'top managers'

[flighter]

Not all top managers are pain in the a$$. But some certainly are

[Kiyevanie]

From my personal experience (and you know that I'm working for a global company) unfortunately I have to say that the percentage of skxawng in the higher regions is rather high. There are a few exceptions, but they are rare.

[flighter]

Sad but true.