Page 3 of 3 FirstFirst 123
Results 31 to 36 of 36

Thread: Reading the book “Musical Truth”

  1. #31
    Administrator Aragorn's Avatar
    Join Date
    17th March 2015
    Location
    Middle-Earth
    Posts
    20,239
    Thanks
    88,435
    Thanked 80,968 Times in 20,254 Posts
    Quote Originally posted by Lemual View Post
    Quote Originally posted by Aragorn View Post
    True socialism is not a dictatorship. It is the opposite of that. It is a form of responsible libertarianism. It just so happens to be that historically, even truly socialist revolutions have always been usurped by narcissistic psychopaths and oligarchs. The Soviet Union was a fine example of that. China and Vietnam aren't all that much better. North Korea is not really a socialist nation — it's a militarily protected dictatorship.

    True socialism automatically precludes dictatorship.
    I'll agree that socialism is not the equivalent of dictatorship but, at least to my mind, it is incompatible with volunteerism (unless all involved agree of course). I may be misreading you here but it almost seems you're approaching the "we don't know if socialism works or not because there's never been true socialism" which may be technically true but I still have a bit of a problem with it (no true Scotsman fallacy).
    I do sometimes say something along the lines of "We don't know whether socialism works because there has never been any true socialism", but if so, then that is only as a quick doorstop for those who choose to slag socialism in a knee-jerk reaction without even knowing what they're talking about.

    But no, that is not what I was saying in the above-quoted excerpt — see farther down.

    For that matter, people also generally have the wrong idea of what fascism is. Most people equate fascism with Adolf Hitler and national-socialism — which, given the name "national-socialism", is yet one other stick that the opponents of socialism like waving around.

    Nazism was a form of fascism, but not the only one. In fact, before Adolf Hitler founded the NSDAP and began preaching hatred toward the Jews, his role model was Benito Mussolini — whom he ironically later on degraded to a mere puppet for the Nazi regime, once World War II was in full swing.

    Fascism is a system of government in which the true power lies with corporations — not necessarily of the commercial flavor, although those will certainly be part of it — and where the government itself is then a mere sock puppet for the corporate world. Usually, there is then also only a single political party.

    Fascism also places great importance on collectivism — you have to be loyal to the state, and a true patriot — and nationalism, as well as on militarism. Being a member of the military grants one exceptional social status, and especially so if one belongs to an elite division of the military.

    Has anyone spotted the elephant in the room yet?




    By the way, as I've already mentioned elsewhere, you may or may not like director Paul Verhoeven, but when he set out to create the "Starship Troopers" movie, he was telling the US American audience: "Look, here are your heroes who slay the monsters. It just so happens to be that your heroes are Nazis."

    Quote Originally posted by Lemual View Post
    Don't get me wrong, if I could choose to live in my ideal world people would more or less engage in socialism, but the voluntary part is the key.

    (hope this didn't come across as disrespectful)
    The voluntary part is obligatory, of course. Without that, you're set up for a dictatorship — whether it's an individual who's the dictator or whether it's a party dictatorship.

    This is why I put a lot of emphasis on responsibility. True socialism, in my opinion, would be akin to anarchy, but the word "anarchy" has also been used and abused over the ages and has come to mean "chaos". That is not what anarchy is. Anarchy means "no rulers" — no ruling class, no ruling caste, no ruling politicians/officials.

    The only way for a society to exist in peace, harmony and justice is the holographic model, where every individual of society has a sense of responsibility toward their fellow human beings — which is not the same thing as "toward the state", because then you're on your way to fascism — and where society itself has a sense of responsibility for each and every individual being. One for all and all for one.

    Such a society should also not hold any secrets whereas its organizational activities are concerned. No alphabet soup agencies, no lobbies or other pressure groups, and no hidden backroom dealings. Organizational decisions should be made on a consensus ruling, with every individual having all the information available — and properly explained to them if they don't understand — and every individual then being allowed to speak their mind. Referendums are a step in the right direction, but are at the same time too limited, because they distill the issues down to a "yes/no" choice, and they don't allow any room for considered opinions.

    Alas, this requires a spiritual maturity which cannot be found here on Earth yet, because of the flawed (and indoctrinating) education system, and because of the collectivist approaches of both capitalist and socialist regimes. Every individual is distinct and should therefore be guided and educated along what's best for their own intellectual and social development. An industrialized, collectivist approach to education, healthcare and whatever else — which is what we have now — doesn't work.

    Another thing is that in order to be able to practically organize such a society and keep track of every individual's considered opinions in the decision-making, we would have to embrace artificial intelligence. That doesn't mean that we should let the artificial intelligence make the decisions, but it would be a lot easier to gather everyone's votes and opinions that way. Artificial intelligence should be regarded as a tool — a very useful tool, but a tool nevertheless.

    Too many so-called futurists and "A.I. gurus" are trying to turn A.I. into a kind of deity because of its alleged superior intelligence. But it is not "intelligent". It's just a very advanced type of computer technology. It should be treated with respect — as should everything, really — and it should be put to good use.

    The above are just some thoughts, and they are probably incomplete, but I only just got out of bed.
    = DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR =

  2. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Aragorn For This Useful Post:

    Dreamtimer (26th February 2018), Dumpster Diver (26th February 2018), Elen (27th February 2018)

  3. #32
    Retired Member United States
    Join Date
    2nd December 2015
    Location
    American Southwest (currently)
    Posts
    2,602
    Thanks
    12,814
    Thanked 13,156 Times in 2,620 Posts
    Oh, oh. Here goes Argon on another Paul Verhoeven rant. Ok, perhaps he’s the best Dutch director we’ve got so far, BUT letting him slice and dice “Starship Troopers” into a sarcastic neo-Nazi farce was an abomination. I’m somewhat surprised a bunch of RAH fanboys have not hunted him down and roasted his genitals before his eyes.

    I’d rather had done what the Lonesome Dove miniseries producers did with Larry McMurtry’s book. If anything it might have been better than the outstanding book. Come to think on it, Terms of Endearment was perhaps better than the book as well...and Last Picture Show?

    Anyway, since Verhoeven hasn’t done much since Starship Troopers, maybe the fanboys emasculated him after all.

  4. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Dumpster Diver For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (26th February 2018), Dreamtimer (26th February 2018), Elen (27th February 2018)

  5. #33
    (account terminated)
    Join Date
    28th May 2017
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    277
    Thanks
    68
    Thanked 962 Times in 256 Posts
    Miles Mathis has covered a lot of this ground. He does original research, very thoroughly, has a portrait-painter's eye for photographic detail, doesn't give a damn who he annoys, and while some of his conclusions *still* won't currently fit into my head, I respect his guts and integrity.

  6. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to DMt. For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (26th February 2018), Dreamtimer (26th February 2018), Dumpster Diver (26th February 2018), Elen (27th February 2018)

  7. #34
    Retired Member United States
    Join Date
    2nd December 2015
    Location
    American Southwest (currently)
    Posts
    2,602
    Thanks
    12,814
    Thanked 13,156 Times in 2,620 Posts
    Miles Mathis has books, videos? Is a researcher? Where can we see what he has said?

  8. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Dumpster Diver For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (26th February 2018), Dreamtimer (26th February 2018), Elen (27th February 2018)

  9. #35
    Retired Member
    Join Date
    24th November 2015
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    108
    Thanks
    242
    Thanked 692 Times in 109 Posts
    Quote Originally posted by Aragorn View Post
    I do sometimes say something along the lines...

    ...The above are just some thoughts, and they are probably incomplete, but I only just got out of bed.
    Sorry for the tardiness of the reply. I'm currently moving and forgot which thread I posted this in!

    Can't say I disagree with much (if any) of that. Very glad you brought up the term anarchy and how it's been misused. I would call myself an anarchist if it didn't have such negative connotation in the greater public mind. Hence resorting to the term Volunteerism.

    What REALLY gets me about the misuse of the word anarchy is when groups like ANTIFA call themselves Anarchists. For me one of the main principals of anarchism is the non-aggression principal. That invalidates any claims they have to anarchy for me.

    Also this was a thing in Australia a while ago:

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fede...22-gymu2z.html

    This guys is NOT an anarchist. Tony Abbott (former Aussie PM) is a complete d*ckhead but (probably) not deserving of physical violence.

  10. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Lemual For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (7th March 2018), Dreamtimer (7th March 2018), Dumpster Diver (15th June 2018), Elen (7th March 2018)

  11. #36
    (account terminated)
    Join Date
    28th May 2017
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    277
    Thanks
    68
    Thanked 962 Times in 256 Posts
    Hey DD, sorry for the loooong delay responding; do feel free to PM in future.

    Here is MM's site, at the 'updates' page;

    http://mileswmathis.com/updates.html



    Quote Originally posted by Dumpster Diver View Post
    Miles Mathis has books, videos? Is a researcher? Where can we see what he has said?

  12. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to DMt. For This Useful Post:

    Aragorn (15th June 2018), Dreamtimer (15th June 2018), Dumpster Diver (15th June 2018), Elen (21st June 2018)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •