Midnight Pub

Why shit's fucked

~inquiry

Turns out a Beatle explained it utterly some 50 years ago:

 all through the day: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
all through the night: I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
                         - George Harrison

See how no social "system" (e.g. democracy, republic, socialism, communism) could possibly work for beings of that ilk?

See how expecting a social "system" to work for a preponderance of beings of that ilk would be more than a little like expecting the finest crystal glass to cause diarrhea to taste good?

Is it possibly the case that the only change that could possibly cause any social "system" to work is the eradication of "I mean mine" from most I-me-mine-centric beings therein?

Said another way, for "I mean mine" to eradicate - or at least seriously undermine - itself?

Chances of that happening?

Chances of I-me-mine-centric beings *merely* becoming capable of grokking this news to the point of *merely* pondering what could constitute - let alone cause - such an eradication?


starbreaker

I used to not be one of the "I-me-mine" people before life gave me reasons to change my mind. Nowadays I put myself first, and my people -- those I cherish -- a very close second. As for everybody else...

“Perhaps what I am about to say will appear strange to you gentlemen, socialists, progressives, humanitarians as you are, but I never worry about my neighbor, I never try to protect society which does not protect me -- indeed, I might add, which generally takes no heed of me except to do me harm -- and, since I hold them low in my esteem and remain neutral towards them, I believe that society and my neighbor are in my debt.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
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orkney

Things are deliberately made as bad as they are. The debt-based money system, where money is created out of nothing and then interest has to be repaid on it as well as the capital, makes us all debt slaves.

https://positivemoney.org
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eaplmx

I will leave my main article for these topics:

So you want to reform democracy

It's kind of easy to stay in the world of ideas, then we approach those ideas to other humans (most of them are not like us), and we observe many interesting things.

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inquiry

The words "So you want to reform democracy" reminded me of this Sri Ramana Maharshi quote:

"Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes."

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coriander

Chances are!

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calgacus

Things like "human nature" are really constructed by and predicated on our modes of production and social environment. Everything we are is what we learn from others around us, there's very little that's "innate." Humans *under capitalism* are all "I me mine", but that does not mean that we will be like that forever. If you want some examples of different possibilities, of the way things were and the way things could be, I encourage you to check out *The Dawn of Everything* by the late Graeber.

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inquiry

Interesting. Thank you!

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