masonman

"actual meaning of the words are subjective" I absolutely agree. Language is only useful when different people's subjective interpretation of different words are all generally in agreement. I always dislike English classes that acted as if English was an unchanging, static language that had solid rules like math. Language doesn't. Languages are always changing, how we use different words is always changing. Language is just sounds with meaning, the sounds can change, the meaning can change. However languages are super useful because I can say "bicycle" and we both understand what I'm talking about. However you may think of a red bicycle sitting on grass when I say "bicycle," and I may think of a black bicycle floating in a white void when you say "bicycle." Language is not at all objective. If I said "ejaculation" 200 years ago, you would have had a completely different mental association with it than you had when I wrote it now.

Thats how government programs work: they make things worse, but point the TV cameras at all this stuff. Look, you can't see what people didn't buy, you can't see people made poorer by this thing because it's not always direct. Yeah, they aren't paying premiums, but that money still has to come from somewhere, and it comes through deficit financing and taxation. How would you measure the people fired or not hired because paying for their healthcare would be too expensive? Employers don't have to submit that kind of data. Nobody knows. We just know its happening. How is "$19 billion in benefits" a positive? Was that money thrown down upon earth by God? No, that money was simply "moved," quite threateningly.

Thanks for your reply. I have been thinking along similar lines from time to time. I mean, after my mom moved our family far away from the people I grew up with I kind of stopped talking to people and hiding here for two years. I stopped thinking about my future, I just went with the first college she picked for me, and then after I left I am now just going with the first suggestion for work she has given me. I don't think I have ever really made my own big decisions in a very very long time. I have one or two extreme ideas for getting out on my own (well, one), and your post is definitely making me think about it again. Again thanks for the reply.

So I was listening to the most recent Sunday show on youtube and the topic of social anxiety came up, a very very very important issue in my life. But once again (several other of Stef shows on the subject feel the same) I felt the conversation didn't really apply to me. Right now I just feel I need to write down my thoughts, sort of a stream of consciousness, because I am literally pacing around my room thinking this stuff because these ideas need to be out of my head so badly. Not to mention I am running short on time and am desperate. I would journal this, but I journal when I don't want an audience. I would call in during the next show, but I am also unsure of having Stef (and the youtube listeners) being my audience, and I hate my voice, and I wouldn't know what to say, writing is simply much easier for me.My parents were huge achievers. They started low and worked hard and got to the top. I cannot figure out the source of my social anxiety. But its bad. And it is making my life worse by the day. I left college as a result of depression (http://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/33822-what-the-hell-am-i-doing-ramble-ramble-ramble/) that was very much aided by hopelessness surrounding social anxiety (for example I went to a job fair and after a conversation with one representative (full of stuttering and awkwardness, and when he asked "do you have any questions about the company" I just stood there for a few moments and then said "no") I felt the usual intense fear and terror and I had to rush back to my dorm and sit down and try to calm down for about an hour. I didn't go back.). The age of the article I linked to above kind of tells you how little progress I am making in my own life. I am 21 and have barely changed in my mental state from when I was 18.I've been sitting in the basement for more than a month procrastinating on a business idea my mom came up with for me (I sure as hell can't seem to figure anything out for myself, and by that I mean I don't want to because I feel very scared) to fix people's computers around town, and she's just about to kick me out I'm doing so little. I can't blame her for that. My fear of social interaction just gives me this hopelessness, I see everybody else out succeeding and I am stuck because I can't talk to people, I don't know how and even if I did, I'd be too scared to do so. I (awkardly) talked business with somebody a few weeks ago and again I had to cool down afterwards except that time I kept thinking about all the stupid things I did in the conversation, and about ways to hang myself, but the suicidal ideation is such a regular thing for me I just see it as a routine to not be taken very seriously, a "silent cry for attention" if you will. (I'll talk about it online but in real life I have decided I will either do it or not, I will not "fail." I've already got enough failure on my plate.)I don't know. Some people, and some topics, I can talk easily, somewhat relaxed. Though even with my own parents I have extreme trouble with eye contact. Even with myself in the mirror I have trouble with eye contact. I just start to feel terrified. I think part of it is self-esteem, I hate how I look, so I am imagining how they see me. I don't know. I mean, I am obsessed with fitness, always lifting weights and running and weighing myself daily and watching my diet for years I've been doing this but I always drop back to being weak and fatter every time I have heavier depressive "episodes." I imagine this obsession relates to the self-esteem thing.Peoples eyes, the moment I see them and recognize they are looking at my face, they terrify me. Absolute terror. I don't know how else to describe it.I remember after the Zeitgeist Response video where Stef talked about the RBE folks' need for resources without dealing with realities of the adult world, and I really felt chills there because I realized I TOTALLY want that, but I also recognize economic realities, and that just makes me feel worse. And then I feel even more shame than that because I have WAY more opportunities than 90 percent of the people in this world, from the country I am in to the personal economic stability I was born into. I can't even comfort myself with ideas of socialism. And I think the reason I want that so badly is because I am so scared, and I am so scared because of the people. And the eyes.More recently I have thought maybe its caused by narcissism. Maybe the reason I can't look at myself in the mirror is because I am looking at myself like a 3rd party would, and I don't like what I see, because I want to be this character, this "imaginary self" that is better than the real me. The star in a movie where everybody else is a supporting character, and I'm just scared of realizing how untrue that is.Or maybe its just school, I remember being terrified when we had to recite poetry in front of the class. I remember being yelled at or hushed whenever I spoke in class. Though after about 3rd grade I had become the "good student" who never spoke unless he knew he was absolutely permitted to, and even then not always. All us quiet ones ended up being a group of friends. But they all got over it. They're all open and loud and partying and happy and excited for life.All this creates this enormous envy in me. All the people I know and knew as a child are just so much better than me, they adapt and they learn and they speak and they smile and they actually have real feeling behind the smile when they talk to people and I just wish I could be like that but no matter how much I consciously try to realize how irrational this all is it still happens anyways, I still feel terrified, and I sweat, and shake, and hate myself.God I want to work. I don't think I have ever really provided any real value to anybody. Every time I was ever paid it always felt like a donation. I want to be of value to somebody, to provide something worth paying for. I hate feeling this worthless. I hate being dependent. Being a leech. But then the talking thing becomes a requirement and I shrink down again. Its why I left college. I realized all the education in the world doesn't matter if you can't handle a job interview. And in my high school during a practice interview I could barely handle it. It wasn't even for an actual job and I couldn't answer the questions and my voice was shaking and I didn't make eye contact and that was actually her main criticism: "don't be so nervous." Helpful, thanks.I know I know: I need a therapist. But all the reviews in my area seem to show that all of them are the "15 minutes of talking, 2 minutes of prescription writing" sort of therapists. Not to mention that level of courage I just don't have, trying to arrange such a thing.Sometimes I think there is just some random chemical imbalance, and all these problems would go away with one pill that I just haven't tried before. I really, really hope thats true, but I am highly doubtful. I can tell you one thing with confidence, if there was nobody that would be hurt by my sudden non-existence, I would do it right now. That is shame, not guilt, and once I figured out the difference I realized how narcissistic these thoughts are.On a note that may or may not be related, I don't actually know for sure, I sometimes have fantasies of getting in fights and losing bad, getting beaten to a pulp, vomiting, rolling in my own blood. Begging for the fight to keep going. Wanting it. Like I want to be destroyed or something. I enjoy those fantasies a lot, and I'm still working out why I like them so much. All this psychologising has got me making connections regardless of whether real connections exist. I don't know. Its probably something something narcissism.Sometimes I think maybe this entire post I just wrote is to create a character I want you to see me as, but its so subtle I don't even fully comprehend that I am trying to convince you I am a certain character. "Look at me, look at how broken I am! Look at how much help you should give me! Me! Me! Me!" I hate that I feel anger and fear at the idea that my suffering is - in a way - fake, even if its true. Layers and layers and layers.I am not even going to ask a question at the end here, because there is no singular question I can put, this whole fucking post is a giant question I think. Not sure if an answer exists. Doesn't feel like it most of the time. Then maybe I am just scared of the answers. No, I am certain I am scared of the answers.There is a distinct possibility this post could be connected to my real identity, which also scares me. But whatever, got to give up on your image at some point (Brain: "You're supposed to be strong dammit! People will look down at you if they knew this! It will be pity and mockery all around!")I still haven't fundamentally figured out how to say hi to people, really.

I don't have any clue of what Stef thinks on the matter, but I can't figure out why automation is ever seen as a bad thing. I am quite confident in my argument that capitalism is always (not as a rule, but as a trend) moving in the direction of achieving technological singularity, and eventually a completely capital-run economy (essentially, press a button, get what you want). The RBE is kind of an attempt to achieve that, but without factoring in subjective value and economic calculation. People seem to have this idea that unemployment is ALWAYS bad. 100 percent unemployment in a society without automated capital goods would just lead to death and starvation. But if every single person on Earth had their job replaced by a machine, that would simply mean we'd live in an economy where it would kind of feel like "post-scarcity" even though it wouldn't be, though it would be a life of abundance.

In response to some of the stuff about meditation, from what I have seen, there are people within this community who see learning from your past history as essentially the cure-all for current psychological issues, and a good portion of people who are into Buddhism and meditation seem to think meditation is the cure-all. I hate the "in-between" argument (the answer to most debates is not the bloody middle ground), however I think both of these things help in different ways. I think ignoring your past is a great way to keep making the same bad decisions, and meditation is about learning to calm your brain down and to learn how it is fundamentally impossible to get a "one-up" on life. In my personal opinion meditation aids in gaining self knowledge because it forces you to watch your own brain as an "observer," and instead of being overcrowded with nonsense you get a little bit better at reasoning things out in your head. You can think a bit more clearly. I've never seen promoters of mindfulness meditation say that the point is to "clear your mind" (most will tell you that to consciously do such a thing is logically impossible), but just to watch what your mind does, and label what it does. In and of itself you learn a lot about yourself. I found it quite amazing to see how rapidly my brain flies from subject to subject. I don't try to shut anything out, that usually backfires anyways.

However, who defines usury? The problem with usury is it is a purely arbitrary distinction, that once certain terms are at some arbitary level, suddenly a voluntary exchange becomes immoral. So, how do you define usury?I agree totally though that people should really think of living within their means instead of feeling like they NEED to live in a house in the suburbs, even when they will have to take out a 30 year mortgage to do so.

Which prime numbers are in sexual relationships?See I can ask baseless, random questions too!

I highly recommend this article from We the Individuals:http://wetheindividuals.org/2013/08/26/feudalism-disguised-as-egalitarianism-a-critique-of-georgism/ What about food? Healthcare? If somebody is dying of a disease, if others do not provide medical treatment are they denying his right to exist? If somebody doesn't provide the person with food is he denying that persons right to exist?Land and oxygen and water ALONE are not enough to live, either. Why set the bar at that exact point? How can people have the right and not have the right at the same time? If you take the land somebody else owned "rightfully," you are denying property rights while also using property rights, and just making an arbitrary distiction about how much a man has a "right" to land, air, and water. Who decides how much water, air, and land is enough for each man? What sorts of ways? How do you distrubute access natural resources "fairly" without some entity that forces what it considers to be "fair" onto other people?

That may or may not be true, depending on your goals.

Oh man this is great. I must say right from the get go I have trouble taking anybody seriously when they use numbers in the place of words.

Russel Brand was never one of those people who's social commentary I took too seriously. I'm not sure how influential he is in that regard, considering he's mostly a hilarious and irresponsible drug abusing sex addict.

As a result of all the government BS surrounding steroids, the real data of their side effects on humans are far from well understood. "he was merely seeking the respect of people that put physical looks first" This is most people. To some extent it is everybody, everybody interprets quite a lot from somebody's appearance. "A shame because he will never have the look he so valued" What do you mean? As far as I know those sorts of injuries aren't permanently debilitating, Layne Norton got a pec tear a while ago and hes back in the gym 100 percent now. "Can lifting weights for aesthetics and attention be unhealthy?" Unhealthy in what way? I mean, he clearly had a passion for something, he inspired thousands of people to start exercising in some way or another. I don't think he was a pinnacle of health, but I dunno, he had a purpose. At what point to you go for what makes you happy instead of doing what others tell you is healthy? I think turning himself into a beautiful male brought him joy. I know I'd feel pretty awesome if I looked like that.

I thought it was primarily because they want to keep acquiring US dollars and buying treasury bonds so they can maintain a trade surplus, even though if they let the market return to a more natural state they would have more domestic consumption, surpluses, high standard of living, etc. I feel that talk such as this means things are going to change at some point: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8182231.html