It's funny, we hear about "be nice or you will push them further right" but really it's the shitty policies that push people to look for more extreme solutions. Wait, that isn't funny...
One thing I learned from non-violent communication is that we are not responsible for their feelings. To worry that we might say something that can push them further down a rabbit hole is them weaponizing their emotions. We should treat them with greater civility than they showed here, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't tell them how odious their politics are.
That's all hard to do when billionaires are the ones structuring society. The point is we don't get to choose corrective societal actions unless it is an exercise of individual privilege. I would have loved to take the train to visit relatives, but it literally is not an option.
Urban centers have less waste or CO2 per capita than their rural or suburban counterparts. The problem is our pursuit of ever increasing profits is extremely wasteful but is currently how states gain influence.
Oh I am sure they planned and maybe even got the Saudis to consult. But I still think they are too stupid to realize the flaws of those plans. Even if they were as smart as they think they are, it's difficult to predict how things will work after the civilization they depend on for their power collapses. Hell, it probably doesn't matter how smart you are, such a scenario is inherently unpredictable.
Our political system equates value to revenue and that is why we don't tax accordingly. Business owners are labeled "job creators" and taxing them is framed as a negative value add.
Absolutely agree that athletes are also being exploited here and the burden should not fall on them to correct this (except as advocates for a better system).
It's projection. She knows that in her retirement she has stopped "providing value". I doubt she paid you for the ad-hoc legal and accounting work you did for her, so she is happy for you to provide value without compensation. I would simply tell her that if she doesn't want to have to find her own retirement home she needs to start paying for your services. This is the kind of person who thinks value is what you pay for, so long as she isn't paying you she isn't valuing what you do for her. The whole "you are a negative value" is exactly what she is to you, she is taxing your time, energy and emotions to make up for some perceived economic loss for raising a child she chose to have.
This. Everyone wants qualified, well paid teachers for their kids, just like how most people want universal healthcare. But our government and media structure actively disempowers any such movements in that direction. Ie "we can agree we all want these things but we can't agree on how"
And when the social sector lobbies it is called "special interests" by the press. When capital owners do it they are called "job creators" by the press. Edit: or so it goes in the states.
Revenue is not the same as value, teachers enable much more economic activity than athletes. The fact we equate "profit generated" to the value of the profession is part of the problem.
Was thinking about this in the context of a joke I heard in the late 90s:
What do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start.
We didn't we have jokes like that about the billionaires; at the time people were glazing Bill Gates. It's wild because billionaires are the ones writing the laws, lawyers just act it out.
Self driving cars have entered the chat