en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2415299 Comments by djm5642 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145123611 We have even gone to the extent of taking human beings, just like ourselves, and selling them into slavery. That is the most inhumane action you can do, put a price on a life, but we put bigger prices on oil and land. How can these things be more important than just trying to live a happy life? They are not. I am ashamed of our species for killing its own kind. When will we smarten up as a global community and try to help everyone live a decent life and pursue an education. As humans, we have goals and motives that we want to chase. We want to become something greater than an average human, but we cut each other down and slow progress tremendously. Nothing can be greater than a whole world coming to each other’s aid and providing a productive life for everyone, such as the idea of world peace. Maybe one day we will wise up, but until then, I will sit back and watch millions be killed over pointless situations. The only thing I can hope for is that I do not get sucked in to this corruption and murder another human being who is just trying to defend its rights to be free and live peacefully the way they want it to be. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:35:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145123611 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145123595 This video sums up a good portion of human history. No words are needed to describe the violence throughout history. People have been fighting over resources and land for centuries so why should any of that change now? We need to move in a new direction where we can negotiate our problems. We put materialistic things over human lives. Millions of people have been killed over political battles. Leaders send their citizens into war to conquer for them and sit back while the people get killed by the thousands at a time. Peace is never an option for countries that are after something. This is our nature though. If humans do not agree, we must fight for what is “ours.” War has been present throughout all of history and history always finds a way to repeat itself, whether it is a revolution, a country fighting for its independence, or an imperialistic country taking the land and resources of a more primitive people. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:34:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145123595 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/the-cost-of-empire-soc-001-blog/#IDComment142634360 As a citizen of the US, I see people, just like any one of us, on the news begging for us to withdraw our troops. If they want to do it on their own, let them go right ahead. That is more money that will go to benefit us and not towards blowing up buildings in the Middle East. It is a corrupt world and everyone knows what our country is after, that three letter word that brings a cringe inside of me just knowing what it has done to peace on this planet. Not only does it cause us to fight over it, but it destroys our planet’s atmosphere along with it. As long as money keeps filling the richest of the rich’s pockets, the turmoil will never end. I wish there was something I could do to better our world because it would be one simple decision. One choice could turn this country around from the jobless America we live in today. With that said, I guess I have no other choice, but to fight my way through the struggles I will face in my lifetime because our greedy government will not support what is most important. No, not oil, the people. Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:59:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/the-cost-of-empire-soc-001-blog/#IDComment142634360 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/the-cost-of-empire-soc-001-blog/#IDComment142634347 The department of defense occupies the majority of our government’s spending, six hundred and sixty three billion dollars of it. That is quite the number. Ron Paul has always been my favorite politician for one reason and that is because he cares about the country and its citizens. He is a very intelligent man and if he says we are heading down the wrong path, I believe him. He also compares the United States as an empire, which I agree with that, considering all of the facts. Why must we have a military base in every country we can get one in? No one is going to harm us. If they did, we would actually have a legitimate reason to bomb a country. After seeing our country’s budget, I want to puke at the thought of all of that wasted money that could be used to better our lives, education, and public facilities. Instead, we put the taxpayer’s money into shells and dropping them off onto these poor countries to kill their civilians. Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:59:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/the-cost-of-empire-soc-001-blog/#IDComment142634347 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141090124 There is so much corruption in our government and we do nothing about it. The French revolted numerous times when their government was going down the drain and here we are, the “freest” people in the world, to have no say or influence on our government. They run us and that is the bottom line. They use us so they can fly all around the world in their private jets and swim in pools filled with money. That is of course an exaggeration, but I bet they could swim in a pool of money if they really wanted to I’m sure. The oil industry is maxing out on profits more than ever now that they are overcharging for oil. It is a monopoly and all of the big oil companies are in on it together so they can make their money and forget about the struggles and the hardships that the rest of the world has to face because of their greed and decadence. If they are going to do so, at least share some of the money that they are stealing right from our pockets as we willingly hand it to them. And you thought you were free. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 21:11:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141090124 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141090110 If the president cannot do anything about the oil industries sucking up all of our money, who can? As stated in the article, other politicians know that Obama’s proposal for taking a four billion dollar tax cut from the oil companies will never happen. I want to know why. We elect a president, the highest position you can achieve in the government, to lead us to prosperity and good times. Instead, our vote pretty much means nothing to our government. If we elected a man to run our country, then I will support him in his decisions to do so. I am not picking a side or stating I voted for Obama because that is beside the point. What matters is that the American voice falls upon deaf ears. We are the government. The people are the only reason why a nation can exist and when it is not being ran how we want it to be and we have no choice in the matters of what will eventually affect our lives, what has the world come to? Fri, 8 Apr 2011 21:11:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141090110 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448352 Religion is a personal practice that you give yourself to on your own time. I think spiritual experiences should be by yourself because you do not need other people to sway the way you would perceive god. The statistics are faulty though. There is no way to predict something that does not deal with numbers. You cannot count faith based on people’s responses. It fluctuates at different, random times throughout history. Maybe the unaffiliated people have a different religion that is not a choice. This could be a hint that a religious revolution is occurring. Whatever it is, I am glad to see people not taking religion seriously and keeping it to themselves. Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:35:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448352 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448343 I like the shift in the ideals of religion. I feel like religion is pushed onto too many people. I do not think you should pick your religion until you are eighteen because no one knows what other religions have to offer and by that time, you will know what kind of faith you are looking for, but that is not the final say because people jump from religion to religion quite frequently, at least for those who actually give other religions the time to understand them. As for me, I am one of those people who do not pin myself to a religion, mostly because I do not follow a religion. This is a good thing for equality among people. The more people care less about religion the closer we will become to finding world peace. Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:35:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448343 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448278 Religion is slowly fading in the minds of people. It used to be the norm to go to church. Now people are breaking free from these social structures and seeing that religion plays no part in everyday life. The “no affiliation” group is growing, according to that article. I would imagine people do not want to be profiled by their faith. A lot of non-Christians might be hesitant to put their religion on surveys just for the sake of being prejudged. That could be one reason for the statistics. On the other hand, maybe people just do not find religion to be important enough to announce to everyone they know. Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:35:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment138448278 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135900655 His colors came through when he ironically talked about carrying a gun. When do white people carry guns on them unless they are hunting or they are a police officer? He had no real life situations for the product and had a tough time explaining the product thoroughly. Being a white man, he was out of his element and that really zoned in on his whiteness. Being white does not happen in a white environment, but acting white when it shows the most. When I know the white characteristics people assign to white people, I do not associate myself with those traits. It is a generalization and does no justice to any white person. Stereotypes are touchy subjects, but there is not one person that does not even have one thought that stereotypes a person before they even meet them. It is natural to judge something before you know it. We assimilate the information we know to things we think we know. As for the white guy in the video, he lives up to what I expected to see in this video. He displays what white people are seen as, but if I was watching this video without the priming of bringing out his whiteness, I would have watched this as a man who has no clue how to advertise a gun holster. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:13:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135900655 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135900647 What does it mean to be white? The man in this video is, obviously, white, but what if you could not see him. Why would he be white? His voice is that of a white man’s. His grammar is very simple and clear, like a white man’s. I can stereotype this man all day and it will never pin the answer onto what it means to be white. All people have different opinions about what defines something to be. White people do not have what black people would call “swag.” That does not mean because you are white, you cannot have different qualities. White people seem to make awkward jokes that are just not funny at all like the awkward silence he put himself in. If you are making a joke by yourself and there’s a pause, you probably should not tell that on camera. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:13:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135900647 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment132175859 Fear goes along with anything we care about. What we love most about life is living and what makes it worth living. We fear things leaving us, never to come back. That is just life. The less fear you hold, the better your life will feel. Everyone experiences the same situations because we all live in the environment we have created for ourselves. We are merely, but, the product of our environment. Invisible strings of form shape the way we get around the world we have created for ourselves. Fear has a huge impact on the way we mold our thoughts. With no fear, a new level of consciousness is reached. Fear is not real. Fear is just what we think it to be because everyone fears different things. It is a very important social issue when it comes to our safety. The less fear in our environment, the happier our quality of life would be. New fears arise yearly that get media attention such as swine flu. There is no need to fear every possibility that exists. You can fear a thing that may be going around where you live, other than that, your area is most likely safe. That is easier said than done. You cannot do anything, but fear. Like in the article, fear is what keeps us alive. Maybe if you were in a real situation such as a camping trip where you need fire for the night therefore you would fear not finding wood for a fire. Fear is an emotion that attaches anything and everything. People have to overcome their fears to feel that social freedom that is desired. Nothing will set you on a more determined path than the fear of following anything else. These are the social structure barriers that sociologists look into. They figure out to solve it for the whole. They simplify the situation and just change the environment that causes us to do those things. Our social structures are not invisible, but right in front of us that most people refuse to see and come to terms with their reality. Thu, 3 Mar 2011 20:00:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/fear/#IDComment132175859 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739878 How can we live our lives to the fullest when we study until our brains give out and social pressure expect us to benefit the world through the damned economy? We need a cultural revolution in the way we are educated and demand some personal freedom to allow us to smoke marijuana because alcohol is legal and a more lethal drug. We just want to live our lives as happily as we can in this suppressed world where we are born into America’s debt and become slaves to the government to earn that money back that never existed in the first place. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:39:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739878 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739867 Music is more influential than ever with its young audience. The arts are a difficult field to pursue because the money that comes with it cannot afford an American living, for the most part. What I am saying is that there is more money in other fields of study. Money is the whole point of going to college. If I was not at college right now, I would be spending my time writing music, creating art, and traveling the world. I feel like my youth is being wasted away sitting around at the same college for five years. People just want excitement in life. We want to see what else is out there. We want a secular education, but only as a learning experience and not a tested institution where you are judged by how you comprehend rather than what influences you can take from the experience. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:39:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739867 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739822 I completely agree with this video about the educational system. Being that jobs are so specialized anymore, I think students are wasting their time getting an education, instead of focusing on their strengths. As a student, in today’s economy, it is a bleak outlook to think that a college degree may not be enough to get me a job. What am I doing wasting all of this time and exerting all of this energy to obtain a degree in some field that you may not even be interested in once you enter the work force? I feel in today’s society, young adults are more interested in the arts. Studying is just plain boring. We want to create something. We want to know we spent our time wisely and not with our face in a book to only take an exam that are beyond our comprehension anyways. Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:38:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130739822 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128643010 His psychological mind pulled the sociological strings down the predetermined path. Both viewpoints are creditable, but this situation goes deeper than the external forces. Sociology branches from psychology because it has to start somewhere and that somewhere is the individual who is multiplied by the population and their problems. You do end up leading set lifestyles, to an extent, but you have the choice to choose which one to travel. In today’s society, the invisible strings give way to choices unlike past societies where people were expected to do certain things. Freedom of the mind can never exist purely, but freedom is increased by the slack, the strings provide you, to maneuver around sociological traps. The second you learn to become a human being, you have allowed the strings embed themselves into your decisions. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:07:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128643010 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128642993 Pleasure is a type of pain, but in a small dosage. It is addicting. That is no question. Millions of people are victims of their own pleasure. Whose fault can it be then? That is the question this lifer wants answered. He is looking everywhere for an answer when it lies right within him. He chose a sociological path of promiscuity and drugs. He could have chosen a sociological path of education with a meaningful relationship. His choices are to blame because he made them. He willingly stepped out of the path he was set up into and entered the one of his sociological downfall. He even admits that he was raised in the “American dream.” Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:07:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128642993 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128642931 Sexual promiscuity is the downfall of this man, as he claims. A lot of factors influenced his outcome such as the drugs, stealing, and lying. There really is not one aspect of his life he can blame his life sentence on. He built it up, time after time, until he spiraled out of control. Too much of anything is never a good thing. He persistently put himself in the wrong situations until he finally got what was coming for him, a jealous boyfriend. All young men have sexual urges so there is no excuse for it. His only downfall was his inability of self-control. It seems anything risky he would have taken part in would have sent him to the same place, just down a different sociological path. Pleasure’s ultimate feeling is pain. There is a threshold of pleasure that should not be crossed. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:07:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/reflections/#IDComment128642931 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/06/empathy-might-be-our-natural-drive/#IDComment127143355 Everything natural about the human being is about being nurtured. You do not feel bad for another unless you have learned the difference between good and bad. Only then is it your decision to feel bad for someone. Why do people lack empathy if it is embedded into our natural genes? I am not neglecting the fact that the video is working towards a single goal for all mankind, but the reasoning behind it just cannot hold true. Emotions evolve from feelings. Empathy does not even manifest in the minds of some like Hitler and Stalin for example. Where were their empathetic traits? This is a social issue that must be compromised and worked on. Until the world can find a common ground… oh wait, we do share a common ground and we have agreed upon a name for it. Earth. Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:37:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/06/empathy-might-be-our-natural-drive/#IDComment127143355 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/06/empathy-might-be-our-natural-drive/#IDComment127143340 I think empathy, like all other emotions, is learned. You do not have the gene for acceptance in you. There are people who can see past the illusions of life and see we are all in it together. There are people who work towards a common goal and do not want to include the others. I agree that we are coming closer than ever to becoming a single race. Empathy is taking its course, but it might take a few more generations until the negative ideas can wash out of our memories. Do you believe that last sentence? Do you actually think empathy is natural? Empathy is a chosen action that can be directed and harnessed towards personal aims. Being an infant does not count for empathy. Babies cry because they do not know any better. If you want to believe that you can put empathy on babies’ reactions to crying then go for it. Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:37:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/06/empathy-might-be-our-natural-drive/#IDComment127143340