What annoys you most about your culture?

[Epinephrine]

^^ There's only 4 I know of. I think most everyone else is a computer programmer or druggie.

[gran guerrero]

which world policeman would izor be if he was on team america?

I say:

[MirrorriM]

I feel like it's a much better idea to try to feel like your life is okay than look for people to be jealous of.

Totally agree with you. Mainly because my roommate is exactly like that. She is really insecure about herself and her body. She has a nice figure but she's been working out all the time lately to lose a bit of "chub." I try to help her out nutrition-wise but she likes to eat crap. Just about every girl she sees on tv she bitches about: how horrible they are at acting, how ugly they are, how stupid, etc. like REALLY bitches nastily. She even got mad at me and her bf for pointing it out that she has a thing for shittalking actresses and models. Drives me crazy sometimes.

[Jeenyuss]

someone from canada agree with me

[Jerome Scuggs]

I don't get this you start off on what I assume is an attempt to convince me that monopolies are bad and wind up further proving my point that governments are bad

$3 a gallon is a pittance compared to what that one guy could charge (ANYTHING HE WANTS) if one guy controlled it all.

So why didn't Standard Oil, Microsoft, or any of the "first" companies to ever market a product ever charge ridiculous prices (or keep those prices - for instance, when computers began rapidly decreasing in price - Microsoft could have easily floated the prices higher than they were.)

Oh that's right it's because it's a BUSINESS, where people WANT products to be sold. Stop thinking with your government mindset. People don't want to pay what the government charges in the form of taxes. People want to pay companies in the form of currency for products. In that respect, it is an even trade. You, the buyer, I, the seller. There is no gun. You do not have to buy from me. I want you to buy from me. So I price things reasonably.

Not to mention the ridiculous amount of power that you are handing over to one person over the entire workings of an entire country especially when that person is accountable to absolutely nobody but himself.

Once again businesses are not started with the intention of conquering the world. Stop thinking with your government mindset. Let me toss in the "Well why didn't Microsoft, Standard Oil, etc etc"... argument from above. The businesses, UNLIKE a government, are wholly accountable - even more so, seeing as people like you are busting their balls for merely being the best at what they do and therefore earning themselves bigger - if not whole - market shares. And as far as I can see historically, there has never been a private industry that has jacked up prices and remained in business (though when these companies are given a forceful monopoly via Government intervention or subsidization, hell yeah shit goes whack)

Edit: your rhetoric sort of belies your ignorance here: "handing over"? No, the government "hands over" shit. People like Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Gates, Hill, Gould, Rockafeller - these men fucking earned.

Are you even thinking these things through at all?

God I want to put something funny here but your complete mishandling of the arguments really say enough

It's pretty easy to see how a monopoly works.

This is where I said "ok, guide me through the mysterious and complex process of monopolies that I must not know about seeing as I've been arguing economics since my first goddamned post in this thread and before that, since my sophomore year in high school in which I debated this very debate at various national debate tournaments, over and over and over until I could read entire pieces of evidence by memory" but you're probably right

Just look at long-distance rates. Notice how fast they dropped after they deregulated the market?

And then you screw up right here. Once again you sort of prove my point - "deregulation" as in, "when the government stops intervening". This is sortakindaHAVEYOUBEENREADING what I've been saying this whole time - hands off, government! Since you like being condescending, let me do it this time. I'm going to teach you a french phrase: "Lassez-faire". It means "let do" and it's when government and business do their thing seperately, sort of like how churches and governments do their thing seperately.

Then again maybe you're too young for that.

But I guess I've done more of my homework

You can just try and go to a small town and see how everything mass produced costs more, cause there's only one store for most things and they can charge whatever they want.

Once again with this "businesses are evil like governments" talk! Look man, if I wanted to, RIGHT NOW, I could grab my father's shotgun and murder my family, then borrow his body armor (he is a cop) and shoot up the neighboorhood. But why don't I? Because I want to live? Because I want to not go to jail? Because I love my family?

Precisely. You're assuming that given the opportunity, a business would throttle people to death. If this is true then why do I find $3 sticks of deoderant in the one store in the town of Creed, Colorado - a town so small the firestation is in a cave - the same price as I would at my local walmart? Hell, they could charge $6 or even $7... people NEED deoderant. But the guy who runs the store sees no need to. Hell, you could say most local stores are even more sympathetic to the people as a whole then corporations like Best Buy.

Edit: what I'm trying to say is, stop trying to take everything to the logical extreme. Just becayse hypothetically a business COULD, doesn't mean it WILL (and once again - find me ONE BUSINESS THAT HAS DONE THIS AND STAYED AFLOAT WITHOUT GOVERNMENT AID). If this sort of bullshit logic were allowed elsewhere, I would ban you from these forums because hey, you could start racist threads. Who knows. Facetious, could we get the Jerome "Sherman" Scuggs Anti-Trust act of 2007 here?

Actually, let's extend that forum metaphor. You're not going to post a racist thread, are you? No, because it's bad for you. But remember how kthx got banned, but then came right back with the aid of THE MAN? That's the kind of government-business monopolistic bullshit I'm trying to tell you, is bad.

Just give me one instance where a company successfully throttled an entire market (WITHOUT THE HELP OF THE GOVERNMENT, MIND YOU), and I will drop this. Seriously.

Like a TV will cost a lot more than getting it at bestbuy because well.. there aren't any best buys in the town.

Then the business will go out of business and that's life. Hell, TV's are getting outdated anyways. At this point I risk delving in to the moral debate of "Socialism: where everyone is equal, noone wins or loses" versus "Capitalism: dog eat dog" because at this point people just become dense.

[Squeezer]

I'm a full time student that works anywhere from 15-30 hours a week as well as having 2 projects to film (one this weekend) and another project to edit at the moment. And yes, sometimes I smoke weed and drink a few beers.

But go ahead and keep kidding yourself like you've earned some sort of elite status from joining the military.

[Facetious]

It's not that school is "hard" perse, but I really hate doing it, to a large degree because I feel like I'm completely wasting my time. A lot of people say working is tough, and I sure as hell wouldn't want to join the military (but that's a choice you made, if you work really hard, great, that's impressive, but you could have decided not to do that) but I'd much rather have a 9-5 job for 40 hours a week where at least there's a reason I'm doing everything (to make the company money, and in turn, get paid for it). I hate just reading a bunch of crap that has no application to me just to appease some dipshit who based their life on a bunch of crap I don't care about. If school was so easy, why didn't you go to school, do ROTC, and then go into the military as an officer? You probably didn't go because you thought it would suck.

I ended up complaining about school a lot which is the opposite of what I meant to do. The point was, I can complain about school, because some people have it way easier (for some reason they actually like british literature) but at the same time I'd definitely rather be in school than enlisted right now, so it's good to keep perspective.

Might: If you're referring to mentally ill people, I see your point. You mentioned that having a girlfriend leave you is relative, and it's really not. Maybe someone isn't flawed, perse, if all they do is cry and whine for an entire year after their girlfriend of six months left them, but I think I have every right to say they're overreacting and not want to hang out with them if my girlfriend cheated on me with Kevin Federline, gave me the HIV and burned my house down before she left me.

edit: wow all that writing and i fit it into like 3 run-on sentences. maybe i do need school

[Squeezer]

Face what are you studying?

I mean, I'm really starting to do a lot more with film now, and I'm taking far less GUR's and worthless classes in order to further myself in something I love. I suppose though if you're doing shit to go onto law school or med school, it makes sense, but I've always felt, much like it appears you feel right now, that if I wasn't pursuing what I wanted in school, then I have no reason to be there.

[gran guerrero]

This is not in defense of Epi, or in protest to Mr. Snow (for he requested it)

Excessively long text

Like Andy Bear said, just cause they have the chance to be evil doesn't mean they will. But what about blind evil? Or evil that is committed against the publics knowing.

Like lets take a business for example, lets say Microsoft who reduces prices for their products. Now you just can't reduce price of your product and not expect any profit, and the opportunity cost is somewhat unbalanced when it comes to hoping if more people will buy it (trust me I work at a dollar store, and cheaper products are only bought by those who truly need it when they absolutely have nothing, and computer software is not one of those things they need).

so what now? How is microsoft to get more profit? well someone has to take a huge paycut amirite? like lets say the hard working min. wage workers who desperately needed this job and is now introduced to being laid off. how come the rich doesn't take the pay cut? I mean they got the money to not even care, but thats the point they got money, and they want more of it and wont let it go that easy. what about those in other countries that are paid shit to nothing to make the materials for these products? Just a less-illegal sweat shop.

so that's what our big business is about isn't it? To provide for public, while the rich continues getting richer, and those who are poor for any reason (whether it be from being born into it, laziness, drug addictions, shit luck, whatever) are just suffering more for the ideals of capitalism.

Who is to help these people? Not the rich certainly like those who own microsoft, standard oil, etc...

It's got to be the tax payers money for government officials to do something with it to do something about this deficiency in the free market scheme (I mean we can't be living in the survival of the fittest anymore, I mean we are expected to be civilized and more generous, right?) but the government is not necessarily obligated to do exactly what they are told to do by the people (I mean they can say its been done, but does that money go the place it was suppose to? Usually no.)

I mean under a communistic society no one was allowed to flourish to the level of a rich pig, but at least everyone was treated equally, and never like shit, to that of which our great country is run on. Where we float on shit we create and ignore, and blame them for all their troubles, when they are economically inefficient because they been ruined by this game of chinese checkers the big time businesses in our land and lives, play.

Edit:

God I want to put something funny here but your complete mishandling of the arguments really say enough

Use the word Titfuck, that usually brings me laughs.

[Jeenyuss]

i think i'm gonna study film too squeeze. eventually at least. something involving that type of thing. maybe.

[Sufficient]

But go ahead and keep kidding yourself like you've earned some sort of elite status from joining the military.

Yeah, this is the same problem I have with Izor. I definitely respect ppl who join the military. In fact I have two friends who are doing it, one in the airforce and the other in the army.

However, I don't think you should let the fact that you're in the military dictate your entire personalty, decisions, and world views. I have a feeling that there is a certain amount of indoctrination that goes on in the military (probably all militaries around the world). So while it may be a big part of your life, it shouldn't be everything, and it shouldn't take over and override all aspects of what you believe in as an individual.

[Izor]

I'm really not trying to sound arrogant about it or anything but my point was that if you decided this is really what you wanted, then quit whining about the work you have to do to achieve whatever goal it is you eventually want. You havent HAD a meaningful job as a student most likely so you can lose focus I guess. I wasnt trying to make it about me or why I made whatever choices I did. I brought up myself because I have goals I want to achieve and dont bitch about the stupid shit like reading a damn book. A bachelors degree really isnt complicated..you'll always have one or two courses you dont want to be in but suck it up

[Sufficient]

Actually we were addressing the fact that you seem to be on some (moral) pedestal every time you refer to the fact that you're in the military.

I've already made my decision about what course I'm going to go academic wise, and to be honest I don't think I was whining. I was concerned about whether or not medicine was truly for me and whether or not it was worth considering other options.

So yeah, we're talking about two separate things. One being you, and one being something that was discussed in a thread a month or two ago.

[gran guerrero]

I'm really not trying to sound arrogant about it or anything but my point was that if you decided this is really what you wanted, then quit whining about the work you have to do to achieve whatever goal it is you eventually want. You havent HAD a meaningful job as a student most likely so you can lose focus I guess. I wasnt trying to make it about me or why I made whatever choices I did. I brought up myself because I have goals I want to achieve and dont bitch about the stupid shit like reading a damn book. A bachelors degree really isnt complicated..you'll always have one or two courses you dont want to be in but suck it up

but you say this in a general view as if all ALL college students are doing nothing with their lives or held a job that has meaning. It's true that most students go to college to drink/smoke/party etc (and hey I know a bunch of people from the military and thats what they do when they get free time), but thats just what they can do besides studying, but what they are studying for could be the thing that actually helps this world in some way, whether it be curing the sick, finding more innovative ways and technology to help protect those who are in the force or military such as yourself in the line of duty, etc...)

You can't just see college students as you do, for one of those college students might be making that new type of protective gear that might save you from one day (see I'm generalizing, I don't know if you are going to see action, I just say it cause you serve in the military, and a good percentage of those who serve, serve in some war...while some...do night watch in some white neighborhood beach or something)

edit:
we whine when we have to study, we whine when we have to do a pushup. It's the same thing, we will whine if we have to do something - but we got do what we got do - when the time calls for it.

[Izor]

hilarious..overall message is stop whining because you have it easy and no one here seems to understand that..I think the majority of this forum probably goes to class the same as you and manages not to cry about doing a paper..in fact the only ones that are really crying are squeezer and face. I dunno why everyone else is trying to jump on me for this. not even a rant at all college students this time. Only the ones who think they have it rough cause they got a paper due or something.