Most of them are.
Just wow. You had me at pirates.
You know who has an escapist island? Apple does. Itās called Ireland. I donāt know about pirates, but it has magical leprechauns. I could be wrong, but I donāt think those Apple guys are anarchist libertopians.
Most of the yachts here are registered somewhere in the Bahamas or the Caribbean, or the sailboat is actually an LLC registered in a more tax friendly state. This is how CA rolls, and believe me, most people here are NOT Libertarians.
You mean the largest market cap company on earth has corporate headquarters in the US, slave labor manufacturing in China but calls Ireland home? Globalism, itās a shrewd game.
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Back to the original topic - brilliant Niall Ferguson touches on many US/Rome comparisons Iāve tried incoherently to address in the pastā¦
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I thought of Blaise Pascal. āIt is no doubt an evil to be full of faults, but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and unwilling to recognize them, since this entails the further evil ofā¦ self-delusion.ā
Also, about the fall of civilizations. The Affluence Cycle.
BTW, I tried to punk you with a German joke a couple of days ago. It failed, obviously.
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I wonder why agent orange just cant tell this woman hey my bad sorry and move on. All this non stop arguing is BS. Hes like my nana with Altizemers just cant be wrong or apologize no matter whatā¦
Calling out nazis
being sympathetic to Hurricane victims
being nice to war widows
These should all be no brainers what a douche. Hurry up with the tax break so they can impeach your tired ass for being a Russian pawn allready
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Because it looks weak to apologize. But only weak men think this since they are the only ones who worry about looking weak.
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Yupā¦like when the guy that spouts nonesense about homosexuals is usually the gayest guy in the room.
I think its interesting GW Obama & McCain all got words for him last week. Also he still hasent counter punched Eminemā¦notice how he bows out of fights with those smarter than him. Its all a distraction to keep up tough guy image and keep attention off big issues. More smoke & mirrors and dangly shiny stuff for the honey boo boosā¦ NFL players been taking knees for about 2 seasons. All the sudden its a dealā¦takes eyes off Russia, health care, ectā¦ Gotta stay woke yall
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I recall hearing an anecdote about a well to do Roman during the later periods of the empire bemoaning his sons consideration to join the Roman legions, not out fear for his well being but due to it lacking any prestige or proper title. It seemed to capture the Germanization of the Roman army, more and more proper Romans abandoned military service while the legions drew their ranks from the same Barbarians they fought. It seemed to show a very interesting cultural shift towards a softer more decadent lifestyle.
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I believe it showed more of a loss of the traditional Roman, or more correctly Republican Roman, value of civic duty. Machiavelli believed the Roman Republic was strong because people had a strong sense of civic duty. We no longer have that and it probably coincides with the influence of a certain āthinkerā on politics and the economy. But that āthinkerā was a woman and women traditionally have not had to worry about civic duty or the consequences of the lack thereof. So it was easy for her to conceive of a man who had no sense of obligation to anyone but himself. Historically, males have not had that luxury and civilization exists because of that.
The loss of civic duty within Rome is a whole other fascinating discussion, although likely relatedā¦ Itās important to note though that in earlier Roman times this civic duty was more focused on the local elites of each province. The local aristocracy would act as a patron of sorts for their city gifting food, buildings, entertainment etcā¦ all in an effort to compete for favor among the locals. It made for a very effective system to locally govern such diverse territories. This all changed after the diocletian reforms, suddenly provencial politics and thus civic duty took a backseat to the massively expanded imperial Roman government. (Sound familiarā¦?)
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Dan Carlin has made this comparison many times in his podcasts as well.
His sit down with Dave Rubin was great for anyone interested.
Sam Harrisās was good too. Shaprio was ehhh
Please expand on this āthinkerā, and how she influenced our society more than her contemporaries.
Iām going to take a wild guess and say:
Her first name is Ayn, and second name is Rand.
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His āhate-onā for Rand is really funny. Rand is the reason we have a dearth of civic duty? You are giving a writer of novels way more power than she actually had.
We have an all volunteer military nearing 1.5M people. We have millions of teachers, firefighters, police and other public servants. We have no lack of civic duty.
Yes the political class sucks, they have always sucked everywhere throughout history.
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Given her influence on the GOP, Reagan was an admirer, I would say that she has had an influence greater than what her actual abilities as a thinker would merit.
And why do I have a āhate-onā for her but when it comes to those who admire her here you donāt use any millennial internet speak to describe them? You know, it is possible to not like someone and not have it mean anything more than that. Especially when I gave my reasons. So you donāt need to play internet psychologist. This is the problem with our country today; if someone doesnāt agree with some figure they get labelled cuck or libtard or whatever else the cool kids are saying these days.
Civic duty goes beyond a government job. And not everyone who does those jobs does so because of civic duty. I served in the military so I know.
But back to Rand. Obviously you have a āhate-onā for me not worshiping her. Iām sorry, but thatās what happens when you become an actual adult.
Itās not society that she influenced but certain members who then influenced society. Most people would find her ridiculous if they learned of her first hand.
I was about to post something similar. Luckily, you took care of it.
I never read the books, or heard of her until my ātransitionā to the right bubble. (Which was more me being booted from the left, because you know, straight white male and all that.)
That said, I have zero plans to read her books, lol.