I’d enjoy it, too. Wouldn’t take my last breath before the pile is all ash. For the record, my “random investments” are, among others, renewable green energy companies and EV manufacturers. My money is saving the world as we speak, you’re just yapping away.
Your money is merely theft from others, good sir, and your investments are not you utilizing efforts or talents into saving the world, it is using the will of actually talented others to do good for the world for your chance at profit. As I don't believe you've been elected into a position democratically for determining how programs should be financed, the proposal of others interested in actually saving the planet is to take your ill-gotten wealth and figure out how to best utilize it democratically. I understand this might be distressing, but friends don't let friends be greedy tyrants that want to burn the globe~
Ah, the greatness of cowardice! What we say might have ramifications that we'd have to owe up to so we should be quiet but I'll complain about not wanting to be quiet about things that might offend others since I'd then have to explain and or defend my outburst.
And thank you, dear comrade, for contributing to the discussion with passion and erudite wisdom as well!
It's comments like theirs that blow my mind. No one's freedom of speech has been taken away. These people don't understand the concept that they can say what they want, that doesn't mean everyone else has to shut up and deal with it. Freedom of speech does not negate freedom from repercussion, and these days if someone has something stupid to say, chances are someone's going to utilize their freedom of speech and call them out. It's literally the same argument when it comes to vaccines and mask mandates; they have the freedom to choose not to abide, just like other people have the right to not associate with them, even in the workforce and general public.Ah, the greatness of cowardice! What we say might have ramifications that we'd have to owe up to so we should be quiet but I'll complain about not wanting to be quiet about things that might offend others since I'd then have to explain and or defend my outburst.
Yes correct. But having people go and say that the popular quote: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." is now offensive because "mankind" isn't gender neutral.
Looks like the truth always hits a soft spot. The government isn’t going to save the planet - private industry is. There are literal armies of engineers who are chipping away at the world’s various issues, and they’re not working for Uncle Sam, they’re working for industry giants. My investments are investments in the future in the most literal sense, and in multiple ways - the future of the planet, the future of our species and, most importantly, my own. They will pay dividends in multiple ways also - funding the development of new technologies *and* filling my personal coffers in the supervillain fortress. Paradoxically, between the two of us, it is you who spends capital on mindless consumerism, provided none of your capital is invested in research and development, which I sincerely doubt. Someone less deluded than you is investing your retirement funds on your behalf - odds are you have some kind of retirement fund, or at least a pension. Not only that, as a former Air Force employee, your entire existence is funded by American imperialism and Uncle Sam - my money is generated through my labour, also known as “a job”, and funnelled into the economy through the stock market. The irony is palpable, albeit unrelated to the topic at hand, in the sense that this contrast is funny rather than offensive. With that being said, this exchange is also a huge waste of time as it seems to me that you’ve reached the stage of pontificating rather than making salient points.
I disagree with the notion that we should always avoid saying things that offend people. The value of truth supersedes that of someone’s fragile feelings. Not to look too far for examples, some of the most powerful tools against the world’s various ills were always comedy and satire. “A Modest Proposal” wouldn’t exist if Swift was compelled by the state to “care about people’s feelings” through legislation of speech. People’s feelings are, for the most part, unimportant. Even if a given message has no broader, hidden meaning that you’d have to ponder, you always have the option of simply looking away. Nobody is forcing anyone to ingest their written or spoken words, and we have laws against those who do - harassment for instance is very specifically defined. The obsession with how people “feel” about the way we communicate is unhealthy and wrong. The First Amendment exists to protect speech, and offensive speech especially, above all other speech, because that’s always the speech that confronts and questions the status quo. Of course, the First doesn’t protect you from consequences of your speech in private life, so your reluctance is perfectly understandable. Thankfully such concerns don’t apply to supervillains such as myself - I am in no danger of being called “mean”, pointing out the obvious is never a good look.
Language evolves, societies evolve, knowledge progresses and phrases fall out of favor. Such is life. You'll get used to it.
Wow, you sure think a lot of yourself. Going from "I'll burn it all before I share with people any of my ill-gotten gains!" to "I'm the captain of enterprise, out to save the world! You're WELCOME, serfs!" in no time at all. Elitism overload aside, you're still swearing by the talent of others and taking credit... you must really like Elon Musk or something. It is nice that you put funds into things that might help the planet out of the cratering mess that selfish private ambitions like yours have pushed it into to begin with, but hear me out, what if we just took all of your money and gave every dime of it to the people working on those technologies in one shot, then did the same with a bunch of other investor-class folks? Rather than looking at it as a business venture that MUST GET RESULTS OR ELZE! It instead becomes moderate income for said innovators to live on while they continue their work with perhaps a bounty prize for certain accomplishment milestones, since I know incentives get capitalists all rock-hard and all. That way, the resources go directly to addressing the problem and nobody has to worry about lobbying or begging or addressing profit values in their work while they do it~ Honestly, your function in this system is literally that of a parasite looking for their own chance to further hoarde wealth and MAYBE sleep a little better by telling themselves they're the real hero.
I’m sorry that your international holiday playing wartime with other toy soldiers on the public dime enforcing the will of the ruling class didn’t quite work out for you, or that it stands in direct conflict with your life philosophy. Thank you for your service, unironically, since some of it protects our collective interests, even if you don’t like those interests. I don’t tell myself that I’m a hero, nor do I have to - you’re the one who keeps pinning increasingly creative medals to my jacket, which I will happily own for my own amusement. I won’t really argue about this with you since it’s grossly off-topic, all I said was that you’re the product of and you’re sustained by the system, the same one you’re railing against. In any case, anybody and their dog can start investing from a $1, and should. I strongly encourage everyone to invest in their future, as well as the future of the companies they believe will change the world. This was a fun distraction, if a humorous one - take care.
The difference between the left and the right is that the left want things to be fair for everyone. The right want things to be fairer for themselves. It is purely a difference between someone who cares about others and someone who is unbelievably selfish.
Holiday playing wartime with toy soldiers? You really don't have any degree of empathy with other human beings, do you? Honestly, you kinda drift all over the place with this reply, in what I can only assume is a swerve in several directions just trying to take a dig at me from different angles with the hope that something stings, but wow, its fairly remarkable that you'd actually be so bipolar on service members. My whole reason for slamming you on your insane capitalist appeal to your financial glory was that you don't work to change things, you work to profit and then in finding further profit you put a measured amount of resources into companies that just so happen to maybe do something beneficial for the world. That isn't noble, progressive, or admirable.
I don’t know what any of this has to do with empathy - it’s an accurate, if crass, description of what you were doing. As a rampant individualist the military lifestyle is not for me - I don’t take kindly to taking orders. Now, if I were to start a PMC, that’s a different story altogether, but in all fairness I would much rather if my career path didn’t involve deliberately killing other people - I’m perfectly fine with paying the military to do it on my behalf since it’s one of the few genuine responsibilities of the state. Paying taxes in exchange for defense from internal (law enforcement) and external (military) threats is fair taxation. As for the stock market, comparing it to gambling is a weird misnomer that you usually hear from people who don’t know how it works, but that’s fine. I’m not surprised that the Air Force covered your lodge, but I put a big question mark on comparing it to a commune considering the military as a whole is a highly stratified organisation with distinct levels of rank, the opposite of an “equal” arrangement. Still, nice to hear that you’ve innovated at work, everybody should bring their ideas to the workplace and if they make it more efficient or otherwise improve the workflow, they’re worthwhile. I’ve always been of the opinion that people should work smart, not hard.Holiday playing wartime with toy soldiers? You really don't have any degree of empathy with other human beings, do you? Honestly, you kinda drift all over the place with this reply, in what I can only assume is a swerve in several directions just trying to take a dig at me from different angles with the hope that something stings, but wow, its fairly remarkable that you'd actually be so bipolar on service members. My whole reason for slamming you on your insane capitalist appeal to your financial glory was that you don't work to change things, you work to profit and then in finding further profit you put a measured amount of resources into companies that just so happen to maybe do something beneficial for the world. That isn't noble, progressive, or admirable.
You're welcome to the fruits of the service I put forward, I share it freely with the full knowledge of why I joined and how I wanted to serve, and I invite you to consider that you can try to do good even under a banner you don't care for. As an enlisted individual, I knew that the government did things I didn't and still don't like, and I remained vocal about those things before, during, and after my time. When I got done, I found something I knew I could immediately address for the better, and began teaching and helping other veterans to transition into decent paying STEM jobs. My motivations and my views never once had to change or became compromised, and nobody judged me negatively (out loud, at least) for offering myself to the public good. I didn't invest what limited funds I had into the stock market, I DIRECTLY stimulated the change I wanted to see. If I didn't need basic income to support myself and my family, I would have done it for free, too. Gambling with money isn't working towards change, its praying you can make a profit while somebody else works on a problem while looking for profit too.
Ironically, though, the military actually runs with a lot of fairly communist concepts in place. They test your abilities, evaluate your credentials and background, and then pair you up with a list of jobs they feel you'd do well in. You can cross-train or endeavor to move up, but they find you work. Your housing and food are taken care of, as is your health and vision and dental. There are a myriad of other services available freely as needed, from legal aide to haircuts to counseling, and the primary motivation they instill is service to the state and unity with your peers. If anything, my time in the Air Force encouraged my views on life going forward~
BakerMan
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