> Psypher.....Are you confusing is and ought? There is reciprocity
> and symbiosis in a biologic sense as a human survival trait. Right,
> wrong, sharing and empathy are also intricate and central to Bonobo
> Chimp society. Power structures can poison the well, for sure, and
> yes, there ought to be a more just world. It still doesn't negate
> what is inborne and primal: morality in your personal dealings with
> your community and your loved ones.
...what are right and wrong? What basis do you have for making these judgements? What rational support can you give for the principles of sharing and empathy? What constitutes "morality in your personal dealings" and how are we to define immorality?
> Liberal Democracy is a brilliant self-correcting, self perpetuating
> ideology.
...ideology and practice are different things, as people keep
pointing out here. Liberal democracy may be a brilliant ideology but
as long as we don't actually manifest a democracy - where the people
have a voice in the structure of their communities - it will remain
theory.
...I realize that you and I are living under different regimes, but
surely you don't actually claim to be living in a democracy?
Nations that foster a marketplace of ideas, capital, and
> lifestyle choices will achieve more prosperity and justice.
...yes, but nations which foster those things within their own borders while deliberately perpetrating heinous circumstances on nonnationals are parasitic. A group of people bound together in common purpose may still be parasitic of that common purpose is harmful to another organism.
This
> system fits our phenotype to a tee.
...I honestly do not understand how you can live in the same world as me and believe this.
[snip]
> The mythological model of human nature was challenged by the
> enlightenment. The Marxist model was a complete failure in both
> market dynamics and intellectual capital. Science and democracy,
> which are both error detecting and self-correcting, have a long way
> to go to conquer the globe. Probably less than 25% of the earth's
> people have a true democracy
...I would say that perhaps approximately .00001 percent of the world
inhabit a true democracy, where the structure of their social system
is truly developed out of an attept to hear and honour the voices of
all the people. These people are the one's at the top of the
hierarchy. The rest of us are not consulted except to the extent that
we dominate those lower down.
...I live in Canada, we're one of the cushiest nations on the planet,
we don't have a "true democracy". The USA certainly does not have
anything approaching a true democracy. Rule of the people, by the
people, for the people - not in this world, bub.
....... And these countries are the
> healthiest.
...once again, I honestly do not see how you can live in the same world I inhabit and assert that it is possible to have healthy countries and non-healthy countries. The idea of a nation-state is an abstraction based on the application of military force and the bribery of its constituents. There is one humyn species and one planet only - the health of that system must be accounted for as a whole - otherwise it's analogous to saying "My arm is sick but my leg is well."
-psypher