From the outside looking in (from the 5th most prosperous country), it seems that a small coven of plutarchs are manipulating religious conservatives, spuriously linking religious/social conservatism with ultraconservative financial policies. There is no reason Christianity calls for dog-eat-dog financial policies. Both the BoMor and Bible, and even D&C a strong on social responsibility.
Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction. As a nontheist myself, i find it appalling to watch Rand's corporate-psychopath acolytes cynically manipulating simple religious people to vote for policies that will actually hurt them over the long run. Those guys just use religion as leverage. They are the products of command morality who, when they discover there is no real authority underlying religious commandments, have no internal or personal morality.
Edit: pahoran may query my 5th most prosperous country comment. It is in the link. Oz is 4th, so we often feel poor by comparison. My TBM parents have been reconstructed after a bad car crash have 3 new hips, and a quadruple bypass between them, all on our public heath system, which is running quite well and is cheaper than scraping up critical and emergency cases worsened through lack of care if insurance companies were the primary founders.
Last edited by Guest on Sat Nov 10, 2012 8:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Spanner wrote:From the outside looking in (from the 5th most prosperous country), it seems that corporations are manipulating religious conservatives, spuriously linking religious/social conservatism with ultraconservative financial policies. There is no reason Christianity calls for dog-eat-dog financial policies. Both the BoMor and Bible, and even D&C a strong on social responsibility.
Corporations are manipulating more than religious conservatives. Corporations have made inroads into the everyday lives of the most of the people on the planet, including New Zealand where child well-being is quite bad:
The problem with the list you linked to is the sponsorship which is corporate and investment sponsored. The truth is: capitalism has wrecked havoc across the planet as the human being becomes nothing more than a commodity to be used and thrown in the garbage, including in the socalled 5th prosperous country. Your link and its sponsors could not give a fig about children or for that matter about humanity.
Last edited by Guest on Sat Nov 10, 2012 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. Joseph Smith We are “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…” Joseph Smith
You got it. It is a nightmare. Now of course capitalism can take on many forms. There is a more human centered capitalism but this kind of capitalism has become extinct like the dodo bird. What we have today is a predatory capitalism where the human being is nothing more but a commodity like a chair or a table to be used, abused, and thrown in the garbage when no longer needed.
I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. Joseph Smith We are “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…” Joseph Smith
You got it. It is a nightmare. Now of course capitalism can take on many forms. There is a more human centered capitalism but this kind of capitalism has become extinct like the dodo bird. What we have today is a predatory capitalism where the human being is nothing more but a commodity like a chair or a table to be used, abused, and thrown in the garbage when no longer needed.
By the way, where was the president during the occupy demonstrations? People were beaten by bully clubs, peppered sprayed, thrown in jail for demonstrating...and most likely these people voted for obama the first time around. I did not hear obama say a word of support for these poor people who were attempting to bring more equality into american life.
I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. Joseph Smith We are “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…” Joseph Smith
After the war. The nordic model created a society that kept capitalism incheck and granted people health care, good employment, strong unions and a more work friendly environment.
The western communist parties in europe sent a shiver to the capitalist elite that reform is mandatory. Now...predator capitalism has slam dunked the nordic model and other european styled capitalisms.
But yes, by its nature, capitalism is predatory especially when left unchecked as it is now.
I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. Joseph Smith We are “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…” Joseph Smith
I think you missed my point. I think we agree somewhat on this.
I think that we view children in the wrong light. They are a social asset. For everyone. Their education an health is every bodies concern. They will be our future workers, soldiers and the like.
If we took the view that children's issues were a investment in the future, a few things may change.
Spanner wrote: If we took the view that children's issues were a investment in the future, a few things may change.
And yet, it is a predatory capitalism that has created the situation in NZ. When NZ had a more human centered capitalism that basically was influenced by the european model, the situation was better for children and for all others too. Times have changed and neo-classical economics rules the day, unfortunately.
Prosperity no longer implies humanity's wellbeing but economics and profit.
I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world. Joseph Smith We are “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all…” Joseph Smith