Secret Chief
nirvana is samsara
So yea, as a progressive socialist I do feel kind of glum about the prevalent atmosphere in my country.
I assumed you were a Brit, given the glumness.
How far Austria has fallen, then.
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
So yea, as a progressive socialist I do feel kind of glum about the prevalent atmosphere in my country.
In relation to that, I found this Youtube video very enlightening, as it really opens up the conservative ideology to take a look at the fundamental belief system behind it:I think racism, nationalism, and capitalism share a certain commonality in that they're all somewhat rooted in social Darwinism and the idea that "only the strong shall survive." They ostensibly believe in a "natural right" for the strong, powerful, and wealthy to dominate and rule over the weak, powerless, and impoverished.
Today's capitalists tend to argue that they support a kinder, gentler, sanitized version of capitalism which doesn't involve exploitation, slavery, racism, abuse, sweatshops, cheating, lying, corruption, or anything bad at all. Some might even claim to be liberals and enlightened, yet they still seem to display a similar superior attitude when they decide they know what's best for all the "little people."
Vienna used to be the model city for a democratic socialism, and people are still proud of the welfare system the Austrian Social Democratic government pushed through.
That was before people were allowed to vote, though. Vienna has been "Red Vienna" since 1919.I also recall that Vienna was the center of the Metternich system, which valued arch-conservative ideals and the preservation of the status quo in Europe, but it led to multiple revolutions occurring in 1848, which led to more zealous forms of nationalism rising to the surface.
Austria - The Age of Metternich, 1815–48
Today's capitalists tend to argue that they support a kinder, gentler, sanitized version of capitalism which doesn't involve exploitation, slavery, racism, abuse, sweatshops, cheating, lying, corruption, or anything bad at all. Some might even claim to be liberals and enlightened, yet they still seem to display a similar superior attitude when they decide they know what's best for all the "little people."
Excellent video, Mr Danskin.In relation to that, I found this Youtube video very enlightening, as it really opens up the conservative ideology to take a look at the fundamental belief system behind it:
In relation to that, I found this Youtube video very enlightening, as it really opens up the conservative ideology to take a look at the fundamental belief system behind it:
That's an interesting video. It points up something that I've addressed as well, the idea that society "needs the rich" and that the rich "earned" their high position in society. It compared the right-wing's complaint about paying burger flippers $15 an hour while concurrently believing the Jeff Bezos deserves $11 million per hour.
I started a thread a while back which was a challenge to capitalists to prove that these wealthy people actually "earned" their wealth and that they actually "deserve" to have that much and should therefore be entitled to be exempt from having to pay taxes on it. There were plenty of cranky responses, but no one could actually rise to the challenge, show their work, and prove mathematically that these capitalists were actually "worth" that much money. By all rights, they should, since they somehow believe that economics is not a social science, but rather an exact science with absolute precision.