: :
: : : Don: Note that socialist recommend that we ALL be treated like children and criminals. Denying law abiding adults the right to keep and bear arms is a violation of the 2nd Amendment, by the way. I suggest we keep violent criminals in prison so we can avoid the problems of having to identify them.: : We keep everyone in a prison anyway; freedom of motion, freedom of speech, freedom of expression are all currently dependent on what your capital value is to the world; if you aren't born one of the lucky few, you're as good as dead.
: Don: Born lucky? Do you think JFK jr was born lucky or unlucky?
Lucky. If he was unlucky enough to be born in the Third World, his chances of survival and opportunities in life would have been far less than they were.
To quote the 1999 UN Human Development Report;
"Nearly 30 years ago the Pearson Commission began its report with the recognition that “the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries has become the central problem of our times.” But over the past three decades the income gap between the world’s richest fifth and its poorest fifth has more than doubled, to 74 to 1. And with that gap comes migration, environmental pressure, conflict, instability and other problems rooted in poverty and inequality.Narrowing the gaps between rich and poor and the extremes between countries should become explicit global goals"
By being a Westerner, you are liable to have been born lucky. That doesn't mean you have to accept the inequality as desirable.
The world's richest 20% own 86% of the world's capital. The world's poorest 20% own 1% of it. (UN figures, 1999 HDR)
: : If you're prepared to ignore this; to continue in the system as it currently is, you can be guaranteed a quiet, moderately luxurious life in which you may have a couple of kids, rounded off by a quiet death and funeral (unless the system crashes, that is).
: Don: And you can engage in a surprising amount of freedom of motion, freedom of speech, freedom of expression . . .
...because you consume cheap goods from the areas of the world where people are forced into effective slavery by Western multinationals like Nike. These goods are consumed in an unsustainable and wasteful fashion.
This practice is encouraged by the West; as the trade rules are set up in fashion that benefits the West; keeping the wealth and luxury concentrated in the First World at the expense of the Third.
: : If you persist in being difficult and asking difficult questions about fairness and justice, you will be hunted down and destroyed, as Judy Bari nearly was, or as Fernando Periera was.
: Don: You think these people asked difficult questions about the "system"?
Quite correct; they also acted in non-violent opposition to corporate and government-sponsored lawbreaking; taxpayer's money was used to fund their attempted assassination, despite their actions being pro bono publico.
: : Conform or die; that is your choice. As such, mere iron bars are merely the crudest form of prison. Your sole reason for existence in their eyes is to fuel the global market.
: Don: THEY? THEY! Who is THEY?
Well, try the OECD and WTO, for starters; they are on record as saying (during the MAI negotiations) "We are building the foundation...of a new global order".
They consist of unelected negotiators; comprised of the boards of the world's largest corporations; convened to hammer out the details of a homogenous global treaty in which corporates dictate working practice; including social and health conditions, environmental conditions and accountability. As they consist of unelected quangoes, they are answerable to no-one but their boards. And as can been seen by the behaviour of companies like Shell and BP and Chevron, they don't have any qualms about using violence and murder to protect their bottom line. Call them the new robber barons; forming a closed system to asset-strip the entire world.
F.
