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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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I still say Death Of A Salesman should be required reading in every school, if only because doing so might help cure everyone of having such delusions before they even start.
edited 19th May '17 10:38:21 AM by kkhohoho
Seriously? That's missing the entire point of the play! What, would it only get through to them if Miller decided to have Willy rise up from the grave and strangle Happy to death while declaring just how wrong they both were and how much the American dream is a crock? It'd at least get their attention if nothing else.
I mean, I don't think abandoning the notion that anyone can become very successful is particularly helpful. Anyone isn't the same thing as everyone.
More like we need to make upward mobility actually feasible again while also acknowledging that most people aren't going to become super wealthy but can still live a decent life.
As for how to do that, you've got me.
The blind optimism brought about by the American Dream has convinced too many people that becoming rich isn't that hard, so they better vote for tax cuts for the rich. As John Oliver put it in his segment on Income Inequality: "I know this game is rigged...which is why it's going to be so sweet when I win this thing!"
Said segment also included a brief clip of Marco Rubio's "Nation of Haves and Soon-to-haves" speech. The ovation Rubio received was telling.
edited 19th May '17 11:00:56 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedI mean, it should be, but we're still working on convincing the rest of Europe on that one
Also there's not one Scandinavian Model. Norway, Denmark and Sweden operate similar mixed economies, but they're very different in their details.
edited 19th May '17 11:05:24 AM by math792d
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.Not for nothing do I say that Trump is the US' Shadow, he is all our culture's flaws and vices made manifest.
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.@LSBK and Tactical Fox 88: Gee, maybe I should just say, "I'm an idiot, so answer like I'm five" so I can beat you guys to the punch when it comes to calling me a moron.
"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."edited 19th May '17 11:16:35 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."I am absolutely against the idea of a Maximum Wage. People who are either a)Lucky, b)Super Intelligent/Attractive/Skilled/(List other here) or c)both, should not be punished for those reasons and only be able to get a certain amount of money for their works.
I'm not against raising the Minimum Wage and creating a Basic Income, though.
I completely agree.
edited 19th May '17 11:33:51 AM by DingoWalley1
Maybe not a maximum wage, but bigger taxes certainly are necessary at a certain point. And these days when the income inequality seems to keep rising...
Most times, the problem isn't that those rich people don't deserve the money they earned, it's that there are many more living in misery while they lead extravagant lifestyles.
edited 19th May '17 11:33:54 AM by Grafite
Life is unfair...Appearing at the SALT hedge fund conference in Las Vegas, the possible 2020 presidential candidate weighed in on Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy in a way that Clinton supporters sure won't like.
“I never thought she was a great candidate,” Biden said, according to reports. “I thought I was a great candidate.”
Biden clarified, according to CNN, that “Hillary would have been a really good president.” But that isn't likely to make Clinton supporters feel much better.
I seem to have missed most of a discussion about how Catholics voted. Here's actual numbers
. It leans more Trumpish than I'd like but it's split. Also, Hispanic Catholics largely (but not uniformly) went for Clinton.
Catholicisim has a non-negligible liberal/conservative split down to its current roots. (Francis is the most liberal pope in my lifetime, Benidict before him was conservative-ish and John Paul was a reformer but still had moral conservative leanings.) How Catholics voted likely has more to do with their preexisting biases rather than anything inherent in being Catholic. There are things in doctrine that map with moral conservatism but also things that map with progressiveness and it's a toss up which any person will care more about.
Addendum: Also, don't forget we have Tim Kaine as a high profile example of a liberal Catholic. I've said it before, he seems like I guy I could respect even as an ex-Catholic.
I wibbled over whether to further qualify him or not but it's not like he tried to go and undo John Paul II's reforms either.
edited 19th May '17 12:20:45 PM by Elle

Not sure about this one. The reaction of my church's leaders were the exact opposite. (Probably has nothing to do with the church leader being gay himself but I digress).
Also, of those religious revivals, TAP mentioned, one "great awakening" galvanized the abolitionist movement and much of the same religious expression was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. (SCLC—Southern Christian Leadership Conference). As with anything else, trying to claim divine backing can lead to good or ill. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives