Staying on top is a tall order, but still a possibility. China is formidable, but so much is built on top of paper and intellectual property theft, not the social framework that produced the innovations that were worth stealing in the first place. Who knows though, that may be changing with our new-found education priorities that resemble those of China in decades past, while China simultaneously advances new-found education priorities that resemble those of America in decades past.
Solving the social issues that brought down other empires doesnāt strike me as a valid comparison. I suppose it all depends on what you mean by ābring downā.
Nobodyās checked the leftist lunatics in our midst quite yet. The Democrats are riding that wave at great human cost by American standards. Like I said, it is important to ask āCompared to what?ā, and in this case Iām not comparing American standards of human cost to Chinese standards. Theyāre different for obvious reasons.
I think we reach a point where regular Americans have had enough and hopefully still vote our way out of the problem. There is only so much that can be done to shield the bad outcomes from being recognized.
Iāve never read anything she wrote. Never even gave it a shot. I canāt say why and I even liked Rushās prog-rock album 2112, which was apparently based on her work somehow. Oddly, my brother read all of her books or at least two really thick ones. He also had all of Rush Limbaughās books in the late 80ās. Whatās with all of the Rush, anyway?
Despite us both being raised conservative Catholic in Indiana farm country and me being the rebellious liberal for my entire youth, heās now a died-in-the-wool Massachusetts upper middle class liberal. Or at least he married one and is now afraid to say anything otherwise. Iām leaning towards the latterā¦
No question. Anyone who believes it canāt happen here is either naive or just flat out idiotic. You donāt have to be some sort of conspiracy driven doomsday prepper to guard against the dangers of this kind of action. This stuff is important.
I take your meaning directly, but honestly I think that is a trait that everybody should have to one degree or another. People do entirely too many stupid things online.
I think this is quite plausible, even likely. The same thing happened to Roman arrogance and British arrogance. But I think 50 years is probably too short of a period. The decline of the British empire has taken centuries and they are still functioning, albeit at a reduced level. I would not call them a third world nation even with their drastically reduced influence compared to pre-World war one.
Since weāre heading down this rabbit hole, please let me recommend something to everyone who has doom-and-gloom thoughts, fantasies, or perhaps might enjoy role-playing post-apocalyptic scenarios with your neighborhood D&D group before you wrestle in the yard over political arguments and things go a little too far.
If society has to collapse, I think it would be a lot more fun than the alternative if it collapsed like it did in these books.
Nor l.
5th largest economy in the world, particularly centered in finance.
Military ranked 5th in the world, with a capabilty of worldwide projection behind only the US.
Finally- a soft power influence through diplomacy, higher education, and entertainment.
British Empire - no. But pretty influential for 60ish million people.
I tend to agree, though Iād also argue no societal construct in fully sustainable forever. Flawed characters pop up no matter the circumstance who can and do āruin itā for everybody.
Rather an inherent way of running a country/society can dictate how vulnerable it is to collapse. Discouraging vice in itself isnāt inherently negative. All demographics, albeit in particular children neednāt be encouraged to partake in unhealthy or self destructive pastimes. By looking at literature available it would appear as if outright clamping down with propaganda, misinformation and draconian legislature ironically leads to higher levels mayhem, death and destruction mediated through vice. Cultures/methodological approaches behind these topics may equate to differing net outcomes as does the geography of a country, but it generally appears discouraging = effective. Draconian penalties = poor outcomes
The notion of barring a behaviour and establishing associated criminal penalties can be a slippery slope. What is deemed āprotecting valuesā when referring to an act in the privacy of oneās own home? Does āprotecting valuesā merely equate to āI donāt like it, therefore under this law no one canā?
Also
This, I have yet to hear of a society that has remained stable since the dawn of semi-modern human civilisation. Vice or no vice, religion or no religion, conservative or progressive; shit happens, civilisations rise up just as they fall. I think we can count our lucky stars we arenāt currently living out our lives during a great world warā¦ just a pandemicā¦ no biggieā¦
How so? America to my knowledge hasnāt been in this state since like the 1950ās.
Are you advocating for a dictator to come into power? Problem with dictatorships; you like themā¦ until you donātā¦ then itās too late.
Thereās always the possibility the values/agendas pushed by various members of political factions will change. Ask @Beyond_Beyond (or me, but @Beyond_Beyond was alive during this time) about liberal vs labour now vs 30-40 years ago in Australia.
Defunding the police is a surefire was to turn the United States into South Africa (lol), if this occurs en masse (doubtful) and the consequences are serious (which they almost certainly would be) Iād imagine those pandering towards the goal of neutering the police would be voted out.
Youāre exactly right. The Democrats of today would be fringe lunatics if they ran a decrepit old ghoul who pawed and sniffed scared little girls on the 1992 Democratic primary against a suave, young and saxamaphone-playing Bill Clinton with a solid 16 charisma score. And thatās before any bonus items, by the way.
I imagine the vote count would be somewhere between the open communists, Illinois Naziās and the ecological terrorist candidates. Those sexy hippie ladies in Birkenstocks really drew a disproportionate amount of otherwise conservative men into the Green Party and Ralph Naderās UFO cult or whatever he had going at the time.
Albeit my belief is more pessimistic. Humanity may be doomed, climate change, the prospect of incoming pandemics/endemics, lack of housing/employment prospects, mass poverty and more are issues that mediate an environment not conductive for continual replication. I donāt think society will delve into some sort of degenerate hellhole unless total economic collapse occurs, I think itās far more likely we see some sort of āmass extinctionā type even within the next 1000 years.
To my knowledge this has been taken out of context. Joe Biden (probably) isnāt a pedophile.
Iāve seen the video of him allegedly behaving inappropriatelyā¦ I donāt buy it. Many who dislike Joe Biden/democrats will jump at the chance to write a scathing review over it just as those who dislike Trump will jump at any chance to talk smack about him, whether itās warranted or not
There are many photos of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epsteinā¦ alongside around twenty two convictions for sexual assault; but Iām not going around calling Donald Trump a rapist until he is found guilty by a court of law (or intangible evidence comes to light) as it would be disingenuous to defame one over unproven allegations.
My personal opinion? Do I believe Donald Trump could be capable of something like this? Almost certainly, ditto with Biden. Political figures tend to be enveloped within a sea of narcissism. Many appear to lack any sense of morality
I didnāt say he was. I said he likes to paw and sniff scared little girls. I find it troublesome that I had to scroll, and scroll, and scroll, before I found a youtube video that was remotely close to what Iāve seen before, but Iām really thankful for all of the videos put to the forefront that explained this behavior away.
It is strange that the video is set against a Biden speech thatās just as cringe-worthy, but watch the video and let me know what you think.
Would you like some creep pawing at your daughter or niece like that? What about your wife or girlfriend?
Do you initiate contact like that with other peopleās children?
I smell people all the time. Thatās my autistic way of saying āhelloā (not serious)
Look, the video is disturbing, but without context I canāt really comment. Itās like watching Donald Trump out of context
I donāt like Biden or Trump for the matter. But I really couldnāt get my head around a president tweeting about QANON, āObamagateā, windmills causing cancer, talking about injecting disinfectant on live television and the likes. I didnāt agree with his policies, or his arrogance and bullying of those within his administration. His prior business practices and track record of unethical transactions/holdouts are astounding and the shit he says on TV/during his speeches? In Aus, at least where I live plenty of people tuned in just to laugh at the guy.
Vested sense of morality aside, I didnāt like Donald Trump because I didnāt like MANY of his policies, but when he did something I agreed with, I spoke up at said āIām glad Trump did thisā. My viewpoint may seem one sided, but it isnāt. I would have taken just about any other republican president over Joe Biden any day of the year (aside from Ted Cruz).
But Trump isnāt the president anymore and he didnāt paw and sniff scared little girls. Even if you somehow think he did, he didnāt have the gall to do it live on C-SPAN, over and over again. As bizarre as it sounds, Iāve got more respect for someone who writes his hooker a life-changing check than some old creep who thinks he can fondle children on live TV.
Democrat proxies in private media have banned their numero uno political opponent from making his voice heard.
Nothing to see here folks, just shared American values at work.
Edit, while weāre on the topic of the bizarre and seedy, let us not forgetā¦ Somewhere out there is a child whose mother is a stripper, whose father is a crackhead and whose grandfather is the President. I really hope he can rise above his family somehow.
Iām actually frustrated as hell with the democrats
how could they have not found a better candidate?
Why is PC culture becoming so omnipresent? People arenāt SO frail and fragile as to be unable to take a joke. if I as an autistic individual make a joke about autism, I should be able to do so without being called an insensitive jerk. Hell, I donāt even care if others want to make these jokesā¦ itās a jokeā¦ so long as the intent isnāt to legitimately hurt/offend
Whatās the point regarding the defund the police fiasco in the USA? Whyā¦ why not shoot for sustainable, minor reforms that might actually benefit society?
Whatās the point of the excess regulatory practices? Banning consumer products/placing draconian taxation appears to chronically disadvantage the demographics theyāre trying to āprotectā.
Iām also incredibly frustrated with the rallying effect behind Donald Trump and the cult type mentality that appears to have rallied around him. There are many, many, many republican politicians of which are in my opinion more suited to presidency.
The problems America(and most other western nations have) is the disillusionment and destruction of the institutions that made it a great country. You need to stop the communist anti American activities, in all the institutions. This is where the corrosion happens. Its like a computer virus infecting everything, demoralizing and deconstructing, eventually the society collapses upon itself or is so weak it can be taken over with minor resistance because the physical and spiritual ability to defend has been incrementally destroyed.
Have you seen the woke CIA recruitment videos? Pretty much do the opposite of what they are currently doing.
It would need a military coup. Not a Burmese /Myanmar style, where the military never relinquishes power. One that stops any current anti American activity like open the floodgates immigration policy of Biden, and stops the globalization interest groups.There definitely needs to be a clean out and re structuring of the deep state.