From: nospam@example.net   
      
   On Fri, 19 Apr 2024, oldernow wrote:   
      
   >> Oh, I'm hesitating if you'll be able to take the truth   
   >> without falling down the rabbit hole or not, but here   
   >> you go:   
   >>   
   >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s   
   Guide_to_the_Galaxy#The_Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life,   
   the_Universe,_and_Everything_is_42   
   >>   
   >> and   
   >>   
   >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_enigma .   
   >   
   >    
   >   
   > Ahhhh, right!   
   >   
   > It's been a while, you see. :-)   
   >   
   > It was nice to be reminded of Robert Anton Wilson in the   
   > second Wikipedia page, as I gobbled up everything I could   
   > find by him at some point in the 1990s.   
      
   On yes, the master! The Illuminatus trilogy is one of my all time   
   favourite books! I even met him once in a book shop in Stockholm and had   
   him sign one of my copies of the principia discordia. It was a bit of a   
   crash with reality though, because I expected this lively funny guy and   
   in stead he was actually quite grumpy. ;)   
      
   >> There's still time!   
   >   
   > Actually, my wife's ex is Swedish, and he's such a shit   
   > poor excuse for a human being that other Swedes might have   
   > to work overtime just to get me back up to being unbiased   
   > in the matter.... :-)   
      
   Interesting! Could you tell me more? I'm curious if it is some kind of   
   typical swedish shittiness or just general human shittiness?   
      
   >> Well, as you surely know, the only solution is to scream   
   >> twice as much and twice as loud. That's the only way to   
   >> settle things peacefully and rationally. ;)   
   >   
   > I tend to think there is no solution, so if I don't take   
   > it personally, I let it go. But if I do foolishly take it   
   > personally, I embark on a mission to frustrate the living   
   > hell out of what has become an opponent, and enjoy watching   
   > them completely fall apart....   
   >   
   > I'm not proud of that. I'm just telling you what happens. :-)   
      
   Well, that's a noble art form in itself. ;) Depending on which end   
   you're at it can be quite fun actually. ;)   
      
   >> If it were not for the fact that she is your wifes cousin   
   >> I would imagine that it would be delightful to tease the   
   >> person to see how often and how quickly you can take her   
   >> from silent mode to screaming! ;)   
   >   
   > Per what I wrote above, I did a *little* of that, and then   
   > quit for knowing in advance the kind of Ticket to Doghouse   
   > I was writing myself.... ;-)   
      
   Life is hard on men with strong wives. ;)   
      
   >> Jokes aside, I think most billionaires and people who play   
   >> in that arena, regardless of ideology are assholes. You   
   >> don't reach those levels and arenas by being a saint. It   
   >> might happen, but not very often I suspect.   
   >   
   > Well put!   
      
   Thank you!   
      
   >> My take on it is more sinister. I lived in a country that   
   >> experimentet with 103% marginal tax rates, and I've seen   
   >> so much sh*t done by governments. So even though I am   
   >> libertarian by nature, in the US, the only option that is   
   >> in my opinion somewhat skeptical of government are the   
   >> republicans, and that's what I would vote. In an ideal   
   >> world, perhaps I'd vote for Ron Paul, but I think that   
   >> guy must hang around in some retirement home by now. ;)   
   >   
   > I've pulled the "straight Republican" lever for quite   
   > some time, but must say that in so doing I'm voting more   
   > against Democrats than for Republicans.   
      
   I think that is also a sickness in modern democracy. I know many who   
   would for the least worst, or vote against the worst, but I know very   
   few who vote for something they actually would like. So that was a part   
   of my journey to not voting at all. I had a time when I voted for what   
   I'd like, such as the swedish libertarian party who got I think 2000   
   votes or so. I tried voting at the municipal level and blank vote on the   
   national levels due to too many clowns there, but after corona, I kind   
   of lost all faith I ever had in democracy, so stopped completely   
   during/after that.   
      
   If I want to provoke people I tell them I don't vote. They then say that   
   I'm anti-democratic, and then I can tease them in two ways. Either I can   
   tell them that democracy is not a system based on forcing people to   
   vote, so one option I have in a democracy is not to vote if I don't feel   
   like it and that is my right just as much as it is their right to vote.   
   Also, if people don't vote if they are dissatisfied with the system,   
   that will send a strong signal. If people vote despite being   
   dissatisfied, the system will never change.   
      
   The other way I like to provoke people who chastice me for not voting is   
   to tell them that I am a pacifist and that by voting I risk imposing my   
   will on others with the threat of force (the government). That is   
   unethical and is why I cannot vote.   
      
   A third way, yet again great for provoking some people, is to say that I   
   fix my life with lawyers, bending the law when I see no risk and all   
   gain, and voting with my feet. That means I can live the way I want to   
   without forcing other to adopt my life style.   
      
   And finally... I _do_ partake in the democratic dance through my   
   discussions with people and by grooming a journalist or two in order to   
   get them to write about subjects I care about.   
      
   There you go, the "crypto" (as in hidden) democrat (as in _not_ the US   
   kind of democrat). ;)   
      
   > And it has much less to do with their "positions" than   
   > the fact that sometime in the 1990s I started noticing   
   > that Democrats were beginning to blame everything on me   
   > for being "old", "white", and "male".   
      
   Hah, so you too? And here I thought they blamed it all on me!   
      
   > (I think I've explained that before, so I won't belabor   
   > it).   
   >   
   >>> *themselves* keep making that point for me. For example,   
   >>> they want everyone to be treated equally, and yet keep   
   >>> inventing more and more labels for different kinds of   
   >>> people, and labels *necessarily* divide people! How am I   
   >>   
   >> Haha... that's what I usually say. I say I'm against   
   >> feminism. People ask me why!?!? (in horror!) And I answer   
   >> them that I'm against discrimination no matter the group,   
   >> positive or negative. Aren't they?  And usually they say   
   >> they are. And then I stab them through the heart by saying,   
   >> well, there you go, I only treat people as individuals,   
   >> since grouping them together is automatically going to   
   >> lead to divisions and discrimination.   
   >   
   > I've always said that if/when great minds come together,   
   > it's usually in USENET! ;-)   
      
   True! The level of discussion here, the few times you manage to find it,   
   blows social media out of the net.   
      
   >>> supposed to consider people equals when those espousing   
   >>> such the most keep telling me how different we all   
   >>> are?!?!! I mean, it's just.... ugh....   
   >>   
   >> All we are saying, give love a chance!   
   >   
   > Boom!   
      
   Boom, boom! Said John Lee Hooker!   
      
   > One of my best friends going all the way back to high   
   > school is liberal, but not so much woke, being more of   
   > the moderate varietal.   
   >   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)