[jimjam]

In North America, our obese population wastes a lot of money trying to disguise their obesity and unhealthy lifestyles with logos and trends. Fail.

I sometimes wonder if I am alone in noticing the much greater prevalence of obesity. I am not talking about fat people. I am talking about people who are so grotesquely fat that you do a double take. I have seen whole families of obese people stuffing themselves with shit burgers and fries. Little kids looking like the Michelin Man being taught the joys of obesity. I see where places like Wal-Mart now provide little motorized carts so these folks with atrophied legs can still get around and spend their money (the most important thing of all). I saw an obese guy recently in Wal-Mart tooling along on his cart and piled way high in his cart basket was a collection of bags of potato chips, dipsey doodles and all manner of salt encrusted tidbits of dough and chemicals.

I read where Kentucky fried chicken has recently penetrated an African nation and, guess what? They now have a growing population of obese humans.

[Stormsmith]

I agree. McDonald's is death. There's a docco about it: Supersiz Me. It's on YouTube. It's about a guy who only eats McDonald's 3 meals a day.

Interestly, Cubans are a little worried about McDonald's setting up shop.

[QatzelOk]

I agree. McDonald's is death. There's a docco about it: Supersiz Me. It's on YouTube. It's about a guy who only eats McDonald's 3 meals a day.

Interestly, Cubans are a little worried about McDonald's setting up shop.

Along with the freedom to start a McDonalds, comes the freedom to brainwash masses of children, and the freedom to reduce education attainment and reduce community involvement and casual socializing down to zero.

It's one big package. A shit sandwich of fabricated stupidity and self-poisoning.

[QatzelOk]

And now for some documentation to back up my anecdotal evidence:

First, a movie:

[youtube]Vs6xoKmnYq8[/youtube]

And second, an essay:

Indeed, study after study has found that people with the basics for life, a higher purpose that requires sacrifice and a tight-knit community are far and away happier than isolated, atomized, insecure consumers, regardless of their wealth and consumption.

[Beren]

Maybe it's time to compare Israel with Cuba and the overwhelming support Israel receives from the US with the embargo against Cuba.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (EDITH M. LEDERER)

2017. november 1. 18:12 CET Updated on 2017. november 1. 20:52 CET

United Nations (AP) -- The United States voted against a U.N. resolution condemning America's economic embargo against Cuba on Wednesday, reversing last year's abstention by the Obama administration and reflecting worsening U.S.-Cuban relations.

Israel joined the United States in opposing the embargo resolution, which was overwhelmingly approved in the 193-member General Assembly by a vote of 191-2. That was the same vote as in 2015.

The Arab oil lobby must be more effective in defending Cuba than opposing Israel.

[skinster]

Maybe it's time to compare Israel with Cuba and the overwhelming support Israel receives from the US with the embargo against Cuba.

[Tainari88]

Well, what is the new excuse on Cuba from Trump and his dumb self? We want Raul Castro to die and for x Commie to die, and please the entire Cuban government to just give up their seats to some conservatives and allow Trump hotels and casinos and to renew some brothels that we will name "Cuban Fun in the Sun Puteria" ? Who are they going to hold up as an example of being Fair in the Caribbean? Puerto Rico? In which he threw paper towels and it is a damn disaster of corruption and mired in sheer shit and it will take $92 Billion dollars to fix and the Trump administration from hell will sweep into Havana and say, "Let us do to you what we did with Puerto Rico whom we controlled completely from 1898 til now 2017 and in which what was the result? No running water, corrupt White Fish from Montana Electricity from my crony. Where there will be more Cubans living in the USA than in Cuba. We are damn successful if you give us everything! Don't you agree you stubborn Cuban Commies!?"

Raul Castro speech: "We remain unconvinced that the Americans are nice guys." End of statement.

[Tainari88]

At the hotel, an anglo woman is gushing to her friends that she interrupted a school session to give children some toys she brought with her from Canada. 'Those children looked so happy when I have them the presents!'

A few days later, I saw her again with her own kids. They were all obese, and wearing commercial logos (to look attractive?) and I had the pleasure of being in a long lineup with them as they talked about their favorite superheroes and videogame platforms.

Cuban kids are slim and get lots of outdoor activities and adults are always around for guidance. Canadian kids get toys and sugar from parents who watch TV and drive large, dangerous toys.

But you have to understand Q, that it is far more important to have toys and gadgets rather than great relationships and healthy outdoor living. Q I grew up in Latin America. Everything you say is true about the lack of real social relationships. Americans and others really truly don't get how SAD they are and FUCKED up mentally, socially and have a total lack of manners compared to the supposedly 'inferior' Latinos of the socialist camp. Lol. They suck (the consumer culture lack of understanding over gadget junky consuming American scene people).

Cuba with some basics and more development and a lifting of the embargo would be probably if not the safest society on Earth...but pretty close.

[jimjam]

American society/culture clearly fosters poor mental and physical health. The archetype end product of American culture is an obese person subsisting on "fast food" (a fast track to the grave) whose primary exercise consists of walking between his kitchen and toilet. Mentally they are boring and fearful.

I have always considered the Cuban embargo to be a thinly disguised blessing for the Cuban people. Without it Cuba would surely have been absorbed by the American Empire and it's people turned into quasi Americans fitting the above description. Ugly multi billion dollar casinos of the Trump variety would surely dominate the prime real estate. Their coral reefs, now some of the least spoiled in the world, would have been despoiled by the usual industrial poison/pollution.

I have friends who divide their time between Argentina and America. I asked them to compare the two cultures. Long story short, people of Argentina are more open and warm hearted. A new acquaintance will invite you as a guest into his home. This generally will not happen in America where people are fearful of each other.

[QatzelOk]

Americans and others really truly don't get how SAD they are and FUCKED up mentally, socially and have a total lack of manners compared to the supposedly 'inferior' Latinos of the socialist camp. Lol. They suck (the consumer culture lack of understanding over gadget junky consuming American scene people).

I think part of the problem is that American (and many allies of theirs) depend too much on the military for wealth, so their (our) societies have been ruined by a military economy overly concentrated on weapons (cars, chemicals, land-speculation).

But the USA (and many allies of theirs) is mainly a group of mercenaries from different places, with no real social project. With no social project, there is likely to be no society, eventually.

Just gangsters and bling. And crowd-control management.

American society/culture clearly fosters poor mental and physical health. The archetype end product of American culture is an obese person subsisting on "fast food" (a fast track to the grave) whose primary exercise consists of walking between his kitchen and toilet. Mentally they are boring and fearful.

I have always considered the Cuban embargo to be a thinly disguised blessing for the Cuban people. Without it Cuba would surely have been absorbed by the American Empire and it's people turned into quasi Americans fitting the above description.

Well the vast majority of Canada has been totally transformed into the blandest type of American suburbs, creating the most lackluster and passive suburban dummies.

From small towns to big cities, 'Canadians' stare at phones and look straight ahead out of fear and social isolation. There is close to zero real cooperation or community, and people keep the same friends and social contacts from age five right to the grave because there are so few opportunities for spontaneous daily socializing... unless you stick to your old clique.

In Cuba, you can socialize with new people for your entire life. And this is what is needed to be socially mature as a person. Suburban car-people are socially immature - like 7 year olds shopping and dreaming of the next ice cream.

[QatzelOk]

An ariticle that explains why Cuba has an active community, while North America doesn't:

...Ruling classes have been playing the game of divide-and-rule since the dawn of class rule. North American (like European) labor, social, and political history is rife with stories of capitalists and their agents working cleverly to destroy and pre-empt multi-cultural/racial/ethnic/gender/national working- – and lower-class commonality and struggle by cultivating and exploiting intra-proletarian divisions of race, ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, region, religion, party, ideology, culture, and more. The fostering, encouragement, manipulation, and exploitation of working-class fragmentation is part of capital’s longstanding war on popular solidarity. ...

This article suggests that the destruction of Western society (by its own elites) was intentional. I believe it was as well.

[QatzelOk]

But you have to understand Q, that it is far more important to have toys and gadgets rather than great relationships and healthy outdoor living.

Cuba used to be a dependence of the USA just like Puerto Rico still is. Today, there is a strong contrast between how the two islands function. Just scanning local news sources, here are the two stories that piqued my curiosity.

CUBA

Cuban Farmers Enroll in Course to Become Better Producers
CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, Dec 22 (acn) A regional forum on science and technique with the participation of representatives from the central provinces ended on Friday in Ciego de Avila aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture on agro ecological bases and training of harvesters.

The initiative was organized by the National Association of Small Farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and other institutions with the objective of increasing food production through the application of technological innovation and biological means to benefit harvests and fight plagues. ...

PUERTO RICO

U.S. companies see opportunity in exodus from storm-ravaged Puerto Rico
HURON, S.D. — The airport terminal doors slid open and out came 22 people from Puerto Rico, walking a few weeks ago into the whipping South Dakota wind, not quite ready for what was ahead. One person still wore shorts. Another zipped up a hoodie. The group climbed into three waiting vans.

“You guys good?” asked one of the drivers who would be taking them to their new home. “Does anybody speak English?”

“No,” one person said, and the driver let the van go silent before turning up some country music.

The Cuba story is writtin by a Cuban, and is about the nation's exploration of organic techniques that are suited to local conditions.

The Puerto Rican news site redirects you to a Washington Post article that finds a silver lining (for disaster capitalism) in the exodus of post-hurricane Puerto Ricans.

[Tainari88]

Cuba used to be a dependence of the USA just like Puerto Rico still is. Today, there is a strong contrast between how the two islands function. Just scanning local news sources, here are the two stories that piqued my curiosity.

CUBA


PUERTO RICO


The Cuba story is writtin by a Cuban, and is about the nation's exploration of organic techniques that are suited to local conditions.

The Puerto Rican news site redirects you to a Washington Post article that finds a silver lining (for disaster capitalism) in the exodus of post-hurricane Puerto Ricans.

Q, this is the reason why I think independence is the only way out for Puerto Rico. If you can't direct your own internal problems and find your own society's solutions for those problems? You depend on what the colonizer has for you. The colonizer is looking out for their own interests. Never your society's interests. Do you think that driver from Huron, South Dakota considers those Puerto Rican non English speakers his equal? Of course not. Most Americans I have met don't know shit about Puerto Rico and don't care to. They can't even imagine a USA citizen born and raised who can't speak English. There are MILLIONS of us who don't speak English at all. But are USA citizens. They don't give a shit. They treat us badly. Mainland USA is no guarantee of wealth and prosperity for Puerto Ricans. Most Puerto Ricans come here and they can't get decent paying jobs. Puerto Rico used to have extremely affordable education. Especially any university studies. The UPR was run by the far left on the island. The Right and the pro Statehood party hated the well educated university people because almost all of them were ANTI STATEHOOD and not conservative. Ricky Rossello is angry at the Republican party for screwing Puerto Rico and not bailing us out in our 'crisis'. Fool! Did he think the conservative Trump dirtballs cared about our island? PENDEJO!

The Panel that they appointed are actively seeking to destroy any possibility of a free island residing university education for the poor in Puerto Rico. So? What are the Puerto Ricans going to do in the USA? Get high paying jobs with no English? Living with a bunch of IGNORANT, DUMB, CONSUMERISTIC asshole American bosses and exploiters who have no fucking idea the difference between a Puerto Rican and a Mexican without any documents.

I have no idea how Puerto Rico is going to bail itself out of its present predicament. Should have gone for independence LONG ago! But no....I remember all the years I spent and my parents spent battling for independence Q. Government vehicles chasing my family down, my mother being watched and making sure no one hired her for jobs, etc. That is the way it is there. They lose the truly great Puerto Ricans who have vision and a plan and the know how to cater to fucking boot licking pro colonial assholes who kiss fat American ass like Trump's to survive politically. A crisis hits and then they realize that they MUST go for either anger and agitation or face their own powerlessness and demise. I find it hard to be forgiving for all those STUPID conservative pro statehood ASSHOLE Puerto Rican politicians. They deserve to be humilated and FUCKED. For being such ASSHOLES and sellouts! They can go 'DIRECTO AL INFIERNO'! I am going to live in an INDEPENDENT Latin American country. And no more colony shit for me!!

I can't live in a Puerto Rico that will continue to drag and drag and keep dragging on hoping for the USA to do right by us. That shit is for the birds! You either realize independence is the right way...or if you go for statehood? You are being an idiot to think that you don't have to kick ass and be confrontational. But with the debt crisis? Who the hell wants a state in that bad of a state financially? The conservatives only pull for the plutocrats. They don't want a Puerto Rico with voting rights or any rights. Just suck up the money and wealth. Diffuse the Puerto Rican unemployed into shit jobs in the states and end of story. Keep the island's land and any wealth and keep the local Boricuas living in poverty and without hope. It is a win/win for the wealthy banks, corporations and military and the Trump crowd. End of story.

I think about my island Q, and it makes me want to DIE......how bad things have gotten. That is why I am leaving the USA and never going back to Puerto Rico. I am going to have my little son grow up in Mexico. Speaking Spanish and without some frustrating colonialism that never has a fucking solution. Visit Cuba every summer for months. For him and for me. End of story. Fuck the USA, Fuck the Colonialism in Puerto Rico and fuck the entire culture of bullshit without a social project Q. It is over for me!!

[mikema63]

Whats the tl;dr on cuba being proof that capitalism and technology are bad? I'm slightly curious but trying to read qatz's posts just makes me feel like I'm wasting valuable time I could be using plunging my toilet.

[Stormsmith]

Mikema:

My hubby goes to Cuba 2 or 3 times a year, and has done for years. He's helping set up schools for the handicapped kids. He sets up programming for the deaf etc. He came home from his first trip, saying he'd stayed in B and Bs and the owner/parents had kids who had all the gear...tv, music, tablets, lap tops Canadian kids had. It was trickery downloading movies etc., but they have the gear, and the up and downloading time is improving

Now QatzelOk thinks Cuba's good, and they have all the tech stuff, ergo clearly it isn't the techie stuff that's the problem.

As for capitalism, structurally the country is social. But these days, small independent businesses arise: taxis, inns, B and Bs, dentists. Money is beginning to flow. Quite a change from the 1990s when people were so broke most girls and women dabbled in prostitution.

[QatzelOk]

As for capitalism, structurally the country is social. But these days, small independent businesses arise: taxis, inns, B and Bs, dentists. Money is beginning to flow. Quite a change from the 1990s when people were so broke most girls and women dabbled in prostitution.

Business can exist under communism. The important thing is that the businesses never control the country, like they do in rich, Western countries.

If the business community takes control of Cuba, it will become a large Puerto Rico, with hotels for the rich, and low-paying jobs in South Dakota for the disposable 99%.

Reading the reviews of bike tourists from rich countries (that are very poor socially) is depressingly Orwellian. Go before the cars take over! Go to Cuba before Tourista Americana turns it into a drunk Disneyland for the Wall-Es of our dead suburban culture.

[Hindsite]

China has a population about 4 times as large as the US, yet the US has considerably more people in prison than China (or any other country in the world).

The idea that America is a land of positive human rights and freedom is essentially a founding myth and nothing more--which I feel even less brash saying today than I might have a few years ago.

America is a country where you are constantly fined, both by the authorities, and by private companies, at every opportunity for punitive action.

In China probably virtually no average person you will meet will have any stories at all of their run-ins with the cops, because this is an imagined thing. The American cops are more aggressive, there isn't a national problem in China of the cops shooting down their citizens because their trigger finger itched.

You make China sound great. But since I do not want to learn Chinese at 73 years of age, I will take my chances here in the crime infested USA. Praise the Lord.

[Crantag]

You make China sound great. But since I do not want to learn Chinese at 73 years of age, I will take my chances here in the crime infested USA. Praise the Lord.

Chinese isn't that hard to learn, though at 73 it could be a challenge, sure.

The grammar is really similar to English (but simpler) and so it's mostly just learning vocabulary.

There are also English translations pretty much everywhere (though not all of them are created equal).

But China has a lot of daily annoyances, as well. There are hordes of people, and anarchy is a norm in public places. That is to say, if you take the train you might want to carry a small club to aid in combat against the old ladies over the limited seats.

[QatzelOk]

You make China sound great. But since I do not want to learn Chinese at 73 years of age, I will take my chances here in the crime infested USA. Praise the Lord.

But being American, you must speak basic Spanish. Right?

And Cuba is only a short boat-ride from Miami.

But if you go, you will see other 70-year-olds biking around. Talk to them! The best way to learn about other countries is to not hand around with other tourists, especially American tourists, because if you spend too much time with ex-pat gangs, you will end up regurgitating socially-held ignorances and prejudices.

[Stormsmith]

Business can exist under communism. The important thing is that the businesses never control the country, like they do in rich, Western countries.

Well yes,by definition communist governments own all the businesses. All governments require capital. If the people are all drawing their entire pay from the government, then the government can't turn to people for taxes. Cuba draws in tourists who pay for everything in "gringo" dollars, meaning tax included, and Cuba exports stuff.

If the business community takes control of Cuba, it will become a large Puerto Rico, with hotels for the rich, and low-paying jobs in South Dakota for the disposable 99%.

Unlikely. The government insists on holding a minimum of 51 percent of all businesses of size. P. S. Varadera is mostly newer, foreign built hotels

Reading the reviews of bike tourists from rich countries (that are very poor socially) is depressingly Orwellian. Go before the cars take over! Go to Cuba before Tourista Americana turns it into a drunk Disneyland for the Wall-Es of our dead suburban culture.

You seem to think chatting is the key to a great society. It's a damn site easier to chat in a car than on a bike. Cars aren't the problem any more than computers are. They're a means to an end, full stop.