[SpecialOlympian]

Watching Elon Musk slowly self-destruct is awesome to behold. Some day, generations yet unborn shall speak of this to their grandchildren in hushed, awed whispers.

I'm being contrarian here, but it's really fucking shameful that we as a society allowed him to exist. Society failed Elon as much as Elon is a failure produced by our society.

Like at no point did Elon ever interact with the common man. And to be fair he apparently had a pretty fucked up childhood. Which you would expect from the son of a man who was "gifted" an emerald mine by a South African child.

But the explanation for that begins with a smaller quote, which is: "Every billionaire is a policy failure." We simply can't allow anyone to think they're that important, because all billionaires are fucking morons.

I have worked intimately and closely with loci of wealth in my experience as a "Wealth Advisor" and there is no justification for assuming wealth is positively correlated with intelligence. I am bound by a plethora of NDAs, but I will just say this: rich people are fucking stupid and only insulated from the consequences of the world by their wealth.

[Tainari88]

“We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” - Elon Musk

If he can't control Twitter there is hope for us all.

[Tainari88]

I'm being contrarian here, but it's really fucking shameful that we as a society allowed him to exist. Society failed Elon as much as Elon is a failure produced by our society.

Like at no point did Elon ever interact with the common man. And to be fair he apparently had a pretty fucked up childhood. Which you would expect from the son of a man who was "gifted" an emerald mine by a South African child.

But the explanation for that begins with a smaller quote, which is: "Every billionaire is a policy failure." We simply can't allow anyone to think they're that important, because all billionaires are fucking morons.

I have worked intimately and closely with loci of wealth in my experience as a "Wealth Advisor" and there is no justification for assuming wealth is positively correlated with intelligence. I am bound by a plethora of NDAs, but I will just say this: rich people are fucking stupid and only insulated from the consequences of the world by their wealth.

People think that the important thing in life is to have enormous wealth and power over millions. The important thing in the life of any individual is serving others and giving of themselves in a positive way. That requires letting go of the idea of controlling other people that is not yourself. You have to realize that others have the right to self-shape and self-realize. Just like you.

The best politicians are those that lead due to service. But once their tenure is done to allow others in their nation and group to take up the burden. Never be overly attached to power. It is false and it misleads us.

No one individual is really powerful. But the group is always very powerful. Those who lose that perspective are not good leaders. They never will be.

[Potemkin]

If he can't control Twitter there is hope for us all.

Indeed, querida. Indeed....

[SpecialOlympian]

People think that the important thing in life is to have enormous wealth and power over millions.

Agreed. Accumulating obscene amounts of wealth is very important.

[QatzelOk]

Agreed. Accumulating obscene amounts of wealth is very important.

According to Hannah Arendt, this is only true of people who have lost the normal way of socializing with other people.

...in societies in which classes have dissolved into masses, where party politics has been reduced to ideological posturing, and where the responsibilities of citizenship have succumbed to apathy on a large scale. "The totalitarian movements", she says, "aim at and succeed in organizing masses—not classes" (Arendt 1958).1 Classes are interest-bound formations, determined by their place in the productive process. They provide individuals with a sense of social membership.

In other words, propaganda destroys civil society, and once society has devolved into competing interest groups, all the individual can hope to do is to consume his way to "the top" of his identity politics gang.



No wonder Fidel got rid of the hyper-capitalists and their hired gangsters.

[XogGyux]

Also I don't know how much this has penetrated out into the non-English speaking world but Elon is basically power fucking Twitter into the ground harder and harder every day, I don't think there will be any illusions that being rich makes you smart going forward becuase Elon is posting through it on Twitter so you can see his mental breakdown in real time.

He is a manchild. He wanted the toy (twitter), but it cost him so much, now he is not happy with the toy, he is breaking it down. Good for him.
How often can someone burn 50 billion USD and still be in the top 10 richest people in the world (at least until investors realize that tesla is worth more than all other other car companies combined while producing a tiny fraction of the cars and profit, at some point they might realize that the emperor is dancing naked).

[Patrickov]

How often can someone burn 50 billion USD and still be in the top 10 richest people in the world (at least until investors realize that tesla is worth more than all other other car companies combined while producing a tiny fraction of the cars and profit, at some point they might realize that the emperor is dancing naked).

Even in that case it's just Musk's loss. Those investors "have to" invest their money somewhere to keep their wealth going.

[QatzelOk]

Even in that case it's just Musk's loss. Those investors "have to" invest their money somewhere to keep their wealth going.

It doesn't matter what you do with your money, the only important thing is to WIN.

And that means that "other people" and "ethics" are to be used with caution, and only when they don't interfere with winning.

And this is the mentality that Fidel Castro evicted from Cuba. Good riddance.

[Patrickov]

It doesn't matter what you do with your money, the only important thing is to WIN.

I did not consider my money when I posted my previous message, as it's not under the scope of the discussion.

[QatzelOk]

I did not consider my money when I posted my previous message, as it's not under the scope of the discussion.

"Your" money is not what I was writing about.

In English, the pronoun "you" is, among other things, used to refer to "anyone, an ordinary person, a person...".

In the context of what I wrote, this is the most obvious meaning of "you."

It doesn't matter what you do with your money, the only important thing is to WIN.

Meaning: in our competitive capitalist society, ethics and collateral damage are swept aside in order to "win."

This might prove fatal, and this fact was recognized in the mid-20th Century by many grassroots radicals who, more immediately, were trying to cure the horrendous conditions of the lower classes in their own countries.

But commercial media (like MK-Ultra) has erased much of the wisdom of that era.

Fidel Castro "got out" during the MK Ultra phase of American hegemony.

[QatzelOk]

US Youth Observe Cuba’s Elections—
and Learn About Real Democracy
December 4, 2022



A delegation of youth from the United States observed Cuba’s November 2022 municipal elections and offer an inside look into a true people’s democracy, where workers decide who will govern them, not wealthy oligarchs and corporations.

Coming from the fundamentally undemocratic US Empire, it was the first time that many participants saw a functional electoral system in which the masses actually participate, and in which the majority truly rules....

At first arrival, we were surprised by how efficiently the voting process moved. There were not long lines at the La Corbata polling site, while in the US it is typical for voters – especially in poorer neighborhoods – to wait in lines for hours to cast their ballot.

A local election official explained that all citizens and permanent residents of Cuba are automatically registered to vote at age 16. At 18, they are eligible to be nominated to run as a delegate.

The nomination process happens in the weeks leading up to the election. ​​Between October 21 and November 18, more than 6 million voters – 73% of those eligible – attended the neighborhood assemblies for the nomination of candidates.

Nominees are chosen by local community groups, including the Committees in Defense of the Revolution, the country’s largest mass organization, with more than 8.4 million members out of a population of 11 million; the Cuban Federation of Women, whose membership includes more than 85% of all eligible Cuban women over 14 years of age; and the Communist Party of Cuba.

The Communist Party of Cuba is not an electoral party; it does not “hand-pick” candidates; and party membership is not a requirement to run for office at all....

What strikes me most about Cuban democracy is that it is bottom-up. The candidates who will run are chosen by 73% of the voters who will vote. Voters get to decide which local candidates to nominate. This is how my housing cooperative is run as well. And most other community organizations.

In North America, party insiders (many of whom work for private corporations) chose candidates behing closed doors. The way that rich capitalist countries "have their candidates chosen" by private entities... is the root cause of our lack of real democracy.

It's why North Americans think "driving a huge SUV" is the definition of democracy.

[XogGyux]

@QatzelOk Dude you are a joke.

And then you like throwing around the term "slavery".
You are a slave to your propaganda.

[QatzelOk]

@QatzelOk Dude you are a joke.

And then you like throwing around the term "slavery".
You are a slave to your propaganda.

A quote from this video (which I cued to start of quote):

"The lifespan statistics are biased. For example, there are virtually no cars in Cuba, and therefore, virtually no fatal road accidents."

How is this cheating?

Are countries supposed to kill a certain percentage of their populations with cars every year?

( Talk about a joke)

[XogGyux]

A quote from this video (which I cued to start of quote):

"The lifespan statistics are biased. For example, there are virtually no cars in Cuba, and therefore, virtually no fatal road accidents."

How is this cheating?

Are countries supposed to kill a certain percentage of their populations with cars every year?

( Talk about a joke)

Honestly, sometimes you make me wonder if you are really being this stupid or if this is just being a deliberate troll to see how much nonsense you can get away with it.
Researchers go to great length to try to minimize co-founding variables any anything that can cause bias on a study. For instance, just about every randomized controlled trial you will see published in any sort of journal worth a dime, you will find the equivalent of "table 1" were the baseline of the two research arms are compared at baseline.
For instance, lets say you want to see if aspirin can prevent strokes. Imagine that the group of people that receives aspirin, has a higher baseline average blood pressure than the group of people that don't receive the aspirin... don't you think this might throw up your results?
It is not about reaching the oldest possible age, you can envision a world in which people are kept in their houses, with highly efficient air and water filters to prevents diseases, small areas to perform compulsory exercise every day, and a controlled diet of a goo of mineral, vitamins and the precise mixture of protein, sugars and lipids. You could obtain maximum lifespan in such an environment... no car/plane/boats accidents because people dont get out of their houses, no diseases because people don't get out of their houses, no issues with obesity, diabetes and hypertension because people are fed a disgusting goo of safe food. Is that what you envision for humanity?
The reality is that cuba's lack of cars is not a feature to protect its people. If they had the $$ they would have cars. The fact that they are still running 50+ year old cars that polute as much as a semitruck.
You are the incredulous tourist that goes to an African tribe and celebrates the "industrious" people that use their heads to balance a water vase up a 10km hill so that their family can have a bit of potable water. For you is a tourist attraction, for them is life or death. For you is entertainment... for them, let's just say if they had a chance they would all have potable water in their houses, they would all drive nice cars and they would all have coca-colas in their fridges.

[QatzelOk]

Researchers go to great length to try to minimize co-founding variables ...

Cubans live longer than Americans. They have a longer lifespan.

The film you dumped into the thread claims that "killed by cars" shouldn't count as a lifespan shortener.

That's insane. If Americans are losing a significant part of their lifespans because of car death, than this is something that Americans should look into. You can't "cancel" death statistics that you don't like.

Are all the videos you post like this one?

[XogGyux]

Cubans live longer than Americans. They have a longer lifespan.

The film you dumped into the thread claims that "killed by cars" shouldn't count as a lifespan shortener.

That's insane. If Americans are losing a significant part of their lifespans because of car death, than this is something that Americans should look into. You can't "cancel" death statistics that you don't like.

Are all the videos you post like this one?

Dude. you have no idea what you are talking about.

[QatzelOk]

Dude. you have no idea what you are talking about.

You're going to have to prove that by dropping better videos into the thread.

A video that says that Cuba is "cheating" by not killing enough of its citizens with cars... is too dumb for anyone with a political science background to even watch.

That video was intended for people who are functionally illiterate. In Cuba, most people are functionally literate. So it is a pure Miami audience. School shootings and functional illiteracy... slowly sinking into the Atlantic.

[XogGyux]

You're going to have to prove that by dropping better videos into the thread.

A video that says that Cuba is "cheating" by not killing enough of its citizens with cars... is too dumb for anyone with a political science background to even watch.

That video was intended for people who are functionally illiterate. In Cuba, most people are functionally literate. So it is a pure Miami audience. School shootings and functional illiteracy... slowly sinking into the Atlantic.

You need to go back to highschool. Learning the impact of co-founding variables and basic statistics is not a task that should be left to a random POFO member.
Only 0.8% of all deaths in Somalia are due to breast cancer. Meanwhile in the US, the deaths due to breast cancer are over twice as many, at 2%. Does that mean that Somalian medicine somehow knows how to treat breast cancer better than the us? No... probably it reflects the fact that a lot of somalian women die earlier from other issues before they die to breast cancer.

Cofounding variables bro... If you have 2 kids... you ask one of the two kids to train with 1 week with mike tyson, and the other kid you just let him be... And then you ask both kids to do a boxing match... the kid that was trained by mike tyson has cerebral palsy and is 8 years old, the other kid is a healthy 15 year old... would you be surprised if the 15 year old beats the younger one? Would you say that mike tyson is a shit boxer because he was unable to train the younger kid to a victory? Ofcourse not! You got to compare apples to apples.

Frankly, I wouldn't pay much attention to any statistics that comes out of Cuba... all countries tend to fudge a bit with their statistics, but authoritarian shitholes like cuba take this to a whole new level.

[QatzelOk]

You need to go back to highschool. Learning the impact of co-founding variables...

Being killed by our own cars lowers our lifespans.

"Killed by cars" is not a parasitic variable.

It is one of the things that lowers American lifespans, just like oxycontin or fentanyl consumption does. You can't just eliminate a "cause of death" because... you want to win something that you have lost.

And we used to smear Stalin for air-brushing away people he didn't like from state photos. Miami is no better.