We have the same amount of time - 24 hrs a day - but more opportunities.
Freedom is how we decide to use both of the above...
We have the same amount of time - 24 hrs a day - but more opportunities.
A even 'gooder' postArseHats wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:57 pmGood post.joe wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:38 pm I think that the old rosy-coloured specs come into play a lot when people hark back to the 'good old days'. I used to have a tape of my mother and various aunts, recorded in the early 1970s, reminiscing about how wonderful everything was back in the 1930s. At one point, they talk about a neighbour whose husband would knock her about, get put in prison, come out and knock her about again, and another neighbour who couldn't afford shoes for her children. I'm sure some sense of community has gone since then, but so has a lot of bad stuff too.
Even my daughter has started complaining about 'kids today'!
Additionally. I would imagine that incidents of casual sexism, racism, homophobia and the mistreatment of children have all reduced somewhat.
Good old days...? Depends who you were.
And your daughter is in good and long-standing company...
"The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise."
Socrates (c400BC)
And that is the problem. Vi have the same attentions span but many more things are competing for it. And business has learned to use extraordinarily good stimulants to penetrate our mental fog. I actually don't see how we can use our freedom, when we are being bombarded by "choice". We become just like Pavlov's dogs salivating at each gaudy bangle.Freedom is how we decide to use .....24 hours a day .... more opportunities
that's about it ;]]
Yes.Lotus Seven S wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:31 pmAnd that is the problem. Vi have the same attentions span but many more things are competing for it. And business has learned to use extraordinarily good stimulants to penetrate our mental fog. I actually don't see how we can use our freedom, when we are being bombarded by "choice". We become just like Pavlov's dogs salivating at each gaudy bangle.Freedom is how we decide to use .....24 hours a day .... more opportunities
We have never lost our freedom, but our awareness...Lotus Seven S wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:31 pmAnd this means we must first regain our freedom, before we can use it. And I think that means we must reduce the number of opportunities we continually face.Freedom is how we decide to use .....24 hours a day .... more opportunities
Actually sit and do nothing for a while.
Turn off Facebook, Twitter, Notifications, App Store, Google, Spotify, Tidal, TV and Radio. Once this tsunami is stilled we can slowly empty our heads for sound-bites, political correctness, slogans and the post-hypnotic suggestion TO BUY MORE to relieve our collective fear, uncertainty and doubt.
While in a sense I agree in another sense I don't.We have never lost our freedom, but our awareness...
Same amount of time in the day, but for many poor buggers there is the need/obligation to work on Sunday. Although I suppose that is the "opportunity" to keep the wolves from the door for some.
Maybe you're not quite the pessimist that you imagine. Maybe you simply recognise that optimism is possible but not always easy?Lotus Seven S wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:49 amWhile in a sense I agree in another sense I don't.We have never lost our freedom, but our awareness...
Talking of awareness reminds me of "unawareness", and unawareness must mean unfreedom. We are always unaware of lots of things, and how do we go about becoming aware of what we are unaware?
It's like can we find, what we have lost?
We can always look where the light shines, but maybe what we have lost is in the darkest shadows, waiting for a Madeleine Cake, which may never turn up.
And I think this all boils down to pessimism v's optimism (where I'm the pessimist).
As a child playing X's & O's could be exciting - but then you find out there is a strategy, where you always can avoid losing. This awareness makes the game trivial and the old excitement can never be found again.
What we lose we can never get back.
But maybe we can find something new once in a while - like a new NVA amplifier.
Yes, some things are a means to an end