[OT] Re: Thank you Python community!

[Rick Johnson]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 7:03:11 AM UTC-5, Adriaan Renting wrote:

(on the subject of the opioid epidemic)

> That sounds more like a conspiracy theory than a real
> analysis of the problem.   Looking at it from here in
> Europe, most of the analysis I've been able to read and
> watch about it, points to a different cause:   A lack of
> security: People flee to drugs (alcohol, tobacco, coffee
> and other (illegal) drugs) to escape st[r]essful
> environments.

Personally, I drink coffee simply so i can function in the
morning. If i'm feeling anything, it's unconsciousness. As
far as drugs, alcohol and tobacco are concerned; those days
are long behind me.

> - A lack of job security 
> - A lack of proper healthcare 
> - Broken and single parent families 
> - Poor and/or expensive education 
> - Mental illness 

And don't forget boredom! ;-)

> What I learned from visiting the USA many times is: -
> Americans value the individual, not the collective. 

Yes. Individualism is a natural part of rejecting your birth
county; packing up your belonging; sailing across an ocean;
and starting over from scratch. To the "true americans" (not
the fake ones who come here looking for handouts) there is
nothing more important than freedom. A true american would
never sacrifice freedom for security. A true american spits
in the face of so-called security, because they know it's a
bald faced lie, as there is no such thing as "security" in
such a hostile universe as our. "Security" is simply snake
oil sold to ignoramuses. It plays on the emotions of
infantile humans.

> They have been trained to distrust anything collective,

True americans are born in every country of the world. They
come from all walks of life and every ethnic and racial
background. But of all their differences, they share a
common respect for individual liberty. And that's why most
outsiders cannot understand how america could possibly
become so strong in a paltry few hundered years and survive
for as long as she has.

> even if it is the only way to solve an issue. - Money has
> too much influence at all levels, especially in politics.

Money has been ruining politics for thousands of years...
where have your been?

> The combination of an election system that is 2 centuries
> behind the times, with modern compute power, data gathering
> and media technology is corrupting the system. 

The media is to blame for much of the ills of modern
society, bathing our subconscious in gratuitous violence, and
stoking our emotions over the most frivolous and petty
differences between us. 

> - The USA always depended a lot on immigration and never
> had to keep it's own working population well educated and
> healthy to run the economy. This is changing and one of the
> big cultural wars raging currently.

Again, another failure of government who is in bed with
greedy corporation. Nationalism is feared and branded as
pure evil these days due to one most atrocious usage of it
in recent history, but nationalism (the non-religios kind!)
may be the _only_ force that has prevented thermo nuclear
war up to this point. Even that murderous jerk Stalin would
not have wanted to witness his beloved USSR smoulder to
ashes. But with the rabid stigmatization of nationalism
these days, we are entering a time in which the masses no
longer care about their fellow country(wo)men. And in a
world of Mutually Assured Destruction, a lack of social
comradery leads to national suicide. And in this universe,
there is no choice or action that is devoid of consequence.
All forces possess varying degrees applicability.

> The broken healthcare system is a symptom of these issues.

"Broken healthcare" is a buzz word that animates emotional
weaklings. The state of health care has absolutely nothing
to do with the social turmoil that plagues us. "Healthcare"
is only a recent phenomenon. Hardly a few hundred years ago
doctors were few and far between. And to believe that
"fixing the healthcare system" (whatever that means!) will
suddenly usher in an "epoch of Universal Utopianism", is the
bone-headed height of naivete.

Don't be a fool. Healthcare has nothing to do with our
overall happiness, it is merely another divisive tool
utilized by the manipulators to animate the selfish and
jealous idiots into a mad frenzy. An in such a
discombobulated emotional state, humans are more willing to
sacrifice freedom for paltry priviledge. Rights cannot be
taken away. Whereas priviledge _can_.

> There are other reasons people get into drugs*, but from
> what I've read, my impression is that these are major
> causes to the current problems in the USA.

BRAVO! YES! THAT'S RIGHT! Blame all the world's problems on
america. At least that way, you won't have to actually
_think_! @_@

> Successive US governments have been waging unwinnable
> "wars", like the "War on Drugs" for decades, so entire
> industries can keep profiting. Until you fix the problems
> in society the demand will not go away and the problems
> will stay.

The war on drugs has been the most ignorant of all wars ever
fought in history of human existence. It elevates the status
of criminals and enrichs them; encourages gang violence;
kills and harms innocent people on a daily basis;
contributes to governmental corruption. And it does all of
this while endowing the busibodies among us (the most putrid
and destructive of all human phenotypes) with a sense of
self worth.