Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
[quote=”Scott”]Obviously the vast majority of people living in gated communities are Ticos and not Gringos… The real number of Gringos living here is really quite insignificant but we like to think we’re more important than we are…
In some cases the decision to live in a gated community may reflect “an elitist and segregationist attitude towards the community”, but 98% of the people I know and meet who live in gated communities want to be able to allow their children to play safely in an area where there is no serious traffic, where there might be a nice swimming pool, some walking trails and where they can lock and leave their home and go on vacation for a month with worrying about security…
The world is more dangerous than it’s been in a long time, the economy in the US and Europe is in serious trouble, food prices are skyrocketing and the real unemployment numbers – and the level of unrest – are much higher than the ‘official’ numbers.
I would agree that “the level of mistrust and fear” is probably at an all time high but we can thank to various “first word” governments and their BS yellow, orange and red threat levels….
I believe it’s going to get bloody ugly and, I do mean ‘bloody’.
Lastly, seeing what’s going on now and what is most likely to happen in the future, if I was in the US, Canada or anywhere in Europe I would ONLY live in a secure, gated community…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.com[/quote]The fact that gated communities even exist is symptomatic of societies damaged and divided by economic disparity. I have no idea how prevalent gated communities are in Costa Rica but I would consider each one an unhealthy sign for the society in general. And, according to the article on the home page, 70% of of foreigners who buy homes in CR buy in gated communities. That was the issue I was addressing.
I agree with you, Scott, on the matter of the world becoming
very dangerous in the future. Food, fuel and water shortages will result in bloody civil unrest. I don’t know when but from what I read (and apparently you as well) that is a certainty. When that happens, if I am still around, I think I would have a better chance of survival if I were living in a small, self sufficient farming community far from big cities rather than trapped inside a gated community within a disintegrating metropolis of hundreds of thousands of starving, desperate people. Where do you think many of them will turn for food and water?[quote=”twinzor1″] I’d argue that all of these domiciles, both Tico and Gringo, are gated in an attempt to keep something perceived or real, out; the only difference is how far the gates are from the house, and how ornate they are.[/quote]
I am referring to gated communities when I write about walls and guards, not individual homes. The crime prevention aspect is not the main consideration for me. What concerns me is the concept of living in a small, privileged group separated from a larger community not only by the walls and guards, but by a culture and an attitude. This has to create alienation on both sides of the walls.
[quote=”costaricabill”]Sprite the Heathen –
Go back and read some of the truly absurd things you write some times – maybe you are doing it solely to try and get a rise out of me or others – if not, I hope you get help, and soon. If not, I fear that before long you’ll be living behind a locked gate, not by choice and not in a community! If so, I hope you and Nurse Ratchett get along well![/quote]
I have seen the barbed wired and armed guards in the banks and other establishments of the larger towns. I don’t see those things so much in the country side or in the smaller villages.
Much of the barbed wire and armed private guards I attribute to the necessity of a do-it-yourself police force in a country where the national budget just can’t go far enough. I suppose the decision was to put the limited resources into health and education and to relegate protection of excess wealth to those who have it. I applaud that decision. The Ticos have a good sense of priorities.
There seems to be a different attitude to crime in Costa Rica. Petit theft is everywhere and pretty much ignored by authorities. This takes some getting used to. If you live a simple and humble life style in the country side, you have little of which to be robbed and much less probability to become a victim. If, on the other hand, you want to keep your luxuries on the cheap in a beautiful country with great weather with ridiculously low taxes, then I suppose you need to ante up and pay for private security or move into a secured compound, also called a gated community. One way or the other, you pay when you choose to live a life style which is incongruous with the indigenous community .
It’s just that hiding behind a wall and a $2 per hour security guard with your flat screen TV, your $4000 refrigerator and your closet filled with $150 silk shirts will also, by design, insulate you and alienate you from the place and the culture you thought you wanted to experience as a resident. I am only saying that it might be a richer experience to be IN the community rather than separated from it. Either we live among the Ticos, or we live apart from them while in their country. Of course, none of this applies to property investors or vacation home owners who do not live full time in Costa Rica.
I am not sure why, Costaricabill, you think I am having a bad day. I am only writing about my thoughts on life style options in Costa Rica. And I think I made some positive points about the advantages of living a simple life style in Costa Rica. You can disagree with me ,as you have, and I appreciate your point. I am just not sure what it was that I wrote which ruffled your feathers.[quote=”2bncr”]”Soldiers, regardless of their nationality, are all employees of these bad people. It is difficult for me to feel sorry for soldiers.”
Nobody is looking for you pitty, just appreciation. You think you can protect yourself all by your little lonesome in this big bad world… think again. It takes aliances and that is what its all about. You simplistic rationale is .. mind numbing and irrationale. I see by your response that you are named appropriately[/quote]
That is a clever observation about my name. Kudos.
But I still take issue with your demand that I show appreciation to people whose actions may have included destroying buildings and murdering and maiming women and children, also known as collateral damage in their terminology. I do NOT have to appreciate their immoral actions just as I do not have to respect indefensible, stupid religious beliefs.
You are wrong. They are wrong. I don’t have any obligation to respect unsubstantiated beliefs or to appreciate immoral actions. Do you?
I don’t remember ever asking anyone to kill on my behalf.
I never voted for such a thing either. Maybe you did. That is YOUR burden, not mine and no amount of “appreciation” from others is going to erase that immorality just as no amount of “respect” is going to make the ridiculous beliefs of religion any less false.[quote=”johnr”]This entire topic could be a book on it’s own just based on the libido stories. Sprite – really? Get a life.[/quote]
Get a life? I am expressing an opinion about the most basic and consequential aspect of our lives to day and you see it as an inconsequential waste of time? OK. To each his own. But I am just not in the mood these days to shut up when faced with the same old lies and misconceptions. There are other threads here about gardening and insect control and where to find a good burger in Costa Rica. If that is what YOUR life is about, you can go there. I promise you I won’t jump in and criticize your life or opinions there, because I just don’t read those threads.
[quote=”2bncr”] Some actually give up their lives protecting you. Show some appreciation.[/quote]
I have no regard or respect for anyone who volunteers to put on a uniform and kill to defend corporate interests. Period. It does not matter if a volunteer does this in ignorance. It is still a crime against humanity.
I believe that wars are the result of bad people who want to take our property and freedoms from us but these bad people are NOT the same ones you believe are responsible. And this is the big difference. Wars are designed and planned just as economic recessions and depressions are planned and the purpose is the same; they want to dispossess working people of their property and freedoms.
Soldiers, regardless of their nationality, are all employees of these bad people. It is difficult for me to feel sorry for soldiers. Even if they put on uniforms in ignorance, the amount of damage they do is so great that I prefer to reserve pity for the innocent people they maim and kill. Once you open your eyes to the reality of what is going on in the world, old misconceptions melt away quickly.
The cost of living in Costa Rica IS as high as living in the States when you transplant a North American lifestyle to within a gated community in Costa Rica….which begs the question: why move to CR if you want to live like an North American?
Are you looking for a way to stretch your money by exploiting lower paid labor and cheaper priced consumer goods and services? Well, then, just stay in the States and support the Federal government’s efforts at opening up the borders to unchecked immigration. Then you’ll have all the cheap labor from Mexico and other places to go along with all the cheap imported goods from China that have flooded the economy.
Looking for a better life in Costa Rica should have some kind of cultural aspect to it and less focus on the economics.
[quote=”daboss06″]Scott,
Additional installments of this story make me cringe when I read about Nam vets being taken advantage of by the unfair legal system in Costa Rica. That, along with the reports of mudslides and torrential rains and the general cost of living increases actually DIScourages me from thinking about retiring in Costa Rica.I am confused by your first point; Why would alleged unfair treatment of a vet be any more of a concern for you than if it had been a non-vet?
And why would a foreign country, especially one which opposes having a military, give a good goddamn one way or the other about the military service in a foreign army of a law breaking immigrant? That has absolutely nothing to do with this situation.Regarding rainy weather and mudslides, there are also the occasional earth tremors and volcanic eruptions in Costa Rica. But the weather can be troublesome just about anywhere on the planet. I find Costa Rican weather to be the most pleasant I have experienced.
The cost of living in the US is still higher than in Costa Rica.
Perhaps US veterans are better off staying in the country they defended where they are treated so well and where weather related disasters are unheard of. (Does New Orleans count as part of the US?)
[quote]And by the way, I am hoping to get Jack Nicholson on board to play the part of “Sprite the Heathen”. Is that OK with you?[/quote]
What a coincidence! Jack Nicholson was the name that popped into my head as well. Now I am wondering what role brought him to both of our minds for the part of Sprite, the heathen.
[quote=”costaricabill”][quote=”DonDiego”]Who will play the irrepressable Don Diego, Do-Gooder David and Sprite the Heathen?[/quote]
I am working on that but can’t make much progress because I can’t stop laughing……”Sprite the Heathen” – that is hilarious! I can see it rolling across the big screen now![/quote]
I am laughing my arse off! Sprite the heathen, indeed! Perhaps Don Diego might want to change the title to Sprite, the eunuch heathen?
[quote]Of course, if you can prove otherwise, if you can prove that there is no supernatural, then I may owe you an apology. So if you have proof, let’s hear it.[/quote]
David,
You owe me an apology.
Since a negative can never be proven, the burden of proof falls to the one who posits an idea. There is no need to prove there is no supernatural. To the contrary, the supernatural needs to be proven.What you see as a rude, disrespectful opposition to an idea is merely my request for proof to substantiate that idea. In the case of belief in a god, that proof is never forthcoming. Instead, I am answered with indignation that anyone would question inane, silly and preposterous ideas presented as absolute truth.
If anyone has a right to be offended, it is the one who is confronted with stupid, highly improbable notions and is told that he is either to believe them without proof or to not question them at all in the name of not offending the believer. In other words, the religious arrogantly demand that everyone either have faith or shut up. That is a disrespectful attitude on their part which insults the intelligence of rational people. I am tired of tip toeing around religious beliefs so as not to offend the silly and the faithful. We need to have rational discussion about these harmful religious beliefs.
Many Muslims want to murder anyone who insults their child- molesting prophet. Many Christians today do not tolerate criticism or opposing ideas. There really isn’t any time left for this kind of stupidity. We are on the brink and wasting time and energy with this nonsense.
[quote=”kevin.smith”][quote=”clayton”]And upon the complete Islamination of western Europe, who would you have stand in the face of Sharia.[/quote]Aare we trying to differentiate arabs and jews? If so just pull the towel off their head.[/quote]
And while all of you watch the dazzling three ringed circus of the many religions, nations and races put at each other’s throats so as to distract you, the real Owners go about their business of further consolidating their power and wealth and continued subjugation of the rest of humanity.
I am not an anti-semite but I despise all religions. I am not an anarchist but I despise patriotism and fascism and most of the other isms parading around in uniforms and waving flags.These are all distractions.I don’t know if there is one race or religion to which the Owners belong. I don’t even know if it is necessary for them to form a tightly organized conspiracy. They are the banks behind the banks, the shadow governments behind the public governments. They are the top 1% of the human population which controls 40% of the world’s wealth. They are the IMF which relegates entire nations to poverty and a host of other organizations puling the strings.
I wish people would stop falling for all these false flag wars, and contrived, fake religious, economic and national
controversies and instead follow the money. Following the money to its source would be the same as pulling back the curtain.Watch this short video:
http://www.bestofgooglevideo.com/video.php?video=764[quote]My heavens, sprite! Change a word or two here and there and what you say to and about Don Diego’s hostility toward any and all women could apply equally to your own hostility toward any and all religions!
Interesting, is it not, how we never seem to be able to perceive bigotry in ourselves.[/quote]
There is some faulty logic here, David. Hostility towards the female sex (that sex which is necessary for continuation of the species) is counter productive as well as unjustified while hostility towards needless, silly superstitions which are a detriment to humanity IS productive and most certainly IS justified.
Additionally, religion IS bigotry in its purest form as each warped manifestation of its various factions excludes all other belief systems. So I suppose you could say I am bigoted against bigots. Yeah, I’ll accept that title.
You must have had some pretty bad experiences with certain kinds of women to have developed such a negative opinion of them all. My intimate experiences with women (Cuban, Puerto Rican, American, Yugoslavian, Italian, etc, etc,,,)have been entirely positive. Where you see whores and domineering, scheming, immature bitches who have to be seduced and tamed, I simply see other people with desires, limitations and needs similar to those that I have. Where you see a war, I see co-operation. Where you see women as a challenge to your fragile masculinity, I see women as a complimentary definition to mine.
Face it, Don Diego, you are a little boy who has been hurt and that has defined your damaged approach to the opposite sex. I suggest you drop the vodka bottle and the constant violent “bitch slapping” and pour yourself a cup of relaxing tea and set about to find a patient woman who can teach you how to become an adult male.
[quote]: I love men and I am grateful that I grew up in the middle of four very tough men so I understand and can appreciate the male species better than most but what is wrong with men young or old being blindsided for the sake of love???? God help the foolishness.[/quote]
When there is too much difference between age, there have to be some problems. My wife (for 29 years) is 9 years my junior and I think that is about the limit for age difference. Much more than that and somebody is fooling him/herself.
Men are no more fools than women in this matter as far as I can see. There is enough self deceit and undignified behavior to go around for both sexes. Aging Don Juan’s and female cougars chasing around orgasms like teens and spending fortunes on cosmetic surgery are, to my eyes, like a bunch of sad clowns who are not even aware of how tragic a sight they are to behold.
Don Diego…yes, I am baiting you to some extent,,,can’t help myself. You are an easy target. You present yourself a simple, self centered man with a simple, self centered philosophy. If this approach to life works for you, and you are hurting no one, I see no problem. I suspect, though, that you have left a trail of hurt behind you to which you are blind and that one day it may dawn on you that your life has been an emotional desert.
