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The topic of a world wide societal melt down is a pertinant one on this forum. Consider the kind of people who contemplate and act upon a move from North America or Europe to Costa Rica. The state of mind involved in leaving one’s home to start a new life in another land and culture is related to the state of mind which will consider a new world coming about. Of course, surviving a crisis which has plunged the world into a new dark age is much more extreme than merely changing geography and cultures. But it is still under the topic of making life adjustments. Who who has not thought of these things? And who has not imagined what he/she would do to prepare? It’s entertaining to talk about even if it’s not very helpful.
I have my 12000 sq mtrs of mountain property in the Central Valley but a crash like the one being contempleted here would be violent and deadly for most city dwellers no matter what country they are in. (Imagine Los Angeles and New York with all the privately held fire power)
San Jose, although less well armed, would not be an exception and, in fact, any concentration of people with basic needs not being met would be an extremely violent place. Think machetes instead of hand guns. That violence would have to spread outward as desperate people search for food and water. Anyone with supplies would also have to be armed to the teeth and prepared to kill to protect a field of beans and fight to the death just to keep a few liters of water. As you make your plans for armageddon, how do you prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for actions you may well have to take for survival? I donlt thinkanyone knows how they will react under such circumstances until the time arrives.
I use examples which deal with the principlas involved here. Can you get authorities to deal with water diversion or any other civil infringment such as dumping by rivers or anywhere else? Dumping trash on property also diminishes value.
We are dealing with a radically different mentality and legal system when it comes to the concept of the commons, community and private property. Unfulfilled high expectations can frustrate and going about resolution in the way we, as North Americans, are used to may not be effective in Costa Rica.
Good luck with any legal attemtps to correct that injustice. Coffee growers still dump into the rivers all the time and no legal authority seems to have stemmed that problem.
If somebody buys the land next to yours and decides to start a pig farm, which would cause an extremely bad odor 100% of the time, would you have any legal recourse in CR?
There may be a better official effort when it comes to actually changing the flow of streams since construction within a ceratin distance from streams and rivers is supposed to be forbidden.Historically, since the reformation period, latin societies do not plan as well as northern societies do and it has something to do with their priorities.
The latin menatlity puts things in the following order: family, god and counry. The anglo mentality puts things in this order: country, god and family. With the exception of the “god” part, obviously the latter is more conducive for a healthy society. I think it is better to seek higher ground when building in Costa Rica.
Scott, the more I have read your comments over the last three years,the more I see that you and I hold similar views. It is hard to say where a person’s world view comes from. Some experts say it is genetic, others say it is enviornmental. I tend to go along with the genetic answer.
You may have opposing politics to your father’s, but perhaps not to your grandfather’s. My father was conservative. I am a liberal. A person’s political and philosopghical views, when strongly held, sometimes come from unlikey environmental situations. They seem to be innate and rarely change over time despite life experiences. While I enjoy discussing with opposing views, I never expect to change anyone’s mind. These things are hard wired into us. So it is not surprising to hear sour grapes from the right wing whenever anyone on he other side of the fence is honored.
Edited on Oct 10, 2009 12:40
Journalism IS dead. News organizations now have two functions: to sell advertisement and to keep the public distracted with fluff and meaningless conflicts against mostly ineffectual and irrelavant enemies. Slight of hand requires the audience to focus on everything and anything but the set up for the tricks.
Why is it that conservatives have so much trouble with the basic concept of limited resources. This is a finite world. The planet is round, it doesn’t go on forever.
People with initiative is never a problem as long as the initiative is properly directed and backed with a sustainable morality. Hitler had initiative. Thieves and murderers have initiative. The capitalists who brought down our economy had initiative.
Conservatives need to start thinking things through better.
There would be no class warfare as a controlling tool if there were no classes. If you accept that some people can take more than others from the common pool of resources, then you accept the inevitable class struggle amd you are siding with the oppressors.
Pure logic, there, no political bias. I know from experience that when you give a right winger enough rope, he will hang himself with his own logic.
The fact that people have behaved savagely with each other since the beginning does not preclude that this behavior can be altered for the better. Natural selection will have the final word on that theme. We may end up tearing ourselves and the world apart before we can change.
I can think immediately of two steps required to move things solidly in the right direction:
1. Population control (this means diminishing the influence of religion as much as possible)
2. Education. The Instruction of people in a morality which has more to do with assisting each other rather than mere profit accumulation.Capitalism has been the most destructive force on the planet so far. You may not be aware of all the misery and want in the world right now, much of it due to the ravages of capitalism and the ignorance of religion. “Prudent use of assets” is not how I would describe the behavior of capitalists so far.
Look around you, Postaxl, and see what a great mess your philosophy has made of the world. We are teetering on the brink of disaster in so many ways due to a century and a half of capitalists pillaging the planet and the people.
Ownership is not a good goal for members of a species whose survival depends upon cooperation. When profit and ownershp become the driving force in a society, coercion of some sort is always is required since wealth is never distributed in a way which is satisfactory to all. Slavery of some form or another is required in order to amass wealth.
I am also a business owner. You and I have participated at the bottom and in the middle of this hierarchy of owners and slaves. Most people remain as slaves. That seems to be the human condition and will remain so as long as unenlightened, self centered people like you refuse to see what changes need to be made. Rationalize as much as you want about how wealth trickles down to the those who create it but cannot manage to own it. Those rationalizations do not make a better world, they only perpetuate the mess we have been in since the beginning. Conservatives need to be dragged into progress kicking and screaming.
Angel farts and fairy dust is what our currency is headed for thanks to the capitalists banksters who run things.
It is telling that some see a segment of society as uncivilized and dangerous. Of course, they may BE dangerous from the point of view of those who are exploiting them. In Central America, the elitists simply send in the army to remove any threat that a just distribution of resources may be contemplated by the working people who create the wealth.
In the States, the masses are kept tranquil with just enough of the crumbs of the wealthy to keep them in better shape than many others in less developed countries. Less than 5% of the population controls 95% of the wealth. But times are hard and the wealthy are worried so they may be withholding even the crumbs soon enough.
Business should be more than just about money. It should be about creating a healthy life environment for citizens. The focus on profit is bringing everything crashing down around us.
Imx, you need to define what YOU mean by “opportunity”. And you need to put the risk right beside that supposed opportunity to which you vaguely refer. We are talking about management of limited resource here, not about the all the BS platitudes and superlatives that we americans like to throw around with a great air of superiority.
You also need to look at some statistics as to how many Americans actually benefit from the “opportunity”. You and I may know what we want and we may have the tools to go about getting it and we may be willing to take the risks and do the work as well. But we are talking about how to manage huge societal problems and not certain individuals. There are not nearly as many ambitious individuals as you think…and that is a good thing. Ambition for wealth leads to the consumption of an inordinate amount of limited planet resources.
So drop the negative propaganda and misconceptions about socialism and about developing countries. My impression is that the Cubans are just as happy with their system as the Ticos are with theirs.
And I’ll bet there are a whole lot more americans who are unhappy with their current health care system…and rightly so. We rank pretty low in the world as far as national health and life expectancy goes. That is another stat you should not forget.
Bogino, what personal experience do you have of Cuba or its healthcare program? Also, are you residing in Costa Rica, a country which also has a national health care program?
Reciting right wing dogma to crudely slander other countries and the choices those people make is typical of fascist propaganda and elitism. I am curious to know if we are dealing with a voice of experience and reason or a voice from that other camp.
