BruceVC

Things are going well my side, very busy at work which is a good thing and my social calendar is busy..which is also a good thing. There are some really entertaining events in JHB at the moment like Wine Festivals and Food Events so we like attend those and partake of all the good food, cheese...and wine of course I haven't been to gym for about 6 weeks but I plan go back this weekend There are about 20-30 local and global events that concern me. Like the state of the South African economy and the rise of misplaced socialist\communist ideology I see in certain South African political circles, also I cant ignore events like the Paris attacks but none of these depress me, I try to be part of the narrative that looks to unpack these developments and then at least understand them. Once you get this right these things wont depress you or make you think " what is happening to the world....what is happening to society...this is the worst era of mankind " and other similar sentiments

Cant sorry I missed something, why can't you sleep..what happened?

Implying that every the foundation of any civilization is meaningless, heritage meaning nothing and cohesion of a society is not based common virtues and values of it's people. National identity as we understand it hasn't really been a thing for much of human history. Implying that a rejection of nationalism is synonymous with a rejection of the basic building blocks of society is woefully ignorant at best, and outright manipulative at worst. Your claim, prove it. //EDIT: Wait, what am i quoting here? Did you edit your post? //EDIT2: nvm As you should prove your claim to be fair. Saying that nationalism is needed for social cohesion sounds a lot like saying religion is needed for morality. I could go into how while humans have a drive to join together on the small scale like you said it doesn't really work on the large scale, the history of it such as how England and France would go to war despite the fact that their leaders had more in common with each other than they did with their people (the nobility of England being Norman after all), and the definition of just what nationalism actually means but I am at work at the moment so don't have the time unfortunately so will hope someone else will and instead post this poem that I feel is apt to this situation both in our conversation and what is going on in the world: Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. Nice one , WW1 has such profoudly, evocative poems... I posted part of this poem a few months earler...people on the thread were a little concerned and said it was depressing But Wilfred Owen captures the reality of that era and war perfectly accurately, you know he was killed 1 week before the armistice ...1 week and he would have survived

What type of person would blackmail anyone over anything? There are bad people out there. As for what happened to Charlie Sheen, well acting irresponsibly often leads to unfortunate results. Now if he did have sex with people who did not know then he does deserve to be sued out of existence because that makes him the biggest scumbag of them all. Yes HIV is not the automatic death sentence it once was but it is still a permanent injury. If he is deliberately risking the lives and health of others then f--k him. Sure, I agree with this and other views Which is why I said " I believe in full disclosure ". So if he wasn't honest about his status and then had sex, either protected or unprotected, then he will face some sort of criminal charges ..and that's how it should be

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/17/health/charlie-sheen-health/ Most of you probably know this already but it does several talking points. Two I find interesting are There is a societal stigma about HIV people where there is this assumption that its a death sentence. Nowadays with the right medication this should be seen as a chronic illness..so its not the end of the your life. I do believe in full disclosure and I support people who are are honest about there HIV status If you read the article you will see how Sheen was blackmailed for years...what type of person would blackmail someone over this? Reprehensible at best How does this change your view of Sheen if at all?

" getting high" ...Gromnir no, we are talking about using weed for the therapeutic qualities like......"helping a person sleep "

I have never ever heard of Malaysians being called Barbarians ? We refer to murderous groups like ISIS or Boko Haram as savages but not Malaysians as we do business there Because my country is just recently become popular in USA, but back in 70s and 80s western people call us barbarians who live on trees... Hundred they called us (Finns) subhumans that are closer to monkeys than humans that should not be allowed to get citizenship in USA if that gives you any consolation. Oh....so you Finns don't like being called monkeys....why do you hate monkeys? They are cute and intelligent

I have never ever heard of Malaysians being called Barbarians ? We refer to murderous groups like ISIS or Boko Haram as savages but not Malaysians as we do business there

Yes you make some good points but Volo do you think you would be so openly critical of Islam if you didn't live in Canada ? You seem verrrrrrrrrrry far away from the action But its funny because whenever I discuss ISIS in my country I have to always say " and I don't mean all Muslims " or people phone in and say " I am being Islamaphobic "

Short version for stoned people: don't escalate a fight by conventional means against an enemy such as this. You can't fight evil with stupidity. 15 year on and all of the US' meddling in the ME has only served to destabilize the entire place and make it a playground for extremists such as ISIS. The US wanted to fight Al Qaeda but neither nation-building in Afghanistan (which is now failing utterly, as shown in the amount of Afghans migrating to Europe) nor the completely useless invasion of Iraq had anything to do with this, and both of these actions have served to increase the support for extremist Islamism, not the other way around. The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. The enemy of your friend is not necessarily your enemy, and so on.rR Ros you are a smart guy with a good perspective so I generally always read what you say...but I think you being a little harsh here I see things very differently and with a different lens... You can't blame the USA for the Arab Spring and much of the general bedlam in the ME is a result of the consequences of that The Gulf \Sunni states seem fine and so is Iran which is at least some stability Yes Iraq was a mistake But except for ISIS I don't think its that bad ?

Its egregious and full of hyperbole ....no I don't take it seriously But I dont get why you bringing the USA into this...are you comparing the USA to ISIS ( sorry if I have mistaken you ...Im stoned )

Dark do you think I'm passive-aggressive? I don't feel that way and we debate all the time but Drowsy says I am?

BruceVC has nothing to do with my statement. The World itself has not done enough to accommodate Islam and hence they are left with no choice other than to attack civilians at random. Duh. When you sound like the abused in search of justifications, maybe it's time for some introspection, eh? Now thats passive-aggressive Sorry if I sounded confused ..lots on my mind

Outside of the USA I would say we make plenty of allowances for Islam Obviously that's not the case. Do you mean for me or in the USA ?

Well considering the fact I wasn't being passive-aggressive I would say I'm doing well But as usual you jump to strange conclusions, I travel and work throughout Africa and ME so I would say I interact with loads of Muslims

Outside of the USA I would say we make plenty of allowances for Islam

I'm sorry for what happened, our thoughts are with you

Meshugger you guys really shouldn't read this type of garbage...its just going to make you more annoyed Stop projecting, i am having a laugh here. Okay, well I'm glad you can laugh at the moment. I have no sense of humour

Interesting. And how exactly the west is planning to remove him? Assassination? Nah, making life so hard for regular russians, due to various embargos, that they would remove him from power themselves. Well, as a russian, i can only thank the west for that. They're doing something useful for a change. Can't wait when he's finally gone. Ah you're one of those types. That explains everything. Drowsy you do realize that Sakai lives in Moscow? And yet it never seemed to occur to you he might know a little about his own country?

Meshugger you guys really shouldn't read this type of garbage...its just going to make you more annoyed

Okay dude I apologize, you are more than aware of this type of event I am sorry because I feel I know nothing about Slovakia yet I should. Do other EU members on this forum know about Slovakia? Slovakia is one of the less known EU countries in the world. If you or anyone else would like to know more about it, please search up about our cultural heritage and nature. You asked about the worst things in Slovakia and I have answered to you with honesty, but this country does not deserve to be mentioned only in that way. Yes I'll do that, I didn't think it was all bad I judge very few countries as I live in Africa .....and my friend my continent has some examples of badly run countries that would make Slovakia seem like Switzerland compared to Mongolia. So no I don't judge

Okay dude I apologize, you are more than aware of this type of event I am sorry because I feel I know nothing about Slovakia yet I should. Do other EU members on this forum know about Slovakia?

Elerond do you really think applying some obscure EU law is necessary But something just occurred to me...I seem to debating with you guys who live in the EU about this, I thought this was what you wanted but if not then just leave it

I suppose ,,,,has Slovakia ever been the target of extremists?

There are very few things worse than the type of insomnia you are experiencing....and because you feel you should be sleeping you then try and because you cant you stress even more Okay my friend firstly this is not an unusual event to occur to people who have been under stress of some sort and the insomnia is often delayed which makes some almost not realize what is causing it But before you go to the doctor and receive seriously strong sleeping pills which of course you can take I would recommend something else You are not someone who normally takes medication to sleep so what I would try first is some decent cannabis, you must get some quality stuff that is grown indoors. Its called hydroponic in South Africa. All you do is put it in an empty cigarette and say 30-60 minutes before you want to sleep you take 2-3 hits, thats it. Because Weed is a plant it wont knock you out like a sleeping pill but you become drowsy and you will sleep I have been smoking weed on and off for about 15 years and its fine if you dont abuse it, of course there are some people who weed makes them feel paranoid and if that is how you feel on it then its not for you But if you get hydroponic weed I doubt you will feel paranoid