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Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

I do believe that we are now conflating two very separate groups: the North Korean leadership, who likely believe that a calculated image of insanity and MAD doctrine are the only way to assure their survival, and the North Korean people, who've been brainwashed from a young age yet still manage to consume Western media and run an effectively capitalist black market.

Some good/interesting videos on both subjects:

Why North Korea wants nuclear weapons

North Korean defector interviews

There is no reality, not really, only what we percieve reality to be. Since we will never have a full grasp of all the facts, having a full grasp of reality is impossible, we can only see what we percieve reality to be.

And speaking as a guy living in Asia, I would not worry about North Korea. He can sabre rattle all he wants, ultimately he will never pull the trigger. He knows as well as we do that if he launches an attack he will be steamrolled pretty quickly and China will stand by and watch as it happens. All the damage he can do to South Korea and maybe Guam wont win him a war and he knows it.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

I do believe that we are now conflating two very separate groups: the North Korean leadership, who likely believe that a calculated image of insanity and MAD doctrine are the only way to assure their survival, and the North Korean people, who've been brainwashed from a young age yet still manage to consume Western media and run an effectively capitalist black market.

Some good/interesting videos on both subjects:

Why North Korea wants nuclear weapons

North Korean defector interviews

I've already read and watched these.. Very interesting stuff. The population is definitely brainwashed. I used Pyongyang the same way someone might use Washington - it refers to the leadership of the country.

Anyway, I don't want to be antagonistic, I just get bothered when people start whinging about how ignorant and terrible America and Americans are. You know, as an American who is really trying her best.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

I do believe that we are now conflating two very separate groups: the North Korean leadership, who likely believe that a calculated image of insanity and MAD doctrine are the only way to assure their survival, and the North Korean people, who've been brainwashed from a young age yet still manage to consume Western media and run an effectively capitalist black market.

Some good/interesting videos on both subjects:

Why North Korea wants nuclear weapons

North Korean defector interviews

I've already read and watched these.. Very interesting stuff. The population is definitely brainwashed. I used Pyongyang the same way someone might use Washington - it refers to the leadership of the country.

Anyway, I don't want to be antagonistic, I just get bothered when people start whinging about how ignorant and terrible America and Americans are. You know, as an American who is really trying her best.

Definitely, it's just that from interviews, it does seem that North Koreans are surprisingly aware of reality, given their situation.

Definitely, it's just that from interviews, it does seem that North Koreans are surprisingly aware of reality, given their situation.

Or at least.. the ones who defect are surprisingly aware.

Definitely, it's just that from interviews, it does seem that North Koreans are surprisingly aware of reality, given their situation.

Or at least.. the ones who defect are surprisingly aware.

True, it might just be survivorship bias there, as well as the knowledge and experience they've gained after leaving.

But from what they say, it seems like the black market is necessary to participate in to basically survive, so...

True, it might just be survivorship bias there, as well as the knowledge and experience they've gained after leaving.

But from what they say, it seems like the black market is necessary to participate in to basically survive, so...

Definitely, that seems to always happen in totalitarian nations, doesn't it?

True, it might just be survivorship bias there, as well as the knowledge and experience they've gained after leaving.

But from what they say, it seems like the black market is necessary to participate in to basically survive, so...

Definitely, that seems to always happen in totalitarian nations, doesn't it?

Yep. I read an argument/theory some time ago that this is by design: force people to do illegal things just to have some semblance of normal life, and now you have an excuse to jail whomever you please.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

North Korea playing its typical game of flamebaiting doesn't justify having the desire to murder millions. Nothing justifies having the desire to murder millions.

And also, I don't understand what you're trying to ask.

There is no reality, not really, only what we percieve reality to be. Since we will never have a full grasp of all the facts, having a full grasp of reality is impossible, we can only see what we percieve reality to be.

And speaking as a guy living in Asia, I would not worry about North Korea. He can sabre rattle all he wants, ultimately he will never pull the trigger. He knows as well as we do that if he launches an attack he will be steamrolled pretty quickly and China will stand by and watch as it happens. All the damage he can do to South Korea and maybe Guam wont win him a war and he knows it.

There is an objective, imperial reality; Water is wet, there are clouds when it rains, bears have fur. There are certain aspects of reality which are up for debate, but I'm talking about imperial reality.

Americans don't understand death. Americans don't understand war. Those two combined is a deadly combination that has resulted in the deaths of countless Iraqi innocents. That's the type of stuff I'm talking about when I speak of Americans lacking a grasp on reality.

And also, for the record I am an American.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

North Korea playing its typical game of flamebaiting doesn't justify having the desire to murder millions. Nothing justifies having the desire to murder millions.

And also, I don't understand what you're trying to ask.

There is no reality, not really, only what we percieve reality to be. Since we will never have a full grasp of all the facts, having a full grasp of reality is impossible, we can only see what we percieve reality to be.

And speaking as a guy living in Asia, I would not worry about North Korea. He can sabre rattle all he wants, ultimately he will never pull the trigger. He knows as well as we do that if he launches an attack he will be steamrolled pretty quickly and China will stand by and watch as it happens. All the damage he can do to South Korea and maybe Guam wont win him a war and he knows it.

There is an objective, imperial reality; Water is wet, there are clouds when it rains, bears have fur. There are certain aspects of reality which are up for debate, but I'm talking about imperial reality.

Americans don't understand death. Americans don't understand war. Those two combined is a deadly combination that has resulted in the deaths of countless Iraqi innocents. That's the type of stuff I'm talking about when I speak of Americans lacking a grasp on reality.

And also, for the record I am an American.

Except its not an objective reality, your opinion is a subjective reality. Where is the scientific, peer reviewed and replicated data to prove your statements about Americans? None? Just your opinion? Then it is not an objective reality. You cannot shout "its an objective reality!" To all critisism just like I cannot shout the same about my favorite flavour of ice cream.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

North Korea playing its typical game of flamebaiting doesn't justify having the desire to murder millions. Nothing justifies having the desire to murder millions.

And also, I don't understand what you're trying to ask.

There is no reality, not really, only what we percieve reality to be. Since we will never have a full grasp of all the facts, having a full grasp of reality is impossible, we can only see what we percieve reality to be.

And speaking as a guy living in Asia, I would not worry about North Korea. He can sabre rattle all he wants, ultimately he will never pull the trigger. He knows as well as we do that if he launches an attack he will be steamrolled pretty quickly and China will stand by and watch as it happens. All the damage he can do to South Korea and maybe Guam wont win him a war and he knows it.

There is an objective, imperial reality; Water is wet, there are clouds when it rains, bears have fur. There are certain aspects of reality which are up for debate, but I'm talking about imperial reality.

Americans don't understand death. Americans don't understand war. Those two combined is a deadly combination that has resulted in the deaths of countless Iraqi innocents. That's the type of stuff I'm talking about when I speak of Americans lacking a grasp on reality.

And also, for the record I am an American.

Except its not an objective reality, your opinion is a subjective reality. Where is the scientific, peer reviewed and replicated data to prove your statements about Americans? None? Just your opinion? Then it is not an objective reality. You cannot shout "its an objective reality!" To all critisism just like I cannot shout the same about my favorite flavour of ice cream.

You're misunderstanding me:

- I say Americans have a tenuous grasp on reality
- You say that there is no objective reality
- I say there are objective, material realities, such as the nature of war and violence, of which I think most Americans I don't understand.

My opinion isn't objective. But the natures of war and violence are.

Well, yeah. Duh. Of course they (or, arguably, most human beings in general) don't get it, they've never experienced it.
I don't 'get' menstruation, either. Or religion, or what it's like to starve or be depressed or in love or to enjoy my job or any of a myriad things that I can sort of vaguely imagine and dimly approximate because I have some semblance of empathy and a modicum of imagination, but I don't Really Get It^TM, because I haven't (and, in the case of war, hopefully never will) experience it. I could Really Get It eventually, but I'd have to either experience it myself, or immerse myself so deep in everything surrounding it that frankly I might as well have had. And vis-a-vis war: fuck that I ain't touching that shit with a 12-foot-pole, except from the safe distance of 'on my computer telling imaginary people to shoot other imaginary people'.
You might as well ask the Homogeneous Oversimplified American their opinion on vampires, because both of them are things they only experience on TV, which, honestly, probably aren't real anyway if they didn't happen in 'murica.

Moreover: sure, the Homogeneous Oversimplified American doesn't get war, and is okay with the idea of casually annihilating other people.
Well, yeah, duh. They don't know these people. They more than likely don't know anyone who knows a North Korean. So as far as their sense of empathy goes, they exist in that nebulous region of morality reserved for people somewhere between 'that dick taking up 3 seats on the fucking train, close your legs and take your bag off the seat' and 'that dude who cut you off in traffic' (in other words, people we would happily have someone else murder out of our immediate sight).
Of course they don't give a shit about him, as far as they're concerned, he's not an Actual Human Being, he's just some fucker who threatened or alarmed, hell, just inconvenienced Us (in the generic collective sense that Every North Korean has threatened Every American). So they can eat shit and die.
And if you think that this is deplorable, just think about what I said the next time you mentally wish someone was dead, because you have done in miniature what Homogeneous Oversimplified America does to North Korea: wish consequence-for-yourself-free death on someone else that you don't know because fuck them they are clearly fucking assholes.

Comparing uneducated workers and farmers living under a totalitarian dictatorship with no access to the outside world to first world Americans with the entire human civilization at their finger tips via the internet and enjoying a (relatively) free democratic society for granted isnt a sound argument.

And who are you comparing Americans to when you say they have a tenuous grasp on reality, exactly?
North Korea just launched an ICBM over Japan.. I don't support massive retaliation or any such thing, but I can understand if people are angry and irrational about it. This was a warning shot fired at the heart of the possibility of peace.. Pyongyang is playing a dangerous game.

North Korea playing its typical game of flamebaiting doesn't justify having the desire to murder millions. Nothing justifies having the desire to murder millions.

And also, I don't understand what you're trying to ask.

There is no reality, not really, only what we percieve reality to be. Since we will never have a full grasp of all the facts, having a full grasp of reality is impossible, we can only see what we percieve reality to be.

And speaking as a guy living in Asia, I would not worry about North Korea. He can sabre rattle all he wants, ultimately he will never pull the trigger. He knows as well as we do that if he launches an attack he will be steamrolled pretty quickly and China will stand by and watch as it happens. All the damage he can do to South Korea and maybe Guam wont win him a war and he knows it.

There is an objective, imperial reality; Water is wet, there are clouds when it rains, bears have fur. There are certain aspects of reality which are up for debate, but I'm talking about imperial reality.

Americans don't understand death. Americans don't understand war. Those two combined is a deadly combination that has resulted in the deaths of countless Iraqi innocents. That's the type of stuff I'm talking about when I speak of Americans lacking a grasp on reality.

And also, for the record I am an American.

Except its not an objective reality, your opinion is a subjective reality. Where is the scientific, peer reviewed and replicated data to prove your statements about Americans? None? Just your opinion? Then it is not an objective reality. You cannot shout "its an objective reality!" To all critisism just like I cannot shout the same about my favorite flavour of ice cream.

You're misunderstanding me:

- I say Americans have a tenuous grasp on reality
- You say that there is no objective reality
- I say there are objective, material realities, such as the nature of war and violence, of which I think most Americans I don't understand.

My opinion isn't objective. But the natures of war and violence are.

1) That is your opinion and at best a gross over generalization.

2) There really isn't when humans become involved. Since no 2 people's experiences will ever be the same there is no objective reality with something like the concept of war.

3) Again, that is your opinion on Americans. A country with 50 states, different backgrounds and origins and ethnic histories and so many other qualifiers simply stating 'Americans are blank' is absolutely subjective. And, frankly, so is the nature of war and violence. Some hate it. Some love it.

And I would say that Americans do understand death and war, there is no one better at the war business than America. They just don't give a damn about other countries and who they inflict war and death upon. Not a particularly rare or even new mindset for an imperialistic war monger like America. That's the problem. I think you have a concept that is based on reality but fail to properly diagnose the problem. It's not that most Americans do not understand war or death, it's that their leaders do not care about that, only about what's best for the country (at best) or their corporate masters (at worst).

It's really easy to ascribe simple motivations to an entire nation, but that's just our ignorance of our limitations talking. We think you can understand America or North Korea or Trump or Kim Jong-un, and yet we cannot honestly say we even understand ourselves. Hell, I had to look it up to make sure that it was Jong-un and not Jong Un.

Grasp at objectivity if you want, record your results so they can be tested empirically (not imperially), and you can snatch at the threads that pull the cosmos. But in the end, so far as the course of our lives is concerned, subjective experience is as good as it gets. You're just one thread in a massive pattern, and there's nothing simple about you.

I don't think any one of us can honestly say we've solved even our own personal problems. I think we should make a solid go at that before we decide that we know the way the nations should interplay. Rearrange your mind before you decide you're great enough to rearrange the stars. Hubris is the plague of our generation.

At least, that's how I see it.

And for anyone wondering, I now have proper documentation for Winterscrape, which can be found by clicking on the little icon in the page that comes up, or by going here, wooo. Closer to releasing