Political safe space thread.

[BedellBrave]

I have an interesting idea. Let's make a thread where any political thought isn't taboo and sarcasm is shunned. My goal with this thread is that any reasonable hypothesis is taken seriously and any comments trying to score points are ignored and hopefully deleted by mods. The goal of this thread isn't to score points but just to have a thought provoking discussion.

My first hypothesis is that if every kid grew up with two loving parents then we would have relative peace in the world. And this is the ultimate result we should reach in our society.

My friend Anthony Bradley wrote this:

"Folks this is real simple. If you want people to desist from criminal activity the two most powerful ways to accomplish this are marriage and employment. Married folks with jobs are busy doing other things. Crime becomes less of a viable option when either one of these things are in play. Now this may be a "duh" post for many of you but this is NOT the response we hear in the current mass incarceration discussion. In fact, for example, if men were married and gainfully employed they would not likely chose deviant behavior in the first place. Seems like there's some ancient wisdom about this somewhere. Hmmm. . .

You behave differently when your life is identified as "employee" or "spouse." It really is *that* simple.

Sampson and Laub's data is incredible. How are we missing this? So much of our violence problem in this country is related to the decline of these two things in lower-income neighborhoods. Yes, it's not education, it's not "the church," it's not "poverty" (however we define that), it's people being in committed relationships and going to work. It really is *that* simple.

#Amazon"

Here's the book he links to: Link

In other words, it would help more than it would hurt. Yet, "the heart of man is desperately wicked who can know it?" still... We still live in a fallen world and though the institution of marriage/family is crucial, it doesn't cure all that ails us and keeps us from peace.

 

[jpx7]

I think just "marriage/employment" is too narrow, but I agree "stronger community relationships" and "sense of regular telos / daily purpose" are both huge in engendering social stability, even if not entirely complete.

Not sure either will really matter when the planet warms by five degrees centigrade, but both domains are, in fact, core concerns of the Actual Left's platform.

 

[weso1]

I think you are saying that we should try and have a sincere, intelligent, honest discussion. I'm all for it. Not a fan of internet sarcasm. I just learned that there are sarcasm symbols, ~., /s., etc.

As for the first topic, every family in one society having 2 loving parents would not lead to world peace. The two aren't related at all and besides, plenty of bad people grow up with good parents.

I think the only thing that could lead to such a utopia would be a deep, underlying sense of unity and connectedness between all Humanity. A willingness to share life's wealth and blessings is the way to increase the well-being for all. Seems like common sense to me.

I could be wrong, but isn't there a strong relation between violent crime and single parenthood? If that's true then there is a strong correlation between multiple parents and a lack of violence. Logically speaking is it possible that could extrapolate throughout the world? Also, you make the argument that plenty of good people grow up with bad parents. I don't disagree with that, but that doesn't negate my hypothesis. There are plenty of white dudes who can jump pretty high.

 

[weso1]

So many of my existential anxieties for our species tallied together in one essay.

The apocalyptic spectre of global climate decimation, when fairly considered, alternatingly fills me with paralyzing ennui or a hedonistic, carpe voluptatem disregard for our collective future and my fellow anthropoi; it's everything I can do to hold onto either basic motivation or concern for the well-being of others, given our global prospects, merely a few decades down the line. It's harrowing, in equal measure, to feel so few amongst us maintain the appropriate level of perpetual, low-level panic for the coming catastrophes, and low-key despondency for the incipient desolation to both natural wonder and human progress—and even more depressing to see how many ignore, or outright deny, the dark clouds on the horizon.

It's also why I personally only formulate short- and medium-term ambitions.

Discuss.

I get that feeling quite often, but I think in the end it's hard to ignore the progress that we're constantly making as a species. It's like the stock market, where there are tons of dips, but there's a strong positive trendline.

 

[weso1]

Well first we need to define loving. Second I can't fathom any way we can manipulate people into being loving parents. A lot of parents have done horrible things to their kids out of love. Good intentions don't always equal good results.

Having a two parent household has shown in studies to be very beneficial. It has also shown that it does more damage to take a child from abusive biological parents and give them to a non abusive foster parent unless it's sexual abuse. Your theory is one of the many reasons the world seems to be going to tell in a handbasket but it's far more complicated than any one issue.

Those are good questions. I'm not really sure how to perfectly define loving other than just giving it a decent effort. I would say that any loving parent would not intentionally harm their child. And I'm not stating that every child having two loving parents would lead to any sort of utopia, but it would lead to the best outcome that we can hope to acheive as humans. I'm a big believer in the peaceful parenting initiative that's starting to gain some momentum. I think that's an idea that deserves some consideration.

 

[weso1]

I think just "marriage/employment" is too narrow, but I agree "stronger community relationships" and "sense of regular telos / daily purpose" are both huge in engendering social stability, even if not entirely complete.

Not sure either will really matter when the planet warms by five degrees centigrade, but both domains are, in fact, core concerns of the Actual Left's platform.

What are your thoughts on The Venus Project, if you've heard of it?

 

[weso1]

So, I think we have some stuff we need to discuss itt. I've had some concerns lately regarding the Charlottesville terrorist attack...

Where do we stand on free speech? I am firmly in the camp of defending the rights of free speech as defined by The Constitution and The Supreme Court. I'm concerned that there is a movement by some on the left to take this right away. I think there is currently hysteria driving those on the left and it's leading them to bad solutions in regards to ways to challenge the racist right.

Since this is a political safe space thread I also want to mention... I'm discouraged by this idea that the left can't be racist.

 

[weso1]

I think just "marriage/employment" is too narrow, but I agree "stronger community relationships" and "sense of regular telos / daily purpose" are both huge in engendering social stability, even if not entirely complete.

Not sure either will really matter when the planet warms by five degrees centigrade, but both domains are, in fact, core concerns of the Actual Left's platform.

Do you think, on average, marriage trumps community relationships when it comes to raising children?

 

[Jaw]

It is amazing how much common ground supposed enemies have when both sides decide to have a real conversation:

[video=youtube;4hRM2NmZtR0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hRM2NmZtR0[/video]

 

[Oklahomahawk]

It is amazing how much common ground supposed enemies have when both sides decide to have a real conversation:

[video=youtube;4hRM2NmZtR0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hRM2NmZtR0[/video]

eh, it'll never catch on. Makes too much sense.