I gotta admit, I lol'd after clicking the link.

In reply to this comment by Gallowflak:
Um... ...?

I see what you're saying. I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm not gonna say the world is all tulips and butterflies, but as someone who used to be in a pretty dark place myself and think there was no point to anything, I guess the only thing I can offer is the hope that maybe you won't feel that way forever. In my case, I realized a lot of the assumptions I was making about other people were just plain wrong. They were based on the fact that I'd been hurt pretty bad when I was younger by people I trusted, and I kind of developed this self-defense mechanism of just assuming everyone is an asshat. If you don't ever get close to anybody, they can't ever hurt you right?

I can't say it was any one thing that changed me in the end. Over time I started to become aware of inconsistencies in my perceptions. People I thought were total assholes turned out to be all right. And other people that were actually assholes... I came to understand why they acted that way. Sometimes, knowing how they got there, I couldn't blame them. Plus, I was pretty miserable too believing the worst in people all the time. So I decided to change.

Anyways, I hope you can change your mind someday too.

In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
You're right, about pretty much everything you said, but there's no better or worse here, there's a person and his willingness to make "his world" better. Will I receive less support when I need it most if I turn my back on most people in my community, of course, that is unfortunately not reason enough for me to not do so seeing as I hate my community. I can be a "better" person, I can say hi to my neighbors, I can help people out, I can do lots of shit, I just don't want to in most cases. It's not some fierce ideology, it's just me as a person reacting to how I feel about my fellow man (which is usually disgust). Don't get me wrong, I don't go out of my way to fuck people over, and I'm not an asshole generally, but I will go out of my way to remain passive, just the thought of associating myself with other people in some common goal makes me sick. Human kind is a mass of retarded flesh from which occasionally there gets spewed a decent chunk, a free thinker, someone I can respect. Ignoring everyone but those few can be considered childish, but in my eyes it's not an option, it's either that or to be constantly consumed by rage and frustration, the world of tomorrow doesn't really enter the equation...

Your "world," like mine, is probably composed of friends and relatives. That is what I meant by "world," your personal world. And yes, the "world" (your friends and family) will come and help you when you're in a pinch if you've taken the time to carefully forge those connections (and they won't if you haven't). And in fact the greater world at large may come and help you too--but certainly not if you've been turning your back on it and free-riding the whole time.

I'm not asking you to fix society. I'm simply telling you if you want to live in a better "world" (in the personal sense), you can start making changes right where you are. You could say "hi" to your neighbors and get to know them better. You could help clean up trash in your neighborhood. Basically, you can improve your "local" world. Do something. Do anything. Get other people to do something with you (friends or family). And encourage them to get others to do something. Like I said, doesn't have to be huge or take a lot of time. The thing is, it's those collections of individual choices on a grand scale that shape our society. By improving your local "world" you in fact help improve the world at large as well.

As an aside, there's nothing wrong with being egocentric. That was the whole point of my post. If you truly are egocentric you'll realize your happiness in fact rests a great deal on the stability and happiness of the community in which you reside. It's in your best interest to make sure things don't go down the shitter. And (you'll just have to take my word for this) it actually turns out to be a lot more fun than whatever it was you were doing by yourself.

In reply to this comment by NinjaInHeat:
SDGundamX: The "world" doesn't back you up when you're in a pinch. And yes, individual actions do matter, and the world won't become a better place if people sit around and do nothing. I guess all I have to say is that
a: lucky thing the entire world isn't like myself
b: if you're willing to spend time and energy towards making this world a better place to live in (mostly for future generations as actual change takes bucketloads of time), good for you, I'm not, again, I have more egocentric things on my mind, and I lack the will to try and fix a society I feel completely alienated from.

Thanks for discarding the video. It wasn't anything personal. I think you had good reasons for posting it. The problem is that because of the nature of Video Sift (it's basically a friendly competition to find neat videos on the Internet), the moment you post a video like that it becomes "for entertainment purposes." If it were a news report or some documentary piece that explains the larger context and genuinely informs viewers, I'd be all for keeping it.

I think it is important to understand what is happening in Thailand. I encourage you to start a Sift Talk about the demonstrations and post a link to the video for those who have the interest in pursuing it further. Happy Sifting!

Not sure what you were referring to here. I was referring to the Canadians I know, not mass media or anything. But even in mass media I think you'd see more Canadians poking fun at the U.S. than vice versa.

The truth is, most Americans don't think twice about Canada. Thanks to our public education system, there's a large portion of us that probably thinks Canada's just another U.S. state, like Puerto Rico or Guam. That's why they're always bemused by the Canadians' jokes.

In reply to this comment by Payback:
>> ^SDGundamX:
>> ^iaui:
There are very few Canadians that I know that hold the States in any sort of high esteem.

Having Canadian friends, I know that's true. And yet you guys take every opportunity to take shots at us that you can get, which just comes across to most of us as barely disguised jealously and insecurity.


...and yet YOU guys take every opportunity to take shots at US that you can get, which just comes across as barely disguised douchebaggery and jealousy over the fact we have real beer.

And all is well with the Sift again. Welcome back.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
Thanks, SDG. Your wishes mean the world to me.

In reply to this comment by SDGundamX:
Don't know what happened, but I hope to see you back on the Sift soon. Enjoy your time on the outside.

Best wishes,

SDGundamX

Don't know what happened, but I hope to see you back on the Sift soon. Enjoy your time on the outside.

Best wishes,

SDGundamX

Welcome to the Sift. I was reading your comments on the spelling vid's thread. Impressively intelligent and articulate. Also nice counter-Sift vid that you posted. Good to have you on board.

Yeah, it's dead. MLBA apparently had all the YouTube vids yanked. Thanks for finding.

In reply to this comment by DavidRaine:
Looks dead, unfortunately -- I don't have the star power to mark it though.

No problem. I've done it before myself and wished there was a "take back" button on the comment down-voting. I just thought it was weird that lately I've been attracting comment downvotes over completely uncontroversial postings.

In reply to this comment by DavidRaine:

Under ordinary circumstances, I'm certainly going to downvote a comment that promotes voting without watching the video for whatever reasons. While this should not include sarcastic reasons, sarcasm doesn't always translate over text, and I just flat out missed it this time. I'm going to blame an annoyed state of mind brought on by watching too many political videos, but in reality, I just dropped the ball on this one. My apologies for misunderstanding.

For someone who apparently loves sarcasm, you don't seem to understand it very well. Why the downvote on the comment, chief?

(Referring to this comment)

If that comment offended you in some way (I can't imagine how), I apologize.

In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:


I agree that there are a good number of creative and successful games, but the massive number of successful cookie-cutter games kinda rules out creativity as a 'requirement'.

Regardless of if its a sequel or not, games development still requires a great deal of creativity. It's not like they re-use the same art assets or anything. A group of people need to sit down and decide on the art direction, new gameplay mechanics, new levels, etc. and all of that needs to be worked into the existing storyline/character framework. Programmers, meanwhile, usually have to update the graphics and physics engines, fix any outstanding bugs from the original, and add any new features (for instance online multiplayer in Halo 2). Judging by how dismissive you are of the whole process I'm guessing you haven't worked in the games industry before, or if you have, certainly not at any level above QA.

Like the new X-Files movie says, "I Want to Believe."

I'm just frustrated that every time I talk with the conspiracy theory people, they can't back up their claims with anything substantial. Once I was willing to listen, but now I think some people are just promoting this stuff because they realize they have an eager audience and they love that feeling of power. In other words they've stopped looking for the truth and sold out.

I do remember the Maine. I also remember that it was not used by McKinley as one of the reasons for declaring war on Spain. He did, in fact, try to oppose the war but in the face of overwhelming public and political pressure eventually acquiesced into declaring war for the purposes of freeing Cuba. Now, were there individuals in the government who saw the war as an excuse to grab Spain's other colonies? Absolutely. But that isn't proof that they set up an explosion on the Maine to start the war. You would need eyewitnesses or physical evidence to be able to make a plausible accusation.

That's all I'm asking for schmawy. Proof. Evidence. Something more than conjecture or coincidence. Say, for example, explosive residue found at the WTC site. Or verifiable videos of WTC 7's interior completely undamaged until moments before its collapse. Or corroborative testimony from several reliable witnesses that matches up. Like in the vid we're talking about, what does this guy's buddy have to say about the whole incident? What about the cops and firemen that were supposedly there? Where's their testimony? Surely they all heard these explosions too?

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
Remember the Maine, my friend.