Not condone in a way that may be approval of rape, but you're forced to accept it if it's state-sanctioned, because you can't change it. You're powerless to do so. But you won't admit it.

@bcglorf
thank you for that well thought out commentary.

we still disagree but i always appreciate when someone i disagree with can enlighten me in how they came to their conclusions.

what appears to many my abhorrence to authority is actually my perception between power and powerlessness.
the ruthlessness of power.
the vulgarity and twisted logic power uses to oppress and control.

look at the words you use to describe pakistan.
we both agree on what is happening but disagree on how to deal with it.

cant thank you enough bc.
very few will interact with respect and not come to prejudiced conclusions.

I'm not lurking, I'm a powerless user !

your rebuttal is a split narrative and was not what i was addressing.
america has the right to point and say"what assad is doing is horrendous,and needs to be dealt with for the safety of its innocent citizens".
the hypocrisy lies in this statement:
"what assad is doing is horrendous.and needs to be punished ...by america".

its the assertion that america should be the arbitor of judgement and punishment.

and it appears my entire pontifications on syria were wrong.
1.not getting into a protracted military engagement=good
2.the continued suffering of the syrian people under a brutel regime=bad.

my prayers are with the syrian people.
and i know yours are as well.
powerless in our ineffectual rage.

Gotta give it up to her for being able to look Skeletor in the face standing so close. Once she started speaking with passion he was then compelled to turn his gaze from the floor to her face.....(cringe) I couldn't have met that snivelingly-sinister gaze as she did, YOW!


I'd imagine (and tout the idea constantly when people start bitching about being powerless in these situations) a most effective impact would be had in the form of protest through boycott:
For instance, the entire country buys no gasoline for a week, a month, etc.
Protest prison system woes and completely fucked drug laws by hitting more commodities, boycott cotton and coffee for six months and watch 'em squirm.

Week off Work protests stretch into month off work.
Laws violating the human rights of retail employees, the ethical treatment of squirrels in public parks, pick a cause and demand change through withdrawing your capitol and watch the cockroaches scatter!

Shut down the predictable meatbag habits and watch the shit change dramatically.

We are heading towards planet lock-down and we can make it easy for Babylon, or a pain in her ass.

Bill Maher's diagnosis is pretty good but that is the worst possible prescription. It is in line with the pseudo-science that is homeopathy: treat like with like.

'We' don't need Maher's side to find billionaires to outspend the other billionaires, that is just perpetuating the same fucked up system. What WE need is people on 'OUR side' (i.e., the poor and powerless; and yes, you are part of that group) to rise up and take their government back.

Maher advocates this BS because it serves his interest as a rich elite. If someone can give millions to political causes, they're not really on your side even if they've convinced you they care about the same things. They are corrupting the system just as much as the 'bad guys' they want you to fear.

The powerless fight to gain the power.

This is pretty Sh*te, Cant believe it made top List. Its quite sexist and paints women as powerless. Anything can be over looked in the name of humour, but its also just not funny.

A few questions...
ANYBODY who doesn't give 110% to their career will not reach the highest levels of that career?
Are you saying that Georgew W. gave 110% to become President? Well, if that what he delivered is what it takes to get the job, it's a shame I can't run for office. I wouldn't even have to put on pants to come across as less idiotic as he did.
Are you really buying into this "Just give everything and you'll get there" myth? 'Cause that's not how the real world works for everyone. Have you ever been denied a deserved promotion? That is not that uncommon, especially for women. Look, giving your best is usually necessary but not always required. Luck, a lack of scruple, intolerance of others, manipulative skills and connections can really propel your career even if you don't work hard enough to deserve it. Just think of the cliché of the woman who sleeps her way on top. She doesn't even have to give 110% there, men are easy to please.

And regarding you biological theories, yes, men are stronger but how strong do you have to be to sit in an office? How much strength does it take to type on a keyboard? I'd say the jobs these female breadwinners we're talking about have are usually not involving tasks of great physical strength.
And why is it automatically the women job to take care of the children?
I mean, we're talking 2 parent families here since single women have no other choice than going to work unless you want to suggest poverty or child labour as viable alternatives.
In todays first world society it shouldn't be such a stretch to consider men as caregivers of the family's offspring. What makes the stronger sex so unsuitable to play that part? Because we're emotional cripples, unable to bond with the little ones like people with real breasts? Because society could point at us and laugh about our mangina? What is it a woman does a man can't do?
Oh I get it, that's just how biology wants it, right? We have to listen to mother nature, it's the smart thing to do. Well, that's at least what I told the cops after I left my house naked. You know, pants don't grow on trees and shirts don't run through the woods, evading capture by predators. It's not natural, not what mother wants. Let's not do this. Right?
We decided to shape the world as we see fit a long time ago. We can't change all behavioural routines in our heads but we are not powerless either. Why stick to role models that are ancient when we can make new ones with more benefits? Humans can't fly; didn't stop them from building planes. This is a question of nurture not nature.

What troubles me the the most, though, is your apparent belief that households with both parents working do it by choice. That is certainly not always the case, especially not in lower income families in America. To avoid that both parents would be forced to work, you need to have minimum incomes that are high enough to feed an entire family. How much is the minimum wage in america and how well can one person provide for a family with it? Would you like to raise 2 kids with only that much money?

Another thing is your idea that "women should gravitate to careers that will give the maximum flexibility so that they can spend all the needed time with their children". What kind of career is that? What jobs allow you to have "maximum flexibility" in terms or worktime? Drug dealing? E-Mail spamming? Porn?
I'm sure such jobs exist but I'd say they're very, very rare. Not a viable solution.

You call it "guidelines not rules" but maybe these guidelines are as antiquitated as ducking under the table when the bomb drops. We live in a brave new world, we need to do better than this. We shouldn't leave potential untapped because grampa doesn't like it. This is the 21st century, let's act like it.

There is nothing that makes women less qualified to bring home the bucks. "Think of the children" is simply a lazy argument against it and only shows the real problems of this debate: sexism and a lack of social security.

Hundreds dont matter, if they come from the wrong side. AKA powerless, poor, minorities.

Hello. I was going to help test out the new ability for a submitter to mark their own video *dupeof= however I ran into a new "feature" while testing.

In my dupe video you asked me to try again, but now that the video is killed all the comments have vanished. See here http://videosift.com/video/Kinetic-toothpick-sculpture-of-San-Francisco-took-35-years?noredirect

There is a talk thread about comments vanishing on killed videos http://videosift.com/talk/No-longer-able-to-view-comments-on-killed-videos-2


Secondly I tried to run the *isdupe on another of my videos and got the error from siftbot that I am not privileged. See here http://videosift.com/video/Beyonces-Single-Ladies-Dance-by-7-year-olds

Thank you for trying to get these changes in place. It may not seem like much but at least for me as a regular user I would feel a little less powerless

That's interesting. In his Democracy in America Vol 2, Chapter XX "HOW AN ARISTOCRACY MAY BE CREATED BY MANUFACTURES", Baron de Tocqueville warned of these dangers (in 1840!):

In proportion as the principle of the division of labor is more
extensively applied, the workman becomes more weak, more
narrow-minded, and more dependent. The art advances, the arti-
san recedes. On the other hand, in proportion as it becomes more
manifest that the productions of manufactures are by so much the
cheaper and better as the manufacture is larger and the amount
of capital employed more considerable, wealthy and educated
men come forward to embark in manufactures, which were here-
tofore abandoned to poor or ignorant handicraftsmen. The mag-
nitude of the efforts required and the importance of the results to
be obtained attract them. Thus at the very time at which the sci-
ence of manufactures lowers the class of workmen, it raises the
class of masters.

While the workman concentrates his faculties more and more
upon the study of a single detail, the master surveys an extensive
whole, and the mind of the latter is enlarged in proportion as that
of the former is narrowed. In a short time the one will require
nothing but physical strength without intelligence; the other
stands in need of science, and almost of genius, to ensure success.
This man resembles more and more the administrator of a vast
empire; that man, a brute.

The master and the workman have then here no similarity, and
their differences increase every day. They are connected only like
the two rings at the extremities of a long chain. Each of them fills
the station which is made for him, and which he does not leave;
the one is continually, closely, and necessarily dependent upon the
other and seems as much born to obey as that other is to com-
mand. What is this but aristocracy?

Then in Vol 3, Chapter VI, "WHAT SORT OF DESPOTISM DEMOCRATIC NATIONS HAVE TO FEAR" he goes on, describing a situation where a democratic nation has become
subject to a despotic government, and when the people give up and stop participating in democracy:

Subjection in minor affairs breaks out every day and is felt by
the whole community indiscriminately. It does not drive men to
resistance, but it crosses them at every turn, till they are led to
surrender the exercise of their own will. Thus their spirit is grad-
ually broken and their character enervated; whereas that obedi-
ence which is exacted on a few important but rare occasions only
exhibits servitude at certain intervals and throws the burden of it
upon a small number of men. It is in vain to summon a people
who have been rendered so dependent on the central power to
choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this
rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it
may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties
of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually
falling below the level of humanity.

Or in other words, once you have managed to oppress the people of a democratic nation, the very equality that defines a democratic nation leaves them powerless and unable to organise together and throw off their chains.

Needs a *Canada.

(yes, I know I'm a mere powerless mortal sifty, thanks for reminding me)

Absolutely,
I support him in every way I can. And I am interested.
I just want to hear more about his case and his right to expose the baddies.

I feel fairly powerless to affect any change in his direction or in the direction of the baddies themselves (AKA US Gov.) As a society, we tend to rally around key figures, hoping they will bring the fight for us. Maybe more people should be rallying to his aid instead of waiting to see what the outcome will be.
Any ideas out there? (I mean ones that won't interfere with my day-to-day life or take up any of my time, I have very little to spare.) (Card carrying member of the status-quo, not bragging, just the reality.)

I see the irony, but I don't get why some people are upset by the guy.

I see a man who felt powerless to help his wife, and so did the only things he could... remaining strong for the family and spending time each day thinking positive thoughts (a.k.a. praying for help).


The guy now has some pretty bad hospital bills due to an accident that may have been avoidable, and took advice that he should file an insurance claim. The insurance company challenged the claim, so he again took advice that a lawsuit was worth filing to help him and his family (and probably avoid bankruptcy... this is the USA after all).