I don't like manufactured videos, but because I agree so strongly with the message of "Just because it isn't happening here..." I have to upvote this.
These would be more poignant/accessible if they just showed dismembered bodies with the same message.
Despite that, since I was probably 10 years old, my faith in other people has been forever damaged by that "It doesn't affect my life" mantra. Regardless of my wealth, social status, or ease of mind, I will never live a consciously comfortable life while someone on this planet is being harmed by another.
People say I am and idiot/cheating myself, but I can't understand why more people don't look at the world this way.

Well artician, until people get a clue as to the hows and whos behind conflict eruption, famines, etc., the ride won't stop but will most certainly escalate.

Economic market manipulation with the goal of consolidating complete control of humanity is the goal, destroy the perpetrators of the ruse and this game ends and a new one begins.

*Notice the headline on dad's paper, as he sits non-nonchalantly reading about the government declaring martial law...Same shit the media constantly preps the U.S. for.

You really want to save the children you have to teach them to recognize complete truths as opposed to manipulative fabrication.

@artician
because you are a fully actualized human being.
the majority of the western cultures have been berated under a cascade of distractions and so-called "entertainment" to further their devolution into little consumption machines...SQUIRREL!

when you attempt to understand someone from their perspective,through empathy and compassion,you begin to love them.this is a natural process which does not fit into the "us and them" paradigm.

the tools for violence and conflict are made flaccid and ineffectual.
religion.
nationalism.
become useless tools to manipulate.


understanding leads to love which leads to cooperation which only serves to undermine the interests of the powerful...so that can never be allowed.

it is the natural state of being that humans cooperate and work together but we,in the "developed" world,are taught that greed is good and selfishness is an admirable trait to pursue.

it is a spiritual cancer.

how ironic that those who live in the "under-developed" world are much more prone to share,cooperate and have a far more dynamic understanding of community.

the more i read your comments the more convinced i am that you are one righteous dude.
you are not alone.
the rising tide of resistance grows each and every day.
stay awesome my man.

Don't be too hard on yourself.

As callous as it seems, what you are talking about is actually an evolved response and an important one too.

If humans took every tragedy as personally as we do when it happens to some one close to us, we would be paralysed by grief continuously.

Note: I'm not saying that you shouldn't care, simply explaining the reason behind the way most people think.

I agree with you 100% artician.

Also... I know it's a short video, but damn, that little girl is one hell of an actress.

Poppycock!
Humans have always been cruel to each other and they always will be. Religion, nationality, these are all just excuses. We are herd animals, tribal in nature and this will never change. It is just natural for us to look at how we can seperate us and the ones we love from everybody else. The easiest way ist to look for looks, that's why we have racism. It's something we can see. Next are things like how we sound( language, nationality), how we act (mentality) and how we think (political and religious views).
We are simply more focused on recognizing what seperates us from each other than appreciating what connects us. That is what comes natural to us.
Empathy is the exception, the bonding agent between the chasms of social divide. Sometimes it comes to us naturally but the horrible truth is that we're more likely to hack each other to pieces with machetes than to reach out for each other.
We are flawed creatures looking for reasons to hate each other because that's the easy thing to do. It's in our nature. That's who we are, finding an "us" to pit against a "them"

@JustSaying
/chuckles..
thank you my friend.
you just made my point.

First off, I want to say @artician, thanks for such an insightful comment, and enoch as well. I've not been participating in this community much for the past few years because of being busy with figuring myself out and trying to figure out how I feel about the mess we're in. Interesting conversations like this were what drew me to the sift initially.

Ultimately, I've come to a similar conclusion as you. While, as JustSaying noted, we do tend to be tribal creatures, the nature of the interaction between ingroups and outgroups is a learned one (for the most part) just like violence as an acceptable outlet is a learned habit (for the most part; children who are abused and grow up surrounded by violence are more likely to perpetuate abuse, etc). Because people naturally learn to be more tolerant and empathetic as they grow to understand each other and see how much their similarities outweigh their differences, this tribal nature shifts in more interconnected societies to things like political parties, sports fanships, cliques, etc. as the increased understanding/empathy between us decrease the potential for dehumanization of the "other" and violence.

We are living in more peaceful times than ever before in most ways. We are learning to be more accepting of religion, sexuality, and other differences more than ever before in terms of the global average. We have a system that promotes dehumanization and exploitation, selfishness and secrecy rather than compassion and empathy, sharing and oppenness, but such a system need not always be. There are no easy answers, and none of us can do anything alone to change things, but the majority of us are tired of the wars and killing, throwing away the lives of our youth instead of seeing what new art and science and wonder they could bring to our world. Those who lust after power enough to exercise it over their fellow men the way it has been are the few and very sick who need some help and removal from temptation, like a "recovering" alcoholic at a Christmas party.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by JAPR.

Lol, without looking I just knew there had to be a tired, anti-capitalist, naive, rant by chin.

Amusing, as many people who have spent any real time examining economic issues and social justice would call your dismissive attitude the naive one. Try actually arguing on a point by point basis against the economic exploitation that lies at the basis of current capitalist systems where jobs = survival and the whole system's been carved up into little feudal kingdoms instead of just accepting claims on their face simply because you've been told your whole life how wonderful our way of living is for all of us.

If you approach the task with any sincerity, you'll first realize that there's a metric fuck ton of awful things that we have done in the name of economic domination to preserve our power over others (as a nation, as a collection of businesses, as a herd of lazy people buying products made by child labor simply because it's convenient), and you'll likely then also realize that your history book was just as rose-tinted as the Japanese governments' when they refuse to talk about Japan's war crimes.

Edumacate yourself and then see if you can still just throw out trite dismissals like that.

Don't need to "Edumacate" myself thanks. As for arguing a point? Well, with certain closed minded conspiracy theorists it is pointless. Especially with someone who sees ALL the problems wrapped neatly up in a capitalist plot. Their answer? they have none other than "overthrow those in control." Well, you don't need to look far to see what anarchy brings. Or should I spell it out for you? It brings exactly that; Anarchy, in fighting, tribalism, persecution and pain. You stick to your childish revolutionary talk and I will, with all its flaws, stick to the best there is at the minute ie, capitalism and democracy (such as it is).

By assuming we are "close minded conspiracy theorists" simply off the basis of having a different conclusion than you, you're simply avoiding the discussion, and you still fail to make any legitimate arguments; you merely repeat the "tired and naive" talking point of how "it's not the best, but it's the best we have" to defend an unjust system.

When has that attitude ever done us good? We have such amazing technology and understanding of the universe because of the way we as a whole ultimately reject that argument and instead say "some of this works quite well, but we need a lot of work in other areas."

Personally, I'm a fan of the free market concept. I think a fair amount of those who you are so eager to write off as fools also do. The problem comes down to what our concepts of justice are. We speak fondly of "equality of opportunity," but anyone can see we have no such thing. Only when everyone has equal opportunity to pursue learning in the fields of their choice without having to give up on adding to our collective culture/knowledge because of the economic pressure of survival can we truly say people are free. So long as anyone is taking a job they hate just to scrape by at the bottom of the chain, and we exercise violence against each other to try and force our ways onto others on a massive scale, we are, in my opinion, a profoundly unjust society.

Of course, violence will never end, scheming and exploitation and all our evils will continue to plague us. We can't make a utopia. What we can do, though, is decrease the potential for abuse in our current systems. I, and many others, think that separating the means of survival and self-actualization - the things required to develop, grow, and contribute to humanity at a high level (namely, food/water/shelter, basic healthcare, and free, equal access to education) - from the rest of the market is one way to make a huge impact on that potential for abuse. Think about it: how many times do we let corporations damage our environment and abuse us simply because speaking out means losing your means of survival?

I think the rest of the market is going to have to stay the market, nobody can really say how it's fair to divide up all our resources (though I hope for an increase in democracy going forwards for things related to our environment and health). Amusingly, though you rail against anarchy, the actual ideals of anarchy fall in line with the concept of a free market (anarchy is really all about freedom of association rather than coercive structures; not a lack of order).

Again and again, your repeated statements reflect only your assumptions of my motivations based on the written words. If you'd like to know who and what I am you have but to inquire. I'll let you in on a little secret if you'd like a clue:

These are the absolute best of times to be alive in on planet now. If you want my opinion of the manner in which you and others of similar ilk conduct themselves on this site and others concerning a dissenting opinion or alternatives to run-of-the-mill editorials concerning world affairs anchored in parroting party-line opinions, you may crawl up my ass to find the answers for yourself.

As for anarchy well, you may look to geopolitics as reflected in the current paradigm, and perhaps you'll see that us common-folk haven't really got a clue of the debauch enjoyed by those involved in that sort of inhumanity.

You know, it's funny, when I see these arguments on here I sigh and think howYouTubish. Then I look at YouTube (especially for this video) and I realize, that despite how much people on here disagree, at least 90% of the conversation is actually real.

Real comments from YT:
"Did she get pedoed?"
"Its the jews"
"When does this game come out"

So yeah, please, argue away.

*dark

Adding video to channels (Dark) - requested by Zawash.

That would have been a worthy diatribe in, say, the middle ages or even up to the early 20th century. But now? Now we have access to unparalleled knowledge, an abundance of consumer goods and better health care than ever in history. Yes it is far from equal to all. Yes it has room for improvement. But we are getting there.

Actually, you would be better crawling up your own ass - as you so intelligently put it - rather than reading the doom and gloom, west hating bile of your hero Noam Chomsky.

And yeah - *nochannel, *dark, *fear, *british, *worldaffairs, - this is not for kids.

This video has been removed from all channels (Kids, Dark, Fear) due to invalid channel assignment - nochannel invoked by Zawash. Please review the FAQ to learn about appropriate channel assignments.

Adding video to channels (British, Dark, Fear, Worldaffairs) - requested by Zawash.

Once again, your main argument seems to be "shit works okay, why should we bother trying to do better?" I cannot accept such a lazy attitude towards suffering that you and I help perpetrate. Yes, there is a lot less suffering, but when that is tied more to technology and healthcare and less to the actual way of life that we lead (amusing how somehow our fancy modern lives are incredibly stressful for anybody in the lower and lower-middle class; and even MORE stressful for those in the countries from whom we source our cheap goods and services), and not to actively reducing abuse against our fellow men, we're being complicit in the abuses.

You have to do more than just hope it'll fix itself. That has never done anything for us.

Although, on the other hand, with humans being how they are, YOU don't have to do anything. When you have seen enough information/had enough experiences to realize the injustice of our system for yourself, you won't really have a choice in the matter, because you will want of your own accord to see a better world. Just maybe try to take a closer look at things, you know?

Also, thanks for having a civil conversation about it despite our disagreements (and I apologize if I've been a bit over-the-top with my dickishness anywhere along the way so far). I think that so long as everyone in a discussion is willing to really listen to the points another is trying to make, we can all learn something (though I'm sure you and I have both heard variations of each others' arguments before, we've not seen it played out in quite this way, surely).

Where did I infer that; ""shit works okay, why should we bother trying to do better?" Nowhere. You appear to have missed my comment; "But we are getting there." Which, obviously, implies things are being done.
As for your patronising; " When you have seen enough information/had enough experiences." Not that it matters, but I have been around the world 3 times. I have seen - first hand - the sad state of some countries and try to do my bit.
FYI, technology and healthcare DOES actively reduce abuses. Also, we source from cheaper countries so that our goods are cheaper. Does that include bad working/remuneration packages? Sadly it does. But fair trade agreements are starting to tackle the issues. As badly off as some workers are, do you propose that we don't deal with the companies that exploit them? That would not be in their interest as they would have no income at all. And it would not be in our interest as we all like affordable goods. In that regard you are right, we are ALL complicit, but then we are all after making our money go further for our families.
Life is not fair my friend but, as I said, we are getting there.

I guess I should clarify; I think that the pace of our advances is being bottlenecked by our current system because we (as nations) continue to exploit via a relentless focus on profit rather than try to actually spread knowledge and tech as best we can.

A free education system for the world would be incredibly easy to achieve with our current technology, but as nations we don't even try to aim for such a thing. As universities and other education institutions (publishing companies, etc), we have no incentive to truly aim for this in the current paradigm because it reverses profit growth (which, honestly, in the case of education, is pretty much all over-inflated anyway). There's no malicious intent, no conspiracy, and noble goals abound, but we're doing it at a snail's pace out of selfishness.

Individual people act much more nobly than large, well-established institutions. You see a rather strong trend of such large groups behaving closer to the "rational" approach from economic game theory, i.e. the one where self-preservation and gain are maximized first and foremost. If we just rely on our institutions to fix the problems at their root or think that the incidental improvements tied to increased tech and knowledge are being nurtured even half as well as they could be, I think we'd be gravely mistaken.

I think we both ultimately hope for the same outcome, but we clearly disagree on the extent to which our current society(/societies) effectively move towards those outcomes. I would personally like to see us double down on those things that help move us forward.

EDIT: Some examples of ways we're bullshitting ourselves and not doing half as much as we could, for your pleasure.

Princeton University's motto is "In the service of the nation and of all nations" (probably slightly off on the phrasing, sorry), and they have BILLIONS of dollars of endowment. If they and their alumni network took this motto seriously, with their knowledge of business, tech, and science, they could easily bring entire nations out of poverty by simply helping local people adapt tech in sustainable ways to provide food for their population more easily, institute strong education access, and more. Harvard, Oxford, all the other big names are in similar situations. They can do SO MUCH, but just do little projects while answering to their boards about making sure to keep the cash flow positive, keep the endowment growing, keep using alumni donations to pay for things where possible. It's bullshit.

Most large organized religions are also lazy about service. There are many who do seriously just aim at food and medical aid, but most are more interested in conversions and extra tithes than eliminating poverty. How many Christian missionaries of various sects are there around the world? Of them, how many devote their missions to actual service of everyone they can to show their religion through their works as opposed to just focusing on bringing people into the fold via preaching? Additionally, the old "teach a man to fish" concept comes into play here; giving food is good, but we need to be helping people help themselves as well so that they can thrive.

I know shit is very complicated and the answers aren't easy, but we can EASILY do better than this.

"I know shit is very complicated and the answers aren't easy, but we can EASILY do better than this."

Sigh.

And who, now, tell me, are the "good guys" in Syria? We can't even get aid into the country; when we do, where is it going? Is it being diverted? Into whose hands? Is it feeding the troops, on either or both sides, who, rejuvenated by supplies, rally to fight and make it worse for everyone else?

The collapse of the Cold War has let the repressed sectarian and religious hatreds of a hundred years or more (the Serbians still fixate on a glorious defeat that happened in 1389...I'm not kidding) boil over across the planet...

This and the Norwegian bus stop advertisement for Syrian aid are amazing pieces---and I applaud them...

Two random factoids I can't quite resolve in my head:
1) American's think we spend 25% of our national budget on foreign; we actually spend somewhere between 1.5% and under 1 % depending on how you include certain payments (the Nordic countries embarrass us by spending 2-3X as much as us as percentage of GDP)...and

2) It is pretty much a demonstrable fact that we are now living in the most peaceful time in human history. How horrifying it must have been to live in any other time---
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Sift of the week.

And the Trix toy at the bottom of the cereal bag makes it all better.

now sift of the 2 weeks. -_-

This is an illustration of why I find it so offensive when people tell me I should respect soldiers for protecting my freedom. With a lot of exceptions, people become soldiers for lack of any better option, and find themselves forced to make small contributions to massive atrocities/injustices.