What is socialism?

The blog Socialism Or Your Money Back has posted a short Q&A concerning socialism. It's an interesting read - here.

For some reason or another, I'm practically always labeled a socialist on every political quiz I take. In fact, I believe that's been my answer every time. However, the main reason I'm not a socialist is because I'm enough of a realist to know it wouldn't work. Human nature is never going away, and people are greedy. They don't want to share. People want to be the best, they want the nicest things, and they want to be lazy. While socialism could work in communes and very small communities, and certain aspects could be worked successfully into our world (such as workers having a lot of rights), capitalism, at least at the moment, isn't going anywhere.

Apologies

I'm sorry for the striking loss of posts recently. I got accepted into a university where I'll be pursuing my major in political science, and that's been my only focus lately. I've also been working 8-5 every single day, and getting home after 6 and trying to do everything I need to do with dial-up isn't really the best environment to get work done in. However, I've spent my day off minimizing everything; I've unsubscribed to blogs and newsletters, deleted a bunch of time-wasters from my bookmarks folder, and sought out time-saving apps and sites. At least when I get to school I'll have broadband!


I'd love to hear how some of you save time and increase your productivity. Leave me tips in the comments.

Decidership

Urban dictionary, the site where you can discover the meaning of any slang and made-up word in the world, says that a "decidership" is "A form of government with one person exercising absolute power and unrestricted control in a government who regularly disregards opinions, petitions or mandates of the people or elected representatives." It's scary, but America is a decidership.

The Bush administration has proven time and time again that it doesn't care what people of this country think or want done. No poll or protest could ever change their mind. They do what they want to do. When the ground they're standing on gets a little shaky, they use the media as a tool of diversion. Find another Osama tape, blame something on the lying liberals. Change the subject.

Sometimes I feel as though George Bush will not step down from his presidency. It's hard to imagine, isn't it. Luckily, I don't think Americans are dumbed down to the point that they'll accept that yet unless something catastrophic takes place. Something akin to 9/11.

Global Incident Map

The Global Incident Map shows terrorist threats all over the world. Most of them don't make the news, so it's interesting to see what's going on. Each event has it's own symbol, and when you mouse over you get a definition such as, "INDIA - Smallpox alert in Northeast". There's no real use for this, but it's noteworthy nonetheless.Global Incident Map

Aunt Jemima

A petition has been created for the removal of the Aunt Jemima image and name, one of the many racist/sexist icons used by an American company. According to the petition,

The racist, sexist stereotype of Aunt Jemima has become entrenched into the subconscious memory and culture of all Americans, and like a health-destroying bad habit, has sneaked into our existence and psyches as to have become a normal image that no longer holds feelings of disgust, shame and revulsion. That the manufacturers of Aunt Jemima have for over 100 years been able to so skillfully integrate this disparaging symbol into American culture, as to lend it as imparting endearing qualities across all racial, gender and ethnic groups, has had a profound impact on the image black Americans have had of themselves and of the image whites, and other races, have had of black people, and especially the image that black women have had to contend with.

There is also an article about the history of Aunt Jemima at Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of My Black Sisters.

I have a feeling that, in the decade coming up, many degrading logos and images will be replaced by something far better. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking of my part. But I do think that people are finally realizing that icons like Aunt Jemima is dangerous to our society.

Sunday Zen

"If one looks with a cold eye at the mess man has made of history, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he has bee afflicted by some built-in mental disorder which drives him toward self-destruction." - Arthur Koestler