No I'm agnostic but I don't have it branded on my forehead. Most people nod their heads in silent agreement on the rare occasions it comes up.
Atheists ARE actively disliked, however. About the same as activist Christians, I think. Both are perceived as self-righteous, condenscending, and moralistic, it seems to me. Some people think it smugly self-indulgent of them to claim 'special knowledge' without visible justification, indicating an underlying narcissism.
This is just my sense of the situation. Most Americans are silently agnostic, in my opinion. They are not churchgoing, pious, ardent believers, or strident non-believers, and look askance at anyone who is.
Of course, many 'hard' atheists are NOT militantly outspoken or overtly contemptuous of other points of view, but enough are to create the stereotype.
We are systemically oppressed by the system we now have. We produce more value for that which we do and we are not paid in accordance with this value. There are those who are our oppressors, the leadership of the country and the rich, along with others. As producers of value we contribute much of this value to those who do nothing within the process.
Every time I see a pic of European castles, I think of the many serfs whose labor made them possible.
Some of my ancestors, serfs on lands that became the Catholic parts of Germany, were too enslaved to think of borrowing some of those no-longer-used French guillotines.
Nothing is ever undervalued or overvalued for long. Value rises and falls with supply and demand. If picking cotton pays three cents a pound that is because that is what picking cotton is worth at that particular place and time.
If you want a bigger share of the world’s pool of goods and services, then produce something to trade. Trading your labor is perfectly fine, but the market for labor will always have inherent limitations. Basking in envy will get you nowhere
@yvilletom There is a difference between serfdom and enslavement as there is employment and forced labour.
@Geoffrey51 The book the conservatives have had as a leading text for the future is "The Road to Serfdom" Reagan used to use and talk about it at times as a great way to run a country. Ever since they have been doing what they can to bring this to fruition. It is a short read.
Who is ‘we’?
I’m not.
Me either. I don’t flaunt my opinions about religion, not that anybody gives a damn.
Would someone please explain this word “systemic” that keeps being used. If you are talking about a characteristic of a system, do you mean such systems as education, justice, commerce, etc. or do you just mean “prevalent”?
Seems like it’s another nonsense word to make users seem knowledgeable.
I noticed it’s prevalnce a couple of weeks ago and don’t really know what the users are trying to say.
I’d call it systematic suppression, by a combination of unconscious individual ignorance, and leadership based on fear mongering.
We appear to be both envied and resented. The fact we’re capable of functioning outside a tight-knit top-down social network appears to burn some up. And, I notice a lot of - ‘how dare you think for yourselves’ ..attitudes.
Their system and structure demands obedience we refuse to give a myth. They fear our independence - perhaps most of all, our integrity. Our integrity and self reliance on a personal level eats at them ... so they constantly attempt to undercut us - both overt and covertly.
The weak, led by a charismatic self-proclaimed ‘agent of their god’ is a powerful and dangerous combination … in need of a target. Too often, that’s us
Whether it be race, religion, sexual or gender identity, when ingrained bias (otherwise known as prejudice) is encouraged, fostered or even accepted by any self-identified group, systemic discrimination and oppression is the result, no matter what the motivation.