the american delusion

[Baruch]

It is always cheaper to grow one's own vegetables. 

Capitalism steps in when one does not have the means to grow those vegetables on one's own.

City people, those who live in apartment type buildings in particular, are the ones who suffer the most.  However, not necessarily.

Vegetables tend to be cheaper than anything else in the store.

I do not need a five dollar bag of chips, after all, though tell that to those who spend that much.

I would rather use that five dollars on healthy food, so long as the food comes from the store I prefer is not corporate or an overpriced health food establishment.

Monsanto and Bill Gates beg to differ.  They control the legacy seeds, and only provide satan seeds when possible (seeds that self destruct, so they can only be used for planting, not for propagation), so even your garden is under their ultimate control, like Big Pharma, Big Farma ... wants you to come back to them for more, every planting season.

[Unbeliever]

People have never as a rule, been a willing sacrifice ... unless they are forced to.

How can someone be forced to be a willing sacrifice?

[Baruch]

How can someone be forced to be a willing sacrifice?

That is the rhetoric dictators tend to use ... because I put a gun to your wife's/child's head ... you willing agreed to do something you previously were unwilling to do.  The dictators POV is if you were a real man, you would kill your own wife, kill your own children, then kill yourself, rather than fall into the hands of the dictator to begin with.

On the other hand, you can be forced into sacrifice by unwanted circumstances ... as I can appreciate myself.  I don't know what I would do if confronted with a dictator, maybe kill him?

[fencerider]

Jannabear every nation has their own propaganda and lies. It is unfortunate that so many people in the United States believes it.

as far as importing stuff from China is concerned its the same hog wash the gas station sells every year. We cant forget that before closing up shop in the U.S. most big biz make good money. They leave because they are greedy and want more money. The gas station tells us it costs more for the winter blend so they can raise the price. Then in the spring time they raise the price again saying more people are driving. Moving a biz back to the U.S. is an excuse to raise the price. They were making a good profit before they left the U.S. and we were paying less

[Baruch]

Americans don't believe Russian propaganda!

[SGOS]

At a college campus library, I came across a magazine, Soviet Life.  It had the same look and feel as Life Magazine.  They bragged about not having traffic jams, due to the fact that they had less cars.  This was back in the 60s.  I don't know if they still don't have traffic jams.

[Baruch]

At a college campus library, I came across a magazine, Soviet Life.  It had the same look and feel as Life Magazine.  They bragged about not having traffic jams, due to the fact that they had less cars.  This was back in the 60s.  I don't know if they still don't have traffic jams.

I saw that occasionally in HS too ... I spent four years studying Russian.  My favorite Soviet car moment ... was in a silly propaganda film ... they had this huge weight lifter arrive at a sport meet, in this tiny VW size car.  He got out, and parallel parked by picking it up and moving it sideways ;-))  See the Russians did invent everything first .. in this case the original Honda Civic.

[Sorginak]

I find that studying the language is less efficient than studying the culture. 

[Cavebear]

I find that studying the language is less efficient than studying the culture.

You can't truly understand a culture without understanding the language.

[Sorginak]

You can't truly understand a culture without understanding the language.

Language is easily learned without an iota of the culture.

[Baruch]

Language is easily learned without an iota of the culture.

How many have you studied?  How many are you fluent in?

But yes, I love to study the culture too ... history, biography etc.

[Cavebear]

Language is easily learned without an iota of the culture.

Try learning slang in a foreign language "without an iota of culture".  LOL!  Utter fail!!!

[SGOS]

I saw that occasionally in HS too.

I never really decided if that was a legit magazine or not.  It was obviously propaganda, but laid on so thick that it could have been a forerunner of The Onion.  I also wondered if it used the Life format to target Americans.  Did they even publish that in Russian for their own people?  I also wondered if it could have been put out by the CIA, just to make the Soviets look silly.  I only read one article.  I was visiting that campus, and I never saw that magazine again after that.

[Baruch]

I never really decided if that was a legit magazine or not.  It was obviously propaganda, but laid on so thick that it could have been a forerunner of The Onion.  I also wondered if it used the Life format to target Americans.  Did they even publish that in Russian for their own people?  I also wondered if it could have been put out by the CIA, just to make the Soviets look silly.  I only read one article.  I was visiting that campus, and I never saw that magazine again after that.

Oh, so you visited Berkeley during the student uprising?  Score any good weed? ;-)

As far as I know, it was only published outside the USSR, in multiple languages ... by the USSR.  Obviously their PR failed.  USSA puts out cultural PR too, our reruns of our TV shows, movies, Radio Free Europe, and our music.  Our PR was successful, and very irritating to France ;-)

[SGOS]

Oh, so you visited Berkeley during the student uprising?  Score any good weed? ;-)

Actually, it was the University of Washington at Pullman.  I've never been to Berkeley.