Tuesday, August 25, 2009

sorry

another thing i saw in time that i thought was super interesting, that i'm in love with.

why do other developed countries seem to be so much more conscious, respectful and willing to make changes to their own lives for the greater good than this country? sometimes i just want to move to a country like that, but even more i wish we could just become a country like that. i wish we could stop acting like we are all in it for ourselves. we float together or sink together, when will we really understand this?

p.s. not sorry at all.

13 comments:

Elissa Parrish said...

A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people for the common advantage of all members.
(def of communism)

it's been tried. it's a beautiful ideal. it won't work.

skylana said...

Being Eco friendly and Sweden now on the list of communists. Priceless Elissa, absolutely priceless.

Noelle said...

Urm, Elissa I'm confused as to the relevance of your comment in relation to the actual article/video... did you watch it?

Noelle said...

Just in case there was any confusion...

'Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government and a highly developed economy. It ranks first in the world in The Economist's Democracy Index and seventh in the United Nation's Human Development Index. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.' Wikipedia.

I think you'd love Sweden Skylana... maybe you should move there.

Elissa Parrish said...

i was not commenting on the article but on your comment, "why do other developed countries seem to be so much more conscious, respectful and willing to make changes to their own lives for the greater good than this country?" this is an example of your global thinking which i believe is idealistic.

Sweden being eco-friendly is hardly what i was referring to and perhaps i should have written this on one of your different blogs that more obviously addresses it.

skylana said...

Relating what I believe about people recognizing that there are issues we can only overcome together and for our world is in NO WAY communist. It's highly offensive and off base that you would suggest that it is. It's frustrating that people like you are so damn scared of words like "socialism" and "communism" that that's what gets focused on (wrongly, and i think mostly just as a distraction tactic) whenever any amount of unity is brought up.

Global warming is something we all have to change together, it's not something I can change without you or that Sweden can change without the US, I like that a lot of times people from other countries understand this as our responsibility not our choice.

Saying that my ideas of how a country can come together and be unified and in someways take care of each other is communism is a huge leap, not a very intelligent comparison in my mind and looks a lot like you are just spouting out things you've heard from old rush.

Obama is a socialist and the new Hitler and now I am a communist. Ridiculous.

skylana said...

and if they're doing it in other countries successfully, it must not be idealistic.

Elissa Parrish said...

i did not call you a communist.

i am not scared of communism. it is a great idea if in the end it actually worked. equality is a wonderful thing.

if my opinion is offensive to you i will keep future political ones to myself. i was under the impression that you enjoyed hearing other perspectives.

skylana said...

You didn't outright say I was a communist you implied that my way of thinking was. I don't mind disagreeing with you, I mind when you imply ridiculous things about what I think based on impressions that aren't true to who I am. Especially because you have distracted the ENTIRE conversation and idea from what it was meant to be about. I still am unclear as to why all of us realizing that we are responsible for changing our wasteful ways and finding innovative avenues to make that change happen is in any way idealistic or communist.

stina said...

my friend lives in an apartment building here in mpls, mn that's eco friendly and made from recycled materials etc...i wish we had MANY more like it!
i've been hearing a lot of good things about sweden lately from people who have been there-for visits and studying abroad.
my grandma's cousins still live there.
it's not overly ideal at all to want to do more of things like what swede's being shown to to in that article/vid...

JessicaToday said...

Ok trying hard not to totally blow up at this Elissa person.
Its very frustrating to hear such ridiculous things being said in relation to a blog about wanting whats best for our environment.
I am really trying to wrap my head around where the idea that trying to follow other countries who have a better handle on how to combat global warming is somehow communist.
Freaking weird. And sad.
But wait. Hmm.
I am realizing that it does seem appropriate in a way, because there you have it Skylana. Your answer. The reason. Why we cant get our shit together to make bold steps in a way that will eventually benefit the entire globe. Americans are slow to warm up to the idea of putting decision making in the hands of a authoritarian power so rather than realizing that this kind of blockage is only hurting them in the end, they chose to close their eyes.
"It wont work", they say.
"Its only going to hurt us in the end", they cry.
"Its not going to help anyone if we let someone in power make decisions for us, even if they do benefit us", they blindly assume. "We just cant take that chance", they say as they slam the nail in Americas coffin.
Well, that's correct. With this kind of thinking, it never will work. We have to be willing to examine each issue as it comes and decide what to do about it in a way that is complex and intelligent enough to know the difference between real change and progress vs. blind following that eventually leads to disaster. If we never allow the people in power (who we have elected as a nation collectively, btw) to make final decisions about how to better combat the growing problems of a new world, then we will always be stuck in this limbo.
It is not idealistic to want to promote positive change and new ways of thinking. Its called intelligence and awareness.
As far as my own opinion about how sad our apathy as a nation to adopt new ways of doing things is... I get depressed whenever I think about it. Like you, I don't want to move to another country, I just am hoping that our country will someday soon move in the direction of a more willing and active participant with issues such as global warming and take a cue from other nations that are doing great jobs thinking outside of the box.

meg said...

In a way this concept is idealistic, especially in the planning stages because this takes money and a lot of it. But seeing it done in an entire community - 7,000 units and counting! - is inspiring and encouraging. They've proved we can get away from the old way of thinking and make conscious efforts to adjust the future of building, community planning and development.

stina said...

this has nottthinggg to do with this post, but i saw this headline and read part of the article, and thought you might be interested and i'm interested about your opinion on it, because you seem to really look into things and think through them :)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,543203,00.html
i hope that link works?