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Benito Mussolini: What is Fascism

Fascism should more properly be called 'corporatism' because it is the merger of state and corporate power.

Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone.

Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it. All other trials are substitutes, which never really put men into the position where they have to make the great decision -- the alternative of life or death....

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html


Mussolini and mistress tour Italy during World War 2


Il Douchbag

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WWASPS has faced widespread allegations of physical and psychological abuse of the teenagers sent into its programs,[2] resulting in a lawsuit filed against the organization in 2006.

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Originally posted by Littlebird:

Yes, very shameful time in the history of this country.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

In our experience, anything even resembling psychic ability seems to all come from the same root, human empathy - prolly why our society is so geared towards crushing it out, and since 1978 I've begun to suspect that mankind is on the verge of a jump in mental/psychological evolution, and tripped over some related research by Thelma Moss and the UCLA team because it indirectly related to some other things I was looking into a couple years later.
-Frem

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Originally posted by Niki2:
The two are so entwined it's impossible to separate them.

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for example, a law was passed to outlaw traditional edison style bulbs, in favor of the new(coincidentally more expensive) 'energy efficient' flourescents. well who lobbyed for the laws passage? well.. non other then GE and sylvania. how fortunate, to have a law passed that is likely to increase a companys profits.

the real question is, why is it governments role to regulate such a purchase? in a real free market, the consumer would decide what purchase is best for him/herself. why am i being forced to buy a more expensive product? this is my point! get government out of our lives! and the lobbying becomes futile- government loses the authority

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Originally posted by Littlebird:
I'm torn on psychic abilities arising entirely from human empathy though. I've met, and heard of, some psychics who seemed very evil, cold, and self centered to me. I need to examine this subject more.

That said, I agree that human empathy and understanding can work miracles.

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Originally posted by Kirkules:
I get an instant unexplained hatred of some on first contact that more often than not becomes justified upon gaining further knowledge about that person.

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Originally posted by Kirkules:

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

In our experience, anything even resembling psychic ability seems to all come from the same root, human empathy - prolly why our society is so geared towards crushing it out, and since 1978 I've begun to suspect that mankind is on the verge of a jump in mental/psychological evolution, and tripped over some related research by Thelma Moss and the UCLA team because it indirectly related to some other things I was looking into a couple years later.
-Frem

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I think you’re on to something here Frem. My mother always believed that empathy was a underestimated factor in the power of the human mind. She actually wrote her first PHD thesis on the effect of the empathy of doctors on the outcomes of common surgeries. It was rejected by her academic advisor as to controversial so she changed the subject to something more generic. I’ve always considered myself to be very empathic, but it gives me no special power other then the ability to spot a sociopath others seem unable to detect. I get an instant unexplained hatred of some on first contact that more often than not becomes justified upon gaining further knowledge about that person.
Just in case you were wondering my first impression of you was a positive one, and I don’t get the impression that there are any sociopaths currently posting here.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Well, yes, that *is* one end of the dark side, the ability to manipulate someone so effectively, which in combination with the ability to read em and using the correct range of voice tones and body language, can be very VERY damned effective.

How the hell you think I talk folk into stuff ?

There's even a historic precedent - Maximilien Robespierre.

Seriously, if you let him speak, that was your ass, the one time he choked and got shouted down is more or less what killed him.
And let that be a lesson to you, about listening to *anyones* siren song without questioning it, and the dark roads it can lead you down before you even realize it.

On the positive side, that is also how I determine whether I am dealing with a trueborn sociopath, or someone who is afflicted by learned sociopathy as an adaptation mechanism, which can be every bit as bad, and is FAR more common since a certain degree of that behavior is required to mentally/emotionally "survive" a public school education.

The difference is that the learned version of this can be reversed, and much more effectively if you get to it early before it has calcified into the personality as a whole.

But the key is, empathy - if they're actively suppressing empathic reactions, they're not a sociopath, not a trueborn, anyhows.

-Frem

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i hear a lot of people suggest term limits as a solution, but the most immediate step i can think of is redefine the role of government! if we want government to regulate every aspect of our lives, purchases, decisions etc.. then we will never close the door to lobbying

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:

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Does that help?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Yes, thank you. Your explanation helped the last pieces click into place. I'm slightly autistic with emotional understandings. But I'm thinking empathy is not so much an emotion as it is a state of being.

*mini stream of thought woo-woo ramble* So empathy is sorta like the pure state of original man before all the splits caused by the control matrix and twisted thinking on this planet. And also coming at this from a physics entanglement point of view .. we really are all one. *** And, I kinda think the entire subconscious/conscious split is another unnatural control mechanism placed upon us. *

By the way, I really like your sig. :)

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Originally posted by KrelleK:

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

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just a thought: empathicness, is that something that is inheritable by a possible offspring of the empath so to speak, and would that trait be refinable(maybe the wrong word), as in would two empaths that get a child or 2, would the kids then be more/"stronger" empathic?

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Originally posted by KrelleK:
just a thought: empathicness, is that something that is inheritable by a possible offspring of the empath so to speak, and would that trait be refinable(maybe the wrong word), as in would two empaths that get a child or 2, would the kids then be more/"stronger" empathic?

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Originally posted by Littlebird:

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Originally posted by KrelleK:

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

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just a thought: empathicness, is that something that is inheritable by a possible offspring of the empath so to speak, and would that trait be refinable(maybe the wrong word), as in would two empaths that get a child or 2, would the kids then be more/"stronger" empathic?

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There might be an empathy gene that could be passed on to offspring. I don't know. I do think that if a child is lucky enough to have two parents who are empathic and raise their children in a loving and safe environment that the children would feel safe enough to express more of those qualities.

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Originally posted by HKCavalier:

So, this hatreds:/indicator of yours functions online? You get reliable reads from posts? Me, the really disturbed individuals I've encountered online tend to read as "empty" or I get a sorta "psychic silence" from 'em--know what I mean?

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As the Times notes, however, touch can ease pain, lift depression and even possibly increase the odds that a team will win.

But touch is even more vital than this: babies who are not held and nuzzled and hugged enough will literally stop growing and-if the situation lasts long enough, even if they are receiving proper nutrition-die.

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Physical intimacy is a natural part of human nature, and research has shown it has health benefits as well. When we hug or touch, we release oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin, and have a dip in stress hormones.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Ha! - Me and the ex-Fremgirl are way too much control freaks to ever sit on the back, it's bad *enough* having to listen to each other in a car, especially with her being Kentucky-fried and me being appalachian hills, in a state where everyone seems to think they're at Talledega...


Anyhows, you wanna talk about tough women, listen to some of the RAWA girls at them orphanages, it wasn't like they be-bopped down to the local womens shelter, and that's some seriously badass desert out there, makes my rescue run through tecate look like a walk in the park, and it ain't like they just let em go neither, more than one slit throat among them stories, lemme tellya.

But there's many types of courage - it's one thing to be fearless when you're quick, tough, and skilled enough to apparently *still* be quite threatening from a damn wheelchair...
(And that WAS funny - "He wheeled towards me in a threatening manner!")

And yet there's also the courage to stay your hand when every ounce of you cries out to strike, and sometimes that's the hardest courage of all.
Watch Pans Labyrinth - Mercedes tremendous courage struck even my black heart, I could not have done that, and when she *did* strike damn she made it count.

But it's a whole nother ballgame entire when you're weak, helpless, unskilled, even ignorant of your options, or even that you have any.

And so, lemme explain about Wendy, a former DeVee who's insinuated herself somewhere between would-be paramour and self-adopted bratty daughter and shows no intent to budge.

Given what we know of early development, she had to have known love, once, probably before the development of linear coherent memory, but as a product of the Foster Care System she certainly has no memory of any - by all rights she should be a wolf-child, the usual result of what I call Closet Kid Syndrome, and damn us all that I even need a term for something so awful it shouldn't even exist.

All she knew for so very long was darkness, silence, hunger, it was ALL she knew, you understand - hell even a beating shows someone cares, cares enough to hate, but there's times that ain't nothing worse.. than nothing.

Who knows what started it, a memory, a sound, probably a scent of spring, since the girl has an amazing sense of smell, but at some point she up and decided she was gonna pick her time and go for it - completely unknowing of the fact that we had recently been called in by a concerned relative who was fearful that the girl was prolly buried in the back yard, who came to us after two years of trying to get someone, anyone, to investigate...

That's not a bash on the system, though I've got the right - so much as they didn't go about it well, had nothing to offer in the way of reason or evidence, and were very tenative for fear of bringing that system down upon their own heads, and finally in desperation went to the darker side and thankfully drew our attention before getting in over their heads with something unpleasant.

Now, I don't believe what other folks believe, but the situation as it unfolded simply defies any logical, rational explaination, longshots like that only happen in bad hollywood B-flicks, and it kinda offends my sense of a sensible reality to have that dropped on my head like an Acme Anvil from a merry melodies cartoon, mind you, call it fate, destiny, whatever, for the kid to pick THAT moment, to make her break, defies all sensibility, especially since she's never been able to explain or articulate why herself.

Hell, maybe it's a bright version of the dark wind that seemed to follow Jelly Brice, causing hardcore mobsters to instantly surrender when he showed up despite having no manner of knowing it... sorry, digressing...

Anyhows, so this tiny, quiet, badly malnourished and neglected girl picked her time and glory-rushed the door for all she was worth, and it was worth a LOT since she had just recently tipped into the age bracket where the berserkerang usually first manifests itself - I swear, the place looked like a bomb hit when they came to take evidence pictures, she went full bore zerk on the whole bloody place since she couldn't see to hit anything in particular.

Yeah, she has permanent vision damage, mind you, another aspect of Closet Kid Syndrome, but there's a real whiz optometrist here and we've been working with various lenses and filters, she's been real patient since this might help others down the road, though obviously it'd be better if there WEREN'T any others, but still, she can see ok only after sunset, and will never be able to drive a car, but she can SEE - which at that time, she could not, it was all one big, bright, loud blur to her, you see.

But using memory of footstep sounds from above, remembered layout, scent, hell, for all I know it was the friggin force, she made it to, and through, the front door, leaving it hanging on one badly bent top hinge, and hightailed it as fast as possible, somewhere, anywhere, just, AWAY - not even thinking to howl at the top of her lungs cause it never occured to her, all she knew, all she hoped, was that people weren't evil and SOMEONE would be there to rescue her if she could only get loose long enough for it to happen, the sheer STRENGTH of that belief, that courage, that she put her entire extistence on the line, so far as she knew, betting everything she had, little that it was, on simple human decency, despite never having known it in her own memory - what do you SAY to that ?

Even more bizarre, what do you say to that absolute surety, that certainty, when you happen to be the one who WAS there, and it makes utterly no sense to YOU ?

And so there's me, with nothin but a vague description to work with, doing a slow cruise-by and mentally marking out spots to place a couple observers to see who comes and goes, too cursed early and not completely mentally "with it" all that well quite yet - and WHAM, out that door comes this teensy girl who matches the vague description and has no other reason to be there, with one of the Fosters in hot, injured, angry pursuit...

One of my edges is being so quick on the uptake some folk take it for prescience, and before my brain caught up enough to sputter WTF? my reflexes were already in gear and active, snapped the wheel hard and heel stomped the brakes to swing the back end loose and cut the angle, reaching out and flicking the door latch as I locked the brakes up again to stop and fling the door wide - and yelled TAKE MY HAND! - she flailed for it, caught a grip like a set of visegrips and I hauled her into the car and took off so fast apparently they never even got a plate number, not that it woulda mattered so much later, but it did forestall any immediate problems that I was long and away GONE before the Fosters even thought to notify anyone - them bein reluctant for some damned obvious reasons.

I hadn't connected it cause imma dolt sometimes, and for me a certain degree of kindness is so automatic I don't even notice - but en route to a safe place, I thought to give her some food since she was so obviously malnourished, and woulda gone with somethin like a small set of chicken nuggets or something equally tiny and bland (I have far more experience than I ever wanted in dealing with really damaged people) but that she couldn't see complicated that, so I bought her a strawberry milkshake.
The girl has a thing for strawberries now that borders on a junkies need for a fix, cause apparently it's wired in as what freedom tastes like.

So we wound up getting her emancipated, via some rather unpleasant legal wrangling that left me with a bad taste in my mouth cause it didn't blacklist those evil gits from the list of potential Fosters, but at least it cut her loose of them, and she went through the usual recovery process as well as some stuff tailored to her specific problems - and incidentaly kinda speeded my retirement cause when I gave her the final exam for personal self defense she handed me my ass so bad she thought she'd killed me and started freakin out about it - I *did* mention she can zerk, right ?
And she's younger, faster and more agile - after ascertaining that I was ok and only mostly stunned and roughed up, that bastard Justin was laughing so hard he was in tears... prick.

Well, due to my physical condition and the recent ass-handing there, I was kinda desperate for someone to help cover site three, and after another girl didn't work out cause she was totally unsuited to the work, I asked Wendy if she would be willing to assist me even if it meant facing her greatest fears a little earlier than expected, and she said ok.

Not sure if I went into detail about this bit or not, but the ones who are not "ok" yet, they wear cat ears as a visible tell of this so that everyone we deal with knows to treat them with kid gloves, especially as part of the therapy needfully involves teaching them self-defense before they're safe to be around most folk cause it's an integral part of the recovery - the ears coming off is like a seriously big deal and usually at the end of a graduated reintro to "normal" society with little party and everything, see...
And that decision usually falls to the folk most involved in their recovery process - it's part of an old joke that caught on as a way to set a visible flag without makin em feel like lepers, is all.

So, I start training her to do security rounds, which she has natural talent for, and since she can walk to work, and can actually see, is something she can DO instead of feeling helpless - but there it is, the quiet, silent darkness she fears the worst, you see ?

And she was a bit skittish at first, but thing was, in that environment, it's HER world, where others are blind, she can see, where others are weak, she is strong, other people will look up to HER for protection and assistance in the cold, quiet darkness...

And she stops - I worry that she might be losing it, but she just has this perplexed look on her face, and finally she says in this itty bitty stunned voice.. "I don't have to be afraid anymore.", and then, again, bold and confident...

And she reaches up, pulls those ears off and hands em to me.
"And I will NEVER be afraid again."

I can be brave, I can be fearless, but I know it's a sham when more than half that courage is cause I happen to be slightly mad by any definition, and most of it has been mostly cause at the time I had nothin to lose, but yeah, I got some sand down there at the bottom of it all.

But I ain't even in the same class as that girl, not by a longshot - she took her own nightmare and conquered it, made herself it's ruler, instead of it's victim, and she took that last step, as she took the first one, of her own will and unassisted.

Kid's got more guts in her pinky than I got in my whole being, seriously.

I've heard and seen worse, but I figured I would relate hers cause she gave me permission and it has a happy ending and all - you cannot imagine how it made me feel to watch her take that final step, to watch it happen right in front of me.

Machismo means jack shit to someone who's seen real courage, often enough when folks paid for it with their life or worse, and frankly, for straight flat out and out courage in all of the more important non-physical ways ?
I'm betting on XX over XY - based on how many of each actually pull through.

-Frem

You summoned me...

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