theneverfox

Yup... Pretty much. Imagine where we'd be if we had another 15 years of digital slingshot ahead

I mean that's better, but you're still ignoring several other axes

It's never been a single continuum, and it's not a quadrant. Your takeaway isn't wrong, but there's so many more options

Bullshit. Zohran is right there, as are 3 other lesser (but still good) candidates

And it's ranked choice voting.

I tend to think there's more to it... Otherwise it's just a prediction. And I don't know wtf beep boop beep territory is supposed to mean

I don't think prophecy is that stupid though. It's genuine wisdom, it is a thing that can be done, when you empty your mind of desire and for a moment you can understand how the systems you know play out. It's floating the stone for society if you will, letting go of yourself long enough to use your understanding objectively

And that's my whole fucking point. The poetry is irrelevant. David or whoever could've looked at Jewish history, which is all about wise men rallying the people, and determining "this too shall end" and predicting it would come in the form of another wise man

Thank you, I appreciate that... Fuck, now I'm doing it!

They're also philosophy, cultural identity, sometimes even manifestos for a better society

But Psalms is literally just poetry. Like, even in context... It's just a poetry collection

I agree, and that's kind of my objective

We need to encourage people to watch the source material so they know to mock the larpers for never having done the same

Side note, Darth Jar-Jar theories are dope

What is a god? The Bible speaks about many gods, different kinds even. Are the Creator and the god of the Israelites the same?

What are they referring to here? The will of the people, the mandate of heaven, the super organism created by the abstractions of a group of humans - he didn't follow it as king. He was supposed to be executor of the will of the people, and he didn't deliver the "justice" they demanded

I'm not the one saying the sky daddy is whispering in people's ears. That's not how it ever works, does it? It's always people going off to meditate, and coming back with sometimes inconvenient moments of enlightenment

Oh, and let's not forget when the god of the Israelites changes their mind... It happens kind of a lot

Thank you for your apology.... Wait, you're doing it again!!!

I genuinely see no conflict here, and I think anyone who does has gotten caught up in a narrative. I don't really care if their picture falls apart, if it requires magic than show me how it works...But I think the book explains it already, indirectly

What is prophecy?

The US empire will collapse, and its not going to be spectacular, it will happen with agonizing slowness.

In a moment of enlightenment, I knew it was true. I'm having a lot of trouble accepting it, even years later - I still wait for people to take to the streets and take back our democracy, or for a solar flare to give us a reset. I'd rather be there to rebuild or have AI or aliens save us... But that's not going to happen, is it?

Deep down I understand it's cope, intellectually I see how it fits together. I know how this plays out in general terms, but I haven't seen the future. I've just seen the full picture for a moment

Is that a prophecy? Because what I felt at that understanding was despair and resignation. I could write a poem about it, does that make it a prophecy?

Yes. Every society has their own origin stories, and that's what this is

Rome had Remus and Romulus. America has Christopher Columbus and the founding fathers

They're a mix of actual events, myth, and the morals we aspire to as a society. Even very recently formed countries reframe their history this way

Actual history, when you study it academically, is mostly petty people making personal decisions that work out. It's messy compromises and opportunities falling into people's laps. Sometimes there's ideals, but it's mostly compromises

But that's not what we generally teach... We always frame the story in a way to highlight the values we believe define us as a society. Even when we change the story - what we teach to children is always a reflection of the values we aspire to

I understand that... But imagine you have all these star wars fans who love dressing up like storm troopers and doing crackdowns. They're even in government, screaming "for the empire!" as they bomb random people in the middle east

And obviously, a lot of people are going to think Star wars is evil

But reading the Bible without commentary is like a vaccine for the mind virus. Especially the gospels, they're short and based as hell

The mental gymnastics required to replace mutual aid with magic is truly extraordinary. That's why they explain the Bible to kids, sentence by sentence, to make sure they don't accidentally understand it