Materialism

[C00kiemonster]

While we are all enjoying our Christmas, this guy has a point : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46676268" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He could donate some of his cash, but a fair point made. Shame no-one will take note sadly.

I'm no religious nut but the current path of the western world will ruin it i suspect.

Happy Christmas

[duke63]

Indeed.

The Christmas break has hidden the fact that Dow Jones had its worst December since the Great Depression. The likes of Trump, Johnson and Rees Mogg will fix nothing and are in fact at the heart of the problem.

Over the last couple of years my desire to leave the rat race has got stronger and stronger. The world cannot continue to consume and consume it's natural resources as it is now and hope to survive in its current form.

[StMarks]

The Roman Catholic Church is worth upwards of 15 billion.
It's easy to decry wealth when you're CEO of a corporation with that sort of wealth.
Whilst their medieval cult continues to promote bigotry & condemn contraception I will afford them very little attention.
If the world was suffering from human underpopulation etc.. I may be more considerate of their opinions.

Sorry.
Seasons greetings to all our open minded Slappers.

[duke63]

Regardless of who is transmitting the message, the message is correct.

[D41]

The Roman Catholic Church is worth upwards of 15 billion.

*Just a note......The Vatican alone is worth that figure. The Roman Catholic Church as a whole is worth many more times that amount....it'd be just about impossible to calculate exactly how much.

Proof that in the case of Jesus, "You CAN take it with you..."

[Jack]

materialism is bad says the man with the gold throne , hypocrisy at its finest .

[D41]

[StMarks]

Regardless of who is transmitting the message, the message is correct.

Totally agree mate.

However whilst I would agree with anyone who stated that murder is n abhorrent act, I would struggle to acknowledge the integrity of the statement if the person stating it was an acknowledged serial killer.?
If you see what I mean.

[duke63]

Like all organisations the man or woman fronting it is usually a stooge for much more powerful people behind it.

[C00kiemonster]

Regardless of who is transmitting the message, the message is correct.

Correct.

I did note that I wasn't religious and they could chip in but some are missing the point here.

I don't care if it's the pope or my mum is saying it, it's materialism that's the problem in this message.

I'm not a fan of the Catholic Church at all but their message is at least kinder than most these days.

[Kwacky]

Humans are looking the planet. It's that simple. Capitalism loves an expanding population, it creates more workers, more workers creates competition for jobs, which forces down wages. More workers create more consumers. Resources and the environment don't matter to people who want to amass money today.

The early Roman church wanted Christianity to spread by whatever means possible. That included increasing the population. It's a dated philosophy.

[Kwacky]

This was written over 200 years ago:

"The power of population is so superior to the power of the Earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race."

[duke63]

But it isn't overpopulation that is killing the planet currently, it's greed and avarice and too much wealth and power being in the hands of too few.

The next financial crash might be just around the corner and I don't think the majority will accept being told it's their fault and they must pay for it again.

[Kwacky]

But they go hand in hand. Stable and declining populations kill materialism.

[D41]

It was Malthuss who wrote that. The counterpoint to that argument being that growth in population is at least matched or surpassed by growth/advances in technology and/or engineering.

Supply & demand, I guess.

I mean, despite our best efforts to the contrary, we continue to thrive as a species, yes?

[Kwacky]

Depends on how you define thrive.

[D41]

Numbers are growing, technology is advancing,

[Kwacky]

In the West serious disease is increasing, age is declining, poverty is increasing, homelessness is on the increase, personal debt is high, the lists go on.

Is that thriving?

[D41]

Depends on what criteria you want to use. None of those paint a pretty picture. But overall I'd say the standard of living...."Human Growth Index" - or whatever, is headed upward.

[duke63]

Standard of living - that is hard to define but I don't believe that you could call working ever longer hours and putting your population under more and more stress and anxiety is a sign of improving living standards.