"History repeats itself..first as a tragedy and second as farce".\n\nWhat is the relevance? How can this be interpreted in context of dialectical materialism?\n\nSerious answers please!
127872
Marx is observing that we as humans seem to make the same mistakes over and over again.  The first time we repeat itself, it is a tragedy, since we are stupidly repeating our mistakes.  The next time the mistake is repeated, it's almost a comedy of bad errors from a neutral perspective.  How could we do the same stupid thing again?\n\nHow it fits into dialectical materialism is this:  Marx observed that time and time again the Proletariat would work against it's own interests by supporting revolutions of the Bourgeois to replace the Aristocracy, only to find the Bourgeois becoming the new Aristocracy rather than actually fulfilling the needs of the Proletariat.  So the Proletariat kept making the same mistake over and over (helping the Bourgeois rather than seizing the mantle of power for itself).
10934
By the time I read all of the answers I realized that my thoughts had pretty much been covered. So kudos to all above me!\n\nBut I do want to emphasize what Snehal has proposed. One world........no religions. I agree with the answer that said that religions have basic similarities but that man has chosen to use their religion inappropriately. Wars have been fought merely over "interpretations." People have died for believing differently. Lives have been controlled because of those reading religion as a misinterpreted call for power. People are told what to think and what not to think and are condemned for differing opinions. \n\nI'm sure right now someone reading this is shaking their head thinking, "She has no clue what she is talking about." If it would stop with that, all would be fine. We are all entitled to have our own opinions. It is when someone will write me slamming me for my beliefs and finding  a way to avenge my thoughts by blasting me somewhere that we realize this is symbolic of our world's problems. It's not just because of religion of course. Religion is the scapegoat. Man can blame his judgements of others on the fact that they belong to "the wrong" religion. If we didn't have religions..........we would all have to face what we really are without the use of the scapegoat. \n\nGod? Well I believe we have a higher order. Does he want religions killing and disagreeing? *cough* Think about what He would write if he answered this question. :)
221378
I think it's a form of brainwashing.If you repeat something often enough people perceive it as a truth.Ever heard of a "spin doctor"?We,as a nation,have become a herd of sheep blindly following a leader who is leading us to the edge of a precipice.
648733
Since it seems you want to be so logical about this stuff, I'll offer you a few more concepts.\n\nLet's really look at this...\n1. Through out mankind all successful societies have had some type of state-religion. Only when the individual is exaulted, with all it's lusts, does a country actually fail.\n\n2. Hitler is a pretty good example of what happens when you mix 'new' science and politics. Hitler wanted to place his "master" race in dominion over and above all the other races. He recognized evolution as 'fact' and took it the next logical step, diminish inferior races and promote the master race. Since he really had no god,  -the he himself was god. Choose whom to kill.\n\n3. Mankind has an innate desire to have a relationship with his creator. You can preach materialism, individualism, or any other "ism" that you want, - but in the end, normal healthy individual know that their life matters and that there's significance to their existence.\n\nWhen / if the world does get rid of the traditional religions that promote the highest ideals of humanity, -then you better replace it with something better, AND QUICK. The great sucking sound will be the void that's been created in individual's lives, and the money 'not being wasted', won't be used for shopping at the mall or going to the beach.
610259
Can you provide a link/links to this amazing occurance?\n"Every time"....so how many times has it been?\nYou provide the facts so others can refute.\nHow can people refute when you don't provide any evidence?
547900
Reminds me of that bit in Catch 22.\n\nAnyway, I don't believe in a God of History; one whose supposed exploits are charted in writings from the past. There is no way I can face a divinity who sits from the distant yesterday and claims that enough has been done, or who has dangled false hopes over our future. Life is not that simple. The God that I would believe in would exist in the here and now, and would be defined through such an existence rather than through the broken remains of our ancestors.
377392
When it says "they never leave an old argument unsettled," I'm thinking it means men have a tendency to bring old arguments/problems up if they feel it hasn't been dealt with properly. They don't like to just "drop it." If that's foreshadowing, it should mean that in the future of this story or whatever it is, there will be a man who keeps bringing some fight up because even if it's in the past, it's still bothering him that it was never resolved.\n\nI hope this makes sense!
551366
Is materialism what makes ya happy,cause ya got it.\nYou sound very shallow to me.\nLike there's nothing there between your ears.\nNews flash...\nPreppy is boring!
594672
"Haven't you had enough of the brute, stupid, childish, and, otherwise, adolescent, exploitative representation of human (or, really, sub-human) existence that is played out daily (in the name, and on the lives, of each and every born human being) by competing governments, politicians, militarists, scientists, technocrats, social planners, educators, exoteric and fundamentalist religionists (who aggressively propagate the provincial, and pharisaical, religions of ego-salvation, rather than practice the universal, and ego-transcending, religion of love), and media hypers (who thrive on the invention and exaggeration of conflict, and dramatically showcase the worst of human instincts in the unending "gotcha" game that denudes and exposes and trivializes and hypocritically mocks the highs, and the inevitable lows, and even the natural ordinariness in the struggling efforts of humankind)? Isn't it evident, in your deepest feeling-psyche, that this Wisdom-renouncing world is being controlled by the worst and most superficial conceptions of existence?\n\nIt is now time for every one, and all, to understand themselves, and to reclaim the world from the dictatorship of the ego, and from all of those who play at politics (and life in general) as if it were a sporting event that is supposed to excite and entertain every one on television.\n\nNuclear disarmament is a relatively positive, but still too superficial and piecemeal, effort. It is not a truly curative means, but only another palliative and temporary move in the midst of mankind's traditional advance toward future trouble. There is something more fundamental than the disarmament politics whereby enemies come to a gentlemanly agreement on how to kill one another without destroying one another! What is more fundamental, necessary, and truly curative is that human beings, individually and collectively, understand and transcend that which is in them that leads them to confront one another as opponents and enemies.\n\nIt may sound naive to speak of the necessity for the present (childish, and brutishly adolescent) crowd of governments and institutions to understand themselves and renounce the self-imagery and the techniques of enemies, but the feeling that it is naive to speak in such terms is merely a reflection of egoic frustration and despair. Human beings everywhere must now transcend that very frustration and despair if they are going to prevent the enslavement and destruction of mankind.\n\nHumanity is living in bondage now. Mankind is already, presently, globally, bound to egocentric and materialistic idealisms that are suppressing the human freedom to live by Wisdom and Realize the Truth. If human beings do not shake loose from this regime, they are going to suffer the extreme fulfillment of collective egoic destiny, in a "Narcissistic" holocaust that will either enslave mankind (via a technologically robotized political and social order) or (otherwise) destroy mankind (via technologically engineered warfare).\n\nIt is not naive to demand a new leadership when those who are led (and who could make the counter-demand for change) number in the billions. Nor is it folly to try to educate mankind when the only alternative is slavery and death. Therefore, I Say to you: All must commit themselves to understand the patterns by which they are now (and have traditionally been) living (both individually and collectively), so that they can then change those patterns and the destinies those patterns will (otherwise) inevitably inflict upon them.
318613
Holocaust myth?\n\nI find this offensive.  I assume he is implying the allies starved all those people and let them die just so they could create the photo op?  I did a quick search and saw some of his drivle, not worth repeating.
187495
this is the first and probably the most favorite thrown around in philosophy class. very amusing, very self entertaining, very useless.\ntake your 'reality' as you know it ... your senses, your memories, your thoughts and feelings. now, cease to exsist. not too cool, is it? no fun at all. oh, btw we are all still here, but you're gone. (i've had the opportunity to reach the edge of death twice now, i know.)\n"laters"
173221
How long do you think it will be before a person or group successfully reassembles the bible to include recently discovered religious texts that they feel better suit modern times?\n\nNever.  For all practical purposes, the Bible as now been “set in stone.”\n\nWhat do you think about this?\n\nI believe that those who tend to be the loudest on this topic have either done the least amount of study or have very extensive time invested in their current belief.  Most claim as articles of fact pieces of information which are not true.  Less than one in one billion (if any) could give me that actual names of the men who met to determine which books and works were included in either Testament.  Yet they propose that these men were inspired by G-d to make these choices for all time.  They are seem to ignore that most works which were not included were systematically searched for and burned as heretical.  The mere fact that any remain after 2000 years is a miracle.\n\nWhat will the cultural/spiritual ramifications of this be?\n\nA continuation of our current position.  As beautiful as the KJV is to read, it is flawed.  This fact has been shown over and over again by scholars who do know the languages involved.  Yet look at the number of supporters that it has.  The sad part of this is that many who claim to understand the meaning of the KJV of the Bible (which is a very serious and metaphysical work) do not understand and cannot follow a simple Shakespearean play (which is light entertainment) that was written at about the same time.  What does this yell you about the ignorance of humans?  And ignorance is bliss.\n\nIf God is really solely responsible for the bible's contents why does he have hundreds of millions of Christians using different versions?  And how would a new version be any worse?\n\nThose humans who claim to be privileged to the plans or purposes of Divinity are deluded.  No human has that capability.  Only Divinity is perfect.  Humanity is arrogant, not understanding that the message is important, not the delivery of the message.  Those that must quote scripture for every answer (especially those claiming that it is the Word of G-d) are probably idolaters.  They have worshipped the written word instead of Divinity.  Each believing that they are right and all others wrong.  They are the cause of the fragmentation of the Church and people like them are usually too stubborn to see their own sins.\n\nA new version of the Bible is not needed.  These recently discovered and translated works should be made available to the widest reading audience for study and debate.  At least by those who are capable of understanding that Humanity did not have the message right then and still is lacking in understanding.  This is human nature.  Divinity is the only proper judge; and Divine Judgment, unlike human opinion and understanding, IS perfect.
406116
My goodness.   This is a very interesting poem about how we are lied to throughout our lives and have to deal with those facts.  It would fit astonishingly well into any media studies course and am glad to have read it.  Tis true that Walter Raleigh was in Queen Elizabeth's command and was held in the tower.  The first respondant had excellent points, but after that... there were few comments that made sense.  Sorry folks.\n\nIt is most assuredly not about SEX!!  Except that we might lie to get it.  The point is that lies are imbedded into our very framework.  We cannot speak a truth.  Wit does get tiresome.  Beauty is used for naught.  There is nothing that is singularly GOOD- and Raleigh discovers it with a lovely cadence.  The repeptitive nature of "Tell them the lie" can be seen as a stab at church and country, but it goes deeper than than.  He mocks consumers and landowners.  Everyone is lying and he knows it.\n\nWhat I mean is simple that when people attempt to define something by using Good or Bad, they are intrinsically wrong.\n\nI hope you do well in your life and take the time to read lots of poetry.
234914
God raped Mary?\nThat is an interesting way to interpret the historical event.\n\nRape is a serious charge and will fire up Christians everywhere!\n\nI am a Christian and find your statement painful. I never considered that God did anything wrong, but your opinion will make me think.
182623
I thought we were only allowed a certain number of characters with which to spew our idiocy across the proverbial cosmos. Aparently that doesn't apply to those who worship those who steal other peoples "wastes." What was the juxtaposition of the question? Did your "profet" take a hit to the neck region? Or does hitting people in the neck region forcibly convert them from Judaism to Islam. An event similar to the medical event of "fast detoxification under anesthetics" only this ones for your soul. I gift myself two points.
366810
It's weird how this issue triggers exactly the same sort of responses the second time around.  Except this time we get a funny from a guy who thinks the US Constitution is trinitarian instead of a guy ranting about albigensians being murdered in the middle ages.  It's kind of discouraging.  \n\nAs for the second invitation to leave the country: thanks, I already accepted.\n\nFor me, this question is really, how should we as Christians respond to systematic institutional evil?  What do we do when we're surrounded by extraordinary violence, worship of money, pervavise corruption?  Answering this question requires some understanding of the dynamics of evil as well as the reasons people refuse to admit its presence.  It also requires an honest assessment of the demands Jesus makes on his followers, and the kind of universe Jesus lived in, the kind of universe his words and life create for his followers.  \n\nI don't have the definitive answer to this question, because I haven't been able to come to conclusions about many of those issues.  But at a more basic level, there are some simple realities that I think can't be denied:\n\n1.  Jesus was not violent and he didn't advocate violence in his followers.  His message was above all that the greatest victory comes through the greatest nonviolence.  So: Jesus' followers should strive to live a nonviolent lifestyle.\n\n2.  Jesus was not rich and didn't advocate money-seeking in his followers.  He warned strongly about the dangers of wealth, though he never went so far as to condemn it categorically.  So: be satisfied with what you have; don't seek wealth; share generously; live simply.\n\n3.  Jesus placed his father above every idol, every principality and power, every institution.  He was not 'patriotic' with regard to either Israel or Rome; and in the end both Israel and Rome conspired to crucify him.  But even so, he was no firebrand advocating revolution either -- recall his nonviolence.  The same is true of his followers: they should withdraw their patriotic allegiance from their nations and transfer that allegiance to God.  This implies that they should also open their eyes to the realities of what the powers of this world are and do -- and resist them.\n\nI wish I could learn these lessons myself.  In 1976 during the bicentennial celebrations, Dorothy Day was asked if she had a message to give America.  \n\nHer one word reply: 'Repent.'
640735
Good Question, which took me several minutes of valuable on-line time here at the Library to even consider a possible cause.\n\nPerhaps this overdramatized dualistic Labeling is PROOF of the lazy "lowest common denominator" of COMMON humans? This form of Aristotelian "thinking" harks back to the Ancient Greeks, so is not a new phenomenon, at all. Notice all the bloody WARS throughout recorded human history?\n\nAlfred Korzybsky, author of "SCIENCE & SANITY" and other General Semantics books, identifies this rigid, two-valued form of "Logic" as THE key factor in mental break-downs in thought; i.e. ( human misuse of Language leading TO actual INsanity!). He made his own observations  in psychiatric wards personally supervised in his work. \n\nDoctor Korzybsky (sp?) recommends re-training in General Semantics & MULTI-VALUED Logical analysis & description as a key help, if not a  REMEDY for such insanities! (Of course, those  NOT caused primarily by actual, Neurological Disease.)\n\nBinary or Boolean "Logic" is usefull in design of  NON-organic systems such as computer hardware, but dangerous if used to address REAL Life problems, or in Science and the Arts. The  simplest set of "Logical" values would be Trinary; i.e 3-valued!\n"Yes", "No", and "Maybe/Don'tknow4sure"!  \n\nThe simplistic use of "LIBERAL" versus "CONSERVATIVE" stereotyping you HEAR on the (AM) Talk Shows probably indicates frightened but LAZY Thinking of the commoner who  calls-into these programs. LIB/CON dualisms could also be a deliberate & manipulated RHETORICAL ploy of political pseudo-thinkers who wish to push their OWN (often stupid!) AGENDA! \n\nOoops! Sorry. Got carried away there.  Go READ Korzybsky!