So you claim the USSR did not support East Germany because of anti-german sentiments, while the west invested quite a lot into the reconstruction of FRG. I am afraid I am not qualified to assess how accurate that claim is(the former half of it, specifically). But I am deeply skeptical about this, since it would be quite a useful propaganda tool both domestically and in the west. Also, the east had a communist government and it distanced itself from it's past. The internationalist ideology of the USSR should have triumphed over the nationalist sentiments that might have existed.
However, I should say, that the main point of my original comment still stands. Of course, there are always many factors at play and it is not the case that the disparity between the east and the west can be attributed to the economic system alone. However, this does not mean that such comparisons are not valid, and I still would say that comparing european countries to underdeveloped countries to say that life in eastern Europe "wasn't that bad" is quite absurd.
Why would you not compare european communist countries woth european capitalist countries? Sure, africans and asians were poorer, but that goes without saying, honestly, what does that even have to do with this matter?
East Germany was poorer than west Germany. That tells us something. The fact that Ethiopia or whatever was poorer does not really tell us much about ehich economic system is better.
Well, that happened after 40 minutes of civil discussion. And the thing that changed the way it was it was going was his undiplomatic response to Vance when he said the US has nice oceans, but it is going to feel the problem eventually. This is a rather stupid way of talking to Trump and his administration. If he did not succumb to the provocation it would not have happened.
"If you don't help me you'll regret it" is not the way to go in this situation I'm afraid.
And after they did talk over him, insted of arguing he should have shut up and it would have worked out better for him.
That may be so, but I really doubt he was causing this fiasco on purpose because of the deal. Also, he could have, you know, negotiated, instead of arguing for no reason.
Animals are not necessarily subhuman, but clearly not human.
I mean, I guess I could go into detail about the differences about the behavioir of animals and humans and what that tells about their intelligence and inner life, but I am not such a big fan of typing to be honest. I will only say that animal behaviour is simple enough to be predicted, ehy always act on the strongest impulse: whether it is food, sleep or whatever. But a human has a such complex network of character, desires, affect, beliefs, and emotions, that they can in a way that is impossible to predict. Can you imagine an animal starving itself to death deliberately? No, it would not be able to do that, as it's instincts would overpower anything else if it got sufficiently hungry. But we can have other reasons for that that we act upon.
Honestly, if I was a vegan, I would almost certainly not say thay animals are as complex as humans, as most people would probably(quite rightly) not agree. They are more primitive as a great deal of what makes us us is our complex social structures that no animal has(even highly social ones). We have meanings and values given to us by society, which animals do not have. We are capable of morality, animals are not. I am honestly tired of typing. I think the point is clear enough now that I can stop.
What do you mean democracy dies? What does this have to do with democracy? Well maybe they think democracy is when people are nice to each other. Or when one country supports another militarily, this is democracy.
Zelensky can only blame himself. If he showed some sense and restraint he would have returned to Ukraine with the deal. This is not the way you should act with Trump, and I should say especially not when your country depends on US support to the extend Ukraine does.
While humans and animals have inner worlds that are orders of magnitude apart in terms of complexity, I would say that most people feel more or less the same emotions, but of course some people are more self-actualised, but everyone has the potential for that, even if it is not realised.
And it is impossible to compare this complexity in practice, of course, as there are no criteria for measuring that. Also, every human is unique in a sense and is valuable precisely because of that.
Ultimately, our values are impossible to defend. We can either share them or not, I do not care much about the animals, you do, this is fine by me.
Obviously I am not talking about fetuses. I responded to the racism comment and the inner lives of people are generally not that complicated when tbey are in the womb. I am just using this as a reason to value humans over animals.
Also, minds are not made out of neurons, brains are.
Poor choice of words on my part, perhaps. Maybe, if I chose "mind, instead of the more poetic word "soul" people would not reply about how an embryo is not ensouled.
But please tell me, was your original comment about racism towards animals sarcastic? It is sometimes hard to tell, and it seems almost like a position someone would hold.
Well if you didn't I do not know how I can possibly explain your previous comment.