If you think society's sick........

[evoman3957]

........why do people refuse to look at the obvious......the brain dead sport for the brain dead masses.........but we mustn't ever critize good old footy must we......god forbid.

Chelsea’s Premier League title bid has been hit by a new Diego Costa row on the back of the striker ­becoming the latest Premier League star to receive a huge offer from China that would make him one of the highest-paid players in the world.

Telegraph Sport understands head coach Antonio Conte has dropped Costa for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Leicester City in which leaders Chelsea are looking to bounce back from the defeat against Tottenham Hotspur that ended their 13-game winning run.

Costa did not train with the rest of the squad for the past three days after a bust up over an injury with a club fitness coach, which developed into a heated row with Conte. Sources claim Conte shouted 'go to China' and Costa did not travel to Leicester.

Chelsea are also aware that he has received a staggering offer from China, with at least one club telling the Spain international that they are willing to pay him £30 million-a-year net to lure him from Stamford Bridge.

That would put Costa on £576,923 a week, not far behind the world’s highest-paid player Carlos Tevez, who signed for Shanghai Shenhua on around £615,000 a week.

[evoman3957]

Like I initially said, There's no accounting for taste !!

[upthecreekyetagain]

Exactly 🙂

Football is a harmless activity though.

[lambsy_uk]

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@evoman3957 wrote:

No difference than mentioning more than one, could or would prove the opposite............ie. Fred Goodwin & half the upper management of Rolls Royce.........to name just a few.......all feathering their own nests.....nothing wrong with that ?  Isn't that what you said ?

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Not got a problem with it, what am I supposed to expect them to do for me?

[lambsy_uk]

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@evoman3957 wrote:

Both overpaid and overrated and taking money, either directly or indirectly, from " joe bloggs "..........( no offence joe bloggs ).....to fund their lifestyles ( feather their nests.....so to speak ).

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And you have a problem with that because...?

[evoman3957]

.........because, although you may be content to die of apathy; I'm not.  When life's beaten you down so much, that you don't even care about its injustices any more ( if you ever did ); I guess to all intents and purposes, you're dead already.  Whether the fire in my belly, makes any difference to this sad world, or not, at least it makes ME feel alive.

[lambsy_uk]

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@evoman3957 wrote:

.........because, although you may be content to die of apathy; I'm not.  When life's beaten you down so much, that you don't even care about its injustices any more ( if you ever did ); I guess to all intents and purposes, you're dead already.  Whether the fire in my belly, makes any difference to this sad world, or not, at least it makes ME feel alive.

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"Die of apathy". That's a new one!

Does this mean you believe that my life has beaten me down or that everybody is beaten down, in your opinion?

Personally I don't feel beaten down; I don't believe I am beaten down but perhaps you know best.

The thing about caring about injustices is that we're gonna differ when it comes to what we regard as injustice. You seem to get all wound up over some people being wealthy and being able to feather nests while others can't, and the answer seems to be to stop people feathing their nests.

Personally I don't have a problem with people feathering their nests, what I'd be doing is worrying about feathering my own nest rather than concerning myself with theirs!

I don't actually think this is a sad World; I love life and the state of the World. Could be better, life could improve for some but I feel rather content to be alive and feel alive.

I feel alive when I'm having fun; try having some fun, it's liberating, it can lift the soul and it's often free!!!

[theelench]

It's not that they are so wealthy but how they became and maintain that wealth that's objectionable.   In the UK ever greater numbers of workers are pushed down onto the minimum wage.   In the third world paying starvation level wages.  Effectively ensuring that millions can never improve their position in life.  

In reality the 10% that own 90% of the wealth are sacrificing the aspirations of those millions so they can compete with each other for an ever greater share of that wealth and in the process accumulating more billions.  Why,  when it's impossible to spend even a small fraction of what they have already.

Do they really pay their taxes?  I bet they do.  That's why they have properties dotted all over the world so they don't have to live in any one place long enough to pay any tax anywhere.

[evoman3957]

Money is power, it buys people, it buys morals, it buys life & it buys death.......ergo: in the wrong hands, or lets say hands that have a malevolent agenda, it's the same as an abuse of power........and we know what that produces.  Power ( money ) corrupts, absolute power ( money ) corrupts absolutely.

[theelench]

I don't really see a malevolent agenda, it's more that markets have become one sided and legislation to stop that happening has not caught up.

Capitalism is still the best system yet invented for creating wealth and when it works well is also the best way of spreading it through the population.   I don't find anything wrong with some people being paid large salaries or using their capital investments to grow wealthier but there does come a point when increasing their wealth becomes pointless.  It is just adding to their pile of assets without doing them or anybody else any good.  

IMO we have passed that point and the 10% literally don't know what to do with their money, owning 90% of the wealth means they are accumulating more wealth quicker than they can use it.  So it is in effect taken out of circulation, so we are stuck in a cycle of the rich becoming richer (in capital assets) while most people become poorer because business costs (wages) must be kept down to ensure companies stay profitable.

What needs to change is that the 10% should pay their taxes in full instead of treating direct taxation as optional and their capital assets put back into use in the form of real wage increases for the other 90%. 

[evoman3957]

No point in starting another thread, the evidence comes in thick and fast; on a daily basis, to prove my OP.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/feb/02/phil-shiner-steep-fall-from-grace-leading-uk-human-right...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/02/diane-abbott-missed-article-50-vote-due-to-migraine...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vatican-reveals-how-many-priests-defrocked-for-sex-abuse-since-2004/

The filth on two legs, pours out of the sewer pipe of life constantly............from ALL walks of life. If this kind of effluent was being discharged into the sea, instead of into our society, it would be called an ecological disaster.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Struggling to see a connection to your OP?

[lambsy_uk]

Yes, I haven't read the articles but I can see they are about Diane Abbot and priests etc. Indeed there is some filth in the World but plenty of good too. If you're talking of priests and other nasty characters then yes their power may well corrupt, but you started by having a go at wealthy footballers, I don't see that on the whole they have done much wrong.

[evoman3957]

I agree, I started by putting footballers in the spotlight; but the title of the thread implies a far wider reaching problem, fuelled in a large part by greed. I'm glad you see good, wherever you look, I used to be like that; quite a few years ago. The scales are shifting to the bad side in double quick time, right now I'd put it at 50-50. When you see that shift, I'd be interested to know.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Diego Costa:-

https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/this-arsenal-fan-insists-that-diego-costa-is-a-wonderful-human-being/393...

"This happened in October last year. After 2 days of my putting up fliers, I received a call from someone who spoke only Spanish. I thought it was some nut calling and gave the phone to my mother who is of Spanish descent. She said that someone was asking for the directions to come and visit. I, apprehensive and unbelieving, gave the details and never expected them to come. After 3 hours or so, a very high class car, a BMW came to our driveway. Out stepped Diego Costa and Willian. I was visibly disgusted but Diego Costa didn't mind. They spoke primarily to my mother and the Spanish caretaker. He doesn't speak a word of English but the goodness of his heart doesn't need words.

They gave 50k pounds, each of them. It has kept us up and running till now and will do for the next 3 months or so. The next time I met Costa was last Thursday, when he came and gave 30 blankets from the Chelsea store. He also invited me to Lagarta where he is running a school for 200. I also got complimentary tickets to today's game and I went to the Emirates for the first time since 2008 because I can't afford the season ticket price nowadays.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2956270/Chelsea-striker-Diego-Costa-sets-school-di...

"Chelsea striker Diego Costa sets up school for disadvantaged children in Brazil"

Sometimes you have to look beyond the persona normally presented by the press to see the good in people.

[lambsy_uk]

Ego, I don't necessarily see good everywhere but I am more inclined to look for it and appreciate it. I certainly appreciate what I have a lot more than I used to. I was a very angry man, stemming from struggling through school, not academically but with the idiots I was at school with which aided me to fail academically. Then it took me 15 years to achieve a level of decent existence, but I got there through re-education and application and still condemned those who'd thwarted me before. Then I realised I may not have been able to achieve without the support of friends and family and began to appreciate that not everyone is lucky enough to have a support network. Basically I softened a lot, became less selfish in my views, appreciated what I had rather than worry about what I may have missed out on. I must say I've changed again recently, with Brexit I've gone from wanting to remain to wanting as hard a Brexit as possible; if we're gonna do it let's not fudge it. The majority voted for it so now let the Tories deliver it and if people aren't happy then tough. They get what they want and then aren't happy about the colour of the bow it is tied up in, well tough! They are just selfish IMO and they can get what's given to them. So I've seen myself return to being a bit of an angry young man, also hoping that DJ Trump sticks it to em, but I still appreciate what I have, I don't envy others and I can see good in many, including President Trump.

[lambsy_uk]

Sorry was supposed to say Evo not ego, damn predictive.

[evoman3957]

Fair enough, I guess different people see different sides of humanity; depending on their circumstances and age. I say age, because the longer somebody has been around; the starker the changes they have witnessed..........and although the technological changes/ advances may herald progress, in the opinion of many, the evolution of the society that makes use of them......does not.

[upthecreekyetagain]

I've "been around" since the 40s and have seen many a change in my lifetime - very few of those changes have in my opinion been for the worse despite many of the secondary effects of those changes causing problems.

For example a vastly greater number of families are in a financial position to buy a car - this however has meant far more congestion on the roads, damage to the environment and deaths on the road - Do I wish the change that has taken place giving more and more people the financial wherewithal to buy a car hadn't taken place - of course not.

I've seen the NHS develop from a 'cottage industry' offering a very basic level of care into one that is the fifth biggest employer in the world with 1,400,000 employees - the advances in care being offered during that period has risen immeasurably, this in turn has increased the level of demand, increases in waiting lists, more waste, more mistakes and so on - do I wish the growth of the NHS hadn't taken place - absolutely not.

In my opinion There are very few changes that have taken place over those 7 decades that haven't ultimately resulted in a better life for the majority, if not all, of the people in the U.K. despite some of the side effects not being desirable.

[evoman3957]

I wasn't talking about the side effects that the technological advances have, or have not, produced ( or the benefit they have on the human race ); I was talking about the character of the society that has evolved......or more to the point hasn't evolved. Are people actually better people now, has all this progress made them more or less tolerant, more or less belligerent, more or less democratic ( in the case of this country ). I think as technology has progressed, society / people have regressed. Perhaps enlightenment means different things to different people. To me, in means not running around in a lion cloth; bashing peoples brains out, because they belong to a different tribe....................apart from the loin cloth, nothing much has changed..........has it !!!! ...........and the bashing brains out bit can be taken literally AND metaphorically.

[upthecreekyetagain]

If you are talking about this country then people have certainly changed - racism is no longer acceptable to the vast majority of the population.  Laws have been changed to reflect this.

I've seen help for the disabled increased by untold levels together with a massive change in attitudes.  I've lived through a period where disabled children were hidden away, disabled individuals made fun of in the streets and the mentally ill virtually locked up.  There is still a lot that needs doing in this area but overall the changes have still been to the good.

Homosexuality is no longer a crime thanks to a change in people's attitude.

The threat from paedophiles has been brought into the open, no longer are their crimes institutionally hidden from public view, inside and outside of families in the same way that they were.

Yes there are still those who want to harm others but whether or not there are more in this country with that agenda in comparison to the past is debatable and I've certainly no personal experience that suggests that more people have such intentions now than in previous decades.