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Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
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A point to note on this: Fascism springs from different roots than other forms of authoritarianism.
Some totalitarian regimes stem from the upper class, attempting to preserve and extend existing power. Others stem from the lower classes, arising after successful attempts to depose the former regime and et a better deal for themselves.
Fascism tends to stem from the
middle class, and is a centrist, not radical, phenomenon.
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China, of which you regularly encourage emulation, is an authoritarian and extremely repressive regime which regularly violates human rights.
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It shouldn't be a big surprise, nor should anyone expect it to change significantly.
Different societies have different pattern, and different practices. Things which may seem inexplicable to us happen because, at least at some point, they promoted the survival of the society that practices them.
The key point is that the survival of the
society is paramount. The
individual may not matter.
We live in and stem from a culture where the individual is important. The critical social unit in China is the
family, and the society is based, in part, on a web of relationships between families. Families matter. Individuals generally don't.
Another point to keep in mind is that the system in which you are raised becomes the right and proper one. Consider the custom of arranged marriages. In places that practice them, the marriage is a political and economic alliance between two families, arranged by the families, for the benefit of the families. The wishes of the bride and groom are generally irrelevant to the decision. And for folks growing up in such a system, it's the way things are done, and our practice of marriage being a love match between a man and a woman may be seen as just this side of crazy.
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perhaps, if you're not rich and famous yet, it's because you're just another writer, like the millions of other writers out there, and writing has NEVER been a good way to make money, including long before the internet existed, and it has NOTHING to do with whether or not your books are available as illegal downloads. who was who recently reminded us of the first piece of advice to give a writer : "don't quit your day job."
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I might have been the giver of that reminder. I know a fair number of published writers. Just about all of them have day jobs, and write on the side. I can think of five offhand who only write. Two have spouses who are the main breadwinners, and aren't entirely dependent on writing for their income. Of the three others, one does mostly media tie-in work (and has a spouse whose day job salary helps smooth the peaks and valleys while he waits for contracts to be signed and checks to be issued), one use to be an editor, and still freelances as an editorial consultant and has had some part time jobs in the past few years, and one is just barely making a living and had to relocate to a lower rent area to help make ends meet.
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Dennis