Ok, here's how I got over it. First don't abandon those thoughts all together. Worf once said "A man without fear is a fool." Just know when it's relevant and don't let it consume you.

I just eventually got to the point where I no longer felt out of place. If everybody's wearing a fancy jacket and I have a t-shirt on then screw em, don't they wish they knew how not to conform.

nifty.

That only works for the effects you can control. I get uncontrollable physical responses as well.

You're missing the point. Read my post again, it was a good one.

Fair enough, but in that case you need to kick out of there the Christian chuch and missionaires. They're the root of problem with their "no-anticoncepcy" policy. Let's see, people are going to have sex anyway, by not giving them condoms they'll produce more offspring or spread AIDS and other diaseases.

Diamonds are a status symbol for all Americans (and Canadians, and probably most of the developed world), not just for black Americans.

Give them a presumably loaded gun, show them USD$5M in a napsack, and sincerely tell them all they have to do to have the money is blow [insert_other_guy_in_room]'s head off (there may be some that wouldn't pull it, but I bet there would be a lot that would, especially if their lives are really hard -- I expect the same from most of humanity). When they hear the clicking sound of an empty action, tell them that's why I don't care enough to dedicate my life to bettering theirs. Like them, I'm human. It's a bitch, isn't it? All the more reason to make fewer of us so fewer people have to suffer.

The world has limited resources. It isn't currently possible for everybody on Earth to be wealthy. I think the only way that could possibly happen is for the entire human population to be automated with computers (and we'll probably have to expand out into space). Even then, some retarded humanitarian will probably decide that robots have a right to have feelings, would implement AI capable of feeling, the robots would decide they don't enjoy being our slaves, and would make us their slaves instead. And we'd be back at square one.

I have personal experience with Christians being problematic... No argument here.

That said, the world isn't responsible for supplying Africa with condoms any more than it is for feeding their starving children. If you can't afford to sustain a child and can't afford contraception then you shouldn't be having sex. I realize that you can't very well expect an entire nation to stop fucking, but that same damn nation should realize that the rest of the world isn't going to pay for it.

You know what's cheaper than a lifetime of food, water, clothing, education, and condoms? A bullet. If we all donate one bullet to Africa we can solve this problem quickly and cost effectively...

[Absolutely kidding about the bullet!]

Oh, for sure, some Catholics think they are the only Christians of the world, but that doesn't make them right.

You're right, I have to think to keep my heart beating.

I disagree.

If we're talking about Africa, it isn't a nation.
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I said nation because I'm extremely tired today...
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Sarah Palin agrees with you, bamccaig

Anyway, there are 54 countries in Africa, I think, if you count Western Sahara, which is, technically, party of Morocco. Some are worse off than others. Zimbabwe's probably the worst, with an annual inflation of 89 sextillion percent (89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000%) You blink, and the prices have already doubled. The paper they print money on is worth more than the money it represents.

Actually, IIRC, the brain isn't responsible for the heartbeat. According to Wikipedia...

- Source

I think it's pretty clear that your heart racing in social environments is a mental reaction, not a physical one. I'm sure we could prove it by drugging you and wheeling you into a public place. If it was purely physical then it should happen regardless of whether you are fully conscious/sober or not.

I can sympathize with you because I'm often very uncomfortable in social situations as well and quite often my heart does race like that. When I'm anywhere social I feel like everybody's looking at me and I feel awkward already so then it's like everybody's watching me be awkward. I don't consider it my fault and I also don't consider it uncontrollable. It's something that I could learn not to do with the right guidance (<cough>walkthrough</cough>) and/or friends (i.e., not Christians).

Africa has a LOT of problems, and the direct causes are hard to locate, just like nobody seems to know a proper cure. However, I think it's fairly certain that things weren't as bad before colonization started.
The fact that large parts of Africa are starving isn't so much a problem of over-population (Western Europe has a far higher population density, yet it contains some of the richest countries in the world). One problem is that European colonists replaced traditional farming techniques and products (which fit perfectly well into the existing environment) with European techniques, which produce agricultural goods that are interesting on a world scale, but are devastating for local ecosystems. Similar things go for lifestyle; in many African areas, a nomadic lifestyle is far better suited to the environment than the so-called civilized agricultural settlements. Another interesting fact is that Africa had a fairly established political map before the Europeans arrived, where ethnic and social groups all had their territories (not without conflicts obviously, but things were kind of sorted out). When Africa was divided up between the colonial powers, little respect was paid for existing structures; basically, the conquerors drew some lines on the map and decided what belonged to whom. In many cases, those lines cut straight through ancient territories, artificially splitting up ethnic and social groups, and putting others into one country that weren't such a good match. The fact that to the Europeans, all Africans were more or less the same 'inferior' breed didn't help much either.
Not to speak of the massive drain of natural and human resources that took place over quite some time, and the often systematic destruction of local culture.
When the various African countries finally, one by one, gained independence from their former colonists, they were left with a power vacuum and little established structure; they were left to invent a political system by themselves, based on thin air, with little resources left and virtually no help from their former rulers. Some were more successful than others.

The 'one more mouth to feed' argument makes a lot more sense if you look at it from a different angle. Imagine a world where there is no social security whatsoever: when you are too old to work, the only thing you can fall back on is your children. The health care system is bad, and many children don't make adulthood. More children will also yield social status, which in turn makes it easier to gain all sorts of advantages. If that isn't enough for you, read up on the Tragedy of the Commons, a though experiment that shows nicely how the best strategy for an individual in a situation where limited resources are shared and freely accessible is one that will lead to a collapse of the commonwealth. (As a side note, and feel free to call me a communist, a dirty one if you like, the Tragedy of the Commons can also be applied to show that a free market economy, where basically all natural resources are unregulated, will eventually collapse.)
It's not that Africans don't know that having unprotected sex makes you pregnant. It's not that they don't know how to use condoms, and the Catholic church (however despicable their teachings) is only an additional factor in many cases. Most Africans that have many children do so because they choose to.

Another thought: It appears that 20% of the world's population consume 80% of the available resources, while the other 80% are left with 20%. In other words, if the average poor person holds 2.5 "shares" (20/8)in the world's resources, then the rich average at 40 (80/2).
This implies a number of things:

• if we could get rid of the richest 20% of the world's population, virtually all environmental problems we are facing would probably go away, because mankind's overall ecological footprint would be reduced by 80%

• if we could get the richest 20% to reduce their living standards to those of the rest, we would reduce the footprint by 75% - without getting rid of anybody

• if we could get the richest 20% to lower their living standards by 75% (to 10 shares), we could double the living standard of the poorer 80% (to 5 shares) and still achieve a footprint reduction of 40% (the 80% usage reduces to 20%, the 20% usage increases to 40%, adding up to 60%), probably still enough to keep mankind around for a while

If you think the "Christian church" (as if to say it's some sort of conglomerate super entity with a distinct leader) is the problem. There's really no way we can discuss this. You've already decided in your head what the truth is without even seeing it.

Wealthy? I said dying of starvation and disease--not wealth as if to imply luxury. You're really projecting yourself into this discussion.

Personal experience is a great way to make decisions about 2 billion independently thinking people.

The point is that no, we aren't "responsible" in any legal sense. (I never said it was.) But moral? That's a much harder argument to brush off. The truth is, we're all very blessed and fortunate. And if you want to spend all your time and money on yourself--that's fine. But don't even try and tell me that isn't selfish. Those who have the power and means, are more responsible than those who don't. People want "the rich" to save the world, but when I say we (the middle class) could be doing it right now, people always get angry because it means they might be wrong. That the big evil "rich people" aren't the problem... but us. It's the same reason democracy in America has become an oligarchy. The middle class don't think it's their responsibility--but they'll whine all day about it. As if we, as a nation, don't have the power to remove every congress person from office tomorrow.