First, i like the premise of the a short question and answer area. Good idea for a thread topic. Second, I'm liking the title "agora." I can picture the stoa now! LOL!

I'm sure you'll have difficulty getting short answers, but that seems like a neat thing to try out. So would any question or answer be limited to like a sentence or two?

I'll try to start:
what is the intention of being kind to others?

You want to be kind to others so that you can get respect, and have others be kind to you.

Are those the only reasons, or are we blinded to the effects of our kindness on others?

There are many reasons for being kind to others. I might be kind to someone for personal gain, hoping they recall a past kindness and do me a favor in the future. Or perhaps it's a karmic principle.

Or did you want to know the best reason for being kind to others?

It was an open question! Welcome to the agora! :meeting:

What political view do you have, and why?
I'm politically neutral by the way. (If that is possible?)

I'm quite open when it comes to a political view, although I tend to disagree with ideas more than I agree with ideas.

What frustrates me is Communism. Not because I disagree with the policies, but rather it truly is an ideology. It is something that, no matter how fair and just, can never be achieved, simply because of human nature and greed.
Countries have tried, and some, such as China, continue to do so, but they are also part of the Rat Race. They are trying to keep up, or at least catch up, with the Western world when it comes to industry. Why would communism want to go along with capitalism?

In fact, to the other extreme, dictatorships aren't such a bad idea. Of course, they never seem to have worked in the past, but is that simply because the wrong people are in charge? It required a strong, inspirational, just leader, who, although is in charge of everyone, listens to the people. That may not necessarily be the idea of it, but no one person knows what is best for everyone. The ideology simply asks too much of a single person, no matter how desperate they are to change the world.

Democracy fails completely, as far as I am concerned. It's meant to be the fairest system, hench why the Western world uses it, but everyone's opinions are so strong these days that giving peopel an option just leads to mass division. You also end up with quite a diverse hierachy, which is linked to the capitalism, where everyone wants to be better than everyone else. We are all equal in rights, so why not in everything else?

Still, when it comes to choosing a government, I am not overly bothered as to who gets in, because I know that nobody can change the world for the better, as the majority of people, whether they know it or not, indirectly want to make it worse.

Why would anyone consider anything other?:perplexed:
William

Joshy - the nation that comes closest to implementing communism is Cuba, which, despite a devastating trade embargo from the US, has done pretty well. Cuba has done better than many other Latin American nations after colonialism.

I'm not a communist because I share your distrust of ideology, but I'm not so sure that communism is impossible. Instead, it seems that communism has failed in the past because the US and crew has done everything in their power to destroy communist regimes.

I'm a Libertarian, it's the only Political belief that one can hold which is coherent with freedom. IMO

There was a time when I was a hard line Marxist and member of the Socialist Workers Party. But during my study of Economics and Politics, I became very disillusioned, with the idea's and the concepts held by the majority of political party's, including the more mainstream party's in British Politics.

First of all; they do!

Maybe i should have defined "kind"
In this case i meant "kind" in the way that you sacrifice something.
For instance if you give your friend a huge piece of your chocolate bar.

I answered that way because I think treating others with kindness would be a no brainer once we endeavor to understand why people "don't". As far as the different degrees of kindness I guess it really doesn't matter. I guess we all have our definitions. I was speaking of a kindness that is not necessarily embellished on friends, but all those we have a chance to meet. That would involve a courtesy, respect and consideration towards any individual. In this day and age you walk up to a perfect stranger and offer them a candy bar, red flags go up as they wonder what it is "you" want. Kindness doesn't, IMO involve a sacrifice, or it shouldn't. Oh, and as far as that candy bar thing, you be in a world of hurt if they happen to be "underage". Ha..!
My thoughts.
William

idk, I think ideologically communism is awesome, but living in a practical world, idk if it's even possible to implement an ideologically perfect communist system. Too many people mixed with too much power. The same pitfalls affect capitalism, socialism, and institutionalized religion. I guess I'd even venture to say any institution is vulnerable to this concept.

As far as my personal beliefs it's Democratic Socialism ftw. Capitalism doesn't work, but Communism isn't the best answer. Equal opportunity should be ensured, not equal monetary gain. Socialism is the closest political structure I can think of that exists to that (though when it was originally conceived it was supposed to simply be a passing phase in the overall transition of a society to communism). The democratic part is to keep those running the system from accumulating too much individual power. I feel like my response was too long now, my bad. I = long winded.

Sharing the love we feel as we experience reflections of God in our lives (IMO).