Waiting on this thread to also be locked...
@Auroradream I don't get it. This place is advertised as “caring” in many ways. So maybe my expectations are wrong.
@FearsBears I would not judge the site by the forums. The number of CC members that use the forums is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the total membership. The forums tend to be 15 or 20 people.
The claim that "nothing in life has ever been free" is flawed because many of the most valuable aspects of life are inherently free, requiring neither payment nor conditions. For example:
These examples underscore that some of life's greatest treasures are freely available to all. 🙂
@TD1964RGK
The claim that "nothing in life has ever been free" is flawed...
No, it isn't flawed. I was referring to those things that are necessary for survival (food, shelter, clothing). Not leisurely strolls on the beach.
Today, and going all the way back to the dawn of mankind, one possessed survival skills, or one exchanged something of value for someone else's survival skills.
Sunsets are pretty, but they're not critical to survival.
Air is free. Except at some gas stations.
@Auroradream
Why are we predicting doom for a perfectly civil forum discussion?
I knew the new guy was doomed
And I didn't even report his transphobic comment in a DM.
When they come on so strong in the forum with the pot stirring right after joining, I always have to wonder if they’re a previously banned member.
@g_w_t_w It's a red flag for sure.
@IronLemon hes blaming you on his new thread
@TD1964RGK I have to disagree with you. Someone far wiser than me addressed this many years ago, and I can't improve on his words:
“Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of life is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain... The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion... and the price demanded for the most precious of all things in life is life itself--ultimate cost for perfect value”
Sometimes the cost we pay is not money, but "toil, sweat, and tears". Even that "free" shared knowledge or art came at the labor cost of the person who created it. And of course, the most fundamental necessities of life come with a cost. True, the consumer may not be the one paying for it (examples include folks who receive Section 8 benefits, WIC/food stamps, or other welfare), but SOMEONE has to pay that cost. TANSTAAFL
@jubal i want to offer a counter point about breath. True that breath is not free, but what you gain from that breath is paid by the body processing that breath and exhaling what something else in the world needs. Just because that exhale is of no use to you it has value and it took energy (yours) to produce. So some of these things cost but it's paid naturally.
Also true value can be determined in many ways. Life has value and everything that provides it. Cuddling has value but what causes the need? If we had what we needed inherently would we need it? I believe and I've said it before, i am here for cuddles because i lack what i need with out this. That's why many of us consider paying for it, if we had absolutely what we needed would we be here? I would not. It's the awareness that we have lack is what brings things value. Does it make it wrong to pay the cost? That's the question. Does it make it wrong to provide what others need? That's the question. The answer is always somewhere in the middle.
Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under Communism, its just the other way around.
See? Threads be crazy. I saw it coming. When will it end?!
No, this thread is fine. It's gonna be okay.
Just because some crewmen got sucked out into space when a hole was blown out of the hull on Decks 14 - 17, the Enterprise itself kept functioning fine.
Stated perfectly, @Jubal . That's how I meant to say it.
@TxTom this makes me wonder where Voyager kept getting crew and shuttles for seven years. Maybe this topic deserves it's own thread, eh?
@Jubal
Maybe this topic deserves it's own thread, eh?
Perhaps, but I'm not going to start it. I'm not one of those Trekkie nerds.
I hate when simpl e things that are nice are complicated...how about people pay for service they can afford and enjoy..hopefully the client and pro had a good time and they agree to do it again..it should be that simple
The collective female body is used to sell $trillions in everything from luxury cars to 40-year-old Scotch to breast implants to hamburgers, for centuries, nobody but egg head academic says a thing. A woman uses her own body, that she owns, to make a modest living, the entire economic and social structure must be scrutinized and reformed
I completely agree, @biancalovecraft
The thought that has been coming to mind all day is that a CEO getting shot is a real life trolley problem in action.
Also professional cuddling is at least as legitimate a profession as someone in a suit pushing ones and zeros around all day or many many other jobs that I can think of.
My friend worked marketing for coca cola. Now there's a job that is truly pointless imo. At least people paying for cuddling are accessing real health benefits (lower stress, boosted immunity).
In a free economy, the value of someone's profession is determined by what others are willing to pay.
To be more precise, the financial value of someone's profession is what others are willing to pay.
a CEO getting shot is a real life trolley problem in action.
Trolley problem? Havent heard that one before @radiatawellness and had to Google it. Couple different explanations came up - I'm guessing that the one you mean is analogous to the "would you save the fat man?" ethical dilemma?
@radiatawellness
May I post this elsewhere?
Trolley problem? Havent heard that one before
Actually the movie “The Dead Zone” based on Stephen King’s book and starring Christopher Walken is an entire movie based on a trolley problem.
https://neal.fun/absurd-trolley-problems/
On some level, everyone is selling (or using) their time, attention, and/or body to make money.
Nothing wrong, so long as it is consenting adults.
The drawback to paying for physical affection is the conundrum that if you have to pay for it, it might suddenly not meet your emotional needs.
Like paying people to come to your birthday party…
But if paying works for both of you/all of you, then what’s the issue?
If you want an emotional connection you have to do the emotional work.