# Has pathological greed destroyed the Occident? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2016, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876 "2016-08-15T04:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/61 "2016-08-17T06:04:28Z")
Wait, this is about hamburgers? Dude, Mexico already stole that with their hamburguesa technology. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/62 "2016-08-17T06:41:21Z")
I need to dump [Occidental](http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/oxy)? But they just posted strong Q2 figures! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/63 "2016-08-17T12:18:46Z")
Well, if China is getting all **QUANTUM** on us, we’re doomed. Even [the Greeks](http://www.subtleenergies.com/ormus/tw/QuantumHomeopathy.htm) are ahead of Amerika. Relax, have a burger. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/64 "2016-08-17T15:23:45Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > To quote Rick James, cocaine is a hell of a drug. > > Or **iLemming** seriously needs to stay on meds. > > Or both. Meh, a High School freshman stringing together big words to sound grown up isn’t anything new to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/65 "2016-08-17T17:02:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Do you speak English? _…derailing, derping dullard denomination…_ Absolutely awesome alliteration… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/66 "2016-08-17T17:14:08Z")
Just FYI: No one calls it “the Occident” anymore, except on certain crank websites. It’s about as weird as referring to “the Orient” or “Oriental.” And sesquipedalian loquaciousness does not make you correct. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/67 "2016-08-17T17:57:19Z")
I think maybe we’re part of a Turing test. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/68 "2016-08-17T19:54:38Z")
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought – So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/69 "2016-08-17T20:10:10Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I think maybe we’re part of a Turing test. It totally sucks when you fail those… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/70 "2016-08-17T20:34:02Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves… That’s the only poetry I know by heart, unless you count one hen, two ducks, three squawking geese… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/71 "2016-08-17T22:46:19Z")
That **iLemming** uses his fingers fancier than a $20 whore! There are _two_ (count 'em!) streets a few miles from me named Occidental. Been known to cause a bit of confusion from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![iLemming](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@iLemming](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iLemming)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/72 "2016-08-18T02:42:14Z")
‘_First comes pride; then disgrace._’ Sure – I’ve witnessed nihilism before. We all have: halal, harem and every hair-brained hybrid betwixt. But, the sheer level of self-immolating, indolent apathy on display here–at Straight **Dope** ¹–the [erstwhile] escutcheon of epicurean E-erudition–careens even my capacious cerebrum into crash-to-desktop consternation! :smack: > [@](#): > > _“There isn’t a single fighter jet fighter that’s in the air today, that doesn’t require parts made by a potential adversary.”_ [tl;hs;ncbs;dw² source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhLBIMwvnYA) Does being faced with one’s own, real-time extinction–the extinction of one’s progeny–the extinction of the society one profess to pride–that which was wrought, painstakingly from dirt–that had felled countless lives in its name… not concern you hive-minded hillbillies even a smidgen of a steric of a vibrating string…!? Is the faecal spangled bandanna really _that_ tightly wrapped that its tourniquet has occluded _ **all** _ blood flow to your sugar stupified, preservative poisoned, G.M.O. gangrened, rap “music” rotten, Kardaishian corrupted, bulbous, braggadocio, blowhard, bumpkin, bilge-bloated brains…?! Was George Romero a government plant ‘conditioning agent’, and have zombies actually been the real, indigenous population of the United States, all along…?! 😕 ¹ Bolfaced for emphasis ² Too long; has subtitles; not comic book schlock;didn’t watch ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/73 "2016-08-18T03:03:51Z")
Am I the last one to figure out that **iLemming** isn’t posting sincerely here (i.e., he/she is just goofing off)? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/74 "2016-08-18T03:20:36Z")
> [@iLemming](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > “There isn’t a single fighter jet fighter that’s in the air today, that doesn’t require parts made by a potential adversary.” Considering that\* everyone\* is a “potential adversary” that’s inevitable. And pointless to worry about, since any war big enough to threaten the nation would inevitably go nuclear and we’d all be dead anyway. Those fighter jets are for attacking other people, not defense. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/75 "2016-08-18T03:26:54Z")
He forgot to say sheeple. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/76 "2016-08-18T03:33:41Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > He forgot to say sheeple. [Never talk about the Sheeple](https://xkcd.com/1013/). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/77 "2016-08-18T12:49:59Z")
Well, I can go along with the snide Kardashian reference. However, his alliteration is getting a bit too Agnewoid for my tastes.\* \ ***iLemming** comes off as a niggling, neutered, nonsensical ninny. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/78 "2016-08-18T14:40:02Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > He forgot to say sheeple. Since his name was derived from a herding animal and an Apple product, I think it was implied. ---
**Author:** ![iLemming](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@iLemming](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iLemming)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/79 "2016-08-19T00:29:33Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Considering that\* everyone\* is a “potential adversary” that’s inevitable. And pointless to worry about, since any war big enough to threaten the nation would inevitably go nuclear and we’d all be dead anyway. Those fighter jets are for attacking other people, not defense. Ahhh! The dulcet dirge of desperate disclaiming, droned by defeatist deadites, strikes as euphonious a refrain as ever! See, the thing is, not everyone is a prostrating nihilist **pause for incredulous gasp** ; and to assume that they are, not only makes an _ass_ out of yo_u_ and _me_, but evinces one’s own innate, self-immolatory inclinations. I guess that is why global vox populi surveys predominantly correlate to our very own “world police” as the most threatening element to the maintenance of world peace… ironically enough. > [@](#): > > _“The Soviet union could build ballistic missiles, but couldn’t bake a loaf of breath. We [the U.S.] build long-range bombers, but can’t make a pair of shoes.”_ Even by [your own war-hawk-ish, mawkish, machismo military’s estimates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_AJYN_NVkg), the U.S. could not ‘win’ a war with China–_today_–without “heavy” losses and to ultimately achieve little more than an “inconclusive” outcome. Extrapolate this conservative estimate over the coming years, where the technological “gap”[[citation needed] ](http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1913442/chinas-military-closing-technology-gap-us-forces-says) will invariably decrease in leaps of magnitude, and you’re confronted with a scenario of not only a greed-induced economic nadir, but the only ace the U.S. ever had - post WW2, _ad hoc_ imperialism through armipotence-imposed hegemony - becoming little more than a nerf gun in the face of the chortling, teeming, predator-satiating, multitudinous Sino masses. Which, suffice it to say, speaks volumes for the $600 billion in disclosed military funding that, seemingly, gets poured down the pissoir per annum. **Sidebar:** Did ol’ Rumsy ever end up knowing where that unknown two trillion fiat$ was known to have been unknown of…? :rolleyes: How this does not pique even a corpuscle of urine-fetid perspiration upon the simian brow of broader, bulging burger bourgeois, is testament unequivocal to the efficacy the [Zionist wittol MSN’s dog-waging](https://twitter.com/HKX07/status/755375255422578688), the dulcifying properties of [high fructose corn syrup](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/) and the cerebrum stultifying supplementation of [DNA-defiling Teflon carcinogens](https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/) – in concert, having conspired to create an offensively obtuse, obnoxious opus of somnambulting simpletons; seduced into submissive sissification, in-keeping with the sadomasochistic stylings of their Satanic similarcurm, slave state subjugators. ‘_Come he slow or come he fast, 'Tis but **Death** that comes at last!_’ ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876/80 "2016-08-19T00:48:37Z")
I keep checking in just to see if pathological greed has destroyed the Occident yet… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-pathological-greed-destroyed-the-occident/762876.md?page=5)