Japan has Calpis Soda. Also delicious. (Although i think this is a yogurt based drink)

Do you think the West is that far off?

And let’s not fool ourselves. I’m sure that at least some, if not most, of these signatories aren’t doing this out of some altruistic streak. Doesn’t take morals to see that we’re headed for class war. That or economic collapse. They are giving up some money/power/control so they don’t risk losing it all.

Look at the US. They thought there were all these rules restricting a variety of things relating to governmental powers. Trump ignored a bunch of them, and it turns out there weren’t laws in place to prevent or enforce repercussions. Just conventions that most politicians abided by. Now they’ve got that cluster fuck. Or more directly related, there were laws regulating the stock market. Those regulations have been eroded over time by those who would benefit. We let them, and now inequality is off the charts. Systems this big and intertwined need structure. You can argue about whether you want it centralized or decentralized, but it needs structure. Letting people decide what is right for themselves leads to what we have now. Those with money have the power, and they are free to keep taking from those at the bottom.

Because capitalism.
The less glib answer, though a bit of an over simplification, is that the current trend of neoliberalism discourages self limitation and collective collaboration. If regulation is not put in place and enforced by forces (government, social contract, etc) then people are incentivize to push and make use of any advantage available. Not doing it risks being displaced by those who do. Competition becomes toxic and self perpetuating

Defining it as a feature would dispel the myth of there being an ethical way to incarcerate/indefinitely detain people. The “bad apples” argument tries to put forward an idea that something bad is actually fine. It’s only bad in ‘this instance’ because these people are bad/immoral/incompetent.

Sounds like she could do with more bran in her diet >_>

I get what you’re saying. And might even agree with elements. But it is easy to say it’s futile to fight when you aren’t in a position to need to. Doing nothing in this case means resigning not just yourself to being under their oppression, and not even just your friends and family. It is resigning your entire culture to a slow painful death by attrition. They are losing more and more land, rights, and any hope of progress. Like… if someone is strangling you, do you fight back, or just resign yourself to it? And that’s before we even get into the fact that those complying and not fighting are still being killed. Those not fighting and wanting to leave were lured to slaughter. Not fighting is an illusory choice.

You just gotta take that line of thought one step further. I believe in you.

I bought a soda stream and will cycle through various things to flavor it. My two go-tos are orange juice and mango juice. And I usually just put a splash of it on top. Maybe 1/10.

How do you feel about drinks like Bubly?

If Hamas had the same capabilities, there would likely be less violence because Israel would not be able to oppress, occupy, or encroach on Palestinian life. The one with more power doesn’t need to use all of their strength, whereas the one struggling under the boot of the other will fight with all of their strength and use whatever is available to them