Just How Stupid as a Culture Have We Become?

[Entropy]

i think what's going on is reason rather than emotion. i can't think of much al gore does or has does that uses reason. they have no thoughts for themselves...that's why they have no identity as a political party. overlord? please....no more than reagan was an overlord, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. gut over brain? how about you use your brain when someone is punching you in the face and see how that goes. anyhoo off topic....time in.

(Slightly off topic - at least not subtitle related)
I personally don't have much use for any politician - they are all self serving.

I was referring to this book that just came out:

and the point that he is trying to make which I think is a very serious one: The marketplace of reasoned debate our country was founded on is being endangered by a variety of allied forces: the use of fear and the misuse of faith (Bush's two big clubs he hammers the populace with), the distractions of our entertainment culture (what Hollywood starlet is flashing her junk this week), and the concentrations of power in the national media and the executive branch.

If you don't like Gore, then how about comedian Bill Hicks who maintained that the medium of television has been hijacked simply as a means of keeping the populace quiet and selling them products:

So there, we have figured out, go back to bed America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again. Here, here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up! Go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators. Here's 56 channels of it. Watch these pituitary ******* bang their ********* skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go America - you are free, to do as we tell you. You are free, to do as we tell you.

That Neil Postman and Huxley stuff is really great. Gets lost in the shuffle with the Orwell Big Brother stuff.

 

[gdb]

I saw Al Gore talking up The Assualt on Reason and he makes a very compelling case. He didn't go so far as say the major problem is the evangelicals who justify their agenda at the cost of reason and argue while being intellectually dishonest but I will.

But talk about a backward culture! America was recently ranked near second to last in a comparison of peoples' views in 34 countries when it comes to public acceptance of evolution. (Turkey is at the bottom.) https://www.livescience.com/php/mul...Grasp+of+Genetics+and+Acceptance+of+Evolution

That's right, about half of Americans actually think man was created as-is about 10,000 years ago despite all evidence to the contrary. WTF?! How intellectually lazy do you have to be not to be able to reconcile your personal beliefs with scientific facts? Just how stupid have we become?!

 

[Entropy]

It's the 'gut' conquering the 'head' again, gdb.

Don't let silly little things like facts and logic get in the way of what you feel is correct. That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. Now, I know some of you are going to say, "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.

 

[Anzik]

Al Gore is actually saying someone is playing on peoples fears? He must have watched his own movie.

There are many things we should be afraid of in the world, and I would say that worrying about where man came from is pretty low on the list. Mankind has no real answers, we have theories. We have example after example of the 'enlightened' people saying "We have the answer, the debate is over." Until something comes along to prove it wrong. If you want intellectual honesty, lets just say we really don't know. Science doesn't know, religious people don't know (But at least they are honest enough to say its their BELIEF.) Athiests frequently lump all people who believe in God into the same catagory. What about people like Francis Collins who cracked the human genome? Director of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute now believes it is evidence of a creator, yet he should be lumped in with the Westboro Baptist Church. That would be as wrong as saying all athiests are like Stalin and Mao.The honest answer is that there is no answer and 'knowing' is impossible so we are left with what we believe.
This is an example of the film problem; an over simplification. We like to keep things easy, we don't want to put out the effort of thought. There is also the part where we don't want anyone telling us that some of the things we do are wrong. Look at reality shows for example. It is bad behavior pure and simple. Is there anyone who feels that deception and betrayal are admirable qualities? And yet look how many people watch them. How many people revile the behavior of Britney, Paris and Lindsay, yet have also googled the images of those convenient wardrobe malfunctions?
Personally I look at the idea that life and the universe are random occurances and then I look at the complex order of DNA and molecular bonds and see the two conflicting. In other words, order is created by chaos.

 

[tylerd]

getting back on topic, i really don't think the culture is becoming stupid but lazy is a definite. most people i know playing a video game would rather get the cheats online than actually play the game. i also feel the older generation isn't so much lazy as they are tired. most of the older people i know are always working, both partners in a relationship never having the time to properly address family, problems and basically everything. someone mentioned americans work more hours than the rest of the world and the majority don't take extra time off because they just can't afford to. rising costs of everything doesn't give people much of a choice to do what they want, so their nature is leaning towards taking shortcuts to save time. we have become a nation of overworked, underpaid, stressed to the max maniacs that will kill the first time someone looks at us wrong. sort of like a real life video game. life running in circles.

 

[Anzik]

Overworked and underpaid but also a very important factor is overspending. What family these days doesn't have a cell phone, cable television and a big game system regardless of their income?

We are a society of distraction, moving farther and farther into denial of reality.
Not that I have any intention of changing it as I spend hundreds of dollars on my SSC toys and play my XBox 360.

 

[darthviper107]

I like cheating in video games. It makes it more fun when you can use everything. At least sometimes it is.


Our culture is weird, but then again, so is everyones (what *is* normal?) But I will contend that half of the people in the world are retarded.

 

[gideon]

from AnzikHayes

What family these days doesn't have a cell phone, cable television and a big game system regardless of their income?

While I plead guilty to having cable TV, I do not own either a cell phone or anything remotely resembling a video game system.

 

[Vader AL]

Not that I have any intention of changing it as I spend hundreds of dollars on my SSC toys and play my XBox 360.

amen brother...amen.

 

[Eli26]

Overworked and underpaid but also a very important factor is overspending. What family these days doesn't have a cell phone, cable television and a big game system regardless of their income?

We are a society of distraction, moving farther and farther into denial of reality.
Not that I have any intention of changing it as I spend hundreds of dollars on my SSC toys and play my XBox 360.

Definitely we have become a world of want vs. a world of need. They say pretty soon it will take two earths to support our populations' demands. We are exhausting supplies on a monumental level like never witnessed in the previous few centuries combined. It is the concept and creation of credit that has caused this. Most of what a lot of people own is based on credit. So many people go in debt because of this. Yes I am only a 20-something year-old, but I am aware of our history. Apparently our grandparents were given home loans based on income. So if you had a low income, you were only awarded enough to buy a home that was within the constraints of your finances. You had to save up your money to buy your television set and your vehicle. Usually most families had one TV set and one car, and we're talking about bigger sized families here.

Now you can buy any kind of home at any cost with as much as putting a dollar down as a down payment, which is sad. But that's what the competition from other branches have caused. Accepting people with house mortgages that will take them the entire duration of their life, to pay off said mortgages. They don't care if you can't afford it. They just want your business, whether you can survive the costs or not. Same thing with car dealerships. As long as your credit rating is good, they don't care if you can't afford it and your car gets repossessed.

Sadly I fall into the popular bracket of buying into things I can't afford. Like SideShow pieces. I am a student that works part time. I have enough funds to get by, and while I can afford to take on certain pieces, it does take away from other things, like being able to take trips or go out on the town with my friends. Sometimes I find myself just etching by... lingering on those last few dollars.

We just have become a society that wants as much as the next person. We are greedy. Even though for the most part a lot of us can't afford to be. We always want the best and be where everyone else is, concerning the majority. I know a lot of pieces people buy pertaining to SideShow pieces is because everyone wants what is the flavour of the month... The Doom PF, Grey Hulk... and so on...

Just like cell phones. You have a cell phone. It does what you ask of it, but then you see your friends does more than your's. Do you need those added features? No. Do you care? No. Because you go out and buy something that is better, just so you can say you have something better. And you most likely won't use the added features after the first initial 5 minutes... and what have you learned? Nothing, except for the fact you just blew an extra 300 on something you already had that worked and served the purpose. That 300 dollars could have served a much greater need. Like food, rent, gas, etc.

Makes you really think how silly we as a society can be when it comes to our own financial situations.

 

[Anzik]

Silly? Perhaps, yet this is still the most desired destination of immigrants in the world. We have more opportunity here than anywhere else. We have so much freedom here people can even burn our own flag and not be punished. In most places it would likely be a capital offense. We also give more foreign aid than any other country despite our "selfishness".

It's excessive, but this is still the greatest country in the world.

 

[Eli26]

Silly? Perhaps, yet this is still the most desired destination of immigrants in the world. We have more opportunity here than anywhere else. We have so much freedom here people can even burn our own flag and not be punished. In most places it would likely be a capital offense. We also give more foreign aid than any other country despite our "selfishness".

It's excessive, but this is still the greatest country in the world.

If you mean Canada as the greatest country in the world then I agree.

 

[Entropy]

Great, thoughtful posts Eli26 & Anzik.

 

[Eli26]

Yup, Anzik is a swift fella.

And thanks for the compliment Chicken. Much appreciated.

 

[DarthNeil]

If you mean Canada as the greatest country in the world then I agree.

DITTO