BS: The real problem with the world today is

Subject: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 12:34 PM

You've all noticed the problem:stupidity on a massive scale. The streets are crammed with artless, illiterate, and tasteless people. Young people are increasingly unable to speak their own languages, let alone learn others. Theatrical entertainments, which, only scant years ago, included Strindberg, Ibsen, Shakespeare, have deteriorated to the point that Jackie Chan movies are the good ones--and music--well, it's just to sad to say what's happened to music--

Here is the most reasonable explanation that I have found.

With the recent explosion in world population, there are actually more people alive today than ever existed before. This means that there are not enough souls to go around--

With the extinction of the Dodo and the Passenger Pidgeon, there were billions of extra souls floating around with no place to reincarnate--without getting overly technical, suffice it to say that they have literally been sucked into human bodies that otherwise would have gone souless--

Think about it! The sudden popularity of grain-based "vegan" diets--the hysterical fear of Avian Flu--the virtual elimination of steamship and rail transport with air travel--it all makes sense!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 12:51 PM

You blinkin' a lot lately, Ted? *G*

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Wesley S
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 01:09 PM

M-Ted - If I remember correctly Theodore Sturgon's law says that 75 percent of everything is crap. He thought that up decades ago but it still holds true. Just keep surching for those things of value wheather they be souls, songs, guitars, raw eggs, chocolate or books.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 01:26 PM

No, Sturgeon said that 95% of everything is crap.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,saulgoldie
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 01:34 PM

Too many of us have forgotten that we have to SHARE the world and all its resources. To do this, we have to work together and respect each other as human beings.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: pdq
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 01:35 PM

95% of what Theodore Sturgeon said was crap.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Kaleea
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 01:58 PM

--not enough people who:
playing acoustic Music, teaching acoustic Music to the next generations, listening to acoustic Music, performing acoustic Music, providing acoustic Musical instruments for youngsters, broadcasting acoustic Music during rush hour traffic time, . . .

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 02:11 PM

Too many people and way too many greedy ones...

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: kendall
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 02:25 PM

One of the vewry first things that my geography professor said when I went to college was Every problem we have can be traced to one thing...too many people.
M Ted, I like your theory!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 02:32 PM

I think M. Ted is really onto something.

One thing I would add to his theory, however, is that along with the dodo and the passenger pigeon, up until recently humans have been killing off a lot of predators, failing to realize that they fill an essential ecological niche. The souls of predators being sucked into otherwise soulless bodies would go a long way toward explaining . . . um . . . politics? Maybe a few other things as well.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 03:37 PM

Another thing is that when those extinct species come back, they're really angry!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 04:39 PM

no-one thinks......they just regurgitate what they saw on the t.v or read in the popular press.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 06:18 PM

gee...M. Ted and Kendall and Morticia and Don Firth have said it all.

Sure saves me a lot of typing!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: mack/misophist
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 06:23 PM

DITTO

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,ivor
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 07:24 PM

Solzhenitsin fingered a basic prob.

"the line dividing good and evil cuts thru the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a part of his own heart?"
(from Gulag Archipelago )

I reckon a second is rampant capitalism. "Capitalism eats its young "(K.M.)

And lastly, because of our unaware state, most people don't take the sheer reality of the other as seriously as their own, if at all.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 07:46 PM

I think it was Idries Shah who wrote that an "egocentric pessimist" is a person who thinks he hasn't changed but the world is getting worse.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Dead Horse
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 08:34 PM

The whole problem boils down to every mother f***er thinks it is his/her devine right to lord it over all others, without accepting the other guys point of view. We all think we are more equal than the next guy, and are willing to sue/fight/declare war to prove it!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,khandu
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 09:38 PM

If the problem is too many humans, the logical solution is to eliminate the excess.
Who gets to decide who and how many get eliminated? Unfortunately, I fear it will be the stupid who decides, as they seem to be the majority.

k

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: bobad
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 10:22 PM

Dumming down.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 10:38 PM

Well said bobad. Don't know ehy they say your'e dumb...
:-)

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:13 AM

One of the corollaries to the idea that ivor mentions is the idea that most people will accept evil and even collaborate in evil, if it is done by people that they hold in esteem.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Paul Burke
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 03:44 AM

50000 years of people believing in every variety of god from a stone to a nutcase in the sky, that stars make us do what we do, that old women can turn themselves into cats, that you mustn't whistle or demons might cause a storm, that black follows green, that if we don't cut your kid's throat at the solstice the sun will go away, that you have to slice off babies' foreskins, that if you go too far that way you'll fall off the edge of the world, that allowing menstruating women in the house will spoil the beer, that if only we could kill all the tribe next door the world would be a wonderful place....

...and you're saying stupidity has increased? No, it's a permanent, limitless resource. If only we could brew beer from it.

Don't slander dodos or passenger pigeons or I'll see you behind the bike shed after school.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 03:56 AM

I AGREE!!! People and dumbing down.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:07 PM

Well, Mr. Burke, when you examine the history of humanity, there is certainly plenty to find fault with. It can be argued that the 50000 or so years that you talk of amount to nothing more than mankind's trudging from one idiocy to the next.   However brutal, cruel or just plain stupid the past has been, for 2.5 million or so years, humankind have managed to keep going.

The point I made, originally facetiously, though now things seem to have turned earnest, is that in recent years, the BCJPS(Brutal,cruel, and just plain stupid) has increased exponentially--

Moving back to the trudging concept--now it seems to have escalated to a frenetic scramble--so many things happen so fast that it is impossible to keep track of them all. The massacres of the Vietnam war were given immediacy by television, and we reflected on each consecutive horror--now, with Iraq, even the most diligent among us lose track--"is this the terrorist bombing that I saw last night, or were another 87 people blown up this morning?"

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 12:50 PM

squauk, jeez Ted you really made me, squauk, think.


There really is a man who says he is God's man. The man to achieve God's plan on Earth. He is not the first to claim to be God's man for the job but he is the current President of the United States.

God's plan must be to have the US first cause a civil war in Iraq and then fight it for them.

To create an ongoing blood bath that would only dishonor those who have died in this blood bath UNLESS we continue the blood bath. To win the hearts and minds of the people by killing them and/or destroying their homes.

To build a new democracy where there was none. A democracy of the people by the people and for the people who recieve unbid contracts.



You know this makes me suspicious that this is not God's plan at all but just hollow lies told by the idiot son of a former CIA President who is now propped up by the advisors Rumsfeld and Cheney from the former Reagan/Bush administration .

Idiocy falls by its own weight but it takes time.
I believe that the British Empire occupied Egypt for about 50 years before they realized their stupidity.

How long will it take for Americans to stop supplying toy soldiers for Bush?
Not long*.
How long until we stop pouring all our borrowed money into Iraq?
Not long*.
How long before there will be peace in the middle East?
Not long*



* ...in geologic terms.
How long before

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 05:42 PM

It seems to me that that the real problem with the world today is that it is run by, and exclusively for the benefit of, the mega-greedy. Didn't Ghandi say something along the lines of, 'there are enough resources, in the world, to go round but there will never be enough for certain people'? And didn't Marx tell us to always ask, when trying to make sense of world events, "who benefits?"

Oh yes, and there are far too many people - a problem which decision makers seem determined to resolutely ignore. This is probably because the bigger the population the bigger the potential market. Who benefits?

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 07:18 PM

The real problem(s) with the world today are...intelligence without wisdom. Cleverness without compassion. Action without awareness. Activity without real purpose. Multitasking instead of focusing clearly. Thinking that goes uselessly in circles, and is too enamoured of itself. Reaction instead of creation. The search for MORE. Focusing obsessively on the differences between us instead of on the similarities. Trying to "win" by making someone else "lose". Fear instead of Love.

Talking too much on the Net (or elsewhere) is often a symptom of many or most of the above conditions. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 08:52 PM

"Talking too much on the Net (or elsewhere) is often a symptom of many or most of the above conditions. ;-)"

(present company always excluded...) ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 09:28 PM

Oh, most definitely! (grin)

Actually, I am seriously questioning my net-yakking addiction lately. And that's exactly what it is...an addiction.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 09:49 PM

well, Little Hawk...addiction it is....but it has improved and expanded MY life and my list of friends beyond belief. It can be a tool, or it can be just a time-wasting escape, and sometimes we have need for both.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: bobad
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 09:53 PM

Spoken like a true philosopher BillD.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,William Shatner
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 09:56 PM

It has also allowed me to reach many of my most loyal fans and brighten their lives. Can you feel the love out there? That's powerful. Mudcat, I thank you. You have made my life a better one. I am humbled.

- William Shatner

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Nov 05 - 10:05 PM

...I am humbled.

- William Shatner


Now I've seen everything.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,ivor
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 07:43 AM

Another of the corollaries of the Solzhenitsin quote is the common assumption that the problem is always 'other people'. That also flows from the idea of the sheer reality of the reality of others not being treated as real by oneself.

And dumbing down is partly a consequence of a poor education, and a poor education is required by this damned system, which K.M. said would continue until it reached its limits of development. We're a way off that.

Meanwhile the world is run by bullies, 'cos you have to be a bully to succeed in most public spheres. Thankfully, the net loooks to me like one of the places where nobody can succeed in the power sense. It's the true place for public debate.

I'll have to go and lie down now with a cup of very strong water.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 07:51 AM

Ah yes - the water of life!

That's the real problem with the world today, not enough of that!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 01:26 PM

Paradoxically, it takes a highly educated person to dumb something down. Dumb people don't know how to do it--

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 01:28 PM

Not enough free beer.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 02:21 PM

hmmm...M. Ted....I think you have a serious point, if a 'bit' stretched. Really creative dumbing down does take understanding....but I have seen crude dumbing done by raw instinct! *grin*

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 03:07 PM

With the recent advances in cable TV, BillD, crude dumbing down, no matter how inspired, is a thing of the past.   it requires the most sophisticated technical and organizational skills to provide dumbness on the scale that is required to program for 500 channels, 24 hours a day.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: kendall
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 03:58 PM

"We have met the enemy, and he is US" (Pogo Possum"

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 04:07 PM

Lots of the above is true, but....

Martin Gibson is back!

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 02 Dec 05 - 08:12 PM

Not enough GETAWAY. GETAWAY spread in lots of other places could cure stupidity, ignorance, depression, meanness, etc. Lay it on thick with the biggest butterknife you got. Fix everything.    Tw

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 11:17 AM

Surely people who think they can define the world's problem in a few sentences are part of the problem.

However, I am going to contribute a few sentences myself.

The problems range from something as elemental as not-enough-fresh-water to something as sophisticated as trade treaties.

They are as ancient as sexism and as new as computer games.

They are as mind-based like religious intolerence and as physical as drug addiction.

They are complicated.

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 12:29 PM

In my view it boils down to bad memes.

The memes that we use to define right and wrong are "corrupted" memes. The memes we use for economic decision-making are half-baked. The memes we use to define products we will produce are very often warped. The memes governing social interactions, manners useage, the memes we use to even discriminate between memes are all platic, poorly fitted to the realities around us and run on three cylinders and half-flat tires.

One of the reasons why the Cat is a fun and interesting place is because a good number of the folks here are willing to consider different memes than the ones they are raised and bent to.

What we need is better models for the non-physical systems.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The real problem with the world today is
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Dec 05 - 03:12 PM

Well, Leeneia, I think that people who don't get the joke are part of the problem.