The world is changing... bad changes or good?

[spyells]

Originally posted by Garrett Fitzgerald:
Again, I didn't start it, you did. I just pointed it out.

And also, the Bible doesn't say we're in the end days: it describes the end days, and there are things going on that match the description -- but throughout history, there's always been things that match the description.

But, since you don't want to debate your own position, I'll give you this link. The question is, is it really less safe now than it was then, or have people just gotten a lot more paranoid, and less accepting of risk?

I'm going off of what I've been taught in church. Keep in mind that one day in the eyes of God is a thousand years. So final days could mean five thousand for all we know. The lord is great and as human beings we can't always understand that. It is difficult for us to precive.

People might just be more paranoid. But if there is a less sense of security to send your child outside there has to be a reason. My grandma grew up in the deep south in Mississippi and she and her siblings worked in the fields picking cotton. When they weren't they played outside and she said they were more creative because her family was so poor they had to make their own toys.

Another problem I'm seeing in this world is that their is a lack of communication. I wanted someone to start a topic about sexuality for a reason. On another forum that I discuss topics on there is a place for religious, political, sexuality, and other touchy subjects that we discuss. One topic is on Homosexuality and we all got really into it. http://forums.khinsider.com/religiou...ality-sin.html
Here's another topic on the same thing. http://forums.khinsider.com/intel-discussion/61139-bise...y-homosexuality.html

I've noticed that when as people we don't understand each other it can lead to feelings of fear and hate. I don't have an intolerance for homosexuals simply because my best friend is one and since we can talk about it I understand it. It doesn't bother me what he is I was talking from a biblical prospective. If we as people can't talk about these sensitive issues then we're only hurting ourselves. Many hate crimes and gang related crimes occur because we don't understand one another and all we've been taught to do is hate. Talking about it may not change someone's view but, it can open their eyes. Maybe a person use to be a gay basher or a racist and once they heard some arguments then it changed the way they at least act if not think. Am I allowed to start a topic like that?

[Cress]

Personally I think the world has improved a great deal.
Don't shoot me
There are things that are much worse now than they have been. Obviously global warming is one of them, but part of that is that people didn't and still don't understand the consequences of their actions and they don't believe that they can make a difference. Global warming is not just our generation. Starting with the Industrial Revolution is when we were spewing things into the atmosphere.
As for a breakdown of family...well, it's less of a priority now. Some people would say that's a bad thing, but some people would say that it's a good thing people are focusing more on their careers and so on. I know many people that still eat dinner as a family etc. Also, domestic abuse is DEFINETELY not a new problem. It used to be the norm. It was expected in fact. The way people disciplined their children was with physical violence. At least now there are more parents who allow their children to question things and attempt to understand the world for themselves. The shape of a family is changing. Instead of having large, loud, outside families, we have tighter knit families. There have always been families with bad parents, and there have always been families that fall apart, it's just easier for couples to split at this point. Also, I personally don't believe there's anything wrong with having a child out of wedlock. As I don't believe in the sacrament of marriage, marriage is just a title for legal purposes in my eyes, and it doesn't make a person any more fit to be a parent. That being said, I do think it's somewhat disgusting when teenagers have children because there is NO way a 16 year old is ready to create another human being.

Education-wise...we're in a decent holding pattern I think. We've at least improved to the point where education for the general populace is expected, which is a vast improvement over times when an education was something only for the vastly wealthy. While many people are apathetic about their education, this is the result of something good-the expectation of an education, whereas in the past you had to fight harder to get one.

One of the good things in the world now is that people are more open than they have been in the past. We can TALK about things like homosexuality. People are allowed to explore their religion and can have open, honest discussions about it. We are not perfect by any means, and there are places where that kind of thing would be frowned on, but in many past times ANY questioning of the norm or the rules would be considered disrespect, or breaking of laws.

BTW-about the law that spyells referred to-I think you're interpreting that in the wrong way. What it sounds like to me is that all acceptances into schools will be colorblind, meaning that a school cannot accept a student based on race to fix their "diversity" numbers.

Gang violence is not that bad compared to the recent past-the civil rights movement for example? It could be improved DEFINETELY, however it is not a hopeless situation. People have always been extremely stupid and prejudiced, gang violence is simply one more piece of evidence in that particular direction.

Personally I think all the problems we're witnessing are simply the newer versions of the same basic human failures there have always been. Aren't the older generations always saying how this next generation is going to be the ruination of everything? Yet, somehow it never does happen. Violence has always been a problem in its various forms, be it gang violence, war, slavery or any other form of basic human abuse. As the generations go by, family takes on different and new forms, and the older generation is always convinced that the new one is wrong. It is different, but it might not necessarily be worse. Also, as WF said, a lack of religion does not necessarily mean a lack of morals. I find many people who are very religious who lack in morals, and some of my best friends are atheist but are compassionate, caring people.

The world changes. People have problems. It is the same as it has always been. It's slightly oxymoronic to say that the only thing constant about the world is the change. Yet, no matter how many changes there are, we still have the same basic failings we have always had, just in different incarnations.

I wouldn't take the world any other way. =P I also don't think homosexuality is wrong. *hides from the off topic hatred*
Good gravy that was a long post.

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by Cress:
Personally I think all the problems we're witnessing are simply the newer versions of the same basic human failures there have always been. Aren't the older generations always saying how this next generation is going to be the ruination of everything? Yet, somehow it never does happen. Violence has always been a problem in its various forms, be it gang violence, war, slavery or any other form of basic human abuse. As the generations go by, family takes on different and new forms, and the older generation is always convinced that the new one is wrong. It is different, but it might not necessarily be worse.

Wow, I never DID think of that before. Hmm.

I completely agree with all of that. You're right; with the activities that we do nowadays, I mean good entertaining activities, such as video games, computer, newer board games, etc. all influence our personalities, so yeah, the kind of badness that's around nowadays is... different than it was a long time ago. Hmm. I never thought of that. Great job thinking of it!

Originally posted by spyells:
I wanted someone to start a topic about sexuality for a reason.

Why does someone else have to? Why can't you?

Edited because I inserted spyells's quote but forgot to write about it.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by EricG1793:

Originally posted by spyells:
I wanted someone to start a topic about sexuality for a reason.

Why does someone else have to? Why can't you?

Oh, let's not and say we didn't. That thread could go wrong in so many ways...

[EricG1793]

Originally posted by Garrett Fitzgerald:

Originally posted by EricG1793:

Originally posted by spyells:
I wanted someone to start a topic about sexuality for a reason.

Why does someone else have to? Why can't you? </div>

Oh, let's not and say we didn't. That thread could go wrong in so many ways... </div>

I agree; the only reason I said that is because apparently there's some reason why she can't, so she won't. Well maybe she will, or someone else will, but the thread would probably be closed pretty soon after it started anyway!

[spyells]

Originally posted by EricG1793:

Originally posted by Garrett Fitzgerald:

Originally posted by EricG1793:

Originally posted by spyells:
I wanted someone to start a topic about sexuality for a reason.

Why does someone else have to? Why can't you?

Oh, let's not and say we didn't. That thread could go wrong in so many ways...

I agree; the only reason I said that is because apparently there's some reason why she can't, so she won't. Well maybe she will, or someone else will, but the thread would probably be closed pretty soon after it started anyway!

I'm not starting the topic because I'm not quite sure I would still be allowed on this forum if I did. I like this forum that's why I asked if that was okay and didn't just go ahead and start the topic anyway.

I've noticed the violence in today's music and video games. One rapper by the name of 50 cent pointed out that if people want the harsh lyrics to stop then they need to start paying attention to where the music comes from, because it is just a depiction of where the artist is from. It is true. I do admit that I don't really listen to rap or rock but music is art so it is expression. Some say that the music is contributing to today's violence. The problem is the music is only talking about the violence that already exist.

Originally posted by Cress:
BTW-about the law that spyells referred to-I think you're interpreting that in the wrong way. What it sounds like to me is that all acceptances into schools will be colorblind, meaning that a school cannot accept a student based on race to fix their "diversity" numbers.

The problem that I'm talking about is that in order for diversity to be in the good schools in the first place that law had to be in place. There are already schools like UCLA that are not meeting the quota of African-American students. I've been to their campus three times within the past year and I only saw one African-American student. This was the time when everyone was switching classes too. Everyone was Caucasian or Asian. It is difficult for minorities already to get into these schools even with the law. Now with out it many more minorities will be left out of the best schools. Making the education gap wider. Whether it is an Elementary school or an Ivy League that a minority is trying to get into all this will accomplish is putting minorities farther behind. If people in this world didn't look at race then I wouldn't care what law they put into effect but, the sad thing is that people still do so this problem will never go away.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by spyells:
I'm not starting the topic because I'm not quite sure I would still be allowed on this forum if I did.

For the record, I wouldn't have booted you for starting the topic, and I don't think the other mods would have either. As I noted in the other thread, I'm just worried about it degenerating into a flamefest.

[Cress]

Wooops...I started a topic. Well, we'll see how it goes.

Spyells-Personally I think that law is a good thing, because people should get into a school based simply on their merits, not because they're a minority and so get picked first. That's just as bad as keeping the minorities out, it's just racism the other way. I do realize that many minorities have a very difficult time get a decent basic education, especially in places like California, however we shouldn't reward them for blowing off school. The problem would go away if we had equal opportunities for everyone, which is what the law is trying to do. It might not work the way it's intended, but the principle behind it seems sound to me.

[Dragon Writer]

i was going to say something about the whole theory that the worlds getting stupider, which i earlier agreed with, maybe being caused by the fact that most of the people here have MORE then average intelligence...which might mess around with our perceptions of it a little bit. (I for one grew up thinking an A was alright, and an 85 was just above unacceptable, so that HAS to mess up my perceptions of what's smart and what's dumb...) (note, this is not to say i never got below an A...just to say i was always horrified when i did. :P) of course, now we've wondered into a completely different topic, so i probably shouldn't say it...but i'd feel bad if i didn't correct what i said earlier...So i already said it!

[Cress]

I agree Young reader, but people are smarter in different ways. We understand the way things work a lot better than we have in the past...our basic educations have become somewhat more thorough. However I think we're losing common sense and reason. We don't understand our environment, or how to function in nature. We don't think things through very well, we're more about straight memorization. Again...change, good and bad.

[EricG1793]

Hey!

Another idea:

I just heard a news reporter say "Why are so many Americans not going on vacation this summer? Why are they losing their vacation time instead of using it?", or something along very close lines of that, on TV.

I had been browsing the forums here, coincidentally, and I overheard my dad listening to that, so I immediately came to this thread to post this.

Yes, it seems as though people have been taking less vacation too. That leads to more stress gathering in one's life- and they're not relieving it as often as they should, and many people who DO go on vacation make it a working vacation- they take their computer, cell phone, have calls from their office forwarding to their cell phone, and spend the free time in the hotel room (or whatever they're staying in) working. So what good does that do to someone's spirit/body? Almost nothing.

[spyells]

Yeah, that is a problem. People do need to take vacations. Americans are more stressed so tempers run high. When people have vacations they are more willing to come to work and do their work better. I wonder how the issue can be dissolved.

[Kathy Li]

Part of it is employer responsibility. Benefits come and go depending on the job market. I work for a terrific company. I started with three weeks of vacation (15 days) a year. At my five year anniversary, I began accruing at four weeks a year, and now that I'm past my tenth anniversary, I get five.

This is an unprecedented luxury (well, that and having a job that's more than ten years old. Before my present employer, my jobs lasted an average of 2.5 years). Typically, you start with 10 days of vacation a year. And I remember that there was a period when on average, people started with only 5. You can't take vacation, if you don't have the days.

And, of course, two weeks is ludicrously tiny compared to, say, working in Sweden but far better than China. Check out the wikipedia entry on vacation.

The other "problem" is the work ethic. We're like the Japanese to a certain extent: it's considered a virtue to kill yourself for your company. Wise companies realize that their workers should, if they're going to work hard, be able to play hard, too. But when have US corporations been known for their wisdom and humanity?

[Elder Math]

It's already been stated that greed is a major factor here. People are greedy. Less holidays are taken because companies know it only takes more money to get people to stay and work through them.

Whether you agree with holidays being uniform or not, one good thing it did was give everyone a day off at the same time, causing everyone to have the ability to communicate with one another on a single day(like christmas time).

More and more employers who realize they will make more money on a service basis if they stay open say "lots of money on christmas day" rather than what they used to do....a "christmas bonus".

The attitude of giving is gone. No one every picked up hitchhikers because they felt safe doing it, and today it is no more dangerous to pick one up. The nature of human kind has not changed at all, perception has.

The reason the world is getting worse is over people's willingness to trade away rights for more shields. Commonly people who have trouble in social situations are afraid of what others will think of them if they open up. They put up mental shields and only discuss things like the weather. We should move away from that, but as a society we CHOOSE to live in fear.

If the fear ends, so do the problems. We are afraid of talking about things, uniting, standing up for beliefs.

We are afraid.

[Kathy Li]

Originally posted by Elder Math:
It's already been stated that greed is a major factor here. People are greedy. Less holidays are taken because companies know it only takes more money to get people to stay and work through them.

Sorry, that's wrong. If people were greedy, they would take every vacation day they've got. And I know several people who were offered more pay and turned it down for better benefits.

In fact, for a corporation, it's bad for you to have accrued vacation that you haven't taken--it's a debt on their books. They always encourage you to use your vacation as much as possible. But that hasn't stopped a coworker of mine from not taking vacation until he's at the point where he's reaching the maximum bank of vacation and is hitting the "use it or lose it" limit.

People don't take vacation because they're working so hard they forget they don't have to do it all the time. When you haven't had a summer vacation for 10 years, and you're used to doing something every day, it requires a mental change of state to poke your head up, look around, and plan an outing from your usual life.

Or, more hopefully, it could be because your work is as fun as your vacations. I have a feeling that may be a reason that DD hasn't taken a vacation in a long long time. In chat, she mentioned that she was taking July off--to finish TBM...