I burned my manhood with my button fly after removing my jeans from the dryer and freeballing. Can I have a media article for that?
We live in a time of such grandiose prosperity and widespread availability of knowledge, and yet we are going backwards intellectually. Our society as a whole is becoming dumb, lazy and selfish. Perhaps it's a natural step in the process of a prosperous nation, or perhaps it's the beginning of the end for America? 2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power."
It's hard to see us as going backwards intellectually. Sure, we may have all the world's information right now as we sit here reading this, and so few of us are even dipping our toes in, but, for the most part, we know a lot more about the world than our predecessors ever did, and our world is a lot more complex than theirs. The fact we can navigate a hundred different types of tax, a steady torrent of new technology, and the ratcheted-up demands of employers and family life is testament to this.
I also tend to think people are far too disparaging about the level of intellectual discussion that can be had these days. Especially with the young! I tend to think ordinary people are actually becoming smarter, and the internet is even helping in this with it's largely anonymous, critical, skeptical-of-merit culture. Sure the arse-end of this culture is what's apparently called 'trolling', but the overall effect could easily prove to be very positive.
The only real difference re: decadence is that now it's on the front page of some tabloid instead of whispered at the blacksmith's shop or the communal well. One can pick out articles like this and point to it as evidence that our society (whatever that is) is going downhill, or they can find articles about how people helped victims of a flood and use it as evidence that we're more "humanity-minded" than ever before.
I absolutely agree, Lemex. There seems a willingness to jump on the negatives in life (again, watching people do stupid stuff). In fact, I've heard it argued people who focus on negative traits are perceived as more intelligent/insightful in some regards. If I'm discussing life with a group and claim life is full of wonderful experiences to learn from, someone else can counter by saying how hard it can be to just survive day-to-day. While we want to believe the optimistic view is true, I feel people are more easily persuaded by the "harsh reality" mentality and prone to doubt more than hope. Thanks to the internet, though, people can find more exposure to positive viewpoints beyond their IRL connections. Yes the trolls and haters are out there, but it's pretty easy to avoid sites you don't think improve you. Of course, many people avoid sights which could improve them but present opinions/facts against strong-held beliefs. The user has to actively want to find the beneficial material and absorb it.
If one counted backwards every time an older generation bemoaned the breakdown of society, we'd be back in the stone age. Did you catch Jon Stewart's piece reminding yet another person claiming things were better back in the day that lynching and slavery weren't indicators of a superior time?
I have to say that many, many kids today are hell smart. And they know their rights way too well fapping
I remember a bit in one of the Anne of Green Gables books where a woman mentioned, in shocked tones, that another woman in the community washed her dishes sitting down! The horror! I think that people have always been fascinated by nonsensical things that are none of their business.
What data? What studies? Who commissioned them? What was their agenda? How did they measure this? It wasn't that long ago that few people could read...
There have been many studies regarding intelligence both in the US and worldwide. We know that America has fallen behind most countries in almost every academic category we have. Less than one in four American teenagers have proficiency in writing. I'm at work but I'll try to post some links when I can. I've looked at the data before and I didn't see anything that suggests our Miley-Cyrus, Spongebob society is becoming the pinnacle of anything.
Adding to this: why judge the world just by the US? Why judge people by school rank? There are other measures.
"Society" does run into the issue of what we're defining it as. Is it just the U.S., Western culture, Eastern culture, certain economic levels...? I think we should be specific which measurements/groupings we are going to discuss.
Intelligence and academic performance are not synonymous. Bill Gates and competition for our university classes by foreign nationals (meaning the reputation for our universities is excellent around the world) shows a different picture. I'll take my cherry pick over yours.
And until we start paying teachers what they're worth, and fund schools decently, odds are that's just going to keep on happening. Teaching should not require a vow of poverty.
Yes, because certain right wingers think universities can get by on less tax dollars, the costs have been shifted to students. There are plenty of rich foreign kids to fill spots that generate foreign student tuition. All the universities need to do is offer fewer spots to instate tuition students. And until the voters figure it out, we'll continue to fill the workplace with highly qualified foreigners and that many more US citizens will take jobs at McD's and Walmart. But also worth note, US universities, unlike our primary education system, are recognized as some of the best in the world. That too, especially in K-12. But if things keep going like they are, the universities will follow. Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC this morning covered this very subject. The pay for university professors is declining sharply.
What a lot of people don't understand is, the United States works more hours per week, takes less vacation days per year, and gets a lower wage than over 75% of the industrialized countries in the world. Around the world, other countries look at the U.S. in the same way the United States looks at Mexico. They can get more work at less cost.
Of course three-quarters of Americans may have committed to the Abecedarian faith. This fascinating sect may have discovered the incarnation of the Holy Spirit in the basketball. If one thumps this medium enough times all the needed knowledge in the universe will be absorbed into their brains. Cynicism aside, this is another sad fact. It isn't just writing though. Reading and math are in just as pitiful shape.
QFT One might also want to consider that many very intelligent people cannot function in the school systems as they are set up (and this goes not only for the US). In fact, many highly intelligent students have actually been diagnosed with learning disabilities simply because they needed to be taught differently than the cookie cutter models used in most school systems.
This thread gives me hope in humanity. Here, I have learned a few things and seen some interesting perspectives. @GingerCoffee well talented yes, and certainly free-spirited, but I have a hard time remaining a fan when I continue to hear more talented (imho) artists perform her songs better than she does. Girl can sing and have a good time and write decent songs, but i'll stop shy of calling anything about her incredible these days... other than her incredibly ludicrous shenanigans. But hey, I can't judge. And @Steerpike, I suppose you're right too. I guess "stupid" was a rash word choice for me. Ah well, she's very smart about what she's doing. There is a purpose to it... doesn't mean it's not just a little cray. Overall, I think many people here are right to say we haven't reached an all-time intellectual low. But it is shocking how much praise and attention goes to celebrities "misbehaving." We've given celebrities 1st class status in society and treat them like royalty. We love to watch them act out so we can talk about them, but we also love to see some of them doing "the right thing." The probablem is that we are in an age of infinite potential, but we choose to sedate ourselves with often uninspiring, mindless television. I'm not hating on it. All things are good in moderation. But at least in America, we have yet to learn the meaning of that word.
