What one thing would you remove from the 21st century?

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Arannir, Dec 2, 2013.

  1. JJ_Maxx

    JJ_Maxx Banned

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    I answered the OP, nothing more. Per minstrel, I will refrain from further discussing my answer.
     
  2. A.M.P.

    A.M.P. People Buy My Books for the Bio Photo Contributor

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    Good on you :p
    These topics get out of hand super fast.
     
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  3. Andrae Smith

    Andrae Smith Bestselling Author|Editor|Writing Coach Contributor

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    Well It I could take one thing away tomorrow, I would take away the internet for a day just to freak people out. I can see people now:
    Teen 1: Oh MY God! The internet is down and I can't tweet about it!
    Teen 2: Aaagh I had a brilliant thought when I woke up, now how am I gonna share it?
    Mom: I know, right! I guess I made this totally awesome breakfast for nothing. Nobody's going to see it.
    Grandma: can't y'all look up what happened on your phones and computers?
    Teen: uuuugh, no Gram... The internet is down. -_-
    Grandma: The inter-what?
    Teen 2: The internet, gram, the source of all modern information and communication. What are we gonna do???
    Mom: Well I know there's a kitchen that needs cleaning and a yard that needs cutting. ;)
    Both Teens: Nooooo!!

    But on a more serious note, I would probably remove war, poverty, corporate control over the economy, politicians (or at least the two-party system that's b.s.ing America), and/or any number of the youth culture shenanigans promoting stupidity and careless antics for the sake of living "young and wild and free"...
     
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  4. Lewdog

    Lewdog Come ova here and give me kisses! Supporter Contributor

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    Forum warnings. :D
     
  5. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I remember a day when, if you had a problem with your bank, your energy provider, etc, you could just phone and speak to a real person connected to the company, and get the problem sorted.

    Losing this ability to contact the source of our essential services has been horrendous. It's scary, actually. Everything is fine until something goes wrong ...then good luck getting it fixed.

    Technology has removed good, stable, well-paid customer service jobs and turned them over to call centres, where the pay is crap, the workers often have nothing to do with the company you're trying to contact and work to a script, you're put on hold for ages, and it's impossible to get the same person twice to help deal with your problem, etc. It's even worse in some cases, where the company you need to contact will ONLY allow contact via their website, which is often so automated that you have no chance whatsoever of getting help if your problem doesn't fall into a pre-set category.

    I have recently (within the past month) had this problem with the American Embassy (passport renewal), our gas/electricity provider, a courier company I've been forced to use. Never mind trying to get a human being to sort a Paypal problem. Paypal is great ...until it glitches. You have NO hope of getting it sorted. None.

    I feel apprehensive that so many people don't see how fast this lack of human interaction is wrecking our ability to function.
     
  6. Andrae Smith

    Andrae Smith Bestselling Author|Editor|Writing Coach Contributor

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    oooh @jannert, you are so right!
     
  7. Garball

    Garball Banned Contributor

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    I would remove spellchekc
     
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  8. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    Negative feeling toward other human beings.
     
  9. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    actually, the number i've added to the planet is 26 at last count... 7 kids, 19 kids' kids...

    i never said i was proud of adding to the population explosion, nor that having so many was by choice... the first 5 were poppin' out annually, before the pill was available... :rolleyes:
     
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  10. Alesia

    Alesia Pen names: AJ Connor, Carey Connolly Contributor

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    Obamacare aka the "affordable" healthcare act
     
  11. MainerMikeBrown

    MainerMikeBrown Senior Member

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    World violence is one thing I'd love to rid the 21st Century of. But that won't happen.
     
  12. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Why not? You on a coffee break, or something? :p
     
  13. Okon

    Okon Contributor Contributor

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    Social networking. If I could pick a second thing, It'd be texting.
     
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  14. svartalfheim

    svartalfheim Member

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    I would possibly get rid of tvs as I have lived without for 2 years and i felt better for it as I read more and did more active things e.g. i travelled. Since having one again since feb, i have gained 2 stone as I am less interested with the outside world as I can just sit down and see it from a tv, I also play a lot more xbox games now, and I even have started to read a little less (which is kinda good, means some books in my library are still a mystery waiting to be discovered) so I think TV should do, then non of the Bullpoop tv series like "keeping up with the kardashians" or "the only way is Essex" would be around and I would'nt have to go to work and listen to the bitch about people bitching on a tv show?
     
  15. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    War
     
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  16. T.Trian

    T.Trian Overly Pompous Bastard Supporter Contributor

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    School shooters.

    Of course the main problem is that these little shits kill people, but the less serious, yet more widespread issue that affects thousands, if not millions of innocent and utterly unrelated people in a negative way is the effect school shootings / shooters have on private gun ownership / gun owners. I've never done anything illegal with my gun, yet I've been treated like a criminal not just by random ignorant cunts, but the government as well because they are so damn eager to bend over before public outrage, living by the adage "it doesn't matter what we do just as long as it looks like we're doing something." The funny thing is, that some of the new regulations are actually illegal even though they are enforced by the police. I mean, who cares about the constitution anyway, right?

    School shooters also contribute to / cause other problems: they get a ton of media attention and since it's easiest to blame guns for the tragedies, the government gets a get-out-of-jail-free -card i.e. since the grieving nation focuses on the question of private gun ownership, they won't notice it when the government swipes the root of the problem under the rug, namely the mental health of kids. At least in Finland it's a serious problem as schools are closed, school psychiatrists / psychologists, curators etc. fired while the money saved that way is poured into the pockets of the few members of the rich elite. So yeah, fuck them (school shooters and the rich elite, but the rich-poor -divide was mentioned already).
     
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  17. Andrae Smith

    Andrae Smith Bestselling Author|Editor|Writing Coach Contributor

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    Very attentive, @T.Trian... and I agree. I personally don't like guns as weapons to use against people or animals. I've never been in a situation to need one and would be thankful to have on in some situations, but I think they are best if used purely for (non-hunting) sports. Just personal philosophy. I have never fired a real gun so I can't say I would never come to want one for such sport. Regardless, the effects that school shooters have on society as a whole, while bringing some issues to the surface, create enough loose soil to bury others.

    The mental health of youth is something to be considered, especially considering that unnecessary cuts are made in the area of psychiatric professionals. One must also consider the attitudes that are prevalent in our communities. Were are all about fear and terror right now. We are perpetuating the negative energy and creating an atmosphere for things like this to happen. How? By allowing movies, television, video games, and the internet to teach our youth. By buying into every media spread panic. By idolizing individualism, separation, and personal rights over community and love. There are many things at play, and guns simply being available is not the problem.

    I do understand the sentiment to remove guns from the American people because Americans don't have a lot of sense these days, but in the end the issue that is being ignored is our basic philosophy, our attitudes about different aspects of life. No one wants to turn the critical lens inward because they're afraid of what they'll find.
     
  18. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    Why? If you're broke you get subsidized insurance. My insurance cost is going to go down. My son at 24 and just out of grad school would have been on his own (his job starts without benefits) but thanks to the ACA his father will be continuing to carry his health coverage for 2 more years.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2013
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  19. Robert_S

    Robert_S Senior Member

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    If only Bush has gone hunting with Cheney and took the buckshot, we could have "killed two birds."
     
  20. Robert_S

    Robert_S Senior Member

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    I would remove WMDs, with a focus on nukes, but all WMDs, really.
     
  21. T.Trian

    T.Trian Overly Pompous Bastard Supporter Contributor

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    @Andrae Smith, so far everyone I've taken shooting have fallen in love with the sport regardless of their age or sex. I shoot IPSC aka "practical shooting," since I like the challenge of putting holes in cardboard as fast and as accurately as I can. I've never hunted in my life and probably never will 'cause critters are just so... innocent and cuddly. Yes, even the dangerous ones. Not too keen on wasps or mosquitoes though...

    Since I think that people should be allowed to do what they want as long as they don't harm or bother others by doing it, I believe people should be allowed to own guns, be it for sport, self-defense, or hunting (even though I don't personally like the last one). If someone decides to be scared of the fact that some guy the next town over owns a gun and shoots it at paper targets at a regulated gun range, well, I don't count that as being harmed or bothered.

    It's just that since guns are such a provocative subject, it's easy to hide the real issues by shining a spotlight on the volatile question of gun control; it stirs a lot of emotions in pretty much everyone regardless of whether they owned guns or not.
    Even the witch hunts perpetrated against gun owners here in Finland garner a lot of media attention, make page one, while there's a brief mention on page umpteenth that our city refuses to provide money to fix the serious mold problem in a local school, but they're not going to close down the school either 'cause relocating the students would cost a lot, building a new school would cost a lot, and fixing it quickly would cost a lot. So they keep the school open, fix it slowly, one room at a time just because they want to save money. At whose expense, you ask? Children's. But of course.

    Nobody wants to talk about the mental health of kids because it's an issue with no easy, cheap, and quick fixes. And since the deteriorating mental health of our youth doesn't really cost much for the government and they wouldn't gain much (monetarily) even if they did fix the problems, the issue is put on the back burner (permanently, it seems).

    You're absolutely right about how effectively governments exploit people's fears. It's a powerful tool and a surefire way to shift the attention from the more "troublesome" subjects.
    I'd just add that unfortunately it's not just the Americans who don't have a lot of sense these days; senselessness is a pandemic.

    Here's one for the thread: how about we get rid of politicians?
     
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  22. Alesia

    Alesia Pen names: AJ Connor, Carey Connolly Contributor

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    We shouldn't have to buy insurance period. America should have a tax dollar funded universal healthcare system for all citizens like every other civilized country on the planet. That's just my opinion though.
     
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  23. Andrae Smith

    Andrae Smith Bestselling Author|Editor|Writing Coach Contributor

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    Too many Americans don't want it. We like everything privatized because competition automatically means better product and better care.... But on a serious not, we don't like the idea of big, far reaching government.
     
  24. Chiv

    Chiv Active Member

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    Avatar the Last Airbender movie.
     
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  25. Alesia

    Alesia Pen names: AJ Connor, Carey Connolly Contributor

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    I don't like big gov't either, but I also think health care is a basic human right that should not have to be grotesquely overpaid for. Even with subsidies I can't afford insurance. Well, I could but I would have to not eat. And cut the internet. And find a cheaper apt. And get a second and possibly third job...

    What's the difference anyway? Pay a big mega corporation for insurance or be fined by the IRS. It's still a modecum of gov't control over the healthcare system.
     
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