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Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 14th, 2017, 7:10 pm
by Fr1sket
I believe we, as a society, creating a line - a very distinct one indeed, between ourselves and the government/law.
People are so lost in their everyday lives they forget the importance of the changing government. We are respecting it to a level that is extreme, taking it almost immediately over any other morals that as a human, you hold. If we want to create a fair society in the future, the answer most definitely does not lie in sitting back and watching it unfold. We are in a democratic society, and if enough people express their opinions, the more we can change it. Yet somehow we just sit back and watch it all unfold, feeling glad that we're alive in this generation before it all collapses.
Why is this happening? Why are people just simply not caring about the direction we may take in the future?

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 14th, 2017, 8:39 pm
by -1-
Are you proposing that we all take turns, or all take part in creating a better society?

How is that going to work? Are we all knowledgeable about how to create a better society?

Isn't a society or a social structure supposed to develop and improve over time by weeding out the snags, instead of centrally or decentralized ways we plan the ways in which it is supposed to operate?

I, for one, believe we live in the best society ever in existence here in Canada. What improvements do I want to make, if I live in the best of the best? Won't any change be a risk to change the status quo? You can't fix something that ain't broke.

I feel that I am not doing enough to change Canada, and by George that's an awfully smart way to be for both me and Canada.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 15th, 2017, 4:25 pm
by Fan of Science
Canada has a certain crime rate, but 1 believes that Canada is too perfect to try to lower that crime rate? Canada produced Jim Carrey, an anti-vaxxer, but, apparently believes that Canada's educational system is too perfect to be improved upon? Canada has a certain growth rate, but apparently this economic growth is perfect and cannot be improved upon? Nationalism is like religion -- it's certainly not rational.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 17th, 2017, 2:04 pm
by Skydude
We often forget what A society is made up of at A basic level, its made up of human beings each with their own goals, all striving after what we would all call "the good life". People become complacent when they believe they're on the road to success, but more often than not most are lost refusing to read the map. belief and reality are not always one in the same The dying middle class is A side effect of holding onto an old way of thinking while we are moving into A new era, But as long as the majority believes in an old broken system without questioning its effectiveness we will all be like children whose parents let them do whatever they want, eventually the world will hit us hard and force us to think for ourselves again.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 17th, 2017, 2:31 pm
by LuckyR
Fr1sket wrote:I believe we, as a society, creating a line - a very distinct one indeed, between ourselves and the government/law.
People are so lost in their everyday lives they forget the importance of the changing government. We are respecting it to a level that is extreme, taking it almost immediately over any other morals that as a human, you hold. If we want to create a fair society in the future, the answer most definitely does not lie in sitting back and watching it unfold. We are in a democratic society, and if enough people express their opinions, the more we can change it. Yet somehow we just sit back and watch it all unfold, feeling glad that we're alive in this generation before it all collapses.
Why is this happening? Why are people just simply not caring about the direction we may take in the future?
I totally get what you are saying and why you are saying it. Though to be fair, some historical perspective is in order. The population swings from times of greater and lesser interest in various subjects, including government. But to be clear the level is not all that different from the minimum to the maximum, when viewed from a zero to 100% viewpoint. You could look at voter participation as a substitute for this. Some elections a greater or lesser percentage of folks vote. But it is never anywhere near 100%.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 17th, 2017, 3:19 pm
by Skydude
I totally get what you are saying and why you are saying it. Though to be fair, some historical perspective is in order. The population swings from times of greater and lesser interest in various subjects, including government. But to be clear the level is not all that different from the minimum to the maximum, when viewed from a zero to 100% viewpoint. You could look at voter participation as a substitute for this. Some elections a greater or lesser percentage of folks vote. But it is never anywhere near 100%.
I agree with you there and there are many forces and events that change the priorities of peoples thinking, In america we are living in A society addicted to distraction and pleasure most people in posistions of power know this, tv is an excellent example of how most of us would rather distance ourselves and forget about the problems within both ourselves and our society, the same is true for many other modern countries. Eventually fate will force change and the focus of people will once again shift(fingers crossed for philosophy and science).

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: July 21st, 2017, 3:18 pm
by Highwaytohell
People have created a line between themselves and governments partly due to a lack of trust from both parties.We are suspicous of governments abuse of power and the result is this so called line.

An individual see themselves as outside society. Society for some some becomes an adjective to alienate themselves and as you say get lost in their daily lives.The individual underestimates his/her contribution which may or may not change a countries political climate.

I think it boils down to the fact that people are inherently selfish and unless we are directly affected by the politics. We simply do not care.

People find their own worlds far more appealing than their reality which may appear in the form of politics.People don't actually like to plan ahead for the future we see it as a distant thing like a man just beyond the horizon. I dare say that many of us wish to live in the moment rather than the future.

This then makes people ill prepared for a harsh future.The one thing I that I might question is the idea of a democratic society. I think it's an idea which many people cling on to but many people are still constantly oppressed. I ask this, how democratic is our society exactly?

Thank you for reading this and hopefully my response has been useful or at the very least thought provoking.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: August 16th, 2017, 7:37 am
by Annski
I think we're exhausted.
It's easy to act and protest when we're angry, but there is just so much to be angry about in our current day... and it's very difficult to fight when you're tired. We're constantly bombarded with news of horrible things that require our attention, and there are countless groups and activists demanding we join their cause. Every single day we get new things to worry about, new things we're told to help and fix. I think it used to be easier because there was far fewer things brought to our attention. There's also this pattern where we're expected to include everything to not offend - we can't talk about one thing without people getting angry and dismissing our point entirely because we didn't also mention the similar/connected problems. There seems to be this idea that if you're not constantly bringing up every single thing then you're presumed to not give a **** about them or even support them. All for simply not specifically bringing them up and condemning them too when the topic was something else.

Thing is, we can't possibly actively care about everything and todays social climate has made it very difficult to choose our purposes. I think this is exhausting to most of us and leads to us mentally avoiding it all together.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: August 21st, 2017, 3:37 am
by Ranvier
Aside from a sudden urge to visit Canada :) to interrupt -1- from his bliss... I do agree that the old system of governance in America is failing a considerable percentage of the population. The problem isn't with being tired, although I agree that we are flooded with exhausting news of continued failures in governance. I believe that we aren't motivated enough yet by the circumstance or a strong leadership to undertake necessary changes to a system so large and entrenched in systemic entanglement. Naturally we can continue tweaking a broken system of corporate oligarchy of Plutocracy until enough fever of anger in social injustice culminates at a boiling point or we can begin conscious brainstorming of how to go about changing the system and what would be a better alternative. We love our Constitution and the Bill of Rights but it's becoming evident that in spite of the tremendous foresight of the founding fathers, they couldn't had anticipated the failure in checks and balances assaulted by the Capitalist economic structure that is also corrupted by forces best described by Noam Chomsky.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: August 21st, 2017, 6:05 pm
by Ferzo
-1- wrote:Are you proposing that we all take turns, or all take part in creating a better society?

How is that going to work? Are we all knowledgeable about how to create a better society?

Isn't a society or a social structure supposed to develop and improve over time by weeding out the snags, instead of centrally or decentralized ways we plan the ways in which it is supposed to operate?

I, for one, believe we live in the best society ever in existence here in Canada. What improvements do I want to make, if I live in the best of the best? Won't any change be a risk to change the status quo? You can't fix something that ain't broke.

I feel that I am not doing enough to change Canada, and by George that's an awfully smart way to be for both me and Canada.


Regardless of whether every member of society has an objectively correct opinion, a perfect society can never be created without considering, challenging, and rationalising the opinions of every single member of that society. Any world created without this would likely be imperfect.

And in Canada, just because you feel it is the best on Earth, does not mean it is perfect. And if it is imperfect (which it is), it must be improved.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: August 23rd, 2017, 10:15 pm
by -1-
Ferzo wrote:
-1- wrote:Are you proposing that we all take turns, or all take part in creating a better society?

How is that going to work? Are we all knowledgeable about how to create a better society?

Isn't a society or a social structure supposed to develop and improve over time by weeding out the snags, instead of centrally or decentralized ways we plan the ways in which it is supposed to operate?

I, for one, believe we live in the best society ever in existence here in Canada. What improvements do I want to make, if I live in the best of the best? Won't any change be a risk to change the status quo? You can't fix something that ain't broke.

I feel that I am not doing enough to change Canada, and by George that's an awfully smart way to be for both me and Canada.


Regardless of whether every member of society has an objectively correct opinion, a perfect society can never be created without considering, challenging, and rationalising the opinions of every single member of that society. Any world created without this would likely be imperfect.

And in Canada, just because you feel it is the best on Earth, does not mean it is perfect. And if it is imperfect (which it is), it must be improved.
Where did I say Canada is perfect? I demand you point that part out in my quoted text. Please DON'T EVER PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH I NEVER UTTERED, OKAY?

What if I all of a sudden said, "Ferzo, why are you saying that Hitler's Germany was the best so far of all societies on Earth?" You see, you did not say that, so I shouldn't ask that question. Similarly, you should not say I said Canadian society is perfect, because I did not say that.

It is easy to create a fallacious Strawman argument. Just keep following your own established routine.

I hate this entire thread. It serves no purpose than to blow hot air "we must not be complacent, we must do somehting." "Yes, you're right, we must do something to improve the conditions ino our society." "Yes, it is important."

If it is so important to you, then why don't you DO it, for crying out loud? Talking about it is not DOing it. And you advocate the DO. So go for it, I am not going to be in your way.

Just quit the holier-than-thou preaching, I beg you please.

Re: Why has society stopped looking at itself?

Posted: August 24th, 2017, 9:36 pm
by Ranvier
-1-

That last post was a bit strong, you are better than that... and notice that Ferzo is a new member to this site, be more gentle unless you are a believer in hazing by fire? :wink: