social issues and society

There are a lot of issues in our world today that are a great cause for concern, and often i sit back and wonder why we don’t all pull our fingers out of our rear ends and start solving some of them. But I hear you ask is it that easy? Well it should be. If everyone put aside his or her petty differences and stupidity over the small stuff maybe we could still save this world we call home.

Take the issue of abortion, a very tricky one and one that has people from all walks of life both religious and non-religious involved in the discussion. It should not matter what society has to say it is the person who has to make the choice, abortions have been going on for many many years, and back then it was done in the back streets with great risk of infections and the woman being mutilated, in pain and in sever cases death. Should we as a society not be grateful that science has brought us forward and created an environment where these types of procedures are safe. Either way abortions will continue to happen either legally or illegally, what would you seriously prefer?

On the subject of science should we be happy at how much has been learned and done? Or should we fear the continuing developments? After all science had a part in creating the nuke and a-bomb and various viruses. And yes we have many wonderful finding as well, but what is seriously for the greater good? Does there come a time where we are discoving just to much? And be contributing to our own destruction?

Another example of science and a hotly debated one in some circles is the issue of cloning, there have been many Ethical, legal and social issues that have appeared on this subject and many questions have been raised and there is no clear right or wrong answer in my opinion, it is dependant on your own personal views here is an example:

Who has the right to have children, no matter how they are created? Who doesn't? Why?

Is human cloning "playing with nature?" If so, how does that compare with other reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization or hormone treatments?

Does cloning to create stem cells, also called therapeutic cloning, justify destroying a human embryo? Why, or why not?

If a clone originates from an existing person, who is the parent?

What are some of the social challenges a cloned child might face?

Do the benefits of human cloning outweigh the costs of human dignity?

Should cloning research be regulated? How, and by whom?

There are many social issues that cloud our world, hunger, famine, the oil crisis, terrorism, wars, the government etc etc. So do we really have a simple solution?

Take for example the problems in Africa: every year millions donate money to various charities etc that claim they are trying to help them create their own food sources, clean water schools, research into aids etc, but the problems there have stemmed from a government that are to greedy and don’t care, whilst they are lapping it all up (the money food packages etc) their people are at war with each other, dying of hunger and aids. What would be a solution to this? We need to make sure that the food and supplies are getting to the people who need it and not those who want it for themselves. How would we achieve this?

As an example of social issues today:
Aid and Development
Climate Change
Economic Energy
Globalization
Ozone Depletion
Planetary Defense
Terrorism
Trade
Abortion
Animal Experiments
Animal Rights
Violence
Apathy
Assisted Suicide
Biotechnology
Birth Control
Bovine Growth Hormones
Capital Punishment
Censorship
Chemical Castration
Child Labor
Childrens Social Issues
Church-State Relations
Climate Change
Conspiracies
Death Penalty
Defense, War and Weapons
Democracy
Divorce
Drugs
Drunk Driving
Economic Issues
Endangered Species
Ethic Relations
Euthanasia
Farming
Female Circumcision
Fetal Rights
Genetically Engineered Food
Genetics
Global Warming
Government Operations
Nanotechnology
Overpopulation
Sexual Abuse and Assault

Those are just an examples some of the social issues that appear to plague our minds and lives.

Another question to seriously ponder though, do we as a society (not as an individual) actually care about what what is going on in the world? It’s a serious question don’t you think. Yes we care about our families and friends and the happening in our personal lives but do we care about the issues of the world? Take a moment to actually think about it, other than what goes on in our own personal lives and things that effect us alone do we care about what’s happening half way round the world? In my honest opinion and it may sound bad but I can honestly say that no I don’t, I am more concerned with the family issues I have and the topics that concern my life and those around me, I can not pretend I care about what’s happening elsewhere because in all seriousness if I did I would be out there trying to do something to help. Yes I find it sad that terrible things are happening around the world and yes I wish it would stop but as an individual I tend not to do anything about it and sit back and wait for someone else to do it. We as a society are a caring bunch against all sorts of cruelty and injustices in the world but the individual is selfish and out to protect themselves, their families and friends and their livelihoods. That sounds awful doesn’t it, but why are the majority of the society like this?


I will stop just now but I have many more questions about society and such I hope people will respond to this with their opinions.

I hope the the majority of us as a society cares for what is going on around us

- Scientists warning us about the Environment
- People who rather invest their fortunes adopting children and building homes for the ones that have no fortune at all...
- People who quit their Jobs/family to go help others where a natural disaster strikes...

Unfortunately we have middle of the spectrum:

- People who only care about themselves (I got a house a job and a family and i dont care if my shoes were made by a kid getting paid 5 cents)
- People who for the love of money use chemicals to make your food cheaper get more profit at the expense of your health....anyone for ultra white wonderbread?
Their rationale: im feeding them but i need to make money too....

And the worst End of the spectrum:
- People who hate the world they live in and want to destroy it ...after all we are the only species capable of destroying ourselves......

Sad but true the worst end of the spectrum is growing at an exponential rate that would scare the hell out of you....go see wht your kid is watching on tv or reading on some blog out there.....

If you're looking for a individual to blame you only have to look into a mirror including myself (hey i buy toys made in china so my kid can play and i can save)

As regards the issues you mentioned, I've always thought that there are 2 schools of thought. Not pro- and anti- as is usually represented, but personal and global. Let me tell you what I think that means.

Let's take abortion. I am what I call "anti-abortion", meaning that I personally wouldn't have an abortion unless it was a danger to me. However, I am pro-choice, meaning I don't think I have a right to impose my personal beliefs on the global population (in this case, the US population).

The other position (the global camp) is the one where one person or group think that their views should apply to everyone and that people should be forced, by law if necessary, to conform or follow their views on the issue.

So, those are the two sides as I see them. And in all cases of personal freedoms (abortion, assisted suicide, drug use, birth control) I stand strongly in the personal camp. I believe that as long as I am not infringing on others' rights I should be allowed to do as I please. And I have no right to impose my morals on other people.

Do we care?

I care about what happens in the world to a certain extent. The further removed I am from a problem, however, the less I care. Conversely, the closer the issue is to me, the more I care. My family, my friends, my town, I care very much about. My country, I'm very passionate about. And although I care about what's happening globally, I feel fairly powerless to do much about it. I think if I cared as much about everything in the world as I care about my family, I'd go absolutely insane.

I think of the world as a living organism. Some parts operate more efficiently than others at times, but if we look at the entire life of the world so far, it's in a state of constant change. In our lifetimes, we see only a snippet of time and if we make our judgments based on that snippet, we're not getting the full picture.

I'm also a huge proponent of the theory that everything happens as it should. So I'm not big into changing things unless they affect me personally. That may sound selfish and it actually is, but not with ill intent. If we all took as much personal responsibility as I do, I'd venture to say that we'd live in a very different and wonderful world.

I'm very curious to see how others respond to this thread.

It's nice to see that someone is actually getting the message about the beauty of the Social Issues Forum.

a big thanks to those who have answered so far, i am a little disapointed more people have not come forward with their thoughts on this, i have thought about this subject for a while, alot of people have the mentality of thinking about doing summit where as in reality society doesnt actually do anything and i myself is guilty of this thought.

Society has many problems in the fact that everything that we know and have worked hard for has been steadily declining over the decades why? Way back in our history there existed societies that were considered to be far more advanced than the norm was for that era for an example the Inca’s then they suddenly disappeared why? Did they simply get to advanced for their own good and destroy themselves? Are we in for the same fate?

We all complain about the state of our society, the state of the government, wars climate change, the list could go on and on, but what are WE as a society doing about it? I say we because there are some individuals who are trying to make a difference but to truly see change in all these things we complain about WE as a society need to change, to stop complaining and actually get away from our TV sets and computers and get out there and do something about it all, but will we? The truthful answer is a resounding NO. Why? Because we will all sit back and say oh we will change things tomorrow, or someone else will do it. But think about it the whole society has this mental thought as well so while the world is falling to pieces around as we are sitting on our butts and say maybe later.

We tend to complain about the state of our government but think about it YOU the people voted them in, and those that didn’t vote then you have no right to complain about anything, why? Because your unvote went to the current leaders. If you want to change the world then go out there and make a difference.

Climate change hmm well everybody debates this issue yet we are all still driving our cars and pumping our heaters and air cooling systems and still creating more power stations. Its sounds good to say well im concerned about this and that BUT it makes no difference thinking about it you have to actually go out there and do something.

Many individuals in this society of ours is under the theory of life sucks or everything bad happens to me, well life is what you make of it and if we continue to be so downtrodden and disheartened nothing will ever change. I come to the conclusion at times that society is a mentality, why? Because it can either be good or bad depending on your state of mind. As the saying goes the individual is smart, we as a society are dumb.