Top Ten Things Wrong With the World

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this thread. I put it in Skunkworks because it is essentially my own theory on what is wrong with the world today. You don't have to agree with me, I'd much rather you form your own thoughts and opinions anyway. My list is from an American point of view but isn't "patriotic" or really political. Feel free to let me know how wrong I am or to include your own list of the top ten things wrong with the world, if I get enough responses I can compile an Ultimate Top Ten list. So without further ado here is my list:

1. Mediocrity
No matter where you go (in America at least) almost everything is exactly the same and it's getting worse by the day. Every town has a Starbucks, a WalMart, Home Depot, Chilli's, Barnes and Noble, etc. Life seems as though it was a lot more interesting 30 or 40 years ago. A cross country trip meant you got a taste of the different flavors of American life. You experienced things you'd only experience in a certain state. However, these days everywhere you go it's pretty much the same deal, malls and chain stores everywhere all offering the same product you can get anywhere else. Worse yet is the fact that people seem to desire this mediocrity for it's comfort factor and have lost all sense of adventure. Worse yet is that it's spilling over into other aspects of life, people desire mediocrity so much that it's becoming the only thing offered. Look around you, everything is mundane. Even tattooing has gotten it's fair share of this cancer.

2. Everything has to be safe!
What is life without danger? Granted, no parent wants to see their child get hurt but I still remember the lessons I learned when I got hurt at the playground. Not only did I never forget them but I learned that some actions might lead to me being in serious pain and thus never had the desire to do anything too stupid like we see on shows like Jackass. But pain taught us another lesson. It taught us to accept the consequences of our actions and understand the possible consequences of future actions. In other words, it gave us a way to weigh our options and decide on the best course of action. As a consequence of the lack of that learning experience I feel as though people are too quick to shirk away from pain or suffering of any kind. They are so afraid of suffering even a little bit that they won't take even a slight gamble in their life even if the pay off would seem worth it to an outside observer. Always taking the safest path gets you no where.

3. Obsession with Tradition
Tradition can be a very good and powerful thing in the right circumstance but it seems as though we are obsessed with tradition in almost every facet of our lives. If something has been done a certain way before most people are more apt to try it that way than to formulate their own plan. Whether it's going to college to get a career or following our parent's traditions of courtship and marriage we seemed locked in this perpetual cycle of failure. There is no possible way that most traditions work for the majority of people yet they can't help themselves but follow a plan that will most likely not work for them.

4. Self Delusion
No one today truly knows themselves. In generations past people faced much hardship and challenges in their path through life and it was these times that taught our ancestors to understand themselves and believe in themselves. Today's world of padded playgrounds and instant consumption has made it quite easy for us to ignore our true selves, to create this false little world around us that keeps us from ever confronting the truly dark side of life. You must experience equal amounts of pleasure and pain in life to become a fully aware individual. Our ancestors of three generations ago would most likely think us insane if they were to look at the world today. People go to therapists, do yoga, go to church, turn vegan and never unplug from the web because they feel it will help them understand themselves but all they are doing is creating what they think they understand, the resultant personality is an after the fact self created personality that is as shallow as a rain puddle.

5. Dishonesty
This is isn't so much about lying as it is a reverse of the previous point. I'm talking about delusions directed at other people. Take, for instance, Political Correctness which has made it impossible for anyone, regardless of their skin or nationality can no longer say what they truly feel. If you are black and your employer hates black people with every fiber then does it truly do you any good for him to sit there and lie to you, pretend that he likes you? I'd say none at all. If someone hates me, especially someone I am expected to work with I would much rather they come right out and say it than to have them choose more passive aggressive means to let me know. If you dislike something or someone you should be honest about it to better avoid that person or thing int he future. Conversely if you enjoy something you should be honest about it to better your chances of enjoying it again. If your lover is cheating on you it is better to know so that you might leave him or her and find someone who truly loves you.

6. Youth Centric Culture
Everything seems geared towards the young these days. It seems life ends at about 30 these days because you really don't hear about thing that isn't youth obsessed. Everyone everywhere wants to "look and feel younger" they want to prove that they're still "Young at heart" no on wants to grow up anymore. Personally my childhood was pretty horrific so I have no desire to relive it. In fact, I remember all my life wanting to be a mature, responsible, presentable, and respected adult. I never wanted to "stay a kid forever". I really can't understand the obsession with youth unless it's a result of people not living their lives they way they want and lamenting the lost time. Life is for the living in the here and now, forget the past.

7. Over medication
No need to worry about brain washing and thought control, it's already here and everyone seems to love it. I worry for young people growing up today as an innocent talk with a trusted relative or friend about emotions can lead to them being placed on medications with permanent psychological effects. Our emotions are important parts of our ability to acurately interpret the world around and lead the most fulfilling life possible. If you are depressed than it is more than likely cause by some aspect of your life you are unhappy with. The best solution would be to look inside yourself, discover and admit what it is that is making you so depressed and then work to rectify it. The worst solution is to begin dulling your sense so you can sedate yourself emotionally to the point that you can "just live with it". Find out what makes you happy and do it!

8. Stupidity
Stupidity comes in many forms but seems to be constant throughout the modern world. Whether it's our "leaders" seeming to be hardly educate or something simple like someone welding in the rain people seem to be stupider than ever. Why do people have this desire to not learn? It seems to be that many people are actively anti-intellectual and refuse to learn anything new. We shouldn't stop our education once we finish with "formal" education. When we leave school we gain the freedom to learn about anything we want, anything in the whole world! We also no have the resources to research any possible topic and gain a greater knowledge than we could have hoped for 30 years ago. I feel as though there is no excuse to not be educated on at least one topic that interests you.

9. Lack of Passion
People seem to be bereft of passion these days. You rarely ever see a burning desire in anyone anymore. What is life without passion? To be a full, well rounded individual you must be passionate about things that interest you.

you should be willing to pursue your passions at all costs. I quite often feel I must restrain my passion for my interests when around certain people since passion is often misconstrued as obsession and mania in today's psycho-analytical world. The world was created by people with a burning passion, every change in society, every new invention is created by someone with a burning passion to make his or her ideas a reality. If you aren't passionate you will never change anything.

10. The Internet
We are a tool making species and I feel that our greatest tool to date has been the internet. Never before have we had the ability to communicate with anyone, share our ideas with the world, organize, plan and learn together. However, the internet seems to be the worlds most powerful entertainment system. The backbone of the internet is entertainment and time wasting. Whether it's spending 450 hours on WoW or arguing on message boards most of what is done online is simply to waste our time until something pops up that we are required to do. Many people now desire nothing more than un-interupted internet time. The internet should be used much more as a tool and much less as another entertainment industry. Why are cell-phones that can visit MySpace more popular than an e-book reader which allows you to learn anything anytime? Why are movie and television companies more likely to embrace the internet than local governments or educational facilities? The internet is fast becoming the great distractor and as more and more people live their lives online the real world is getting worse and worse.

So there you have it, my list of problems in society. I'd love to hear your thoughts and please feel free to add to the list.

Life is for living!

Interesting list. I'd have to include: Ignorance of ethics. Too many people have fallen for the ruse that there is no right or wrong, making it even easier for the bad guys to subvert our world.

Excellent analysis. I would only add excessive materialism and wastefulness. I think people will very soon have their priorities straightened out for them.

yep I also missed Greed on that list...

People don't seem to realize what's really important in life and just want to have more than their neighbors...

"You forgot ugly, lazy and disrespectful. Shut up b*tch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!"



Seriously though, I would've included the extreme emphasis placed on sex and beauty and (though I am a sports fan) an overly obsessive sports culture. And that's just not here in the U.S. I remember when David Beckham signed on to play soccer in L.A. and the entire world went Beckham crazy. It was ridiculous.

"Twenty people died in Iraq today."
"So what? Beckham is going to play in the States!"

It was crazy.

reply to post by Shadowflux


Just skimmed the list, and I have to say, starred and flagged.

While the list isn't perfect, it is a good start, and the inclusion or exclusion of various ills could be argued till the cows come home.

"Political Correctness" should be at the top of the list...people have become overly sensitive to the most most asinine BS. Political correctness and pandering to folks that are completely lacking a sense of humor are destroying our world!

That, and all-you-can eat buffets!

Why is everything always negative? why dont we focus on the top ten things that are good in the world

Time to change your thinking patterns

this is what its all been about, through the media reporting negative things constantly, bombarding your thoughts with negative aspects of life etc time to reverse that, what are some good things on earth?

Excellent post, because of these reasons the population of North America will
be up a creek in a big disaster. We are way to soft and lazy. As they say "The strong survive".

reply to post by JOINTHERESISTANCE


The list is negative because a positive list would've been boring. However, here is a list of positive things about the world today, all be it not as detailed as the first.

10. Summer evenings
9. Star Trek
8. BBQs
7. Greater acceptance of tattooing (my new trade lol)
6. Mars Rovers/Surveyors and misc robots
5. Open discussion of philosophies and religion
4. Readily available knowledge and education (online)
3. Computer technology
2. Gaming technology
1. The night (i'm photo phobic and feel pretty crappy during the day)

I told you it wouldn't be as interesting as the negatives

reply to post by Shar_Chi


I'd agree but to a certain point, I do believe there is a serious lack of ethics and morals these day however I feel that stems from the lack of a firm foundation on which to place said ethics. Once we had religion which just told us what our ethics were, however, today we are free from the tyranny of the church and free to think as we wish. Most people either don't take the time or don't have the mental faculty to look within themselves and realize what is right and what is wrong.

I don't even mean in a universal sense either, one can create his own lists of morals and ethics, assign them into a hierarchy and follow them but he/she MUST follow them. I live by my own set of ethics and morals but I stick to them otherwise they would be nothing but wishful thinking.

reply to post by kosmicjack


Good point, materialism is everything these days. We are judged not by the color of or skin or the quality of our character but how much we paid for our car, clothes, cell phone etc. In today's world we have mostly everything given to us. We don't need to build our own house, make our own clothes or kill our own food anymore, all we need is money. Money buys everything else so why not social status as well?

reply to post by Grey Magic


I thought about adding greed to the list but I wasn't sure about how I felt on that topic. On the one hand greed can destroy someone, you can become obsessed with having more and more and never be satisfied with what you do have. However, on the other hand, if you didn't want more than you already have, if you weren't jealous of your neighbor's nice new flat screen then how motivated would you be to go back to the rat race every Monday?

I almost feel as though greed is an essential corner stone to our everyday life. If people became content with what they had they would no longer see the point in wasting their life away hour by hour, day by day, in some soul crushing job.

reply to post by DarthChrisious


I really did want to add this to the list but it was a toss up between beauty obsessed culture and Youth Obsessed culture. I choose the youth obsessed culture mainly because I feel it includes the beauty obsession. People don't just want to be young, or appear young, they want to be young and beautiful. Everything is pretty and soft and cute, which I feel is the new beauty.

I will agree though, that the obsession with sex and beauty is adding to our woes and I believe it is destroying our youth. I have never ever seen 12 and 13 year olds dressing like they're going to a bar to pick up guys until fairly recently.

[edit on 1-7-2008 by Shadowflux]

reply to post by keeb333


Good point keeb, I would say this is the socio-political manifestation of my statement regarding the need for everything to be safe. Political Correctness is the safety of speech and thought, never letting people go down a dark road no matter how personally honest it may be. I think it also comes back to honesty as well since people are no longer allowed to speak their minds for fear of reprisal and we now have many closet racists who portray themselves as the opposite. It is deffinitly part of what's killing our society.

If you truly wanted to get rid of all the racists and homophobes then you should encourage them to speak openly so that you may know who is a racist or homophobe and then deal with them accordingly.

Many good picks, seems almost like a George Carlin set, in a way. But, I found it lacking in the whole television department. I don't see how the 'idiot box' didn't make it, but then again, it seems like the television pretty much emulates the top ten in every way. From the news' lies and disinformation to the same old mediocre shows to 'reality television' and the drug pushing ads that are pretty much on all day. Makes it seems like Television should be number 0.

reply to post by Forest


I agree, the television should be included with the other things on this list but I chose the internet over television for my list. I chose it because it's like TV 2.0, not only are you sitting there in your underwear wasting the day away like you did in front of the tube but now the internet requires you to actively engage in the stupification.

For example, once there were people who sat on the couch all day watching tv except you could still sit and watch with them, talk to them and maybe even convince them to come outside and do something with you. However, now with things like World of Warcraft there are people who sit in an office chair and will refuse to go outside, refuse to hold a conversation with you and spend an ever increasing amount of time in game.

At least people who watched tv all day got up to go to the bathroom on commercial breaks. I've heard far too many stories of...well.....refilled soda bottles from gamers.

1. suppresion of free energy
2. Central fractional banking

If those two things were fixed we would have near utopia.

Originally posted by Shadowflux
reply to post by Forest

 

I agree, the television should be included with the other things on this list but I chose the internet over television for my list. I chose it because it's like TV 2.0, not only are you sitting there in your underwear wasting the day away like you did in front of the tube but now the internet requires you to actively engage in the stupification.

For example, once there were people who sat on the couch all day watching tv except you could still sit and watch with them, talk to them and maybe even convince them to come outside and do something with you. However, now with things like World of Warcraft there are people who sit in an office chair and will refuse to go outside, refuse to hold a conversation with you and spend an ever increasing amount of time in game.

At least people who watched tv all day got up to go to the bathroom on commercial breaks. I've heard far too many stories of...well.....refilled soda bottles from gamers.

The more and more I think about it, Television has become the radio, left on to hum in the background while the computer is the main focus. With laptops and phones the internet is basically easier accessible when on the go, so I would have to agree with you on the whole 'TV 2.0" idea. The internet has nearly made the television obsolete, with a more enlarged variety easier found and accessible. And yes, I've heard far too many stories of soda bottles related to WoW gaming.

But, while thinking about what else could be on the list, the "radio" seems to have helped me out. The failing educational system, but, seeing as this is a world list I think this would rank in the mid twenties.