Listen to me! Please listen! If you don't, if you won't, if you fail to understand, then. . .

Listen to me! Please listen! If you don't, if you won't, if you fail to understand, then the same incredible terror that's menacing me WILL STRIKE AT YOU! - Invasion of the body Snatchers, 1956

Why does everyone seem to be reacting these days? (And I know I do from time to time)
Years ago there was an honest search for the truth. There seemed to be more thinking and researching, instead of running around like chicken little!
Is this what some evil empire has planned for us all? Is this becoming the real conspiracy?

While everyone is running around jumping from hoop to hoop, they are all laughing and pulling the blinds over our eyes right in from of our noses. I understand it is good to be aware but with things like Newspapers, Magazines, TV, Cell Phones, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are we only looking at the obvious now?

Newspapers, Magazines, TV, Cell Phones, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter

What's wrong with those?^

Sorry but I am lost....I guess I am one whom you speak of who does not understand..

Listen to me! Please listen! If you don't, if you won't, if you fail to understand, then the same *bleep* threads that menace me WILL STRIKE AT YOU!

... Not understanding coz I'm not sure what I'm meant to be reading or listening to!

(Intentionally Left Blank)

Critical thinking is no longer taught rigorously in schools.

In fact, nothing is taught rigorously in schools. Even "good" schools.

After WWII, the US pumped tons of time, money, and energy into education. From the GI bill to the expansion of the public school system, there was a real, long-term committment to upping the intellectual wattage of the average American, especially in the hard sciences. Part of it was Cold War fears, and part was simply that people thought more carefully and more long-term in those days. Eventually, though, the tide turned. Walk all over education for 40 years and see where that gets you.

And at the highest level, a weird thing happened that set the tone -- "postmodernism," which was a kind of rejection of the rationalist Western intellectual tradition in favor of a kind of nihilistic "bricolage" and a Continental-Socialist-inspired mistrust of "hergemony" and power. The result is a massive internal contradiction: Academia simultaneously wants to enjoy the trappings of power and preserve the privilage, wealth, and prestege associated with it, while at the same time feeling morally squemish about the whole idea of what it means to control, dominate, have hegemony, etc. Academia is devouring itself on a philosophical level, and the rot spreads throughout the rest of the system. I'm not saying this is the only cause of educational malaise of course -- general public anti-intellectualism and resistance to funding schools properly and responsbily are probably more direct and blunt causes.

Beyond education there are a whole host of other factors....as the poster above alluded, the proliferation of electronic media is doing weird things to us that we still don't fully understand. Society has devolved towards a kind of "casino economy," too, where everything is about the hustle, the score, the big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the one-time moon-shot, all-or-nothing, double-down attitude...make your score quick and get out of the game...nobody is interested in building long-term value anymore, in craftsmanship or the creation of a durable enterprise or community stewardship. The erosion of these old ways of life is heartbreaking.

I understand your sentiment OP. However, newspapers, magazines, t.v., cell phones, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are not distractions to all of us. Many of us have the capability to multitask. Many of us can do any one of those things and still be awake and aware of our surroundings. Utilizing those things does not prohibit one from maintaining their analytical integrity.

my 2-cents

reply to post by AnteBellum



When the day comes that the people you depended on for your spiritual reinforcment vanish,or lose their belief, will you think that they have gained some sort of understanding?

Or instead will you see it as an invasion by demons taking your friends souls?

Silent thunder. . . . . . . . . .

Aggie Man. . . . . . . . . . . never was trying to imply that distractions are bad, we all need distractions, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'
But when having discussions on topics recently, people seem to be taking information from more of a reactionary standpoint, then one of critical thought. Books, newspapers, magazines, t.v., cell phones, Internet/Web, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all forms of media that we use for information, whether or not it is true or factually based.
We all seem to be reliant on these forms, so much now, for our information that we take for granted what it is we are reading, seeing and ultimately believing.
I have seen threads, even on this site, that haven't one shred of truth to them that can be verified by source or science, yet many cling to these posts like god or aliens had come down and told them personally.
This is something that I didn't see here in 2005 and unfortunately has been getting worse and worse up to now. I see it as a social trend, I could see it at a deliberate attempt of disinformation, but in the end I see it as sad!

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by AnteBellum

 

When the day comes that the people you depended on for your spiritual reinforcment vanish,or lose their belief, will you think that they have gained some sort of understanding?

Or instead will you see it as an invasion by demons taking your friends souls?

I have always depended on myself for my spiritual reinforcement. If it vanishes or I lose my belief, like always another form of it will reveal itself in time.
If I believed in demons I would want to be one!

Originally posted by AnteBellum
Silent thunder. . . . . . . . . .

Aggie Man. . . . . . . . . . . never was trying to imply that distractions are bad, we all need distractions, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'
But when having discussions on topics recently, people seem to be taking information from more of a reactionary standpoint, then one of critical thought. Books, newspapers, magazines, t.v., cell phones, Internet/Web, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all forms of media that we use for information, whether or not it is true or factually based.
We all seem to be reliant on these forms, so much now, for our information that we take for granted what it is we are reading, seeing and ultimately believing.
I have seen threads, even on this site, that haven't one shred of truth to them that can be verified by source or science, yet many cling to these posts like god or aliens had come down and told them personally.
This is something that I didn't see here in 2005 and unfortunately has been getting worse and worse up to now. I see it as a social trend, I could see it at a deliberate attempt of disinformation, but in the end I see it as sad!

I gottcha! Sorry for the misunderstanding of your OP. Now, with your additional explanation, I 100% agree with you.