Apathy in under 30's People.

So, I know I'm not the only person who sees it. The alarming lack of Empathy in today's youth, is astounding and revolting to me. Just today, I'm watching my friends house while she's out and I let her dog out to do his duty, and he runs out of the yard. I have to chase him down the street and he becomes hostile to a neighboor taking his baby out for a tandem bike ride with a carriage attached to the back (rather cool carriage).

The dog refuses to come back to me, even with his usual routine of dog treats. He nearly bites the man. I corral the dog away from him, but he still won't follow my commands. I attempt to collar him, and he tries to bite me like I'm the badguy. So after chasing him some-more I have to use the scruff of the neck, still more biting attempts. Needless to say I despise having to put my hands on an animal like that.

I get him back to the house and try to alert my friend's son I need him to get the door for me, so in letting the dog go I don't get bit. I bang on the door for about a minute, and call out to him. Windows are open it's a beautiful day in Massachusetts. No response, so I have to improvise all the while the dog isn't being cooperative and he's turning as if the moment I let go of his scruff he's going to get me. I have bowl the dog through the door to keep him at distance. Not my idea of being nice to your pets mind you.

I smoke a cig to calm myself for a minute, rather worried about the man and baby "lil psycho" was going after. They are fine and no harm done since I was right ontop of it preventing any actual interaction between them.

I go inside the house, and asked the kid if he heard me. He said no. I explained that the dog got away, and almost went after a dude and his baby. The 15 year old child glued to his computer, said he didn't care. I said you wouldn't care if the dog bit one of your neighboors? He said no not really. I explained he was on a bike with his baby in a carriage on the back, and that it was very dangerous for the child that the dog was nuts. I asked would you care if he bit the baby? His response, was no.

Needless to say, I'm sick to my stomache over that. Less about the lil psycho dog.

His mother is a single parent, who works all day and more or less uses the route of appeasement with her pets and children. Instead of taking a stand with her pets or children, she coerces them with gifts. I more than suspect a link between the behavior of her pets and children to her lack of quality time with them.

I suppose I rant here, but the larger issue...Many kids today are growing up unsupervised and are missing out on core values like responsibility to self and others. It's infuriating that the young folks could give a flying leap what happens beyond serving their immediate desires.

Anyone want to chime in on this? It really has me bothered. I'm a friend to his mom, and she is a good friend to me. It's really not my place to tell her how to raise her kid, so that part about his apathy is a non-issue for me to address.

Was the dog a pit bull by any chance? My favorite dogs, but if owned by apathetic owners, can be uncontrollable, hence the laws surrounding them in this dumbed down society.

Many kids today are growing up unsupervised and are missing out on core values like responsibility to self and others.

What would you imagine children and young adults are like who only have television, video games, and music as the guidance for morality in this life? Today's parents need 80 hour per week jobs to pay the basics, those with lazy teenagers living at home, and they just aren't around enough to teach their children realistic moral values and survival skills.

I think that was the intention of our rulers long ago. Both parents need full time jobs to sustain their living standards, which are out of range usually, and the state ends up giving children their values and lessons, or lack of lessons, in morality. Try to find non sports video games that doesn't involve killing everything.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


you are bang on
i was going to say exactly the same thing
cheers

Read this:- catb.org...

I'm 35. The kid isn't a sociopath, I can tell you that much. I'm capable of having empathic responses to things myself, and yet at the same time, I've also responded the way he did, if I've been on the computer in the middle of something.

If the baby actually HAD been bitten by the dog, then I would have responded differently; but you coming into the house and breaking my train of thought just to tell me about something that NEARLY happened, simply would have annoyed me.

My mother used to do that to me all the time. I'm in here, trying to do some programming work, and attempting to hold maybe three different layers of abstraction in my head at once, and she comes into my room every 15 minutes, wanting to let me know about what the next door neighbour's cat is doing. It's lucky I was never actually trying to earn money at the time.

Some of us are able to attain fairly intense levels of concentration, and it can be extremely jarring to the nervous system, (to the point of being painful) to suddenly be pulled out of it; especially if we're in the middle of something particularly fiddly and delicate.

If I'm working, (especially on anything UNIX related, which really needs my full attention) and particularly if I've been at it for more than 2-2.5 hours or so, (which means I will have built up a hypnogogic/alpha brain state that will probably take at least 45 minutes to get back into) then the only real time I'm going to accept interruptions, is if it is something genuinely serious. If you or someone else has injured themselves, and needs me to do something about it, then that qualifies as a valid excuse, as does a scenario where I've already pre-arranged to see you; but if it isn't either of those, you're probably not going to like the response you'll get from me.

The dog is not a pitbull. Pitbulls are not any worse than other working breed dogs. This dog is a #zu or lhasa apso a mop lap dog. It's an eccentric dog, that barks uncontrollably when the master is home, but is dead quiet 95% of the time when the master is gone. It likes to snap at people as well.

Empathy or apathy? You said empathy in your first sentence but apathy in the title.

But a lot of people are apathetic, not just young people. Just look at Romney winning a lot of the states, the majority of the votes are not young. And empathy wise, the majority people suffer from this. The masses still can't understand why there are people fighting a foreign country occupying their land in Afghanistan.

The 15 year old probably didn't want the dog or got it then realized it was too much to take care of. I'm 20 and have 5 dogs that I see as my children. If they ever got loose I'd kill myself worrying to death about where they were or what they were doing

The people across the street from me are in their 40's and let their dogs run around like its no big deal. I live off a semi-main road as well. It has nothing to do with youth, there are just a LOT of idiots that get animals. If you watch animal cops you'll see this...and the owners on that show are usually 30+.

There is a large amount of apathy in people under 30, not everyone, but a lot of them. I have to deal with friends who are so glued to their Facebook, that, when I come over, there is no interaction between us. It actually makes it very frustrating to get anything done.

I am under 30. I don't mind playing video games at all, but I would like to be productive as well. There is a problem with that, though - even though I have a college education, I am unable to find a job. I have been doing small jobs, earning about $100 a month, while living with my parents and taking some math classes to prepare me for graduate school. With the current culture it is frustrating as well, because no one I am around wants to get anything done or talk honestly about things, they can't plan ahead, and they are really hard to build relationships with because they are so into their tech, so it is hard to get anywhere.

My point is, I am actually deeply interested in being productive but am finding it nearly impossible to get out of my parent's house due to cultural circumstances. So that could be part of it...

reply to post by petrus4


I was in danger of being bit the whole time, just trying to get the dog back into the house. The issue with the child was no response to my request for help while I was at the door. When I mentioned to him what was up, he really didn't skip a beat, and I had his attention.

I'm not sensational about much in general myself as I am capable of handling most situations unaided, but the issue I had was after with his lack of care about the cyclist and his baby almost being bit. It didn't impact at all. I was like WOW...

reply to post by petrus4


I can understand what you are saying here - but that was also when I was that age could I feel that way.

Young people have SO much to learn in order to care. To me, the sad thing is that when you do learn the real world, its depressing.

Kids these days face a wave of programming each time they watch TV, listen to radio, or even talk to other brainwashed teens.

Combine constant programming with all the horrible chemicals in food, the air, the water, and you've got yourself a tool who only wishes to get the new iPhone and be "cool."

This society breeds people who don't care about anything but themselves. They're taught the only way to make it in life is to do WHATEVER it takes to get money and move up the corporate ladder.

That requires sociopath behavior - survival of the fittest. As long as I'm happy, screw the rest of the world.

And look at where this failed societal model has produced...more and more people homeless and hungry while the most sociopathic sit at the top looking down. But that's considered a "good" thing.

Don't blame the computer (programmed humans), blame the programmer (society).

From myself, I feel like we, Generation X have breed Generation So?.
The pre-apocalyptic underlying values of my generation have created a generation of Socialist-minded, Cooperative, apathetic, Complacent folk. You know, just what the doctors prescribed.

Bit of a massive generalization really that all under 30s are essentially, sociopaths.

Originally posted by worriedskeptic
Bit of a massive generalization really that all under 30s are essentially, sociopaths.

You are correct, and It was a generalized Topic. Does there seem to be any examples which you have seen yet? I'm finding the age where the kids seem to be their worst is 11-25. It's not all of them, but the attitude of entitlement, though apathy to others has become much more noticeable to me. It blows my mind also to hear the way they talk to their parents too. Dropping f-bombs like this is normal, and speaking to their parents as if the kids run the show.

Yes? No? Comparisons?

reply to post by matthewgraybeal


There are many reasons:

1) Older generations narcissism.

Let's face it: The boomers and Gen X completely messed over Gen Y. Sold the future so you could have bigger car's, houses and dividends.

2) Zero Tolerance, and boomer fascism in the educational system.

Baby Boomers, when it comes to dealing with the younger generations, are mostly just a bunch of idiotic thugs. After gutting school papers, destroying student self governance, and making almost every penalty for going against authority or messing up expulsion, well it is going to have an effect.

3) Feminization of the educational system.

Women control the educational system, and women use that advantage to unjustly privilege girls over boy's(both should have an equal chance and opportunity to succeed). Being stuck in a system designed for girls only, and that actively psychologically attacks boy's for "not being girl's", the only way to deal with such abuse is apathy or rage.

6) society wide Misandry.

Hatred of males is a staple of Western Civilization. Politicians, Feminist activist's, Priest's, Ministers, Traditionalist's, and Conservatives all engage in hatred of males to one degree or another. Look at all the misandry in advertisements, TV shows and in movies. The only way to deal with such abuse is either apathy or rage.

5) Chemicals in food and water.

Fluoride in the drinking water(the Nazi's where the first to add fluoride to water to keep concentration camp victims subdued). And in food you have additives like soy and cottonseed(both contain estrogen based chemicals or chemicals known to act as testosterone blockers).

I don't think it is any individual cause, but the sum of all these things that creates a perfect storm, because underneath apathy is pure, unadulterated rage. The kind of rage that topples regimes/political-economic orders.