Despite the obvious signs the US is breaking apart how come people still think "This is nothing"?

reply to post by LightWarrior11


Change is inevitable, my friend

My personal philosphy:

"Life is you, waking up in the middle of the Ocean. The freaking ocean, without any land in sight, no floatation vest, no nothing.
So really, you're f**ked! You can swim your heart out, and try and find some land before you tire and drown - you can wade and kick against the swell and waves... Or, you can float on your back, and just chill... go where the currents take you... You'll last alot longer that way!"


Also, I am watching my own country slowly shift towards becoming a Socialist nation. Political Madness and Climate-Change Debates aside, NOBODY knows that is going on, and even those who do really have no power to stop it.

"Tune in. Turn off. Drop out."

Originally posted by nusnus

But what I see is a cultural decline of an 'empire' and this will be followed by the fall of the empire itself since well, history suggests that even the most advanced empires crumble. What goes up, must come down.

edit on 13-5-2012 by nusnus because: (no reason given)

I spent a day in Seattle once. With all due respect to the American people, I never want to go back to the States, after seeing what is supposedly a majoy city, as decripit and stale as it was.

What do you mean, a 'cultural decline'? What seems to be the consensus on moral? Do you think different generational groups feel differently?

reply to post by derpest


Cultural decline is what it is, a cultural decline. Lack of education, lack of appreciation of other cultures, ignorance of other's cultures, non willingness to improve ones level of 'culture' all go into it. Morality is simply a portion of said culture. But since morality can be a matter of debate I usually leave this out. But if for example you took corruption at the corporate levels, or corruption at the governmental levels a part of a cultures morality, then you will see how and why things have gone bad economically for the US. Human greed brought over by power and demand created an environment where people were given mortgages they couldn't afford. Isn't this how the whole thing started?

For years now, people have been making fun of the way the average American cannot recognize the capitals of different countries around the world, has no idea what any country is famous for, and or cannot be bothered by it. Educational standards in the US are at a serious decline. This is old news.

"Pride Goeth Before the Fall"

People are too proud to believe it can happen to the mighty USA.
They believe we are too big to fail.
They are unwilling to even think that it could ever happen here.


It is just like everything else that is going on in the world today. If it does not match their mind set then it is not true. So many people now days have such closed minds they can not see what is going on around them.

reply to post by nusnus


Your woe is shared. I socialize with High-School and College soon-to-be graduates often, while also keeping a speculative eye on 'the younger generation'. All I see is a swarm of material -obsessed punks on their iPhones, watching Jersey Shore and the Kardashians. Punch first, ask later - and it still isnt cool to be a geek

I wonder what will happen of these future generations? At the rate we're fed misinformation at the moment, and with the exponential rise of accessibility to data, where self-education was once an option for the nimble, I wonder just what paths the youth will find themselves

I'm still waiting to be abducted off this planet by aliens.. Fingers crossed!

because we hear the same bullsh** decade after decade after decade....yeah we get it we are all f'd.. blah blah blah

Originally posted by alkesh
because we hear the same bullsh** decade after decade after decade....yeah we get it we are all f'd.. blah blah blah

This. Look at Americas history and you will see people saying the same things from the very begining. Maybe they are always wrong because most people just live their lives instead of sitting aroung spreading doom and gloom.

reply to post by derpest


Oh and lets not forget the things that made the US a great empire back in the day are slowly being taken away from it:

1. the ability to produce long lasting products (enter China and their cheap products). A country that does not sustain itself is bound to be the slave of others.

2. The Constitution. It is the one thing that gives the US its freedoms and privileges. But I see people getting lost over what is Constitutional and what is not. I even see people discussing whether the Constitution needs correcting. Any educated person can see it does not.

Originally posted by starwarsisreal
reply to post by Drunkenparrot

 

But this is different the economic problems is greater than what happens in the 1970s and the 80s.

Sorry but you are wrong.

In the late 1970's interest rates were at 21%, inflation was 13% the misery index (the sum of the unemployment rate and the inflation rate) hit an all-time high of 21.98%.

When was the last time you remember that you couldn't legally purchase gas because the day of the week didn't match your license plate?

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


But when you understand that the interest rates are falsely held down and inflation is as well in order to try to fend off its course, then we are very close to such numbers. The market and products do not reflect that because they are people just like us - they go by the numbers they are given to work with.

As far as unemployment - we are in the range of 18% - 24% unemployment in America right now. Just because they lie about it, does not change the true numbers.







As for the topic question - the answer is pride and ignorance as was said. To many, we are apparently too big to fail, much like the companies were in 2008. To students of history, they understand that an empire at the peak of its power can and will fail due to economic and social mistakes - many of which are the identical mistakes happening in the US today.

They are spoon fed the idea that "everything is ok" by the media one day, and the next they are told that "crisis in unavoidable". Before long they realize that there really was no "crisis" persay, and they become dumbed down to the fact that there is a such thing as a real crisis, and when reality sinks in and thinks start to set in motion, there will not be many who can continue to deny it.

reply to post by Drunkenparrot


Well when the US go to war with Iran your gonna see oil prices go to $20 per gallon far greater than what the seventies experienced.

reply to post by liejunkie01


Very ignorant of you, thats the only reason things are this way because we all just"dwell" on it. Remember just because you have a job, that also lets you have some fun.....doesn't mean everyone does. The more we wait the more time TBTB get to plan things, it wont be long and it will be impossible for us to overthrow them, thats why we have to do something now, grow a pair mate. Compassion is the key

Originally posted by derpest
I spent a day in Seattle once. With all due respect to the American people, I never want to go back to the States, after seeing what is supposedly a majoy city, as decripit and stale as it was.

The birthplace of grunge? Don't knock Seattle! Never mind worrying about decrepit, you should've gone to check out some bands.

I'm on a fixed income and poor as hell. I wouldn't know a good economy from a bad one; I just know I can barely get my rent and bills paid. Wall Street and the stock market, and their effect on the country, are things I know little to nothing about. What I do know, however, is that if worse comes to worse in America and we're all thrown into legitimately desperate times... I think I'll be able to adjust a heck of a lot easier than most will. It'd be interesting to see how the wealthy and those with an upper middle class lifestyle (and even the plain ol' middle class) would react to real adversity.

Most "great empires" fell due to the arrogance that they were "meant" to rule the world, -were the example to follow-, and the resulting military spending that sucked the actual economy dry. And, to boot, óver extending, said, military,while politicians and high-up bizznismen were filling their coffers. Again, and again, thát simple conflagration of circumstances did the greatest empires in.

But... look at the bright side. Great Britain is one of the last European countries to have "lost" their empire. Yet, No societal collapse, no disasters or civil war. People sighed, remembered "the old days", government enacted some half-hearted attempts to keep "The Empire" together, but, to no avail. Time had taken-over the old guard. This goes for most European "Empires".

And people settled in their new reality.

America is on the decline, so it seems, but things change, despite the old guard nót willing to accept that, reminiscing the days they were still "great". Is that such a bad thing?

We are quickly approaching a "world community" anyways. The internet has connected communities from all places around the globe.
And to those crying-out for "Revolution", there already IS a revolution, however, this is a fairly benign one. This specific revolution is uprooting deeply entrenched, diabolical, inhumane, and blatantly evil governments in a breathtaking pace.

There wíll be strife, especially in thóse countries that got yanked into the 21th century, kicking and screaming, by Information Technology. Just look at Egypt, or Syria. But the old generation is losing, and fairly quickly at that.

Look at it thís way. Contrary to most people's view of the world, America's greatest accomplishment has nót been the "liberating by force" but "liberating by technology" An American invention, ARPA-net, floating on the stream of civillian tech-innovation from bright, young Americans gathered in silicon-valley, has changed more than our military éver could.

ARPA-NET was a military undertaking, true, but it was the young, tech-savvy civillian engineers that ran away with it.

Just ponder that for a while, when lamenting "the fall of an empire". America already conquered the world, just...well.. nót in the way the military and their governmental stooges had in mind.(don't believe me? Ask for a Coca-Cola in Senegal...or Myanmar, Or Tibet, or in Timbuktou... Oh, annnnd. whát is the "lingua Franca"of the web?? yup "American ingrish" )

I am a positive kind. The "fall from grace" of America? Humbug! I do not believe in that. Times change, our role changes. That is a good thing. A disastrous couple of decennia, as far as politics go, won't change the basic tenets that make/made America. It's drive towards innovation, the drive to do "the good thing". The entrepeneurial spirit. Things like that.

A People are nót defined by their government and/or the minority of contrarian, obtuse dingbats, but by thóse that máke a country what it is by work, innovation and an almost child-like enthousiasm for "new horizons".

Ergo: The lamenting about "The decline of the American Empire" is only the muttering and whining of those that are unable/unwilling to adapt. A (loud, granted) minority at best.

If our forefathers had that attitude, we would still be sitting at a bay somewhere on the east cost, huddling around a fire, whining about the fact that the west-coast was sóooo far away

As long as they keep putting entertainment (crap) on TV and a new IPOD is being released, the sheep will never wake up.

The only thing more frightening then EVERYTHING happening right now is how frightening it is that people (sheep) do not care at all...............

reply to post by starwarsisreal

In a strange twist many people who have been cheated on cling to the person who has betrayed them.

Try the 1930s:

en.wikipedia.org...

The Third Reich and Soviet Union eventually fell, but the United States survived. Of course, some people were violently opposed to the measures that saved it, just as some people are violently opposed to the measures that can save it again. Let's revive this thread in ten years, okay?

reply to post by starwarsisreal


I know exactly how you feel. Most of the stuff I post is along the lines of that article.( those scenarios are very optimistic btw ) When I say the same things written in the article people patronize me here on ATS and call me a child.

I dont need to read stuff like that to see what is happening. It is clear and in front of our faces. When I say the stuff that is in the article,ATS members call me anti-American. That is not true. I am worried about America. My style is blunt but there should be no dancing around facts. The Americans that refuse to accept these realities must be made to look like the fools they are. The next step is to go to war with these people. The Americans that will refuse to acknowledge what is happening must be called out for the traitors that they are. Many of these traitors actually think that they are the 'patriots'. These traitor 'patriots' that claim that protesters "hate America" must not be tollerated. if you do not protest the American Government and support those that do,then you are a traitor and you are the enemy.

The people that hate America are those that refuse to protest the demonic evil American Government.

OP, have you stopped to consider that perhaps these people don't want to spend every waking moment in fear of an economic collapse?

Like it or not, the general public is NOT like ATS. It's really hard to tell if those folks are really ignorant or if they willfully chose this path as part of their values/beliefs/ethos.

Just a question. Most people I know are well aware of the lurking dangers but choose not to dwell.

Its my personal belief that many people here in the US dont care, because they dont understand or know, thanks to a very poor Education in History, Economics, Mathematics, Science, basically everything. I look at my friends the same age as me, and wonder what the hell is going on in there heads, Wake the hell up. but its useless, if you dont have the WANT, there will be no change, no growth, I feel as though many people think they have 1000 years to live only to realize when they hit 30, and 40 that most of the important years have passed, Imuch of this has been caused by our own, technology is good, but its also making people very lazy, some tech replaces certain things that need to be done by the human brain not a computer, people are becoming dumber, not smarter, i think whole generations have been lost to this, unseen, uncontrolled build up, of using technology instead of whats in our heads.