What's wrong with our society?

[m3racer]

A pregnant mother pulled over for a DUI.
People stealing gas.
The elderly being mugged.
Vets stealing benefits from the government.

What the hell is wrong with our society?! Is it that hard just to do the right thing? Don't we all know what's right and wrong? I've become so disgusted with the world and our society. Although there are many great people, there seems to be twice the number of idiots. Oh yeah, they have the same voting capacity as the law abiding citizens! Some people should just not be allowed to po-create. Ok, I think I'm done now.

[cschin4]

No, we don't know what is right or wrong. God was kicked out of school long ago. Truth is relative. Do what feels good. Nothing matters but what you want when you want it.

[LuxLiving]

I heard it recently referred to as "The Age of Destruction".

[disneysteve]

Mixed feelings. I totally agree with you. However, I also think part of the problem is that the media needs to justify it's own existence and stories like these get plastered all over newspapers, magazines and TV reports so that we start to think that these things are commonplace, when in reality they are still quite rare.

I saw a story this morning about gas theft. It might have been on CNN. They made it sound like it is happening all the time everywhere, but I'm sure the stats would show that it is only a fringe problem. Certainly, it shouldn't happen at all, but they make a bigger deal of it than it warrants.

Same goes for all the celebrity garbage. I don't know why anyone gives a darn, but maybe if they media stopped devoting hours and hours to covering the exploits of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears and others, we'd be better off. In fact, if the media pressure and paparazzi would ease off, maybe the celebs wouldn't have so many problems to begin with.

Contact your local media outlets - newspapers, tv stations, radio stations. Tell them that you are sick of hearing nothing but bad news and sensationalism and celebrity gossip. Tell them you'd like to see more focus on what's good and right in your community. Show folks who are building homes for the poor. Start a regular feature visiting local shelters or soup kitchens. Profile teens who are involved in community service projects.

The media thrives on the negative. Apparently that's what gets ratings and sells papers. For example, last year there was a big report that the diabetes drug Avandia might cause a higher risk of heart disease. It was on every news report, in every paper and magazine. Tens of thousands of people raced to their doctors to get their med switched. GSK lost millions. The FDA investigated further and reviewed all the data in depth and issued their final report saying that Avandia was just fine and there was no increased risk of heart disease. Did you hear that story on the news? Nope. Not a peep about it. The good news, the positive stuff, the encouraging and inspiring stories don't get any play. That leads us to the kinds of conclusions you've made, that the world is going to hell.

[moneybags]

Originally Posted by cschin4

God was kicked out of school long ago.

I don't want to hijack this thread & turn it into a religious debate, but I don't think God has anything to do with it. I am an athiest, thus my children are being raised without God. They are good kids with strong morals. I have seen plenty of misbehaving by good Christian children.

I think parents just aren't teaching their kids good morals whether they use God as a reason or not. Part of it has to do with the overindulgence and entitlement going on in our society.

[cschin4]

Without God, there is NO MORALITY. The jungle rules.

[m3racer]

Originally Posted by moneybags

I don't want to hijack this thread & turn it into a religious debate, but I don't think God has anything to do with it.

I agree with you 100% Religious background should not be an issue. You can be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, atheist, etc. The bottom line is we all know what's right and wrong. Just do it!! Yes, it may be difficult at times but all our actions have consequences. Too bad extremist religious groups feel the need to literally kill others. WTH is up with that?! Why can't people just mind their own business. One may not carry the same religious beliefs as others but at least RESPECT other's beliefs.

[ScrimpAndSave]

I'm an elementary music teacher.

I turn on the radio and listen to the rap songs...and the lyrics make me almost pull over. I can't believe my babies (students) here this stuff...and I teach in an inner city urban school so I know it is a lot of what the hear at home.

The latest that I heard was about a girl "taking her panties off and dancing up and down...".

I'm 27. I'm not ancient. I know what mainstream music is...it's out of hand.

I think it fuels a lot of what is happening in our world.

[cschin4]

The ONLY reason that people do know right from wrong is because God's Law is written upon the heart of man. If we are evolved beings, survival of the fittest and there is no soul or judgement, then there is absolutely no reason why I should not kill you to take whatever I want.

[m3racer]

Originally Posted by cschin4

The ONLY reason that people do know right from wrong is because God's Law is written upon the heart of man. If we are evolved beings, survival of the fittest and there is no soul or judgement, then there is absolutely no reason why I should not kill you to take whatever I want.

This is exactly what I'm talking about!! I first thought your earlier posts were aimed at sarcasm but good grief. The latter comment is completely irrelevant. I did not start this thread so that it can turn it into a religious rant. Please don't take this the wrong way. I do respect what you are saying but let's not try to force our religious viewpoints on others. I know plenty of people who do not read or follow "God's Law", as you stated. But they sure conduct themselves in a much less hypocritical way then others who claim to follow "God's Law." But this is besides the point.....thread jack FTL.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cschin4

The ONLY reason that people do know right from wrong is because God's Law is written upon the heart of man. If we are evolved beings, survival of the fittest and there is no soul or judgement, then there is absolutely no reason why I should not kill you to take whatever I want.

I hate to make this a religion issue, because it isn't, but what about just plain following the law? It is illegal to kill people. It is illegal to steal from people. It is illegal (around here at least) to talk on a cell phone while driving. It is illegal to park in a handicapped spot if you aren't handicapped. It is illegal to dump your trash on the side of the road. It is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.

I don't care if you are religious or not or believe in God or not. What is allowed and not allowed is pretty clearly spelled out in most places.

[cschin4]

I don't care if you are religious or not or believe in God or not. What is allowed and not allowed is pretty clearly spelled out in most places.

Laws have to be based on something. Obviously laws have a religious basis. Animals have no "laws". They can brutally kill one another, eat their young and so forth. To pretend that there is no religious foundation for Law is pretty naive.

[pearlieq]

I hear your frustration. There are a lot of idiots out there. I wouldn't call it "better" or "worse" because I don't think it really changes. There is nothing new under the sun.

The older I get, the more I'm convinced that human nature is not basically good. I wouldn't go so far as to call it basically evil, but we're capable of really rotten things, with surprising fequency and ease.

[cschin4]

Maybe you need to spend a day at the Holocaust Museum.

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by m3racer

I do respect what you are saying but let's not try to force our religious viewpoints on others.

I agree. Your beliefs--no matter how cherished or sincerely held--are not fact or absolute truth. I'm uncomfortable with the way it's being pushed as the ONLY answer. I doesn't make for a very productive or interesting discussion of ideas--it's just kind of unpleasant.

For the record, there are plenty of reasons not to kill me and take my stuff that do not have to do with religious rule. A few off the top of my head:

1.) You may not be successful at killing me and it would put you at risk of harm. What if you lost the fight and wound up getting hurt or killed yourself? That's a pretty good disincentive.

2.) You would be at risk for retribution from people who valued my life. You may kill me and take my stuff, only to find yourself killed, injured, or harassed in retaliation.

3.) You would probably run afoul of a law, risking incarceration or death. Laws aren't necessarily an offshoot of religion. I'm pretty sure we would have come up with a "don't kill people" law, even if it hadn't been handed down to Moses.

4.) You risk being ostracized from mainstream society, or possibly any society. Humans are social beings. We are only capable of our greatest successes if we cooperate together. Being branded as someone who is apt to kill people and take their stuff is not the best entre into a social group. You could be left to fend for yourself, which isn't a pretty prospect.

[m3racer]

Originally Posted by pearlieq

Laws aren't necessarily an offshoot of religion. I'm pretty sure we would have come up with a "don't kill people" law, even if it hadn't been handed down to Moses.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by m3racer

all our actions have consequences

I think this really nails it. Years ago, our actions had consequences. More and more today, that isn't true. Just look at the celebrity news. People abusing drugs and alcohol, going in and out of rehab, and still being idolized by the public and making millions with their movies or music.

Same in politics. Years back, Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, DC was caught on video in a cocaine sting. He was clearly buying and using cocaine. Was he disgraced by the episode? Nope. He was convicted and served 6 months in jail but when he got out, he got re-elected as mayor. What the hell were people thinking? If there are no consequences to our actions, people eventually stop caring about their behavior. When criminals are celebrities, the focus on doing right fades.

Of course, it all starts in the home. If parents let their kids run wild and impose no rules or discipline, the kids never learn right from wrong.

[PrincessPerky]

I personally think public school is what is wrong...I am NOT saying having help to educate your child is the wrong, I am saying public free mass education for 12 or 13 years is the problem. (not the only one, just the biggest IMO)

Think about it, we don't call it "home feeding" when you take responsibility for feeding your own kids, we don't call it "home shelter" when you take responsibility for providing a roof and the like for our own kids, the list of what is still in the camp of mom and dad to provide goes on.

But the one HUGE crucial element to our future, education..is the one we try to FORCE out of the home, it is far easier to send your child off to school at the appropriate age for your state than to invest the time to refuse to send them (of course actually teaching them is work as well). So less and less parents find the need to invest time or energy in it. I know of children who have had a wonderful first 5ish years of life in a great learning environment, who certainly have not gleaned all they can from mom or dad or others who nevertheless are sent off to school..some merely because 'thats where you go at 5.

I love to use children as an example, while all children are different in general any average child has the physical capability to say tie a shoe around 5 or 6 not well, but tied...yet many do not have a clue, because parents simply do it for them..not that there is anything wrong with assistance on occasion, but that by not letting the kid try, fail and try again, we deprive them of the chance to learn how properly.

Educating children is the same way. The more we tell parents not to worry about it from math to reading to manners, the more parents will not bother...and education is where we really get the best morals, sure some folk are born with an innate sense of right and wrong..or at least love for fellow man, but others are a bit...less civilized from birth. Sending them all to 'lord of the flies kids rule' territory before instilling in them proper values is bound to result in troubled kids.

Now you might say if we don't offer the free education we wont have any...this is simply not true, before mass education we had education in America, we had some private schools, some tutors and a WHOLE LOT OF PARENTS TEACHING! I like to emphasize that last point, we do not live in a so called '3rd world country' mom and dad generally know how to read and write and perform basic arithmetic..yet we are encouraged NOT to pass that information on to our children (you might teach them wrong and then k-5 teacher has to reteach them how to write) humph...so long as you can read it and you encourage improvement one day it will be right..sometime after the fine motor skills typically show up (like when they can tie shoes). Same argument for reading.

Again I am not saying we should not offer any education, I believe education is third only to the need for food and shelter. Needs should be met, however we don't offer free food to everyone in America, we try to offer assistance as needed with the assumption that one would figure out how to provide it for oneself asap. while I believe the welfare system has many issues, at least they haven't (yet) tried to make it universal.

Nor am I saying all parents must educate by themselves, teach what you can get help when you can't. I believe it was James Madison who was sent to formal schooling a bit earlier than his parents expected...because he read every book in their own library (a rather extensive one including Greek Latin and French titles). Yes parents will need help, children should not be carbon copies of their parents. but help comes in much better packages than from the government.

If we take away the assumption that the govt will take care of education, more parents would step up to the plate.

[m3racer]

I guess this thread got moved. Princess Perky, you make some salient points. However, I'm not sure what role education has on moral values.

[zakity]

Because the parents send the kids off to school and expect the schools to teach them everything. The teachers are only interested in teaching to the test since NCLB. There are also way more kids than teachers. The kids are learning their "morals" from other kids their age. I think that kids aren't really learning respect in school.

We are not religious and we do follow the three-fold law/Karma thing. We homeschool too. My children are learning respect for everyone and everything. I constantly get compliments from people on their behavoir because they are sweet, respectful, and mannerly.