On February 6th not one racist report was filed in the south.

Quote from Scarecrow

sure, we've accomplished lots of cool things, but at the moment achieving anything useful is pretty much deemed unimportant because all that matters is "can i sell this?"

oh come on. don't reduce the entirety of intellectual and technological advancement to some anti-capitalist talking point. we've walked on the fucking moon and we have a robot on MARS being remote controlled from about 40 million miles away. that's just one ridiculously amazing example of what society's done in a couple of generations.

you think we've done "a lot of cool things" but you can't give a single example of one when asked to? you were pretty quick to bring up third world countries, what's with the pessimism? I've always considered myself one, but fuck, I'm not so sure anymore.

BOOKS!!!

Games consoles.

Almost nothing I can think off. If I wanna say good people, there are more scumbags in this world than the good ones.

Quote from Exilement

oh come on. don't reduce the entirety of intellectual and technological advancement to some anti-capitalist talking point. we've walked on the fucking moon and we have a robot on MARS being remote controlled from about 40 million miles away. that's just one ridiculously amazing example of what society's done in a couple of generations.

you think we've done "a lot of cool things" but you can't give a single example of one when asked to? you were pretty quick to bring up third world countries, what's with the pessimism? I've always considered myself one, but fuck, I'm not so sure anymore.

i'm not even a pessimist, i just really hate our society.

as i mentioned, all that matters is "can i sell this?". nearly everything revolves around somebody making a profit, such that the people who are after said profit forget that there are other humans involved. we're like a bunch of rabid pigs fighting for the biggest portion of a meal, except we're conscious human beings fighting for the biggest portion of a currency that has no actual value. and these people are totally willing to destroy anything in their path to make this profit, including the limited resources of the planet we're on.

meanwhile, the ones who don't actively go out to make a profit invest all their time and energy working to pay off debts, bills, taxes, etc, without really understanding what they're paying for or why they're obliged to pay. and the reason is the aforementioned greed. these are the kinds of people who work 9-5 all week to come home and watch TV and then buy things the TV told them to buy on the weekend. so we have the pigs, we have the sheep, and of course, there are still some genuinely good people who aren't totally stupid in our society, but (from my observation) these are few and far between and powerless to really do anything about their situation.

sure, we have technological accomplishments. but is there anything actually good about our society? free access to information, as you mentioned, is beautiful and genuinely useful, but governments are trying their best to limit this also. other than that, i really don't think so, although I may be making some oversights here.

are people even happy with our society? no, but they don't even realize/care. i've heard this quote from a guy called George Carlin which illustrates my point here well: "everybody’s got a cell phone that makes pancakes, so they don’t want to rock the boat. They don’t want to make any trouble. The people have been bought off by gizmos and toys in this country, and no one questions things anymore"

has our society ever done anything useful for anything other than itself? absolutely not, quite the opposite, in fact. we've done nothing but kill and destroy for our own gain. only recently we've become aware that if we keep killing and destroying, eventually the earth won't be able to sustain us any more... so we're now seeking to reduce our damage, mainly so we can survive a bit longer.

obviously going to the moon and exploring mars are cool and all, and i appreciate the scientific curiosity at work there, but I don't know if that counts as something good in society, nor do I see much practical value in doing so. you could argue that it might potentially save mankind, but I don't really see that as a positive at this stage.



my ultimate conclusion after considering all of this ended up being that meditation is the only way forward to genuine progress as a species

medically we've come a really long way <3

Quote from Scarecrow

i'm not even a pessimist

Quote from Scarecrow

has our society ever done anything useful for anything other than itself? absolutely not, quite the opposite, in fact

You majorly contradicted yourself there. If your going to make a discussion then at least stick with what your saying.



Ok so a few things, you seem to forget the hundreds of non-profit organizations that selflessly give to the poor with little to no gain to themselves. They ask for donations so they can give right back into the community. Organizations such as Feed my Starving Children, Red cross, and many religious based organizations (some churches for example) constantly try to make the world a better place. Society really isn't as bad as you are making it out to be because places like those still exist. As long as people selflessly give, there is still hope.

Now im not entirely disagreeing with you, but I consider my self a very realistic person. Yes, society is going down hill in many areas but the average person still is good hearted. Nobody wakes up in the morning and says to themselves "You know what, today im going to be an ass hole to everyone around me". No, Im hoping people don't, and I'd like to believe the average person doesn't think that way. I hate people, I find most people in my current social group (highschool unfortunately) to be utter morons. But I know that not EVERYONE is an idiot, and at least most try to be kind people despite their lack of logic. This is why people are not running around the streets murdering each other to survive. There is still order in society. And there is still hope for a brighter future.

So here's my proposal to you. If YOU don't like the way society is, then YOU try to change it. How about you lead by example instead of complaining about how society has done nothing positive. Have you ever asked yourself "What good deed have I done today to make the world a better place" before blaming everyone else? Maybe its not society that has the problem, maybe its your attitude towards it.

NOTE: I have all respect for scarecrow and do not intend to offend him or accuse him of anything. This post was for the sake of continuing a discussion and there are no hard feelings here. <3

Quote from Cruel

You majorly contradicted yourself there. If your going to make a discussion then at least stick with what your saying.

not thinking society has done anything useful doesn't make me a pessimist. i'm more of a realist if anything, probably with a pinch of optimism.

gonna have to reply to the rest later, a guest just arrived.

Quote from Scarecrow

not thinking society has done anything useful doesn't make me a pessimist. i'm more of a realist if anything, probably with a pinch of optimism.

gonna have to reply to the rest later, a guest just arrived.

No need, im not really in the mood for a deep argument on society, I just wanted to contribute my thoughts on the topic.

Quote from Scarecrow

hi hello you seem to have forgotten about all the third world countries

As Exilement said, I was mostly focusing on the positives, and when I mentioned "The less fortunate" I meant third world countries and people who have suffered disasters.

Quote from Cruel

So here's my proposal to you. If YOU don't like the way society is, then YOU try to change it. How about you lead by example instead of complaining about how society has done nothing positive. Have you ever asked yourself "What good deed have I done today to make the world a better place" before blaming everyone else? Maybe its not society that has the problem, maybe its your attitude towards it.

this is very presumptuous

the only thing that can change our society is a revolution, and i am no revolutionary leader. doesn't suit my personality and i'm not good at public speaking. and even if a revolution happens, i doubt very much will change. to me, the system is broken beyond repair.

consequently i'm more interested in helping individuals grow and evolve, such that one day the whole society as it is today might become completely unnecessary. as such, my plan is simply to study, and then practice traditional chinese medicine until i've payed off my (many) debts to society, then leave and help those who come to me. this way i gain practical skills to survive on my own, eventually get out of this society, will be able to meet many people along the way who i can help, and hopefully be able to help others reach inner peace

so i'll complain all i like, thank you very much

Quote from RandomDude

TABLETS!!!!
it feels amazing to be able to instantly download a book instead of having to walk to a store

you are everything i despise

It isnt even hard to buy a book, settle down and read it. God. I can make an argument here, but im just lazy