Does anybody else feel the world is getting dumber?

A place for more serious off-topic discussion and debates.
User avatar
Posts: 22478
Joined: May 2010
Location: Castle
RIFA wrote:

Comments are disgusting.
Not very surprising that this kind of ideology is popular in France.

Anyone who has lived in France will tell you it is an unapologetically ethnocentric and xenophobic nation. Even folks from Western nations are marginalized and not made to feel welcomed.

smh

User avatar
Posts: 21411
Joined: June 2010
Location: All-Hail Master Virgo, Censor of NolanFans
I know but in times like these you'd think they'd be at least a bit more reasonable. I think I'm gonna approach everything with pretty much the worst scenario in mind. Nothing surprises me anymore at this point. People act like babies. And it's ironic cuz we live in the age of Instagram and all that bullshit that comes with it. You'd think we'd learn faster and accept each other a lot more. Not. We actually take a lot more comfort in distancing ourselves from each other and stay close only on facebook. A ton of activists online nowhere to be seen when it really matter because they're still too few in comparison with the mentality of the average voter.

Churchill was ahead of time when he said "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

I mean I see french people talking about how RIGHT NOW immigration is the most important issue and it needs to be dealt with. And whoever comes with the numbers argument to prove that that's not true... they shut down and blast him for not being a patriot. At this point there is not logical arguments to be had. Anyone tells them that the rupture of EU as we know it is really bad news for Europe, that a possible Frexit would be a horrible solution long term, and that they should take into account their responsibility for other EU members? Again. You're not a patriot. Who cares about other people? But at the same time... let's like and share this GLOBALIST quote on facebook that says "All for equality. No discrimination." Because they do support that but just not when it's about France. I mean 2 cops were shot few days back so THAT is the major problem France has right now.

User avatar
Posts: 9212
Joined: August 2009
It seems like far right ideology has been increasing a lot in the developed world over the past few years. There were murmurs of it returning in Germany back in 2012 I think when a party similar to the Nazis was gaining faction.

I can understand how the increasing need for political correctness has led to far right looking appealing, but at the same time, I think the far right has themselves to blame for problems they hate like the refugee crisis.

Right wingers (and left wingers too. Don't forget that Obama dropped 26k bombs in 2016 alone and Hillary even said that she agreed with the Syria bombing) in America supported the bombing of the Middle East and Middle East meddling. It started before Reagan wanted to get Russia out of Afghanistan.

Decades of meddling in ME has directly led to this crisis we have now. You can't expect to drop over 30k bombs and think that no one is going to be displaced or think that extremist factions won't rise.

It's is literally the fault of the developed world that we have a crisis like this that could have been avoided.

Then of course over the years you have the internet culture of PC v Edgelord: Dawn of Stupidity coming into the mix and making things worse.

The more I think about it, the more I read, and the more I look into it, it's not surprising that we ended up here.

If anyone has any notes to add or wants to make any corrections to my post, feel free.

User avatar
Posts: 13958
Joined: May 2010
Location: Mumbai
we're fucked tbh

User avatar
Posts: 9212
Joined: August 2009
Pratham wrote:we're fucked tbh

User avatar
Posts: 21411
Joined: June 2010
Location: All-Hail Master Virgo, Censor of NolanFans
I don't think the bombs are the problem. The lack of well-planned support post-bombings is what made it all worse.

Also, underestimating the ignorance of the average Joe is another issue. You don't just tell the average Joe what to do. You convince him. And they didn't do that. The average person has no fucking clue what data means. The average person doesn't care for arguments if it doesn't put bread on his table. So then readjust the ways you sell the changes you want to make in the world. Don't tell and point fingers because that will cause a social backfire. And this is exactly what's happening now. They relied too much on common sense. Thinking that the average person understands what's good and bad for society. Thinking that the average person doesn't want another world war. But we live in a world that's 60 years off the last world war. That's two generations. There's a lot of disconnect. A lot of people don't actually realize how damaging all of this is.

It's not the end of the world. But it could be. And they to need make people understand that long-term decisions are usually made with what could happen in mind.

User avatar
Posts: 9212
Joined: August 2009
RIFA wrote:I don't think the bombs are the problem. The lack of well-planned support post-bombings is what made it all worse.
Agreed. No one thought out how to help the countries out or help out the people. No actual plan was ever put into place to help those displaced by the bombings.
Also, underestimating the ignorance of the average Joe is another issue. You don't just tell the average Joe what to do. You convince him. And they didn't do that. The average person has no fucking clue what data means. The average person doesn't care for arguments if it doesn't put bread on his table. So then readjust the ways you sell the changes you want to make in the world. Don't tell and point fingers because that will cause a social backfire. And this is exactly what's happening now. They relied too much on common sense. Thinking that the average person understands what's good and bad for society. Thinking that the average person doesn't want another world war. But we live in a world that's 60 years off the last world war. That's two generations. There's a lot of disconnect. A lot of people don't actually realize how damaging all of this is.
Yeah this is a good point. And seeing what happened with this past election, the Democrats greatly underestimated the average folks.

User avatar
Posts: 13958
Joined: May 2010
Location: Mumbai
I don't mean politically only though. We've had many environmental fuckups. Like Great Barrier Reef. Or melting icecaps. Or poachers. Fuck poachers.

User avatar
Posts: 21411
Joined: June 2010
Location: All-Hail Master Virgo, Censor of NolanFans
And NK or ME won't lead to a WWIII even if NK or Iran green light them nukes. People can put all these theories to rest. They can't lead to WWIII because of their lack of commercial and geo-political importance when in direct link with US or China.

Only an unstable Europe can lead to a WWIII. So pray that EU remains untouched and continues to develop in the next decades.

User avatar
Posts: 3501
Joined: October 2014
Location: ny but philly has my <3
akv1984 wrote:
RIFA wrote:Also, underestimating the ignorance of the average Joe is another issue. You don't just tell the average Joe what to do. You convince him. And they didn't do that. The average person has no fucking clue what data means. The average person doesn't care for arguments if it doesn't put bread on his table. So then readjust the ways you sell the changes you want to make in the world. Don't tell and point fingers because that will cause a social backfire. And this is exactly what's happening now. They relied too much on common sense. Thinking that the average person understands what's good and bad for society. Thinking that the average person doesn't want another world war. But we live in a world that's 60 years off the last world war. That's two generations. There's a lot of disconnect. A lot of people don't actually realize how damaging all of this is.
Yeah this is a good point. And seeing what happened with this past election, the Democrats greatly underestimated the average folks.
I've been harping on this since the election, and you are all probably tired of it by now - or think I'm just wrong which is also possible; but, the issue a lot of "middle America" and the middle-aged Americans have with Democrats is that they can be so arrogant. The hate toward college educated, intellectuals from these same people pisses me off, but I can't lie and say I don't understand it.

Imagine a family of five barely scraping by - both parents working full time - and then being told they have to give 40% of their earnings to the government. No one wants that, and while there's certainly a layer of selfishness involved, why shouldn't people prioritize themselves over others? For all the awful things Republicans and Trump are doing, their overarching message (not the racist, sexist stuff) is appealing. The white middle class wants lower taxes and their country back. Those of us who are informed and smart can see that Trump isn't the answer to this - he's a buffoon, but at their base, a lot of his ideas aren't that ridiculous. Ex. A border wall payed for by Mexico is ridiculous, but controlling immigration (which Obama didn't do too well) is completely reasonable. Most people don't want to be told what is "right" and what they "need to do, morally," which is what a large amount of the current Democratic party does.

Basically Democrats just can't get their message across well; in addition, a large portion of the electorate simply doesn't like their message.

I'm telling you - if a Sorkin president was on the ballet, they'd win in a landslide. If the Democrats can find an intellectual with the charisma of Reagan/Obama without the middle-class ignorance Clinton and Sanders promoted, they can get rid of Trump in 2020.

EDIT: I want to make clear: I find the lack of intelligence in some of these people horribly, horribly, annoying, but I don't necessarily blame them for it. Like RIFA said, we're two generations past WWII, so there's a huge amount of disconnect as to what a third one actually means. Mainly, I think the media has done a horrible job of informing people about context in situations, and the education system has done a horrible job, you know... educating.

Post Reply