The world needs love.

Boost_Crazy said:

In reply to pheller :

You don't need religion to force your beliefs on others or persecute them. If you look at many of today's organizations, you will see a lot of parallels to religion- good and bad. It's as if- not surprisingly- people left religion yet found another faith.

ABSOLUTELY.   Heck, there are people treating things like veganism as a "religion"

It's not the religion (or the nationality, or the political party, or the color of the skin...) that makes someone an a-hole...

...it's the fact that they are an a-hole, (and there are some in every "group".)

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Actually quite common. Many that leave organized religion later fill the void with something to make themselves feel "better". Philanthropy, volunteering, even joining the military- as it provides structured lifestyles. Everyone is grasping at straws, looking for a way to not hurt. The answer they seek is found where they left it, but the book is in the hands of someone as Ignorant of its truths as the child they baptized last week. 

In reply to aircooled :

I also find that many A-holes are just having a bad day, or having some sort of mental imbalance. Take me for example. The other day I started a post that I didn't think anything was negative about. A few people took it that way. I had a "fantastic" day at work, and proceeded to take it out of those that took exception with my word choices.
 

Good idea? No. Proud of it? No. More love and patience was needed on my part. More understanding and insight was required by others. Am I an A-hole? The answer is: depends on the day I'm having. "A-hole" is a transient state of mind. Many "A-holes" exist at this moment because stressful things are happening and they don't see an answer out it. The critical mind is perceiving "impending doom". Hope exists, but only if you believe it. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

The term "don't judge" is now a mainstay and although it sounds great on the surface, what it really means is moral equivalence....there is no intrinsic right or wrong, just an amorphas fog based on prospective. i.e., do whatever the berk you want.

I think some of the acceleration in our moral decline can be traced back several years to when terrorist were beheading people / burning them alive, etc.  It dehumanized us in a very insidious way, it raised the bar on maximum awfulness resulting in a redefinition of everything else...what was considered terrible to now just really bad and what was considered really bad is now just "hey man, don't judge".

aircooled said:

Boost_Crazy said:

In reply to pheller :

You don't need religion to force your beliefs on others or persecute them. If you look at many of today's organizations, you will see a lot of parallels to religion- good and bad. It's as if- not surprisingly- people left religion yet found another faith.

ABSOLUTELY.   Heck, there are people treating things like veganism as a "religion"

It's not the religion (or the nationality, or the political party, or the color of the skin...) that makes someone an a-hole...

...it's the fact that they are an a-hole, (and there are some in every "group".)

Good example, actually. The reason people get real caught up in "militant veganism" is not just the dietary aspect, but the whole animal welfare end of it. 

Religion for a long time told us that being gay was bad, divorce was bad, self-pleasure was bad, and oh...animals didn't have souls and so we shouldn't feel bad about them. That has changed a lot, and people view the poor treatment of animals as equally bad as the mistreatment of children, or LGBT, or adulterers. 

That's just it - you can claim "all it takes is love" but unless you really truly apply the "live and let live" mantra to nearly everything, you're going to run into someone who thinks you aren't doing it right. Why? Because all of our actions do impact someone or something. 

I think the problem is that people get overly defensive, or overly aggressive in defending what they believe is their version of "live at let live." I mean, I've heard very conservative Evangelicals basically justify their wanting to treat LGBT folks poorly because "why can't people just let Christians folks alone to "live and let live." 

If your belief is to make someone else's life harder when they aren't harming anyone, then you're not applying the "all we need is love." 

In reply to pheller :

And see that's the problem, because if they are a Christian they should realize that God gave everyone the right to choose what they want to do. Even if that choice is contrary to what God requires. What that means is as a Christian it's none of your business what someone else does. And you don't get to chastise them about their choices. That's between them and God. You don't have to condone what they do, but you definitely should not persecute them in any sort of way. Because once again, love is the defining Action that moves this world and keeps it in motion.

RX Reven' said:

It dehumanized us in a very insidious way, it raised the bar on maximum awfulness resulting in a redefinition of everything else...what was considered terrible to now just really bad and what was considered really bad is now just "hey man, don't judge".

I've never heard anything like that about any type of violence, overt or otherwise, towards a person. Nobody is saying "dont judge" about religious fanatics beheading or murdering people. Nobody is saying "dont judge" about pedophiles. Nobody is saying "don't judge" about tax evasion. 

Aside from maybe, adulterers and divorce, drug use and the adult entertainment industry, are their violent things you think have become normalized? Back in the 50's we might have viewed divorce as the most horrible thing ever, and we might spank our kids for cursing, or tell our boys not to be pansies. Those things aren't viewed with such disdain today, and that's not altogether a bad thing. 

If anything, I think we're more sensitive now. 70 years ago violence against LGBT and Minority groups was mostly ignored by the majority, now it sparks huge political unrest. 

pheller said: are their violent things you think have become normalized?

Yes.  Video Games.  This is clearly the fault of Mortal Kombat, Doom, and Night Trap!

RX Reven' said:

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

The term "don't judge" is now a mainstay and although it sounds great on the surface, what it really means is moral equivalence....there is no intrinsic right or wrong, just an amorphas fog based on prospective. i.e., do whatever the berk you want.

I think some of the acceleration in our moral decline can be traced back several years to when terrorist were beheading people / burning them alive, etc.  It dehumanized us in a very insidious way, it raised the bar on maximum awfulness resulting in a redefinition of everything else...what was considered terrible to now just really bad and what was considered really bad is now just "hey man, don't judge".

I don't think that the beheading videos had anything to do at all with any sort of decline.  The Catholic church was doing far worse for much longer.  The only difference is that ISIS had no concerns with hiding it while the Catholic church kinda sorta badly hid their horribleness

In reply to pheller :

I think the important thing to remember is that we are living in a tiny, unique bubble of human history. In the bubble in history, we live in a bubble on the planet.  It's a tiny statistical anomaly in the grand scheme of things. It's been way, way worse through most of the last few thousand years. It's still way worse on much if not all of the planet, depending on what is important to you. That is because, for the most part- generation after generation has made incremental changes to the better, with many setbacks through history. Some big leaps forward at times, but mostly consistent progress at improving civilization. This is not the norm. And taking that for granted and forgetting how we got here is dangerous. Dismissing those who came before us because they were not as pure or enlightened as we are is a mistake. Be careful when viewing the past through the eyes of the present. It's really easy for us to lose our footing and slip back a bit. It doesn't take much.

In reply to RX Reven' :

The term "don't judge" is now a mainstay and although it sounds great on the surface, what it really means is moral equivalence....there is no intrinsic right or wrong, just an amorphas fog based on prospective. i.e., do whatever the berk you want.

I think some of the acceleration in our moral decline can be traced back several years to when terrorist were beheading people / burning them alive, etc.  It dehumanized us in a very insidious way, it raised the bar on maximum awfulness resulting in a redefinition of everything else...what was considered terrible to now just really bad and what was considered really bad is now just "hey man, don't judge".

This is such an interesting topic. It really depends on what judging means. I think everyone judges. You would have to be kind of an idiot to say you walk through life with no opinions. I think the main issue is how much weight one gives to what they are judging, what they are judging, and how they act on it. I judge everyone. Not on one aspect, but on the aggragate of everything I learn about them. I don't like everything about everyone. I don't like everything about myself and judge myself, why should anyone else get a pass? But I think I'm pretty good at weighing the things I'm judging. Dodger's fan? That goes into the minus column, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Pedophile? We can't be friends. I don't need to approve of how you live your life and I don't need you to approve of mine. But to function together in society, we need to have some overlap. You can have a whole bucket full of items in the "not my thing, but you do you" column and I won't hate you. And you don't need my approval to do whatever makes you happy. I can dislike some of your choices and still like you, and vice versa. Just as long as neither of us have anything in the "Nope" column. I'm not ashamed of having a "Nope" column. It's pretty exclusive, you get into it by harming others or if your default mode of operation is being a jerk. I think part of the problem is people today are too quick to put others in their "Nope" column for singular or superficial reasons. One of the consequences of dividing people. 
 

Judging is a good thing for society- if employed correctly. If you engage in behavior harmful to society, then there are social consequences. The problem is everyone has different opinions of what should be judged and what the consequences should be. Fortunately for everything we disagree on, there are a dozen things we do agree on. But that gets no attention because agreement doesn't get clicks. It seems like there is only disagreement, and soon people become afraid to judge. Then we end up with results that no one wants, like parks full of passed out junkies littered with needles. 

Dehumanizing is a tactic that that has been employed for centuries. You don't need to go to Syria to find examples. Look at a lot of the rhetoric aimed at our police (calling them pigs is the very definition of dehumanizing.) When you get to the point of dehumizing, it shows that you are not interested in an equitable solution to your disagreement. 

Wow. You guys are making the world out to be an awful place in steep decline with no hope for recovery!!

I don't know, of course, but I choose to believe that good triumphs over evil and in general the world trends toward better.

Most of the "back in the day it was better" type memories or statements are very flawed.

We're all connected. When you call out a problem, remember that you are at least a little part of that problem. If you think you can call out a problem that is 100% because of "someone else", then you aren't helping solve it.

"You are the universe, experiencing itself"

https://youtu.be/wU0PYcCsL6o

In reply to ShawnG :

I try to resist entropy as much as I can. But she's winning.

What if instead of love we changed society so that it took care of peoples needs and wasn’t a pressure cooker of constant stress and anxiety?

What if we accepted that life can be difficult, and the true satisfaction you get from dealing with difficulties is a wonderful thing?

What if we look at actual numbers, and realize that the world is a safer, more peaceful place than it has ever been?  

What if we accept the failures of the past, and work towards making our future a better place? 

What if we discard the toxic pursuit of constant happiness, and realize that sometimes, you don't need to be happy, because you are dealing with unhappy situations like a responsible adult?

Love is an imaginary dagger

Mr_Asa said:

Boost_Crazy said:

Decline of moral upbringing. We are a less and less religious country. Say what you will about religion, but for generations religions provided moral bases for people. 

Uhhh....

Yeah, no.

I regret that I only have but one upvote to give.

red_stapler said:

What if instead of love we changed society so that it took care of peoples needs and wasn’t a pressure cooker of constant stress and anxiety?

I think that's love, dog.

red_stapler said:

What if instead of love we changed society so that it took care of peoples needs and wasn’t a pressure cooker of constant stress and anxiety?

That requires love man. 

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

....Most of the "back in the day it was better" type memories or statements are very flawed.....

I don't think anyone is saying things are worse in general now than they have been, just that the tension is.  And that may not even be the case, just that it is far more obvious and easily expressed or experienced now (media etc).

While being yelled at, assaulted or harassed until you loose you livelihood are bad, in the "old days" that may have been just as likely be along the lines of someone slicing you open and leaving you die by the side of the road.

In reply to red_stapler :

What if instead of love we changed society so that it took care of peoples needs and wasn’t a pressure cooker of constant stress and anxiety?

What if the stress and anxiety comes from within, and making things "better" doesn't change the level of stress and anxiety. Pretty much everyone in the country can have their needs fulfilled quite easily, but needs often get confused with wants. We cannot change society to fulfill everyone's wants. The only way to make society "fair" would be to deny everyone their wants. Then it would not be long before we could no longer fulfill everyone's needs. 

Wants are good. Wants are why we aren't still living in huts with life expectancies in our 30's. 

Streetwiseguy said:

What if we accept the failures of the past, and work towards making our future a better place? 

I think this would go a long way towards helping, but the main problem is in the first phrase.  We would have to admit to our failures, and it seems we aren't ready for that, especially on a national level.

I try to do something every day to help someone, to brighten someone's day.  If I'm setting up a computer and accounts for a new employee, I like to send them an email from their account, saying it's from "your future self" and I tell them they're going to do a great job and be happy.  It's small, but it makes people smile.  

This world definitely needs more love.  It needs more compassion, and less people that think it's funny to purposely piss off someone that thinks differently than them.  

I love most of grassroots motorsports.  This is a place I enjoy coming to, where I can learn about my odd German car, where I can read about a guy machining his own cylinder heads for his old Ferarri, where I can see a guy taking a $500 late 90s bug and turning it into an offroad beast and using it to pick up trash and clean the environment.

Streetwiseguy said:

What if we accepted that life can be difficult, and the true satisfaction you get from dealing with difficulties is a wonderful thing?

i was listening to one of Jordan B Peterson's "Maps Of Meaning" lectures the other day and one thing that dug itself into my brain is that rights are not the most important thing.  responsibilities are. because your rights are my responsibilities and vice versa. the quote of your post brought me back to that point, because dealing with difficulty and achieving successful outcome is a pretty good definition of responsibility.