Thread: My Little Rant

Foreword

Please bear in mind that I'm not proclaiming my views to right and everyone else as wrong, this is just my view, nothing more, nothing less. It's how I see the world around me, it doesn't make me any better, or worse, than the next person. Also be prepared for a lot of sarcasm on my part.

Modern American Society

My reviews are in, and they're not pretty. I'm going to break this down into several sub-categories to discuss a number of things that really irk me about modern society. If I were to discuss everything at length I could write a dictionary, I'm very opinionated. Yes this might even come off as a rant, but that's just how I roll, I am discussing serious topics.

Capitalism

CAPITALISM: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. ~ As defined by Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online

There you have it folks, the philosophical ideology on which the 'great' American society is based. Am I the only one here that can see the problem here? Am I the only one who thinks that 'In God we Trust' should really say 'In Dollar We Trust'. While the definition above is a rather cut an dry overview, it is an exceptionally poor standard by which to define its current application within our society. In modern American society capitalism boils down to the almighty dollar, material wealth and its acquisition have becomes ends unto themselves, to the exclusion of everything else. A society based on the acquisition of material wealth is a poor basis to begin with, and it only gets worse over time. Again, there is so much that could be covered here it's not funny, but I will focus mainly on the effect I see it having on the mind.

Capitalism, as applied in America, essentially teaches people that the main focus in life should be money, material gain, wealth and its acquisition, and that all other considerations are secondary. Family, your fellow man/woman, right and wrong, these are generally the things that fall into the 'secondary' category for our version of capitalism. This naturally leads to greed, excess, obsession, and of course of ever present friend, corruption. Anyone with half a brain can see these things are overtaking our society by leaps and bounds, and most people simply plop down on the couch after work, complain about the world going to hell, then eat dinner, go to bed, and don't do a thing about it. Let's hear it for laziness and apathy!

Education

If you want to call it that, go ahead. Our modern education system is a joke, why, for the most part because all of the howling, complaining, whining parents who don't want to face reality. “Oh it's not little Jimmy/Suzy's fault, they have a learning problem.” No they don't have a learning problem, they're just plain ol' stupid. It's not a pretty, or desired reality, but it exists. There are some kids out there that just ain't that bright. Take Bubba for instance, the seven year old in the corner who stands 6'4”, eats glue, and drags his knuckles when he walks? I seriously don't see this one as Harvard bound.

Do parents admit that though, heeeeeeeeell no, Bubba has a learning problem so it's not his fault.The next biggest fallacy that's fueled by parental ego is intellectual equality. That all kids, if they have enough material crammed into their heads with a power drill, can met a testing score average. See my above comment. I'm not saying people should be treated unfairly, I'm all for social equality, but educational/intellectual equality doesn't exist, the very nature of the human mind and genetics preclude that possibility. In the end the slow deterioration and ruination of our education system is the result of the bar being slowly lowered inch by inch until even the dumbest kid can pass, because no one wants to admit their kid isn't the next Albert Einstein. Ego at its worst.

Pornography

It's been around since the dawn of time, but it wasn't until the internet formed that American society, and the freedom of press, turned this into a nightmare. How can anyone in a decent, rational society justify depictions of the human body that turn people into objects of sexual desire in the eyes of others, to be used for their own personal pleasure and discarded afterward without a second thought. Is this really what we're promoting now? Pornography also creates unrealistic sexual expectations, insecurity in relationships, and degrades people in general.

Freedom of...

This is, in my opinion, the biggest plague in American society, freedom taken to excess. Like everything else in life, if not tempered with moderation, freedom can be as dangerous as no freedom at all. Our society, for the most part, is running around like a group of children without any parental supervision, under the guise of freedom. One of the best examples is freedom of expression, I don't think any society should allow freedom of expression that promotes, hatred, racism, bigotry, or any other form of outright, hostile attack against other people for any reason. All it does is promote hatred, animosity, and violence.

Mass Media

Mass poison would be a better description. When I was growing up, in the 80s, TV wasn't that bad, it was a nice form of entertainment you watched for a few hours before or after dinner, and it served as diversion. There was also this thing called censorship, some of you out there may remember this now defunct concept. Does anyone else remember television shows where the good guys were good guys, bad guys were bad guys. Back when TV shows taught that law and order were paramount to society? Now it's all about drama, drama, drama, police and the law? Who needs them, they're just annoying obstacles that get in the way of the hero who disregards such silly concepts in favor of his own superior ideas of justice and morality. Or in some cases revenge, that's acceptable now too.

You've got shows that glorify teenage mothers, lying, cheating, stealing, double-cross, back-stabbing, there's swearing on daytime TV now. It seems now that everything has gotten turned around and all the negative is being promoted as what life and society should be all about. Programs that teach kids that parents are just roadblocks to self-expression that want to oppress them, that they're ways and beliefs are antiques that should be discarded in favor of the 'enlightened' modern point of view. But let's not forget people, it's just TV and freedom of expression.

Now for my favorite can of worms, parents and TV. Why are all these parents blaming TV for the problems their kids have. Or claiming ignorance about their 300 lbs couch potato who suddenly went psycho and they have no idea where they learned it from. After some long and hard study, in-dept research, and serious contemplation I've finally discovered a solution. TURN THE D**N TV OFF AND BE A PARENT FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES A DAY! The television is not a baby-sitter, and it's not just TV, it does teach children and has a tremendous impact on developing minds. When I was kid if I tried to watch more than two hours of TV in a row I'd find myself outside with my mother's shoe print in my backside. Parents need to monitor what their kids are watching before they start judging the TV shows. So little Rebecca is pregnant at 14? Okay, just a wild guess here, maybe all those Sex in the City marathons had something to do with it?

Mixed Messages

This little part might be slightly off-topic, just something that popped into my head a few years ago. As children many girls are given dolls to play with, have tea parties, and play house. All of this is done in expectation that they themselves will become mothers one day. Then when they wind up pregnant in their early teens their parents hit the roof. Mixed message much? In my own personal experiences I've noticed at most, not all, teen pregnancies are the result of little parental oversight while a child is growing up. Essentially the parents who leave a rampantly out of control society to raise their children for them, then wonder where they went wrong. I'm starting to think people should have to take IQ tests before being allowed to breed.

I agree with the majority of the above, but I personally try to keep such topics for general or political forums.
(that's just me personally)

Can you sing, "On a green hill far away"?

I'd be far more interested in credible solutions to those perceived problems than in the laundry list. That'd be creative.

A solution to the problems? Now that would get a real conversation going, mainly because it involving chucking democracy out the window

And introducing what? I did say "credible" solution.

Originally Posted by moderan

I'd be far more interested in credible solutions to those perceived problems than in the laundry list. That'd be creative.

Why?
Simple fact is that the world is pretty much in the toilet regardless of what any individual may think and thinking about solutions will only cause these individuals to become complete nutters & go off the rails.
Calling for people to come up with solutions that will never actually exist is detrimental to mental health and is asking for people to become insane. Far better for your state of mind to simply let the world live in its own sewerage.

Defeatist. Come on, this is like apprentice cynicism.

One of the major problems is that democracy is a broken system within a set of broken systems. I will discuss possible sollutions, but I would also like to point out why I have such a dim view of democracy.


Democrary


Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law. It can also encompass social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination. ~ Democracy as defined by Wikipedia


I would like to single out one particular line for this segment, 'Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.' What genius thought this up? It's like handing a five year old a loaded gun, walking away, and expecting everything to be just fine. We're talking about giving people an equal say in government when most of them don't even know how their own government works. Why should someone have an equal say in everything? Does eveyone have an equal understanding about how things work? It's a broken concept from the start. The average American actually knows very little about how the government works, how legislation is drafted, presented, and passed or defeated.


I will propose the type of government that I support, and I'll likely get flamed, yelled at, and called all sorts of unfriedly things. Also the definitions cited in this artical are drawn from Wikipeida.


Facism


Fascism is a radical, authoritarian nationalist political ideology. It advocates the creation of a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through indoctrination, physical education, and family policy including eugenics.


Fascists seek to purge forces, ideas, people, and systems deemed to be the cause of decadence and degeneration, and to produce their nation's rebirth based on commitment to the national community based on organic unity, in which individuals are bound together by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood. Fascists believe that a nation requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong. Fascist governments forbid and suppress opposition to the state. <-- Yeah, you know, people like me.


Fascism promotes violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality. It views conflict as a fact of life that is responsible for all human progress. It exalts militarism as providing positive transformation in society, in providing spiritual renovation, education, instilling of a will to dominate in people's character, and creating national comradeship through military service. Fascists commonly utilize paramilitary organizations for violent attacks on opponents, or to overthrow a political system.


Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s. Italian Fascists described fascism as a right-wing ideology in the political program The Doctrine of Fascism. Fascism is anti-anarchist, anti-communist, anti-conservative, anti-democratic, anti-individualist, anti-liberal, anti-parliamentary, anti-bourgeois and anti-proletarian. It entails a distinctive type of anti-capitalism and is typically, with a few exceptions, anti-clerical. It rejects egalitarianism, materialism, and rationalism in favour of action, discipline, hierarchy, spirit and will.


In economics, fascists oppose liberalism (as a bourgeois movement) and Marxism (as a proletarian movement) for being class-based movements. Fascists present their ideology as that of an economically trans-class movement that promotes resolving economic class conflict to secure national solidarity. They support a regulated, multi-class, integrated national economic system. Fascist economics supports the existence of private property, the existence of a market economy and the use of the profit motive.


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That is the definition of Facism, while I do agree with a lot of what's listed here, I don't agree with all of it. Red is what I disagree with, and green represents what I really agree with. To further elaborate on some of my highlighting so people don't think I'm contradicting myself, I don't support war-mongering, but I do support the ability to wipe the enemy off the face of the map when forced to do so. About the green highlight on purging, before anyone goes flying off the handle calling me a Nazi, I support purging, not mass murder. To me that means kick them the hell out of the country or find another suitable alternative, not involving death.


I also support that every person is entitled to certain human rights, such as protection from rape, robbery, murder, and so on. Mind you I'm listing everything in exacting detail here, I'm just trying to get the point across.


Personal Freedom


I do support personal freedom, but with everything else in life it should come with moderation. As I stated in my previous post, the amount of freedom in America is out of control and people are running around like unsupervised children. Screaming, whining, and throwing temper tantrums whenever they don't get their own way. In many ways the government is like a parent to the people living in the nation it controls. Like a parent it should have the ability to put its foot down on certain issues that could be considered unsafe, or even outright dangerous, rather than just thinking up safety guildelines, handing someone a helmet, and saying 'best of luck'. I don't support slavery if that's what anyone is thinking, but on the other hand absolute freedom can be every bit as dangerous.


We need to find balance between no freedom and absolute freedom rather than handing the wheel to the general public and thinking things will work themselves out on their own. People come from all walks of life and are too varied culturally, ideologically, and philisophically for everyone to agree. Because of this handing control to the general public is a recipe for disaster, but then I think most people can figure that out by looking out the front door.


National Identity


One of the biggest problems facing America today is a total lack of national identity and culture. Why? Because democracy allows every idiot who thinks they know something, or with a sense of self-entitlement to bog the political process down to the point it grinds to a halt and is quashed under a mountain of red tape. America doesn't even have a nationally appointed langauge because of all the whining and bickering. The founders of our nation spoke English, therefore the national language should be ENGLISH!


America needs social and national unity. I'm not saying someone should forget where they came from, or not be proud of say African or Mexican ancestry, you wanna be proud of your ancestors go for it. On the other hand when someone immigrates to America they should be American, not African-American, or Mexican-American, American. I saw a bumber sticker one time that said 'Support bacteria, it's the only culture we have left.' There's more truth to that than most people realize.


Voting


Allowing every Joe Blow under the sun to vote is an outright bad idea. Most people don't understand enough about the issues, how they operate, function, affect daily life, and the long term consequences to make an informed decision. Voting shouldn't be a right, it should be a privilage reserved for those who know what the hell they're doing. I'm still thinking this part over, but the general concept I'm in favor of is not the right to vote simply because you were born and have an ill-conceived idea that you know what you're doing. People have to learn, be educated, and tested to earn a driver's license, shouldn't something similiar be applied to voting?

Addendum: I do support conflict for national growth, but not through war and violence. What I mean by this is say, get two scientist or politicians from opposing views at the same table and let them go at it. It is a form of non-violent conflict, and while they're verbally beating the crap out of each other a lot of times valid points, solutions, alternatives, and ideas do spill over. As to war, I don't think it's required for national or human growth and I oppose war unless it's absolutely necessary. On the other hand an army rolls up on the beach saying they're going to conquer the country, give me a helmet and an M-16A1 and I'm all for killing every mother f****r on that beach.

It's how I see the world around me, it doesn't make me any better, or worse, than the next person.

Yes, it does, actually.

Right, thanks for reminding me alanmt. American society also teaches people that anything that doesn't endorse absolute freedom, democracy, and the American mindset is tantamount to religious heresy.

Well, I was more suggesting that morality and integrity and personal worth and ability, which I took generally to be the values inherent in your "better or worse" reference, are not entirely act-based and that a person's value may be judged, both objectively and in comparison to others, on their world-view and philosophy and sociopolitical opinions.

I offered no opinion as to whether your specific judgments and opinions would place you in particular in the better or worse category.

I did find it ironic that you began your series of aggressively negative judgments with a disclaimer that effectively declares that you yourself should not be judged for your judgments.

American society also teaches people that anything that doesn't endorse absolute freedom, democracy, and the American mindset is tantamount to religious heresy.

This perceived judgment of my motivations was not the basis for my comment. Nor does it reflect my views. I disagree with virtually every assertion of fact in this sentence. But my intent on entering your thread was not to debate the merits of your policy assertions, but to disagree with the underlying premise that all opinions are of equal value, morally or otherwise. Carry on with your rant.

edit: I assumed that you were just venting in this piece of work. However, if you are posting for a critical writing review (This is a writers' site, after all) let me know and I will offer some constructive criticism of the article and opinions on structure and persuasiveness and presentation.

Originally Posted by Antaus

I will propose the type of government that I support, and I'll likely get flamed, yelled at, and called all sorts of unfriedly things.

I won't bother, but I do have a suggestion.

If you're so passionate for whatever politically based cause you believe in, then I'd recommend a range of political forum sites for you (same with anybody with social agendas). I'm here essentially for topics about writing, and aggressive political or social campaigning on a site such as this isn't something that's endearing in my view.

This is just my personal opinion and it shouldn't be seen as being beyond that.

You're right about one thing, I do have a lot of aggressive negative views about American society, of which I am a part. I also tend to be rather cynical about it, but that's just a part of me. With your first post it did initially come across as a character judgement against me, but if it wasn't, then I'll take it as you explained in the second post. Given that my reply was a little snappier than it should have been, it was a combination of both, venting and seeking reviews. If you want to critique, by all means go ahead, I was a tad ticked off when I wrote that, not so much so anymore