On Mar 4, 1:58 pm, Esra Sdrawkcab > wrote:
> Pop Tart wrote:
> > On Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:35:15 -0800, Evenbit wrote:
>
> >> On Mar 3, 2:04 pm, santosh > wrote:
> >>> What is needed is individual enlightenment (and I don't mean that word
> >>> in the spiritual sense). People need to educate themselves and, more
> >>> importantly, make their own choices. I believe that given a good
> >>> upbringing nearly everyone would make most of the right and sensible
> >>> choices.
>
> >>> It's rather a chicken-and-egg situation. For society to change,
> >>> individual need to change. But then most individual changes are
> >>> themselves heavily influenced by the state of the society, directly or
> >>> indirectly.
>
> >> Things have changed so much that mankind finds him/herself no longer "in
> >> touch" with his/her environment and understands little about the
> >> necessary steps to co-exist with this new environment.
>
> >> In the past, we had a largely agrarian society and multi-generational
> >> living... where children learned by working alongside their parents &
> >> grandparents. Knowledge easily passed from one generation to the next.
> >> Now, nearly ALL work is done away from the home... it is hidden from
> >> sight locked away in factories ( where most of it is being replaced by
> >> machinery and automation ) and offices. Children are sent away to
> >> schools and the elderly are sent to 'care' facilities.
>
> >> I think that technology (and how we have chosen to make use of it) has
> >> gone a long way toward changing the very nature of society .... and has
> >> definitely changed what it means to be human.
>
> > true. your assessment is interesting. I've pondered along the same
> > lines.
>
> > I tend to think this is more of 'how we have chosen to make use of it',
> > though.
>
> > I think our 'spiral-downward' started with the WW2 generation in my
> > country (USA). They endured the Great Depression and were the 'great'
> > generation that bravely accepted the call to help defend Europe, then
> > they came home and spoiled their children. Perhaps they didn't want
> > their children to know the hardships they had known. The children had no
> > basis of strong work ethic or morality, then they became the "counter-
> > culture" hippies, and then they evolved to the "me-generation" ie, "I
> > have to do what's best for me!" This means "divorce" when things get a
> > little tough at home; it means "send mom and dad to adult daycare so I
> > don't have to mess with them"; it means "it takes both parents to work
> > these days - especially when we have a 5000 sq. ft. house with a 3 car
> > garage, a lexus, an infiniti, a harley, and a boat, and nice wardrobes,
> > and a bunch of other things - so who in their right mind has time to take
> > care of the children! Isn't that why we have TV?", etc ad infinitum.
>
> > To bring the off-topic theme of God back here - we have a new god whom we
> > serve: ourselves. There is a new trinity - the unholy trinity: Me,
> > Myself, and I.
>
> > Of course, there are many other dynamics that coincide. As communities
> > become larger, people become anonymous. The more anonymity, the more
> > cruel we are with one another. Look at the Internet newsgroups! People
> > rarely speak to one another the way they communicate so often on the net
> > with flaming. Perhaps because it is easier to fear repercussion when we
> > know one another, or when we can identify one another.
>
> > So what's this thread about anyway? I never did find out the price of
> > eggs in China
>
> I'd suggest this to be OT for alasm; also for afc and afv.
>

a.l.a has been predominately OT for quite a while now -- the asm
conversations have migrated to other venues. Nothing wrong with that.

Nathan.