A dog eat dog world
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yep, I was just bemoaning today how much we take advantage of each other to get where we are going. We put ourselves first, and our values take a back seat, so that anything is justifiable to get what we want to get done or get where we want to go. And we are comfortable and accepting of this as the way to do things. Our social conscience is diminishing.
I don't really think it's any more pervasive than it's ever been. Perhaps even less so than in the past. Any number of atrocities have been committed on a dog-eat-dog basis in "good old days" from recent times all the way back to the distant past. Perhaps the only difference today is that people have more time and leisure to actually contemplate that pervasiveness.
People fought for an 8 hour day, and to have medical benefits for themselves and their family. Now, I see people in their 30's working 50-60 hours a week AND raising a family. Companies exchanging full time jobs for part time jobs so they don't have to pay health insurance. Companies unloading employees who have dedicated 20 years just so they don't have to pay retirement benefits. I see people who would otherwise be descent people getting caught up in just trying to survive so much so that being a descent human being takes a back seat.
I was wondering what other peoples thoughts were on this and/or if there's anyway to combat it. How do you raise your children to be descent people when they're surrounded by kids that are being taught that lying and cheating is just something you have to do to get ahead? How do you stay a descent human being when you're surrounded by people who think screwing you over to get ahead is no big deal? Are we becoming a race where survival of the fittest means screwing each other over to get to the top just so we can support our middle class families and buy that BMW we always wanted? What does being evolved mean? :rant:
I was wondering what other peoples thoughts were on this and/or if there's anyway to combat it. How do you raise your children to be descent people when they're surrounded by kids that are being taught that lying and cheating is just something you have to do to get ahead? How do you stay a descent human being when you're surrounded by people who think screwing you over to get ahead is no big deal? Are we becoming a race where survival of the fittest means screwing each other over to get to the top just so we can support our middle class families and buy that BMW we always wanted? What does being evolved mean? :rant:
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Corporations and "the man" are just screwing over the working class in a different way than they have in the past. Meanwhile the middle class has decided that if you can't beat em, join em. The poor are still living in the street or going to jail for trying to live. I think that there is a relatively less amount of people willing to sacrifice to fix any problems than there were in the past.
Interestingly, schizophrenics (and other mentally disordered) are more likely to recover in collectivist societies than in ours.
If anyone has read Shakespeare's King Lear -- it was Cordelia's unconditional love and support that helped to bring the delusional King Lear back to a state of proper mental health. Much like how schizophrenics are treated in collectivist societies.
If anyone has read Shakespeare's King Lear -- it was Cordelia's unconditional love and support that helped to bring the delusional King Lear back to a state of proper mental health. Much like how schizophrenics are treated in collectivist societies.
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Yes, Machiavellianism seems to be a trend nowadays whether it be social or political. Becoming merciful these days are less useful than being pragmatic. Believing that people are 100% pure and good seemed to me like believing to a tooth fairy.
I think I'm suffering from some sort of economic time travel. Middle class is like the beast of burden. In the past, people living in poverty were considered the beasts of burden. That's not a class judgement just an observation. Something went kinda wrong in our economic evolution. Middle class was something people used to strive for, now it sucks. Work your but off for no job security, no health insurance, and pay a ***** of taxes. Might as well just bend over. It used to be considered honorable to work in the social services, helping people. Sometimes now, as a middle class person, you help people get better health insurance then you can afford yourself.
I know folks that have worked for 50 years, haven't hit medicare eligibility yet, are still considered work eligible because of their age, had a life threatening illness and was given the least amount of medical help a person could get. WHILE, a person eligible for medicare that is paid for by people like the person who worked for 50 years gets the best medical care possible. So some poor schmuck works his but off for 50 years, pays his taxes, which supports our social security and medicare system dies because he couldn't afford medical insurance, while the person that's eligible for medicare gets all the medical attention the nation can provide. I HATE THIS SYSTEM.
I know folks that have worked for 50 years, haven't hit medicare eligibility yet, are still considered work eligible because of their age, had a life threatening illness and was given the least amount of medical help a person could get. WHILE, a person eligible for medicare that is paid for by people like the person who worked for 50 years gets the best medical care possible. So some poor schmuck works his but off for 50 years, pays his taxes, which supports our social security and medicare system dies because he couldn't afford medical insurance, while the person that's eligible for medicare gets all the medical attention the nation can provide. I HATE THIS SYSTEM.
I'll help a man who's down get back up, but I keep to myself too much to consider the community.
At large, though, I do think people are seeing that things will only get more difficult, and that has to be when self-preservation kicks in.
At large, though, I do think people are seeing that things will only get more difficult, and that has to be when self-preservation kicks in.
From observation, that's what the media wants you to think-- and a lot of people, myself may be included, follows that.
Media, because from my experience I only know a lot of these things from the news, the statistics, the narratives. I don't interact with much people to know whether if they are the dog-eat-dog type or not.
Media, because from my experience I only know a lot of these things from the news, the statistics, the narratives. I don't interact with much people to know whether if they are the dog-eat-dog type or not.
"Consider the possibility that your experience within consciousness could simply be a function of your attachment to duality, your attachment to self. In the modern world, a lot of people think that they're honest and they admit that life is simply a nasty, brutish and short Darwinian struggle. ... However you could just as easily view life as an evolution towards higher states of consciousness. Organisms evolve from single cells to multi-cellular, and they integrate their state of consciousness. It's really just a perspective that gives us this view of life as either Darwinian suffering, or an integration of consciousness to a higher level.
There's a proverb about a man who gets to visit heaven and hell. At first he visits hell, and he sees people sitting in front of tables of delicious food, but the people are starving to death because they have sticks tied to their arms and can't bend their elbows to put the food in their mouths. Then the man visits heaven and sees exactly the same scene, the only difference is the people are picking up the food and putting it in the mouths of their neighbors. The only difference between heaven and hell was the sense of duality the people had, the sense of self."
[video=youtube_share;HvugLLEWS-U]http://youtu.be/HvugLLEWS-U[/video]
There's a proverb about a man who gets to visit heaven and hell. At first he visits hell, and he sees people sitting in front of tables of delicious food, but the people are starving to death because they have sticks tied to their arms and can't bend their elbows to put the food in their mouths. Then the man visits heaven and sees exactly the same scene, the only difference is the people are picking up the food and putting it in the mouths of their neighbors. The only difference between heaven and hell was the sense of duality the people had, the sense of self."
[video=youtube_share;HvugLLEWS-U]http://youtu.be/HvugLLEWS-U[/video]
When you work in any of the social or community services it's very difficult to not develop a cynical attitude after you see the countless atrocities people inflict on one another again and again and again. Then on top of that you get to watch how ineffective our system can be in dealing with these social challenges.
I believe in the possibility that our species will evolve to the degree that there will no longer be people who starve to death, children that are beaten, raped and sold, sick people that die a slow death because our healthcare system is bought and sold, etc., etc., etc.. But for now, until we evolve to that degree, there are some serious social injustices that need attention.
My conscience will not allow me to stand by and/or turn a blind eye. Whether or not I believe in an evolved society doesn't mean anything when you find yourself driving a 7 year old to the hospital after they have just been sadistically beaten and raped, or holding the hand of a person who is dying knowing that adequate healthcare could have prevented their suffering.
I should have titled this thread Sadie's vent thread for social injustice. A lot of people don't want to get involved anymore, or go into the social services, or volunteer their time to help their community. It's sad really. I was just wondering why.
I believe in the possibility that our species will evolve to the degree that there will no longer be people who starve to death, children that are beaten, raped and sold, sick people that die a slow death because our healthcare system is bought and sold, etc., etc., etc.. But for now, until we evolve to that degree, there are some serious social injustices that need attention.
My conscience will not allow me to stand by and/or turn a blind eye. Whether or not I believe in an evolved society doesn't mean anything when you find yourself driving a 7 year old to the hospital after they have just been sadistically beaten and raped, or holding the hand of a person who is dying knowing that adequate healthcare could have prevented their suffering.
I should have titled this thread Sadie's vent thread for social injustice. A lot of people don't want to get involved anymore, or go into the social services, or volunteer their time to help their community. It's sad really. I was just wondering why.
I believe the lack of will to help and contribute comes from how our children are being educated in the west (i speak of the west because that's what i know about). Pop culture, mediocre art, brainwashing commercials, cynicism, guns everywhere in the US, unregulated capitalism which leads to psychopathic sociopath people to be billionaires and buy off politicians and police officers... Great changes need to be done. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of heart and will to change. Sadly the system which is being built around us is making us more and more oblivious to what's going on and that is why in my opinion there's a decreasing number in things done morally in governments / governing bodies and big corporations and system. On the other hand, many people are going full power trying to change these things lately. So that's my take about the dog eat dog reality.
An evolved society doesn't just happen because we want it to happen or wish it would happen. We have to work at it. Yeah, people suffer and we learn what doesn't work, and yes, our mistakes lead to a more enlightened society (hopefully), but that doesn't make witnessing the suffering any easier.
To those who truly want to change and who witness the suffering themselves through themselves or through others, it becomes very challenging to fight through the hard and vivid emotions their experiences have left on them, and to continue to generate positive and loving energy, and hope. It's a very strong daily struggle, which is not won by simply changing your mind from the sense of self to the sense of duality as you would change a computer component with another. It takes real fights in both the inner and the outer world and should not be taken lightly. We live in a very special time. A time in which we can either change things big time for the better, but this is also a time in which we can become slaves in a prison made for our minds, for the benefit of sick people running blood thirsty corporations which could not care less if they had to step on a starving child and his dead mother for the sake of getting another piece of land to make another mall or another 'medicine factory' (yes i'ts true; people who sell you medicine also make you sick deliberately with all kinds of harming products. The same corporations sell the drug and the disease both at the same time knowingly).
All in all, reality is ours to shape. however, It doesn't mean we don't have to put our blood and sweat in order to do it right.
The social and community service fields need smart people with integrity. Yeah, you're not going to get rich doing it, and you're going to see more stuff than you ever thought human beings were capable of, but what happened to people helping people for the good of our community and our species as a whole. What happened to doing something just because it feels good rather than how much it pays. I see so many people that are smart, caring, and compassionate who would make incredible teachers, social workers, etc., but they say, I can't make a decent living doing that and I want something better for myself and my family. I just want to say volunteer your time to your community. The benefits have a domino effect for you, your children, your family, our society, and our species as a whole.
well for starters, we don't die of our teeth any more really... we live past 40-50. We don't leave sick babies on the hillside, you talk as though human kind was somehow more kind and benevolent in the past eras... I submit to you that this is not the case. We live in the least barbaric times ever. There's no witch burning or stoning for extramarital sex. If anything it was more dog eat dog in the past than it is now... there was no social security or homeless shelters in the Roman empire. You just DIED. That was it, you died. And survival of the fittest doesn't mean screwing others over... that's not what Darwinism is. We are evolved to go tit for tat. You help me, I help you. With a minority of Cheaters and suckers thrown in for good measure.
You talk as though middle class families are the norm... the truth is that middle class families are a fluke of history. Back when we were all peasants we had to deal with our local noble coming and fucking our wives on our wedding nights. And if we didn't farm they starved our children.
You actually live in the most mild and least violent portion of human history to date.
[MENTION=1451]Billy[/MENTION]. You're right. Things are better. I'm an idealist. I want things to be better and I'm frustrated that they're not. I do what I can and I expect people to do more. I see what's possible and I expect people to see those possibilities too, and then I expect them to want to work for those possibilities, and sometimes I get pissed about it all and need to vent. Yeah, things are better than they were, but they can also be better than they are now. I have very high expectations.