The Next Generation

Ethics, Morality, and Sin

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Justinian
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The Next Generation

Post #1

Post by Justinian »

This next generation coming up is sometimes described as "bad." Why? Is it because it really is evil? Or is the reason why it is called evil because it is simply changing?

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mlcole8907
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Post #2

Post by mlcole8907 »

This next generation coming up is sometimes described as "bad." Why? Is it because it really is evil? Or is the reason why it is called evil because it is simply changing?
I feel, that human nature as a whole, is changing for the worse. People nowadays are so concerned about the "I", that we forget simple human interactions such as empathy. Now, that doesn't mean that I feel that ALL of human nature has gone for the wrong, but I think that most of it has. I hesitate calling it "evil" though. Since the beginning of human culture there have always been bad people that do bad deeds, some very bad deeds. But evil, itself, has different outlooks from different people, so I cannot label the whole world "evil" just because of a few bad apples.

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McCulloch
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Post #3

Post by McCulloch »

mlcole8907 wrote: I feel, that human nature as a whole, is changing for the worse.
Is your feeling on this matter supported by facts?
Steven Pinker wrote: In sixteenth-century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted in a sling on a stage and slowly lowered into a fire. According to historian Norman Davies, "[T]he spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized." Today, such sadism would be unthinkable in most of the world. This change in sensibilities is just one example of perhaps the most important and most underappreciated trend in the human saga: Violence has been in decline over long stretches of history, and today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on earth.
[...]
Conventional history has long shown that, in many ways, we have been getting kinder and gentler. Cruelty as entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, conquest as the mission statement of government, genocide as a means of acquiring real estate, torture and mutilation as routine punishment, the death penalty for misdemeanors and differences of opinion, assassination as the mechanism of political succession, rape as the spoils of war, pogroms as outlets for frustration, homicide as the major form of conflict resolution—all were unexceptionable features of life for most of human history. But, today, they are rare to nonexistent in the West, far less common elsewhere than they used to be, concealed when they do occur, and widely condemned when they are brought to light.
Check out his lecture:
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
First Epistle to the Church of the Thessalonians
The truth will make you free.
Gospel of John

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Goat
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Post #4

Post by Goat »

mlcole8907 wrote:
This next generation coming up is sometimes described as "bad." Why? Is it because it really is evil? Or is the reason why it is called evil because it is simply changing?
I feel, that human nature as a whole, is changing for the worse. People nowadays are so concerned about the "I", that we forget simple human interactions such as empathy. Now, that doesn't mean that I feel that ALL of human nature has gone for the wrong, but I think that most of it has. I hesitate calling it "evil" though. Since the beginning of human culture there have always been bad people that do bad deeds, some very bad deeds. But evil, itself, has different outlooks from different people, so I cannot label the whole world "evil" just because of a few bad apples.
I think that there is that perception. However, if you look at the number of violent crimes in the U.S.. it has been steadily decreasing since the 1980's, percentage wise.

Every generation bitches and moans about things getting worse with the next generation.. however, it's just different, not worse. I heard all about the next generation being 'all about me' since I was a wee lad.. and I bet my parents did too.
“What do you think science is? There is nothing magical about science. It is simply a systematic way for carefully and thoroughly observing nature and using consistent logic to evaluate results. So which part of that exactly do you disagree with? Do you disagree with being thorough? Using careful observation? Being systematic? Or using consistent logic?�

Steven Novella

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Re: The Next Generation

Post #5

Post by kowalskil »

Justinian wrote:This next generation coming up is sometimes described as "bad." Why? Is it because it really is evil? Or is the reason why it is called evil because it is simply changing?
Tendency to think that people used to be better in the past is common. Those who know Russian might remember "DA BYLI LUDI W NASHE WREME ..." from a well known Lermontov's poem.

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia)
.
Ludwik Kowalski, the author of “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality,� at

            http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

This testimony is based on a diary I kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).

David 2.0

hi...

Post #6

Post by David 2.0 »

Some times I worry about the next generation.
:D
They text while eating, while talking, while just hanging out...
I fear they may lose there fingers and become all thumbs?

Plus they watch that Snookie crap?

For the most part there music blows.

Seem to have an infatuation with the video game.

Can't drive without there cell phone.....

and plus, there "stoned" all the time!!!


:D

May you live in interesting times?

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McCulloch
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Re: hi...

Post #7

Post by McCulloch »

David 2.0 wrote: Some times I worry about the next generation.
[...]
I fear they may lose there fingers and become all thumbs?
[...]
For the most part there music blows.
[...]
Can't drive without there cell phone.....
[...]
and plus, there "stoned" all the time!!!
Sometimes I worry about the English language, in the next generation. There is an adverb indicating a place or position. Their is an adjective indicating possession. They're is a contraction of they and are. Their use of the language would have us think that they're all the same word! However, I am less likely to be killed or injured deliberately by another human than at any other time in human history. Perhaps the denigration of our language is a small price to pay.
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
First Epistle to the Church of the Thessalonians
The truth will make you free.
Gospel of John

David 2.0

Re: hi...

Post #8

Post by David 2.0 »

McCulloch wrote:
David 2.0 wrote: Some times I worry about the next generation.
[...]
I fear they may lose there fingers and become all thumbs?
[...]
For the most part there music blows.
[...]
Can't drive without there cell phone.....
[...]
and plus, there "stoned" all the time!!!
Sometimes I worry about the English language, in the next generation. There is an adverb indicating a place or position. Their is an adjective indicating possession. They're is a contraction of they and are. Their use of the language would have us think that they're all the same word! However, I am less likely to be killed or injured deliberately by another human than at any other time in human history. Perhaps the denigration of our language is a small price to pay.
Some times my lack of education shows!!!
Thanks for pointing that out.

I wish my childhood involved school and the possibility for college but life had other plans for me.
Basically survival.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. GED, no real education, I'm working on it.

I am planning on going back to school when I move to California here in a couple weeks.

Your criticism is valid.
I won't shoot you either.
:D

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Post #9

Post by ThatGirlAgain »

Goat wrote:
... if you look at the number of violent crimes in the U.S.. it has been steadily decreasing since the 1980's, percentage wise.
Actually it peaked in the early 1990s and has substantially declined since then.

Image

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States
Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance.
- Bertrand Russell

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Goat
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Post #10

Post by Goat »

ThatGirlAgain wrote:
Goat wrote:
... if you look at the number of violent crimes in the U.S.. it has been steadily decreasing since the 1980's, percentage wise.
Actually it peaked in the early 1990s and has substantially declined since then.

Image

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States
Hum, it looks like it peaked in 1992, right as Clinton became president.
“What do you think science is? There is nothing magical about science. It is simply a systematic way for carefully and thoroughly observing nature and using consistent logic to evaluate results. So which part of that exactly do you disagree with? Do you disagree with being thorough? Using careful observation? Being systematic? Or using consistent logic?�

Steven Novella

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