What do you see as the biggest threat to American society?

[Modem Butterfly]

I believe religious fanaticism is the biggest threat American society currently faces, but other threats, such as blind patriotism and good old fashioned corporate greed are certainly pressing. What do you see as our biggest threat currently?

[mattclearing]

1. The "I Believe" Thread was one of them. n/t

:D

[ET Awful]

2. The Bush/Cheney Neo-Con Death Cult n/t

[Siyahamba]

3. Oh, _threat_

In that case, I'll have to say the religious right, claiming to speak for all Christians when that is definitely not the case.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. Oh, that old yarn??

[jus_the_facts]

5. the ENVIRONMENT.....

....all other problems pale in comparison. :nopity:

[indepat]

6. Handi-work of neocons

[SW FL Dem]

7. I've been saying the religios "right" is the greatest threat

for 20 years now, and unfortunately, I have been proven right.

[FormerDittoHead]

8. Dissolution of our rights

From habius corpus (sp?) to the right to sue, these "communist" ideas are what protects us from all the other excesses.

There are a lot of OTHER problems, but when these and other basic rights are taken away... I don't know how long it will take, but eventually we will start to see the oppression come down to the 'neighborhood' level...

[txaslftist]

9. The corporo-military-industrial-moneychanging-complex

[tabasco]

27. Agreed. Eisenhower warned us.

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[txaslftist]

30. He sure did. But try saying that without getting a tin hat put on ...

... your post.

[SmokingJacket]

10. Corporate power, more specifically than corporate greed.

Corporations have always been greedy, but they've rarely been had an administration who seems to recognize them as the only true Americans, and who will bend over backwards to do anything for them.

Religious fanaticism alone isn't very powerful or dangerous; it's only truly dangerous when it's tied to a government or other powerful entity, like a corporation or army. So, the lack of separation between church and state coupled with the fanaticism is what's really scary.

And the undermining of the vote. Voting machine corporations now effectively own the vote, since they have proprietary software and have political biases.

[Stop_the_War]

11. Bush is the biggest threat to Americans...n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Apathy.

With an ignorance back.

[WilliamPitt]

13. The news media

[MsTryska]

26. agreed. News Media for me too.

whores.

[Karenina]

14. Denial.

"America" is NOT the "good guy."

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

15. Repudiation of intellectualism

By this, I don't mean that everyone should go to college, because I've met just as many mindless drones there. By this, I mean that most people are happy to know about the latest Hollywood scandal rather than read a wide variety of newspapers, listening to different or even radical thought, making their own informed decisions, being able to hold intellectual conversations without quoting from Rush Limbaugh or FOX or even democratic pundits (if they even exist).

The thing that strikes me most about Bush and the electorate is how many of them say the like him because he's a "regular" person like them (yeah, right): doesn't read newspapers, has little interest for complex issues, etc.

[woodsprite]

16. The Family n/t

[sarcasmo]

17. Ralph Reed, he will be way worse than Chimpy as President.

This Ralph Reed guy is much more scarier than Dobson, Fallwell, Buchanan all put together. Do a Googgle search on him and be afraid, be very afraid.

[Modem Butterfly]

21. I think he's probably too extreme to even by elected in Georgia

I think ol' Ralph is probably too much for the voters of Georgia, who prefer their elected officials to at least have the semblance of sanity.

[bowens43]

18. I feel the threats are in exactly the order you listed.

1. Fundamentalism
2. Nationalism
3. Cooperate Greed

Plus:

4. Apathy
5. Ignorance

[AG78]

19. Merging of corporate and state power

I see everything else flowing from that marriage. That's the starting point at the top of the pyramid.

[elfin]

20. Destruction of the middle class

... but hard to choose - but many other evils can spring from this fact. When masses of people feel insecure, they are more prone to movements that blame and hate others for their predicament and easier prey for religious/racial fanatics. Their jingoistic hate keeps them warm when they can't afford to pay the gas bill.

[Modem Butterfly]

22. I think that's the ultimate goal

These people probably look at Brazil's economic model and think that it's a pretty good deal for the folks at the top.

[Cats Against Frist]

23. I'm With You -- GOP Cult of Mammon & The Fake Jesus

I know that covers a lot -- but the biggest threat is the historical unraveling that comes with fascism -- the rootlessness. They think they're doing it in the name of transporting us all back to some "magical" past, but, in effect, they are destroying the bonds of society that have sustained the Western World for the last few hundred years.

What is the most threatening, to me, is the idea of the patriarchal, god-ordained "order," which was used to justify imperialism, slavery, feudalism, church rule, murder, oppression, crusade -- and made life miserable for millions of people.

You can rationalize anything when YOU hold the key to some kind of divine interpretation, and insist that you are ALWAYS absolutely right. These people aren't even really dealing in absolutes, and their philosophy is so ridden with exception and subjectivity, that they're no different than anyone else. Good torture v. bad torture. The unborn or sacred but live children should starve. Thou shalt not kill a person with a living will who asks to be unplugged, but you may kill retarded people who hurt someone when they were 12-years-old.

Their shit is rootless, and their moral compasses are broken. All we have is reason. Superstition, which is religion, LACKS reason. Blind following lacks reason. Rootlessness lacks reason.

[flvegan]

24. Cartoon characters turning our children gay, most definitely.

Damn that Spongebob, anyway.

Oops, sorry. Had the sarcasm button in the on position again.

[spanone]

25. The Administration of george bush*

[GumboYaYa]

28. I see a few that are all related:

Obviously the subjugation of Science to religion and politics is giant. When the scientific method is ignored to obtain results that are poltically or religiously motivated, society is in big trouble. Creationism v. evolution, the denial of global warming and my favorite the so-clled traffic sciences are all examples of the denigration of the scientific method.

Also, the destruction of family and community is destroying America. We get in our comfy cars and drive from our suburban homes to an office where we work with people just like us. After work we hop back in the car and drive back to our suburban homes where we watch fake families on TV instead of interacting with real people. We go to chain stores and restaurants where we are served by faceless nameless people who will be replaced with different faceless nameless people within six months. We have lost the connections to others that give us empathy, understanding and compassion for the people around us.

The tax revenue of the country is largely taken by the federal government who squanders it on national follies. The money would be much better used on a local level improving the lives of real people. Instead we have created a tax system tha takes from the poorest and weakest to give to the richest and strongest. It's totally ass backwards.

Education has become more about getting the credentials for a job than actually learning to think critically and use analytical skills. As a result people blindly accept information that is fed to them so long as it does not cause them to have to question the system that gives them the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. We are losing the ability to think. That may be the most serious threat we face.

[Squatch]

29. Domokens...they're evil bastards