When did western civilization jump the shark?

[RPM]

I'm going to have to say at the widespread adoption of the use of coal as a fuel - all downhill from there with the fossel-fuel addiction and all....

[Canuckistanian]

1. Right after the invention of TV dinners

But before the designated hitter rule.

[RPM]

2. as much as i hate the DH

i think that's nit-picking in the larger scheme of things....

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

3. Western civilization is still strong, you've got a point about

being too hooked on fossil fuels. I still say the greatwst threat to the West is the threat of terror, and those would either exploit the threat to ruin us from within, or do nothing at all, as if all the world was for peace.

Oh, crap. This is the Lounge. Didn't mean to get that political.

[RPM]

4. sorry - wasn't sure where to put it...

at this hour you could get any kind of response from the comical to the sublime....

[RPM]

5. kick

thoughts anyone?

[XNASA]

6. Television Advertising

We could probably done a good job of regulating our dependence on fossil fuels if it wasn't for that damn idiot box.

[noonwitch]

7. The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan

The beginning of facism on this side of the pond.

[peekaloo]

9. agree.

[AngryAmish]

8. NKOTB

New Kids on the Block

[RPM]

13. yeah - boy band have been bad news in general, n/t

[Squeech]

10. Wait a minute

When was there a time that it *didn't*?

We're talking a culture that (1) systematically conquered and enslaved whoever else it could (2) embraced a god that's all about pain and suffering, and forced that god on everyone treated under point #1 (3) thinks wealth is more important than health, integrity, ecology or wisdom...

They asked Mahatma Gandhi his opinion of Western civilization. He replied, "I think it would be a good idea!"

[RPM]

12. try to nail it down...

I would take it from your post that it would likely be sometime around when Rome adopted christianity.

[Squeech]

15. No, even before

I was brought up to believe in "progress," as it was expressed in such phenomena as civilization advancing from stone to bronze to iron to steam to silicon. Then I find out that the transition from bronze to iron in particular wasn't because some clever inventor figured out all on his own how to smelt iron so it'd hold an edge. Turns out Europe needed iron because a trade war in 1000 BC or so kept supplies of tin bottled up in the British Isles, so we couldn't make bronze! That's what really drives progress :cry:

The Chinese had gunpowder a millenium before we did, and only used it for fireworks.

The church is a symptom at least as much as a cause. Constantine won under the sign of the cross, but his true devotion can be judged in that didn't actually convert until his deathbed. And, once in power, the church got corrupted. A lot of people felt that Jesus's message wasn't getting through correctly: Mohammed, Bahaullah, Joseph Smith, Mother Ann (?) of the Shakers, etc.

We've actually had experiences of great strides being made. I would point to the golden age of Athens, Andalusia under the Moors, the Enlightenment (I think the Renaissance had problems), the Mauve Decade (despite the humongous problems of colonialism, life was good at home), and the Sixties. But the norm seems to be oppression and misery.

Maybe I'm just cranky because I'm home sick today. Ask me again tomorrow.

[DelawareValleyDem]

11. Day One

"I think it would be a good idea" - Gahndi when asked about Western Civilization.


Actually, I wouldn't go that far. I would pick the Kennedy Assassination.

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. How about with the Industrial Revolution?

Sure, it led to all sorts of wonderful technological advances. But, on the other hand, it led to all sorts of wonderful technological advances (like machine guns, poison gas, nuclear weapons, the arms race, consumer society...)

[johnnie]

16. The remote control n/t

[Karenina]

17. As far as American "civilization" goes

First would be the "clerical error" codifying corporations' "personhood" and second, transplanting those "cuttings" :eyes: smuggled :eyes: from NAZI GERMANY and carefully tending their growth in CIA pots.

[RPM]

18. corporate personhood is a strong contender

certainly a lock for when American Law jumped the shark