Is anyone else frustrated about how shallow people are today

[Help_I_Live_In_Idaho]

Yeah, I'm an old fart - 54. It seems to me that when I post anything of substance, I get a very small number of responses. Yet when I post something stupid that offends some bloke's narcissism, all hell breaks loose and I get 500 short one liners back.

So, it seems that the thing to do is forget about the big issues like labor, discrimination, economics, social welfare and being an "evil secular humanist" and instead write about plastic surgery, "bitches and whores" "male chauvinist pigs" pictures of "cute panda bears."

I think I'm just going to get a lobotomy and stand in front of Brittney Spears house and take pictures of her boobs. At least I would fit with the culture and have lots of friends with Nike Air shoes and Beasty Boys T shirts.

[old mark]

1. Help:

I went back to college in my late 40's ( I'm now 60)and I was amazed at the lack of knowledge displayed by not only the students, but my professors.
My department head and advisor did not know the beginning and ending dates of WWI, or the Civil War, and could not accurately recall occurences from before the 1980's.
The kids were just oblivious to anything that did not directly and immediately affect them (but they were teenagers, so I guess that defines the problem)No decent conversations there at all.
I recently worked with a large group of professionals in a hospital setting and had maybe 10 meaningful conversations there in the last 7 years.

The world has gone to hell-just wait another ten years, these people will seem sensitive and intelligent.

Hard to exchange ideas when there are none to exchange.

mark

[Help_I_Live_In_Idaho]

2. We live in the same intellectual wasteland

I also went back to school later in life. I was a blue collar worker before that but kept up in political and cultural events despite being a rural type all my life.

Now, formally and self educated I can think and duologue quite well, but what seems to be missing in the general population is genuine concern for the larger issues that extend beyond the basic needs of self.

People love to put bumper stickers on their cars and tout their political views, yet the reason seems to be to reflect position and power back on themselves rather than to change anything.

Seems that we need a group of folks willing to stir things up at a personal cost rather than to bask in the self aggrandizement.

Thank you for your contribution - seems there is at least one fine being out there.

[MzNov]

5. that's wonderful you went back to school.

was it for personal satisfaction, or your career?

Finishing college has always been my dream, but I still haven't done it. And don't think now that I ever will.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. Oh, go do it -

I mean, those birthdays are going to come and go, regardless of what you're doing.

So why not go to school? Hell, at our age, it'll be fun and not work.

And dreams are best when you make them come true.

Go. Do it. PM me and tell me about how much fun you're having.................

:toast:

[CBHagman]

10. Now there's a philosophy I can live with!

I mean, those birthdays are going to come and go, regardless of what you're doing.

YES! That's exactly it. We are so busy talking ourselves out of everything and seeing things in narrow terms that we miss a great many opportunities, or at least make ourselves miserable.

I'm tempted to use your quote as a sig line...

[clear eye]

3. Yeah. I'm with you.

I posted the link for the final draft of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform, and got 10, count'em, ten takers, so I looked to see what threads were on fire, and they were all the kind of stuff you were describing. It was downright disheartening.

[Irishonly]

4. I am 55 and I get sad

My daughter's friends come here for advice a lot. One came last fall and was terrified about telling her dad she was pregnant because she was afraid she would get beaten. I told her to come here but she was too afraid and no one where she got the abortion warned her of the bleeding. The dad is a Generation Xer. Another male friend of my daughter is a rah rah McCain until I finally asked him when he was going to enlist. He was horrified at my suggestion. The war should be fought by anyone but middle class. I sat him down and had him read draft proposals and told him McCain has no objection to the draft.

They have no empathy. A homeless person deserves it and should have planned better. The word "whore, bitch, retard" are used with no thought. Some of their religious beliefs are so off the wall and then I find out their church is listening to Dobson. I have a couple signed up to do a hunger walk to help supply food banks in October. They have no freakin clue. I tell them to take an ancient history class before they start spouting like fools on gay rights. We can only educate them one at a time. Some parents are thrilled with me but at least they kids are questioning. The big shocker was that pro choice doesn't mean recruiting for abortions, it means letting woman make the most difficult decision of their lives, protecting women and practicing contraception.

[CBHagman]

7. "They have no empathy."

Yes, that's the most dangerous trait. A lack of empathy is associated with both narcissists and sociopaths. The former we have in abundance in American society, at least, and I'd almost rather not think about the latter...

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. There are more sociopaths than you'd really want know about

.
.
.

I got involved with one 5 years ago - couldn't understand all the consistent lying, stealing and so on

Only figured it out a little over a year ago after reading a few articles on http://lovefraud.com/

It all came together with an awful shock

They are incurable

and MEAN!

[Louisiana1976]

6. What frustrates me is the short attention span people have when it comes to major events.

They may be aware for a day or two--then move on to American Idol or whatever else strikes their fancy.

[CBHagman]

11. Agreed, and I'd also mention...

...a real need for a sense of history, for context, for understanding what came before. I see this a lot in the media -- critics and/or Style section writers who don't do their homework and/or don't get what they're writing about but give their opinions anyway, etc.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. No shit, yeah.

Worse part is a lot of them are our age. When I was 17, I recognized a certain subset of "our generation" was vapid and didn't care about anything or anyone but themselves and wrote them off. But it's like trying to find an oasis in the desert to find people who read, who think, with substance these days (present company notably excepted).

[DavidDvorkin]

13. I remember my parents complaining about the same thing

Fifty years ago.