Are things (Australia/society/the world) getting better or worse?

[CLUBMEDhurst]

As many of you know, I have a lot of theories. They generally seem original to me but it is fair to assume that most of them have been thought of before. This one is likely no exception.

I reckon there is an almost innate belief/desire within modern humans that the world as they know it must, when they themselves die, either be worse than when they found it, or cease to exist at all.

That is why despite almost insurmountable evidence that things are better now than they were in generations past, every generation seems to think the next generation is going to wreck the place, war/famine/disease is around the corner, society is breaking down, etc etc etc.

And, despite history showing us that each generation before us to believe this has been proven wrong, each generation continues to believe it anyhow.

Religion takes full advantage of this innate sense of impending doom, with those that teach 'armageddon' the most obvious examples. Mass media also takes advantage, as does the mass political machine, with both stirring these beliefs/fears on a constant basis. This belief that things are getting 'worse' and that we are slowly creeping towards doom make the masses more easily manipulated by fear, and more apathetic about the political sphere - both of these things are good for the MSM and Mass Parties.

I believe that the odds are that the world will be a better place in fifty years time. For one thing, technology will make education easier to distribute to the poor, and education is the key to everything. There will be bumps, for sure: In the 'world' sense, tensions between the US and China will only rise, and declining cheap oil will have serious effects; In Australia, a widening gap between rich and poor in absolute terms will eat away at our relatively egalitarian ideals; socially, the consequences of the breakdown in the family unit will continue to permeate throughout society. And so on.

However, these will be more than offset by the advances made elsewhere.

As always, whether or not people are 'happy' with the world they find themselves in will have much more to do with the individual than the society: perpetual victims and hypochondriacs will be miserable no matter what time they are born in, eternal optimists the opposite. Today, just like yesterday and tomorrow, the wealthiest people can suffer from depression while the poorest and dumbest people can be happy seven days per week.

The world is not getting worse and if you truly believe that it is, I feel sorry for you. May the cosmos have mercy on your soul.

FD

Would love to agree with ya FD, but we're doomed. You may as well take that half full glass o' yours and drown yourself. Behold:


Hulk Hogan Sues Bubba the Love Sponge and Heather Clem Over Sex Tape Release

he first lawsuit is against Heather Clem aka Heather Cole and her ex-husband, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem aka Todd Alan Clem, alleging claims of invasion of privacy, public disclosure of private facts, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of the Florida statute prohibiting the taping of another person without their knowledge

http://au.eonline.com/news/354190/h...m_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Unfortunately you can still see some of it on youtube (trust me, you'll need to have a bucket handy).

 

[neroblack]

I didn't say i wasn't excited about advancements in technology. They're exciting but FD makes out that advances in technology will educate the 3rd world. I think that that is optimistic to the point of ridiculous when the dominant drive is to make a profit from technology.

You've touched on a good point here. There will be a time in the not too distant future when car companies (for example) will need to put as much effort into using alternative energy sources and different ways of doing things in order to make money, that we will start seeing some real advancements. I think that'll be the driver behind it.

... and the corporations sit there in their... in their corporation buildings, and... and, and see, they're all corporation-y... and they make money.

 

[JockStewart]

The ego is the sole thing that is destroying the world. Everything we do, well most of it, is driven by our ego. We don't like what so and so said and we get offended? That's our ego. We aim to be better than the joneses for no other reason but to make ourselves feel better? Thats our ego. Arguing on the internet until your emotionally spent and walk away with nothing..thats our ego. Trolling on a website for the sake of being a complete and utter nasty piece of shit? Ego!

EGO EGO EGO EGO!

Simplistic and captain obvious i know, but it's the thing that separates us from apathy and empathy and the thing that will eventually be the end of human civilisation.

**** technology tbh.

I'm out.

 

[Papa Juggs]

If money is power then China is the banker in your analogy, and the US already has half the board mortgaged.

Time for a better response now I'm awake.

The western world pays for China to live. They do it by slave labour (in comparison to us) which means we're forced to compete against such slaves.

I don't care if the word slave is harsh, people need to wake up to what is going on in their own economy, we're being outsourced by slaves.

All they've ended up with is industrial capability.

The western world could set that stuff up again itself. This is because we've invested heavily in education and have millions of intelligent people sitting around not doing much. Free trade isn't going to allow that to happen though because every corp. on this planet is going to outsource to China for the slave labour.

China slaves because they don't control the money. Those that control the money get fat and drive big cars.

Either China gets blocked (trade sanctions), they raise their wages or there's a world war.

I don't see other options here. China doesn't win in any of those scenarios. They just don't have the technology.

Population doesn't = power. Big tech does.

 

[fairdinkum]

Would love to agree with ya FD, but we're doomed. You may as well take that half full glass o' yours and drown yourself. Behold:

Hulk Hogan Sues Bubba the Love Sponge and Heather Clem Over Sex Tape Release

Is this a joke post?

Normally I would assume that it is but given the number of hysterical doomsayers in this thread, it wouldn't surprise me if some people saw that headline as 'evidence' or 'proof' that things are 'getting worse'.

 

[neroblack]

The ego is the sole thing that is destroying the world. Everything we do, well most of it, is driven by our ego. We don't like what so and so said and we get offended? That's our ego. We aim to be better than the joneses for no other reason but to make ourselves feel better? Thats our ego. Arguing on the internet until your emotionally spent and walk away with nothing..thats our ego. Trolling on a website for the sake of being a complete and utter nasty piece of shit? Ego!

EGO EGO EGO EGO!

Simplistic and captain obvious i know, but it's the thing that separates us from apathy and empathy and the thing that will eventually be the end of human civilisation.

**** technology tbh.

I'm out.

Don't you believe what you've seen or you've heard.

 

[nicky]

Is this a joke post?

Normally I would assume that it is but given the number of hysterical doomsayers in this thread, it wouldn't surprise me if some people saw that headline as 'evidence' or 'proof' that things are 'getting worse'.

You're an inspiration the way you remain positive and upbeat amongst the negative nancies.

 

[Caesar]

All they've ended up with is industrial capability.

And ownership of most of the US national debt.

 

[checkraiseulite]

If <10% qualifies as most.

 

[Caesar]

IIRC China owns more than a quarter of US foreign debt and growing.

 

[checkraiseulite]

Japan and China are the biggest holders of US Foreign debt, with about $1.2tn each. US debt is ~$16tn. China has actually been decreasing its US debt holdings in the last 6 or so months whilst Japan has been increasing its holdings.

 

[chargers 09]

Japan and China are the biggest holders of US Foreign debt, with about $1.2tn each. US debt is ~$16tn. China has actually been decreasing its US debt holdings in the last 6 or so months whilst Japan has been increasing its holdings.

Is that right. Any links to have a read of?

 

[checkraiseulite]

It is. Most of the debt is held by interests inside the US. China and Japan hold about $1.2tn each and are the largest foreign holders of US treasury bonds, but only account for about 8% of the total each. Lots of false information being peddled by various parties with vested interests (which is being lapped up the average person who thinks they know everything).

which makes it quite ironic that my first source is foxnews (as it's probably in foxnews' interests to have the general american citizen believe Obama is racking up Chinese owned debt).

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/04/who-do-owe-most-that-16-trillion-to-hint-it-isnt-china/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jul/15/us-debt-how-big-who-owns

 

[FlyingBurittoBro]

Time for a better response now I'm awake.

The western world pays for China to live. They do it by slave labour (in comparison to us) which means we're forced to compete against such slaves.

I don't care if the word slave is harsh, people need to wake up to what is going on in their own economy, we're being outsourced by slaves.

All they've ended up with is industrial capability.

The western world could set that stuff up again itself. This is because we've invested heavily in education and have millions of intelligent people sitting around not doing much. Free trade isn't going to allow that to happen though because every corp. on this planet is going to outsource to China for the slave labour.

China slaves because they don't control the money. Those that control the money get fat and drive big cars.

Either China gets blocked (trade sanctions), they raise their wages or there's a world war.

I don't see other options here. China doesn't win in any of those scenarios. They just don't have the technology.

Population doesn't = power. Big tech does.

Couldn't agree more about the slave bit. A slave is someone you feed and give a roof who can't afford to do anything else but work and eat. We are the slave drivers whipping the backs of millions and complaining about the price of iPhones.

 

[Papa Juggs]

If people want to slave to steal money from richer countries it will end in war or sanctions.

This means child labour, lack of unions, extremely low wages for skilled work such as stitching and welding.

Seen the new Aussie made ad?

It's absolutely delusional.

What the cartoon should show is the guy on the left with "Made in China" on his boxes selling out while the dude with the kangaroo logo can't compete on price. That's the real world.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

I believe that the odds are that the world will be a better place in fifty years time. For one thing, technology will make education easier to distribute to the poor, and education is the key to everything. There will be bumps, for sure: In the 'world' sense, tensions between the US and China will only rise, and declining cheap oil will have serious effects; In Australia, a widening gap between rich and poor in absolute terms will eat away at our relatively egalitarian ideals; socially, the consequences of the breakdown in the family unit will continue to permeate throughout society. And so on.

However, these will be more than offset by the advances made elsewhere.

Fair to say that my views on this have changed markedly over the past eighteen months.

I still maintain that most people who see doom on the horizon do so only out of an innate misunderstanding of their own 'mortality' and therefore try to explain their apparently inevitable cessation of consciousness with a fantasy about the apparently inevitable cessation of society/earth/universe. Ergo, they share what I now believe to be correct beliefs but for very misguided, uninformed reasons.

Now, having done my own detailed research on the structure of our society and its institutions, it seems clear to me that we are in the final days of what will be looked back upon as a golden age - especially in this country. We may have ten more years left of this, we may have a matter of weeks, but it is obvious to me that anybody currently reading this in their fifies or younger ought to begin to appreciate what they have right now because at some point during our lifetimes, things are going to change dramatically. And for the worse.

You can see a summary of what I have learned in the first few posts of this thread. Be warned that it doesn't paint a pretty picture, and only gets worse the more you read. Furthermore it is all backed by reputable sources so unless your powers of self-delusion are well above-average, you won't be able to simply pretend that none of it is true and bury your head back in the sand.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Something that disappoints me about the internet is it's really fantastic with endless good sites but most people just go to shit old news media online i.e. Herald Sun or shit 'new' news i.e. BuzzFeed, Huffington Post. They're total shit and you don't learn anything.

Life if more than learning of course but why even bother telling yourself it's news.

I wish to stress this post shouldn't be taken as an endorsement of nutjob websites propagating 9/11 conspiracy theories and other ******ed ideas.

 

[nicky]

Smiling budha, i just took a glimpse of that thread and i must say that it looks like content from conspiracy theory sites complete with melodrama.

Also, I don't see what the point is in telling people they should be appreciative of this golden age and in the next breath tell them "the golden age" is very likely to end shortly due to world war 3 and other equally depressing 'golden age ending events'.

Conclusion: you have a personal agenda to manipulate emotions and i'm not sure why.

 

[The Passenger]

a good mate of mine went pretty much into "the world is doomed" phase about 4 years ago.

after about 2 years when not a whole lot happened he mellowed out a good bit.

he still has a good healthy dose of cynicism; one which i share and think is essential for anyone. but the seemingly endless rants about how shit is really about to hit the fan and how a lot of people are gonna have to die to push through to the other side have gone.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Smiling budha, i just took a glimpse of that thread and i must say that it looks like content from conspiracy theory sites complete with melodrama.

Conspiracy theory sites?

So I take it then you didn't click on any of the more than 100 hyperlinks provided? I was careful to include information from only reputable/verifiable sources, the vast majority of them mainstream news sources no less. For instance, in the section devoted to Australia's financial/economic position (Part Four), I provide about fifty links, of which the most common sources are the Australian Financial Review (cited 9 times), Sydney Morning Herald (9), The Australian (6), followed by primary documents/evidence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (3) and the US Federal Reserve (3). That is more than half of the links just between those six sources, and the majority of the rest are from the ABC, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg etc etc.

If you can find any fault with any of the sources provided, or any of the information given, or any flaws in the logic underpinning the piece, I would be more than happy to take it on board and, if necessary, amend the piece. But for you to simply sit there and reject what has been put together simply because you don't like the picture it paints is not only to be willfully ignorant, it is to be downright childish.

 

[nicky]

I'm not accusing you of trawling conspiracy theory sites. I know that you're much better than that. My point was that the headings were hyperbolic and i wonder what the point is of telling us that we failed to acknowledge this golden age and then say 'look out because it's about to end in catastrophe'...

It's fairly obvious that you have an agenda to evoke negative emotions in posters who read it.

Why?

 

[Smiling Buddha]

I'm not accusing you of trawling conspiracy theory sites. I know that you're much better than that. My point was that the headings were hyperbolic and i wonder what the point is of telling us that we failed to acknowledge this golden age and then say 'look out because it's about to end in catastrophe'...

Do you know what hyperbole is?

If you read the content in its entirety, check the sources, do your own cross-referencing on the information provided (what I would term 'independent research') then you will see that there is NOTHING hyperbolic about the headlines or the content.

It might seem that way at first because it is so different from what you have been told by the mainstream media, however what you need to understand is that the MSM is not here to inform you. It might also seem 'hyperbolic' at first because it is so different from what your friends and family believe, however you need to appreciate that the vast majority of people in this country get their 'information' from the MSM. It is a positive feedback loop, and a dangerous one at that.

The fascinating part is that if you look through many different MSM sources, a lot of the important information is given in drips and drabs, but it is usually under-reported and given little page-space or airtime compared to trivial matters. What one needs to do is to connect all of the dots for themselves.

It's fairly obvious that you have an agenda to evoke negative emotions in posters who read it.

Again I respectfully disagree. There was almost no colour in my writing in that piece, I avoided employing rhetorical devices to make my point and did my best to simply rely on the cold-hard facts to do the job of convincing people. And I might add that that was a difficult task given the nature of the piece I was writing.

If you found any of that work to 'evoke negative emotions', perhaps this is a reflection of your mind beginning to understand the gravity of the situation. The good news is that once (if) you begin to inform yourself on these matters, you will likely turn that fear into optimism. Anecdotally, this is what I have seen in others. Information is power, and everything you need to increase your own power is available at your fingertips, should you choose to seek it out.

Or you could go back to watching My Kitchen Rules, posting facebook status updates, and playing farmville.

 

[nicky]

I didn't read the content i was referring to the headings of each article.

I don't watch TV so you're off the mark trying to put me in the "mindless reality TV watching" category just because i question your motives.

My suspicions are valid.

 

[clogged]

I didn't read the content i was referring to the headings of each article.

I don't watch TV so you're off the mark trying to put me in the "mindless reality TV watching" category just because i question your motives.

My suspicions are valid.

I knew a bloke who was once such an anti-vegetarian he used to eat two steaks when ever he went out to dinner with his vegetarian girlfriend to wind her up.

A few years later he became a staunch vegan.

Some people just latch onto a belief with intense fervour and then almost immediately switch when some sort of trigger lets them "see the light". See anti-gay crusaders who turn out to be gay or atheists who become devout born-again Christians.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

clogged Am I to infer that you are implying that I am in any way like your vegan 'mate'?

If so, I would wonder why you would resort to an ad hominem attack on me rather than addressing the arguments I have presented.

I suspect it might be related to what Don Marquis once said:

'If you make people think they are thinking, they will love you; but if you really make them think, they will hate you.'

And who wants to think about the fact that our own Big Four banks had to borrow $5 BILLION from the US Federal Reserve in 2008 following the Lehman Brothers collapse? Or that at the same time our Reserve Bank had to print $10 BILLION worth of notes to cover a silent run on our banks? Who wants to think about the fact that our RBA has already preapproved our Big Four for a $380 BILLION bailout? Who wants to think about the fact that our economy has only grown about 1% per annum since the GFC began?

Much easier to denounce anybody who points out these elephants in the room and then get back to Australia's Got Talent and commenting on friends' selfies on facebook.