Is This World Going Completely Asunder?

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   gmwilliamsposted 13 years ago

   Today, I was listening to the Tempations' song BALL OF CONFUSION.   This was a 1970s song and the words were true then and even more so today.   This is the beginning of the 21st century.  While there were advancements in some aspects such as communications, science, health care, and technology,  we have regressed in many things such as interfacing with each other.   The world's socioeconomic crisis is very acute with its high unemployment and the uncertainty of the current economic market.   There is a growing chasm between the wealthy and the poor.   The middle class is ever shrinking-it is now called the struggling and on-edge class.    Our school system is worsening, especially in America, with children graduating from high schools with minimal skills for college and the work world.    There is gang warfare in our inner cities.   This world is going through quite a cataclysmic phase-hopefully it will get better!  What do you think?

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      Mighty Momposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Ball of Confusion is the perfect theme song for these uncertain times!
      The specific issues have evolved (or devolved) but the net effect is we are still in chaos.
      Class warfare has overtaken racism as the great divider.
      Will America get her schools back up to snuff?
      Will we get jobs back here that can rekindle a middle class?
      I agree one of the best but worst inventions has been the technology. Call me a luddite (many here have!) but I don't think the proliferation of information on the Internet is all that useful, much of it. I don't think access to that information helps us or our children think for ourselves.
      I could go on and on but would end up only sounding like a whiner.
      Or even a New World Order conspiracy theorist (like my 19-year-old son).
      
      I do keep hearing from many different "sides" that the world is in a cataclysmic cycle of change. Change is hard but usually ends up with something good on the other side. We can only hope (not an intentional reference to Obama, people. Chillax).
      Thanks for posting this. I hope you get a lot of response!
      MM

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      1. 84

         gmwilliamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, Mighty Mom, class warfare is rife now.  This class division reminds one of France in the late 1700s under Marie Antoinette.    I read a book a decade stating that this society will be so computerized that those who have little or no computer skills will find it extremely difficult to find jobs thus they will be part of the growing underclass.  Alvin Toffler, the prominent sociologist and author, has stated this fact in many of his books.
         
         Society now is going at a frenzied pace in terms of technological advances; however, our "illustrous" educational system is doing little to prepare our children for the world of technology in terms of math and science preparedness.  Our children are graduating high school with little or no college preparedness.   This is totally abysmal.  Many of the teachers are totally unsatisfactory; however, it is difficult to terminate them because of the strong teacher unions.  One almost have to go through a maze to terminate these incapable teachers. 
         
         Because of job elimination and outsourcing, high paying jobs are diminishing.  Of course, there is an influx of service jobs; however they barely above the minimum to live.  The job crisis is hellish to say the least.  However, I must say that the high paying jobs are mostly in information technology, computers, engineering, math, medicine, and science.  Our children must have a high math preparedness if they want these jobs.    While our economy is becoming more sporadic, the economies of China, Japan, and burgeoning nations of Asia are becoming stronger.   
            
         Genocidal acts are being committed such as the mass killings of Blacks in Sudan and in Libya.  Since Quaddafi was assassinated, it is believed by the Libyan authorities that the Black population there sided with Quaddafi so when he was assassinated, Libyan rebels went into the towns with the intention of eliminating the Black population either by killing them and/or putting them in concentration camps.  There are unknown genocidal acts committed against minority ethnic groups constantly.
         
         If it is not one war, it is another war.  This is totally insanity.   Thank God, our troops are leaving Iraq.  Now, Iraq is starting to become unhinged.   Afghanistan has its problems and Iran is becoming more of a warmongering nation under a maniacal dictator.  This has got to stop.
         
         The middle class is now the struggling class and the on edge class.  They are one step above the lower class.  Working people are two to three paychecks away from homelessness.   There is no anchor at all.   Job security?   Really?  That disappeared years ago.   Employees, especially in at will states, are often in exploitative and precarious situations.   They can be fired for any reason whatsoever unless it is discriminatory.  The work situation remains one of Dickensian England.   
         
         Politicians, both Democrat and Republican, believe that they are above everyone else.   They are really unconcerned about their constituents but only their bottom line.    They curry the favor of the corporations and the lobbyists.  A change must come somehow.

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   2. 78

      Earl S. Wynnposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I like to believe that the pendulum swings both ways. No matter how bad it gets, I always try to keep hope. Throughout history, every nation in the world has gone through dark times and they've all recovered, sometimes changing in the process.

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      1. 0

         Muldaniaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, we tend to believe that our own age has either the best or the worst of things.  But we cannot personally compare our own age to others, as we can only live in the present.  I bet people a hundred or two hundred years ago believed theirs was the worst or the best of times.  But times are quickly forgotten, as the generations pass away.

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         1. 84

            gmwilliamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I believe that the socioeconomical and psychosocial environment in the United States and in the world will get much worse before it gets better.   As it stands, much of our school system is so abysmal and abominable that high school graduates are graduating with kindergarten level skills. Colleges are so homogenized and dumbed that one must attend graduate school to receive the equivalent of what a college education used to be.   Even then, there are little comparable jobs around.   Many college graduates and advanced degree graduates have to take Mcjobs until more commensurate jobs are available.
            
            Forget about the general socioeconomic situation.  In order to live decently, one must earn in the mid-six figures and anything below that, is considered barely surviving.   There is massive unemployment and increased impoverishment.  Unemployed people with no savings have to take jobs which pay at least 50% less than what they were previous earning.  Formerly middle class and affluent professionals are now joining the swelling ranks of the working poor.   Working class and lower class people are becoming even poorer and following through the cracks.   In order to become wealthy, one must possess and/or acquire either a very specific mathematical/scientific/technical skill, be highly and prodigiously talented, and/or be extremely attractive.   The name of the game now is survival and winner takes all at any cost!
            
            I believe that(excuse the pun and the analogy, please I do not wish to offend anyone saying this and please a milnillion times, forgive me for saying this), we are living in a giant concentration camp where the poorer masses are at the mercy of the few rich.  The rich have all the goods while the rest of us are scrambing for just to be above water and the crumbs that they decide to toss to us!  These are indeed precarious times for many of us! We are in a dark tunnel with little prospect of there being a light at the end of it!

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR-A4QFHZBA

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3. 67

   diogenesposted 13 years ago

   Homo Sapiens amuse me in their conceit.  You ask if the world has had it and all will soon be over, etc.  Well, not for about 5 billion years until our sun goes into supernova, unless another catyclism occurs before.
   What you are really asking is has mankind had it?
   The answer there might be: probably.  We are in danger of making our species extinct.  But the world will go on quite well without us and certainly many species will proliferate by man's absence.
   Our technology and will is some way away from space travel to anywhere that would make a decent second home.  Instead of getting together and planning our future in the stars, we quarrel like the rats in a Yale (or Harvard) experiment.
   We fight over the few resources left on this planet, the ones we will need to make space exploration possible in a useful way.
   So, yes, we have nearly had it, but, no, the planet will be OK for a while yet.

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You have elucidated some quite excellent points. Diogenes, it is good to have you aboard.  Your opinions are always welcomed.

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4. 59

   Druid Dudeposted 13 years ago

   Another good song is by Billy Joel "We Didn't Start The Fire" Confusion was foretold, and confusion there is. Surprise! You think things are confusing now....just wait another couple years.

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Well, things are going to be much(20 x) worse before it gets better.  The old paradigm is crumbling to be replaced by a new paradigm!

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