What the hell is wrong with humanity?

[Number 5]

A while back, I'd posted something in the Simmonds thread about how people will let you down every time.

Perusing the news sites this morning, I find lots of evidence backing that up.

Some examples:

2 year old hit by a vehicle...and 18 people walk right past her, as she lies there in the street:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15331773

Child abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the USA:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15288865

3 mentally disabled adults kept chained in basement:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15340426


This isn't just 'one off' problems. This is society going down the toilet. Is it really all about money now? Is that all anyone cares about?

Bah...no wonder Belak checked out. This planet sucks.

 

[Bullfrog]

You know, there's lots of good in the world too.

 

[Number 5]

Yes, there is.

But there appears to be a lot more bad than good, and it's definitely trending in the wrong direction.

 

[Leafaholic99]

Yes, there is.

But there appears to be a lot more bad than good, and it's definitely trending in the wrong direction.

But that could only be because bad usually makes the news 100 times more then good, because the general public like to complain rather then praise.

ie: tabloids, people buy those things like crazy and always talk about rumours/gossip. How many times do you hear about someone doing something good, if they aren't a celebrity?

 

[bustaheims]

Yes, there is.

But there appears to be a lot more bad than good, and it's definitely trending in the wrong direction.

But that could only be because bad usually makes the news 100 times more then good, because the general public like to complain rather then praise.

ie: tabloids, people buy those things like crazy and always talk about rumours/gossip. How many times do you hear about someone doing something good, if they aren't a celebrity?

Exactly. We just hear a lot more about the bad than we do about the good. What's the old cliche? If it bleeds, it leads? At the end of the day, the stories about bad things just interest us more than the stories about good.

 

[maplesyrup]

I get kind of blue when I read/hear this trending stuff about the 1 percenters and how they've screwed up the economy over the last 30 or more years. You know, the stuff about the rapidly declining middle class etc... Pretty depressing stuff if you ask me.   

 

[Leafaholic99]

Yes, there is.

But there appears to be a lot more bad than good, and it's definitely trending in the wrong direction.

But that could only be because bad usually makes the news 100 times more then good, because the general public like to complain rather then praise.

ie: tabloids, people buy those things like crazy and always talk about rumours/gossip. How many times do you hear about someone doing something good, if they aren't a celebrity?

Exactly. We just hear a lot more about the bad than we do about the good. What's the old cliche? If it bleeds, it leads? At the end of the day, the stories about bad things just interest us more than the stories about good.

Perfect example here on this site:

Complaint thread: 333 repliesm 7729 views
Commendation Thread: 7 replies 126 views

 

[Number 5]

Doesn't that just reinforce my position? That humanity is more interested in the pain and suffering of others than it is in helping to mitigate that pain? It makes the news because that's what people are interested in. People like it when others suffer, as it gives them something to read about, or watch on the news. They aren't interested in the good news stories.

Society in general appears to be heading down the path of violence, hardcore self-interest (even at the expense of children's lives), and intolerance. And it isn't improving. All the good in the world isn't outweighing the evil. Not even close. It's getting worse, daily.

 

[Corn Flake]

Yes, there is.

But there appears to be a lot more bad than good, and it's definitely trending in the wrong direction.

But that could only be because bad usually makes the news 100 times more then good, because the general public like to complain rather then praise.

ie: tabloids, people buy those things like crazy and always talk about rumours/gossip. How many times do you hear about someone doing something good, if they aren't a celebrity?

Exactly. We just hear a lot more about the bad than we do about the good. What's the old cliche? If it bleeds, it leads? At the end of the day, the stories about bad things just interest us more than the stories about good.

Perfect example here on this site:

Complaint thread: 333 repliesm 7729 views
Commendation Thread: 7 replies 126 views

I'm giving this post a commendation. 

 

[Erndog]

Doesn't that just reinforce my position? That humanity is more interested in the pain and suffering of others than it is in helping to mitigate that pain? It makes the news because that's what people are interested in. People like it when others suffer, as it gives them something to read about, or watch on the news. They aren't interested in the good news stories.

Society in general appears to be heading down the path of violence, hardcore self-interest (even at the expense of children's lives), and intolerance. And it isn't improving. All the good in the world isn't outweighing the evil. Not even close. It's getting worse, daily.

I'm with you on this one.

The fact that, as Busta says, "the bad stories interest us more than the good ones" shows full well that society as a whole is on (has been?) a very scary path.

 

[Corn Flake]

Doesn't that just reinforce my position? That humanity is more interested in the pain and suffering of others than it is in helping to mitigate that pain? It makes the news because that's what people are interested in. People like it when others suffer, as it gives them something to read about, or watch on the news. They aren't interested in the good news stories.

I don't think its that people in general "like" it when harm is coming to others....  I think its more that when we perceive everything to be "ok", we stop paying attention. 

It almost is as if news panders to the internal crisis management within all of us... in life we tend to live as problem managers... personal, kids, job, finances, marriage, etc... in some ways seeing others having worse things happen makes you feel like your problems aren't so bad.  So yeah in a way that lines up with what you are saying except I don't think we enjoy seeing others suffer.. we just want to feel like we don't have it as bad as the next guy.

 

[maplesyrup]

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. - Mohandas Gandhi

 

[bustaheims]

I'm with you on this one.

The fact that, as Busta says, "the bad stories interest us more than the good ones" shows full well that society as a whole is on (has been?) a very scary path.

This is hardly a new thing, though. It's pretty much been the way we've operated since day one. There's intrigue in the bad - who did it, why did they do it, how did they do it, did people survive, etc. These stories also reinforce that we're decent people, knowing that we'd never do anything like that; whereas stories about good things, while often heartwarming, can also serve as reminders that maybe we're not doing enough to help our fellow man and make us feel worse about ourselves. At the end of the day, it's a very natural psychological thing to be more interested in the stories about bad things than good things. Besides, when there are stories about extreme bad things happening around the world - the tsunami a couple years ago, the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, etc - are when you really see the good in humanity rise up and take action to help the people who are suffering because of some of the bad that happens around the world.

 

[Kin]

Same thing that's always been wrong with humanity, probably.

 

[Bender]

A while back, I'd posted something in the Simmonds thread about how people will let you down every time.

Perusing the news sites this morning, I find lots of evidence backing that up.

Some examples:

2 year old hit by a vehicle...and 18 people walk right past her, as she lies there in the street:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15331773

Child abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the USA:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15288865

3 mentally disabled adults kept chained in basement:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15340426


This isn't just 'one off' problems. This is society going down the toilet. Is it really all about money now? Is that all anyone cares about?

Bah...no wonder Belak checked out. This planet sucks.

Isn't it a pity, now isn't it a shame how we break each other's hearts and cause each other pain?

 

[McPwnage]

You're always going to have horrible, evil, and stupid people but that doesn't mean humanity is flawed.  You have to look at all the good stuff and put it into context.  Everyone is capable of great good and great evil. 

 

[Pucken Chronic]

Unfortunately the news rarely covers the good because frankly... it's boring, and that's a good thing. That means most people still live day to day being basically good so hearing it in the news just makes ya think " of course he/they did that. What makes the news is the stuff that's basically foreign to us. That's why it shocks us. The day the news is full of good news to get our attention is the day we're in real deep doo-doo.

 

[riff raff]

A lot of this, unfortunately, has to do with the way we practice politics these days.

In general, people in power have created a culture of fear and use this fear to manipulate the public.

Reading this over, I know it sounds very paranoid, but I really think a lot of this is simply a tactic by people looking to gain power.

 

[Number 5]

Wow....Ghandi and George Harrison quotes in the same thread!

Perhaps "like" wasn't the most appropriate choice of words, I'll admit.

You have to look at all the good stuff and put it into context.  Everyone is capable of great good and great evil.

True...But I disagree with the notion that humanity isn't flawed. Everything I see and read indicates we're getting worse as a species, and more and more people are making the 'evil' choices as a matter of course. If an entire street full of people can willfully ignore the cries of a 2 year old who has been hit by a car, right in front of them, I hold out no hope at all for the human race. That's not one or two people making that decision, I believe its a societal one. And that sickens me.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

A lot of this, unfortunately, has to do with the way we practice politics these days.

In general, people in power have created a culture of fear and use this fear to manipulate the public.

Reading this over, I know it sounds very paranoid, but I really think a lot of this is simply a tactic by people looking to gain power.

Exactly, if you talk about how much the media plays in shaping our viewpoint, you have to look at the role of the media and who owns it. It's nothing more than a propaganda machine, that only gives you the news they want you to hear, not what is really going on in the World.

Is there enough goodness in the world? Probably not as much as there should be, especially in the economic landscape that we're living in right now. But I think we should get out into our communities, rather than taking our collective pulse from the media of all things, as they are the last place to get a bead on humanity.