today's society

[punkgothenem]

in today's society we have so many things that are corrupting the minds of the young ones who will soon become the future of the generation after us. what do you think is wrong with society and what do you plan to do about it

[Chez Daja]

Eh? First of all, could you add some more to your topics?

Try giving us your thoughts on the subject as well!

There's nothing I personally can do to help society, but I think that kids are getting involved in crime, because of lax parenting and lack of morals. I don't plan to do anything about it, although I have helped out people in need of assistance, and I always do "good deeds"... Helping kids and old people across the street and stopping fights, etc. I don't have many thoughts on the subject without more information of the topic.

Anyway, add more next time, alright?

[TomStrife]

I think the media is highly affecting the minds of children in this day.

Do you think Girls would dress "slutty" if it wasn't for movies or music videos where girls wear next to nothing?

Ever notice how the media is tricking people into thinking they need to look good for acceptance?

Honestly, it's because the parents let their kids see this crap. It's all influenced like "The Columbine Massacre" was proved to be influenced by 'Doom", "The Matrix", ect. as it was written in their journals:

"We will make the school like a level in Doom."

Trust me, the media has a large role to play.

[Kinky Laughter]

I agree that the media has a lot to do with it, although I don't think I agree that it's our parents fault. Why? Because if they tried to protect us from all of the crap we see on tv it'd be close to impossible. If it's not tv shows, it's the comercials, that tell us that being attractive looks a certain way. If it's not the tv it's the music, if not the music, it's the people we hang out with.

Although I do belive that Parents should teach their kids some sort of morals before they throw them into the pits of society.

I live in a really rich part where all of the kids basically rule over the school. As in, they're allowed to use their cell phones in class and they're allowed to eat food in class and they're even allowed to listen to their ipods in class. My school doesn't do anything because the kids could go home and complain that the teachers are being mean to them. These kids are influenced by their parents and their money and have no morals whatsoever.

What can I do to help? Well I can't make a big impact but I have been involved in an intellect afterschool class where we talk about society and how it's going to change and I've spoken up and talked about how media greatly effects girls and boys into thinking they have to look a certain way, or even act a certain way.

The next generation is being shot to hell.

[$Nanaki$]

Also you have to realize that today's society, in general, is apathetic, and individualistic. Most people are in it for themselves, and the hell with the rest of the world. Parents don't take an active enough role in raising their children--they let MTV raise them and tell who to like and what to listen to and what to wear.

I agree the media plays a role in all of this, but there really isn't one defining common thread to it. I just think as well it's an apathetic society that can't see beyond their own greed and striving to be number 1 at all costs that helps it along as well.

And let's face it--we are all guilty of this in one way or another-- i dont care if you give to charities, or help the elderly--we all at some poiint are guilty of not caring, myself included. It's all of us as a whole that can cause change, regardless of one individual making a differenmce. Lead and others will follow, It may take time, but it does happpen.

I'm sorry to be so cynical about society , but it's just how i see tha world and my experiences from watching people and seening how they interact.

[Angantyr]

For once I agree with you TomStrife. The media is the single most biggest cause of this, switch on the TV and you see some the same generic characters under the same thing. The Music we are subjected is also disgusting, it Glorifies de-moralizing women, it stereotypes, it gives the completely wrong impression of certain people, entertains people with acts of stupidity which in turn these people try to be like.

Also I think the issue of a family unit is very differant. Not saying its bad but it has had a huge effect on how Children behave. A lot of kids don't get feed properly and a forced to fend for themselves from as early as 5. Also people aren't having kids as young as they use to, unless it is a mistake. To be honest I think it is for the better cause by that time they have seen the world and tend to have their Career sorted and can better provide. Seem's to be getting a bigger gap.

[Pete]

It has a ton to do with parenting. It's ****ing pathetic, but theres a HUGE generation gap between kids born in 86, like me, and say 90. It's like parents completely stopped caring, and just give their kids whatever they want. Sometimes a parent has to say no, and mean it in order to get a point across.

Hell, sometimes a parent has to smack their kid around to get the point across as well. When I talked back, or did anything bad or disrespectful as a kid, I would get my ass beat with the wooden pasta spoon, my hair pulled, or a solid boot in the ass. And you know what, I'm not listening to emo music or whining that I don't have a car, or anything for that matter.

It's moreso parents who allow kids to watch so much tv and provide them with all this junk food and videogaming that keeps kids inside all day, making them fat and lazy... which leads to depression. Oh gee, I just kinda solved that one. Why can't Timmy get a date for Friday night? Well, he has no social skills, cause he doesn't have any friends because he just goes home and eats Oreos and plays nintendo all night long. He has bigger tits than half the girls in his school, and he makes weird references to viedogames that nobody understands. Oh, its no wonder Timmy is a loser, mommy and daddy helped perpetuate it.

I know I went off on a rant about fat kids with no social skills, but it really goes hand in hand.

[Tiffany]

Okay, I know I'm going to sound retarded, but here goes.

I personally think it has alot to do with the acceptance of teenage pregnancy. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to bash teenage women/men who get pregnant and decide to keep the baby. All the more power to you! But, you cannot argue that there is a huge maturity gap between someone who is 16 and someone who is 26. I remember being 16, and I remember thinking that I knew it all. I can look back now and honestly say that I didn't know shit.

Now I'm not also saying that just because you're a teenage parent, you're going to be a shitty one. I have lots of close friends who got pregnant early in life, and are trying to make it work. However, I know alot of teenage parents as well who don't give two shits about their children. They got pregnant so they could move out of the house and get their own place, without realizing how hard it is to take on a baby.

So personally, I think that lack of maturity as a parent is part of it. The media is also a big part of it. My aunt refuses to let me 9 and 7 year old cousins watch MTV or MuchMusic because of how it will influence them. They're like sponges at those ages, and soak up and immitate everything around them. Last thing we want to see is my 9 year old cousin gyrating around a pole like in the music videos.

No system is perfect. You have a ton of parents trying very hard to make it work and are doing a fantastic job (regardless of age) but then you have an equal amount of parents who think it's easier to give in to the child's demands, rather than actual parenting. Of course, it's easy for me to say so, I am not a parent. But, that doesn't discredit what I see and hear my friends going through.

Again, not trying to bash teenage mothers/fathers. Just the ones who don't give two rats asses about their children.

[amFu]

every one is saying it so i might as well back it up its the media their is no bigger corrupter of minds than television and the internet

TV) television is not only creating the image that it really is a world of chaos were gangs rule the streets and their is nothing pure left to take as simple plesures. but television is also distroying the imagination that children have used for entertainment before hand their is now no need (what a great use of aliteration LOL) for children to think to entertain themselfs all they ne4ed is TV to sit infront of and their FAT filled piles of highblood pressure.

secondly the biggest one the internet, an idea of pure brilliance were scientist could excghange idea's but now all it is is a place for pornography to be published were it is open for all to view. it is also a breeding ground for unnesarccery violence. one of the things that sicened me the most is the fact that you can view the ken bigly murder and that just leaves me to say what sick ****ed would put a poor mans decapitation on the internet were it is open to everyone. infact i dont want to say anymore on that matter!

[Dark One]

Well for one yes the media as most have said but many other thing such as:

Steroid Abuse and wy do it the SIDE EFFECTS ARE
-Severe acne
-Steroids can affect fetal development during pregnancy
-Risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne diseases from sharing infected needles
-Sexual & reproductive disorders
Well in the usa sports have alot of this around it.

Crime
street gangs, home security, drug trafficking, youth and sex crimes to identity theft, electronic fraud

[maxpower]

I would like to suggest that the media does play a part but it is impossible to just point at the media and find all of society’s problems (that would be called the magical bullet theory which credits immense power to mass communication and it's ability influence its audiences.) Most scholars now discredit this thinking. Instead they look at ideas like the social expectancy theory which says that over an extended period watching the same thing can lead to changes in the viewers understanding. This said I do believe that the media can influence society but I do not believe that society is so weak minded that they continue to consume media that they do not like.

I would like to suggest that instead the idea of political correctness is in many ways hurting American society. The idea that kids can't fail in school or that life is always fair seems to say to American society that no matter what you do, society will accept it. Perhaps if society was able to once again look at certain ideas and disregard them as unhealthy (without someone suing them) a more stable understanding of what an individual is expected to do in society and what society is expected to do for the individual could be gained.

I am not suggesting that political correctness is always a hindrance or that it is the only problem, instead I am suggesting that it is one of the many problems that are adding to the downfall of American society.

[IRANianCha0s]

Tom, I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with what you said here:

Honestly, it's because the parents let their kids see this crap. It's all influenced like "The Columbine Massacre" was proved to be influenced by 'Doom", "The Matrix", ect. as it was written in their journals:

"We will make the school like a level in Doom."

It was never "proved" to influence the Columbine Massacre. People were looking for something to blame, so they say, "Hey look! Violent games!! Violent movies!! Surely this caused that horrible tragedy!!"
Now, I'm not saying Eric Harris and his friend never played violent games, they did, Doom in particular. However, they did not recreate their school as a level in Doom. Eric Harris created a WAD level called "UAC Labs" that featured added blood and gore to enemy sprites. Keep in mind he modified the game to add his own sick, twisted style on the game engine.
I'm all for keeping young children away from violent/adult material (games and movies included), however it is pure blasphemy to state that they influence problematic situations. People who commit crimes are born that way, and would commit them sooner or later regardless of entertainment material. If they commit a crime, it's because of their own recklessness, not a video games/movie.

By maxpower:

...it is impossible to just point at the media and find all of society’s problems...

^FTW

[Pete]

Steroids have little to do with society's problems. Barry Bond's problems maybe, but not society in general.

As for crime, it is a by-product of socio-economic frustration, as well as a plethora of other things, maybe teenage angst or just a cry out for attention, what have you. You're not gonna go and rob a bank unless you need the money, nor are you gonna go out and kill someone for shits and giggles. If you do, there's something severly wrong upstairs and you do need mental help. Most petty crimes are committed by dumb kids doing dumb shit, whether it be shoplifting or shooting off fireworks in a Nature Preserve, or stealing a shopping cart from Walmart and doing Jackass styled shit. The majority of it comes from that teenage feeling of invincibility, in that "I can't get caught, and so what if I do?" Other crimes come from people needing things, like money, or simply just feeling so oppressed and finally giving in to temptation. In essence, it is society's fault, for having a culture that just focuses on the here and now, and places most relevance on material goods and having the latest technology and the latest of everything right this instant. Of course the people who have nothing know this, and they know that it's enough struggle just to pay the bills, so eventually they say give up and either go rob a store or a bank.

As for what Tom said, I agree, to an extent. It is largely the parent's faults for letting their kids watch the movies, but moreso for not having instilled the ideas and knowledge that separate fantasy and reality.

Columbine was not the fault of the parents. Those two retards largely brought it upon themselves, but that is not to say that they had asshole classmates. Without getting too far into too much detail and psychological babble, the kids were more or less in training for the day to come. I don't know if they played Doom or not, but the game didnt help them to aim guns; if they did play it, it had helped them to get used to the rush and intensity of combat. If you perform an action enough, it becomes learned and eventually natural. Professional soldiers (don't quote me on this, but I'm sure Sasquatch or Mike could help me out here) could probably assemble and disassemble their weapons with ease, and in the combat zone, are highly trained and almost automatically know what to do in a situation, mainly due to training. Those kids were sort of the same way, creating their own "battlefield" training by simply going to class everyday, learning the ins and outs of the campus, positions of doors and knowing the rooms with the maximum kill potential. And of course, they had trained with their weapons, as video evidence has shown. Granted, probably not as well as a trained soldier, but they knew the basics, more or less.
The major factor in Columbine was how they managed such an urge for destruction of their fellow man. These are other human beings here, probably kids they've grown up with for their entire lives. How could they mow them down with such ease?
The answer is simple and quite complex at the same time. They dehumanized their enemy, making them into an odd beast, something subhuman, unlike them. It's extremely difficult to kill even an animal, but far harder to kill another human being, especially when you see their face and the horror in their eyes. How exactly they dehumanized everyone is a good question. Probably by rationalizing that no humans could be so cruel, so as to go so far as to treat them like shit everyday.
Peer pressure and motivation is another huge factor. Neither one wanted to be the weaker one of the group, and so it became almost like a contest, of who could do more damage. Neither one of them wanted to dissapoint the other by coming so far in planning and obtaining weapons, and basically spending months or years in planning, and calling it quits. Basically, the bond of camraderie was so strong that neither of them wanted to break it by wussing out.
Of course, as they killed and saw their victims fall, they experienced a rush of euphoria, as has been reported when soldiers kill. But shortly thereafter, as with even trained soldiers, the nauseating feelings of guilt arise, realizing just what they had done. Unable to escape their work, they really had no choice but to end it with suicide, as opposed to being put on trial and left to rot in jail. The only difference with soldiers, is that the guilt, while it lingers, can be and is justified. "He was going to kill me or my buddies; If I didn't shoot him, someone else would have; The c/o told me to do it, it was an order; etc."

Anyways, that's what I have to say. And again, if I'm wrong about any of the soldiering/ military stuff, my apologies, and please correct me.

In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with socioty today, except that the media blows everything way out of proportion. Crime, teenaged pregnanc