Amusing ourselves to death

[Meneldil]

Uhm, yeah. Welcome to the golden age of the 21st century. Sucks don't it?

There's no cure but to keep trying our best until it all crashes and burns, at which point people might get the point.

Personally I think the biggest sign recently is the fact that CNN won't talk about anything other than Michael freaking Jackson. Nothing else. Not Iran, not Iraq, not Afghanistan, not Honduras, not Congress, not crap. Just Michael Jackson.

Don't be sad, the same thing is happening in France.

A typical TV news show goes on like this:
-10 mins of Michael Jackson
-2 mins of random french stuff
-1 min on Iran
-A few seconds on various world event
-2 mins on Sarkozy latest achievement/failure (depending on the channel you're watching)
-5 more mins of Michael Jackson.

That's pretty much it. If the revolution in Iran fails, I'm pretty sure Michael Jackson will have to claim guilty. Not only that, but people were being bored by the events in Iran. They've been told for years that Iranians are extremists nutjobs bent on destroying Israel and the free world, and all of sudden, they discover that there's a large moderate population. Way too intense for the average news-watcher, it wasn't deemed entertaining anymore after 2 weeks.

Ehm, what were we complaining about again?

If you consider that having a full fridge is the final aim to be reached by mankind, then that's kind of disappointing.

[miotas]

When I first read the title of this thread I thought it was about David Carradine...

[Fragony]

Exactly.

The age we live in now, is one where nearly limitless achievments could be accomplished if even a small majority of the population gave enough of a damn. Instead you've got... Michael Jackson's death. Or, "Oh my god, look at the things his father is saying, oh my god he left a will, oh my god look at the funeral procession plans!"

No, "Oh my god, there's a two-front war going on in the middle-east that desperately needs attention." Or "Oh my god, potential badness/goodness in Iran, better keep everyone informed."

I garuntee the last Roman emperor had a full fridge too, so to speak. Right after he filled it up, his empire collapsed.

Or you could just go out and have some fun

[LittleGrizzly]

I was talking to my friends about the Neda video, hardly any of them even knew there was a revolution going on let alone had heard of this Iranian woman. Every single one of them without fail know's Jackson is dead though...

In fairness these people are between 18-21 or 22, so it was always going to be a bad group but i can think of one friend who actually knew something about the Iran protests...

[Fragony]

Got quite a lot of friends from iran, things are quiet now. I don't know exactly when she was shot, but count 40 days from her death they are going to raise hell again.

[Husar]

So what then, is the final aim of mankind please?

That we tech ourselves to death either by turning farmers into physics professors or maybe terminator style by inventing out own doom?
Or maybe we should force people to be interested in politics and rocket science for the sake of freedom?
Should we force people to be more successful in life than Bill Gates?
Should we all take up our guns and riot on the streets in support of iran?
How can you riot when you're supposed to invent stuff and try to be successful and reach for the stars all day long anyway? Rioting too much hurts the economy which finances science...

Quite frankly, I don't think the world would work if every single person was an overeager, overzealous person because competition does not only create greatness, it also creates wars, murder and all other sorts of bad things.

That does not mean that I find the huge coverage of Michael Jackson appropriate or not over the top, but these types who run around clamouring for greatness should not try to force everybody to dedicate their lives to greatness, because all people are different and some are not happy when they have to work their off every day to achieve some arbitrary, unexplainable and unknown greatness that may or may not lie ahead.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I have a fridge and a cellar with plenty of food

My cellar is filled with good wine and excellent beer.

If you consider that having a full fridge is the final aim to be reached by mankind

Well I can't speak for Andres, but as far as I'm concerned: yes, a full fridge and a beer and wine cellar is the pinnacle of human achievement.

You people worry, me and Andres fill our tummies and exchange some red Bordeaux' for an assortment of Leffe's.


There's Probably no Good. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life.

I should slam that slogan on a book title, fill it with trueisms about the modern world, sell it to all you atheists with a lingering post-Christian guild complex, and make me a wealthy man.

[Samurai Waki]

theres always something to gripe about, yes, there are many, many things wrong with our society as a whole. And there always will be, irregardless of whose in charge, and how well everyone is doing. Give them nothing and they complain, give them everything and they want more. sorry mate, just the way it is.

[Viking]

There's Probably no Good. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life.

Sounds somewhat like a contradiction.

[Meneldil]

Well I can't speak for Andres, but as far as I'm concerned: yes, a full fridge and a beer and wine cellar is the pinnacle of human achievement.

You people worry, me and Andres fill our tummies and exchange some red Bordeaux' for an assortment of Leffe's.

I can't believe they got you aswell Louis. You, the french republican, are satisfied by a bottle of wine and some beer. What a shame.
France is supposed to open the path to worldwide enlightenement, to pave the way to universal freedom. It's either that or death.

The world would be such a wonderful place if a) everybody would have a full fridge; b) everybody would be happy with just that.

Limitless achievements? If everybody or even just a large minority always wants more and more and more... then we will never have a peaceful world where everybody is happy. Never. Jamais. Nooit.

Thing is, a lot of people don't have a full fridge. That's part of why I think your statement was disappointing: you have food, so well, everything is fine.
There's a lot of things humanity could improve. First and foremost, obviously, filling everybody's fridge would be a great step forward. But that would be only a beginning.

I personnaly loath stupid people. Call me an arrogant snob, but people who record their cryings because Michael Jackson died or because their favorite soccer team lost turn me mad. People who think they look cool by acting gangsta and speaking in a weird way make me sad. People who keep complaining about everything but refuse to do anything valuable because 'everything sucks' (ie. 'I don't understand and can't be bothered to try') are my bane.
I, for one, would never be happy in a society composed entirely of that kind of people. I'd rather commit suicide than sit down and admit 'oh well, that's fine, everybody has food afterall'.

During the 18th, some thinkers got the weird idea that you could educate people and turn them into decent citizens. I might be old-fashioned, but I think this is a great goal. I'm not asking for everyone to be an expert philosopher, but being an open-minded, enlightened, tolerant and free citizen would seem to be a good start.
Sadly most people prefer to get stuck in their own stupidity and complain whenever something goes wrong, blaming the few people that actually try (with more or less honesty) to do something.

Furthermore, the fact that I think mankind hasn't reached its full potential doesn't prevent from enjoying fine food, fine wine and fine women. One can have pleasure and still be an idealist.

[Andres]

I admire your idealism, Meneldil.

I'm not a scientist, but I think we already know how to produce enough food for everybody. But we don't do it.

World hunger hits one billion.

How many resources and knowledge are used to give a minority that already has a filled fridge and a roof more than that? How many resources and knowledge are simply not being used, because we can't be bothered?

I'm disappointed in humanity as well, but I think it's hopeless. Many idealists who thought that it isn't, are dead. Many more will die.

There's a lot of things humanity could improve. First and foremost, obviously, filling everybody's fridge would be a great step forward. But that would be only a beginning.

No, we should just stop at that and be satisfied.

I can be happy with a filled fridge, so don't blame me for all problems in the world. It's those who always want more that are to blame.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

How many resources and knowledge are used to give a minority that already has a filled fridge and a roof more than that? How many resources and knowledge are simply not being used, because we can't be bothered?

OOOOH! Very well said!

See, I think we agree on the basics and simply come to somewhat different conclusions!

[Fragony]

Let's agree on the basics, this is a cool fridge.

[Husar]

I admire your idealism, Meneldil.

I'm not a scientist, but I think we already know how to produce enough food for everybody. But we don't do it.

World hunger hits one billion.

How many resources and knowledge are used to give a minority that already has a filled fridge and a roof more than that? How many resources and knowledge are simply not being used, because we can't be bothered?

I'm disappointed in humanity as well, but I think it's hopeless. Many idealists who thought that it isn't, are dead. Many more will die.






No, we should just stop at that and be satisfied.

I can be happy with a filled fridge, so don't blame me for all problems in the world. It's those who always want more that are to blame.

Another good post, as I said, it's people who are not content with what they have who often make the world a better place, so many countries throw perfectly fine food away to keep the market prices stable while people in other parts of the planet die of starvation. Maybe if one could get all that food beyond the market (in this sense), then we could keep market prices stable AND feed people.
But I'm sure somebody can find a reason why that wouldn't work so we'll continue keeping the market prices stable and increasing share values while other people just die.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I can't believe they got you aswell Louis. You, the french republican, are satisfied by a bottle of wine and some beer. What a shame.

It was the ancient nemesis of all things French that got the better of me for a moment there: the Fleming and his beer, filled stomach and content peace of mind.


I shall not lapse again.
Allons enfants de la Patrie! Freedom, human rights and enlightenment for the entire world while the last Frenchman still draws breath! March on, to the death!

[Askthepizzaguy]

If you consider that having a full fridge is the final aim to be reached by mankind, then that's kind of disappointing.

Once everyone on earth has a full fridge, we can talk about how disappointing it is. Personally I think that will be humanity's greatest achievement in the modern era, about a billion times more important that landing robots on Mars.

edit: nevermind, just got to the post where Andres said basically the same thing. Put me down for that.

[Strike For The South]

Life's to short to worry about the politics. Espacily a life that includes cheap beer and loose women.