A quick poll about the future of American Civilization.

[Rain Man]

The Gen Y thread got me wondering.

Where do you think America is in its life cycle? Are we ascending? Are we on the downside? What is our long-term trajectory as a civilization?

Poll to follow unless the Visigoths storm the walls before I can post it.

[notorious]

JFC

We are constantly making medical and technological breakthroughs. We can travel anywhere on the Earth within a short amount of time, and communicate through many different means with nearly anyone on the world. We are living longer and under better conditions than any previous generations.




Declining? GMAFB

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Many of the same things that befell the Romans have happened to the United States. The United States will continue to exist, but much like the British Empire in the 20th century, it's preeminence on the world stage will not

[Gadzooks]

Currently 2 people have voted for "I don't really following the grand sweep of history"
Since it's out of 94 votes, I guess the future of American Civilization is not that bad off?

(the question mark is a typo)

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Many of the same things that befell the Romans have happened to the United States. The United States will continue to exist, but much like the British Empire in the 20th century, it's preeminence on the world stage will not

we have to end apartheid, for one,

slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger.

We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless...

and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights,

while also promoting equal rights for women.

We have to encourage a return...

to traditional moral values.

Most importantly,

we have to promote general social concern...

and less materialism in young people.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Simply Red

We have to encourage a return...

to traditional moral values.
.

This is something that has always baffled me. I believe that moral values have remained constant throughout history.


It seems worse now because nothing is private anymore. Info travels quickly.

[Gadzooks]

Originally Posted by notorious

This is something that has always baffled me. I believe that moral values have remained constant throughout history.


It seems worse now because nothing is private anymore. Info travels quickly.

My Grandpa never used to hear about High School shootings back in the 30's 'cause they didn't have facebook.

[LiveSteam]

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Depends on who you ask. Old bitter white guys will certainly tell you that this country is in steep decline. Everyone else will probably say it's ascending.

(Que Prison Bitch with his comments on gays and dems)

I don't know about that. I hear a lot about us running out of resources and how our middle class and poor are living worse than ever before from people that aren't old and white.

[blaise]

I think a general answer is if your guy is President we're ascending.
If the other party's guy is President we're on the brink of disaster.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by blaise

I think a general answer is if your guy is President we're ascending.
If the other party's guy is President we're on the brink of disaster.

Which is evidence why we're trending downward.

Neither party will cooperate with the other because cable TV and internet discussion boards have equated compromise with the domestic equivalent of Quisling-esque appeasement.

No, the average Republican doesn't want women foot-bound and pregnant in the kitchen whilst advocating the euthanization of every children thought not to like the opposite gender or bearing dark skin.

No, the average Democrat isn't going to take your guns, car and home to give to drug addicts for the sake of fairness and isn't ready to take a coat hanger to any woman who expresses the smallest doubt about being a mother.

Yet that's how each side views its opposite in the political arena -Americans equate everything that doesn't jive perfectly with how the country should be run as an active attempt to destroy the system. Philosophically everyone wants the same goal: a better lives for themselves and their neighbors, but, by the same token, everyone has a different idea about how to go achieving that goal.

[LiveSteam]

Yaa,when they work together, we get screwed even harder. I love gridlock

[nstygma]

Originally Posted by notorious

This is something that has always baffled me. I believe that moral values have remained constant throughout history.


It seems worse now because nothing is private anymore. Info travels quickly.

What about the massacres in Sri Lanka? Doesn't that affect us too? Do you know anything about Sri Lanka?

[Tacoman]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sits around and thinks about this stuff.

I think there are a lot of facets to this debate, technologically we have an upward trajectory that is ridiculously awesome, but I have a hard time equating that with success as a civilization so much as our point in the timeline which inevitably moves upward as time moves along. I think success as a civilization has more to do with quality of life than being THE superpower, so even though the US has declined in it's global power to a certain degree it hasn't changed enough to really impact QOL quotient too much. Obviously if the US changes into 3rd world status etc etc this will no longer hold true.

Whether we are trending up or down is beyond my scope of understanding, but I do know what really makes me sad about our society.

What the hell happened to food being central to our community and our family structure?? Breaking bread, raising crops, community food gatherings, all these things have been central parts of human culture since the dawn of civilization. Now it seems it has become something that nobody has time for, and the food comes through the car window while we run along to "more important" things. I think the lack of spending time as families together at the dinner table is probably the biggest cause of our cultural degradation by a long shot. If it were to make a comeback we would see lot less domestic dispute, crime, and drug abuse.

Just my two cents.
Part of the reason why I love this board so much is to see everyone talk about what they made for dinner last night, or how awesome KC BBQ is, or of course entire threads dedicated to tacos!

[Gonzo]

History repeats itself every couple generations. The country was headed towards the shitter in the 30's. Bread lines, unemployment, suicides etc. Then Pearl Harbor came on along and we pulled our heads out if our asses.

Let's see what happens here in the next few years. What's our natl. debt now? I'm sure the White House is checking the caller ID whenever the phone rings around dinner time.

[Jimmya]

Well I'm certainly praying for an upward swing!