Failings of our society: How will future generations judge us?

Seanchai

The general smugness over on the Úna Bean Mhic Mhathúna thread about the ignorance and ignorant of former days got me thinking about how future generations might view our own generation.


How many people condemning the Roman church for its abuses in the past are in 2012 accepting without criticism the powerhouses and leading ideologies of our day and ignoring all the abuses and wrongs connected with them? What wrongs/injustices/ignorances of our society today do you think people in future generations will look down on smugly and with contempt?

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Unrestrained consumerism and capitalism, for instance. How many people today have much of their life revolving around money and spending and going from one consumer good to another and always wanting something materialistic? This eternal state of ephemeral "satisfaction" through buying consumer goods is the fashion for vast swathes of the "cool" and "enlightened" people of today who scorn the ignorance, myopia, abuses and consensus of former days.

People regularly give out about the wars religion caused but how many wars are being fought today over the pursuit of raw materials, new markets and more marketshare? How many abuses in the workforce and in society generally happen because we as a society do not do enough to ensure social justice today (e.g. by paying more tax)? How many people vote for political parties which ensure the richest continue to avoid paying their fair share of tax, and are brainwashed into thinking such a system is necessary "to ensure investment"? How many people think the destruction of the countryside and towns by awful planning decisions and massive out-of-town shopping centres will be looked on favourably by future generations who have to bear witness to them? How many people don't spend their money on environmentally friendly goods/contribute to leaving a worse environment for future generations to live in? In 2012 how many people do not care about the exploitation of labour that is behind the clothes they buy, but do care about getting those clothes cheaply?

The pendulum has well and truly swung the other way since 1930s Ireland. But the ignorance and lack of enlightenment remains. It's just that now in 2012 people are ignoring a different set of equally wrong-headed and misguided values and beliefs and accepting them because they are promoted by powerful organisations and people in society today.


Most people in every generation just go with the flow and don't question central tenets or power structures of their day. So if you're a "consensus" person today, you almost certainly would have been a "consensus" person in the dark days of 1950s Catholic Ireland.

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What failings of our own society do you think will be treated with derision and contempt by future generations?

AnonoBoy

Seanchai wrote: »

What failings of our own society do you think will be treated with derision and contempt by future generations?

Flouride in the water. It's there to control our minds doncha know?

foxyboxer

What smugness?

later12

I think they will condemn their forefathers' attitudes to travellers' social problems. Or rather, because we have a long history of blaming our politicians for everything (sometimes fairly), they will perhaps blame our politicians for the problems that are embedded within traveller societies.

There, I said it. I don't want to get into a debate on travellers, but I do think it's the elephant in the sitting room. One that we will not be judged kindly for.

seamus

I don't think "consumerism" is something that will be an issue. Humans have always been consumerist and it hasn't caused society to become any worse as a result. If anything, consumerism has driven all of our lives to improvement by encouraging innovation.

It will be the social problems which reverberate the most - failures to deal with suicide, sexual abuse (including child abuse and sexual assault), substance abuse, etc etc.

I think the outstanding issues of the 90's and 00's will be the continued failure to address substance abuse - drugs and alcohol - and an inability to properly address mental health by pretending it's not a problem.

Furture generations will also laugh at the debates about homosexuals and gay marriage in the same way that we now laugh at people who fought to maintain apartheid and protested against interracial marriage.

Scioch

I think these things are just inherent in human civilization. Wars will be fought over anything because that is what we do. We always attach ourselves to some group and compete with others and on the large scale that manifests itself as war. Abuses will always be committed by someone because human beings inherently want to dominate one another.

Whatever future generations look back on and condemn I'm sure there will be something in their time that will be condemned in the future. Perhaps it will come full circle and people will be condemning not doing these things if there came a time when they would have been of great benefit to protecting a society from being dominated by another.

You cant fight human nature you can only roll with it.

phasers

the lack of flavour in modern packs of Monster Munch

Duggy747

How we ever used toilet paper when the 3 seashells are the way to go.

Colmustard

I couldn't give a toss as to how future generations judge us.

What has posterity ever done for us.

later12

Colmustard wrote: »

I couldn't give a toss as to how future generations judge us.

What has posterity ever done for us.

They'll be paying our debts, we ought at least reflect on how we spend their resources.

CreepingDeath

Seanchai wrote: »

Failings of our society: How will future generations judge us?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g

Colmustard

later12 wrote: »

They'll be paying our debts, we ought at least reflect on how we spend their resources.

They will have their problems as we have ours, we have our present resources as they will have theirs.

Because of advances in technology, economic systems and trade the planet has 7 billion, all we can do is survive and thrive as best we can, now.

Fkuc posterity.

Sea Filly

seamus wrote: »

I think the outstanding issues of the 90's and 00's will be the continued failure to address substance abuse - drugs and alcohol - and an inability to properly address mental health by pretending it's not a problem.

Really? As someone who has received help in this arena in the last few years, I have never came up against this attitude.

CreepingDeath

Sea Filly wrote: »

Really? As someone who has received help in this arena in the last few years, I have never came up against this attitude.

It's the people that don't realise they need it, who need it most.

The shooting spree psychos, road ragers, people with a history of violence, failure to rehabilitate prisoners in any meaningful way.

There's no culture of psychological self improvement, poor community spirit, fragmented cliques and minorities in society, religious radicals etc.

When people have no jobs, they sit at home rather than help serve the community who is supporting them.

It's a pretty poor and dysfunctional society we have when you look at it.

seamus

Sea Filly wrote: »

Really? As someone who has received help in this arena in the last few years, I have never came up against this attitude.

The general approach from authorities has improved in the last 10/15 years, but there's still a big problem at a family and a community level, especially in rural areas.

Mental health problems are still largely seen as a private matter which should be hidden away from friends and family and dealt with on one's own.

What's probably hardest is the people who do seek help from their friends or family, only to be stonewalled or told, "Ah you're grand, don't be getting yourself worked up about it".

JohnMarston

CreepingDeath wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g

They're gonna judge us for making sh*te music?