boxy wrote:Sappho wrote:
I think we shall go down as being the 'Shallow Era'.
Perhaps we are individualistic, rather than shallow? Running with an ideological herd is passé.
Extreme individualism is profoundly selfish and therefore shallow. And I agree that we are individualistic... too individualistic. It is nothing for our society to think only of ourselves and outsource, that which was once our communal duty, to strangers on a minimal wage with casual hours and little if any vocational interest in the work they do... childcare and aged care are two points in question.
But I'm not suggesting that society as individuals are to blame in any meaningful way. Society has just been going through the loops as they are presented to them. We are not encouraged to think: Just to be: Just to do it. A Nike reality.
I think the problem is not with the generation, but rather with information overload, the salesmanship of pseudo-science and over commercialisation of the mainstream media. There are big issues out there, that people potentially care very deeply about, however they are bombarded with 'alternative views' these days, and are expected (mainly by themselves) to evaluate the evidence themselves, even if thoroughly unqualified to do so. We are in an era where trained experts are no more trusted than loudmouth vested interests (either commercial or ideological) with attractive alternatives, who are given equal air time from the media, which is driven by market forces, and knows that debate sells better, and for longer, than stating facts.
But it is not information Boxy that is overloading us, rather, it is data and our incapacity to convert that data, through thinking into meaning information. We need to learn how to think. We have lost the art. And with all the pseudo spoon feeding that goes on now day... we will never regain that art.
These forums are full of non thinking people who demand data as evidence of what they could know themselves if they would but think for a moment. For example, I could say that a child will be naughty where it is that they are not getting the attention they need. Another will demand the psychological study that proves that, rather than reflect. It is easier to say prove it, than it is to think for ourselves. We appeal to authority instead of our own intellectual ability.
The media are supposedly an authority on matters pertaining to politics... they have percentages, they have data streams, they have worms that tell us of their authority. But the media are no better than we at thinking... their percentages, data streams and worms are derived from those who work the data and computers. The media are as fickle and individualistic as the rest. Their attention span is as fleeting as their individualistic whims.
No surprise then that political campaigns pander to this shallow nature.
So many issues are fogged by extremists, who are pushed to the fore, as in this vaccination issue.
