What's Wrong With This Country...

[Jason]

Go on then.

My try:

We live in an instant gratification society with little thought to the future, where we all believe we are entitled to something and there's always someone else to blame when it goes wrong.

[SNACR]

No-one is any longer prepared to make any sort of personal sacrifice or abstain from selfishness for the common good of society.

(By selfishness I don't mean self-interested - which is inherent in all)

[Pauly_Boy]

"I expect something for nothing and if I don't get what I want or I do something wrong, it's not my fault"

[SarahBell]

No one's role models should be overpaid footballers and drugged up models, nor should people aspire to be able to afford to buy 25% of a flat on an IO mortgage.

[RichB]

I'm worth it.

[thod]

Lack of courage. Courage is a scary concept because it means sacrificing everything for a cause. In times past, men were willing to die for what is right. Death did not matter since an afterlife was assured. Today we hear the death of Bin Laden has made the world a safer place, yet we hear nothing about if it is a better place. Bin Laden was many things, but he was also a courageous man.

A man who cares little for his continued existence can challenge you for everything you have. You must either risk death to oppose him or become his slave. The safest option is to choose slavery. The man knows you have no courage and need not even fight you because you will always capitulate.

We have lost perspective. Everywhere we are equate what is right with what is safe. Our ancestors were familiar with death as an everyday risk. They saw their friends and colleagues die at young ages and thus learned that life is temporary. Knowing this, they gained courage because they realised it doesn't matter how long you live, but how you live that matters.

[Guest eight]

In a sentence thod, in one sentence.

Bloody good post though. That's a big part of the problem, death is equated somehow to failure, rather than just an inevitable part of life.

eight

[izzy]

Lack of courage. Courage is a scary concept because it means sacrificing everything for a cause. In times past, men were willing to die for what is right. Death did not matter since an afterlife was assured. Today we hear the death of Bin Laden has made the world a safer place, yet we hear nothing about if it is a better place. Bin Laden was many things, but he was also a courageous man.

A man who cares little for his continued existence can challenge you for everything you have. You must either risk death to oppose him or become his slave. The safest option is to choose slavery. The man knows you have no courage and need not even fight you because you will always capitulate.

We have lost perspective. Everywhere we are equate what is right with what is safe. Our ancestors were familiar with death as an everyday risk. They saw their friends and colleagues die at young ages and thus learned that life is temporary. Knowing this, they gained courage because they realised it doesn't matter how long you live, but how you live that matters.

+1

Fear is the modern epidemic.

[Bossybabe]

Bloody good post though. That's a big part of the problem, death is equated somehow to failure, rather than just an inevitable part of life.

eight

As is growing old. No-one is allowed to grow old. Striving to meet the 'norms' of this dysfunctional society means anti-wrinkle, anti-fat, anti-aging, smothered in make up, all grey hair coloured beyond belief [and that's just the men!].

THIS SOCIETY NEEDS A REALITY CHECK. Perhaps it should look to the young men and women fighting in Afghanistan. They know the reality of life.

[Odakyu-sen]

Sooner or later our economy's going to get bitch-slapped by the Invisible Hand.

[tinker]

We have forgotten how to be nice to each other.

[ken_ichikawa]

Too much Sibley, too little Injin.

[General Melchett]

Everything and nothing.

[Wahoo]

Constipated.

[Wahoo]

We have forgotten how to be nice to each other.

What sort of sentence is this.....You stupid little dickarsed runt.......

(Just my attempt at irony...no offence meant m8 )

EDIT: Seriously Tinker - just a sick joke....you're a cool dude imo)

[tinker]

What sort of sentence is this.....You stupid little dickarsed runt.......

(Just my attempt at irony...no offence meant m8 )

EDIT: Seriously Tinker - just a sick joke....you're a cool dude imo)

No offence taken

A phrase close to my heart. Resisted the temptation to qualify it.

[SHERWICK]

A few things are wrong, but life's better here than anywhere else I've lived, and better now than at any time before (IMHO).

[tahoma]

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.

[DrMartinSanchez]

Crime pays.

[Riedquat]

Too many people, too many of them refuse to think, and too many of them are only concerned about their own personal instant material gratification, not caring about any consequences of that.

[RentingForever]

Robin Hood turned traitor - we now rob from the poor and the middle to give to the rich.

[AThirdWay]

Take your pick -

Nice and simple: No one gives a fork.

More complex: No one wants to fight for anything noble or worthwhile, but everyone is happy to kick seven colours of crap out of anyone who spills they're pint/looks at their burd/carves them up at the circle.

[Jason]

Go on then.

My try:

We live in an instant gratification society with little thought to the future, where we all believe we are entitled to something and there's always someone else to blame when it goes wrong.

Lol, my insomnia last night...

We can all rant about specific issues, house prices too high etc etc. But what if you only had 20seconds point to out what's wrong to someone? Every issue has it's foundations, and it's these foundations which need to be pointed out.

The problem with the above, is it would flumox someone who could do something about it (like an MP), and that is why nothing ever is done.

The reason I say the above sentence is simple:

+ Personal Debt problem = result of instant gratification and with no regard to the future.

+ Housing and everything else being overpriced = see above

+ Police state = there's always someone to blame, i.e. if someone complains, a crime has been committed. If a crime has been committed, there is a criminal to be found - we need to legislate against these criminals.

+ No accountability, well someone else is always to blame you see.

+ Government debt = we are entitled to benefits, hence putting the debt problem on the future.

[Reck B]

the nations unquestioning reliance on the MSM has a lot to answer for.

That and the crunchie bar in the UK is waaay smaller and nowhere near as nice as the crunchie bar in New Zealand.

[Riedquat]

+ Police state = there's always someone to blame, i.e. if someone complains, a crime has been committed. If a crime has been committed, there is a criminal to be found - we need to legislate against these criminals.

An interesting way of looking at it, and a good one - "the cycle of surveillance", perhaps (not quite the right words but sounds better than any more accurate one that I could think of). Anyone who thinks that there's a deliberate ploy to control us all with more and more rules and police powers should take a look at that. It's like I said in another thread (where I was getting annoyed by the conspiracy theorists) - cockup rather than conspiracy, or, perhaps, the old saying of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

That and the crunchie bar in the UK is waaay smaller and nowhere near as nice as the crunchie bar in New Zealand.

I quite like the UK ones so a visit to NZ is a must now.