17 February 2009
08:4715590Oh Paul! Of course we have a new religion. Its called Mamon and self interest.
But dont worry there are still a few countries where discipline and religion are in control and they are working hard using their own rules to take over the world. They will win of course since our soft over tolerant society has set up a scenario where we have to pander and pay for them to take us over. The Roman and Greek empires did not fail with an almighty bang but because they rotted from within.
In a difficult economic crisis our leaders are hurridly bringing in new costly legislation to look after themselves paid for with credit we dont have.
Cheerful sole arent I ?
But I would like my grandchildren to consider a islamic convertion and to speak chinese!
17 February 2009
08:5415591And of course civilisation is ending - I went to a 4 star hotel last night and asked for a martini and none of the 4 barpersons could make one - I suspect that they didnt even have the ingredients for a pink gin!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
17 February 2009
08:5515592When I and many other posters on here were children, there was a line we daren't cross, whether that line was to do with answering back, right or wrong instances, or where we could go etc.
Now, no one says no you can't do this or that - as Terri said above, you can't keep them in, you can't smack them or prevent them doing exactly what THEY want to do - and this is wrong.
They DO need guidance, they DO need discipline (and I'm not talking about beatings and abuse), they DO need to be told NO.
We've gone down this road with our eyes wide open, but with the insistence of the too liberal-minded idiots who have their own agenda; the trouble is that various governments have endorsed these silly views and passed laws that take away the responsibilitiy of parents and give power to the children. The children are children for goodness sake !
Roger
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
17 February 2009
09:2215594This morning radio news confirmed that the 13 year old is to undergo a DNA test as 2 other prospective fathers have come forward to be counted. They are probably wanting a slice of the celebrity action.
The girl is only 16 years and has already had at least 3 suitors!! I suppose its a very poor but accurate reflection upon society and parenthood.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
17 February 2009
09:5815598David, you think you are a 'cheerful soul'! Read on. I find the threat of increased state intrusion in our lives a huge worry: identity cards; CCTV; recording and storing of mobile phone conversations and emails; collection and storage of DNA amongst them. Individually we can see strengths in the arguments for some of these but with Stella Rimington (ex head of MI5)reporting that we are becoming the most monitored nation in the world the prospect of any, or all, of them rings alarm bells for me.
I read an interesting book a few years ago which argues that the threat to individuality and to personal liberty is not going to come from an obvious tyrannical body but from a far more subtle influence of entertainment and celebrity. This would manifest as a world where everything is reduced to the status of entertainment and which the population would happily embrace. Politicians would use sound-bites rather than delivering weighty speeches for us to consider because we would no longer have the capacity, or desire, to do this. Tragedy in the world would be reported but then softened with the 'and finally' story whereby we remember the cat rescued by the fire brigade rather than the abuse of human beings that led the news programme. It has a familiar ring to it. The following is an extract from the book in which the author argues that we need to fear a Brave New World as suggested by Aldous Huxley rather than 1984 as suggested by George Orwell:
"What Huxley teaches us is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, people become an audience and their public business is a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility."
'Amusing Ourselves to Death' by Neil Postman. (1985)
Worth a read; unless you want to be cheered up (or should that be 'bury your head'?)!
Have a nice day!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 February 2009
20:2815624interesting post there.
1) when an ex head of the security services warns as about too much surveillance, then we must listen.
2) a large proportion of the public worship at the cult of celebrity, a quick glance at the tabloid headlines of certain organs will confirm this.
presently we are watching a minor celebrity orchestrating her own death on television, using max clifford instead of a religious representative to administer the end.
a previous poster mentioned that the great empires imploded, destroying themselves with their excesses.
