Gatorade Frost

I'm currently eight teen and I'm finishing my high school career as we speak and within the last four years of growing amd maturing as a person I've noticed one important fact and that's a general feeling of arrogance that we all tend to hold about ourselves in regards to other people. At this moment I'd like to exercise my own little arrogance.

I see it all the time, and it's this: "I wouldn't be surprised if we caused the end of humans on this planet. People these days are so fucked up and stupid, it seems as if common sense is gone."

That right there disheartens me in ways I can't even begin to describe. Here in American we've got this general opinion that we're all morons, we're all ignorant, and we're blind masses who are too stupid to function.

We all know that isn't true, we all sit around on forums such as these, at water coolers, or at bars at night discussing politics, current events, etc. and frankly all of those people you talk to? They're not "fuck up and stupid", nor is there common sense gone.

In fact, I think this opinion is so engrained in our society that we have high schoolers who go around saying that we're all a bunch of buffoons who can't be trusted.

Well get the hell off your high horse and grow up, is frankly how I feel. Not particularly a philosophy, but just some personal thoughts on a flaw in our society. Anyone who makes it a point to arrogantly act 'philosophical' and bask in your 'wisitude' needs a reality check, because chances are you're not a philosopher, nor are you particularly abnormally wise, especially if you're an 18 year old.

Not even I can consider myself wise, which frankly I don't think I am. You can't be wise until you've had real life experiences, until you've been out in the real world, you've gone to college, gone to work, made and lost money, and actually lived. As a teenager the only living I've ever done involves this bubble of high school that I live in and the internet. I can tell you the do's and don't's of high school, phases that most people go through and how stupid it is, and I can tell you from personal experience.

Anyway, to step off of this tangent, I really wish people would open their eyes, take off the grim glasses they're wearing and look at the real world for what it is. There are stupid peo ple, yes, but it's not some kind of hell-hole of stupidity everywhere. Most people in this world are intelligent, hard workers, caring people, etc. and to arrogantly say "Oh man everyone in my generation is a bunch of fucktard idiots" is without a doubt the dumbest thing I've ever heard so please stop saying it.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips

Hain

Well being eighteen as well, I for see the future in terms of those that I see in my high school--it is very bleak. I know the large mass of teens that see their parents as one step up the evolutionary latter from that off an ATM. These are the teens that will be the majority of this country, teens that haven't even the responsibility to turn in homework yet have the time to go out and smash a car 'round a tree only to receive another from mother and father.

What these teens don't realize is that when they must take care of themselves and whatever families they have with the increasing car insurance, health care, failing wages, and to boot take care of their parents who once spoiled them.

That is why my real friends are the ones with hopes, dreams--the stuff that can be destroyed but must be seen. What happened to our generation is that many of these teens lack any sense to reality or aspirations for the future. How can these teens have a future if they don't even work for one?

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flamingdog

Actually, the world in general is an astonishingly stupid place at times, it's not just your school.

In a lot of ways though, it all depends on how you define wisdom versus stupidity. Personally, I consider pouring 40+ hours per week into repetitive motions purely in pursuit of house/car/boat/bigger house/foreign car/longer boat to be pure folly, whereas lots of people around my age (25) seem to think that's a worthy use of their time. I wonder if they'll think that in 40 years time?

Maybe I'm wrong...

irateplatypus

kids are never better or worse than their predecessors... it's the parents that change.

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Lak

I make a distinction which I'm not particularly proud of. I classify humans as either people or non-people. These two groups dont interact with each other very often, they tend to subconsciously stick to themselves. Non-people are the stupid, unquestioning, sheeplike people that we're talking about, pretty much. They dont have opinions, or really even personalities.
As a sales assistant at a large store, I come across nonpeople all the time, and I'm afraid to say they do make up the majority of the population.
I think the education system does it. That is to say, most/all of us are born people, and either need the right environment/upbringing to make us immune, or the right attitude in order to battle nonpeoplification. (ick, I talk about it like its a disease, as I said, I'm really not proud of this idea).
Public schooling then proceeds to beat the everloving individuality the hell out of us in a tall poppy free-for-all. Not just school authorities either, fellow students are very good at victimising outliers. I think it takes resiliance to come out of thirteen-odd years of schooling as an intact individual. Weaker individuals are assimilated by the system.

Anyway, after that minor digression... my point is that the (main) defining factor between people and nonpeople is the ability to think for oneself and formulate opinions instead of having to be fed them. Which... brings us back to the start... hmm.. ah well, it seems a shame not to post it after typing all that. Hold on, now I'm just articulating my thoughts... hmmm. Maybe someone will find this interesting. Or disturbing. I find it disturbing myself to be honest, but I see evidence for this everywhere I look, horrible as it sounds. I see nonpeople being stupid and... non... everywhere I look. Maybe I'm just soulless. Maybe its just 4am.

In conclusion, I should not be allowed to have children, as I would happily experiment on them psychologically during thier most impressionable growth periods.

"I see non people."

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ignorance really is bliss.

Phage

Some people are stupid. Some people are smart. It is very rare that an individual person is stupid or smart all the time.

It is tempting to think that there is a class of people who are always stupid, and lament about the state of things among your group of "smart" people. You might classify someone as a "nonperson", but they probably go home and complain about the brainwashed sales assistant mindlessly crowing about sales and useless information when they were obviously not interested.

Gatorade Frost has an excellent point; Americans are not idiots. Sometimes we do stupid stuff, but we have not become utter morons. This goes for other countries as well. Gatorade Frost, you say that you do not consider yourself to be wise, but I say that you are as wise as anyone can hope to become. You understand your realm of experience, are not afraid to express your opinions, and take care not to dismiss others as completely without merit. I would encourage you to philosophise because as you pointed out, to become good at something requires experience.

d*d

As a european I have to say that it does look like that sometimes.
anyway I think tommy lee jones in Men in Black said it best 'a person is clever, people are dumb stupid and panicky'
don't judge others by your standards and don't think that because you hold one set of values that so does everyone else, you hang around with people of the same mindset because you get on, but try not to forget that there are a lot of ignorant people (and not just in America, you just publicize it best)

jbw97361

I think that there are the same number of sheeples as there ever were. In the past, these people simply died in a war for their kingdom, or were killed by some plague or some other way. Its simply a consequence of living in a safer society; more of the idiots survive.

Furthermore, the idiots tend to have more children than smart people who are off learning how to play the piano or something.

Conclusion: smart independent people should have more kids.

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JBW

Disk_Pusher

There is no guarentee that a child of the most intelligent, independent, and foreward thinking people will turn out like them. I come from a conservative Republican family - and I'm nothing like the people who raised me, idealogically or otherwise. I think the only thing that should be taught but never can be is the ability to think for one's self. I got lucky - I learned how to do that, even if it was in a very repressed and sometimes self-defeating way.

I agree that with a rising populaton, the idiot factor goes up, but also, one must take care to not judge a book by it's cover. Are you another idiot on the American treadmill to the grave, or something else? While you are the only person who knows, the people who judge you are often those who see half the story or less.

irateplatypus

because people who die in wars and of disease are less intelligent than those who do not? please... i can't think of two lethal forces that effect themselves more indiscriminately than war and disease.

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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.

~ Winston Churchill

Hain

If you want a criticism of this generation we are in, here's a journal entry of mine: Cry, My Generation. Cry, 'My Beloved Generation?' http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/journal...wentry&e=12418

I have made the distinction of there are humans, monsters, or non-humans.

You're average human is one that will feel all ranges of emotions, hate, love, happiness, sadness, and they will not bottle it up inside to where it causes mental and physical problems. However, humans sometimes are not aware of the damages they can cause to other people which can create monsters.

There are two types of monsters. The first types of monsters are those that deny the existence of happiness. These humanoid creatures are the ones that are bitter, vengeful, cursing everything that would bring happiness. Happiness to them is seen as too temporary of an emotion or can be used against them, making them weaker, less alert. You should be afraid of these monsters because they will act out upon humans for no reason, hurting them any way they can. They will lie, fight, and do anything to inflict their pain onto anyone else, chance to make them monsters.

The second types of monsters are those that deny the existence of sadness. These ones are to be feared of because they will go out of their ways to have any sort of "fun," at any one's expense. It does not matter what you feel, who you feel for, or what you say, it is all for them, everything they do.

The non-person is just one that disregards their emotions all together. They a generally neither good nor bad but they can be trusted at face value with what they say. What difference does it make to them what you feel if they will not reciprocate it? These non-persons deny their emotions because they feel that emotions are just so temporary and inebriating they are better off not dealt with.

In high school I have met all of these "people," and met them still in the real world. Once being one of those depressed vengeful monsters I know what it was like to be one of them. I changed because I have dreams for my future, and being a depressed spiteful prick is not one of them.

My generation, what a hell.

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bigwolf

Don't feel bad each generation has there own. There is in general a part of our society so enamered with itself that it cannot come to grasp with the fact that there are others out there.

Zenir

One important thing to understand is there are echelons in society. Many of those people who prefer to not embetter themselves and focus on here and now will make great middle men, completing jobs you and I both don't get too excited about. Like the repetive motions example, or running a convenience store. There is nothing really wrong with this. This is where I feel most people have the biggest problem. It is really hard to relate with people who attempt not to think or focus on materialistic means sometimes. The important thing to remember is they are making their own choices and make actions based on what they know too. They choose to be ignorant and choose to live their life the way they do, don't let anyone ever convince you otherwise. I think it is sad that there are distinctions between these people, as I once made them too. They are people, they do think, often times they have been strongly convinced not too. Beyond this if it is not your way to try to understand others than it is atleast worthwhile to learn from them, even the greatest fool can stump the wisest man.

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Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.-Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate
(1875-1965)