Human's Becoming Stupid?

[tinyj316]

I've interpolated my reply.

Speaking of screwups, lets talk about teen pregnancy. The local high school in my town has a day care center in it...and its for students to leave their kids while they get their high school diploma in a traditional setting. THE HIGH SCHOOL HAS A DAY CARE FOR THE STUDENTS! The school district also teaches an abstinence only cirriculum, and bans anyone from distributing contraceptives or teaching safe sex practices on school property. As a result, these kids don't get any primer on how to effectively use birth control, they don't know their options, and so they just don't do it, resulting in an astronomically high teen pregnancy rate in our county. The local churches don't do anything to curb this either, as they see these kids getting pregnant as a sign from god that their membership and tithing will increase, dispite the fact that these kids have broken god's law and will be going to hell. I work at the local community college, an just today there was a 19 year old girl who came in to sign up for GED classes and was juggling 4 kids ranging in age from 3 years to 3 months... age 19, and she has 4 kids already... This poor girl's life is over because she couldn't keep her legs closed. Not only that, but she's breeding the next generation of impoverished and genetically (intelligence wise) inferior children.

Why do you find your local high school's day care contemptible? While it might add to some teenage irresponsibility - if the teenagers somehow believe that they can make serious choices, like getting pregnant, without regard to bearing the complete responsibility of those choices' consequences - it also provides for a means for those young teen mothers to complete their high school education more easily given their circumstances. Put another way, your district seems to want these young women to finish their education, which is, I think, a good thing.

Also, your characterization of the lack of church involvement dealing with teen pregnancy in your area I find a bit cynical, if not unfairly impugning. Even if we accept the fact that local churches in your area seem to do nothing to help solve this problem, in terms of providing for these teens or otherwise educating them about the responsibilities of parenthood, which might sufficiently warn teens away from their early pregnancies, to make the leap that their reasons are to increase their flock of otherwise damned souls, as you say, attempts to prove the impossible.

I can only imagine what you see on a daily basis given your work, but your take on the teen mother you encountered recently seems rather patronizing: "This poor girl's life is over..." While her choice to become a mother so early in life might not have been wise, her attempt to secure continued education, if anything, demonstrates the opposite of an ended life. Likewise, that you say "she's breeding the next generation of impoverished and genetically (intelligence wise) inferior children" reaffirms my assessment: patronizing, but now perhaps we can add insulting.

Now lets get to the fact that we have to warn people about everything and constantly cover your ass. I think this is a double edged sword. True, there are some genuinely stupid people out there who need to be told that coffee is hot, or that smoking can cause cancer, etc. But there are also plenty of people out there who are just greedy, and looking to exploit the fact that they should have to be warned about something because they could be of substandard intelligence. While its tragic that the former are that ignorant, its even more tragic that the latter can get away with these exploits through our "wonderful" justice system (again, another thread).

We should admit that our society has grown more litigious, but I don't know whether we can trace the trend to greed or ineptitude. I know you used the McDonald's coffee case as an example of the trend, but most people don't know the facts of that particular case: (again) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._Mc...27s_Restaurants.

Actually, I didn't use the McDonald's coffee as an example. I merely stated that we have warning labels on everything these days, coffee being one of them. I believe we are both in agreement that its ineptitude and/or greed that comprise the "frivolous" lawsuits.

Back to the daycare center in the school. The program started off as a teaching method for girls who wanted to become child care workers. Which is a good thing. Give them a hands on learning method that will work...But then, when kids started to get pregnant, they didn't know what to do with their kids while they were going to school, since their parents wouldn't let them drop out (i'm making an assumption) or they felt compelled to stay in a public school setting, they left the kids at the daycare center while they went to class. Subsequently, with the increase in teen pregnancy, the school district moved to an abstinence only curriculum in an effort to teach kids that the only way to live a sexually healthy life is to abstain from sex (at the same time, they banned the distribution of contraceptives on school grounds, and prohibited the local clinic from coming in and talking about pregnancy, STIs, effective condom use, birth control options, etc.) Well, the kids saw through this, as they had friends who were pregnant and were getting along "just fine" with their children while living with their parents or collecting childcare assistance/wic/welfare. So now the issue is, teen pregnancy rates are through the roof in my county. The drop out rate is starting to get higher now too, as the school is starting to cut back its child care service due to budget restraints. What can be done? The local churches are rallying around for increased funding to the abstinence education programs, the outraged leftwingers are pushing for a sexual education course, and the school is sitting on its thumb and telling the drop outs to go up to the community college to get their GED and continue their education in a more adult environment (which I think might end up helping in the long run). By weeding the mothers out of the student base at that age level, it hides the fact that there are mothers amongst the students, it gets a lot of the baby talk out of the school, thus squalshing the situation to an extent. 20 years ago, when a girl got pregnant when she was in high school, she left school. Why should we cater to these girls now? I know I sound like an asshole about it... but man... most of them can't handle the pressures of high school as it is, let alone adding a child to the mix. As for the girl with 4 kids at age 19... her life is going to be hard. I give her props for getting her GED, but what is she going to do with it? At the moment, she has 4 young kids that she needs to take care of. She can't work a conventional job--she has nobody to watch the kids. She's on welfare and child support (one of her baby daddy's is in jail, the other works at the casino... not a very high paying job). She can barely afford her GED class. How can that GED help her at this point in time, other than giving her the satisfaction of knowing she's getting a general equivilency diploma. While I can't speak to her grades in that class, I do know that poverty levels tend to correspond to education levels.

So yes... I guess I am being patronizing and insulting... but franky, I don't give a damn. She made her bed (4 times), she can sleep in it. What's wrong with telling people they f-ed up? I don't see the point in tip-toeing around them, making them feel better for themselves. Let her prove me wrong--if she does, I will retract my statements.

on a side note, darwin was a bitch who stole his work, and was sent to the ship because his parents wanted to get rid of him

While what you said is more than likely true, the fact is, people associate the name Darwin with the whole natural selection theory.

Catholic Bibles have 7 more books than Protestant Bibles, but these books are not scripture, they are merely reference material. Other books were considered and rejected by the council of Trent. In most cases, you can go and buy these books at Borders and read them, should you want. Knock yourself out.

Thank you for explaining the whole King James thing to me. I knew that somewhere back in time, the decision was made as to what was scripture and what was not. King James, I appologize... Council of Trent, I'm coming after you. What I'm getting at with my original statement is that the council of Trent decided what is scripture, and what is not. Who the hell were they to decide? What makes the apocrypha any less scripture than Matthew-John... What makes the book of Psalms scripture? Why isn't the book of Enoch considered scripture? Its referenced in the book of Jude and in 1 Kings. Get what I'm saying? Many people believe that the bible is the word of god. In actuallity, its the word of man and his relationship with god....okay, this needs its own thread... but my point is, religion has no place in the public school system. NONE. If you want your kid to have a religious upbringing and learn only christian based theory on education, then put them in a private school. Chances are, you can get away with it on the cheap because of NCLB.

[Sonthert]

Back on topic, I feel that less education or "Dumber" is going to lead to some pretty dramatic changes in the United States. I would go so far as to say, without dumbed-down populace, fascism is impossible...so is this whole dumbing down part of an organized conspiracy...a step towards the thin end of the wedge, of totalitarianism, is it inadvertant? Is it an accident or intentional? What are your guys thoughts on the matter? If it is planned, who's behind it?

These questions remind me of a conversation we had! (probably conversations)

I don't even know whether I would (in the end) say we're getting dumber or less educated. Could we not be employing outmoded categories or methods of assessment to arrive at the conclusion that we're less intelligent than before? This is anecdotal, but, in college, I remember reviewing research of children who played (excessive amounts of?) video games. The researchers concluded something to the effect that those kids developed a host of talents and abilities not before experienced, or otherwise measured by our traditional indicators, like standardized testing. Likewise, these kids have adapted to overstimulation (they can multitask better, in other words) in amounts that would have driven their parents and grandparents crazy. When we test these kids according to measures not designed to measure these new adaptations and talents, they seem to fall short. The researchers, I believe, were arguing that our current methods of testing and measurement might reveal lessened intelligence, but simply because those measures were never designed to assess these new talents or ways of computation. BS? - perhaps. But, I think we should, at least, entertain the possibility that how we've measured "intelligence," or such things as reasoning ability (e.g. SATs) might not show the totality of what's going on.

Even if I do agree with Eric on this point that "without dumbed-down populace, fascism is impossible," can we say that an educated populace makes fascism less likely or impossible? My lack of historical knowledge might lead me astray here, but how do we account for Hitler's Germany? - Were the pre-WWII Germans dumbed down, and thus more susceptible to fascism? I can see how an effective fascist campaign might thrive in a dumbed-down society, for sure, which is perhaps why as a priority fascist governments work to remove(?) the intellectual class - but those intellectuals preexist the fascist regime, no? - So, how then does the process of fascistization take root in a society with an intellectual class (in the first place)? Perhaps by some gradualist approach.

Organized conspiracy? - I'm even more loathe to disagree on that.

I agree to a large extent, the only problem is, being part of human civilization has requirements to be happy and productive. The skills they are developing don't promote being happy and productive. Saying we need to reevaluate how we classify is like saying too many children are failing, so we need to add a letter between a 'D' and an 'F', so fewer children are failures. Changing the criteria doesn't change the quantifiable value of the individual in society, in either sense. If these games stimulated skills that were productive in society, nobody would consider reclassifying the evaluation uptake.

At the risk of sounding flippant or irreverent, I find the idea of redefining humanity to shuffle under our failure to be ignominy and repugnant. There is a standard for the achievement of humans that has stood as long as we have existed, that is an element in the upward march of humanity. To let apologists pat people on the head for their failure and not take people to task for same is an affront to any sense of morality that might exist, it is an abomination before the eyes of God and Man. When mediocrity is explained away, our species has lost all claim to being higher than the animals. If we can't understand intrinsically and instinctively what makes one human good and proper and another one loathsome and a failure, then humanity is but an offensive plague on the face of the Earth and I fervently deny this.

I think you agree with my perspective, too, Jason. Me suspects a feint suggestion in your post.

[judgeposer]

I agree to a large extent, the only problem is, being part of human civilization has requirements to be happy and productive. The skills they are developing don't promote being happy and productive. Saying we need to reevaluate how we classify is like saying too many children are failing, so we need to add a letter between a 'D' and an 'F', so fewer children are failures. Changing the criteria doesn't change the quantifiable value of the individual in society, in either sense. If these games stimulated skills that were productive in society, nobody would consider reclassifying the evaluation uptake.

These skills might produce happiness, but, I would agree, whether these skills can translate into productiveness, seems counterintuitive - most charitably put.

I think the criticism you raise, that reevaluating how we measure children's success might avoid the problem that they might truly just not as successful anymore. That's entirely possible. I do agree - and that any reevaluation might merely hide true failure or at least not accurately deal with objective decline.

At the risk of sounding flippant or irreverent, I find the idea of redefining humanity to shuffle under our failure to be ignominy and repugnant. There is a standard for the achievement of humans that has stood as long as we have existed, that is an element in the upward march of humanity. To let apologists pat people on the head for their failure and not take people to task for same is an affront to any sense of morality that might exist, it is an abomination before the eyes of God and Man. When mediocrity is explained away, our species has lost all claim to being higher than the animals. If we can't understand intrinsically and instinctively what makes one human good and proper and another one loathsome and a failure, then humanity is but an offensive plague on the face of the Earth and I fervently deny this.

I think you agree with my perspective, too, Jason. Me suspects a feint suggestion in your post.

Yeah, I do agree, (I think). I love that last bit of yours: "If we can't understand intrinsically and instinctively what makes one human good and proper and another one loathsome and a failure, then humanity is but an offensive plague on the face of the Earth and I fervently deny this."

[judgeposer]

I think its axiomatic that questioning and deciding each moral point for oneself is harder than just accepting what the church preaches. It certainly is disdain. Good word for it. Not of believers, but of processed, pre-packaged morality and established religion. I agree fundamentally with any person that has carefully considered the issues that apply to their life. I was applying laziness in two different senses, too.

Eric, I just wanted to comment on this paragraph you wrote in an earlier reply. I don't disagree with it, but just wanted to add a comment for us (the board) to consider.

I've grown convinced that most of us don't care to choose one ethical system (e.g. utilitarianism, Aristotelianism, Libertarianism, etc.) by which to make moral choices; instead, as I see it, we tend to pick and choose different approaches to answer different moral questions. This is just one dimension of our society's moral relativism. I think that's shoddy behavior, but I won't elaborate here why. For those of us who do commit to an ethical system, one method/school, while we cannot predict what choices await us, we do know at least how we will approach making those choices - for each system has a distinct methodology.

We have among us those who answer those same moral questions according to their religious faith, that is to specify those individuals who use their church's doctrine on moral issues as guideposts for their own moral questions.

How are the two camps of people indistinct? (The camps being: 1. those who commit to one ethical system; and 2. those who's ethical system mirrors their church's doctrine). The two camps, I'd offer, are indistinct. The first has made the prior decision to commit to an ethical system while not necessarily knowing what future moral questions she will encounter, but she does know the method by which she will have to decide the answer. The second, as I see it, has done much the same. The second has chosen to commit to a church that provides answers to moral questions, too not knowing what future questions she will have to answer, but she does know the source she will consult for those answers. Again, do you (or does anyone) see a distinction between the two?

((Of course, if you believe that committing to one ethical system/school of thought is itself something bad, then, then my question smacks of irrelevance.))

[mustang_steve]

OK, I have another golden example of how stupid people have become.

I have right in front of me a bag of Deerfield Farms Pistachios (Walgreens brand, two for $7, not bad)....well I flipped it around to the back and noticed the following:

ALLERGY INFORMATION:
Contains Pistachios

Now what the fuck.....seriously? Who whould have thought a bag of Pistachios contains Pistachios....it's crap like this that makes me certain that people are in fact getting increasingly stupid.

[judgeposer]

OK, I have another golden example of how stupid people have become.

I have right in front of me a bag of Deerfield Farms Pistachios (Walgreens brand, two for $7, not bad)....well I flipped it around to the back and noticed the following:

ALLERGY INFORMATION:
Contains Pistachios

Now what the fuck.....seriously? Who whould have thought a bag of Pistachios contains Pistachios....it's crap like this that makes me certain that people are in fact getting increasingly stupid.

Good one! Nice find.

[Soaked In Lime]

They do it because of law-suites. These days people will find anyway to sue someone/anyone to get money. People are stupid and greedy. They put warning labels on everything for future law-suit claims. People think, "well...if theres no warning on it then I should do it." There have been some really stupid law-suits that are just unbelieveable. A little ago some chick suied Mcdonalds because she spilled her hot coffee on her lap. AND SHE WON.

[Philimanjaro]

Idiocracy. 'Nuff said.

[noodle]

I've seen warnings like that on boxes of Shredded Wheat (contains wheat) and Corn Flakes (contains corn).

[Chreees]

[quote name='Soaked In Lime' timestamp='1240335199' post='362632']
They do it because of law-suites. These days people will find anyway to sue someone/anyone to get money. People are stupid and greedy. They put warning labels on everything for future law-suit claims. People think, "well...if theres no warning on it then I should do it." There have been some really stupid law-suits that are just unbelieveable. A little ago some chick suied Mcdonalds because she spilled her hot coffee on her lap. AND SHE WON.
[/quote]

Man, and how she won is beyond me...

[Cp44]

^^of course she won, McDonalds doesnt want the bad publicity, its easier and cheaper to pay that person off. But yea that lady was an idiot.

[Chreees]

Yeah you're right... I'm even learning this shit in Media Law and I didn't even think about that.

[mustafabey]

This just in:

[url="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1343093/Human-brain-shrinking-20-000-years.html#ixzz19kdEyvLY"]becoming stupid[/url]

[nun]

[quote name='Sonthert' timestamp='1239625832' post='359569']
100 years ago, in the United States, we were competitive with Europe in that a high school graduate knew as much, more or less, as a college graduate does now. It was free, of course, to get to that level of education, while in this day and age, you have to pay for it. A 12 year old was as educated as high school graduates are now. Stepping away from people 12-16 working, has made it necessary to waste four years of peak mental development for every American child. The optimal learning time for a child is from 6-12. 12 year olds should be ready to move into a modern college level environment. Also, the age-segregated educational level we use is a failure. Europe makes it work, but moves children along much faster. This general lack of education is what makes it seem like we're dumber. For instance, the percentage of Americans who believe in god, disbelieve in evolution, teen pregnancy rates, all connected with lack of education.[b] Look up the percentage of Germans who participate in religion or believe in god, compared to Americans[/b]. Lack of education breeds belief in god. The religious right in America doesn't want us to be educated so it has more tithers.
[/quote]

cheaper to be an atheist than a christian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe#Germany

I would blame TV and hollywood for making us stupid.

[thatonethere]

I'm about to go on a bit of a rant, so please bear with me:

I think there are several factors as to why we are so stupid. First of all, American society prides sports, over education. It can be seen in schools across the country. I can't count how many instances where the ball players were favored over the kids that had good grades when I was growing up. And that has been true for a very, very long time now. The average sports star makes millions by playing a game while the person with a PHD can teach school, or has to do a lot of traveling in order to find a job where they can apply their credentials simply because the job market says education will get you the dollars, but then again, when you make as much as a ball player, who needs education (?). Another reason that might play into the stupidity factor is that the school system is only designed for rote memorization. We hold the info given to us by the teacher, return it to them when it's asked for on a test so we could get good grades, and then get rid of the information after we're done with the class just so we can pass.

A third factor could be related to over exposure to technology. Technology isolates people to the point where they don't really get to learn how to fully interact with people. I'm not going to lie; I love my Ipod, PS3, and I can't live without the internet, but people are connected way too much. We have everything available at our fingertips. We no longer have to learn to read a map because our mobile GPS systems can do it for us and tell us when to turn. We communicate with each other via texting, e-mail, and various other forms that don't allow us to read facial expressions, body language, detect sarcasm, etc. Kids used to go outside and play an interactive game with each other. Now kids go into the house and play the video game with each other without having to leave their houses thanks to the internet connection to their consoles. There are neighborhoods where you'd never know there were children in them because all of them go inside, and keep the doors locked. Plus, parents can't keep an eye on their children 24/7, so there are some who'd prefer the kids play online games as long as they are safe inside and in their plain view. That brings me to another thing that could be making people more stupid, which is "fear". Everybody and anybody can be dangerous. Instead of teaching the child this, we prefer to keep the kids in the house, we drive them to school instead of letting them walk or catch the bus, which effectively minimizes the chance for the kid to come in contact with another person other than their classmates, teachers and family. There are some instances where the child just goes home and does nothing until it's time to go back to school. Their stimuli never changes, it's the same thing day in and day out. They know exactly what to expect each day, so they aren't making any new connections in their brains. On top of that, society, and television tells us what to do, where to go, how to do it, and today's thing to be afraid of. If we don't find anything out for ourselves through experience, we turn into mindless drones who constantly need to be told what to do, think, and feel. As a result, you have a people who are unable to interact with each other, unable to make their own decisions, lack critical thinking skills, and have to be told what to be afraid of and when. Fear also explains why people can win frivilous lawsuits. Everybody is afraid of bad publicity, so they'll go ahead and settle for whatever amount both parties agree on. We live in a litigation nation driven on fear. If the right person comes along and triggers fear in the right company/person, school district, etc, then that establishment will jump and move in any way possible to avoid anything bad. Instead of calling anybody out on their bullshit, we are happy to keep the peace by any means necessary. If that means we have to pass the Varsity quarterback on the high school football team that has a F- GPA so the school can go to the State Championship, hide bad situations by sweeping them under the rug in any way, shape or form, or keep your kids under lock and key to avoid trouble, then it'll get done. Nevermind the future consequences, because we want instant gratification and have no time to look past that right now.

Sorry for the long post, but my rant is based on what I've seen and dealt with on a daily basis. I'm sure there are many, many, many more reasons why we are getting dumber and dumber, but I'll end my rant where it is. Edited January 9, 2011 by thatonethere

[mustafabey]

[quote name='thatonethere' timestamp='1294564465' post='493841']
I'm about to go on a bit of a rant, so please bear with me:

I think there are several factors as to why we are so stupid. First of all, American society prides sports, over education. It can be seen in schools across the country. I can't count how many instances where the ball players were favored over the kids that had good grades when I was growing up. And that has been true for a very, very long time now. The average sports star makes millions by playing a game while the person with a PHD can teach school, or has to do a lot of traveling in order to find a job where they can apply their credentials simply because the job market says education will get you the dollars, but then again, when you make as much as a ball player, who needs education (?). Another reason that might play into the stupidity factor is that the school system is only designed for rote memorization. We hold the info given to us by the teacher, return it to them when it's asked for on a test so we could get good grades, and then get rid of the information after we're done with the class just so we can pass.

A third factor could be related to over exposure to technology. Technology isolates people to the point where they don't really get to learn how to fully interact with people. I'm not going to lie; I love my Ipod, PS3, and I can't live without the internet, but people are connected way too much. We have everything available at our fingertips. We no longer have to learn to read a map because our mobile GPS systems can do it for us and tell us when to turn. We communicate with each other via texting, e-mail, and various other forms that don't allow us to read facial expressions, body language, detect sarcasm, etc. Kids used to go outside and play an interactive game with each other. Now kids go into the house and play the video game with each other without having to leave their houses thanks to the internet connection to their consoles. There are neighborhoods where you'd never know there were children in them because all of them go inside, and keep the doors locked. Plus, parents can't keep an eye on their children 24/7, so there are some who'd prefer the kids play online games as long as they are safe inside and in their plain view. That brings me to another thing that could be making people more stupid, which is "fear". Everybody and anybody can be dangerous. Instead of teaching the child this, we prefer to keep the kids in the house, we drive them to school instead of letting them walk or catch the bus, which effectively minimizes the chance for the kid to come in contact with another person other than their classmates, teachers and family. There are some instances where the child just goes home and does nothing until it's time to go back to school. Their stimuli never changes, it's the same thing day in and day out. They know exactly what to expect each day, so they aren't making any new connections in their brains. On top of that, society, and television tells us what to do, where to go, how to do it, and today's thing to be afraid of. If we don't find anything out for ourselves through experience, we turn into mindless drones who constantly need to be told what to do, think, and feel. As a result, you have a people who are unable to interact with each other, unable to make their own decisions, lack critical thinking skills, and have to be told what to be afraid of and when. Fear also explains why people can win frivilous lawsuits. Everybody is afraid of bad publicity, so they'll go ahead and settle for whatever amount both parties agree on. We live in a litigation nation driven on fear. If the right person comes along and triggers fear in the right company/person, school district, etc, then that establishment will jump and move in any way possible to avoid anything bad. Instead of calling anybody out on their bullshit, we are happy to keep the peace by any means necessary. If that means we have to pass the Varsity quarterback on the high school football team that has a F- GPA so the school can go to the State Championship, hide bad situations by sweeping them under the rug in any way, shape or form, or keep your kids under lock and key to avoid trouble, then it'll get done. Nevermind the future consequences, because we want instant gratification and have no time to look past that right now.

Sorry for the long post, but my rant is based on what I've seen and dealt with on a daily basis. I'm sure there are many, many, many more reasons why we are getting dumber and dumber, but I'll end my rant where it is.
[/quote]

Excellent commentary!!! Now we have to figure out how to integrate these massive technological advances with our society and education system so that our kids get the right combinations to suceed in all aspects of life. Thats going to be difficult. As the industrial revolution greatly changed society in the 18th-20th centuries so it will be with tech revolution in the 21st and succeeding centuries.

[CarePolice]

We're not becoming stupid. There has always been a group of idiots within our species. They stick out because people don't care about the honor-roll students that cured this or that, they really just like laughing at idiots. Stupidity is easier to laugh at because of media, so it's not making us stupid, it's just opening our eyes at last.

I can promise you that if they'd had warning labels in medieval Europe, one would have read, "Caution: Blade is sharp, do not hold blade with your hand" and someone would do it.

P.S. The lady with the McDonald's lawsuit may not be as stupid as you think. She may be cold and vicious exploiting her children, but she's probably got more money than any of us do and she played her cards well. If you ask me, that was simply a case for America's obsession with suing. Suing is an easy way to get money in many cases. Money = survival = basic instincts, whether anyone needs a million dollars or not, that instinct still comes into play. It was bound to happen.

P.S.S. Sorry, don't want to derail. Continue.

[thatonethere]

[quote name='CarePolice' timestamp='1294693822' post='493921']
[b]We're not becoming stupid. There has always been a group of idiots within our species. They stick out because people don't care about the honor-roll students that cured this or that, they really just like laughing at idiots. Stupidity is easier to laugh at because of media, so it's not making us stupid, it's just opening our eyes at last.
[/b]
[b]I can promise you that if they'd had warning labels in medieval Europe, one would have read, "Caution: Blade is sharp, do not hold blade with your hand" and someone would do it.[/b]

P.S. The lady with the McDonald's lawsuit may not be as stupid as you think. She may be cold and vicious exploiting her children, but she's probably got more money than any of us do and she played her cards well. If you ask me, that was simply a case for America's obsession with suing. Suing is an easy way to get money in many cases. Money = survival = basic instincts, whether anyone needs a million dollars or not, that instinct still comes into play. It was bound to happen.

P.S.S. Sorry, don't want to derail. Continue.
[/quote]


That may be the case. From what I've heard about the past, people would just pay no mind to the so called "idiots", or put those who were deemed as "idiots" or social outcasts in the asylum, never to be seen again. Now, idiots get reality tv shows or show cased by various other methods.I don't know about the warning label thing though. I think we need dumb warning labels on things just to prevent people from attempting to sue. I don't think the Mc Donald's lady was stupid at all. She knew how to exploit the system. She was very crafty indeed. Someone mentioned that they wished the judge could say "You burned yourself on coffee. You know that coffee is hot. GTFO" or something of that nature. Edited January 11, 2011 by thatonethere

[thatonethere]

[quote name='mustafabey' timestamp='1294677791' post='493902']

Excellent commentary!!! Now we have to figure out how to integrate these massive technological advances with our society and education system so that our kids get the right combinations to suceed in all aspects of life. Thats going to be difficult. As the industrial revolution greatly changed society in the 18th-20th centuries so it will be with tech revolution in the 21st and succeeding centuries.
[/quote]

In order to integrate technology into the education system is to rebuild it first. There are several ways to learn something, and I think we have gotten out of touch with it. How many of us actually read books? Do we still go to the library? Do we do apprenticeships for the genuine sake of learning, or to simply jump through a hoop to complete a degree? But who can blame us? We are busy chasing dollars to pay for the roof over our heads, child college funds,food for our tables, bills, and that student loan. We have deadlines to meet, children's lives to over schedule so they have no time to get in trouble from trying to figure themselves out without mom or dad nearby. Plus, "we got shit to do". When we are done, all we want to do is sit home and relax, via TV, PC ,video game, or viewing forums at best. We spend a lot of time mostly not thinking too much or saying anything that provokes thought. I'm the same way. I usually go home at the end of a work week, get a movie, and smoke hookah. At best, I include reading a book or visiting friends.

The education system is definitely a victim of laziness and fear as well. There are programs in place where a certain percentage of children have to pass so they can continue to get funding. Nevermind that the teachers don't really give a damn as long as they continue to have a "good government job", and the administration will kill to make sure they continue to look good. It's all about getting money.

We have gotten lazy and scared. In order to teach people to use their brains, we must not handle them with kid gloves because of fear. I agree with the person who said that the judge should have told that Mc Donald's woman to GTFO. I guess the judge didn't want to deny the woman a fair trial or something. I could only imagine the discussion between the judges on whose getting stuck with the case.

At any rate, back to the discussion.

[birdmankustomz]

I think that people aren't getting stupider, but they are getting more reliant on technology and have less and less common sense (insert the hundreds of teen girls texting while driving, a situation that almost got me killed riding with a friend of mine). First post here so... hey, whats up

[nectar]

[quote name='ColibriDon' timestamp='1239246702' post='358027']
It's just people covering their asses. Of course we know coffee is hot and curling irons are for external use only (Although what "internal" things need curling is beyond me...but that's probably not what they mean *shudders*). Companies are tired of losing their money to desperate morons who can do nothing in life but exploit a judicial system for undeserved rewards.

The fact that these judges/juries give them anything is what annoys me. "It's coffee, it's hot, you're an idiot. GTFO."
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It's really all about how easy it is to win in a half insane court case, i know to many people who live there lives in hopes that they can win that "one huge case" so they can do nothing the rest of there lives. It's the modern American Dream.

[blucker]

[quote name='GNUWorldOrder' timestamp='1239212407' post='357849']
yes, ever turn on a tv or look through the magazine isle in a store? most of the labels are to stop liability or put on because someone sued over something retarded like spilling coffee on their crotch.
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unfortunately this is all too true...