Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 Ya know, I'm aware that I come off as some kind of fanatic when I go on my screeds about network TV dumbing down America, yada, yada, yada. But this unthinkable OJ stunt is made thinkable -- and potentially profitable -- by the Jerry Springer-ization of our culture. Of the blurring between what's real and what's entertaining and what's meaningful by the media. So contestants go on Survivor and the competition is kind of manufactured. Well, pretty manufactured. But, okay. It's fun. So who cares what's "real"? Who cares that they're saying it's "real" even if it's not?! Lighten up, already. So rappers fake street cred and then somebody gets shot and maybe the label was involved and the artist sells more CD's. That's life, baby. That's the biz. Cain't nobody prove nothin. An' don' it make that CD more interesting?! Too bad, so sad, now hand over the cheddar. "There's a killer in YOUR home right now! Watch 'News At 11' to learn about it!" Thanks to Oliver Stone and the others he's enabled, we routinely watch factual "documentaries" that are absolutely true and amazingly groundbreaking and really important and [well, okay, maybe not true at all, but whatever]. Demand accountability. Stop supporting the slide between "news" and "entertainment" and "whatever." Stand up for your simple values. Don't buy the book. Don't watch the special.
Originally Posted By JohnS1 "How many murders has Jones been accused of, John?" I'm not following this. Who is Jones?
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy I don't know John, but I love that British accent you used in that post. ;-)
Originally Posted By GrandmaNancyO my dear inspector you have to play nice if not then i will leave this place. I have the same standing as you except i am old and you have that yuth to look forward to all these years to come. i will now leave this fine laughing place because you hurt me yet one time to many again.
Originally Posted By GrandmaNancyO my dear inspector you have to play nice if not then i will leave this place. I have the same standing as you except i am old and you have that yuth to look forward to all these years to come. i will now leave this fine laughing place because you hurt me yet one time to many again.
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By jonvn "I'm aware that I come off as some kind of fanatic when I go on my screeds about network TV dumbing down America" No. You're not wrong or a fanatic. America is dumbed down. It also is a harsh, nasty place from where it once was. All you have to do is take a look at what passes for popular culture, tattoos, piercings, and other examples of base blatant stupidity such as political correctness being blithely accepted or encouraged to see where we are headed. But it is not just being dumb. It is the rampant nihilism and sense of meaningless ennui that has infected every aspect of our society. It is bringing down this country from within.
Originally Posted By JohnS1 I agree with most of what you say, Jonvn, except that (IMO) ennui is never meaningless. There are many reasons for being bored or world-weary, perhaps more so today than in many other periods of history. The more things which are thrown at us in the way of fads, high tech gadgets, entertainment, etc., the more people claim they are bored with life. With all the things out there which are supposed to make us happy, the more people show up with symptoms of depression every year. Ironic, really, that the smaller the world grows, the more people wish they could get away from it all. I think that many aspects of today's popular culture simultaneously attract people and repel them. It also seems to me that even as people deride those who follow trends such as piercings and tatoos, they are generally adopting equally bizarre practices themselves. There are no heroes or mentors to follow anymore, either. As soon as you think you have found one, you are dismayed to discover some dark secret which cancels out all that you found heroic or meaningful about that person. There is a real trend toward a collapse in our society, however. You are 100% correct in that assessment, I believe. It seems we are always bragging about the American way as being a new and experimental system of government and way of life - after all, 200-plus years is not that long in terms of other governmental systems. But the often perverted culture which results from the freedoms allowed via that system, may be the very thing which will eventually cause the system of democracy to collapse. No wonder we have so many continuing arguments about capitalism and democracy - some saying that we just haven't let it become free or open enough, and others saying that the freedoms need to be reeled in somewhat and controlled in order for them to work. Who knows what the answer is or where this country will be a few decades from now, let along 100 years from now.
Originally Posted By jonvn "they are generally adopting equally bizarre practices themselves" I don't think I'm adopting any equally bizarre practice of disfiguring myself with ink, or cutting my skin or any of these other insanities. Everyone talks about "freedom," but what it apparently means is freedom to do what one wants regardless as to how it affects others, and not freedom of others to express an opinion as to how that behavior appears to them as. What it comes down to is a simple lack of concern for anyone else other than oneself. That is combined with a defense of foolish behavior and rank stupidity amongst a large portion of the population. Look no further than the "Burning Man" event to see just how mind boggling moronic people have become, and how this activity is vociferously defended. A few decades from now, I suspect this country to be in very bad shape. Almost no one will be voting, most people will not have money and there will be no manufacturing here. The government will simply be broke, unable to do anything regarding the welfare of the people, and there will be no economic basis upon which it will be able to rise up again. Our civil liberties will be curtailed, and everything you do will be watched. Basically, we'll turn into the Soviet Union. Maybe in another century or so, the USA will probably get broken up into smaller pieces, just like the USSR did, and each small piece will have to survive on its own. Kind of sad, but this country seems intent on cutting its own throat. Our enemies couldn't do a better job of it than we have ourselves.
Originally Posted By JohnS1 Right after I wrote what I did, jonvn, I somehow knew you'd zero in on that one sentence of mine! Be assured that I wasn't pointing at you when I said that - I just meant that we are awash with strange and very diametrically opposed practices and beliefs and trends, so much so that you can see three or four kids with safety pins all over their body and dressed in outfits from "Dark Shadows" and they will pass by some body builder types and laugh at them, even as the body builder types are laughing at the couple in designer clothes passing by and talking on their cell phones. And it goes on and on like a chain of people with completely different beliefs and practices, but each of them being laughable by some other group. I think all these "cultural groups" we find ourselves in are attempts to cope with the frenetic and frightening pace of today's world, the information overload if you will, by settling into some fantasy world where designer clothes will make us acceptable, or looking drastically different will help us appear more noticed, or being one with new technology will somehow make us more relevant and involved when we really feel lost and alone. We're getting pretty deep for a Disney site, huh?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>And it goes on and on like a chain of people with completely different beliefs and practices, but each of them being laughable by some other group.<< It's been that way since the dawn of time, and it's one thing that will never change. Without it, writers, cartoonists, stand up comics, preachers, pundits, politicians and military personnel would all be out of work.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj I'll bet if we had more cartoonists at work, all these problems would be solved!
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan mrichmondj, you are a gentleman and a scholar, with wisdom beyond your years. : )
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Basically, we'll turn into the Soviet Union. Maybe in another century or so, the USA will probably get broken up into smaller pieces, just like the USSR did, and each small piece will have to survive on its own.*** Awsome. I always wanted to be president of Hawaii.
