US Politics Mega-thread - Page 898

On November 06 2018 21:40 farvacola wrote:
Further, the idea that technology and progress has separated people from one another is literally a bunch of loaded bullshit.

On November 07 2018 05:35 ReditusSum wrote:

Then why do studies show a rise in social isolation whilst simultaneously showing no significant rise in loneliness?

The easiest answer is that while the apps, games, chatrooms, etc. are all connecting people and fulfilling the one side of social interaction (mitigating loneliness), they are not fulfilling the other side of social interaction, which is physically connecting with other people in common social structures with common social goals. I'm not only talking about Sunday BBQ and sandlot-baseball. Those things are good, and part of the overall idea, but they are over-emphasized when we're talking about the actual fundamentals, which is why I wasn't talking about 1950s nostalgia but specifically said "Church and Town" which goes back much, much further than 1950s. More like 1250.

Which is not to say that we should go back to 1250 or that the medieval man didn't have his own problems, just that a sense of "where do I fit into the world?" did not exist and thus was not a problem. And for most of human history, this was true. Say what you want about the caste system, but one of the primary benefits of the caste system is that you always know where you fit into the world and your specific place in society. As we move away from those systems and into the Enlightenment era of democratization we began very slowly stripping away all of those social markers that defined people for the vast, vast majority of our history. Now we've reached a point unimaginable to any previous generations in that a person has basically full control over every aspect of their social life, down to the most minute details.

Is this good? Sure. Is this bad? Sure. It's different. It has its upsides and its downsides.

On November 07 2018 05:35 ReditusSum wrote:

Then why do studies show a rise in social isolation whilst simultaneously showing no significant rise in loneliness?

The easiest answer is that while the apps, games, chatrooms, etc. are all connecting people and fulfilling the one side of social interaction (mitigating loneliness), they are not fulfilling the other side of social interaction, which is physically connecting with other people in common social structures with common social goals. I'm not only talking about Sunday BBQ and sandlot-baseball. Those things are good, and part of the overall idea, but they are over-emphasized when we're talking about the actual fundamentals, which is why I wasn't talking about 1950s nostalgia but specifically said "Church and Town" which goes back much, much further than 1950s. More like 1250.

Which is not to say that we should go back to 1250 or that the medieval man didn't have his own problems, just that a sense of "where do I fit into the world?" did not exist and thus was not a problem. And for most of human history, this was true. Say what you want about the caste system, but one of the primary benefits of the caste system is that you always know where you fit into the world and your specific place in society. As we move away from those systems and into the Enlightenment era of democratization we began very slowly stripping away all of those social markers that defined people for the vast, vast majority of our history. Now we've reached a point unimaginable to any previous generations in that a person has basically full control over every aspect of their social life, down to the most minute details.

Is this good? Sure. Is this bad? Sure. It's different. It has its upsides and its downsides.

On November 07 2018 07:15 JimmiC wrote:


Yes I think people questioning their place in the world is more or less a luxury problem, in the sense that previously in history people only had time worry about how they were going to get food, or survive bad weather, or survive bandits or wars or what have you.

On November 07 2018 07:45 Dangermousecatdog wrote:I'm having a hard time taking you seriously when 1250 medieval Europe was brutally violent and 90% of people knew where they fit...as basically slaves, stuck to the land they were born on, needing permission from their master and lord to marry, at the mercy of roaming bandits and mercenaries, till they were called up to a levy during one of the incessant high level conflicts endemic to the time and era, where they will probably die to disease and run away in battle to become said mercenaries and bandits in a foreign area. I'm sure they didn't think of themselves as slaves, but that's because that's what the social religious system ensures - that the peasants are content to be slaves; the chains are in their minds, not on their ankles.

On November 07 2018 08:13 plasmidghost wrote:
I wonder how many people's votes were directly influenced by the Kavanaugh debacle. Has any pollster asked that question?