The dehumanization of people in American culture

With the increase in suicides and drug overdoses something is obviously clear... people are feeling left out.

Suicides

The trend is clear: Rural America is literally fading away. It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, that the opioid overdose epidemic has hit rural states, like Kentucky and West Virginia, especially hard. And the latest research from the CDC also shouldn't come as a surprise: Suicides in rural America (labeled as non-core) have increased over 40% in 16 years.

I am not in a rural area and suicide and drug overdoses are so common here we just except it, in a town of a population of 50k.

From 1999 to 2015, suicide rates increased everywhere in America. On average, across the U.S., suicides increased from 12.2 per 100,000 to 15.7 per 100,0002, an increase of just under 30%. However, in rural America, the suicide rate surged over 40%3, from just over 15 per 100,000 to roughly 22 per 100,000. Similarly, the suicide rate in micropolitan areas (defined as having a population between 10,000-49,999) went from 14 per 100,000 to 19 per 100,000, an increase of around 35%.

Drug overdose death charts by drug

Overdose deaths leading cause of death under 50

Overdoses are now the leading cause of death of Americans under the age of 50. According to preliminary data compiled by The New York Times, deaths last year likely topped 59,000 -- 19 percent more than the year before. In Ohio, they were up even more.

Mostly self entitled brats from the millenial generation... the ones most affected by the economic downturn of the "great recession". So it's really no big surprise most of them deserve it anyway right?

Millennials earn 20% less than boomers at same age

With a median household income of $40,581, millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a new analysis of Federal Reserve data by the advocacy group Young Invincibles.

Cause they are lazy good for nothings.

Mill's working longer hours

A recent survey from Bankrate said 53 percent of workers ages 18 to 35 will not take at least some of their paid vacation for 2016. The personal finance site polled 1,000 adults in the U.S. from Dec. 8 to Dec. 11.

Ok ok ok. I get it they are lazy but that's not the subject of this thread.

The point I am making here is that the suicide rate and drug overdose rate directly correlates to the dehumanization of the workforce and the dehumanization of people in general in American culture. We have become nothing but a number to increase the bottom line or a way to increase our conviction rate as a DA, we are simply nothing but a number in a qualitative assessment.

Something is very wrong in this country and we need to start making some big changes asap.

a reply to: toysforadults

It's not just the US, but otherwise: bravo!

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: toysforadults

It's not just the US, but otherwise: bravo!

I haven't had the opportunity to travel out of the country so I can only speak on what I know, but please do share.

I've watched friends dropping like flies.
It seems to be more common than it used to be.
The closest I had to a sister...been friends since we were children...
Two shots to the chest with a .45.
Investigation ruled it suicide.
How the hell is that even possible?
I know a few that will be no surprise if it happens.

a reply to: skunkape23

The amount of crap I've seen happen to my age group is insane. I think the economic downturn of 2008 did some real serious damage along with the rise of gangsta rap culture in the 90's.

I know it seems crazy to blame music but the facts are that the music had a massive impact on our inner city culture regardless.

Oh and I am a fan of hip-hop so.

Also, now that I think of it, it kind of hit out of the blue. When I was a teenager big drugs weren't really aroung on pot and drinking but BOOM all of a sudden everyone was on heroine overnight.

Lucky I fell in love with boxing.

You have to also factor in the rise in empty self-esteem and narcissism.

Kids are raised being told they are special for nothing more than breathing and they get out in the world and find out that's not true. The world doesn't coddle them like they were coddled all through their growing up years.

And you are talking about the social media and selfie kids too who post everything about themselves for empty "likes" online.

There is also this:

Obamacare won't pay for back surgery; will pay for opioids.

Joe is one of the many victims of Obamacare. His doctors say he needs surgery to repair the nerve damage in his lower back and pelvis, but his insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, won’t cover it. In most of North Carolina, including Union County where Joe and his family live, Blue Cross is the only health insurer still offering coverage on the exchanges established by Obamacare. The only treatment Blue Cross will cover for Joe is pain medication—a battery of prescription drugs he must take daily, including what he calls “comatose-inducing” muscle-relaxers and opioids.

Joe needs surgery, but his insurance only covers those pain pills Obama referenced. Remember how he said they were more compassionate in some cases? Of course, Joe is only 41, but I'm sure that's a bug not a feature.

Joe has not choice while this thing collapses though and there is no reason to think government would care for him much better. A single payer system might not be any more compassionate about his issues.

Anyhow, there is the constant sneering people in the media do toward people who live and work anywhere except in the very largest cities. We are unsophisticated, ignorant rubes and not worthy of serious consideration. Anyone who's anyone knows if we really wanted to be worthwhile we'd all be and think progressive and move to the big cities like the other technocrats, and if we can't, then we're losers.

And that is the attitude you get day in and day out. Its amounts to subtle psychological warfare against entire areas of the country.

a reply to: ketsuko

I agree the internet plays a large roll in what's happening globally.

We were not prepared for the explosion of the internet.

My father told me that one day all of sudden computers where everywhere and the internet was everywhere. He said my age group didn't see it happen like his did. I think he's right.

The good news is that the Gen Y kids are used to dealing with it and seem to be more level headed then the 25-45 year olds.

The doctor issue relates to my perspective on people being seen as a bottom line and the loss of connection between the dollars being produced and who's actually producing them.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: skunkape23

The amount of crap I've seen happen to my age group is insane. I think the economic downturn of 2008 did some real serious damage along with the rise of gangsta rap culture in the 90's.

I know it seems crazy to blame music but the facts are that the music had a massive impact on our inner city culture regardless.

Music has had a counter culture impact in the U.S. for quite some time. The 60's for instance. Although, you could say an increased glorification of violence in media in general has more than likely had a negative impact overall. The ideal of freedom of expression creates an interesting dynamic in dealing with this.

Also, now that I think of it, it kind of hit out of the blue. When I was a teenager big drugs weren't really aroung on pot and drinking but BOOM all of a sudden everyone was on heroine overnight.

Not sure when you were a teenager, but there have been drug epidemics in about every generation since the 70's. 70's heroine with GI's returning from Vietnam, 80's crack co caine (large urban areas were hit especially hard), 90's and early 00's meth took hold, and now prescription opioids.

As far as the economic impact, those seeds were planted in the 70's with the beginning of the tech boom and changes in finance. Credit was now extended to individuals rather than just companies and tapping into money streams became much more main-lined into society. This was a dramatic shift from the prior labor intensive society.

With the benefits of technological advancement comes the detriments if we cannot socially adjust, which, as far as I can see, we haven't. The idea of earning your keep from the sweat of your brow still holds, even if it means large segments are left out in the cold economically. The ideal appears to be more important than the reality in this case.

Things are now moving at a lightning fast pace and the world is getting smaller and smaller..... Heads are spinning as a result.

Wish I could see more threads like this, but I'll take 'em where I can get 'em I guess....

a reply to: toysforadults

If they have their way all of humanity will be forced to live in concrete cages called cities, in dentured forever to the system working as slaves for the elite at the top of the castle fortresses called sky scrapers.

Ever see Fritz Lang's, Metropolis? The org. first RollerBall (with James Can) and Brazil are more modern treatise .

Humans are a tribal species. Tribal culture has broken down into disaffected individuals, lonely, angry and sick emotionally, physically and culturally. No challenges and contrived phony experiences thru the media.

There's also a negative side....

When discussing the USA it's almost necessary these days to differentiate urban decay city life and the rest of the USA.

www.foxnews.com...

More than half of last year’s murders occurred in only 2 percent of the nation’s counties.

Looking at the historical data, the CPRC said that murders were even more geographically concentrated in decades past. On average, 73 percent of counties in any given year had zero murders from 1977 to 2000.

a reply to: ketsuko

Anyone who's anyone knows if we really wanted to be worthwhile we'd all be and think progressive and move to the big cities like the other technocrats, and if we can't, then we're losers.

And that is the attitude you get day in and day out. Its amounts to subtle psychological warfare against entire areas of the country.

Right and right. All part of the plan, i.e. UN Agenda 2030 wherein they will herd people into their mega-regions and corridors and empty rural America. It will have the effect of diluting any non-progressive voters vote into oblivion as has happened in the big US cities already. You will see the implementation when they quit maintaining the rural roads and highways.

Your also rigt about benefits being no better under Single Payer. That fits the globalist Progressve agenda as well.........fewer mouths to feed and more dependence upon government. Sadly, they invariably win because they play the long game.

Maybe this pain and suffering will give birth to a new era. A new era which merges technology with a system that elevates mankind instead of making us sicker as a society. I really hope something positive comes out of the decay that we are immersed in.

Life isn't boring though is it?

a reply to: toysforadults

I just always feel like our demise is a consequence of building a large, stable society. People get too bored and start using drugs because they have nothing else to do... nothing to fend off and nothing to fight for. Everything is right around the corner for $1... Also having mass media being so powerful right now does not help a bit! Slave, waste, and consumer mentality are all too powerful right now on the human condition.

originally posted by: toysforadults
a reply to: ketsuko

The good news is that the Gen Y kids are used to dealing with it and seem to be more level headed then the 25-45 year olds.

Just wanted to point out that Gen Y is 20-35. Gen Y is what Millenials were called prior to being called Millenials.

First off, I'm going to assume these suicides are mostly among rural Whites. Sure, the economy is sluggish and decent jobs are few and far between. Not much to be optimistic about even if you have a degree.

The reason I'm assuming it's Whites who are committing suicide at these numbers is because they are the group undergoing the destruction of their culture, a disconnect from their own history and even openly encouraged to renounce it. Liberal teachers drill the oppression of other races in to them, the slaughter of Native Americans, the enslavement of African Blacks, the Chinese coolies that built the railroads. The Irish were abused and used just as badly but since they are White liberal teachers don't bother with their stories. White children are taught that their ancestors were evil oppressors and modern minorities are owed reparations for injustices done generations ago.

Surely this indoctrination is part of the problem. You cannot grow up hating your own race and culture without consequences - particularly that feeling that one is very alone and has no in-group to turn to.

To top it off the internet has reduced interpersonal relationships to blurbs and memes. Face to face contact is lost and the joy and nuances of being with others is lost. Even when you are with a group most of them will be on their phone texting some one who isn't even there! What kind of life have we created for this generation? The suicides are almost easier to understand than those who don't kill themselves. What makes them go on and what, if any are their goals? Where do they find happiness and satisfaction?

We have entered a dark place where technology is not only taking away jobs but destroying people in the process. How do we balance this and create a world that's livable where happiness is normal? It's going to take some real genius to find our way back to sanity and willing deprivation as well I suspect

I have friends new and old dropping left and right. What the OP is not considering is the fact these overdoses are largely due to said drugs being laced with fentanyl.

Fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than morphine and carfentanyl is 100x that if not more.

It's rampant in the United States and seems to be getting worse.

I had a friend who happen to take a pill laced with fentanyl. He became deathly sick. Luckily he didn't pass. The next day when he went to the local head shop he picked up and test and sure enough it was positive for fentanyl.

This above is a conspiracy all on its own.

www.nytimes.com...

a reply to: toysforadults

And let us not forget - the glorification of cannibalism.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

How much more demeaning and dehumanizing can we get than looking at people like they're cattle?

Great topic! S&F!

peace

Firstly, we live in a society where people dwell on what they don't have rather than what they do. The more someone has the more they want.
Then they turn three shades of green with envy for what their next door neighbor has.

Of course, that's​ just part of the problem.

Secondly, the cost of living has continued to rise while wages remain the same, and even when wages are increased, the cost of everything is hiked twenty plus cents so that companies can maintain the same level of profit. This basically negates any wage increase someone receives. The article stated "Fifty-three percent of workers between 18 to 35 aren't likely to take any vacation time." Who can really afford it, particularly if it's unpaid?

Thirdly, we live in a society where people just are "glass" emotionally. You can't even hardly talk to anyone without wondering if you're going to hurt their feelings or "offend" them.

All of this culminates into stressful lives and depression. Many people feel as if nothing really has any point other than just existence. For many, to just exist isn't enough.

Drugs for most people are a form of escape. Whether it be pharmaceutical or illegal is of little relevance because for many they both turn into a method of escape. It's an unfortunate reality.