Has Society broken down? What happened to RESPECT?

If god wanted people to respect the president, he shouldn't have allowed the vote-rigging that put an incompetent lying clown, who would be regularly visited in the White House by a male prostitute, into power.

Perhaps Obama will earn peoples' respect, and bring back some authority to the office of President, but that has yet to be seen. Until then, when I look at him, I just hope Michelle enjoys hanging on to those funny ears.



As an Australian, I believe you Americans have too much respect for authority in general, particularly for the office of President.

If our PM walked into a local pub most folks there wouldn't even care unless he was shouting a round for the bar. Some might offer him a drink, some might ignore him. He'd be perfectly safe, with no need of a bullet proof vest, because we despise all pollies too deeply to bother shooting one. We know he'd just be replaced by another equally irrelevant idiot with his head just as far up his rear passage.

The problem is one of high expectations cut low by reality.

Young people, for the past 40 years, have been spoonfed a constant stream of lies, both in the media and by politicians, telling them that great riches await for those willing to work. Note I said work, not work hard.

At the end of the 60's, a decade when youth rebelled against the establishment, they found defeat in their high ideals and submitted to working for a living. In the 70's and 80's, it was still possible to take on a job which provided enough income to allow the average family to own a home, raise kids and bank savings. Unions fought for better pay, working conditions, health care and pensions when someone retired after 30-40 years of labour.

Those days are, for the most part, over.

Today, the possibility of a life-long career is dwindling fast. Union jobs are in full flight and pensions are fast becoming a pipe dream. Health care is today one of the most hotly debated issues no matter what country you live in. Today, a man no longer provides for his family alone. The mother also works and, after deducting babysitting for pre-schoolers or paying for educational luxuries such as extra-curricular activities, there isn't much left.

On top of that, the demand for toys such as Playstations, iPods, cellphones, laptops and blackberries really cut into the expense of raising a family. All of those and much more are ingrained into the brilliant minds of young people by the companies that wish to sell them. Viral marketing is running rampant and, of course, highly effective.

The fact is that real income has not increased in 30 years, Rising inflation and a decreasing value of currency has stagnated the purchasing power of families at a time when the young people have been brainwashed into thinking that 'all is good' and that their future is bright.

Another fact is that even those young people who have the ability to go on through college and university, in the hopes of a better life, find themselves among a growing number of peers who cannot find the work for which they strove so hard through years of difficult and trying study.

A hopelessness is what is driving the seeming rise of disrespect and I don't blame them much for it.

Today, it isn't just the youth who are feeling betrayed, it's people of all ages. As thousands of jobs are lost daily in the once prosperous western world, the governments still make promises they cannot keep, companies still strive to tell you what mustneed, television still shows you how you should live, banks & credit cards keep on telling you what you can borrow, and the whirlpool keeps on sucking families into deeper and deeper debt.

Young people today are smart, savvy and streetwise. They can see what happened to the dreamworld that was built up around them and they are, to put it bluntly, pissed.

That's my opinion, for what it's worth. I could go on, but I'm afraid I'll only add to the ranting I've already succumbed to.

Don't blame the young for their disaffection... blame the preceding generations (like mine) for their blind greed, their apathy and their obvious inability to think about anything beyond themselves

reply to post by OldThinker


I do not see any authority figure as being "sent by God," because there are no gods.

You must really believe that Obama/Bush Sr. Jr./Clinton/Nixon/etc are doing what's right for Americans. I hope you've reached this conclusion through lots of hard research and study, not because the bible says you should blindly follow the leader.

Last I checked, they were all crooks, who broke the very laws they're all too happy to slam we the citizens with if we break them.


So is the bible leading you in the right direction? Blindly following crooks?

Well another factor is "diversity". It does have an effect on a cultures customs and that does influence the amount of respect.

I grew up in Nothern California. There are MANY foreigners there, and as such all of those different cultures have managed to errode the standards of politeness. Some foreigners consider putting the money down on the counter preferable to handing to the customer, some prefer NOT to make eye contact. There are no real standards other than the law, people do not feel a common cultural connection, they do not trust one another, they do not respect one another they "tolerate" eachother. And they also tolerate bad behavior.

It seems people have become so PC, so utterly afraid of offending someone that it encourages disrespectful behavior. For you to have standards and expect others to abide by them means you are being intolerant and insensitive.

After living for a decade in the South I really noticed the difference when I would return to California. People did NOT make eye contact, they frequently let doors swing shut on the person behind them, men rarely if ever gave way to women opening doors or getting on elevators, those are all things I had become accustomed to living here.



[edit on 14-6-2009 by Sonya610]

Originally posted by Kailassa
.......


As an Australian, I believe you Americans have too much respect for authority in general, particularly for the office of President.

If our PM walked into a local pub most folks there wouldn't even care unless he was shouting a round for the bar. Some might offer him a drink, some might ignore him. He'd be perfectly safe, with no need of a bullet proof vest, because we despise all pollies too deeply to bother shooting one. We know he'd just be replaced by another equally irrelevant idiot with his head just as far up his rear passage.

K, appreciate the down-under perspective on the pres...

Make mine a Miller Lite...

OT

Originally posted by masqua
....Don't blame the young for their disaffection... blame the preceding generations (like mine) for their blind greed, their apathy and their obvious inability to think about anything beyond themselves

masqua, rant-away!!!!


Great points....especially the lack of leadership from the prior generations....starting to see a pattern here..maybe?

OT

reply to post by Sonya610


Sonya, yes! Its amazing how much respect can show other with some ole' fashioned, southern "eye-contact"

OT

reply to post by OldThinker


I think it has been building since Watergate, then all of the presidents after that who messed up added to it, look at Clinton and then G.W. Bush

Originally posted by Oatmeal
reply to post by OldThinker

 

I think it has been building since Watergate, then all of the presidents after that who messed up added to it, look at Clinton and then G.W. Bush

Watergate sure broke trust with millions....

I dunno , I certainly worked for some a-hles, but always strived to respect the office/position...

OT

[edit on 14-6-2009 by OldThinker]

Originally posted by masqua
The fact is that real income has not increased in 30 years,

M, could you explain this? Do you mean the rise of the cost of living has exceeded the rise of individual salaries? Over the past 40 yrs? When was the best time for income related to the cost of living?

OT

reply to post by OldThinker



Yes, but 'cost of living' is calculated on the necessities and not 'new' necessities. In some ways, CoL is out of date in how it is calculated.

First of all, an understanding of what Median Wage means is necessary:

Here is a .pdf which explains it in the simplest terms:

www.mobilityagenda.org...

On pg. 9 is a graph which details the trend towards the growing gap between the top third and the bottom third of wage earners during the period 1979 and 2006.

Back in the 60's, a gallon of gas, the cost of a new car or a house was very inexpensive, but incomes were also low. What I'm saying is that the cost of living has increased more than the general income of the average family. Food, education and mortgages are the the things which no-one can do without, but there are other 'new' expectations as well and that's what I meant about iPods, laptops and Playstations. The new generations have come to accept such things as a necessity and would rather not do without them.

These expectations are adding to the cost of living while not listed as a factor in calculating the median wage. They are considered luxuries and yet most could not abide doing without them. In a way, they are required, since most jobs require some expertise in online communications. In my own experience, the job I had changed dramatically during the last 10-15 years and everything had to be logged into a software program which the company (energy production) had purchased.

Also, consider the cost of commuting. Living in a city center where most jobs are situated has become unavailable to most incomes and employees are required to travel long distances daily between their place of work and their residence.

When a person considers a job in the city (which may pay more) against a job in a local setting (suburbia), they may find that flipping burgers in a Mickey Dee might be better or equal to a job working for a large corporation downtown after the cost of the commute is factored in.

During the last few years, we have seen a frantic amount of apartment and condo building in city centers as a result of the cost of commuting. Even though this building boom has gone on for some time, I would say that the incomes of the bottom third of wage earners cannot in any way afford to make that move, causing the divide between the top and lowest thirds of wage scales to grow even further apart.

Hope that helps explain some of it.

Now, consider yourself a 20-something who is just emerging from the educational system and looking to the job market for a place to make a living. He or she has, by this time, found a partner and is considering marraige, a family and, perhaps even a house. What opportunity exists for them in this current economic disaster? Not much.

Looking to mom and dad for help? Well, if parent's are fortunate enough to not have lost their jobs or their house yet, they certainly haven't much left of their 401K.

That spells hopelessness. It wasn't great before the bottom fell out and it certainly isn't wonderful now. One thing is for sure, though, just about every young person is 'connected' to the web and they are letting their voices be heard. We see the discontent here as well as on the street, on the job and at the family supper table.

The youth today are not amused.

You know MANY times people we know or have even met for the first time comment on how well mannered and respectful our children are. We saw early on the problem's we where going to have letting them continue in public school and just decided to have them privately schooled. Most of the children they went to school with have been in some form of trouble already and several are in the juvenile jail system. ( my own nephew is one of them)
I can't help but also blame the parents for not taking the time to lovingly teach their children how to respect "themselves" through kindness. One of the main problems today is that children aren't being "taught" to respect anyone, they are being taught to take what ever they can. It doesn't matter who is in the way family or not. It is really quite sad.
It is post's like this one and the thought's brought to it about how society has let go of what was once a given form of human nature. Not something people where forced to do but something they did because they had "respect" for themselves also.

I do think you are right about the mass media and viral marketing aimed towards children also. We have seen many time's how that turns out with a lot of people we know. I would say 99% of the time hind sight is 20/20, they should have listened to the parents who already dealt with it and not gone there. But in today's word it is everyone for themselves. Until we learn to put that aside we are going to have to deal with people who have no respect for themselves or anyone else.

two great posts...

I'm running erands for a while...

I'll reply more thoroughly later today...

OT

Personally I am more alarmed by the lack of respect people show one another in daily life, especially while driving, in crowds, and simply just about anywhere and everywhere. I'm not sure if decades of divisive politics has anything to do with that or not, but in my travels I have encountered a rise in general rudeness and/or lack of respect.

In politics, in regard to the presidency it is easy to identify by those who either refer to the president as "Obama" or "President Obama" and of course there are some who make up their own names for him.

It also will usually expose those opposed to the president, and those who are generally supportive.



[edit on 15-6-2009 by Walkswithfish]