Its time for everyone to take a deep breath...

Originally posted by drkid
You are wrong. The majority knows nothing until they are being told to serve their countries military and defend their secret agendas. When half your body is missing because you were running scared through a mine field, my friend that's when you will be living in the now. I'll give you this though... we are living in a purposely distorted now, and will lose everything, including our life, if we choose to keep ignoring politics. We need to get together and figure out a solution as a community to progress our time span here on Earth.

Well ya being in the military for 28 years and involved in every war or contingency since Panama I can see your point, and yes getting my leg blown off by a land mine is the here and now, but I do not walk in my backyard in fear that I might step on one either.

People just do not understand what the here and now actually is, and so they mix the here and now with an endless stream of worst-case scenario possibilities no matter how improbable they might be.

Originally posted by Frith
You lost me there. World War II had a huge impact on the people of this planet and my own family. Several older friends and family members I know lost their fathers, lost their brothers who could have potentially gave me more family members to know in my life, or had PTSD that wrecked their lives post-war.

The rest of humanity suffered just as much. We may have even lost humans or potential humans who might have ended some of the suffering we endure today with scientific or medical breakthroughs.

My point is we all understand the true physical damage WWII did on the human race, but here today we are proof that the world can endure such disaster and still quickly move away from it improving with every step. I’m 50 and so my parents were affected by WWII, but it is just words in a history book to me as in how it has affected my life, and when my kids grow up they will have zero human connection to that time.

But we keep seeing basically the “end of times” posts and many of you believe in some such scenario, and as bad a WWII was it was not even close to end of times, so what is driving these views?

Originally posted by Karilla
To say that the current concerns of Humanity will be seen as a 'blip' in the future is probably correct. But to say that things can only get better smacks of Tony Bliar's election campaign (con-pain?) and still smarts a little. It also seems to ignore the fact that there are many potential disasters waiting around the corner for us. Super-volcanos, pandemics, asteroid strikes, nuclear conflicts and extreme solar events to name but a few.

So is it safe to say that the UK is likely to achieve a full recovery from the massive affects WWII has had on your nation? Do you see the UK in another “fight for their life” in the next 50 years?

Super-volcanos, pandemics, asteroid strikes, nuclear conflicts and extreme solar events to name but a few.

Well maybe tomorrow or maybe in a million plus years.... rather big timeline to constantly worry for the 100 or so years that we might live.

I don't say to live with your head in the ground. I even carry 60 day supply of food and water for there is a lot of senerios short of massive worldwide distruction that can create situations where I would like to be ready, but I also understand there is a big chance none will ever come, and I don't plan of living my life daily as if they will happen any minute.




[edit on 9-5-2010 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by Truth1000
What if the people, as others have mentioned, decided that Hitler was just "another megalomaniac" and had NOT taken action. What if the people of the Western nations decided the Communists really were just "another philosophy" that wouldn't really change anything anyway. What if we had watched the stories of the tsunami in Asia and did nothing, since that was just "another of the many natural events."

What we decide to do each day makes the future what it will be.

While I understand that your purpose was to help us place current events into a better perspective. However, our choices have to fit into that perspective as well.

As I have posted... we need to act on real and actual events, and when we do we have always overcome those events, and then those events fade away in history. Maybe WWII is a too soon event for me to use, and people seem to want to focus on that instead of my point, but the world is still moving away from the vast destruction and loss of life it caused.

WWII was just an example of an event that affected the world but we still over came it and are moving on, today though it seems there are 50 doomsday scenarios to push us back to the stone age and wipeout the vast majority of the population. Ok, so which one of these scenarios are going to happen?

Originally posted by ISHAMAGI

Your point on the surface seems plausible but underneath it is hollow. People do not live in the all consuming now. If that were true your friend would not be moving. He is anticipating the future.

We still live by 3000yr old prophecys and thousand year old books.
Our government can be traced back to Rome in its function.
Our banking system back to fuedal China.
Our factories and industry to the late 1890's.

But we do...

"the now" is basically your life time and people think everything will happen in their life time with TV, internet etc excellerating it all further still and so people feel many different possibilites are happening in present day. My friend will move in the near future, but if he could he would have move yesterday for he feels these events are already in progression here in the now, as in today, even though the big one is still in the near future as everything here in the now come together.

Slavery, the Holocaust, revolutionary war, Crusades these are events that have shaped the world around us. It is not so easy to discredit them.

But these are real events that actually did happen and we over came them. I'm not discrediting them nor am I saying they had zero effect on the human race, but they will continually fade in our past and we will continually move on.



[edit on 9-5-2010 by Xtrozero]

reply to post by Xtrozero

You need to think about what actually pushes these views...

Well I don't watch television besides History and Discovery channel, so no news media is pushing a view onto me. In fact, I came with the feeling in my mind as soon as 4 years ago that we were going to a path of unsustainable life and that something big was going to happen. Mind you, at the time I was an atheist and I wasn't frequenting any conspiracy websites.

You fail to give credit to people that have actually come up with the views themselves and believe me, there are many of them. Now of course the internet might push one event or one time frame over another, and I can see how that sways some views - but most rational people won't get gung ho over some kind of simple prophecy posted on here claiming it to be "the end". When something really happens that sets a chain of events in motion, we aren't going to need someone to point it out - it is going to be quite obvious to everyone who feels the way that we do.

Ya it can come and go.

You don't quite understand the concept if you say "it can come and go". Even towards times of the Great Depression, thought to be one of the worst periods in world history - there were people that were nowhere near their worst and even those that were - things could have gotten even more bad for them. But it didn't, there was recovery within a few years and a prevent of a COMPLETE COLLAPSE of the system.

And what event is that today? nothing new or even close to past events.

I beg to differ. There are events happening today that for the religion, correlate quite well to Bible prophecy. For the historians, their are events that mimic events prior to the world wars and even darker times. These things don't happen all the time, in fact, when they did happen before it led to much worse scenarios after. Personally, I am a little of both and I see the mistakes that the world is making, the edge that economies and societies stand on, and we are only going to need one single event to change the world.

Remember, it took the assassination of a duke to start WWI, it took the election of a single politician to start WWII, it started a single shot to spark the American Revolution, and those were all because the cards lined up just right. The cards are lining up, the pieces are getting into position - the only question is when and what will be the triggering event.

… and I’m not even talking Civil War or Either World wars, but just you basic US government, local officials and companies. I think people just do not understand what bad really is...

It isn't so much the corruption that is the major problem. The major problem is how interconnected the world has become following WWII. Almost every country depends on another country or has debts relying on another country. All the countries join together to make treaties that govern them as a whole. The collectiveness of the world is what is going to cause more problems than ever before.

Yep ok, you got a time table on it? I bet we do not see that in our lives and the more advance we get the less likely it will happen. I’m not trying to debate you or argue against your beliefs, but you are the foundation of my point.

No I don't have a timetable on it, and I will never claim to. Some might but that is their opinions. One day they might me right, maybe they will be wrong - I like to keep an open mind. Regardless, it doesn't run my life. I hold the mindset that I would much rather be prepared and warn others to be prepared because of the escalation of such worries in the world.

As far as how "advance" we get, I feel it has an adverse affect. The more advanced we get as a civilization, the more destructive we become and we make destruction of even ourselves easier by our own hands. And also, our advancement plays into our collectivism of countries that I spoke of before.

The simple fact of the matter is - I don't know and YOU don't know either. However, human intuition points to show that many people feel change coming. Some of us relate it to spiritual change, some of us relate it to destructive change. I would much rather be prepared for either scenario and trust human intuition than trust some person saying -

"Everything is going to be fine. Nothing is going to happen. Don't prepare, don't give it any mind"

That is basically what I hear coming from you and I am sorry, but even in relative close history there have been many who have given that same old shpiel time and time again, and time and time again human nature and mother nature prove that statement wrong.

I'm going to stick to my guns on this one and say that it is much better to be prepared for the worst that is bound to come - then to ignore it and hope that it doesn't come.

Originally posted by gwydionblack

I think this fear of change has been pacing society for generations friend...
I would go so far as to say this mentality of; the end is near; accompanies every generation. The thing many forget is the world is constantly transforming, it does not stop.
We are stronger than we know, might as well enjoy life while you got life.

reply to post by Xtrozero

Xtrozero,

First, let me apologize for my first post. Sometimes I have a strange sense of humor. I don’t even live near the ocean. I live in Arizona. However, when I began my reply I also happened to find out about the earthquake so I seized the moment to make a statement. You were very polite in your response – you could hammered me about responding to a non-event.

I really do completely agree with your OP. I know where you are coming from and I didn’t interpret it as censorship in any way. I imagine you expected opposing responses though.

Here’s what I really think…

The world is a dangerous place and most people think it's out of the common mans control. I disagree. I believe open discussion will eventually bring positive solutions. It’s a messy time consuming process but it works.

I think mature people can handle the truth – and lies. However, you don’t want young children exposed to scary information. I hope guardians do their job and guard what the kids consume. Maybe ATS should have some safeguards in place to keep kids off this site. If guardians did their job, that wouldn’t be necessary.

I appreciate your OP and there are some who needed to hear it – just not me. But hey, I’m 50 years old.

Peace

Research the Balkans.
The media push a divide through race and it has caused many wars.

There is much misinfo. Some rich folks decide he wants a war in Serbia and he will fund education in Albania to teach kids to hate each other.
The media fans it. Movies get maid promoting it.

For some reason being called a racist really effects light colored people because it completely disarms them to the point they can't defend themselves or anything they care about or created.