This happens all the time at the coffee shop I work in every day... LOL. Wow.
Wandering off, The story of 2021
- Thread starter Nate North
- Start date
I've often said (not here but IRL) that there's an over-emphasis on college degrees these days. It's not for everyone and there are lots of jobs that really shouldn't require one - it's just an easy way for employers to weed people out. I'm NOT excusing people who don't show up for classes, but maybe that's not the real issue.
The college system is actually quite absurd. people go to college for years and don't even know what they are gonna study lol. what a joke.
Lets say it costs 120,000 for an education... About 50k of that debt is reasonable and for classes that focus on your area of study.
But then like... 70k of that, 70k in LOANS that people are DEFAULTING ON, those loans are for art history and singing and other stupid elective classes, forced "minors" like making a computer scientist study psychology or whatever other crap that not a single damn employer in the country has any regard for.
It's quite absurd people are taking out loans, going into debt and defaulting because of the importance of a "well-rounded" education aka an excuse for colleges to make you take out more loans and stay with them for twice as many years as necessary.
I've worked for the same company for 20 years. I've grown within the company to a respectable level. Certain indicators within the company suggest that I am a valuable member o the team and an important player.. The funny thing is that if I applied for the entry position I had 20 years ago, I would not be considered qualified for the position, and the position I have now, I could never get because I don't have a bachelors degree. I don't have any degree. I'm a high school graduate. A solid C student who was promoted from within years ago until I reached the level I'm at now. A level that a C student from high school today could probably not hope for.
Yes. Our country has changed. So many scams out there, and the universities are in on it. Our system is based on a kind of indentured servitude. It's designed to put us in debt and keep us in debt to keep us working to pay that debt back, with interest.
My wife and I have a mortgage but we don't use credit cards or lines of credit. It's hard and it takes discipline. We are constantly bombarded with offers for "instant credit!! buy it now!!! 12 months no interest!!!" ... You see, THEY want us back in our place; indentured servitude. We choose not to play.
Yes. Our country has changed. So many scams out there, and the universities are in on it. Our system is based on a kind of indentured servitude. It's designed to put us in debt and keep us in debt to keep us working to pay that debt back, with interest.
My wife and I have a mortgage but we don't use credit cards or lines of credit. It's hard and it takes discipline. We are constantly bombarded with offers for "instant credit!! buy it now!!! 12 months no interest!!!" ... You see, THEY want us back in our place; indentured servitude. We choose not to play.
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Yup. I dropped out of an Ivy League college in the middle of my junior year for a range of reasons, and got a (mostly) clerical job at a bank. I rose to be a VP in that bank and another one. I eventually went back to college part time because I wanted to take some screenwriting classes - I'd promised myself that I would never go back unless there was something I actually cared about learning. I finished my degree at the New School in NYC, which is the only place I ever studied where I felt like everyone was there ONLY because they wanted to learn, not to get into a profession, get rich, or make their parents happy.
When I first started in banking, trading rooms (where I mostly worked) were full of smart people with high school educations & an instinctive grasp of (basic) math and markets. The first bank I worked for went through a phase where they tried hiring all Harvard & Yale grads for trainee positions - none of them lasted more than a few months.
Very bizarre.
I guess the question isn't whether to spend all of your time staring at a screen. The question is what size should the screen be?
What ever happened to riding your bike, going to the park, talking to friends, reading a book? Yes yes, I know. With the exception of riding a bike, you can look at pictures of a park on your phone. You can talk to friends on your phone, you can read a book on your phone. Hail oh mighty cel phone. How did we ever get along without you?
I guess the question isn't whether to spend all of your time staring at a screen. The question is what size should the screen be?
What ever happened to riding your bike, going to the park, talking to friends, reading a book? Yes yes, I know. With the exception of riding a bike, you can look at pictures of a park on your phone. You can talk to friends on your phone, you can read a book on your phone. Hail oh mighty cel phone. How did we ever get along without you?
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I suspect that parents in Alexander the Great's generation had their own set of worries.
"“The radio seems to find parents more helpless than did the funnies, the automobile, the movies and other earlier invaders of the home, because it can not be locked out or the children locked in,” Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg, director of the Child Study Association of America, told The Washington Post in 1931. She added that the biggest worry radio gave parents was how it interfered with other interests — conversation, music practice, group games and reading."
Full article below:
https://apnews.com/article/north-am...t-technology-10a38154c6204b8483ae065605bf929e
"“The radio seems to find parents more helpless than did the funnies, the automobile, the movies and other earlier invaders of the home, because it can not be locked out or the children locked in,” Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg, director of the Child Study Association of America, told The Washington Post in 1931. She added that the biggest worry radio gave parents was how it interfered with other interests — conversation, music practice, group games and reading."
Full article below:
https://apnews.com/article/north-am...t-technology-10a38154c6204b8483ae065605bf929e
Just finished reading the article but to be honest? We've always been AFRAID of our children running out in the street. That'll never change. LOL.
But screen time has CERTAINLY CHANGED. Every platform out there... Which is what I choose to call them -- does their damnedest to keep anyone and everyone on it as much as possible. They are NOT concerned with people being at work or at school. LOL. The FACT is that these platforms are all about ad revenue... Yes... NOTHING'S CHANGED there except to keep extending the screen time to the point where NOW we have people... Including children, teenagers, and adults who are totally addicted to some of these platforms. Hell, this addiction has even prompted the medical community to develop new diseases surrounding these addictions.
Unfortunately... The good old days are gone. We can no longer tell our kids to GO PLAY OUTSIDE like I was told when I was a kid. It's too dangerous out there. Even the schools are dangerous. Hell, even if you live in the country out in the middle of nowhere... I'd think twice before I'd just blindly send my kid outside.
As WE (our society) keeps pushing the envelope on anything and everything? I don't see any of this changing... The simple fact is everything is UP across the board... Suicide. Murder. Drugs. You name it... It's UP and a lot of this is in reaction to how the playing field's changed.
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True. But the "good old days" were only good for a small percentage of the population.
Are there problems? Absolutely. But as a woman, I'd MUCH rather be an adult today than 20 (I already was), 50, 75, 100, 300 years ago.
We're also finally coming to grips with decades (centuries, really) of abuse within religious organizations thanks to people finally feeling empowered enough to speak up.
And those screens that everyone hates? They also share the truth about abuses of power worldwide.
Addicting? For some, sure. Over-used? No doubt. But definitely a net positive to society overall.
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I get what you're saying but I'm not really sure how anyone can say the good old days were ONLY GOOD FOR A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION. I get that that's a personal opinion and I completely respect it... I really do and I completely understand it yet at the same time? I've always felt I was born a hundred years too late... I'd rather be in the mountains living off the land but again... You can't do that today unless you have enough money to buy 20,000 acres... LOL.
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Within this country?
Not good for women. Not good for Blacks. Not good for gays. Not good for Jews (anti-Jewish covenants were rampant and there were quotas in schools, jobs...).
What are we down to? 25% of the population? I consider that small.
Basically, it was good for white Christian (especially non-Catholic) men.
Again... Your opinion.
I know plenty of people of ALL RACES who yearn for the good old days...
Good old days are in the eye of the beholder. My good old days are certainly NOT your good old days. I'm assuming NOW are your good old days which is fine.
My good old days are certainly NOT my neighbor's (Mexican) good old days but he still YEARNS for them. My good old days are not my neighbor across the street's (Black) good old days and he's from Mississippi and yet? He still yearns for them.
Why? Because in THEIR humble opinions... The good old days were safer. The good old days were easier for them to understand and deal with.
Does that make them NOT the good old days? LOL.
Hardly.
Both my neighbors very likely experienced things you've pointed out... Hell... SO HAVE I.
But even if I go back to the old days in the Sierra Nevada mountains where I'm from? I can't even fucking hike the trails anymore. Why? Becazuse the Forest Service blocked them all off... Why? Because too many people who didn't live in the area came in and screwed everything up with trash, toxic chemicals, marijuana farms, etc.
You could get killed hiking a trail where I grew up now... LOL.
And? It's getting WORSE. Not better.
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And I firmly believe that OVERALL, the trend is up. And would never ever EVER go back to where & when I grew up.
Which I guess is why I'm more optimistic than many are (with tons of caveats, of course).
I think also it's human nature to look back fondly/nostalgically at the past, regardless of what reality was.
Which I guess is why I'm more optimistic than many are (with tons of caveats, of course).
I think also it's human nature to look back fondly/nostalgically at the past, regardless of what reality was.
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The trend of what exactly? OPTIMISM?
I see your point... You're optimistic about the future because of how things have changed for Women, Blacks, Gays, etc... I get that.
I don't want to go back to being 17 but I would LOVE to go back to my mountains and spend a week in them but right now in those very mountains? Mexican drug cartels have hundreds of guys growing marijuana illegally... Ruining the creeks and streams. Killing wildlife like crazy.
Every year local residents go MISSING never to be found. That shit didn't happen when I was 17.
Don't get me wrong... I see and understand your perspective. And? I RESPECT IT but there were and are plenty of things to look back on FONDLY for plenty of people of all races, colors, national origin, religion, sexual preference and even gender identity.
THEY do it every day... Why? Because very likely, they are of the opinion that SOME things WERE in fact better BACK in the DAY whenever that was for them.
The fact still remains... As a country, we're experiencing more suicide and crime than ever before. Why?
EDIT: I should POINT OUT that I too am OPTIMISTIC like YOU that "THINGS" (for lack of a better term) are getting BETTER for the people you've mentioned. I'm ALL for THAT. I really am and that's always been MOVEMENT in the RIGHT DIRECTION as far as our country is concerned.
But like I said... I also firmly believe there were PLENTY of "THINGS" that were better back in the day than there are now. Simply my opinion.
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Ahh but it did - it was just less covered. And that's the difference - all those screens & social media mean we are now far more aware of the bad things than we (and our families) were in the past.
And crime is lower than it was in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's.
https://letgrow.org/crime-statistics/
and from a different perspective
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170615-when-all-the-children-ran-away
Here in Utah, we hear about all sorts of ugly things that don't seem to be going on here. Everyone is doing pretty well. I work with people of all races and have open talks with them. They wonder about and fear what's going in in other parts of the country too because it isn't going on here. We don't have race riots, Nobody is burning federal buildings. We all seem to just want to live our lives in peace and have a good future for ourselves and our families. Doesn't matter what color any of us is. It's the news papers that make it seem like the country is going up in flames, but if you'll notice, they only report on liberal cities.
I'll have to agree to disagree with you...
There were no drug cartels creating and maintaining illegal marijuana farms back in the day... And? Crime is lower than it was in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s but I'm talking about RIGHT NOW.
Crime is UP.
Suicide is UP.
Crime:
https://www.safehome.org/resources/crime-statistics-by-state/
But sure... As the Conclusion on the above site SAYS:
"However, as our analysis indicates, dramatic increases that may have occurred since the pandemic typically vanish when taking a longer view of crime data."
LOL. Well of course it does... But that doesn't change the FACT that CRIME is UP right now, does it? And again my question... WHY?
Suicide:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db433.htm
Summary:
"This report presents suicide rates from 2000 through 2020, highlighting differences for males and females in trends by age and means of suicide. Overall during the study period, the national age-adjusted suicide rate increased by 30% from 10.4 per 100,000 in 2000 to 13.5 in 2020. After a long period of increasing rates, the rate peaked in 2018 (14.2) and has since declined to 13.5 in 2020, a 5% decrease.
So are you saying that we're just having a run of bad luck right now? This is just a SWING and eventually, it'll swing back?
Essentially, yes. We're dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic, which is/has been awful. But the impact will subside over time.
Drug cartels have been around since the 70's and they're one of the reasons why I favor legalizing all drugs (then taxing & using the $$ for treatment). Like Prohibition, drug interdiction is doomed to fail.
I know a lot about drug cartels... Trust me. And? They're into WAY more than just drugs... I know a family of Coyotes in Mexico who have been in the business of moving people across the border for a few generations... It was a respected occupation back in the day... Now however, they are slaves to the cartel that runs the area.
Drugs definitely bankrolled them in the beginning but now? They're into everything. Avocados. Weapons. Vehicles. Gas. The list is endless and just keeps on growing.
And? I hope you're right that we're just experiencing a SWING... I would LOVE to THINK that but also because of the pandemic... Inflation is high. Resources are low. Hell, I can't even get a plastic bag at the grocery store unless I pay for it yet they SEEM to have PLENTY of them... LOL.
In other words... I worry about people who really take all this so seriously that they want to give up. There are a lot of them.
I don't really see much going back down cost-wise... Maybe gas to a degree but now that everyone is charging so much more for everything and getting it because consumers really have no choice... I seriously doubt we'll see costs go back to where they were... I hope I'm wrong. I would love to be wrong.
On top of that? I personally know several people who lost their businesses during the pandemic when in reality? They didn't need to. Hard for them to be too optimistic and those are just the people I know... There are hundreds of thousands of them out there.
So when you say the IMPACT will subside over time... What you really mean is that we'll all just have to get USED to it. LOL.