# What is something that is "business as usual" now that will be seen as horrible in the future? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 1, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836 "2013-11-01T13:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/1 "2013-11-01T13:21:51Z")
Inspired by this post made in my other thread about the Founding Fathers: > [@Are the concessions made by the Founding Fathers morally reprehensible?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-concessions-made-by-the-founding-fathers-morally-reprehensible/672830/8): > > History is made by people, and people tend to have huge blind spots where it comes to their own failings. I am certain that Washington and Jefferson considered themselves to be good and responsible slave-owners, who treated their chattel with all the respect they could. > > This makes a person wonder what future generations will find “morally reprehensible” that we see as business as usual today. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/2 "2013-11-01T13:24:58Z")
Just speculation, but: Reproducing at will, without an extensive government-run approval process. Killing and consuming animals. Practicing a religion. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/3 "2013-11-01T13:26:12Z")
One more- allowing anyone on earth to die of starvation, thirst, or lack of basic medical care (hopefully!). ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/4 "2013-11-01T13:37:42Z")
Could you see words like “retard”, “faggot”, and “midget” being the next totally taboo words? I have a sneaking, horrible feeling that in the future I’ll say something like “Oh! what was that movie with that midget in it? Austin Powers, right?” and my children will look at me like I just asked “What was the movie with that nigger in it?” I don’t want to be a backwards old man on accident ☹ ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/5 "2013-11-01T13:41:41Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > Could you see words like “retard”, “faggot”, and “midget” being the next totally taboo words? I have a sneaking, horrible feeling that in the future I’ll say something like “Oh! what was that movie with that midget in it? Austin Powers, right?” and my children will look at me like I just asked “What was the movie with that nigger in it?” > > I don’t want to be a backwards old man on accident ☹ I think your first two examples are already in the taboo category. I can see the last one getting there but I don’t think it’s guaranteed. I think today’s realpolitik of allowing human rights abuses in other countries because “we just don’t want to get involved” or “they’re a big trade partner” will be dimly viewed in the future. I hope the “spend tons on military and minimally on research” trend gets the same treatment but I think that will be quite a ways down the line. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/6 "2013-11-01T13:42:02Z")
“Retard” and “faggot” are already mostly taboo words, though not on the level of other racial slurs. “Midget” is considered inappropriate if talking about actual little people, I’m pretty sure. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/7 "2013-11-01T13:49:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > “Retard” and “faggot” are already mostly taboo words, though not on the level of other racial slurs. “Midget” is considered inappropriate if talking about actual little people, I’m pretty sure. Just joking around with friends and playing football or something, I can see you calling each other “tard” or “retard” just to fuck around with each other. Not putting them down or anything, just as a word…Not saying I would call an actual mentally disabled person a retard, but it’s just one of those words. I think the same goes for “fag” right now, but I’m mostly not in professional setting (to say the least). During a football game, I couldn’t just yell “You nigger! How could you drop the ball!!!”, but I could easily say “You retard! How could you drop the ball!!!” ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/8 "2013-11-01T13:52:05Z")
> [@](#): > > What is something that is “business as usual” now that will be seen as horrible in the future? Animal cruelty, I would hope. Our present-day society has a strangely divergent view on animal cruelty. A century ago, there wouldn’t have been any objection to beating a dog, keeping it in a small cage all the time, starving it, making it fight other dogs, or abandoning it by the side of the road. Nowadays we largely consider all those things wrong, for dogs. But it’s still okay to keep a pig or chicken in a cage so small that it can barely move, or to feed a cow a poor and unhealthy diet. Another obvious example would be sweatshop labor and child labor. Much of what’s sold in stores in first-world countries is made in conditions that wouldn’t be legal in those countries, but most simply prefer not to think about that fact. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/9 "2013-11-01T13:52:22Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > Just joking around with friends and playing football or something, I can see you calling each other “tard” or “retard” just to fuck around with each other. Not putting them down or anything, just as a word…Not saying I would call an actual mentally disabled person a retard, but it’s just one of those words. I think the same goes for “fag” right now, but I’m mostly not in professional setting (to say the least). During a football game, I couldn’t just yell “You nigger! How could you drop the ball!!!”, but I could easily say “You retard! How could you drop the ball!!!” It all depends on what group you’re in. A given group might find all of the words above unacceptable, or none of the words above. I doubt, though, that in the future, much attention will be paid to what words we use- far more will be made of how we treat other people. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/10 "2013-11-01T16:21:33Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Killing and consuming animals. I agree with this one. At some point, laboratory-produced meat will become advanced and relatively inexpensive, producing more-or-less what we want and like. At that point, society will discover how ghastly it is to kill animals to eat. We humans find virtuous moral positions that require no sacrifice whatsoever very appealing. Not as sure about this one, but I think abortion may move into this category if technology ever permits transplantation of the fetus to an artificial incubation mechanism without any risk to the mother. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/11 "2013-11-01T17:32:04Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I agree with this one. At some point, laboratory-produced meat will become advanced and relatively inexpensive, producing more-or-less what we want and like. At that point, society will discover how ghastly it is to kill animals to eat. We humans find virtuous moral positions that require no sacrifice whatsoever very appealing. > > Not as sure about this one, but I think abortion may move into this category if technology ever permits transplantation of the fetus to an artificial incubation mechanism without any risk to the mother. I would love vat-meat in all the ‘flavors’ I currently enjoy from the fish and animals of the world. I do however have a nagging worry for what would happen to all the populations of farm animals we have now - I have a Danish buddy who has worked on one of their specialty pig farms that maintains and sells some fairly rare breeds of pigs, and another friend who has specialty chickens - if we devolve farming to hobbyists who are interested in one or another rare breed, it would be so easy for entire breeds of farm animals to die out. Heck, I had a semi-rare [for the US at least] ram, though I fell into buying him from someone else, I was looking for another [wensleydale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wensleydale_%28sheep%29), not a [rambouillet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambouillet_%28sheep%29). Though as rams go, Rambeax was fairly friendly, having been hand raised. Some rams can be fractious from lack of contact with people if they come from larger herds. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/12 "2013-11-01T17:59:52Z")
Perhaps nationalism. The idea that we treat people differently based on where they decided to be born could be seen as cruelly bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/13 "2013-11-01T18:03:07Z")
Waste, food waste in particular but also things like paper/plastic packaging. This ties into the killing and consumption of animals above in that a huge amount of those animals and animal products end up going to waste. If we wasted less, those fewer animals could be treated more humanely. In the furture we will bring our own containers to McDonalds and people will gasp at the rudeness of someone throwing a half eaten burger into the trash. My children will tell unbelievable tales to their grandchildren about free, all you can take, napkins and straws and disposable cups and trays. Those grandchildren will wonder how it’s possible that the Grandpa they love could so callously order a steak and then not eat it all! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/14 "2013-11-01T18:16:52Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I agree with this one. At some point, laboratory-produced meat will become advanced and relatively inexpensive, producing more-or-less what we want and like. At that point, society will discover how ghastly it is to kill animals to eat. We humans find virtuous moral positions that require no sacrifice whatsoever very appealing. That was my first thought as well. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/15 "2013-11-01T18:18:39Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I would love vat-meat in all the ‘flavors’ I currently enjoy from the fish and animals of the world. I do however have a nagging worry for what would happen to all the populations of farm animals we have now - I have a Danish buddy who has worked on one of their specialty pig farms that maintains and sells some fairly rare breeds of pigs, and another friend who has specialty chickens - if we devolve farming to hobbyists who are interested in one or another rare breed, it would be so easy for entire breeds of farm animals to die out. Heck, I had a semi-rare [for the US at least] ram, though I fell into buying him from someone else, I was looking for another [wensleydale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wensleydale_%28sheep%29), not a [rambouillet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambouillet_%28sheep%29). Though as rams go, Rambeax was fairly friendly, having been hand raised. Some rams can be fractious from lack of contact with people if they come from larger herds. Even if vat-meat becomes cheap and tasty, there will always be holdouts for the real thing. There will be entire sub-cultures of “natural foodists” who demand to eat meat from a once-living animal, and there will be high-end restaurants that advertise “real pork chops!” and the like. So I think there will always be a small population of these animals. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/16 "2013-11-01T18:30:14Z")
Probably burning all the fossil fuels we do, provided the predictions about anthropogenic global warming prove valid. ---
**Author:** ![thisishowwepray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@thisishowwepray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thisishowwepray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/17 "2013-11-01T19:07:58Z")
Lack of equal protection under the law for LGBT people. Gay marriage will seem like interracial marriage. No. Big. Deal. and upsetting to think of as once illegal. Anti-LGBT bullshit in general, based on the opinions of younger vs. older living Americans. WE ARE WINNING! Don’t be on the wrong side of history. Lack of free health care. England has it and, um, a whole bunch of other countries that are decidedly not socialist. Silly. Seems like the environmentally destructive practices of some companies will become more and more infuriating to the public as climate change causes more and more problems. Anyone who denied it existed at all will be seen as pretty much thinking the earth was flat. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/18 "2013-11-01T19:25:21Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Even if vat-meat becomes cheap and tasty, there will always be holdouts for the real thing. There will be entire sub-cultures of “natural foodists” who demand to eat meat from a once-living animal, and there will be high-end restaurants that advertise “real pork chops!” and the like. So I think there will always be a small population of these animals. Initially, sure, but given a few generations of people who have grown up eating vat meat? If 95% of the people in a country have never eaten meat from a slaughtered animal, I don’t think it’ll be that hard to convince them that no one should eat meat from a slaughtered animal, and have the practice banned outright. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/19 "2013-11-01T19:39:10Z")
Violent sports like boxing MMA and even football are gonna be seen the way we see gladiatorial combat now. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836/20 "2013-11-01T19:40:19Z")
Yep, it is not just me that thinks about the use of fossil fuels. So, I will mention an oldie but still goodie: Even today many educators do see how horrible is to find out how many Americans still do not accept evolution, I think many of the current politicians that continue to work to support institutions and people that fund efforts to “teach the controversy” will get a severe condemnation by history. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-something-that-is-business-as-usual-now-that-will-be-seen-as-horrible-in-the-future/672836.md?page=2)