# What is the World coming to?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [February 8, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762 "2003-02-08T21:01:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/1 "2003-02-08T21:01:44Z")
The sound of saber rattling and war drums fill the airwaves. Iraq, North Korea, terrorists, economies teetering. Is the path we are on lead to any kind of world peace (and prosperity?) in our lifetimes?
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### Author:  [@lout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lout)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/2 "2003-02-08T21:26:21Z")
I am absolutely confident that G W Bush and Ariel Sharon will bring peace to the world very very soon. Yup.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/3 "2003-02-08T21:35:27Z")
I am troubled by the ultra right wing coming to power in several countries at once. The ultra right wing of the Republican party now completely dominates the United States, but that’s not all. The Likud in Israel has completely demoralized all opposition. In India, the fascist Hindu fundamentalist parties centered on the RSS (the extremists who killed Mahatma Gandhi) are planning nuclear war against Pakistan. Meanwhile, in Pakistani elections the Islamist fundamentalist extremists made gains. In some European countries like Netherlands and Denmark, the right wing is making a resurgence in elections. WTF is going on here? I am worried that the whole world is being overrun by the politics of hatred and violence.
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### Author:  [@ChaosGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaosGod)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/4 "2003-02-08T21:37:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What is the World coming to?
Nuclear Terrorism
Unsustainable Overpopulation
Irreversible Global Warming
Moral Bankrupcy
anything else…?
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### Author:  [@Skid\_Row](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skid_Row)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/5 "2003-02-08T21:38:39Z")
WWIII, anyone?
…anyone?
…hello?
(_hhmmmrrph_) Guess not. Nukes musta got 'em.
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### Author:  [@Purplefloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purplefloyd)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/6 "2003-02-08T21:41:44Z")
If you ask me, it doesnt look like a peasant future. Too many weapons+ too few people using thier brain= world chaos…
Maybe we need a new perspective. I hate to sound like an idealist but i feel like the current systems of thought will lead nowhere but doom, but of course nobody has the balls to look at anything in a different way… maybe thats threatening to some people i dont know…
Now before everyone starts attacking my post and asking me “well what would you do differently smart ass?” listen: i dont have the answer, but a good place to start is to make peace a part of everyday life i think. If we can’t learn to be peaceful on a small level, then we can never expect world peace. Its a state of mind that can be admired and spread on to others. Laws and governments arent going to save us. One person isnt going to come around and save us all, its going to take every one of us to achieve peace…
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### Author:  [@lout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lout)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/7 "2003-02-08T21:45:17Z")
People who claim a monopoly on truth – because God speaks only to them – have taken political power and the world is regressing to Medieval times.
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/8 "2003-02-09T02:44:44Z")
“There’s a time for thinking, and there’s a time for action, and \* this is no time to be thinking!” \*
I’ve found myself glumly thinking that the world is swirling in the bowl, myself. The only thing that gives me vague hope is that we’ve stood on the brink before, and have never tumbled over the edge. I just hope whatever force has prevented us from frying ourselves ten times over in the past is still looking out for us today. They say God looks out for drunks and fools, and word 'round the campfire is that we’re being led by examples of both.
Wasn’t it Plato that said a people will get the kind of government that they deserve? Perhaps we’re reaping the whirlwind of our collective political apathy. It’s downright frightening how many people loudly voice opinions on current affairs, yet will admit that they never watch the news, or read a paper.
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### Author:  [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/9 "2003-02-09T02:52:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \*
> \*\*I am troubled by the ultra right wing coming to power in several countries at once. The ultra right wing of the Republican party now completely dominates the United States, but that’s not all. \*\*
The ultra right wing? Hyperbole much do you? The world will be fine. There may be some local regional wars over the next few years, but there have always been such conflicts. The world is safer now than it was 15 years ago.
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### Author:  [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/10 "2003-02-09T03:10:57Z")
\*The eastern world, it is explodin’
violence flarin’, bullets loadin
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’.
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?
and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’.
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend, that ya don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.\*
When did Barry McGuire sing that? 1968? Well, we’ve made it this far. And I would say that overall, worldwide, most conditions have improved since then.
It appears that we are going into a war that is not supported by the majority of US citizens. I can’t see the ‘benefits’ of removing Hussein’s regime from power outweighing the negative feelings towards the US from the middle east. I don’t think it’s a good idea economically either.
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/11 "2003-02-09T03:15:01Z")
I’ve found that if I turn off the TV and listen to CD’s, my feelings of \*The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling \* diminish considerably.
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### Author:  [@DaddyMack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyMack)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/12 "2003-02-09T03:50:53Z")
**It appears that we are going into a war that is not supported by the majority of US citizens.**
Where did you get that information from?
**I can’t see the ‘benefits’ …**
You don’t think it is worth while to remove a person who would supply terrorist with wepons to destroy your society? What happens to your economy then?
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/13 "2003-02-09T06:08:01Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DaddyMack \*
> \*\*
> You don’t think it is worth while to remove a person who would supply terrorist with wepons to destroy your society? What happens to your economy then? \*\*
The problem with this is that Saddam is not the only fellow out there who would sell weapons to terrorists. If the terrorists want plutonium, for example, why go to a guy who’s being closely watched by the international community, when you can just go to the old Soviet Union dump sites, some of which, as I understand, are completely unguarded. Sure, it’s not weapons-grade, but you could make a pretty nice “dirty bomb” out of it.
If it’s biotoxins, or a plauge you seek, see similar sites. I remember seeing in \* National Georgaphic \* a picture of plague vials which were stored in a coffee can in a warehouse.
Saddam is not the only game in town.
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### Author:  [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/14 "2003-02-09T06:32:11Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by ChaosGod \*
\*\*Nuclear Terrorism
\*\*
[quote]
Yes. Without doubt. It is impossible to prevent suicide terrorism without implementing a terribly oppressive police state, which we won’t do and shouldn’t do and might not even be able to stop all comers.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Unsustainable Overpopulation
> \*\*
Maybe. Thankfully, nature has a way of balancing that stuff out, and hopefully when it happens we’ll just let nature do her thing and bring the population back into reasonable figures. My fear is that we’ll reach that unsustainable population figure and then the bleeding hearts will rob everyone else blind to spread the resources to try to maintain that figure, making everyone miserable for a couple generations before the inevitable happens anyways, and with more horrible force than if we’d simply allowed it to occur.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Irreversible Global Warming
> \*\*
Maybe. But this might actually be _good_ for people who live halfway above/below the equator. As I understand it, the icecap melting has been waaaaaaaaay exaggerated, and the benefits to agriculture might outweigh any drawbacks, at least here in the States and in Europe.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Moral Bankrupcy
> \*\*
Whose morals? I already think that civil liberties and private property rights have been trampled upon over the last 150 years, with growing momentum. It could get worse, of course. I think that pretentions of “moral” behaviour might be few and far between if we really encounter a resource crunch, or they’ll go entirely the other way and governments will become larger and more intrusive by virtue of the new religion, “social justice”.
My own idea? The world is doomed. There is no way to stop the technology of the day from proliferating acts of violence…although…it is becoming clear that human minds can be altered quite amazingly through drugs. Get everyone in line for their dose of _soma_ and maybe the physical disaster is averted, though the death of personal liberty would be just as bad, IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/15 "2003-02-09T08:26:16Z")
Great puttering horsehockey!
The world is _hugely_ better than it was only a few decades ago and sabre-rattling and war drums are _not_ recent inventions.
Pick up a history book, dave. If it’s an honest treatment, it won’t fail to mention truly horrific rates of infectious disease and infant mortality. Claiming the world is “coming to” something suggests it was once noble and is now being corrupted. I’d have to call “bullplop!” on any such simplistic bellyaching.
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### Author:  [@FireWitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FireWitch)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/16 "2003-02-09T09:26:01Z")
I am inclined to agree with Bryan, and the positive crowd, yet I can’t help but think, after perusing my history books yet again, that we’re heading for a very large scale global conflict, not on the order of say, WWII, but close, damn close. This time though, due completely to our reliance on silicon chips and various and sundry forms of gadgetry we use every day, that we’re FAR more vulnerable than we were 10 years ago.
Think about this.
If I were contemplating an attack on the US, my first targets would be radio and television stations and telephone switching stations. Think about that folks. Remove our information, and we will be EXTREMELY vulnerable. Talk about psychological warfare…
just some food for thought.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/17 "2003-02-09T11:46:39Z")
-
Ripped open by metal explosion
Caught in barbed wire
Fireball
Bullet shock
Bayonet
Electricity
Shrapnel
Throbbing meat
Electronic data processing
Black uniforms
Bare feet, carbines
Mail-order rifles
Shoot the muscles
\*
from “Three-Five-Zero-Zero”, by Gerome Ragni and James Rado
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### Author:  [@Texican](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texican)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/18 "2003-02-09T12:26:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jack@ss \*
>
> * * *
>
> It appears that we are going into a war that is not supported by the majority of US citizens. \*\*
Hmm, last night on the news they had the latest newsweek poll that showed 75% supported using force against Iraq. Perhaps you mean “a majority of people that I know…”
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### Author:  [@ChaosGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChaosGod)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/19 "2003-02-10T16:33:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RexDart \*
> \*\*(about Overpopulation) Maybe. Thankfully, nature has a way of balancing that stuff out, and hopefully when it happens we’ll just let nature do her thing and bring the population back into reasonable figures.
That is perfectly true, although absolutely grim.
The fact that planet earth won’t physically _explode_ due to overpopulation isn’t the issue. Billions of people starving to death is the hell we are looking at right NOW!
> [@](#):
>
> Maybe. But this might actually be _good_ for people who live halfway above/below the equator. As I understand it, the icecap melting has been waaaaaaaaay exaggerated, and the benefits to agriculture might outweigh any drawbacks, at least here in the States and in Europe.
To say the truth, I’m not really sure how serious is this global warming thing. Nobody is. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s the very absolute end of life on earth. Apart from a meteor, this is the only other way I can envision complete obliteration
I understand that people aren’t better or worse than before. But somehow I feel that there’s a lot of nihilism in the air. Whenever we find a cause to rally around, it immediately gets packaged and marketed, pasteurized and commercialized. We need the hippies back.
Peace:)
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### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-world-coming-to/153762/20 "2003-02-10T16:42:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ChaosGod \*
> \*\*To say the truth, I’m not really sure how serious is this global warming thing. Nobody is. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s the very absolute end of life on earth. Apart from a meteor, this is the only other way I can envision complete obliterationPeace:) \*\*
Global warming will do nothing to the earth or the life on it. Nothing. It will seriously inconvenience _us_ on the other hand. The choice we have is to try to halt/reverse it or slow/adapt to it.
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