Personally, i don’t think there’s anything wrong with the world in general. As George Carlin said:
And on the whole, i think he’s right. But, that’s not exactly what i’m getting at. Is it the drugs (i don’t think so)? is it Politics? the Ozone? ABC? NBC? CBS? MTV? Ani Difranco’s song “Open Fire”? (not bloody likely…)
What -if anything- is wrong?
I have an idea. But if I was right, would I be where I am right now?
People with excessively high expectations.
You want a serious answer? On a worldwide basis, unequal distribution of resources and excessive consumerism/greed. In various countries there are other “local” problems: corruption, loss of community, and just generally too much change too fast for human society to adapt.
What a cheery subject for a Sunday afternoon…
Here’s my two pennies.
First of all I really can’t speak about the entire world. I must focus on the good ol’ U S of A where I’ve spent the last 40 years. I have a theory that we have grown away from inter-personal relationships and come to rely too heavily on technology. This began in the 70’s and accelerated during the 80’s. By the 90’s we’d reached terminal velocity and it was too late to stop.
The people in our lives and the health of our relationships with them should be of primary concern to us. Instead I look around and see people who are so locked into the Internet that they act like lost children when faced with one on one encounters with others. I see those who care more about Madonna’s wedding and who the latest Hollywood hunk is sleeping with than with what is going on in the lives of their friends and loved ones. “Reality” television has people glued to their sets, living vicariously through the adventures of shallow characters with no real substance. Rarely these days do we take the time to congregate on sidewalks, front porches and local eateries to swap news, gossip and stories. We are losing the human element and I personally am afraid of what might happen if we foresake it entirely.
So, what’s wrong with the world today? Nothing really. It’s still a great place. We just need to get back in touch with one another and learn that there are other emotions to be shared than anger.
Tough to deal with such a rich topic in a few paragraphs. Somehow I feel that this ought to be over in Great Debates. It could get pretty meaty and I am interested in hearing what others may feel about the question raised in the OP.
Less television enabled voyeurism: I’ll drink to it. Also, I think there’s way too much violence. It’s not popular culture that causes violence, but it does seem to me that tv and movies have desensetized people to it, which in its own way is almost as bad. Which is not to say I have the answer to that…
IMO, it’s simply a matter of too many people on the planet. Population pressure is at the root (or plays an aggravating role) of our most serious ecological problems. The rest of our problems are moot if we don’t have a liveable planet.