The 21st Century World

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Is the world becoming a scarry place?

I think so, I am always locking my door and worried about going out at night, by myself.

I don’t watch the news so much but it is all over the paper.

I’m worried about getting my car hijacked.

Anybody else got fears about the future in this world?
D.
 
‘Becoming’? It’s always been that way, no matter how much anyone likes to pretend that everything was perfect in the 50s, the 1800s, 1516, whenever.
 
That was a rather flip response. Growing up in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s, we kept our doors unlocked and my parents were just as concerned for their children’s safety as parents are today. I watched as the 1960s ended and the Hippies, Radicals and Communists spread discontent and a destructive “drugs are cool” cultural message.

No, for those somehow under the impression that any decade was perfect, it wasn’t, but, and this is very important, Catholics lived their faith outside of the church building and people practiced Modesty, Decency, Politeness and Restraint, particularly in speech, in public. That is what was different, and now that that has been turned around 180 degreees, you’ve got the culture we’ve got.

God bless,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
That was a rather flip response. Growing up in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s, we kept our doors unlocked and my parents were just as concerned for their children’s safety as parents are today. I watched as the 1960s ended and the Hippies, Radicals and Communists spread discontent and a destructive “drugs are cool” cultural message.
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On the flip… ah, inverse… side, you also had white and ‘colored’ drinking fountains in that day and age. You had hedonists, you had communists, you had radicals, you had drugs – it was just that such ‘undesirables’ were supposedly ‘out of sight, out of mind’ to the ‘respectable’ populace.
 
Your attempt to slant the view does not make my eyewitness account any less true. Those people who did not want to be involved with a more civil society did what they wanted behind closed doors. I distinctly recall not being told to harass or bother anyone.

God bless,
Ed
 
Mirdath said:
On the flip… ah, inverse… side, you also had white and ‘colored’ drinking fountains in that day and age. You had hedonists, you had communists, you had radicals, you had drugs – it was just that such ‘undesirables’ were supposedly ‘out of sight, out of mind’ to the ‘respectable’ populace.
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This post is actually somewhat insightful. I agree with the anti-Racism stance (As any self respecting Catholic should). But that said, even though hedonism, communism and drugs existed, they weren’t as strong (Wait, never mind Communism, it appears to be weakening severely).

Though the 21st Century World, as with every other time period, is a horrifying place, we have made good progress towards eliminating baseless discrimination (I.E. Racism), but at the same time, we’ve regressed backwards in terms of Morality and Theology.

As with all other chronological progressions, change is both positive and negative. It’s difficult to say for sure that the world is becoming too scary. We have dreadful things multiplying, but I’m not scared of them in the least. For my children, however…
 
I think the reason we could kept our doors unlocked was we trusted the authority to watch it all and the criminals were always behind doors.

Now their is less respect for the authority, it like the world is entire college campus ready to riot.

People who rob banks are in a mob not just one person.

In our city in the old days there was a large amount of police and to compare to the populace now we are doubled in populace and have the same amount of police, nearly not much more.

I admit I was sheltered a bit and nieve in the old days but now socially we can’t even find a shelter, unless it is our Church which has a lot of unrest itself.

Do you find a shelter or make your own safeplace?
Is it your home?
I think this is why we see so many senior centers these days.

Speaking of this issue, many of our seniors are afeared of their own children and used to come to the Churches a lot to gather and they now get together almost living in the center meals and all because they feel more, well safe with each other passing on the things between and knowledge with each other that they feel they can trust.

So this issue is happening to all the generations of today.
D.
 
I think in some ways the world is becoming a darker place. The rise of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism is quite frightening. If global warming is likely to be as bad as it is made out to be (though personally I think technological and economic solutions will stave it off before it becomes extremely dangerous) then the future of the world is not a rosy place. The rise of China and India as military and economic giants and the growing strain on world resource and oil supplies caused by their high rates of growth point to possible future wars. The Middle East is extremely unstable and Iran seems bent on getting the bomb, and Pakistan is also falling apart under a resurgent Taliban and Al-Qeda. Africa seems to have many failing and failed states and chronic wars which are causing floods of desperate refugees into Europe, with demographic consequences. In the West itself, we face problems such as rocketing housing, debt, education and healthcare costs, growing economic inequality, and a society focused so much on material wealth and progress there is a void of meaning, which is often filled by vacuous ideas and beliefs. We also face rapidly progressing science and technology which is changing society very rapidly, and sometimes in ways not clearly beneficial to all.

I am hopeful this century will turn out to be a good one, but the events of the last century are a warning about what happens when things fall apart.
 
Mirdath said:
‘Becoming’? It’s always been that way, no matter how much anyone likes to pretend that everything was perfect in the 50s, the 1800s, 1516, whenever.
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In case you haven’t noticed, the gay militants are trying to force their way of life unto us. By passing laws through undemocratic forms they are virtually making our western world turn into a dictatorship. These days you can’t say the word God in public anymore without being called a bigot. I could mention all the health reasons why you don’t do abortion and I’ll be called “a sexist”. Our society approves of same-sex unions and of killing children, crimes that were thought unthinkable years ago. But due to a few intellectuals who legitimized it, it slowly became very popular. Next thing you know, they’ll be pushing for polygamy, pedophile marriages, culling children before they reach the age or reason, and killing people off because they aren’t atheist! Don’t think it can’t happen because it will if we keep going the way we are going.
 
This is quite accurate. The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered have partnered with the media to present their lives as average. In the past, such things were personal and remained behind closed doors, now, it is very much in your face.

Fornication is all over TV. You might as well call ABC the fornication channel. Adultery, multiple partnes, gay encounters - it’s all there, and it’s presented as “entertainment”? Sure, people have sex but they should be married and it shouldn’t be discussed, especially with strangers.

Finally, at the end of the 1960s, the Hippies, Marxists and Communists began having children. The Soviet Union may not be around but certain very Marxist ideas are being promoted in this country. For those who don’t know, the ACLU was founded by a Communist. And illegal drugs were promoted as cool, even “mind expanding.” And how many lives, and families, were torn apart? Abortion on demand? No-fault divorce?

And as I wrote above, our “entertainment” choices are primarily immoral. We also have a TV show called Dexter, about a lovable serial killer. Are lovable cannibal next door neighbors next?

My fellow Catholics, please be careful about what you put into your heads. Give the devil an inch and he could end up in the driver’s seat.

God bless,
Ed
 
Yes just what I was thinking that the TV is being used to infiltrate our brains with the devil tools. It is a media that can be used in a constructive way, but finding the ways is hard.

Got any ideas?
D.
 
I don’t think that Midrath was being flippant.
It is my understanding that violent crime has been steadily decreasing (I think that last year it increased after several years of declining).
It is also my understanding that child abductions are no more prevalent now than they had been in the 1950s. It just seems as if the problem is worse because the media reports on it (and terrifies us about it)
There are certainly things that are worse. I think that the drugs that the kids are exposed to are more potent and addicting than what was available a generation ago. However, there are a lot of things that are better.

I fear for my teenage kids but I also suspect that I’m probably over-protective
Kirk
 
MagicKirk said:
There are certainly things that are worse. I think that the drugs that the kids are exposed to are more potent and addicting than what was available a generation ago.
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Oh, certainly they’re more potent. For one example, the marijuana sold today has been bred for potency – a direct consequence of its legal status. More powerful = less needed to achieve the same effect = less to transport/distribute = less to get in trouble over. However, marijuana isn’t addicting in the same sense as narcotics; one may become psychologically dependent on it (as one may develop a dependence on sushi or video games or even saying the rosary), but there is no physical addiction such as that which comes with alcohol or opiates.

As for addiction, heroin is still pretty much king of that, and it’s hardly a new drug. Other highly refined opiates and opioids like oxycodone are in about the same class, but honestly, there isn’t a whole lot of difference: they’re all narcotic painkillers. They work by mimicking the structure and effect of the endorphins the body naturally produces; but once your nervous system figures out ‘hey, cool, I have a huge supply of these coming in all the time!’ it stops producing its own, and takes a while to resume production. Thing is, they’re still incredibly useful. Beyond their addictive nature, opiates are truly a wonder-drug. Nothing will ever replace them; nothing is nearly as effective in pain management.

What’s really changed between the Good Old Days and now is the selection. As chemical science and pharmacology have advanced, there are all kinds of new options. Amphetamines, benzodiazepines, hallucinogenic research chemicals – all fairly new.

But don’t make the mistake of assuming that if you’ve done one drug, you’ll do them all. Effects vary wildly, and what ‘works’ for one person may not work at all for another. Speaking from personal experience, while most people find marijuana calming and mellowing (and indeed, it’s very useful for some chronic pain patients), I end up with paranoid hallucinations. Hate the stuff. Once was more than enough.
 
I guess it’s just a matter of my advanced age, but when I look back on the 1950’s compared to today, there really is quite a dramatic difference in the culture. So much so, that had it occurred in the space of a decade rather than over a lifetime, it would have seemed that the world was falling apart.

There was much racial discrimination in the 1950’s and earlier (and later). On the other hand, black families were socially comparable to white families. Both were generally intact, consisting of mom, dad, and kids. Now, minority families have a 70% out of wedlock birth rate. That makes them poorer and less upwardly mobile. It has been pretty much the result of the sexual revolution pushed down upon them.

Lest you think it’s just my rose-colored memory speaking, you might want to read a newly published book by Kay S. Hymowitz: Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age.

Quoting from a review in First Things:

Hymowitz notes the high price that countless children have paid for their parents’ failure to get or stay married. …
We are now a “nation of separate and unequal families, where white, middle class and upper class Americans largely manage to hold marriage and childrearing together, while minority, poor, and working-class Americans largely fail to give their children the gift of married parents.”
 
this is a dangerous world in any century. that is the consequence of original sin

you can barricade yourself in your house and wrap your kids in a plastic bubble, install a security system, spray lysol everywhere–but how is that going to protect you from a natural disaster like a tornado, hurrican, tusinami, comet etc.

as parents we can take prudent steps to protect our children against about 5% of the threats out their to their health, safety, life, psychological well-being, and spirituality. 95% of the threats are beyond our control. to waste a life in anxiety and fear is to deny the Divine Providence, and to succumb to the lies of the deceiver.
 
AgnosTheist said:
I think the world is a lot more safer compared to the middle ages. It really all depends on where you live. Im from canada and its heavenly here. 🙂
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I don’t think my pro-life friends up there would say the same thing! I think morally the world is not as safe. Maybe technology wise yes.
 
bones_IV said:
I don’t think my pro-life friends up there would say the same thing! I think morally the world is not as safe. Maybe technology wise yes.
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count your blessings. moral safeties:

no slavery

religious equality.

racial equality.

gender equality.

no dictators

prosperity.

free expressions.

its heaven, my friend. 🙂
 
AgnosTheist said:
no slavery
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Maybe not in Canada, but Slavery is far from dead, sadly.

I agree with most of the other things. Racism, repression, etc. are all horribly immoral, and thank God that they seem to be weaker than every before (Though you could make a case against it).
 
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