Agree, or Disagree with this statement? say why.?

You have tunnel vision about what you think you see today. Open up the blinders and look at the history of man. There have always been the percentage of people who do the work, do the thinking and do the creating. The rest of the population are parasites.They live off the good will of others and then complain that it's not fair that "those" people have everything and I have nothing. Well there's a good reason you have nothing; you haven't earned anything.

There is no point in complaining about it; they've always been there and they always will be. They are just the "squeaky door" these days.

the ones who apply for Social Security Disability and wonder why they can't get it just because they never paid a dime into it.

They are the worst examples of humanity. Look around and it's easy to see someone who didn't let their disability slow them down. Someone who found a way to contribute to society.

That's what makes capitalism so great. Anybody willing to work can make it.

We should thank God we live in a democracy with a capitalist economy. It's systems like communism that breeds laziness and people who just get by.Why work harder if there's nothing in it for you?

So is it just our society that your disgruntled with? Or is it the global society? Because our problems started in the post WWII period and the baby boomers. We all went to college and there were so many lawyers it became obvious that in order for them to all make a living they had to change the laws, so they did. Now people get rich by suing anyone who looks cross eyed at them. The lawyers get rich by making the tax code not understandable even to those who wrote it.And let's not forget the defense lawyers who get a serial killer off because his mother didn't breast feed him. "He just had to kill those people, now didn't he?" Poor guy.

OK, so my point is that greed, envy, pride, sloth, gluttony, anger and lust have been around as long as there have been people. Nothing changes except for the numbers and the technology.

As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, "What has been shall be again; what will be has already been; there is nothing new under the sun"

It's an interesting question. I haven't read the other responses or the followups yet, because I want to answer without engaging in whatever debate appears to be happening.

I understand the situation that you are presenting and I can see the truth in it. However I think I slightly disagree with your interpretation of what you are observing. I think you're taking two phenomena and seeing them as the same thing.

As a disclaimer, this is not meant to be an argument against your viewpoint per se, but it's just maybe another angle to look at.

Ok, two things:

First, rather than moving away from societal morals and standards of behavior, I think it's more accurate to say that we are adopting different morals and standards to some extent. This sort of thing happens very slowly but it's natural and unavoidable. All the way back throughout human civilization, the elderly people have been bewildered and often upset at the "immoral and unnatural" behavior of their children and grandchildren. OK, sure some societies are more monolithic but they all change eventually, and most of them change a bit with each generation. So when I hear "what is society coming to" types of conversations, or even when I think that way myself, I try to remember that cultures are living, evolving things, and morals are not immutable as we would like to think. (As far as internal vs. external locus of control, I think that difference is overrated. The same types of morals bind a culture together whether they are perceived as being externally enforced or intrinsic.)

Second, there's the part about people thinking they have a right to "feel good" about themselves, whether they've earned it or not. I think you've hit this on the head. We've become very Oprah-ized, living in some bizarro safe-mode where everyone should be a winner and nobody experiences negative repercussions of their actions. In my opinion, if you want to be proud of yourself you need to do something that you are proud of. Occasional failure is inevitable and it should be a humbling experience. Success is then more rewarding when it happens. I think this is much more evident among young people right now in the US (maybe under age 25 or so), and I think it's due to permissive/coddling trends in child rearing during the 1990s and 2000s.

As a final thought, it has not escaped me that my second paragraph here is the type of thinking that my first paragraph warns against. So, I don't take my opinions too seriously, I believe that I'm just observing the natural evolution of a culture.

I agree mostly. A rampant glorification of individualism and "self-sufficiency" has produced an isolated "consumer" culture and made a sense of "community" all but impossible. Since social harmony is an unrealistic goal now, the substitute is the "happiness", or rather pleasure, of the individual. By making pleasure readily available (for the appropriate fee), one fails to learn the lessons of patience, negotiation or compromise.

On the other hand, society (such as it is) is not perfect. There are things that can be improved, especially when "society" is identified with the desires of the wealthy and powerful to maintain the status quo. Members of a society have an obligation to engage with it, question it and push it toward a balance of freedom, responsibility and equal treatment. In aggregate, "society" pushes back with the false ideal of "what's in it for me?", mainly because the movers and shakers think that way. looking out for their own enrichment and security.

The disadvantage of the old, collective model of culture was its unwavering suppression of the individual for the sake of the family, clan, tribe, etc. The advantage was stability, survival and the greatest general good. It is not necessarily good to pursue that old model. We know too much and we have options we didn't then. But many of its concepts can be adapted to our benefit, things like loyalty to the group rather than its leaders or "special interest" groups, government by rules, not by dictate, and consideration of all groups in the community, not just the ones with money and power.

It's not completely uncharted territory. We have enough relevant experience to tell how far off course we are and what to do about it. The problem, as always, is encouraging people beyond their currently tolerable level of unawareness, dysfunction and fear, toward a better but unseen goal of benevolent, interdependent altruism. Those who stand to lose their advantage by it are always fighting back.

Very well stated. It is exactly what many in R&S need to read.

I feel this applies physically and spiritually. Many think that the last forty years have marked significant progress. I lean toward the opposite view. Oh we have many neat toys and medications at our disposal now that did not exist forty years ago, however it seems as though we have multiplied society's ills at a much more significant rate than the advances can compensate.

God Bless.

I agree life is hard work and it frustrates me that no one understands that. Today my friends said she want to become a vampire (she read twilight) and i told why do you want to live forever in this world! It is a sad fact that many people turn to drugs to make themselves healthy. In a way i wish we never came to america because then tobacco wouldn't be as popular as it is now.

I see your point, but I would like to add that people no longer look to contribute to society in hopes of improving everyone's standard of life, but rather doing whatever pleases them because it is our right to be happy at any cost.

Disagree

Choice is a paradox, with choice comes freedom, but at the same time it also leads to confusion and anxiety.

Freedom is normally associated with happiness.

I think because a lot of people in modern and rich countries do not have to fight for survival their choices have opened up. And because they have so many more choices and freedoms it can lower their overall happiness.

I don't think it has much to do with what you're saying at all. But, who knows.

agree