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Quote from: Outrider on October 12, 2015, 02:08:30 PMQuote from: BashfulAnthony on October 12, 2015, 01:54:39 PMHow do you know they are ghastly unless you read them yourself?If the Daily Mail or the Express were to have a sudden outbreak of journalistic integrity I think you can rest assured it would be all over the papers...O.If you want to see what they are doing, look it up yourself: try and be objective, for once.Helpfully BA has helpfully posted a link to the Express so we can see how well they are doing.
Quote from: BashfulAnthony on October 12, 2015, 01:54:39 PMHow do you know they are ghastly unless you read them yourself?If the Daily Mail or the Express were to have a sudden outbreak of journalistic integrity I think you can rest assured it would be all over the papers...O.
How do you know they are ghastly unless you read them yourself?
Who, the Express? Spreading fear and terror among the British does seem to be their modus operandi, I agree.
Quote from: Rhiannon on October 12, 2015, 04:31:34 PMWho, the Express? Spreading fear and terror among the British does seem to be their modus operandi, I agree.A slightly over-the-top remark, I think. Quite unlike you.
Quote from: BashfulAnthony on October 12, 2015, 04:34:01 PMQuote from: Rhiannon on October 12, 2015, 04:31:34 PMWho, the Express? Spreading fear and terror among the British does seem to be their modus operandi, I agree.A slightly over-the-top remark, I think. Quite unlike you.Do you get sarcasm?
Quote from: Hope on October 12, 2015, 10:57:30 AMQuote from: Rose on October 12, 2015, 10:47:10 AMLittle things break though which is why his death caused more of a stir than say a child dying elsewhere.I think it also depends on our own experiences. If you have lived somewhere where the death of a 3-year-old is commonplace, that image would not have been as powerful as it would have been for those of us who haven't.For me, the most powerful pictures remain the kind of thing that we saw during the Ethiopian famine in the 80s and the famous picture of the Vietnamese lass who was alight having been hit by napalm.I saw my own son in the picture of him smiling.I think you are right, some does depend on our own experiences.
Quote from: Rose on October 12, 2015, 10:47:10 AMLittle things break though which is why his death caused more of a stir than say a child dying elsewhere.I think it also depends on our own experiences. If you have lived somewhere where the death of a 3-year-old is commonplace, that image would not have been as powerful as it would have been for those of us who haven't.For me, the most powerful pictures remain the kind of thing that we saw during the Ethiopian famine in the 80s and the famous picture of the Vietnamese lass who was alight having been hit by napalm.
Little things break though which is why his death caused more of a stir than say a child dying elsewhere.
Quote from: Jack Knave on October 10, 2015, 06:07:48 PMAt times I get the feeling that there are more troubles and wars in the world than there have been in the last few decades, and tensions are brewing across the globe. How do others feel about what's going on in the world?I think what has changed is how much information we have access to.Earthquakes and wars happened years ago, but news took longer to spread if it spread at all.People only tended to know a small amount, or old news.
At times I get the feeling that there are more troubles and wars in the world than there have been in the last few decades, and tensions are brewing across the globe. How do others feel about what's going on in the world?
Quote from: Rose on October 10, 2015, 09:21:19 PMQuote from: Jack Knave on October 10, 2015, 06:07:48 PMAt times I get the feeling that there are more troubles and wars in the world than there have been in the last few decades, and tensions are brewing across the globe. How do others feel about what's going on in the world?I think what has changed is how much information we have access to.Earthquakes and wars happened years ago, but news took longer to spread if it spread at all.People only tended to know a small amount, or old news.I did consider that but we have had pretty good news coverage for many, many decades so I think it would be more than that.
There are a number of factors. As somebody else has pointed out the technological means of disseminating the world news related to tensions and warfare have improved so much that it appears almost instantly in your living room. During the last world war the actuality of warfare appeared in your 'living room' but other bad news was largely suppressed to maintain morale.The technological means of killing people and destroying property has advanced considerably and continues to do so. This coupled with the world population explosion and density probably means that there are more potential casualties and destruction of property and mass migrations.As the world resources dwindle political power blocks will flex their muscles to exercise control over getting their 'share'.As more and more people are forced to live in precarious geological zones e.g. lowland areas, tectonic areas, any natural disasters will create more casualties. Diseases will spread more quickly..... and that's just the good news.
Please see the thread on 'Some positive thinking...' . I think there are lots of good things today as compared to earlier centuries and decades. Of course, when the world becomes smaller and all of us relate to each others problems...things are bound to look gloomy.I remember when I was in college... even events happening in other parts of India and even South India looked very distant and irrelevant to us. Only things happening in our town and maybe our State would seem important. Today its different. Even the killings in US, suicides in Japan, migrations into Europe... seem important and worrying. That's perhaps why we feel there are more troubles than before. According to Hindu beliefs we will be entering a golden era (Satya yuga) after this period and I believe this is true.
There is more of us - so there is more of everything. Good and bad. Link this to the aforementioned ease of dissemination of information and the bias applied to that information and you could be led to believe things are getting worse. In relative terms I don't think so.
Quote from: Trentvoyager on October 11, 2015, 10:29:09 AMThere is more of us - so there is more of everything. Good and bad. Link this to the aforementioned ease of dissemination of information and the bias applied to that information and you could be led to believe things are getting worse. In relative terms I don't think so.Perhaps mankind is approaching critical mass when all manner of chaos will breakout...?
Actually the news is overwhelmingly good and improving - albeit the news that's little reported.Globally child mortality has halved since 1990, girls very nearly match boys now in terms of the number of years in school, devastating diseases have been nearly (polio) or completely (smallpox) eliminated, previously chaotic and dictatorial countries (Nigeria, Indonesia) have had very successful democratic elections, life expectancy is increasing, the gap between poorer and richer countries has inexorably narrowed etc. Pretty much everywhere you look there are (largely unreported) stories like this. That's not to say that catastrophic things are not happening (they are the things that get reported) but it is to say that underlying trends are almost universally positive.In other words, if you rely on the most of the news outlets for your understanding of "the World" you'll get a very distorted view of it. Try googling Hans Rosling for information about the stats actually say.
Dear Blue,Here's a thought, a news programme that only reports good news would anyone watch it??Gonnagle.
JK,QuoteSo how do you feel about all the violence and wars in the world today?For my part, obviously wars are horrible but it's comforting too to know too that proportionately fewer people are caught up in them than at pretty much any time in our history. You need to consider both what does happen and what does not happen to understand this - recently I was listening to something on Radio 4 when a Nobel laureate was asked what the most important historical event of the last century had been, and his reply was the fact that nuclear war did not happen. I'm paraphrasing, but the point is well-made I think.
So how do you feel about all the violence and wars in the world today?
Quote from: bluehillside on October 11, 2015, 03:04:08 PMJK,QuoteSo how do you feel about all the violence and wars in the world today?For my part, obviously wars are horrible but it's comforting too to know too that proportionately fewer people are caught up in them than at pretty much any time in our history. You need to consider both what does happen and what does not happen to understand this - recently I was listening to something on Radio 4 when a Nobel laureate was asked what the most important historical event of the last century had been, and his reply was the fact that nuclear war did not happen. I'm paraphrasing, but the point is well-made I think.Still could, though...
Hope,QuoteDon't remember where I read this, but I believe that, when one takes the global population and the instances of 'trouble' into account, the proportion is probably not that much worse than it has ever been (the period that includes the 2 world wars excepted).Depends what you mean by "trouble", but the point is that it's not worse at all - we live in a time where you are statistically far less likely to be involved in a war, as well as to die early, to contract horrible diseases, to be illiterate etc.
Don't remember where I read this, but I believe that, when one takes the global population and the instances of 'trouble' into account, the proportion is probably not that much worse than it has ever been (the period that includes the 2 world wars excepted).
Quote from: Jack Knave on October 13, 2015, 12:49:17 PMQuote from: bluehillside on October 11, 2015, 03:04:08 PMJK,QuoteSo how do you feel about all the violence and wars in the world today?For my part, obviously wars are horrible but it's comforting too to know too that proportionately fewer people are caught up in them than at pretty much any time in our history. You need to consider both what does happen and what does not happen to understand this - recently I was listening to something on Radio 4 when a Nobel laureate was asked what the most important historical event of the last century had been, and his reply was the fact that nuclear war did not happen. I'm paraphrasing, but the point is well-made I think.Still could, though...Which is specious as regards your OP
Quote from: Jack Knave on October 13, 2015, 12:32:02 PMQuote from: Trentvoyager on October 11, 2015, 10:29:09 AMThere is more of us - so there is more of everything. Good and bad. Link this to the aforementioned ease of dissemination of information and the bias applied to that information and you could be led to believe things are getting worse. In relative terms I don't think so.Perhaps mankind is approaching critical mass when all manner of chaos will breakout...?Do you have the calculation that gives this? Is your name Malthus? (Though I note again it is specious to the OP)
I'm suggesting that the increase in violence, if this is the case, may be due to the increase of people on this planet and that resources are getting scarce. At some point it will reach a tipping point.
I think its inevitable that eventually someone who believes the end of the world has been prophesied gets their hands on a weapon that can bring that about.