What's The World Coming To

What kind of a world are we living in, where if you stand up for yourself, you're bound to get beaten the shit out of? :(

I mean, me and my girlfriend were riding our bikes down the street, minding our own business, when we passed a bunch of kids of about our own age (17-18 year olds). They started yelling some real bad shit at my girlfriend, for no reason at all. Where I live (the Netherlands) this isn't too uncommon, as there are a lot of kids from bad neighborhoods around who don't give a shit about peoples rights, and are bent at pissing people off. I for once though, had had it, I'd had a really bad day and flipped them off just as we were rounding a corner (they we're still yelling things at us). Big mistake. They at once jumped on their bikes and chased after us, although we didn't change our pace and tried not show our panic at this new development. Luckily, they went their own ways not too long after that, but it left me with some troubling thoughts as to what could've happened.

I realize I made a big mistake in losing my cool and not ignoring them as I should have, and thereby potentially endangering my girlfriend... but the fact remains that this kind of thing happens here every day. This is to me one of many signs of how fucked up our society is. I find it insane that my girlfriend has to deal with these kinds of things, people yelling shit at her for no reason at all, every day. I'm curious whether this is also true in other parts of the world (or of the Netherlands), or that maybe this is just a big problem in my town.

Although im informed it happens all over, i have yet to see it where I live...

Or any of the places close by come to that...

I believe it is this kind of thing that has resulted in the Scottish Parliament giving the Police additional powers to break up groups of young neds (Chavs in England I believe) hanging around street corners. (neds = Non-Educated Delinquents :) )

Although not troubled by them overly in my small town they do exist. My daughter has crossed their paths a couple of times. The last resulting in severe violence to the boy that spat in her hair. I understand from the school that she demonstrated the dangers of getting ones head trapped in a door using the youth in question as an example. (Thank God there were witnesses he started it) Since then, things have been quiet. Perhaps suggesting that the Police should be issued with doors.

The trouble is the culture at home is the one they reflect on the street. Society begins at home and if there is no respect for people and their wellbeing in the home then there is little chance of it being legislated for.

However, it is easy to over-react to individual horror stories. Such sub-cultures have always existed. London, for example, was a far more violent and dangerous place in the 19th century than it is now. On the whole, these are the good old days.

Ned = Charva here, so im informed by my son...... :ph34r:

arrogant, rude, hypocritical, unconscious, snobbish, idiotic, indifferent... kind of people are more and more popular and welcomed in this society especially in third-world countries.

the world is in low-moral state, thats what Buddha told:
Three periods, the moral of society is the highest in the first period(1000 years) during Buddha's life( Buddha was born about 2500 years ago), the second is 1000 or 2000 years( I don't quite remember) when moral is ok. and now we are in the third period, the worst. personally I felt something has changed dramatically in 1996.

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Originally posted by elitek@15 July 2004 - 20:18
arrogant, rude, hypocritical, unconscious, snobbish, idiotic, indifferent... kind of people are more and more popular and welcomed in this society especially in third-world countries.

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What are you baseing that on? :huh:

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Originally posted by ZaZu+16 July 2004 - 00:48--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ZaZu @ 16 July 2004 - 00:48)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-elitek@15 July 2004 - 20:18
arrogant, rude, hypocritical, unconscious, snobbish, idiotic, indifferent... kind of people are more and more popular and welcomed in this society especially in third-world countries.

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What are you baseing that on? :huh: [/b][/quote]
which part

oh, I thought It&#39;s been bold by myself

I read many stories about the human right and injustice kind of stuffs
and the goverments try to deny the facts

from the global perspective, the whole world is sinking, just take U.K and New Zeland as examples, crime rate in U.K rises so high even higher than the U.S(probably not murder rate), its not a "gentleman" society anymore, New Zeland pretty much follows U.K it&#39;s not as peaceful and quiet as you think.

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Originally posted by elitek@16 July 2004 - 01:15
from the global perspective, the whole world is sinking, just take U.K and New Zeland as examples, crime rate in U.K rises so high even higher than the U.S(probably not murder rate), its not a "gentleman" society anymore, New Zeland pretty much follows U.K it&#39;s not as peaceful and quiet as you think.

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Crime per Capita, New Zealand is 2nd in the world at 108.12 per 1000 population (Dominica is 1st @ 112.79)


The thing is, that number is totally meaningless.

What is a Crime in one country isnt in another.


An example... Is Jaywalking or Hitchiking a "Crime" where you live?


Now if your talking "Violent Crime" then please define which type...


For example New Zealand falls to 12th place at 0.21 per 1000 population in "Rape"...still quite high up that world league, but less than a third as many as Australia in 3rd place (0.79), Canada in 5th (0.74) but close to USA at 9th (0.30)...but still nearly twice UK at 13th (0.14).

For Murder:

USA leads the "West" at 24th place with a wopping 0.04 per 1000 population. Not bad when you consider Columbia (1st place) at 0.63 or 2nd place South Africa (0.51).

But thats still 4 times higher than either UK or New Zealand (both at 0.01 and near the bottom of the table)


BTW:
Want to know who lead the world here? The Lowest Rape and Murder per capita of population? Why those "savages" in the Arab States of course.... Saudi Arabia and Yemen etc...


Arent Statistics wonderful?

Source = Nationmaster

I live in the downtown area of a fairly large city (USA). Most who live in the suburbs think that my neighborhood is dangerous, but I&#39;ve yet to encounter problems with my neighbors. Though I gotta admit that I was bullied for most of my time in public school.
<_<


Oh, and thanks for that link, RatFaced. I&#39;ve been looking for something like that for a while. B)

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Originally posted by Prodigy Girl@16 July 2004 - 23:17
I live in the downtown area of a fairly large city (USA). Most who live in the suburbs think that my neighborhood is dangerous, but I&#39;ve yet to encounter problems with my neighbors. Though I gotta admit that I was bullied for most of my time in public school.
<_<


Oh, and thanks for that link, RatFaced. I&#39;ve been looking for something like that for a while. B)

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No problem, I found it to help my son with his Geography Homework once...

After him bugging me to look stuff up for individual countries 6 hours solid....

:ph34r:

ya, its a p[roblem eeverywere u go.

luckely im 6&#39;2 and 180 pounds, so noone says anything to me.

its a real ego problem these days, i have grade 5&#39;s picking fights with me.

im in 10 now...

just smash the big one or the leader of the group and the rewst will shut the fuck up :lol:

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Originally posted by Rat Faced+16 July 2004 - 22:57--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Rat Faced &#064; 16 July 2004 - 22:57)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-elitek@16 July 2004 - 01:15
from the global perspective, the whole world is sinking, just take U.K and New Zeland as examples, crime rate in U.K rises so high even higher than the U.S(probably not murder rate), its not a "gentleman" society anymore, New Zeland pretty much follows U.K it&#39;s not as peaceful and quiet as you think.

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Crime per Capita, New Zealand is 2nd in the world at 108.12 per 1000 population (Dominica is 1st @ 112.79)


The thing is, that number is totally meaningless.

What is a Crime in one country isnt in another.


An example... Is Jaywalking or Hitchiking a "Crime" where you live?


Now if your talking "Violent Crime" then please define which type...


For example New Zealand falls to 12th place at 0.21 per 1000 population in "Rape"...still quite high up that world league, but less than a third as many as Australia in 3rd place (0.79), Canada in 5th (0.74) but close to USA at 9th (0.30)...but still nearly twice UK at 13th (0.14).

For Murder:

USA leads the "West" at 24th place with a wopping 0.04 per 1000 population. Not bad when you consider Columbia (1st place) at 0.63 or 2nd place South Africa (0.51).

But thats still 4 times higher than either UK or New Zealand (both at 0.01 and near the bottom of the table)


BTW:
Want to know who lead the world here? The Lowest Rape and Murder per capita of population? Why those "savages" in the Arab States of course.... Saudi Arabia and Yemen etc...


Arent Statistics wonderful?

Source = Nationmaster [/b][/quote]
where was I ? ok, what I said was... I am not cartman, sorry I am lost again, what I said was I was talking about moral state not crime rate, did I? a little maybe, crime rate just a sample of the degradation of moral state, i.e, the crime rate in New Zeland climbs up sheerly comparing itself(not other countries) 10 or whichever years ago, other degradations include jaywalking or even spitting, swearing, indifference, impatience...so on whatever you can think of. is crime rate linked to other moral states, I think yes, more people commit crime, fewer people act politely and decently. what causes this? many factors, but simply as moral. its a global trend not some individual countries. its unstoppable. I don&#39;t know if this is what Buddha referred to coz I just studied Buddhism superficially for a short period of time. I hope I&#39;d cleared my points

You cannot use a word like "Moral" in a world context, just as you cannot use the word "Crime".

Neither have universal value, and rely upon the Society in which you live to give them meaning.

I keep arguing this point over words like "Liberal", "Conservative", "Left" and "Right" (latter 2 in relation to politics, not direction) elswhere....

As an example... you&#39;ve stated that 1000-2000AD was a period of morality.. you might want to check that against history :P

I would tend to stick with the view that things have got better not worse. I don&#39;t think I would liked to have bumped into Atiila the Hun, Ghengis Khan or Vlad the Impaler. I would not have been too keen being a slave in the Roman Empire or burned at the stake as a heretic in the medieval period either.

Bad people, bad leaders and wars have been with man for a very long time. I don&#39;t think we are any worse or better off now than at any other time in this respect. However, from a Utilitarian perspective, life is better for a greater number than at any time. I appreciate that this is not the case in the poorest countries where misery and death continue to haunt their daily lives.


What is it with religions that they always consider the golden age either in the past or yet to come? I was unaware that Buddhism was prone to this also. :(

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Originally posted by Rat Faced@17 July 2004 - 18:08
You cannot use a word like "Moral" in a world context, just as you cannot use the word "Crime".

Neither have universal value, and rely upon the Society in which you live to give them meaning.

I keep arguing this point over words like "Liberal", "Conservative", "Left" and "Right" (latter 2 in relation to politics, not direction) elswhere....

As an example... you&#39;ve stated that 1000-2000AD was a period of morality.. you might want to check that against history :P

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lol, well, forget about it, don&#39;t take this one seriously.

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Originally posted by Biggles@17 July 2004 - 18:51
I would tend to stick with the view that things have got better not worse. I don&#39;t think I would liked to have bumped into Atiila the Hun, Ghengis Khan or Vlad the Impaler. I would not have been too keen being a slave in the Roman Empire or burned at the stake as a heretic in the medieval period either.

Bad people, bad leaders and wars have been with man for a very long time. I don&#39;t think we are any worse or better off now than at any other time in this respect. However, from a Utilitarian perspective, life is better for a greater number than at any time. I appreciate that this is not the case in the poorest countries where misery and death continue to haunt their daily lives.


What is it with religions that they always consider the golden age either in the past or yet to come? I was unaware that Buddhism was prone to this also. :(

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I guess I&#39;d misinterpreted Buddhism in this one, you might want to check it coz I wasn&#39;t quite sure as I said.