How Do We Make Society Better?

[_Jersey Girl]

I blame frustration and fed-uppedness for that.

And these are both great reasons to oppress a society?

Oh sure. It's kind of like making the board better by oppressing the activity of obvious trolls by taking away their food.

[_Jersey Girl]

This thread took a weird turn into dystopian policy recommendations.

What, you don't like state enforced sterilization? Honestly since Ceeboo just wanted to link and run with zero analysis of the topic I guess it doesn't really matter where the thread goes (still love ya Ceebs (can I steal this from Honor cause I really like it?)).

I've called him "Ceebs" many times in the past and all he does is suck up to honor.

[_Jersey Girl]

Mandatory nutrition classes in all grades and mandatory fitness classes to go with them.



p.s. A school community garden in every school.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

This thread took a weird turn into dystopian policy recommendations.

What, you don't like state enforced sterilization? Honestly since Ceeboo just wanted to link and run with zero analysis of the topic I guess it doesn't really matter where the thread goes (still love ya Ceebs (can I steal this from Honor cause I really like it?)).

Well. Since OP can't be bothered to add content besides a link to a nutjob and some weak excuse for not participating on his own thread I felt the need to take the wheel. Kinda like Jesus.

- Doc

[_Res Ipsa]

1. Talk less.
2. Listen more.
3. Don’t label people and then tell them what they think and believe based on the label you slapped on them.
4. If people label themselves, listen to why they choose to apply that label.
5. Recognize that the people who piss you off are, like you, human beings who are also trying to make their way through the world.
6. Stop worrying so much about your stuff.
7. Look for ways to treat others with kindness.
8. Seek out interactions with folks who don’t think like you do.
9. Generously interpret what other folks say.
10. Do unto others as you would would have them do unto you if you were in their shoes. Asking them how they would like to be treated is a good place to start.

[Guest]

The video agrees 99% with my world view and opinion on the "two kinds of people" that make up humanity. Group-think and individual-think. Group-think believes that more government/laws are always necessary to address each recognized ill in society.

Group think is where people look to their group for their own beliefs. It's not about more government or more laws. It is alive and well on both sides of the political divide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

Sure, but the GOP bleeds more members than the Democrat, turning Independent. That only means that more GOPs are independent thinkers than Democrats. Group-think isn't only about politics. But I was addressing the assertion that Prager's assertion was BS. It isn't. The Democrats and other liberals are all about the group controlling others through more government/laws. They don't believe there is anything messed up about their thinking; but they do believe that about individualists. Individualists scare and anger group-thinkers.

You won't find much in the way of "more laws!" among religious conservatives. Of course, the broad political spectrums of conservative and liberal contain group-thinkers. Conservatism isn't a monolith. But the proportion of group-thinkers is inverse: far more the majority among liberals and the minority among conservatives.

And the group-thinkers of any political stripe are dangerous because they want to be in control.

I have far more in common with an individualist liberal than some conservative who approaches the rule of law through more and more gov't control.

[_Maksutov]

This is how I would make society better:

1) Government mandated birth control. Everyone who isn't snipped or menopaused is on birth control, to include male birth control. <- Game changer when that comes available.

2) You need to demonstrate solvency and aptitude to have a baby. If you're a moron you get snipped. Far too many humans suffer being born to morons.

Oddly enough, I don't disagree with the above. Since we're hypothetically mandating parenthood and reproduction, I have a whole list of ideas regarding child rearing and education that I think would help to circumvent what I see as an overall societal lack of empathy which I think is a key factor to perhaps all of the ills that plague us. Let me use your ideas about aptitude to having a child as a springboard for my ideas. You might have ideas about funding that I have yet to consider. My emphasis is on the physical, intellectual, emotional and social (PIES) growth of society as a whole.

Paraphrasing, you wrote: You need to demonstrate an aptitude to have a baby.


1. Mandatory child development and parenting classes (delivered in developmental stages that continue through the early childhood years) for adults starting before baby is born. Ideally, before going off birth control.

2. One parent must sign on to stay with baby as primary caregiver from birth to age 6. (And no, I don't know where the income is going to come from. Perhaps the money from taxing religious institutions?)

3. Primary caregiver must agree to mandatory parenting classes throughout the child's early years and beyond.

4. The creation of intergenerational educational systems. Everything I'm going to list from here going forward, hinges on the creation of intergenerational systems of education.

5. Children in series of mixed age groupings starting with part-day early childhood programs that include children age 3-6 years old. (Mixed age groupings: 3&4 year olds, 5&6 year olds--in the past these were referred to as continuum classes) Senior citizens and older students become part of the programs.

Mixed age groupings foster the development of empathy.

6. Academic schooling begins on or around age 7. Continued mixed age groupings through high school. Senior citizens become part of the system working in partnership with older students.

7. Beginning in middle school, students receive education regarding birth control, reproductive rights and related topics.

8. Beginning in high school, students must take the same mandatory child development and parenting classes as the prospective parents I listed above.

9. Senior high school students complete their child development classes held in intergenerational learning nurseries used as both lab schools and child care program (children as subjects) while parents are attending their ongoing parenting classes.

Basically, it's a cycle of education that's comprised of all generations interacting with, teaching and learning from each other.

Damnit Jersey. You're making sense. I like this much much more than endless bitching about this person or that.

[_Themis]

The Democrats and other liberals are all about the group controlling others through more government/laws.

Then you don't know much about people who consider themselves liberal. They actually want more choice.

You won't find much in the way of "more laws!" among religious conservatives.

You will find much. Religious conservatives are well known to support more laws governing people's behavior and what they consider immoral.

[_Jersey Girl]

Oddly enough, I don't disagree with the above. Since we're hypothetically mandating parenthood and reproduction, I have a whole list of ideas regarding child rearing and education that I think would help to circumvent what I see as an overall societal lack of empathy which I think is a key factor to perhaps all of the ills that plague us. Let me use your ideas about aptitude to having a child as a springboard for my ideas. You might have ideas about funding that I have yet to consider. My emphasis is on the physical, intellectual, emotional and social (PIES) growth of society as a whole.

Paraphrasing, you wrote: You need to demonstrate an aptitude to have a baby.


1. Mandatory child development and parenting classes (delivered in developmental stages that continue through the early childhood years) for adults starting before baby is born. Ideally, before going off birth control.

2. One parent must sign on to stay with baby as primary caregiver from birth to age 6. (And no, I don't know where the income is going to come from. Perhaps the money from taxing religious institutions?)

3. Primary caregiver must agree to mandatory parenting classes throughout the child's early years and beyond.

4. The creation of intergenerational educational systems. Everything I'm going to list from here going forward, hinges on the creation of intergenerational systems of education.

5. Children in series of mixed age groupings starting with part-day early childhood programs that include children age 3-6 years old. (Mixed age groupings: 3&4 year olds, 5&6 year olds--in the past these were referred to as continuum classes) Senior citizens and older students become part of the programs.

Mixed age groupings foster the development of empathy.

6. Academic schooling begins on or around age 7. Continued mixed age groupings through high school. Senior citizens become part of the system working in partnership with older students.

7. Beginning in middle school, students receive education regarding birth control, reproductive rights and related topics.

8. Beginning in high school, students must take the same mandatory child development and parenting classes as the prospective parents I listed above.

9. Senior high school students complete their child development classes held in intergenerational learning nurseries used as both lab schools and child care program (children as subjects) while parents are attending their ongoing parenting classes.

Basically, it's a cycle of education that's comprised of all generations interacting with, teaching and learning from each other.

Damnit Jersey. You're making sense. I like this much much more than endless bitching about this person or that.

Unfortunately, making sense doesn't garner the attention that it could on this forum. We'd much rather be lobbing crap at each other and vying for position which is yet another sign of our terminal lack of empathy.

I'm calling it the Village School System. Because that's what it takes and that's what is sorely absent in this country.

Think about what would happen when members of a community were put in situation of interacting with each other on a daily basis toward a common goal.

Then you'll be right where I am in my head when I read the daily news of greed, quest for power and status, the shootings, teen suicides and such as that.

Intergenerational learning centers already exist in this country to some degree. I'm merely bringing the concept full circle.

[_Res Ipsa]

Jersey Girl, I’m intrigued. It looks like we have one in West Seattle that operates a pre-school inside a nursing home. Are there programs that do similar things with school agers?