It is something I have often pondered myself. I think before the days of television and electronic gaming, people had to go out and make their own entertainment. That required socialising - whether it was chatting in the street to your neighbours or organising get-togethers such as dances, etc. I can only speak for myself as someone who works through the week but I get home at night, have a meal and then relax in front of the TV, the PC or do a bit of knitting. At the weekends, I tend to be so busy catching up with bits and pieces that friends are often forgotten. It has certainly become a rat race. Wanna drop out with me?

yea i wanna drop out x

I really do live my life by trying to understand as many people that I can and gain as many points of view possible on life. I live to be as nice as I can be but with a dirent point to be understandly assertive to my own thoughts too. If everyone was alike then the world couldn't function perhaps? Think of how many law enforcement people would be upset about losing their jobs if suddenly all crime (breaking of the morals of society) would cease and never be? There has always been a place for evil in this world...sad and true.

I agree that diversity is required. The world would function if we were all alike but how boring! As far as there always being a place for evil is concerned, that bothers me. Why?

because it makes others feel better about themselves...lol...sob..unfortunately part of the truth :/

actually, my perspective on that is; there will be evil for as long as people believe it exists. As we have discussed on other topics on unhealthy behavior, it is the popular/lazy way people view that kind of behavior; this guy (or group) did something bad/evil, that means he is bad/evil, that means we do bad/evil things to him and get revenge, nice and simple. Never mind that it never works!

on the other hand, if we refuse to believe the concept of bad/evil people, than we start having a serious look at the question of why would a person do such a thing? which can be best answered if we rephrase it as what would it take for me to do such a thing? That is the only way we can actually get the right answer and start finding solutions, but it is not a popular path for the obvious reason that we'd actually have to empathise with someone who must have gone through some horrendous experiences to start acting the way they are, and depending on the behavior we're talking about, we might have to imagine extreme suffering like prolonged abuse, indignity, torture, having family murdered, starvation etc etc. not the most pleasant of mind exercises. Then there's the inconvenience that if you can emphatise with them, you loose that "i'm better" feeling and don't get to do bad/evil things to them!

As for the state of society question, I think we need to be very careful about that kind of thought pattern as its one of those thoughts that can define our reality. Through the multi-perspective of BP, I have realised that when I am talkative and friendly, I notice (influence?) others that are the same, and the opposite is true as well. How talkative and friendly I am partly depends on how I feel about people, so if i'm in a depressed state and think the world is full of selfish, unfriendly people, i stop interacting, which reinforces my point of view. And the exact opposite happens when i get manic and think everyone is friendly and warm deep inside so i behave and talk accordingly and that in turn encourages confirming behavior from them and reinforces that view!

The way I look at the issue these days is that people are not necessarily friendly or unfriendly, selfish or caring; they're what they are and that changes from time to time as life is a constant process of change. If I feel like talking to people, I talk to them. If they don't want to engage then I stop talking. If I don't feel like talking then I don't talk, but sometimes if I notice that someone enjoys talking to me then I might talk because I like the experience of them enjoying it. Basically lots of shades of gray but no black and white. Guess that's true for all aspects of life.

thanks for your perspective on evil - clarified a lot but not all!

I guess, in the majority of cases, if we set our minds to it, we can begin to understand why acts of evil are committed. However, there are some personality traits that are nothing to do with environmental exposure? I know that we have a psychiatric prison in Scotland where people with serious mental health problems who have committed horrendous crimes are treated. However, there was a debate recently about whether someone whose personality disorder cannot be treated should be incarcerated in a psychiatric unit. I am not sure what the outcome was.

i think that 'can not be treated' is simply giving-up on trying to find the solution and is usually the campaign slogan of those that do prefer to punish rather than help. Its scary to think that a few decades back, BP would be in that category and I would have probably been lobotomized if i went manic :/

and I am not just referring to mental illness as technically defined in my previous reply, there are many maladjustments that have nothing to do with biochemistry. actually reading a really good book on how people constantly effect each others behavior and how serious behavioral problems can be solved simply by changing the way we react to that persons behavior. will comment more once i've finished it but making a lot of sense at the mo.

I am the first to admit that my life has been fairly sheltered from evil and violence so I am not talking from experience!

It is good to be optimistic that all personality disorders can be treated and I would love to think that too. However, I still have great concern about what happens to criminals who are violent and are assessed as likely to re-offend if released back into the community with current medical knowledge having no way of treating them. Whether we like it or not, there are always a few bad apples?

maybe some people care but are scared to show it ?

I think some people are so caught up in their own 'fight for survival' that they have forgotten about caring and sharing :(

i'm going to go out on a limb here. Whats there to care about? Why should i care if someone is murdered and i dont know the victim? It obviosuly doenst affect me as a person (of course though i have my sister come home at this time etc . . .) but honestly doesnt effect me, i wasnt murdered or someone else i knew wasn't murdered.

Second there are so many things that divide us as people. Religion, Sexual Prefrence, Cutlure, Language, Education, Place of Employment. It all seperates us and further divedes us. for example i had a christian come up to me the other day, rosary around his neck and he looked at me and said i was "the spawn of Satan," because i was gay. (i live in a small town words gets passed around fas). thats what seperates us and divides and makes us not care! Is because ass holes out there are hiding behind something that makes them think they have the right.

Thats why people dont care. Because those who are supposed to care and show an example obvisouly dont. so why should i or the next person?

Fitest survives.

You can almost say the world has become a Social Darwinst's paradise.

remember when they used to say .. it only takes one voice.. then other voices will join in chorus.. well no voice is heard, barely heard, or ignored. apathy, defeat, too much effort??? justifications abound and it takes strength to maintain and perservere in the face of subjegation and objection.. especially alone. as for morality, that is self imposed and as long as humans look to texts, scrolls and a group to adhere to them ... they will never be fixed only weatherfriends at best.

I am so sorry you are hurting so bad, MoroseMary, and need all your energies to look after yourself. However, when you feel better, perhaps a little compassion and understanding of others might help? You need to give as well as get?

which makes me sad for them. we might have the unpleasantness of dealing with people like that now and then but they're stuck with themselves! we see the world through our own eyes and our only knowledge of what goes on in the heads of others is based on the example in our head. imagine being a selfish, greedy or hurtful person and perceiving a world full of the same!! what a lonely and scary life - i'd rather be depressed...lol

can I think about this later? I guess it does come down to a state of mind. How easy is it to control that?