Biggest topic ever. What do you think is the main source of all the world's ills? What do you think should be done about it?

Just to throw some topics out there theres: lack of education, poverty, religion, classed scoieties, health care, governing methods, drugs, sex. There's tons more and I'd love to hear what you think is the biggest problem, and what you would do.

A main source for the world's ills?

I would say humanity. You can blame religion, drugs, sex, governments, class, race, etc. but the true source would be humans.

While I'm tempted to say "everything", was the world as good in earlier times? We always hear of them as wonderful times, times when there was no pollution and people treated each other respectfully. What about the energy crisis, the great depression, women's rights, racism, and everything in between? I've only lived for fifteen years, but maybe the world of the past might suck as much as it does now. I'm not sure, though. I think now takes the cake.

The problems of today, in my mind--I'll add more as I remember them:

-How people value sex. I admit, I'm a Scorpio, sex is VERY high on the things I value. And I'm a virgin! I think it's worth waiting for a steady relationship to lose my virginity, and it seems that the only people who are waiting until marriage or a steady relationship do it because of their religion. I dunno if I want to marry someone deeply religious, being agnostic. But where are the rest of the virgins-until-steady-relationships? It's a personal gripe of mine, I guess.

-Addictions. No matter what form--alcohol, tobacco, self-harm, cough syrup, it's an unhealthy coping mechanism. We might need to address the problem among teenagers first. I know a lot of people who self-harm "controllably", most of which were strongly addicted in the past. They don't do it often, but when things get bad they rely on it because they can't deal with it anymore. They're not gonna drop down and die but they need a little help.

-The gap between the rich and the poor. Seriously, who NEEDS an SUV if you don't cart around lots of people all the time? Who NEEDS a huge mansion? Who NEEDS a 1,000billion inch plasma screen? If you're loaded and make an effort to give back to the community, my respect goes to you. But some people are just selfish about it and buy big stuff because they can afford it. Gas-guzzling cars especially. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you have a God-given right to pollute the world to assert your dominance.

-The media. Need I say more? Seriously, it's giving us a horribly skewed view of what's normal. Highly sexualized, "perfect" anorexic women, men on steroids for whom it's impossible to show fear...and pathetic, worthless, unwise old folks. Makes you happy to be alive, eh? And what's with the news today? I'm getting dumber just talking about it.

-Corporations. McDonalds. WalMart. The Beauty Industry. No objective to ensure the safety of its customers. Heck, their only regret would be that their customers died of heart failure/dangerous products/anorexia! WalMart's products (most of them, anyway) probably aren't deadly, but what they do is deadly for the environment and the job market here. But no one cares as long as they fetch a pretty penny for their deeds.

-Modern medicine (sometimes), particularly for psychological disorders. ADD is extremely overdiagnosed, isn't it? Get the kid off sugar first, and then we'll see if he has a disorder. Antidepressants are overperscribed. I'm not knocking on the people who actually need them, I'm talking about the drug companies who bribe the doctors (94% of doctors take bribes) to give their patients an instant cop-out. Drug the kid and he'll stop misbehaving...?

Can't get around it, can't get under it, can't get over it! http://youtube.com/watch?v=9yK561xgVtI

And to top that the miseducation of the past still continues with people thinking there is never consequences: http://youtube.com/watch?v=c9AsdjUz...related&search=

The lies come to cheap so the truth has become to much of an inconvenient.

Does this mean there is no point in getting a high respected, well paid job when you are going to be living the same way as a trash cleaner in the streets?

I do agree when you say about the SUVs and the BIG gap between the rich and poor..eg..Paris Hilton driving around on a crystal encrusted chopper while starving children in africa scoop dirty parisite ridden water from a well....

Religion. It's always created conflict in the world.

Personally i cant think of one instance where religion has caused conflict. I can think of many when religion was used as a flag during conflict but i dont think the ideologies or morales of religion can ever cause conflict and I'm an athiest. Even the crusades can be argued as having little to really do about religion, and much more to do with the desire for power.

Is anything actually 'wrong' with the world. To say somethings wrong surely applies its outside of whats usually accepted as right. Last time i checked the world has always been filled with war, famine, death and pestilence. From Julius Caesar to George Bush and from 'Ug' the caveman punching 'Eg' the caveman through to the Wars of the Three Kingdom to the World Wars and to the wars in Iraq today, the world has always been full of idiots who control too much power aswell as conflict and ills.

Therefore the world seems to be doing everything right.

Yeah. I'm going to go with that. Sounds pretty good.

Still, I'd rather be a human than any other species on this planet.

I'm sticking with religion.

Can you please give me one instance of RELIGION causing conflict. Not the people who support the religion or people using religion as a flag for their causes but actually the teachings of religion causing serious conflict to be acquated as all the ills of the world. Its not religion that causes the damage its the human temperament. If it wasnt religion it would be something else.

I keep going back to South Park recently but this reminds me of the episode where all religion is ended and in the future there is even more war because the athiests cant decide what to call themselves. Showing humans will fight no matter what the issue.

I by no means believe that religion is the source of all the world's ills (how could it be?), but it's definitely one of the factors. Religious conflict accounts for a lot of animosity and hatred between humans, not to mention the age-old conflict between theists and scientists who disagree on creationism, the Big Bang Theory, evolution, and all other manner of theories. The Crusades were a cause largely motivated by desire for power, you're correct, but without religion in the first place, the Crusades would never have come to pass. There's always the battle of of which religion is right, the battle of whose going to heaven/hell and who or what decides how they get there, the argument as to whether there is an afterlife or not, etc. Religion itself isn't the conflict, but the way it tends to divide people. So no, it's not the sole source of all the world's problems, but it's definitely in there somewhere.

People thinking that they are somehow superior to others.

I agree with you somewhat. Religion is used as a mask for wars of economics. However religion, by which I mean religious teachings, can cause conflict, directly and indirectly.

I'm mainly recalling this from my US history class, admittedly not the best source, but weren't there several civil wars in England over the formation of the Anglican church by King Henry? The one sect thought that the teachings of the new faith were wrong, and the other sect thought that they were the best thing in religion since Jesus and Mohammad (please no one argue about that, the usual cliche about sliced bread hardly works here).

As for indirectly, as in religious teachings causing the cause of a war, their are hundreds of possibilities there. Since I have my AP US textbook open, I'll talk about the american revolution. The great awakening casued major religous upheaval, thus making the silly commons start to think for themselves as they were able to choose thier church. With thought came dissent from the mother land, and with dissent came a war. See? Indirect cause there.

Humans thinking they own the entire universe and they can do whatever they want with it.

The fact that each religion is taught that theirs is the right one - and they persecute others because they refuse to agree or convert. Burning of heretics come to mind? I think organized religion is one of the poisons of the world - but it's not the only one.

I agree that humanity is the cause of all the world's ills. I think that certain things do play a huge part - religion, governing methods, money/greed and others, but when it boils down to it, humans cause it all.

Read Book of Kings. That should be adequate proof. I DO believe in God. It is true that religion has caused wars, but that's not the same as saying that religion is the cause of the world's problems, which is a pretty absurd blanket statement.

I don't really feel like thinking today. I probably shouldn't have added anything on my brain's day off. :allnight:

This goes to everyone who blames humanity:

Humanity is definitely one of the world's problems. But what can we do about it? Destroying all humans would, in the long term, solve many of the world's problems. But it would cause many more. Think about it, if you ask for volunteers to remove themselves, then youll never even lower the poulation by a percent. If you do somethign to remove all humans by force then you will destroy the environment on a global scale, as only a weapon of many many megatons would do the job and it'd take more than one. Same problem with simulating impact winter or any other natural major species ending disaster. (oh just FYI, do not interpret that as I think of destroying people as a possible solution that just isn't feasible. I don't. I'm not a mass murder advocate. I merely put that out there for the purpose of a reasoned debate)

Plus a desire to destroy humanity to save the wrold is probably another one of the world's problems :P.

As to getting humans to do somethign about their crummy influence on the world... I don't think that's possible. Humanity is a rather numerous species. Convincing six billion sentient beings, who speak different languages, have different cultures and are all individuals, to do something world altering would be VERY difficult, IMO. If you know of a way to do it, do tell, I'd love to hear it.

The root cause of the world's problems? I can name it with one three letter word.

SIN.

I am there with you. If people would do what they are suppose to instead of sleeping with every Tom, Dick, Mary, and Sue. Stop killing everyone else. Stop thinking of themselves as if they are another higher level as someone else things would be better. All the wars started with people saying they are better than everyone else so we must kill them if they won't convert. Now i know they say it is over religion, but if you read the bible you would know god said to love they enemy not kill them.

I agree with you. This is the simple-ist way of putting it..

Actually I'm not suggesting that humans are the problem... what I am suggesting is that the way humans think is the problem. Many people believe that for some reason, they are superior to some other group, be it religious, social, nationalistic, race, etc. Until we can collectively stop thinking in terms of "us and them" and realize that we are all one in both a biological and spiritual sense, we will continue to create these problems for ourselves.

That's not an explanation. It's just a collective term for "all the problems".

Why is there murder? Sin? No, murder is a sin, but sin does not cause murder. Sin is a category in which all the world's problems can be put.

So, now the question becomes: "Why is there sin?"

I want to piggyback on what you said...people suffer from a lack of knowledge and they have exchanged the truth for lies, causing their thoughts/thinking and motives/intent to greatly go/fight against all that is natural and good. They insist on making life cheap/with a price, thereby confusing the truth greatly.

If sin is the answer it is only so because sin has been downgraded to equate to the end result (what you can experience with the senses) and not thought and intent/motive, confusing the spiritual with the flesh. The flesh is the only thing/way man can make/manipulate other men to be subjected to the law which is sin (no law no sin). The deception is to allow the thoughts of man to be captured and placed under subjection to the rule of man/law/sin or distracted greatly by lies. The heart of man is sick and he have been educated into believing that it/that is natural, even godly.

Men are waking up and the Ruler/violent must now rule with violence and take back the awakening minds by force so therefore the war has only just began. :eviltongu The battlefield is the mind and the weapons are words and the reward is thoughts captured and placed under subjection to the Rulers of this world/men. :handbag:

H U M A N

including me, we cannot blame the world's ills on "things/stuffs et cetera" because "things/stuffs et cetera" are created by..... guess who? H U M A N