What do you think the biggest problem with society is?

[CrusaderFrank]

Humanity​

Sock accounts

 

[320 Years of History]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

That folks can have the truth stare them in the face and deny its verity is certainly a big problem. I don't know that I believe it's the biggest, although it it's not, it's not far from it.

I'm hard pressed for and bereft of empirical evidence supporting an assertion of what is "the" biggest problem with society. Among the leading problems, several of which are closely related, are:

• A dearth of critical thinking skills combined with a cultural reticence for using them -- When I speak with people about business matters, they generally seek to have a compete (or substantively so) set of facts and using them to make business decisions. When I discuss politics, people often content themselves with decision making based on limited information. In both situations, however, I observe that, at least as often as not, the people briefing me on things are not very good at distinguishing which factors are more important and which less so. Even among those who get the weighting right as it would apply to most situations, they fail to consider whether the same weighting is apropos to the matter then under discussion.
• Intellectual laziness -- I am daily astounded by the extent to which in myriad matters individuals will base their decisions and views on matters that they themselves tacitly or overtly indicate concern them. Countless individuals, rather than objectively seeking credible and scholarly input, rather than seeking complete sets of facts and using them to form conclusions, rely on half truths, sophistic assumptions, and flawed premises. When I was a kid, intellectual curiosity was a trait that militated for one's being successful, then and later. I don't sense that quality to be prime among those valued by many people these days, or, alternatively, I sense that people who once were intellectually curious cease to be upon achieving majority and finishing college or grad school.
• "Infallibility" -- Concomitant with the preceding two problems is rampant conviction among millions that whatever they think or believe is so merely because they say it is. This they believe absent any endeavor to legitimately seek information that refutes their beliefs.
• Lack of leadership qualities -- Far too many people are content to be led, content to be told what they should do, how to behave, blindly follow rules, and, unceasingly and blissfully remain willfully ignorant.
• General lack of formal education in economics -- Given the role of money in society and the fact that it is a scarce commodity/resource that everyone needs, I would think that what today qualifies as a collegiate level course in macroeconomics and microeconomics isn't required study for all American high school students such that one cannot receive a diploma (or voting certificate were I given my way, but I know of the dangers of voting qualification tests, so I won't push that far) without having passed both courses with a minimum score of 85%.
• "Twitterization" and/or "sound bite" mentality -- It seems to me that overwhelmingly people believe that every issue can be addressed in 150 characters or less. Catch phrases and pithy blurbs are nice. They are wonderful as slogans that encapsulate a theme. In no way, however, are they sufficient to explain the key factors of a topic, yet the vast majority of information that makes its way to people via most news organs is presented in little more than "sound bites." The result is that we have a nation of people forming their views based on incomplete information.
• Greed -- We exist in a world where gaining ever more money -- for oneself or corporately -- has become more important than doing the right thing. Our society operates on the theme of "I've got mine. You get yours," rather than "I've got mine. Let me help you get yours too." We have reached the point where quite literally, money is more important than people.

From the above you will correctly glean that I see the denial of truth as problematic. Where you and I differ is that I see it as a symptom of the behaviors described above rather than as the root cause of any of them.

 

[TNHarley]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

That folks can have the truth stare them in the face and deny its verity is certainly a big problem. I don't know that I believe it's the biggest, although it it's not, it's not far from it.

I'm hard pressed for and bereft of empirical evidence supporting an assertion of what is "the" biggest problem with society. Among the leading problems, several of which are closely related, are:

• A dearth of critical thinking skills combined with a cultural reticence for using them -- When I speak with people about business matters, they generally seek to have a compete (or substantively so) set of facts and using them to make business decisions. When I discuss politics, people often content themselves with decision making based on limited information. In both situations, however, I observe that, at least as often as not, the people briefing me on things are not very good at distinguishing which factors are more important and which less so. Even among those who get the weighting right as it would apply to most situations, they fail to consider whether the same weighting is apropos to the matter then under discussion.
• Intellectual laziness -- I am daily astounded by the extent to which in myriad matters individuals will base their decisions and views on matters that they themselves tacitly or overtly indicate concern them. Countless individuals, rather than objectively seeking credible and scholarly input, rather than seeking complete sets of facts and using them to form conclusions, rely on half truths, sophistic assumptions, and flawed premises. When I was a kid, intellectual curiosity was a trait that militated for one's being successful, then and later. I don't sense that quality to be prime among those valued by many people these days, or, alternatively, I sense that people who once were intellectually curious cease to be upon achieving majority and finishing college or grad school.
• "Infallibility" -- Concomitant with the preceding two problems is rampant conviction among millions that whatever they think or believe is so merely because they say it is. This they believe absent any endeavor to legitimately seek information that refutes their beliefs.
• Lack of leadership qualities -- Far too many people are content to be led, content to be told what they should do, how to behave, blindly follow rules, and, unceasingly and blissfully remain willfully ignorant.
• General lack of formal education in economics -- Given the role of money in society and the fact that it is a scarce commodity/resource that everyone needs, I would think that what today qualifies as a collegiate level course in macroeconomics and microeconomics isn't required study for all American high school students such that one cannot receive a diploma (or voting certificate were I given my way, but I know of the dangers of voting qualification tests, so I won't push that far) without having passed both courses with a minimum score of 85%.
• "Twitterization" and/or "sound bite" mentality -- It seems to me that overwhelmingly people believe that every issue can be addressed in 150 characters or less. Catch phrases and pithy blurbs are nice. They are wonderful as slogans that encapsulate a theme. In no way, however, are they sufficient to explain the key factors of a topic, yet the vast majority of information that makes its way to people via most news organs is presented in little more than "sound bites." The result is that we have a nation of people forming their views based on incomplete information.
• Greed -- We exist in a world where gaining ever more money -- for oneself or corporately -- has become more important than doing the right thing. Our society operates on the theme of "I've got mine. You get yours," rather than "I've got mine. Let me help you get yours too." We have reached the point where quite literally, money is more important than people.

From the above you will correctly glean that I see the denial of truth as problematic. Where you and I differ is that I see it as a symptom of the behaviors described above rather than as the root cause of any of them.

I wont disagree!

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

That folks can have the truth stare them in the face and deny its verity is certainly a big problem. I don't know that I believe it's the biggest, although it it's not, it's not far from it.

I'm hard pressed for and bereft of empirical evidence supporting an assertion of what is "the" biggest problem with society. Among the leading problems, several of which are closely related, are:

• A dearth of critical thinking skills combined with a cultural reticence for using them -- When I speak with people about business matters, they generally seek to have a compete (or substantively so) set of facts and using them to make business decisions. When I discuss politics, people often content themselves with decision making based on limited information. In both situations, however, I observe that, at least as often as not, the people briefing me on things are not very good at distinguishing which factors are more important and which less so. Even among those who get the weighting right as it would apply to most situations, they fail to consider whether the same weighting is apropos to the matter then under discussion.
• Intellectual laziness -- I am daily astounded by the extent to which in myriad matters individuals will base their decisions and views on matters that they themselves tacitly or overtly indicate concern them. Countless individuals, rather than objectively seeking credible and scholarly input, rather than seeking complete sets of facts and using them to form conclusions, rely on half truths, sophistic assumptions, and flawed premises. When I was a kid, intellectual curiosity was a trait that militated for one's being successful, then and later. I don't sense that quality to be prime among those valued by many people these days, or, alternatively, I sense that people who once were intellectually curious cease to be upon achieving majority and finishing college or grad school.
• "Infallibility" -- Concomitant with the preceding two problems is rampant conviction among millions that whatever they think or believe is so merely because they say it is. This they believe absent any endeavor to legitimately seek information that refutes their beliefs.
• Lack of leadership qualities -- Far too many people are content to be led, content to be told what they should do, how to behave, blindly follow rules, and, unceasingly and blissfully remain willfully ignorant.
• General lack of formal education in economics -- Given the role of money in society and the fact that it is a scarce commodity/resource that everyone needs, I would think that what today qualifies as a collegiate level course in macroeconomics and microeconomics isn't required study for all American high school students such that one cannot receive a diploma (or voting certificate were I given my way, but I know of the dangers of voting qualification tests, so I won't push that far) without having passed both courses with a minimum score of 85%.
• "Twitterization" and/or "sound bite" mentality -- It seems to me that overwhelmingly people believe that every issue can be addressed in 150 characters or less. Catch phrases and pithy blurbs are nice. They are wonderful as slogans that encapsulate a theme. In no way, however, are they sufficient to explain the key factors of a topic, yet the vast majority of information that makes its way to people via most news organs is presented in little more than "sound bites." The result is that we have a nation of people forming their views based on incomplete information.
• Greed -- We exist in a world where gaining ever more money -- for oneself or corporately -- has become more important than doing the right thing. Our society operates on the theme of "I've got mine. You get yours," rather than "I've got mine. Let me help you get yours too." We have reached the point where quite literally, money is more important than people.

From the above you will correctly glean that I see the denial of truth as problematic. Where you and I differ is that I see it as a symptom of the behaviors described above rather than as the root cause of any of them.

Applause, good run, although I view them as both symptom and cause.

In terms of critical thinking, one must first have something in one's head worth exercising one's critical thinking abilities. The modern public educational system is all agaga over the teaching of "critical thinking" but is ridiculously slack in providing students with significant matters about which to think critically.

 

[320 Years of History]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

That folks can have the truth stare them in the face and deny its verity is certainly a big problem. I don't know that I believe it's the biggest, although it it's not, it's not far from it.

I'm hard pressed for and bereft of empirical evidence supporting an assertion of what is "the" biggest problem with society. Among the leading problems, several of which are closely related, are:

• A dearth of critical thinking skills combined with a cultural reticence for using them -- When I speak with people about business matters, they generally seek to have a compete (or substantively so) set of facts and using them to make business decisions. When I discuss politics, people often content themselves with decision making based on limited information. In both situations, however, I observe that, at least as often as not, the people briefing me on things are not very good at distinguishing which factors are more important and which less so. Even among those who get the weighting right as it would apply to most situations, they fail to consider whether the same weighting is apropos to the matter then under discussion.
• Intellectual laziness -- I am daily astounded by the extent to which in myriad matters individuals will base their decisions and views on matters that they themselves tacitly or overtly indicate concern them. Countless individuals, rather than objectively seeking credible and scholarly input, rather than seeking complete sets of facts and using them to form conclusions, rely on half truths, sophistic assumptions, and flawed premises. When I was a kid, intellectual curiosity was a trait that militated for one's being successful, then and later. I don't sense that quality to be prime among those valued by many people these days, or, alternatively, I sense that people who once were intellectually curious cease to be upon achieving majority and finishing college or grad school.
• "Infallibility" -- Concomitant with the preceding two problems is rampant conviction among millions that whatever they think or believe is so merely because they say it is. This they believe absent any endeavor to legitimately seek information that refutes their beliefs.
• Lack of leadership qualities -- Far too many people are content to be led, content to be told what they should do, how to behave, blindly follow rules, and, unceasingly and blissfully remain willfully ignorant.
• General lack of formal education in economics -- Given the role of money in society and the fact that it is a scarce commodity/resource that everyone needs, I would think that what today qualifies as a collegiate level course in macroeconomics and microeconomics isn't required study for all American high school students such that one cannot receive a diploma (or voting certificate were I given my way, but I know of the dangers of voting qualification tests, so I won't push that far) without having passed both courses with a minimum score of 85%.
• "Twitterization" and/or "sound bite" mentality -- It seems to me that overwhelmingly people believe that every issue can be addressed in 150 characters or less. Catch phrases and pithy blurbs are nice. They are wonderful as slogans that encapsulate a theme. In no way, however, are they sufficient to explain the key factors of a topic, yet the vast majority of information that makes its way to people via most news organs is presented in little more than "sound bites." The result is that we have a nation of people forming their views based on incomplete information.
• Greed -- We exist in a world where gaining ever more money -- for oneself or corporately -- has become more important than doing the right thing. Our society operates on the theme of "I've got mine. You get yours," rather than "I've got mine. Let me help you get yours too." We have reached the point where quite literally, money is more important than people.

From the above you will correctly glean that I see the denial of truth as problematic. Where you and I differ is that I see it as a symptom of the behaviors described above rather than as the root cause of any of them.

Applause, good run, although I view them as both symptom and cause.

In terms of critical thinking, one must first have something in one's head worth exercising one's critical thinking abilities. The modern public educational system is all [agog] over the teaching of "critical thinking" but is ridiculously slack in providing students with significant matters about which to think critically.

TY

Red:
Say what? About what can one find no call for thinking critically? The school system doesn't need to give students things to think about critically; any topic they choose can be evaluated that way. Students need only make an assertion about a topic of their choice, research it, consider the facts that support and refute their assertion, and conclude that their assertion was accurate/justifiable or not.

Critical thinking doesn't mean "prove one is correct," it means "use objective sources to gather facts, evaluate them, and determine whether one is correct or incorrect." Becoming any good at critical thinking is a matter of practicing the skill, but for the sake of practice, any subject matter, be it weighty or not, will do.

Other:
On a related but different theme, I posit that an emphasis on critical thinking isn't a new focus of educators. I completed high school nearly forty years ago, and it was in nearly all disciplines I studied "the" focus of the instruction teachers provided. The same is so for my peers. That it is so could be seen in the overwhelming preponderance of essay and unaided recall type questions on our exams; multiple choice questions (MC) were a rare "gift."

What seems different between then and now is that educators have learned how to pose more challenging multiple choice questions. That said, at the end of the day, no matter how hard the MC question, there remains the chance that a student can guess correctly and receive full credit for doing so, even though s/he may not have a clue why the answer selected is correct.

Last week, I found myself in a discussion with one of young mentorees. He jokingly remarked that I would probably be one of those teachers who would issue a MC exam and have every answer choice be given by the same letter, perhaps choice "D." I asked him if, while taking such a test, would leave all the answers as "D" or would he change some of them. He said he'd change them because he would not expect that every correct answer could be "D." We then engaged in a discussion about the merits of "gaming the text" versus thoroughly understanding/knowing the material. I posited that the only reason for his changing some of his answers was that he also would, at the time of taking the text, know that his knowledge of the tested material was incomplete, and that were he fully prepared, he'd leave his answers as "D." I then shared with him that, years ago when I was a TA in college, I preferred to give essay exams because it allowed me to give students credit for the entirety of what they'd mastered, as opposed to denying them full credit because they filled in the wrong circle.

Multiple choice exams are sign of another problem I see in many young people (anyone under 40): they see things as all or nothing. Time and time again I see or hear folks take or reject positions or solutions because they solve some share of a problem rather than solving 100% of the problem, this even as there is no identified comprehensive solution. Or, to put it another way, they want their way in its entirety and they have have zero tolerance for, or will to accept, compromise. For my part, I would sooner take action, take positions, that solve part of the problem now and look for means to address the rest later. Better, I think, to fix something, even if not everything, than to do nothing because I cannot fix everything or because I can't have all of "it" my way.

Similarly, I'm more keen to try doing something to solve a problem than I am to do nothing. The "something" I might try may or may not work; it may work well or mostly not at all. Either way, I'm one who is okay, in matters for which there is no specific model for what to do, with trying something, and learning from my mistakes. I don't feel the need to be perfect, but I do feel the need to try, succeed at times, fail at times if unavoidable, learn from either outcome, and apply the learning to future undertakings.

I don't know why, but it seems to me that for as much criticism I receive for my high standards, those very same critics fail to realize that my standards apply to the effort we put into any given pursuit, not to whether the outcome of the pursuit succeeds or fails. I entrust my staff, the leaders for whom I vote, etc. to do the best they possibly can solving problems. It's not my expectation that they never blunder. "Never" is an impossibly high standard.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

Lack of continuity, morals and ethics.

I second this. To me its people who think that they can do whatever they want and not suffer a price for it.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[Iron Head]

Leftist ideology.

 

[dblack]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

The biggest problem with society is the inability, or unwillingness, to consider things from another person's perspective.

If we're talking about the nation, particularly government, I'd say the biggest problem is the delusion that the law can, and should, be used to solve most social problems.

 

[g5000]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Our biggest problem is divisiveness. Way too many people are always spoiling for a fight, and they are being fueled by propaganda media outlets.

It isn't God that is making us feel like someone is always taking from us. It isn't God who is making us always feel afraid. It isn't God who is always pointing the finger at "that guy over there".

We need to start examining the real faces behind the masks on TV and radio. We need to pay attention to the emotional manipulation. The music they use, the tone they use, the fears they exploit.

This is not God at work, kids. This is a destroyer at work.

 

[TNHarley]

Good posts guys!

 

[tyroneweaver]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Homes without Fathers

 

[TNHarley]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Homes without Fathers

so men need to grow up?
What about homes without mothers?

 

[Indeependent]

Greedy Conservatives and lazy Liberals.

 

[Dot Com]

hate & fear perpetuated by rw media and the gullible who take it as the gospel

 

[tyroneweaver]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Homes without Fathers

so men need to grow up?
What about homes without mothers?

you sound like that nauseating old fart the used to be on 60 minutes

 

[TNHarley]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Homes without Fathers

so men need to grow up?
What about homes without mothers?

you sound like that nauseating old fart the used to be on 60 minutes

?
I was trying to discuss your post... Good lord.
Mommy issues bro?

 

[TNHarley]

hate & fear perpetuated by rw media and the gullible who take it as the gospel

Buuuut da glabull warmin!!

 

[tyroneweaver]

hate & fear perpetuated by rw media and the gullible who take it as the gospel

When's the last time you seen a paranoid rw riot and burn down a town.
You need to lay off the cocaine dude.

 

[tyroneweaver]

For me it is acceptance. Nobody accepts anything anymore.
People just cant accept themselves or truth.
What do you think?

Homes without Fathers

so men need to grow up?
What about homes without mothers?

you sound like that nauseating old fart the used to be on 60 minutes

?
I was trying to discuss your post... Good lord.
Mommy issues bro?

What she didn't give you aspirin this morning.
Your's wasn't an information seeking question, it was a challenging question

 

[leftwinger]

Government waste of our tax dollars.