(no subject)

[holyoutlaw]

So, I went to Laptopistan this afternoon -- the Laptopistani embassy located at Aster Coffee Lounge.

And, I was even productive. The assignment I worked on was generating ideas for a possible research paper for the writing class. You write down a heading and then you come up with ideas under that heading. I didn't have any problem with that, it's just that every single idea was depressing in one way or another. Here are the ideas under the topic heading "Trends."

• Decline of Civility
  No one pushing for improved gun control
  No one pushing to bring back the Fairness Doctrine (I did see one article about the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the rise of Limbaugh and his ilk)



• Increasing lack of cooperation at all levels
  It's all "their" fault, whatever "their" situation



• No unity or sense of working together
  Voting "against their interest"
  Unions busted



• Global warming



• Self-Defection
  Demands to eat better result in worse eating habits
  Demands to improve result in guilt driving choice -- ie, "guilty pleasures"



• Extinction of whole classes of organisms
  Amphibians
  Bees



• Impossibility of true quiet
  Motors, cars, traffic, music



• Decreasing science literacy
  "Evolution is just a theory"
  "Vaccines cause autism"
  "Pluto is a planet"



• False positives of conspiracy theories and crank ideas

So, trash my ideas, second them, respond, whatever. What would you add to any of these? What would you remove? Which ones do you think are good (or like) or think are bad (or dislike)?

Comments

[wild_irises]

Not sure what you read, but I see people (especially the Brady crowd) pushing loudly for additional gun control. Also see the fascinating charts that Nate Silver published and sociologicalimages republished on how support for gun control is decreasing and gun ownership is decreasing.

On impossibility of true quiet, the first essay I'm aware of on that subject is by Seneca.

Not to say that you're wrong about any of this, but there may be cheering nuances.

[holyoutlaw]

I'm happy to be cheered.

[emceeaich]

Have you read "How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming," which explains the reasoning behind what happened, and also includes HTTP server log sleuthing!