It seems that some kids these days don't care about much - just their cell phone and social networking websites. They don't care about important stuff such as what goes on in the world especially in regards to politics. It seems that some kids these days just want to party and take drugs that are not prescribed to them and/or drink, drinks that contain alcohol. Instead of caring about important people like Thomas Jefferson all they care about is useless celebrities such as Justin beiber. People such as Beiber contribute nothing good to society and in fact they only make it worse. He is not the only one pulling that crap, pop music singers and Hollywood actors are some of the worst people that they are (not as bad as some politicians and banking cartels but up there). When it comes down to it all actors do all day is reading lines off paper and yet they get payed millions of dollars just for reading with emotion or singing (it does not matter how well they sing they will just get autotune'd or equivalent). I am not referring to people who can actually sing well. I am talking about the lamestream pop artists. There are talented actors who don't get recognized at all why should Hollywood actors get all the credit. Also it seems that there is lots of pure crap on television. I rarely watch television however I do have a usb tv card and one time I used the digital ATSC dtv feature and one thing I noticed is that lots of shows feature dumb characters. I think it is bad to honor the unintelligent. If they do want to have someone who lacks of intelligences on television I think they should depict their unintelligent as unacceptable as in they may have the character be depicted as an evil person or as inferior. Kids see the stupid television characters get many people of the opposite sex and then they imitate the television characters and like the saying goes "monkey see, monkey does" they imitate what they see. So yes it is sad to see kids lacking of the ability to use a computer but please consider why they are so stupid and work on solving that. Once more people wake up and realize that the problem is due to media and culture we will get better. Together we can make the world a better place and to do this we must reject some aspects of pop culture. Pop culture unto itself seems to me to encourage 5 terrible things that ruin a person.
1. Reckless spending
2. Impulse buying
3. Borrowing money especially on credit.
4. Drugs and alcohol usage
5. Honoring the unintelligent
I admit not being the expert on pop culture so if you can suggest anything that should be added to this list please do.
I think pop culture may be part of why kids are failing these days. I understand my post is long but there are so many issues with people these days that I think the length of this post is justified. This is my perception of how pop culture is bringing us down so to say. I am wondering what are the viewpoints of other forum members here regarding this issue. Do you guys think that pop culture plays a role in current issues with society?
"Pop culture - Is it bringing us down?"
No.
While I do feel that this is a valid idea, it seems that this trend has repeated itself throughout history. It is all just an outsiders view looking in, in some ways.
1. Reckless spending
2. Impulse buying
3. Borrowing money especially on credit.
4. Drugs and alcohol usage
5. Honoring the unintelligent
All of these seem to have been going on for some time now... I don't think that it is just pop culture which is escalating this even further.
First of all let me clarify my position a little bit. "Bringing us down" does not refer to completely hindering everyone. I just think that people who by into the popular/trendy culture are wasting their life away. This message does not apply to most people on this forum (meaning that they are not the ones who waste their life away listening to rap music or the likes). But for the people that do I wonder is it because of what they see on television. What motivates them to act in the way that they do? Is it because they feel the need to conform to those around them. What causes their affliction (so to say). Also pop culture refers to what people at the time period perceive as popular. Yes I agree MateoConLechuga sadly the list I created does outline some problems that have been going on for awhile.
Your budding brain is starting to see the faults of a complicated world, and the issues seem to be escalating as they unfold before your mind's eye, but be aware that they have always existed and have been observed by every culture's worldly people. Your venting is an understandable recoil to the lights dawning upon you, but if you stare too intently at the glare, then it'll just burn your eyes out.
Find yourself some rose-colored glasses, much like those worn by the masses you criticize, and it won't be so unbearable. You might just be witnessing the collective clay from the cross-sections of a hundred thousand people who are each enjoying a brief respite from their relatably-difficult lives.
"1. Reckless spending
2. Impulse buying
3. Borrowing money especially on credit.
4. Drugs and alcohol usage
5. Honoring the unintelligent "
sounds like the typical American
Well, all of our reckless, impulsive buying is on guns.
Seriously, though, a stereotypical American is way different than an actual one. There are very few people in America that borrow a lot. The issue was that banks were lending out way too much money, and those who were stupid enough to take the bait lost all of their money. Drugs and alcohol usage have been going down, with only like 6% of teems smoking, to give one example. We may honor the unintelligent, but the intelligent will always be remembered. A good example is "There are crosswalks for a reason, Einstein!".
(by the way, I do know that the post above was a joke, but I'm just making my view clear)
It does seem odd how impressionable some people are today - when compared to even a few years ago. The amount of social pressure that is around is a severe obstacle for many young people, however it is something that the older generation is meant to control - but rather it is being exploited for gain in my opinion.
Personally I am not a fan of pop music or even music at all.
But I once heard a nice question that I actually support:
"Indeed we can say people listening to Heavy Metal music tend to crimes. But do people listening to Heavy Metal tend to comitting crimes or do people comitting crimes tend to listen to Heavy Metal?"
So my personal opinion: It has less to do with music than with other things.
I think that art plays a major role in stimulating the mind in a society, and that it should not be ignored. And, like Mateo said, it is a reoccurring trend.
This rant I had in my mind a long time ago, but there was a resolution. In essence, there exist two types of people in the world: those who generate and those who consume.
Humans are predominantly consumers; hence, the average person is a consumer. In today's world, they don't consume the berries and grapes of nature, they consume popular culture, which is a phenomenon created by man. It's not about the physical consumption of man, but rather the intellectual consumption by man which is a relatively recent trend.
Take a look at a map of a major city. You can clearly see two major parts: the concrete jungle of skyscrapers and tall buildings; and the forest of houses surrounding them in a seemingly haphazard yet cunningly organized manner. You can see that those who generate do have to consume; people don't really want live inside this inner concentric circle, do they? But those in the outer concentric circle do not necessarily visit or hold any position in the inner circle.
Take a look at high school football. These are kids who play a sport of tossing around a ball (that isn't even spherical!) back and forth, running around and hitting each other, getting concussions and serious injuries, not knowing who invented it or why it was invented or where, all because they know their parents did it too. And some of them even want to play this sport, a sport they didn't even make, for a living.
This is not a criticism of football or of western organization of society. But what I am saying, rather, is that this signal to noise ratio is natural. There will be creators and there will be consumers, and there is quite a manifest distinction between the two people. We've seen this idea for hundreds of years now.
It's not that people are stupid, it's that you're smarter than them. It is not that they have failed, it is because you have succeeded. You understand that consumption only satisfies the emotions of the immediate, and little more. You know who is behind the creation of, say, music, that it's not just a singer, it's the entire studio and lawyers and audio engineers and acousticians and executives and managers, who make a product come to life, one song at a time, captivating millions and millions and millions of people who just have to pay a buck to listen to them as the ideas behind them build layers upon layers on their brains and soon enough it becomes their moral foundation.
And because all they know is to consume, I have one recommendation for you: ignore it, or change it. I myself do a bit of both: to ignore would lead to a demise of society as a whole due to the neglect of its creators, but to try to change it all would be foolish yet. Every human is empowered to make change: but who will do it, and who will do it right? Your success is not something that can be immediately changed; but we will see in five years where you stand in the world. Bit by bit you can change it. So what are you waiting for? Do it.
I think a lot of the problems are in listening to types of music at the wrong age. For example, I was in math class one say and this kid wants to play music on the teachers AppleTv and the teacher says yes. When it gets turned on, its rap music, and he had to look for clean versions of the songs, that had no cussing.
See where I'm getting at?
Nik wrote:
Personally I am not a fan of pop music or even music at all.
But I once heard a nice question that I actually support:
"Indeed we can say people listening to Heavy Metal music tend to crimes. But do people listening to Heavy Metal tend to comitting crimes or do people comitting crimes tend to listen to Heavy Metal?"
So my personal opinion: It has less to do with music than with other things.
Heavy metal and hard psychedelic rock, thats what i listen too. You better watch out cause i might commit a crime because of the music >_> <_<