What's the SICKEST thing about our Society out there to You Guys????

[KoKo]

What would you change if you could?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. the hearts of the people

who cast their votes out of hate and intolerance.

[JPZenger]

78. Why Would White People Vote Democratic?

On a news message board, in response to my posts on Kerry, a woman wrote: "I don't understand why any white person would vote Democratic." I was too mad to respond.

[janx]

2. The media.

Without question.

[Brundle_Fly]

16. the media....

is the most important one currently.

If the media gets "real" the rest will sort itself out.

[ReadTomPaine]

55. Agreed - Fix the media.

[Arkana]

3. The mentality of wingnuts.

[ablbodyed]

4. The pervasivenessof>>>>

organized religion.

[McKenzie]

5. intolerance n/t

[LSparkle]

6. Rampant, unrepentant GREED

and poverty turned into something shameful.

[kayell]

85. Greed has my vote too

Responsible for horrible inequities in this country and for the abuse we dole out around the world in everything from support of child and sweatshop labor, to refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, to invading other countries for fun and profit.

[MountainLaurel]

99. Yawp

That people can be living in a 2500-square-foot house with two SUVs out front knowing that a mile away there's a family of four living in their car and still fucking sleep at night.

[MNBiker]

7. nose rings

[Mojambo]

8. Too many things...

Human beings are punks, for the most part.

[Malocchio]

9. How about

doing away with all this "faith-based", "evangelical christian" nonsense and getting back to separation of church and state?

While we're at it, how about legalizing marijuana? I mean, come on!

[newyawker99]

63. Hi Malocchio!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[CrispyQ]

10. Granting corporate entities personhood rights &

giving them more protection than people.

[Search Party]

11. Corporate Think

Unions should be thriving

:scratches head:

[Vincardog]

12. FASCISM

[jimshoes]

13. The greed

Nobody needs it all. Selfishness will end civilization IMHO.

[MatrixEscape]

14. I used to be

rather "spritual" and mystical in nature and thought, in a non-traditional way. Maybe I still am only less verbally so.

Now, I see Humanity as a third species of Chimpanzee that has covered itself up in a blanket of cultures and religions to avoid that fact. It is secular as well as religous, so I include most of the race.

And in that understanding, one sees the lie. And the lie is not good. The lie is could be a possible explanation as to why there are so many problems and inconsitancies in human nature. Start with one lie and build on it from there. That kind of mass-deception would be rife with problems after the fact. That has a subconscious impact as well as a sociietal.

Perhaps we can "evolve" or have potential to transcend, none-the-less. However, truth and honesty about what we are may be an issue.

[distantearlywarning]

15. All the right wing talk show hosts claiming that torture is ok. n/t

[Kablooie]

17. I'd call conservatives 'left' and liberals 'right'

It's annoying to always say that conservatives are right.

[TwilightZone]

18. Get 40,000,000+ people out of poverty.

We're one of the richest countries in the world. The fact that 15% of our population lives in poverty is a travesty.

[Penguin31]

19. So many problems...(NT)

[Mutley]

20. big greedy corporate weenies n/t

[Forkboy]

21. The way the poor are treated

Which spirals into numerous other issues.

[MichiganVote]

22. The War, What's wrong with you people!!!????

[AlinPA]

24. I can't disagree with you on that. When you think about it, it is sick.

Lying about the reasons for going to war, killing and maiming all the people just so Bush** could be "commander in chief" and be "re-elected"

[KoKo]

42. Most of us can't deal with "The War." But everything sick about us led us

into that war...I can't even read about Iraq after 11/2..I almost get physically sick..but everything that folks have posted here, is why we are over there killing folks...it's just so painful an issue to most of us that we can't speak it, I think. At least to me, it is

[MichiganVote]

88. Well while you're handling your nausea, some kid is defending

your "freedom" to stay away from the news. This war is sick, sick, sick.

[KoKo]

95. I fought to keep that "kid" out of Iraq...and he isn't "defending my right

to boycott the news...he went to war for a LIE! Just like my classmates who went to Vietnam and died for a LIE...

[Piperay]

54. Because what is wrong goes

much deeper than the war. The war is a symptom but the sickeness is what caused the war and the sickeness is deep rooted in the way we live and the way we think.

[MichiganVote]

87. Well your idea of "sickness" is killing people in record numbers

[KoKo]

96. My "sickness" is over the *ssholes who sent us there because of Grudges

Oil and Visions of Empire...maybe you need to do a "Google" for "Iraq Invasion" You might have missed the "build up" to WAR...ENDLESS WAR...

[AlinPA]

23. Loudmouthed flag-waving holier-than-thou Sunday morning Christians.

[NJCher]

25. big, hulking SUVs

Is there anything sicker than half the population driving around in big hulking ugly SUVs at the same time we're at or near peak oil? At the same time a good percentage of us are choking from asthma because of the crummy air? When thousands of Iraqis and over a thousand young people have DIED because this war is in fact over nothing but THE OIL?

And all so these dumb a'holes can feel like they're "sporty" and "rugged." When you look at the drivers of these obscene vehicles, half the time they're overweight slobs whose only visible means of holding up their head is their three chins and their cellphone. They wouldn't know how to cross-country or downhill ski or anything else that these vehicles are supposed to represent.

Second to SUVs is leaf blowers. Don't get me started.


Cher

[Deep N RedLand]

29. But at least SUV whores are more patriotic!

Is it just me or does it seem like the sheep who drive these "status symbols", along with other gas hogs like vans and pick-ups, are the ones who most likely have the American flag (and/or Bush/Cheney stickers) or "I suport our troops" ribbons stickers? Look around on the road and tell me if no one else notices the same thing. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing this and makes me want to tell shout at them: "You care about the soliders...then buy a f**king smaller, more fuel-efficent car you fat-ass hypocrite!"

[freesqueeze]

26. FEAR FACTOR

Not really the show itself, but the fact that there is a large audience out there for it.

I think this says something about the U.S. of A., and it isn't pretty.

What I would change would be that great writers would be at least as popular as the 2nd place finisher on American Idol.

[Cats Against Frist]

49. A-frickin-men

And the fact that they have a variation on Fear Factor, when they have to have an all-female Fear Factor, which is just wrong in too many ways for me to start talking about it.

And the fiction writers always have an advantage -- I'm voting for poets to be as popular as the second-place finisher on American Idol.

[Cuban_Liberal]

27. The contempt and needless debasement of the poor.

It's absolutely immoral what we do to the poor, and how we shame them before helping them.

[ithacan]

28. fascistic religions

and their fascist leaders.

[David Zephyr]

30. American Children Living in Poverty and Neglect.

That is the sickest thing about our society. It can be changed. I've worked towards that end my whole life.

We are as good as we treat the least among us.

[undergroundpanther]

33. Bullies abusers

Manipulators narcissists greed heads,assholes control freaks(the reactionary fascist totalitarian authoritarian personality).
I'd like the bullies to be forced to separate themselves from people who are not this way,(kindhearted,fair and generous open people with self control and insight who can handle their freedom responsibly and prefer peace and who can negotiate differences without killing someone)

After the bullies and abusers and authoritarians have left,I want them to leave us the hell alone.And as their empires collapse I don't want them to dare come to our areas and pillage our liberal village and try to enslave us,put us on"reservations" or slave camps because their might makes right fucked everything up.. I don't want the"slaves and losers" stuck in an empire who realize they can't survive or tolerate living under their lead bullies feudal/slave/master system who can't hack that competitive winner takes all lex talionis mentality they champion when they talk to liberals right now. Let them live with their friggin empire and Leave ME and people similar to me out of it.And I NEVER want them to come to our peaceful homes and bring that sociopath lifestyle and persona with them.If they escape their empire, they have a choice, become egalitarian and respectful of others and be responsible with freedom and do not abuse, and develop their character,or they go back to live with their own heartless kind,or they can always just die.Fuck any asshole if they come to our place to manipulate people ,control our diverse culture dominate and pillage.

No bullies,authoritarians,greed heads,abusers or dominator's of any kind allowed in abuse-free liberal peaceful places. Because if we let bullies into our communities they'll try to get control of the political process,they'll corrupt it,and if they get control and lie their way to positions of power,they'll fuck up everything else,they'll manipulate every relationship so they can divide,cause strife,and run the community into the ground,and take the wealth that belongs to everyone,that everyone made together for themselves! And after they take everything they'll find another place to sack.Their greed,insecurity and ambition is never satisfied.

Bully free America,A place to be treated with dignity and respect..and live,harassment free and without coercion.

[VOX]

31. The abdication of personal responsibility for what happens in the world...

and the near epidemic refusal by people to think things through for themselfes. Some quick examples:

I have cancer, God must be testing me.
Muslims are evil.
Democrats are traitors.
Liberals want to destroy America.
Saddam made 9/11 happen.
Environmental pollution or nuclear destruction doesn't matter, believers are going to be raptured soon anyway.
I am broke, out of a job, and hungry -- but it's God's will.
Our President knows what he's doing.
Don't be critical of your government during wartime.
Etc. etc.

This lack of taking personal responsibility for matters will be the death of us all is it isn't turned around, and soon.

[NYCGirl]

32. We have no problem with gory violence, but cannot abide depictions of sex.

This has been going on for a long time — Lenny Bruce talked about it in the early 50s, and nothing has changed.

[XemaSab]

104. I'd say

Entertainment as news is a massive problem, but violence as entertainment is plain sick.

I went and saw "The Matrix" with a roommate of mine from Sarajevo. She had to leave, she couldn't stand the violence. And which of us has something wrong? Her that she's sensitive to depictions of violence, or me that I consider it entertaining?

The unholy union of the military-industrial-entertainment complex is what's going to kill our civic society.

[Tharks]

34. abortion n/t

[VOX]

56. Interesting comment. A woman's right to choose is vitally important here.

Your choice lines up well with the other side.

Care to explain?

[spanone]

35. Two terms of George W. Bush*. Without a doubt.

[Kitka]

36. Selfishness.

[kodi]

37. hungry children

no worse disgrace in the land comes close to it.

i'd brush off the dust from parts of roosevelt's national recovery act and start having state owned stores provide food to poor folk and by-pass the private food distribution network that profits from hungry children.

[KoKo]

38. the Main Steam Media & the Greed they Promote with our money...(n/t)

[AgadorSparticus]

39. intolerance. bigotry.

[The Minus World]

40. Unabashed Materialism.

Focus on personal gain at the expense of others.

Interest in self-aggrandizing pursuits, rather than ones which might perpetuate goodwill.

Consumer culture, which emphasizes the maximization of quantity, rather than the maximization of quality.

Our exaltation of CEOs rather than great thinkers; form over function. The idea that it's more likely that you'll see Donald Trump on a talk show than Noam Chomsky.

The fact that teenagers are growing up so distracted by the list of above issues that they are driven to the brink of madness with the endless windstorm of trivialities it engenders.

[VTdem]

41. Disregard toward the lives of people from other countries.

Iraqi civilian casulaties are, if anything, and afterthought to a

lot of Americans.

[oldlady]

43. slow-paced karma

I want some of these wrongs (lies, greed, disdain for life) repaid now.

[BareskinMatt]

44. I would stop the hate

It's time for the repubs and dems to work together and stop the hate.

[prairierose]

46. I don't think that you can work with most repubs....a few maybe

but most have bought into the power trip that *co is on. Greed & power, that is what they care about.

I'm always astonished at the people who think they should tell others how to think and live. What amazes me today, is the number of people who think they have the right to tell others how to think & live.

The people who came to this continent to start new lives in a land that would not have the old class structure have once again embraced a divisive class structure. But since sooo many people have already drunk the koolaid, they can't think for themselves. The media tells them nothing of importance; it's all about "bread & circuses".

We are in serious trouble & about half of the country does not recognize any of the signs. They are too busy watching the latest scandal or shopping as they were told.

We have children starving here, people dying of preventable & treatable diseases, all so that the rich & the corporate oligarchy, can pile up money in a Swiss bank & take no responsibility for the common good. I have often wondered in the last 4 years (OK, it's actually been longer than that) what happened to the common good. We do not hear the media or anyone in the government talking about it. the truth is, this country would never have gotten to the point it did without people, both common people & the government sacrificing for the common good.

[LibDemAlways]

45. The entire repuke philosophy is

sick. It can be summed up in one compound sentence. "I've got mine and I don't give a flying fuck about you."

[leftofthedial]

47. creeping fascism

now becoming overt fascism

what I'd change would be the aggressive ignorance of the populace.

[AP]

68. Yep. The rule of the corporations. Government abandoning its role

as the mediator of competing interests (consumers vs producers, labor vs capital, employer vs employee) and embracing the role of facilitator of the rule of the corporations (ie, fascism).

[Cats Against Frist]

48. That the biggest fascist contingent of my lifetime

masquerades behind the concepts and invocations of "liberty" and "freedom," and that they are PERVERTING the memory of my man Thomas Jefferson, and shutting out the leftist claim to governance, by virtue of the altruistic society. Also that these same people are attempting to destroy the Bill of Rights, which is the equivalent of my Bible.

[T Town Jake]

50. The abysmal state of affordable Health care access...

...folks worried about taking a sick child to the Emergency Room because a gas bill is due, and looming to cut-off status; Senior Citizens parsing meager dollars between food and medicine; desperately sick folks of humble means just suffering through it because they have no means to pay.
I'm a healthy guy covered by a good insurance plan, so this is not personal as regards me. But we've simply got to reach a point in this country where we decide that everyone, at a minimum, is provided at least as good care & coverage as someone like myself receives as a matter of course. It's an issue of simple human decency, and I feel strongly about it.

[Piperay]

51. Greed and materialism

people's value (as a citizen of the US) seems to depend on how much they spend, we're called consumers now instead of citizens. After 911 instead of asking people to make a meaningful sacrifice chimp told us to 'go shopping'. :argh:

[ever_green]

52. Yeah, greed and materialism. Also blind trust of the government.

[robre]

53. Culture of Fear

[LimpingLib]

57. 2 Political partys that only disagree on the margins of SOME issues.

Take the top 25 issues.

The partys agree on 15 right from the start.

They then take the other 7-9 issues and agree about 95% on each on of those and simply disagree on the margins.

Maybe a few issues they genuinely disagree on in a meaningful way.

I could pick lots of societal problems (like our media , greed , racism, stupid nation ,etc.) that cause this but I suppose the heart and core end to it all is the 2 political partys that generally agree on pretty much everything. If you think the nation is right wing then you think we are stopping a coming storm and slowing it down. I think our nation has the nucleous that allows and desires progressive change so Im dissapointed at how pathetic our fortunes seem to be in who we elect.Regardless of party , we simply elect poor represenatives. I dont even think the conservatives get what they pay for in the Republican party but they get a fair deal, We progressives get.... o man its a joke. Its a crying shame we put up with such a lousey Democratic caucus in the Senate for example.Save for 1 Senator from an evenly divided state , every single member voted for the Patriot Act for example. Health care is a pipe dream. Pro worker legislation is something the nation wouldnt dare dream of coming out of the Senate even if it was 100% Democratic in membership (take away the 55 Republicans and we still are left with a progressive minority in no way represenative of the nation and certainly not our party).

[area51]

58. Healthcare.

How we accept rationing healthcare on the ability to pay, & don't care how many people live in agony/die each year due to lack of affordable treatment. We're not a civilized country. We need universal healthcare now.

[Snellius]

59. Corporate TV mind control

What happened to great films, or books, or plays, or art? Or even a funny sitcom that's not totally stupid.

It's fitting that a media moronized America should elect to lead them a complete doofus in chief.

[Killarney]

60. people using Jesus as an excuse for their own bloodlust and bigotry

such as Falwell's statement on CNN about the "terrorists" he said to "blow them all away in the name of the lord."

wtf.

[robbedvoter]

61. Bring back elections. Then Justice. That would be 2, but all will

get right after that.

[DebinTx]

62. Corporations buying politics.

If we don't get them out of buying their way to success through elections, this country is doomed.

[NRaleighLiberal]

64. Two things....the Lemming/follower mentality, and....

mindnumbing, valueless Television.....it is driving our culture toward a dull, unthinking form of complete mediocrity. Add a touch of rampant greed and the fear/religion factor, and it is dark times!!!

[ThorsHammer]

65. Billions on unnecessary wars while kids here are hungry and lack education

I'm a very big supporter of a strong national defense (Although I disagree with them on the whole, PNAC had one good point in that a strong military can discourage war) but overextending our military in unnecessary, divisive wars is asinine. IMO, Afghanistan was reasonable, and I supported it, but Iraq and Iran (hopefully not) are at Viet Nam levels now. We're stretched very thin, are spending billions every month, and damaging our own economy. At the same time back home, millions of kids are living in poverty and/or are not educated well enough. If we had a smarter national defense, there would be much more money to spend on social programs at home.

[beevul]

66. That we don't understand each other.

Our 2 halves of the country, that is.

And that I see no end to it.

[AP]

67. The assault on the middle class. The shift of wealth to the top...

...which I think will destroy America.

[GumboYaYa]

69. Our dependence on automobiles for every aspect of our lives.

Automobiles are the principle cause of our loss of community in America IMO. B/c we have cars in such abundance, we are able to have urban sprawl. We get in our cars by ourselves and go to work where we generally work with and associate with people very similar to us. If we venture into cities or other communities where there are different types of people, we do it on a destination basis. Our cars take us to our destination, we take what we need from the community, and we getin our cars and go back to our homes in the suburbs. B/c we isolate ourselves so much, we rarely encounter people who differ from us. As a result we lose our compassion for others and the sense of community that was once such an important part of American life.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

84. That's certainly on my list

If I could change history, I'd first uninvent leaf blowers (thanks, NJ Cher!), and then I'd uninvent cars.

[katsy]

70. Indoctrination of children by religious organizations.

The indoctrination of children by religious organizations/schools is by far the first thing I would change if possible.

IMO, children do not have the ability of objective evaluation at a young age and this opens the gate for bigotry... people who are different are easily dismissed as "OTHERS". It promotes an "us vs. them" mentality. Objective evaluation of myth becomes impossible and dangerous ideologies can consume the child.

Did anyone see the CNN special report about fundies? Did you see the 8 year old saying anyone who wasn't born again was going to hell? I guess that scared the pants off me.

I would start by killing the school voucher program. Let religious schools fend for themselves. Government has no business subsidizing these religious institutions.

[bobthedrummer]

71. We are critically ahistorical.

:cry:

[The Flaming Red Head]

72. The immaturity of leaders in politics, religion, media, and corporations

Legacy admissions in colleges and legacy political office holders (both sides) has led to spoiled rotten brats running our most important institutions into the ground and our society masquerading itself as a meritocracy.

[Bouncy Ball]

73. That in the richest nation on earth

we have children going to bed hungry, people sleeping on the streets and the sick not able to afford medicine and medical care.

That is the ultimate crime America commits. And she commits it every single day.

[AmerDem]

74. The fear and hate message...

coming from a group of people who try to pose as tough talking John Wayne types but have a core so cowardly that words do it no justice. They are stealing power in ways proven through-out history by divide and conquer. They put one group against another and sit back salivating waiting to claim victory. At this point the only way out I can see is a massive and total disintegration of our country as we know it. Only then will they start to understand what this country was really built on and how we are not the worlds superior people.

[mtnsnake]

75. Torturing animals to death w/steel traps & shooting wolves from the air

How anyone in this day and age can justify torture to animals....or killing beautiful wolves so as to increase the size of elk herds for hunters, is beyond belief.

[gtar100]

76. The Enjoyment of Violence

Our (as a nation) obsession with violence and our complacent acceptance of it. Torture and rape in Abu Graib, Imprisonment without a trial in Guantanamo, and the horrid consequences of the School of the Americas would not be possible if we didn't enjoy violence in our entertainment so much.

[The Wielding Truth]

77. The pseudo patriotic thought that All is Fair in Power and Greed.That

knowledge is a danger to our society and our national defense.The - in your face - LIES, that you can't swallow no matter how they are flavored.That if your down and out you only deserve a biscuit of charity for which you should thank the rich so they can feel pious. The lose of a less corrupt America where openness was the rule not the exception.The idea of Christianity was love and that all were precious in his sight.
The decay of America by non ethical Consumerism and the lack of accountability to our Earth. It all makes me sick.The suppression of understanding and promotion of fear.It is wrong.
I realize we need to be vigilant against the hurtful,but this starts in every dealing we do.Of course there will be those who will strike out in unreasonable violence and we should be watchful,but if you culture respect by dealing honestly even in a complicated world you will win a consensus of loyalty to help you take down any attacking
disease of hate.
It makes me sick to think how badly we have handled the Muslim world.The whole world body must work together to calm the fever and stop the terribly disenfranchised who will always see us as the enemy if we see them as the evil and sub human .
Sick of the status quo but always hopeful for a better tomorrow.

[JPZenger]

79. People Who Are Oppressed, But Voted for Bush

Now, the number one thing that irritates me is that so many lower income and lower middle income people were tricked into voting against their own best interests. They were distracted with non-issues, such as banning gay marriage or being convinced that Kerry would take away their hunting rifles.

[Logansquare]

80. Health care being a privilege, not a right

[FrenchieCat]

81. If I could,

I would change the Mediacracy of this country. Currently the media tells us what to think.....

Without a true free and fair press, there is no Democracy.

The Internet helps some...but the masses are still glued to their TVs.

[suegeo]

82. The willfull ignorance, fueled by the fascist media

[Lydia Leftcoast]

83. Ignorance, pure pig ignorance, coupled with a lack of interest

in remedying that ignorance. The "don't confuse me with facts" mentality. The idea that thinking and talking intelligently is "elitist." The idea that school should just prepare one for a job and that the arts and literature and foreign languages are "frills." The idea that entertainment should be mindless. The idea that anything one doesn't understand is automatically "boring." The idea that it's more important to perfect one's athletic skills than to learn what one needs to know to be an informed citizen. The idea that other countries have nothing to teach us. The idea that the U.S. is the only country worth living in. The idea that students should earn the highest grades possible but not "get strange notions" from it. The idea that...oh, hell, I'm rambling. But it all boils down to willfull ignorance.

[Zhade]

86. Its inherent self-centeredness.

NT!

[donheld]

89. Apathy & Cowardice

That is why we have election fraud and nobody seems to be concerned or willing to do anything about it.

[info being]

90. Ignorance and selfishness. Other than that...

pretty much the whole system.

[u4ic]

91. Inequality

which covers economic disparity, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc.

[bush_is_wacko]

92. The sickest thing about our society

Is our society! With the exception of a few people in this society, Americans have become what Al-Qaida says we are. A large portion of our society thinks it is okay to kill whoever we want to, for any reason we determine. They also believe American's are somehow exempt from having to examine ourselves or explain ourselves to the rest of the world. Americans don't care about respect and integrity! Respect and integrity don't fill their wallets and entertain them into oblivion! Our society is sick. Look at how many of them believe the only way they can be happy is if some omnipotent being removes them from the face of this earth! These people are SUICIDAL. I don't want to fix anything anymore. I just want to sit back and watch it fall to pieces. Then and only then can this society fix what has broken!

[KoKo]

93. Kick...maybe I can figure out a theme here...statistically challenged.but

Wondered what most DU'ers thought. Am I mainstream or "fringe."

[Buck Rabbit]

94. The thumping the 2 percenters are administering in the Class War.

The masses are being routed and most of them don't even know they are in a fight, even though millions of them carry the wounds.

[hangloose]

97. THE PUBLIC APATHY

[BlueManDude]

98. 24 hour a day right wing talk radio n/t

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

100. the entire bush family

[CBHagman]

101. Many things, but the lack of affordable health care ...

...was the first thing that came to mind (after obnoxious reality TV, but that's another thread). I had a really sad conversation the other week with a friend of mine who just doesn't seem to get that Americans pay twice as much as the Canadians do for health care that doesn't cover everybody. My friend automatically said that the Canadians faced waits. My point is that at least they are covered, whereas we can go bankrupt -- or die -- if even one serious illness rocks the family.

The ugly truth is that we're supporting insurance company profits, CEO salaries, etc., and most Americans appear not to question this.

[mbee]

102. People who claim to be religious, go to church, but yet don't

support a living wage, healthcare for our citizens, decent housing, education, the environment. In other words, all the things that a good person should support. Really makes me wonder!

[disconnected]

103. we complain and we do nothing

we continue to to act like dogs, eating scraps from the tables of those who make themselves our masters, and allowing them to remain our masters, and then we complain about it.
that's probably the sickest thing...we refuse to be the change we want to see in the world, it's so much easier to blame those in power than to admit we ourselves fuel the fire.