What's happening to us?

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noseoil
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Re: What's happening to us?

#21

Post by noseoil »

The #1 reason to quit smoking. For every cigarette you smoke, God gives Keith Richards another half hour of life.....
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Dr. Snubnose
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Re: What's happening to us?

#22

Post by Dr. Snubnose »

Fact is I do know the difference between a Taylor Swift and a Miley Cyrus song.... But they don't know the difference between Simon and Garfinkel and Barry Manilow....and... They don't care to know.... Knowing basic American Culture seems to be a rarity these days...I don't think you can blame technology for all this... But I think you can blame laziness for most of the issues...I think it important to know that NASA is not an Island in the Bahamas....just saying...Doc:)
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Re: What's happening to us?

#23

Post by tvenuto »

Dr. Snubnose wrote:Fact is I do know the difference between a Taylor Swift and a Miley Cyrus song.... But they don't know the difference between Simon and Garfinkel and Barry Manilow....and... They don't care to know.... Knowing basic American Culture seems to be a rarity these days...I don't think you can blame technology for all this... But I think you can blame laziness for most of the issues...I think it important to know that NASA is not an Island in the Bahamas....just saying...Doc:)
Technology doesn't have anything to do with the point I made about culture, perhaps I miscommunicated. My point was that "basic" American Culture is not a real concept, given that our culture is extremely fluid, and that there is no arbiter of what is or is not important information. These "lazy youts" actually know oodles of information, it's just not the kind of information you think is necessary, but again, there is no true right or wrong. They are far more "plugged in" to what is going on in the world than those who relied on a nightly radio broadcast. They are better at some things and worse at others. It's the merely the perspective that's changed, but your perspective was different than your parents', and their perspective is/was different than your grandparents'. If we conclude that the current perspective is wrong, then we must conclude that the one before it was as well and so on, unless for some reason we believe that one particular generation "got it right" and it's all the other ones that are/were misguided.

And actually, I can blame Alan Greenspan for most of the "issues" that I've experienced. So how's that for which generation was misguided?

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Re: What's happening to us?

#24

Post by Dr. Snubnose »

I guess your right...there is no right and wrong.....but when 500 people show up in a frenzy looking for the elusive pokeman....I got to wonder if the "oodles of information", is.... just the kind of information I think is not necessary. They may be better plugged in than the generation before...I'm just observing that they are really turned off not really plugged in.....Doc:)
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Re: What's happening to us?

#25

Post by Doc Dan »

"no right or wrong". That is a perfect example of Post-Modern and moral nihilistic thinking. :D

Dr. Snubnose, perhaps your user name has a cure implied in it? :eek: :D Of course I am just kidding.

I think that young people today being plugged in is just another name for dropped out or turned off. 90% or so of my university students cannot read and cannot comprehend what is read. They can copy and paste, cheating, but without even knowing the context of what they stole. Now, if I show them a video I have their attention, but then they cannot tell me anything meaningful about what they saw, but unlike a book, they can at least tell me what it was about, sort of. Reading, critical thinking, and other such things activate a different part of the brain than does passively watching a video or TV. If it is not on their iPad or smart phone they are not interested.
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Re: What's happening to us?

#26

Post by Doc Dan »

noseoil wrote:The #1 reason to quit smoking. For every cigarette you smoke, God gives Keith Richards another half hour of life.....
Like I said, Keith Richards may be a Zombie :eek:
I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! (John Adams regarding the White House)

Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--
Else, wherefore born?" (Tennyson)



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Re: What's happening to us?

#27

Post by tvenuto »

Doc Dan wrote:"no right or wrong". That is a perfect example of Post-Modern and moral nihilistic thinking. :D

Dr. Snubnose, perhaps your user name has a cure implied in it? :eek: :D Of course I am just kidding.

I think that young people today being plugged in is just another name for dropped out or turned off. 90% or so of my university students cannot read and cannot comprehend what is read. They can copy and paste, cheating, but without even knowing the context of what they stole. Now, if I show them a video I have their attention, but then they cannot tell me anything meaningful about what they saw, but unlike a book, they can at least tell me what it was about, sort of. Reading, critical thinking, and other such things activate a different part of the brain than does passively watching a video or TV. If it is not on their iPad or smart phone they are not interested.
Your first sentence exhibits the very lack of reading comprehension you rail against in the following paragraph. Nothing I've said argues for a lack of morals, but rather the lack of general moral assignment to particular things that you hold dear. Unless of course you're prepared to argue the moral superiority of knowing who the 17th president was, versus knowing who Kanye West is dating currently? If so I'm all ears. (None of this is being said sarcastically, to be clear)

Also, I'd like to point out that it's incredibly difficult to talk about this, since you're invariably comparing your perception of your generation with your perception of this generation (if you think that "a generation" is even a thing, which I actually don't). You are not, as many seem to think, comparing the absolute sums of each generation.

To bring it home with an example, were you a university teacher to your generation, when they were the age of this generation? Of course not, that's impossible. Unless of course you're a vampire or something. Assuming you're not a vampire (who I would definitely love to hear from on this topic, by the way), how do you know that 95% of the students in your generation did not suffer from some different, but equally odious fault? Maybe your generation didn't view it as a fault, but the previous one did. Maybe your generation didn't view it as a fault, but the next one did. Oh, now we're getting interesting. Maybe something like the civil rights movement? (not accusing anyone of anything here, just pointing out an example of something that a lot of people in one generation were complicit with, that the next generation didn't think was OK, and that people in general agree with the younger [in this example] generation)

And to be absolutely clear, I AGREE that reading comprehension and communication is abysmal. I even started a thread about it in this very forum! Seeing a "hear" instead of a "here," or a "their" instead of a "they're" is like fingernails on a chalkboard TO ME. However, my argument is for not assigning a moral value to care in communication, which is clearly not present to my standard, just because I have a standard.

The difficult thing about getting older is realizing that the things you valued actually might not be important anymore, or important ever again! This is as opposed to the notion that it's still important and everyone else is wrong for ignoring it. Maybe someday soon, they change the definition to make "their" an alternate form of "they're," so no one has to worry about that ever again. They did it with "biweekly," which can now mean twice a week, which should always have been "semiweekly," and completely confuses the definition. I happen to think this is totally asinine, but that's just me.
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anagarika
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Re: What's happening to us?

#28

Post by anagarika »

So biweekly is once every other week or twice a week? :eek: ;)
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Re: What's happening to us?

#29

Post by Doc Dan »

tvenuto wrote:
Doc Dan wrote:"no right or wrong". That is a perfect example of Post-Modern and moral nihilistic thinking. :D

Dr. Snubnose, perhaps your user name has a cure implied in it? :eek: :D Of course I am just kidding.

I think that young people today being plugged in is just another name for dropped out or turned off. 90% or so of my university students cannot read and cannot comprehend what is read. They can copy and paste, cheating, but without even knowing the context of what they stole. Now, if I show them a video I have their attention, but then they cannot tell me anything meaningful about what they saw, but unlike a book, they can at least tell me what it was about, sort of. Reading, critical thinking, and other such things activate a different part of the brain than does passively watching a video or TV. If it is not on their iPad or smart phone they are not interested.
Your first sentence exhibits the very lack of reading comprehension you rail against in the following paragraph. Nothing I've said argues for a lack of morals, but rather the lack of general moral assignment to particular things that you hold dear. Unless of course you're prepared to argue the moral superiority of knowing who the 17th president was, versus knowing who Kanye West is dating currently? If so I'm all ears. (None of this is being said sarcastically, to be clear)
My apologies. I was joking, hence the :D afterwards. I was jokingly pointing out that this is the kind of thinking too many have today. I was not pointing at you and I did not mean to offend you.

Also, I'd like to point out that it's incredibly difficult to talk about this, since you're invariably comparing your perception of your generation with your perception of this generation (if you think that "a generation" is even a thing, which I actually don't). You are not, as many seem to think, comparing the absolute sums of each generation.

To bring it home with an example, were you a university teacher to your generation, when they were the age of this generation? Of course not, that's impossible. Unless of course you're a vampire or something. Assuming you're not a vampire (who I would definitely love to hear from on this topic, by the way), how do you know that 95% of the students in your generation did not suffer from some different, but equally odious fault? Maybe your generation didn't view it as a fault, but the previous one did. Maybe your generation didn't view it as a fault, but the next one did. Oh, now we're getting interesting. Maybe something like the civil rights movement? (not accusing anyone of anything here, just pointing out an example of something that a lot of people in one generation were complicit with, that the next generation didn't think was OK, and that people in general agree with the younger [in this example] generation)

And to be absolutely clear, I AGREE that reading comprehension and communication is abysmal. I even started a thread about it in this very forum! Seeing a "hear" instead of a "here," or a "their" instead of a "they're" is like fingernails on a chalkboard TO ME. However, my argument is for not assigning a moral value to care in communication, which is clearly not present to my standard, just because I have a standard.

The difficult thing about getting older is realizing that the things you valued actually might not be important anymore, or important ever again! This is as opposed to the notion that it's still important and everyone else is wrong for ignoring it. Maybe someday soon, they change the definition to make "their" an alternate form of "they're," so no one has to worry about that ever again. They did it with "biweekly," which can now mean twice a week, which should always have been "semiweekly," and completely confuses the definition. I happen to think this is totally asinine, but that's just me.
Last edited by Doc Dan on Fri Sep 23, 2016 4:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! (John Adams regarding the White House)

Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--
Else, wherefore born?" (Tennyson)



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Re: What's happening to us?

#30

Post by Doc Dan »

anagarika wrote:So biweekly is once every other week or twice a week? :eek: ;)
Biweekly means every two weeks. Twice weekly and semiweekly mean twice a week.
I Pray Heaven to Bestow The Best of Blessing on THIS HOUSE, and on ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under This Roof! (John Adams regarding the White House)

Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King--
Else, wherefore born?" (Tennyson)



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Re: What's happening to us?

#31

Post by anagarika »

Doc Dan wrote:
anagarika wrote:So biweekly is once every other week or twice a week? :eek: ;)
Biweekly means every two weeks. Twice weekly and semiweekly mean twice a week.
That's my understanding as well. However, the link provided by tvenuto has contradictory meaning:
bi- week- ly
[bahy-week-lee]
adjective
occurring every two weeks.
occurring twice a week; semiweekly
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Re: What's happening to us?

#32

Post by tvenuto »

anagarika wrote:
Doc Dan wrote:
anagarika wrote:So biweekly is once every other week or twice a week? :eek: ;)
Biweekly means every two weeks. Twice weekly and semiweekly mean twice a week.
That's my understanding as well. However, the link provided by tvenuto has contradictory meaning:
bi- week- ly
[bahy-week-lee]
adjective
occurring every two weeks.
occurring twice a week; semiweekly
It does. So many people used it wrong that someone decided just to roll over and accept the new meaning, even though the nature of the additional meaning actually makes using biweekly impossible due to the contradiction.
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