Is humanity (collectively) going to hell?

[Sava]

Not really a religious topic... but assuming it exists... is humanity going to hell?


I saw a report about Chinese women wanting to bleach their skin, because apparantly in China, it's considering beautiful to be pale.

This is part of a larger issue. But considering the state of the world, I think humanity is on a one-way ticket to the gates of hell. In third-world countries, there is so much violence, it's unthinkable to me. I can't imagine what life must be like. People dying of aids, children starving, evil warlords killing people... ugh... it turns my stomach. But in richer countries, there is still killing, exploitation, and crime. Vanity is becoming an obsession in industrialized nations... botox, cosmetic surgery, mass media and the exploitation of sex... it's all bad. Americans spend so much on vanity, it's almost a crime. I've expressed before that America shouldn't be the mother nipple of the world, supporting overgrown populations that can't feed themselves... but with so much waste in this country, isn't it immoral that we aren't doing more as a nation? I'm not even going to bring up the death and destruction of past wars.

I guess my question is more in line with, "Is humanity evil?" I used to think no... then yes... then neutral... but now I'm leaning towards yes again.

discuss...

[Drake Tungsten]

Nope, only the Finns.

[Giancarlo]

The French are the evil ones... the French and their.. umm...

*walks off quietly*

Now if you used your logic, you would conclude that humanity already went to hell hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

[Shi Huangdi]

Vastly oversimplified, but

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

There is certainly a lot of evil in the world today, we still have the opportunity to be saved.

[Giancarlo]

Religion makes me sick.

[Agathon]

Yes, the problem is called "capitalism", which roughly means that people pursue their short term self interest without any regard for the needs of others or for their own long term well being or those of their descendants.

People aren't so much evil as indifferent and shortsighted. People know that spending money on shiny frivolities essentially means that there are less resources going to be spent on feeding the starving, but they deceive themselves into thinking that it can't be changed and that everyone else is doing it anyway.

The consumer society is inherently stupid anyway. People buy things to keep up with their neighbours who buy things to get ahead of them and so on... Frankly, they'd be better off if they didn't, since the whole competition is productive of unhappiness and angst for most people. But no one is willing to unilaterally disarm. Meanwhile we sit on our behinds consuming bright pieces of plastic and cloth with no apparent rational use, whilst the people who we have excluded from this wondrous game make these pointless things for 3 cents a day.

Hopefully, one day people will wake up and see that this amoral free-for-all is destroying the planet and threatening the survival of our species. Either that or some bright spark will manage to genetically engineer greed and irrationality out of our natures.

[Sarxis]

Humanity is born with innate evil. That's not to say every baby comes out wanting to suck the blood out of the first person they see, but its there, and is easily nutured by the corruptions of this world.

There is only one who is good.

[st_swithin]

You take that back! I am NOT the winner!

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

There is certainly a lot of evil in the world today, we still have the opportunity to be saved.

Which would be true, if only religion weren't a load of superstitious bollocks.

Frankly I don't care if people want to grovel in the dirt in hope of salvation, as long as they don't use it as an excuse to stop doing anything about the real misery that surrounds us.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Agathon
Yes, the problem is called "capitalism", which roughly means that people pursue their short term self interest without any regard for the needs of others or for their own long term well being or those of their descendants.

People aren't so much evil as indifferent and shortsighted. People know that spending money on shiny frivolities essentially means that there are less resources going to be spent on feeding the starving, but they deceive themselves into thinking that it can't be changed and that everyone else is doing it anyway.

The consumer society is inherently stupid anyway. People buy things to keep up with their neighbours who buy things to get ahead of them and so on... Frankly, they'd be better off if they didn't, since the whole competition is productive of unhappiness and angst for most people. But no one is willing to unilaterally disarm. Meanwhile we sit on our behinds consuming bright pieces of plastic and cloth with no apparent rational use, whilst the people who we have excluded from this wondrous game make these pointless things for 3 cents a day.

Hopefully, one day people will wake up and see that this amoral free-for-all is destroying the planet and threatening the survival of our species. Either that or some bright spark will manage to genetically engineer greed and irrationality out of our natures.

What utter nonsense!



The real problem in this world is communism which imprisons people all around and kills them like dogs.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Fez


What utter nonsense!



The real problem in this world is communism which imprisons people all around and kills them like dogs.

Yes, as opposed to your friends.

[Giancarlo]

You are delusional beyond belief. You act like monkspider in this regard.

[st_swithin]

You can't spell the word 'H·E·L·L' without the double hockeysticks!

Dante describes Heck as cold, not burning brimstone, so I wonder who gets the hockey games.

I expect by the time I go, Denis Leary will be headlining at Scorcese's new club, Satan and Saddam will have made up (again), and Keith Richards will be a new type of synthetic drug.

Fvckin' Commies.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Agathon
Yes, the problem is called "capitalism", which roughly means that people pursue their short term self interest without any regard for the needs of others or for their own long term well being or those of their descendants.

As opposed to the problem called "communism" which roughly means that a group of self-designated elites forcefully decides what they think your interests should be vis-a-vis your usefulness to them and their interest of maintaining power and control over every facet of your life, all the while decrying this as a temporary and necessary measure.

If you're a good hack and play along, they'll see you're at a bare subsistence level and locked into remaining there, unless you become a part of and succeed in the party hierarchy, in which case, due to the exhausting work in determining for the masses what it is they need, you get more stuff and first pick of it than they do.

[Dis]

why do these threads always end up about capitalism versus communism?

and why is it so many communists enjoy the benefits of a capitalist society? shouldn't they actually live in one before they go off shooting their mouth?

Anyways back to the real topic. Evil. Society is no more evil today than in the past.

If there is a hell, humans have been going there since the dawn of time.