Rights Without Responsibilities
The Lost Generations, we are told, have some major issues, poor parenting (individual and social), perhaps among the greatest of these, as two generations have been gifted rights without concurrent responsibilities, always a recipe ripe for disaster.
There should be one word in the English language for rights and responsibilities because they are a package deal. With everybody's rights come the responsibility to honor these same rights given to others.
There are young people out among the masses who believe that their rights supersede others rights because "their side" knows the truth. They can utter whatever absurdity supports their narrative, but others cannot do the same because it infringes on their rights (to feel safe and secure).
These are children who have been given the rights of adults, and like most children, they do childish things. Not only have their parents bailed on providing proper guidance, academia has followed suit and created a gang of marauding (emotional) eight-year-olds who believe that the sun rises and sets to appease their feelings.
These young people, goaded on by complete fools who have taken the place of real teachers in our colleges and universities, have produced two generations of young people who can only see the bad in everything and have little perspective to understand just how fortunate they have been to be born in the U.S. (despite all the problems).
Listening to students (some who attend the most prestigious schools in the world) complain about how oppressed they are (while arranging their six figure positions in elite corporations and government) is nauseating. These are people who can only see the bad in all things. They are the miserabs , people who love being dependent, emotionally out-of-control, and completely miserable.
Until these emotionally-altered young people mature and begin to understand that the Earth does not revolve around their feelings, our society will be severely retarded in its future growth. Success comes from people who are humble, confident, and balanced mentally and emotionally, not from those who see everybody and everything that does not go their way as a threat to their very being.
It's time to grow-up America and clean-up the mess.
There should be one word in the English language for rights and responsibilities because they are a package deal. With everybody's rights come the responsibility to honor these same rights given to others.
There are young people out among the masses who believe that their rights supersede others rights because "their side" knows the truth. They can utter whatever absurdity supports their narrative, but others cannot do the same because it infringes on their rights (to feel safe and secure).
These are children who have been given the rights of adults, and like most children, they do childish things. Not only have their parents bailed on providing proper guidance, academia has followed suit and created a gang of marauding (emotional) eight-year-olds who believe that the sun rises and sets to appease their feelings.
These young people, goaded on by complete fools who have taken the place of real teachers in our colleges and universities, have produced two generations of young people who can only see the bad in everything and have little perspective to understand just how fortunate they have been to be born in the U.S. (despite all the problems).
Listening to students (some who attend the most prestigious schools in the world) complain about how oppressed they are (while arranging their six figure positions in elite corporations and government) is nauseating. These are people who can only see the bad in all things. They are the miserabs , people who love being dependent, emotionally out-of-control, and completely miserable.
Until these emotionally-altered young people mature and begin to understand that the Earth does not revolve around their feelings, our society will be severely retarded in its future growth. Success comes from people who are humble, confident, and balanced mentally and emotionally, not from those who see everybody and everything that does not go their way as a threat to their very being.
It's time to grow-up America and clean-up the mess.
Comments (38)
Over the past two generations, young people have been empowered by parents too concerned with their own lives, by academia that completely gave up on instilling any moral guidance, and most importantly by the demise of any higher higher power that might serve as a ethical/moral beacon.
We now have young people who believe that actual learning comes on social media instead of through life experience. Although many of these younger folks are having their way, the crack party will not last forever and reality will return with a vengeance, and I suppose that (eventually) we will witness colonies of woke-folk growing old as did the Hippies, some who still have not seen fit to depart the 60's.
Experimenting in thought and lifestyle are wonderful processes for both individuals and society but only if responsibility attends. Out of control people who infringe/impinge on others rights can and should not be tolerated in any free society.
As COVID wanes and we return to a somewhat normal existence, hopefully the adult children of America will put their toys away and get back to work as we desperately need to fix this place.
To appease them, and escape the nauseating condescension.
That you both for your piercing insights.
IOW, the history of mankind. Duh.
My angle here is that what you learn from experience is far greater than what you can learn otherwise, for two reasons. One is obvious, you learn best by doing. The other is off most people's radar, that is, almost all true learning is non-intellectual. In other words, the amount of information you are taking in is so much greater than what you can intellectually process, that there must be other (unknown) mechanisms that convert this information into wisdom. It is why cultivating awareness is so important.
For example, I am a physician who has been in practice for over forty years. The amount that I know is far greater than just the cumulative total of all of my intellectual experiences. If I have been able to become proficient as a care-giver, it is because I have achieved a deeper understanding of people that I could never explain, and I am sure this holds for other occupations, as well.
Many years ago, I had a patient on a very snowy afternoon where few ventured out so we had a chance to chat at length. He was a WWII veteran who fought at the Battle of the Bulge (he must have been in his late seventies/early eighties). The gentleman started to describe (in detail) what was going down (it was an epic bloodbath) and after a couple of minutes of me just staring at him in utter disbelief, he broke-down and cried right there in front of me. After he composed himself, he told me that he had never told anybody about this and had never cried about it, as well. It was an incredible experience, to say to the least.
Although I will never forget one moment of that conversation, it was not the information that literally changed me going forward. There were all kinds of things going on (besides what we think of as our intellect) that we have no clue about. What we do know is that people who have a great deal of experience are extremely valuable (this should be intuitive to anybody that has had any difficult issue to resolve).
Young people (being relatively new to the planet) have not had the opportunity to have many types of experiences and therefore discount this aspect of wisdom. As we all get older, get married, have children (or take on other responsibilities), the value of experiential learning becomes glaringly obvious.
With the transfer of so much power to younger folks, we have already seen the results and they are not so wonderful. How nice it would be to be able to walk down the street without having to hear multiple f-bombs going off well within the hearing distance of small children, or lack of civility by young people obsessed with themselves without any worries that they may be held in account.
Thanks for making my point.
Not at all. Your point is that it's only some (young) people who "believe that their rights supersede others rights" etc. etc.
I'm such such beliefs are common.
What does it mean "to learn from experience"?
Just because one experiences something, doesn't mean one will learn something from it.
For example, people can drive for hundreds and hundreds of hours, without their driving skills improving one bit.
Because real learning is doing.
Do you want to go to a cardiac surgeon that is just trying a new procedure for the first time or would you rather that s/he had performed the procedure many, many times?
I wasn't going to respond to one more of your half-assed, claptrap, mean-spirited, "why, when I was a boy," social/political rants. I was hoping it would die out. Since it hasn't, I'll respond.
No, that's not how rights work. Let's make a list (with some overlap):
General (US Declaration of Independence)
Civil rights (US Constitution)
Human rights (UN Declaration of Human Rights)
As much as you might like it to be otherwise, these rights apply to everyone, whether you think they deserve them or not.
How wonderful to have people like you who can set others straight.
With rights come responsibility. If you do not exercise responsibility, you are denying others their rights. Is this a difficult idea for you to understand?
Aw, shucks.
Quoting synthesis
Let's forget for a moment that "unalienable" means you get them even if you don't deserve them. Which of the rights on the list would you withhold from people who don't meet your standards?
As an example, there were many "peaceful" protesters that saw fit to destroy other people's person and property last summer. Many of these people were not only held to account, but they were encouraged by political leadership (of course, until they came for their property).
If you are exercising your rights, you must do it in a fashion where you are not infringing on others' rights. This is a fairly basic concept.
People are too busy enjoying their rights to want to fight for them. This habit will be the deathknell of social democracy. Despite this, one must afford them their right to do this. Let justice reign though the heavens fall, and all that.
Surgery is a special case because in addition to requiring medical knowledge, skill, and training, it requires opportunity to practice. For medicine in general an inexperienced graduate may be the better choice because they may be more likely to be up to date on the latest research, procedures, etc., whereas the experience old-timer might be more set in their ways.
Ideally, you want to somebody who is state-of-the-art AND experienced. As you are well aware, there is learning curve to all things. If this is not a big deal, you should seek out medical services at teaching hospitals where the interns and residents are up on all the latest information as well as being familiar with all the latest techniques. I am sure they would love to practice on you.
It bothered me that violent vandals and looters were not held legally accountable for their actions. We agree on that, but it doesn't have anything to do with rights.
Quoting synthesis
It's impossible for us to live our lives without sometimes coming into conflict with other people doing the same thing. Yes, we should behave responsibly, fairly. Again, that doesn't have anything to do with rights.
Yes there's not only something intrinsic to it, that is the essence of the industrial age. And it was happening well before the '50s. Constant change. And as has been noted, before the industrial age, the world didn't--couldn't--change. The Anglo Saxons ruled England. The peasants farmed. The Normans conquered it. The peasants farmed. The religion was paganism. The peasants farmed. The religion was Christianity. The peasants farmed. Communication (no newspapers or even printing press) was a large part of it probably. But most of the idea of historical change before the industrial age, to my understanding, was limited to the world of the literate. Even if the church had wished to change the populace completely, I'm not sure they would have had the means, or the lasting power to enforce it. Custom was strong, and as the one predominant thing of the pre-industrial age that has remained, that is it, I think, but not always concretely, to my mind. It is custom I think that is responsible for all the differences in countries in the world today. The one force impossible to change (except slowly), but I don't think we see it necessarily, it is mutated and involved in the variations among various countries with comparable technology.
I agree with your second post (or I think it's the second post, your response to Mr. Wood). Experience has taught me much, and I got none of that really, or at least not useful experience I think, from communication on the Internet. The message board, I think, is becoming a real problem now. No not this one (well not principally) but ones where people go generally to share the same ideas. So their knowledge, and I think you've already suggested this, is just repeated again and again, in the group. Things are held to be true that may not be. A lack of experience, and a repetition of shared knowledge, reinforces (perhaps) a false view, one that, also incidentally, may reinforce seclusion from reality--and thus experience. Problems I think are a given in the future, catastrophic and cataclysmic ones are the concern. :smile:
As to the faults of the young, well I don't think I was ever much in control of my life really, before a certain age. And people of certain dispositions, of course, follow certain roads, appertaining to their own time. And so like streams converging it seems to be a continual process, and although not strictly analogous, to my view, unstoppable. That's a hundred million streams (supposing we're speaking of the U.S.A.) Need a mighty large dam to brick that up. :smile: But you did mention the role of parents, though I'm not sure that's any different. Same values (general 'baby boomer' type people, live and let live and what else one might infer), same following a course, same unstoppable flow. It's these darn machines I tell ya! :wink:
The constant social change didn't begin till the industrial age really. Where it will end up no one knows (or so I flatter myself who hasn't figured it out yet).
Welcome to the forum. You write well and have interesting things to say. I hope you'll hang around for a while.
Oh thanks, I'm glad to be here. :smile:
You have the right to free speech, but the responsibility to not shout FIRE in a crowded movie theater (if there is no fire).
You have the right to bear arms but the responsibility to not recklessly endanger others with said firearms.
You have the right (privilege?) to operate a motor vehicle but the responsibility to obey the traffic laws.
You have the right to vote but the responsibility to not vote twice.
You have the right to attend public school but the responsibility to not interfere with others' education.
With every right comes responsibilities.
Perhaps you are around the wrong kind of people.
I think you and I are talking around in circles. Talking about words. We've probably taken this as far as we can for now.
I believe that most baby boomers would agree that their parents were the first parental generation to really spoil their kids en masse because to the post WWII economic boom in the U.S. Baby boomers being raised on corporate television, took the ball, sprinted down the field and spiked it in the end-zone as they become the worst parents imaginable.
In my last post, I tried to be careful not to place the fault on either of us.
Am I one of those people who "believe that they know and it's their job to spread the word?" You're the one who started this thread. You're the one spreading the word. You're the one who seems to know you are right. I have only responded to question some of the things you wrote. I gave very specific examples. I think I expressed my thoughts clearly. What's your beef?
It's just my opinion. Being right (except in cases of morality) is purely conditional.
Your idea of "learning from experience" has some major lacks.
Old people used to be more respected when they were seen as more useful for the larger community and frankly, there were less of them. Today in atomized, resource hungry, quickly changing society they are less help than they have ever been and the means needed to keep them involved in the community need to be rather extensive.
I agree that learning by practice is very good, do you mean that as learning by experience? It is rather troublesome though to organize practice for children if the parents work and the school system is suboptimally built. I think organizing partial employment for children from the age of 12 could be useful in that regard.
As for rights and responsibilities, they aren't from the same narrow category at all, I don't see a good use for a word for the sum of those sets. Both rights and responsibilities are granted by the ones that wield power, but they don't need to inherently balance each other out. It's true that most productive societies do have some partial balance between the rights and responsibilities, so it seems to be useful for the benefit of the societies. And if the US falls behind because of unbalance of rights and responsibilities, other societies with better structures will come ahead and your society will have an opportunity to correct itself and the humanity will learn a lesson.
You say that young people (that you know) goaded by fools grew demanding and stupid? Well it's real pity that the previous generations haven't fulfilled their responsibility to bring the new generation up to par. I don't know young Americans, but why in your opinion the older generations failed them?