What do you think of this? Options

[Licentia Per Ori...]

I think he made some really good points.



Should we be asking more questions?
Why do we accept that war is part of our culture?

But can we really do anything ourselves?

Or are we destined to remain in a state of bondage?

[Sparrowsmith]

I could only really get a minute into the video before I could see whereabouts it was going.
Before I get to my main argument, I'll say this.
The points made by these kinds of people are usually somewhat valid. These are rather insane concepts that we fail to question. However, the idea that they have been purposefully enforced is ridiculous. They are usually ideals we have carried for hundreds of thousands of years. Behavioral traits burned into us by evolution and then reinforced by a society that is bigger than nature could have prepared us for.

There are dozens of psychological faults programmed into us not by the big bad society, but by nature, a far more competitive and jealous beast. However, one of our many faults is the need to BLAME an actual target. So instead of something vague like and self-aimed, like fallacies brought about by evolution, we try to blame others.
Often we land on society as the blame. Yes society, that thing run by people who aren't actually people, as opposed to being something, you know, we all create.

However, there are some valid points to a 'corrupt' society, almost all of which can be answered with power checks, something many people in power (including Obama at the moment) are fighting for. I mean really, if you want to know what actual problems exist within society I'd highly recommend reading John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and calling it a day. The problem lies in the people wielding power over themselves. Projecting their ugly world views as a means of controlling their fellow man, not out of reality but out of fear.
There's some good research here about how we perceive people as worse than they actually are. You really need to look no further than the Nirvana Fallacy which is our bias to ignore positive change just because it's not perfect. Of course, this is reasonable, right? We want perfect leaders and none of these corrupt pundits, well, if the Stanford Prison experiment is anything to go by, then in a position of power the common person (I.E anyone one of us here) would abuse that power to the point of torture.
In fact, all it takes is a person in a lab coat to make you willing to kill a man, if the Milgram Experiment is anything to go by.

My point?
Society is the collective injustice of fallacies like these in every single person all the world over, but, somehow we're functioning remarkably well considering we should have descended into absolute chaos. And the reason we perform so well is because history is full of great people, people who have single handedly advanced our understanding of what is and isn't acceptable. How we can and should treat our fellow man.
I've rambled more than made a point because I'm in a hurry, but the reason we have some absurd cultural perceptions is because we are moving away from something worse, not towards something it. I find the people who stand in front of a crowd and try to stir up fear because of the tiniest demerits to society more despicable than those demerits themselves. It cheapens the work of the truly great who worked for equal rights, who brought down ACTUAL corrupt governments, who survived the bleakest aspects of human history and came through unscathed.
Frankly, most people these days are looking for social injustice because in reality, we have it pretty freaking good, and it's very likely to get better

We're not declaring war on body images or the diseased, we're just trying to raise the life expectancy, to stop disease, and to make the world a better place. Somehow we have set up a system that actively directs the people in power to do good deeds. Maybe not all the time, but most of the time, and that's pretty freaking incredible. The world ain't perfect, but to say this is the worst the human race has ever had it is an absurdity.


Also, on the subject of war, I share your opinions than soldiers can be brave and supported (though I disagree that they all are) while the wars themselves are rarely just. However, conflicts like the Iraq war, while unnecessary at the time, were preemptive measures against a legitimate threat (A dictator sitting on a massive well of oil. Once that oil becomes more valuable, say ten or twenty years, he's be in a position to make some damaging demands). In fact, most conflicts nowadays are more like a chess game. It's international politics designed to stave off bigger conflicts, and, regrettably, for economic gain.
Like I said, not perfect, but if the beginning of world war II taught us anything it's that you can't leave an angry and desperate country unchecked.

And finally, Shirbit culture is an appeal to ridicule.
The article was more humorous than inspiring. Purposefully dancing around reality by casting doubt on each action and exaggerating behavior. Mankind is not the only animal that likes to have a 'shrine'. A cat's litterbox comes to mind. Elephants washing themselves (in fact most animals wash themselves if I'm not mistaken.)
Most of these habits are actually beneficial, and didn't used to be necessarily private. A few centuries ago we saw outbreak to some of the most lethal diseases we ever crossed paths with, and why? Most of the time it was because we were throwing shit on the street and not washing ourselves.
Hygiene, like the fighting of disease, is an effort to make us live longer, happier lives.

I have spent way too long writing this.