Why is loneliness a taboo topic?

[mattyman]

I think you said a lot right there mate. Free market capitalism is probably at the root of this. Why on earth do people in many other countries see american-style capitalism as the way forward?

Watch China. As their incomes grow, so will their appetites for individual pleasures and luxuries. So, also, will their lack of empathy and compassion. It's already happening.

That's interesting. Many say that the more material wealth one has, the less social and community life exists. I personally think that it's the american way that's the problem, not to sound america-bashing or anything. Why on earth do so many countries want to copy america? Why do so many countries see it as a gleaming beacon of civilisation to be blindly followed like a pied piper? It's nothing of the sort. I think that hollywood, pop music and to some extent the internet are polluting this world. Socio-cultural pollution. America's global empire can be likened to a big filthy chimney spewing out nitrogen oxides, soot, sulphur and god knows what else. It's all designed to homogenise this world in the interests of the corporate overlords. I think that people, especially the young ones are being 'converted', i.e. dumbed-down, spoiled, made to worship mammon, materialism etc. Globalisation is nothing more than a mechanism for which to facilitate corporate dominance, so that they can rise above the law. In a truly fair globalized society, trade unions and the law would be globalized.

Having said that I wouldn't argue that a material quality of life makes people selfish. I would say it's the hyper-individualism that's fostered by free market capitalism that the main culprit. I think that paranoia generated by the media doesn't help people socially either. I wouldn't say that the materialism is also a symptom as well as a problem. If people feel that they don't need others, they're going to subconsciously try to fill the void. One thing that is interesting is that a lot of third world countries have much happier people in general than 'western' countries.

I personally don't believe that being materially well-off makes people selfish as such, though having excess is never healthy. I think that in western cultures, people live WAY beyond their needs. I personally think that the private car is a bit of an excess for instance and think that car clubs in lieu of private cars should be the norm. I think that excess reliance on technology has also played a part in this phenomenon as well.

[NorthAmericanguy]

I think you said a lot right there mate. Free market capitalism is probably at the root of this. Why on earth do people in many other countries see american-style capitalism as the way forward?

Watch China. As their incomes grow, so will their appetites for individual pleasures and luxuries. So, also, will their lack of empathy and compassion. It's already happening.

That's interesting. Many say that the more material wealth one has, the less social and community life exists. I personally think that it's the american way that's the problem, not to sound america-bashing or anything. Why on earth do so many countries want to copy america? Why do so many countries see it as a gleaming beacon of civilisation to be blindly followed like a pied piper? It's nothing of the sort. I think that hollywood, pop music and to some extent the internet are polluting this world. Socio-cultural pollution. America's global empire can be likened to a big filthy chimney spewing out nitrogen oxides, soot, sulphur and god knows what else. It's all designed to homogenise this world in the interests of the corporate overlords. I think that people, especially the young ones are being 'converted', i.e. dumbed-down, spoiled, made to worship mammon, materialism etc. Globalisation is nothing more than a mechanism for which to facilitate corporate dominance, so that they can rise above the law. In a truly fair globalized society, trade unions and the law would be globalized.

Having said that I wouldn't argue that a material quality of life makes people selfish. I would say it's the hyper-individualism that's fostered by free market capitalism that the main culprit. I think that paranoia generated by the media doesn't help people socially either. I wouldn't say that the materialism is also a symptom as well as a problem. If people feel that they don't need others, they're going to subconsciously try to fill the void. One thing that is interesting is that a lot of third world countries have much happier people in general than 'western' countries.

I personally don't believe that being materially well-off makes people selfish as such, though having excess is never healthy. I think that in western cultures, people live WAY beyond their needs. I personally think that the private car is a bit of an excess for instance and think that car clubs in lieu of private cars should be the norm. I think that excess reliance on technology has also played a part in this phenomenon as well.

I agree on all counts. The issue about private car however is that the powers that be designed the basic infrastructure in such a way to force us to have no choice but to buy a car.

There is a documentary that I watched on how the auto/tire manufactures systemically destroyed the trolley systems from California to the east coast. They were a great form of transportation.


Snell, Bradford (1995) 90 percent of all trips were by rail, chiefly electric rail; only one in 10 Americans owned an automobile. There were 1,200 separate electric street and interurban railways, a thriving and profitable industry with 44,000 miles of track, 300,000 employees, 15 billion annual passengers, and $1 billion in income. Virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system.




Here is the documentary: It's called, Taken For a Ride

"Taken for a Ride is an amazing documentary by Jim Kleina and Martha Olson that documents the efforts to derail mass transit in America. Ever wonder why the U.S. has the worst mass transportation system in the industrialized world? Using historical footage and investigative research, this film tells how GM fought to push freeways into the inner cities of America, and push public transportation out."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehoVnykvMKY