Astronomy also pisses me off

[Super_Reverb]

It seems like nothing is private anymore. Women talking about aunt flo and men talking about ED. Shouldn't there be boundries and filters?

What's next BM optimization drugs? We have eyelash growth enhancing drugs. What about men who don't have hairy backs, huh? Maybe some women WANT a mustache and sideburns... Who's working on that?

Further evidence that TV is further becoming a wasteland... Remember early on when you could see live music (not rap and tone corrected crap) on MTV/VH1? Now all shows seem to be a celebration on how I can be different - how I can stand out in the crowd... Reality this and that. Hey, maybe I could get a hobby (cough, cough ampbuilding) and live my life, rather than watching someone else live theirs?

Does anyone work anymore, or is that part of our evolution to an "information society"? I guess that means that you're supposed to walk around like a zombie staring at your smart phone, consuming the bilge that is the news and texting to your BFF about ED and dry, flaky skin.

Does anyone have conversations and spend time teaching their children how to behave? Wait, there's an app for that...

Can we just get back to the commercial for a knife that will filet fish, cut through a shoe, and let me make chassis cutouts?

[ADHD rant = off]


rob

[Reeltarded]

I hear ya.

There is a commercial with that foul whathisname guy that beat the hooker up or something that is flatly pornographic. Over the line.

It's the kind of thing that makes you think maybe everyone would prefer to be a little more gentle in their language just from recoil. I find I am disgusted with myself when other people embarrass themselves and me for watching. I try to mind my manners except for the occasional laugh a shocking profanity might provide.

hah

Media is in a profane race to the bottom, for the most part. I think.

[Structo]

Yep, the commercials are waaaay over the top.

Like the Liquid Plumber Double Impact one, "I'm here to snake your drain."

"I'm here to flush your pipe."

Now it doesn't take a 40 year old virgin to figure out the double penetration and ménage à trois sexual angle of this ad.

The first time my wife and I saw that we looked at each other and said, "No way! Did we just see that?"

SEX SELLS!

Or all the feminine hygiene products that air around dinner time or the endless ED commercials.

You know what?
I don't really like censorship but it was a lot more wholesome when the dirtiest thing on TV was when June Cleaver said," Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night".

The biggest mistake the FCC ever made was allowing lawers to advertise on TV.
That opened the gate, so to speak.

Now you have a class lawsuit ever other one, "Did you take Tylenol and suffer liver damage?"
"You may be entitled to compensation."

FREE MONEY!!!

I ain't no prude but I love my DVR, so I can fast forward through all the bull.

Also, it may be more realistic but it seems the cable channels now are exempt from profanity laws that the over the air channels have to abide by.
So now they can say shit, asshole, dick, son of a bitch, etc.

Remember when the movies were funny and they didn't use one foul word?
Remember when you could watch a comedy show and there wasn't one sexual inuendo and it was still funny?


I know I'm getting old and the "back in my day" stories are starting to come.

Sorry for the rant, I'm gonna go out and yell at a cloud.


[img:400:300]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RgJ6 ... andpa.jpeg[/img]

[cbass]

I wish things were more like Mayberry.

[SoundPerf]

Stupid uncivilized civilization.

The dangerous and crazy thing is those trying to shove this crap down our throats think they're the most civilized creation that ever existed. Pure narcissistic delusion.

[Reeltarded]

I dunno about religions, but I swear life is about suffering one's own ego.

I mean you have to make your way, but come on man...

I used to be a bad person, I am sure of it. I spend every moment in some regret. I appreciate that. I own it, I broke it and I bought it.

Not preaching my awesomeness, I am just saying I am willing to pay some price for something... I don't know how much that has to do with it, but something like that.

Public humiliation should come back into vogue. People used to be shunned for being what I probably once was. I hope that all makes sense. I try to connect at a deeper level so.. there I am.

[Jana]

I'm glad I don't own a TV.

Religion--don't get me started on the most evil concept ever to be hoisted upon humanity.

I miss Red Skelton--now that was good entertainment!

Where is this country going? Thomas Jefferson had a pretty good idea of where he wanted the country to go and how to get there. I am paraphrasing here but basically he believed that a liberal education was one of the requirements for a democracy to survive. He believed that a well educated middle class who had the critical thinking skills to make sound decisions was important. He put his money where his mouth was and spent his fortune building the first college in the US.

Now, you want to see something depressing but not all that shocking given the views of some towards education? Here is something copied pasted from the actual 2012 Texas GOP platform statement:

"Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

Why, I wonder, would a political party want to oppose critical thinking skills? Could it have anything to do with the documented research that shows that, on average, the more education one has, the less likely they are to vote conservative?

Jefferson must be rolling in his grave. The middle class is all but gone and we are down to a large working class and a very small but powerful wealthy elite. Education, which for a couple of centuries, was viewed as a way to better both the individual and society, is now being branded as an evil anachronism that must go. Look at the attacks on teacher's union across the country. Those greedy teachers are sucking at the teet of government handouts and your tax money! Let's do away with them and privatize education! Yeah right. Look how well that worked with hospitals and how much those costs have gone up. When the bottom line is not the student/patient but the shareholders--guess who comes out on top. If the day comes when our public education system becomes privatized, mark my words, the USA is a has been country. It will no longer be about educating our citizenry but how much profit can be made off of the bodies herded through the school house doors. The push is on for this to happen.

Okay, I'll stop ranting! lol

[Reeltarded]

Aha! Inspiration! I know now what I must do.

I am going to start my own college with my own money.. probably an online university at first, or maybe just an informative web page about learning. I'll need a big crested logo to make it look like a polo shop..

I hope this doesn't go over $500.

I can finally teach people the truth about geography.

[SoundPerf]

I'm not even going to get into a big politcal debate here, but I can come up a with a hundred reasons why the middle class is all but destroyed and it has nothing to do with the 2012 Texas GOP platform. Can anyone say "unfunded entitlements"? Somehow I think what Jefferson meant by a "liberal education" has nothing to do with what a "liberal" education is today.

I know a bit about the education system and teaching the basics is what is sorely missing. You give someone the basics and the ability to think for themselves and let them deside what to believe. Once they enter adulthood they can choose what "higher" forms of education they want to pursue. Education today is all about indocturnation and forcing belief. Oh wait any belief that doesn't involve believing in God or the difference between right and wrong.

I just happen to click on a show the other day and there was a college student who didn't know how many feet were in a yard. Holy crap!!

And yes, I agree shunning or rebuking needs a major comeback. But wait, we can't make little johnny or sally feel bad about themselves.

Reeltarded, I can totally relate to doing wrong and having to pay for it. I'm constantly amazed at what passes for proper and normal behaviour these days. I spent way too many years as a chemically induced escape artist. I'm still paying for much of that behaviour many years later. The main reason I'm still paying for it is that I have enough self respect not to pawn the burden off on other people. I could probably use the system to get some freeebies here and there, but I don't. In fact I could probably claim it a mental disorder and go on disability. I know more than a few of that old crowd that are doing this very thing. Shameful!

[Reeltarded]

Aha! Exactly.

Also the number of feet in a yard depends on how big the feet are and how long the yard is. Very tricky.

[Jana]

The Texas GOP platform is just one example and was not meant to represent the one cause of our decline. It just boggles my mind that such a statement would even be considered, let alone advertised as something to strive for.

Like many words, the word liberal has changed in meaning and connotation over the years. Prior to the redefinition of the word in the past 30 to 40 years, it meant being open to new ideas, respecting individual rights, and in the case of education--a broad base of knowledge.

I hear many students complain about why they have to take the general education classes. They say all they want to learn is how to do their job (insert an IV, wire up a breaker box, etc.) Honestly, when I started college, I felt the same way--why do I have to take all these bullshit classes--why can't I just take classes that focus on my major? Now, with a graduate degree, I see and appreciate the value of having to take classes that seemingly had no connection with my major. I would never have taken a class in geology or astronomy had it not been for the Gen Ed (liberal education) requirements. I am thankful that I did take those classes.

As for how many feet in a yard--Reel beat me to it--I was going to say it depends on how big the yard is and how much beer is left in the keg.

[Teleguy61]

Education is supposed to to teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
Teaching you what to think is indoctrination.

[Jana]

"Education is supposed to to teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
Teaching you what to think is indoctrination."

Well said!

[SoundPerf]

"Education is supposed to to teach you HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
Teaching you what to think is indoctrination."

Well said!

Yep! ....And he spelled indoctrination correctly.