As an American, you are living in history's greatest moment

[Foo]

I view quality of life through the lens of our problems, so let's highlight some things:

Probably the biggest indicator is the number of people's problems that are self inflicted when you poll on societal problems. Right now:

- Suicide happens at a far greater rate than murder
- Obesity is a top killer, while malnutrition outside of eating disorders is so rare it is not calculated
- Opiods, Alcoholism, etc. are far bigger killers than war

[zombie]

*history's greatest moment.

[Foo]

*history's greatest moment.

Indeed.

[showa58taro]

Welcome to modernity, I guess?

[Reign in Blood]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

[zombie]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

none of those is a great thing, as foo put it. and suicide is probably the worst of the three.

i think he's trying to say that because suicide is so prevalent, that means that murder is on the decline. and i still think that's kind of bullshit. it's twisting the data, to serve an agenda. and a crap one at that.

[showa58taro]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

Because losers are killing themselves leaving winners. Obviously.

[Reign in Blood]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

none of those is a great thing, as foo put it. and suicide is probably the worst of the three.

i think he's trying to say that because suicide is so prevalent, that means that murder is on the decline. and i still think that's kind of bullshit. it's twisting the data, to serve an agenda. and a crap one at that.

Because murder and suicide have some 1 to 1 relationship or summat... Or those more apt to suicide are more apt to commit homicide or summat...

(Nothing against you Z, I'm just responding to you, so you know)

[Reign in Blood]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

Because losers are killing themselves leaving winners. Obviously.

I think you're on to something.

[zombie]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

none of those is a great thing, as foo put it. and suicide is probably the worst of the three.

i think he's trying to say that because suicide is so prevalent, that means that murder is on the decline. and i still think that's kind of bullshit. it's twisting the data, to serve an agenda. and a crap one at that.

Because murder and suicide have some 1 to 1 relationship or summat... Or those more apt to suicide are more apt to commit homicide or summat...

(Nothing against you Z, I'm just responding to you, so you know)

yeah, i don't think that was even part of his mindset. drug overdose has no correlation to casualties of war either. just self-victim, rather than victim of someone else. meh.

[Foo]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

It is about who is in control of our biggest problems. Suicide is typically by choice, while homicide is typically not. Same thing with obesity versus starvation. All are still tragic, but individuals exercising personal choice over their destinies is the far better alternative.

[zombie]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

It is about who is in control of our biggest problems. Suicide is typically by choice, while homicide is typically not. Same thing with obesity versus starvation. All are still tragic, but individuals exercising personal choice over their destinies is the far better alternative.

but does the bigger problem mean the other problem is shrinking, in your estimation? or are we just losing more by self inflicted causes, on top of the still growing murder and starvation and war etc?

also, you have to take in to account the reasons for the health disorders and suicide and drug overdose, like what led to that in their environment, as to whether we are really better off now, as well.

[Foo]

Why is suicide being far greater a rate than murder a good thing? Wait, a great thing?

It is about who is in control of our biggest problems. Suicide is typically by choice, while homicide is typically not. Same thing with obesity versus starvation. All are still tragic, but individuals exercising personal choice over their destinies is the far better alternative.

but does the bigger problem mean the other problem is shrinking, in your estimation? or are we just losing more by self inflicted causes, on top of the still growing murder and starvation and war etc?

also, you have to take in to account the reasons for the health disorders and suicide and drug overdose, like what led to that in their environment, as to whether we are really better off now, as well.

This is the least violent time in recorded history. The working poor are now the binge TV watching poor. Our poor are fat and addicted, not overworked and starving. Violent crime is at a historically low rate everywhere but a few hot spots. The unsafe jobs are taken by choice and generally pay well. Opportunity exists all over. It will never be perfect, but it is the best time to live in.

[zombie]

This is the least violent time in recorded history. The working poor are now the binge TV watching poor. Our poor are fat and addicted, not overworked and starving. Violent crime is at a historically low rate everywhere but a few hot spots. The unsafe jobs are taken by choice and generally pay well. Opportunity exists all over. It will never be perfect, but it is the best time to live in.

i think it is probably the best time in history, for the united states at least. if that's all you were aiming for, then fair enough. but if you want to discuss the points you made, then i'm all for that.

[dave626]

http://www.romans322.com/daily-death-ra ... istics.php

Not sure how accurate that is, but it's interesting to say the least. I admire your perspective, but I'm more of a big picture person. I'd be a lot happier if the people who committed suicide didn't decide to take innocent lives with them. Want to kill yourself? Fine. Leave other people out of it.
As for weight, that's a touchy subject for me. I was born a chunky baby until food poisoning permanently altered my metabolism. Either that or just life itself. As a teen, I could eat 20 McNuggets, large fries, apple pie and a large drink and never top 150. To this day, I can't top 140 no matter what I eat. 7 years ago when an ulcer perforated my stomach and they removed part of it, I literally lost 15 pounds and had to force myself to eat because I equated it with pain. People also commented about my size.

So I get both sides of the spectrum. No matter how you diet, what you eat, your body's going to do it's thing. Some things you can't control. People should not be made self conscious about it. That is the biggest problem. People starve themselves, some eat because of stress. No easy answer. Some just like food. Some don't even have a choice, as they have no money and no means to eat. That's a big problem when big money corps waste food all the time.

Drugs is another touchy one, back when the stomach thing happened, they pumped me full of addictive pain meds. Doctors. I choose not to abuse it, but the temptation's there. Who wants to feel pain? As for war? If North Korea gets it's act together, ISIS gets it's hands on a nuke, Israel or Palestine flinch or even if Russia decides to say enough, those statistics go out the window. One bomb will kill more than drugs ever could. That that's murder, not suicide. Drugs are a choice. Having a bomb dropped on me is not my choice.

Also, in war.... there are hints of another Civil War, this time between civilians and government, or the long brewing race war. We could destroy ourselves from within long before someone nukes us. That's a big problem. We have sexist, racist bigots in positions of power. That's a problem. We have more bad than good out there. That's a problem. Maybe I'm naive, or it was a more innocent time, but when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s none if this was as bad or as reported as it is now. Maybe media's the problem. LOL

What we don't know won't hurt us. Truth is, things are bad, they've always been bad, but they are getting worse, not better. Resources dwindling, people hating each other, enemies at the gate. Self destructive behavior. I'm not sure what the answer is, or how much lower we can go, but these are not, the best of times.

[Foo]

http://www.romans322.com/daily-death-ra ... istics.php

Not sure how accurate that is, but it's interesting to say the least. I admire your perspective, but I'm more of a big picture person. I'd be a lot happier if the people who committed suicide didn't decide to take innocent lives with them. Want to kill yourself? Fine. Leave other people out of it.
As for weight, that's a touchy subject for me. I was born a chunky baby until food poisoning permanently altered my metabolism. Either that or just life itself. As a teen, I could eat 20 McNuggets, large fries, apple pie and a large drink and never top 150. To this day, I can't top 140 no matter what I eat. 7 years ago when an ulcer perforated my stomach and they removed part of it, I literally lost 15 pounds and had to force myself to eat because I equated it with pain. People also commented about my size.

So I get both sides of the spectrum. No matter how you diet, what you eat, your body's going to do it's thing. Some things you can't control. People should not be made self conscious about it. That is the biggest problem. People starve themselves, some eat because of stress. No easy answer. Some just like food. Some don't even have a choice, as they have no money and no means to eat. That's a big problem when big money corps waste food all the time.

Drugs is another touchy one, back when the stomach thing happened, they pumped me full of addictive pain meds. Doctors. I choose not to abuse it, but the temptation's there. Who wants to feel pain? As for war? If North Korea gets it's act together, ISIS gets it's hands on a nuke, Israel or Palestine flinch or even if Russia decides to say enough, those statistics go out the window. One bomb will kill more than drugs ever could. That that's murder, not suicide. Drugs are a choice. Having a bomb dropped on me is not my choice.

Also, in war.... there are hints of another Civil War, this time between civilians and government, or the long brewing race war. We could destroy ourselves from within long before someone nukes us. That's a big problem. We have sexist, racist bigots in positions of power. That's a problem. We have more bad than good out there. That's a problem. Maybe I'm naive, or it was a more innocent time, but when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s none if this was as bad or as reported as it is now. Maybe media's the problem. LOL

What we don't know won't hurt us. Truth is, things are bad, they've always been bad, but they are getting worse, not better. Resources dwindling, people hating each other, enemies at the gate. Self destructive behavior. I'm not sure what the answer is, or how much lower we can go, but these are not, the best of times.

I am overweight. At no point in my life has anyone else been responsible for that other than me. I chose to eat many more calories than my body needed. When viewed through today's lens, I am not that large, but not that long ago, I would have been bigger than most football players and wrestlers at 6'3 and 280. In fact, I might have even been the biggest in many small towns, but now you can walk through walmart at any time and find both men and women who weigh more. Again, this was 100% my choice and their choice.

At your size through today's lens, you are very slender, but historically you would be average. Many hard working farmers had your build.

On the world front, consider that we have an all volunteer military, are the sole superpower in the world, and only our own restraint keeps us from literally wiping any threat to us from this earth in an afternoon. North Korea is no more threat to us than a termite threatens you in a neighboring town. We can fly over them at will. We can block their ports. We can target anything and anyone within their borders while they can only take shots in the dark at out allies and territories.

We have a power infrastructure that produces a surplus and we sit on huge stockpiles of energy, while at the same time use less energy per person and trending downward. We throw away millions of tons of usable food every year. We take the best parts of animals and vegetables and ship the waste to other countries to consume.

[Foo]

Consider this in a historical context:

https://www.movieguide.org/news-article ... inked.html

Our poor are consuming entertainment at rates never before seen. This is in sharp contrast to the past where being poor meant all your money and time went to procuring life essentials.