Spindoc could most of those things listed under a toxic society have already been here but we didn’t see it because of lack of information/communication?

Mental disease diagnoses are off the charts to hide the drug stats?
Suicide hidden because of shame or religion?
People always hurt kids but now others want to stop them?
Many other problems doctors and drug companies profit from?
Fat kids… yeah heaps more of them even in the last 20 years.

I thought stupid did make people happy, people who don’t know a lot seem much more content with the world.

Knowing more created more stress, more information available and most of it depressing to anyone able to absorb it.

Maybe there are people that can block it out at will once they “get it” so they cope just fine.

“information with knowledge” Lost me on that one.

“ intelligence with education” That is about how you have an intelligence IQ level no matter what you have learned?

Faith comes under the heading of knowledge without information?

One under God,
What format do you use to construct your posts, as they are very hard to read?

Spindoc,
Some of us just don’t get it or is it that you get it just nicely but feel confused, as many around you are lost in the broth of society. Those that appear to handle stress so well are normally bluffing or cold hearted.

Trying to understand what ‘it’ is, is a very problematic issue. No matter where I have roamed in life through Christians, pagans, Buddha’s what ever, the question is always unanswered among those that are able to question and not follow without reason.

20% of our youth have mental health problems?
Well probably they always have but the pressure of modern society and the unreasonable expectations placed on young people trigger mental health issues earlier. In some cases they may well have been able to live their lives without it becoming such a large problem. We should Look at our own families. When one in five has a mental health issue do we really notice that our son, daughter or relative show manic behavior. Then again do we see it in our selves? It can be subtle but yet enough that suicidal tendencies may be there.

High suicide rate in 15 – 19 year olds.
Well what do we expect? There never seems to be an argument that at this age we are too young to understand what we are doing but some how we expect young people with highly reorganizing brains and all the confusion of being a teen to make life changing and critical decisions about their future. At all times impressing on them that if they don’t get it right their lives will be ruined. Yes we are a bright lot aren’t we.

The battle of the bulge.
MMM? This is a problem that I battle every day of my life. I am a physical worker and have always enjoyed a beer after work, but these days I notice that if I don’t keep it to once a week I grow bigger very fast. To blame fast food does have some relevance but it is also true that no one makes us eat it. In many ways it comes down to our affluence, we eat to rich all the time. Anyone who has traveled knows that the food you get around the world is never as rich as the takeaway you get at the local Indian, Chinese, Italian pizza eta.

We live in an over indulgent and fear ridden society. It would appear that we seem to think that if we don’t put ourselves under the maximum pressure and have unrealistic expectations of what life is and can offer we label ourselves as failures. It is always quantity over quality or as I have put it so many times before, standard of living over quality of life.

spindoc
Interesting question - why do we "buy into it". Because it is the status quo and that = security.

On one of your earlier comments, it is true that human beings once convinced of a certain viewpoint tend to find supporting 'evidence' and flock to like-opinions that support that worldview, even whilst blatant evidence to the contrary might be staring them in the face. This applies to political ideology, religion or lifestyle choices.

The thing is the "just don't get it" phenomenon applies to us all (and very much in the eye of the beholder) because we all see things from an entrenched viewpoint, some more than others, without scrutinising our own opinions closely enough.

And the hardest thing of all - how does one sort the truth from the spin and read between the lines.

Perhaps it comes down to the fact that opinions form part of identity, identity=security and if that identity is threatened defensive mechanisms are invoked unconsciously. Even if something can be proved does not mean it will be absorbed, because human beings are complicated and self-interest often comes into play.

Most people can distinguish intelligence from education, or knowledge from spin (fact from fiction) if they search deep enough. Human beings tire quickly of the 'superficial' even if it brings them short term gain.

You really would have to say that things are getting worse by the day. Here are a few thoughts on why.

Every time we graduate another class of psychiatrists, we have to get another hundred or so people with mental problems, to fill their case book.

We graduate psychologists, & have to find more troubled folk.

Even worse, when we graduate more social workers, we have to generate another bunch of welfare cases.

It would appear that all these graduates have only ever caused problems, never solved them. Like the Drug & Alcohol Foundation, who developed the harm minimisation system. They don't want to be out of work, because they cured too many people.

Then of course, the acceleration of all these problems started when we dropped that old standby. You know it, it went something like "spare the rod, & spoil the child".

All the ologists will be aghast that someone should suggest corporal punishment, it goes against everything they believe. After all, it is the new gentle society & it's ills that keeps them running to the bank, with all that cash.

Sin equals death while godliness equals contentment and life. Secularism is clearly to blame for increase suicide, increase violence, sexual perversion, lack of self control, little to no discipline, a joke of a court system, divorce, rebellious kids, increase in teen pregnancies and std's, abortions. Just look at the immoral food people feed on night after night on TV. You don't need a phd to see the fruits of a nation turning from godliness and self destructing. Then again most with phd's are so blinded by their own sin that they can't comprehend commonsense. Of course their are a few exceptions. The acceptance of the pseudo science of evolution has justified in many people's mind the absurd notion that one day they won't have to account to their Maker for their immoralities, greed and defiance. The wise ones who can see their families falling apart find grace by repenting of their defiance. The proud go on justifying the unjustifible.