Thanks. Got to admit though, I only get more disappointed and disencouraged with these discussions. People are bright, but spineless. And that would be okay. Except that passionate people are stigmatized in society, so they can't ride up to fulfill their parts as the ones to actually engage in action and are rather hanging out with the rioters burning down society.... and kinda justifiable... The depreciation of emotions and it's consecutive negligence is at the bottom of this.

My point was: we all think it's a problem afflicting other people, and fail to see it's us the only ones we can do some thinking for. We don't seem to be even willing to question if maybe we are part of the problem. We know we are not the cause, but maybe there are other little things we are doing wrong that are sabotaging of our opportunities to fight back. And that's all we can possibly do, question ourselves and work our own faults; unless we are willing to become authoritarians as well and go all Nazi on their asses.

@A1fredo I see - can't have any of that without a solid foundation of education that instills those values. I feel very very lucky to have been born in 1951. Before "education" went into the proverbial waste can. I was fortunate enough to have a Catholic elementary education - 1st thru 8th grade.
I went to public high school after that. I was well ahead of most of the kids who came out of the public schools. More importantly I carried my learned self discipline into high school where I sat quietly, paid attention to the teachers, did my homework...etc.
I was lucky to have lived in a family that highly valued education and hard work. Oh, and we were just about dirt poor. Lack of wealth and status turns out are not very important at all.

@iThink Would you consider moral values be a part of "education?"

@A1fredo absolutely - not merely a part of but an utterly foundational necessity.

@iThink Are you completely educated, or perhaps is there something you personally may need to work on too?

@A1fredo I am far from perfectly and totally educated. There are a lot of things to be learned - the thing is none of knows what we don't know. We're proverbially scraping around here on this Earth looking for answers.
Where science and technologies are concerned there are new things developing every day - probably (remember I don't know what I don't know).
However, I would never claim to have heard or learned it all but where Cultural, anthropological social things are concerned I dare say there isn't anything "new" under the sun.

@iThink Is it okay for you to be willing to give up on your ancestry's legacy without any sort of effort to preserve it?

I agree... we need curricula (at least for children and minors) to stick to basic skills and facts. Adults can choose to study whatever they want to.

The role of supporting kids to formulate their own personal opinions, values, and worldviews should fall to parents and other people who the parents (and maybe the kids themselves to a degree) choose... not a state-run propaganda machine. Conservatives tend to have more children, too, so without the state teaching kids leftism we would have a lot less of the craziness we see around us.

Ideally, I would love to see the government stay out of education completely, only I'm not sure exactly how that would work or what difficulties might arise. Sometimes it can be too easy to come up with what seems like a good idea, but it doesn't work so well when you actually try it.

THANK YOU!! So glad somebody got it xD LOL

My point was: we all think it's a problem afflicting other people, and fail to see it's us the only ones we can do some thinking for. We don't seem to be even willing to question if maybe we are part of the problem. We know we are not the cause, but maybe there are other little things we are doing wrong that are sabotaging of our opportunities to fight back. And that's all we can possibly do, question ourselves and work our own faults; unless we are willing to become authoritarians as well and go all Nazi on their asses.

@Leroy_Dumonde Why aren't you out there killing people, then? If that's the case, then we should go ahead and get it over with as fast as possible, right?

My point was: we all think it's a problem afflicting other people, and fail to see it's us the only ones we can do some thinking for. We don't seem to be even willing to question if maybe we are part of the problem. We know we are not the cause, but maybe there are other little things we are doing wrong that are sabotaging of our opportunities to fight back. And that's all we can possibly do, question ourselves and work our own faults; unless we are willing to become authoritarians as well and go all Nazi on their asses.

@A1fredo, In the US around 1970, the Bayh-Dole act passed, basically giving Universities a free lunch, but there were strings. The rules were made so there was the appearance of fairness, but no longer could universities sue the government for imposing government values on education. All bets were off, and the government was free to coerce universities to set policies and teach whatever the bureaucrats felt was appropriate.

Universities changed overnight from bastions of free speech, thought and open-minded philosophy, to Leftist indoctrination centers. I witnessed that happening during that time. There were literally instructors in unrelated fields who would penalize anyone who was not willing to parrot the Leftist dogma, and I nearly failed several courses like that, even though I went into those courses with an overall 4.88 out of 5.0.

@TimTuolomne So... nothing you could do...?

@A1fredo. I have repeatedly written to my representatives to repeal the Bayh-Dole Act, but until they hear from enough people with the same point of view, it is not worth the political risk to them. I know almost no one who seems to understand how important this is.

@TimTuolomne Ever consider social power may be greater than political power? That's how the left got where they are now. Maybe trying to convince just other people in person -which is the only way adults are willing to change their minds--and still not likely- may help...

@A1fredo, Soooo, what do you think I am doing here?

@TimTuolomne Online persuasion is a magnitude of times less effective than doing it in person. I wish I was able to do it that way myself. Just saying.

@A1fredo, That is a valid point Alfredo. But a lot depends on how persuasive one is. I think it is possible to persuade many to action online, almost as effectively as in person.

That is basically what advertising is, and guys like Zuckerberg are making billions by selling advertising online. It wouldn't be worth a thing if it didn't work.

And the online approach is very effective when rapport is established that leads to personal contact.