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America in Decline?

HungryJoeHungryJoe
edited February 2011 in Politics
Is Wisconsin, the Tea Party, the impending government shutdown, the takeover of the meda by corporations and idiots like Beck and Limbaugh leading to the virtual abrogation/abandonment by the press of its duty to keep people informed, the economic meltdown, etc. indicators that the US is in decline? Or is everything just fine?

What role would a fallen US play on the world stage?
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Comments

  • Kaptain KKaptain K
    Y'know where everything is just fine?

    Canada.

    image
  • AprecheApreche
    Is Wisconsin, the Tea Party, the impending government shutdown, the takeover of the meda by corporations and idiots like Beck and Limbaugh leading to the virtual abrogation/abandonment by the press of its duty to keep people informed, the economic meltdown, etc indicators that the US is in decline? Or is everything just fine?
    We've been in decline for a long time. We're just seeing now some acceleration in the declination.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    The old declines, the new grows. The Skeptic's Guide is exploding thanks to more and more people looking to the internet for information and entertainment and that's a definite plus.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    . . . more and more people looking to the internet for information and entertainment . . .
    Regarding Egypt and the current situation in the middle/near east, do you think people got more reliable information from the internet or from old-line media such as CNN? It's an old, cliched question, but just how relevant is old-line media these days? I can't remember the last time I heard anything about Iraq or Afghanistan from old-line media.
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    Old line media uses twitter just like everybody else.
  • KapitänTimKapitänTim
    We sure could use another Hitler right now. A WW3 would help bring us back.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    The BBC is riding the new wave pretty strong. I hear of most news first through their Twitter feed.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    We sure could use another Hitler right now.
    Wasn't Saddam Hussein supposed to play that role?
  • KapitänTimKapitänTim
    Didnt blow up enough to WW3.
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    indicators that the US is in decline?
    Decline? No.
    Or is everything just fine?
    Just fine? No.

    I think that the US is in a state of turmoil. There's a lot of rapid change occurring, much of which is accelerated by continuing technological advances.

    What do we consider "decline?"
  • JasonJason
    I don't think America is "in decline." I do think its political landscape is more complicated than ever, and giving everyone access to instantaneous information (and misinformation) via the Web has increased that complexity.

    There are a couple of issues at play here:

    1) Confirmation bias: Past eras experienced similar states of flux, but we tend to gloss over how socially significant they were. The free love movement of the 1960s had a far-reaching impact on American culture, but in our memories we've relegated it to handy stereotypes about bellbottoms, acid, and Free Bird. Every generation thinks it's going to witness the end of the world; they just conveniently forget that it's been prophesied again and again. Compared to the eras of McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, the gold standard debates, and Prohibition, I think our current times are fairly tame.

    2) Political homeostasis: People tend to consider times when one movement or another is prevalent to be "stable." But I think we are more stable when there is a strict bipartisan divide that creates a cultural counterbalance. Right now, Americans are split very closely down the middle on many issues. Look how close the last several presidential elections have been. In science, we'd call it homeostasis. In culture, we call it turmoil. But people disagreeing is good.
  • Kaptain KKaptain K
    People have been saying the United States/the world at large has been on the decline forever. In every single decade there have been media blitzes speculating about how good things used to be and how bad things are now; whether the "now" is the 50's or the 1890's.
  • KapitänTimKapitänTim
    Y'know where everything is just fine?

    Canada.

    image

    Who wants to live in a hat?
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    Every generation thinks it's going to witness the end of the world
    For further reading on this topic, see The Difference Engine.
  • Kaptain KKaptain K
    Who wants to live in a hat?
    America is Canada's toilet.
  • KapitänTimKapitänTim
    Doesn't work that way hat.
  • KapitänTimKapitänTim
    Hats dont poop.
  • Kaptain KKaptain K
    Watch out America, Canada had indian food last night.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Well, I agree with Jason on the part of the end of the world and such. However America is declining, it's just not a catastrophic thing that we make it out to be. The US has lived high on the hog for a long time dominating in trade and manufacturing and having a standard of living far above most other places. It's only natural as the rest of the world catches up and develops and technology spreads that we would see America decline a bit in influence and power. Unless some really stupid crap happens we will always be in the above average area, we just won't completely out compete everyone else like we are used to.
  • JasonJason
    That's not so much America declining as it is the rest of the world closing the wealth gap.
  • Kaptain KKaptain K
    A huge portion of the "we're going to hell in a handbasket" group are specifically talking about our morality; which lots of other people see as an improvement.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    But still, America is going to have some pretty serious long term problems when it comes to intellectual stuff with the way the anti-education movement is picking up.
  • RymRym
    Our infrastructure is ancient and nearing the tail end of a long decline cycle with little substantive improvements on a mass scale.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    There's always this morbid curiosity to see what would happen if the republicans were put into power.
    While some times, the hard lesson is the fastest, the loss of life couldn't be justified.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    There's always this morbid curiosity to see what would happen if the republicans were put into power.
    Didn't you try this back in 2001?
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited February 2011
    Didn't you try this back in 2001?
    We forgot what happened. Does anyone remember?
    Post edited by George Patches on
  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    We forgot what happened. Does anyone remember?
    The invisible hand of the free market fixed everything! It's all the libs fault right now.
  • ThaedThaed
    There are some people who wholeheartedly welcome the idea of restricting Unions. Others may look at the spread of democratic revolution in the Middle East as a victory for America. Still others may feel that the U.S. economy is definitely recovering. Some folks might actually be optimistic right now.
  • JasonJason
    Unions are a double-edged sword. Sometimes, they are absolutely necessary to stop employees from becoming indentured servants (see teachers). Other times, they are a cancer that destroy the long-term viability of their respective industries (see auto-makers). I used to say that I was anti-union, but it's not a binary situation. I wholeheartedly fight for the right of workers to unionize... sometimes... in certain situations... on some things... to a certain point.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    So you're a fan of regulated unions?
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