Techno Instant Gratification is destroying civilization (edit)

[Ripley]

While the Facebook/igadget creators and other billionaire monetary gainers bamboozle people that it's all making us one world and getting us closer together...

Our societies are worse off than ever.

The richest nation on Earth does this:

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell told farmers and producers on Friday that the 2012 farm bill will be $23 billion less than the 2008 farm bill in order to meet the spending target set by a congressional committee on deficit reduction.

The current $288 billion farm bill, which became law in June 2008, is set to expire in September 2012. Congress is on the path to pass the new bill, which provides funding for food stamps, school lunches, crops, agriculture research, energy and rural development.

About three-fourths of the farm bill is nutrition-related, such as food stamps, leaving about $70 billion for non-nutrition programs.


Okay I'm editing this. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, tech is helping record things as they happen like police brutality and that's great! I'm talking about large scale societal changes.

[Zanzoobar]

1. Maybe you need to look past the name of the bill

Very few have any meaning.

[Ripley]

7. 75% of the FARM BILL is nutrition related - FOOD STAMPS

and there will be 23 billion less next year. That means a whole lot of food stamps will be ENDED.

What happens to those folks?

[Zanzoobar]

14. So, it's not a farm bill.

Thus, maybe it needs to be brought out into the open. Maybe, like, the FOOD STAMP BILL.

[Marazinia]

2. That would be just fine

If the bill also forced employers to pay a living wage based on regional cost of living, then provided assistance to those without jobs or without full time jobs.

But of course they won't. They'll just cut and let people go hungry. But not too hungry, I bet. Hungry people riot.

[Ripley]

8. Unfortunately I think you are absolutely correct

Unemployed then hungry then cut off of food stamps...those people will most certainly do something.

[Marazinia]

15. I'll be right out there with them if it comes down to it

[AsahinaKimi]

3. Its also TECH WARE

That is showing us the brutality of the cops, or makes it possible for everyone to know whats going on in some city, at some given moment ..thats news we SHOULD ALL KNOW and CARE about.

[Ripley]

6. I understand the usefulness you speak of

But I'm speaking about things on a large scale. Can everyone think about that for one moment.

Besides Twitter, Youtube, etc. can be used by exactly the powers we fight against in the same way!

I'm not talking about instant cameras recording police brutality...more power to that!

I'm talking about the millions of people herded into narcisstic facebooking. Tuning into smaller and smaller world-views.

[AsahinaKimi]

10. How large scale you want?

In China websites like youtube and twitter are banned. I would imagine you can't see democratic underground from Shanghai. In North Korea those people have nothing, living on potatoes, and what ever they can grow... They DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ELECTRIC BILLS because they have no freaking electricity! The government uses the electricity for its own purposes.

People who say our technolgoy is too big for us, should be considering what SOME GOVERNEMENTS have already done using technology against their own people.

Right now the technology is in the right hands ..ours. We may not having major NEWS networks covering an event but the internet provides us with a window not many would be able to see, if it was BLOCKED or banned.

[Ripley]

12. Huh?

I think you misunderstand me. I never advocated blocking/banning anything.

Point being shiny things like FB and ipads distract people from doing things like TALKING TO YOUR NEIGHBORS and getting to know your co-workers and being informed about your very own community.

[AsahinaKimi]

13. NO i don't buy that either... take DU for example...

I have made some friends here, people I don't even know face to face, who live clear across the country and yes, even a few friends in JAPAN. So, the talking to Neighbors may have been brought inside but no one I know is sitting around playing games by themselves for all hours of the day..and not paying attention to whats going on here. You only have to look around you here at DU to see that.

[MedleyMisty]

4. I'm seeing stuff about farms and food stamps and school lunches and crops and stuff

I don't see anything about social media sites and cell phones? How are the two related?

However, I am currently watching/listening to a livestream of the oppression in Denver right now. Found the link on a social media site. Lots of other people are watching and using social media to spread the link to a livestream taken by a cell phone. This will lead to more awareness and more people joining the movement, which will perhaps one day lead to a better society for all of us.

In short - I am extremely confused by your logic here.

[sendero]

5. If it weren't for the internet..

.. it would already be GAME OVER for this country's slide into fascism. Every tool, be it a hammer or debt, has good uses and bad. Get over it.

[Ripley]

9. Oh, good godz

I'm not against tools against the fascist police in Oakland!

I'm speaking of the bigger picture.

[Ripley]

11. never mind

And for you AsahinaKimi - I admired your posts here about Japan after the tsunami.

Don't know why you're taking this so personally and totally missing my point.

[AngkorWot]

16. Complaining about internet network technology

On an internet message board.

In less then 200 words.

And it has nothing to actually do with the declared subject matter.

What?

[SomethingFishy]

17. I don't understand.. what does technology have to do with

cutting of the farm bill?