Is it normal that we don't talk about the real issues?

Elvis is dead and nobody's doing a damn thing to rectify the situation.

We need unity. The only way we can do this is by accepting things that may not be in your favor. An example would be how males do more to maintain and progress humanity (not that women don't do any, males just do more), and instead of being offended by that truth, simply accept it, unify with those males, and help them so that both can progress.

Until we accept things as they are, we make it harder to progress.

We need to unify and understand things more. Once we unify, we can focus on exploring everything else, understanding how small our world is, and finding new ones.

Dishonesty and Greed.

I honestly believe that the world would be so much better if human beings lost their ability to lie, right at this moment, and lost their need to have. I understand that we all need to share our resources and that constant battle is OVER resources, but there are many resources and they are owned by the few. I think that if everyone, collectively, would use their resources wisely and not be greedy regarding resources and would understand that EVERYONE needs to survive, that the world's problems would not be so insurmountable.

Many of the problems, especially in very impoverished countries, can be directly blamed on the greed of their governments or leaders in general. The starving children in Africa didn't get that way by their own sheer stupidity. There are resources in many of these countries and their leaders keep them to themselves, and likewise for the USA.

I know I probably sound like a socialist right now, when I say that everyone's needs can be provided for when the wants of the few are not being placed before the needs of the many, but I believe that people can be happy without AS MANY private jets and lambos, no matter how difficult it may seem. I believe that there can still be wealth and the pursuit of it, but not to the extreme that it is done now.

The greatest issue we face is prejudice.
We are constantly to stuck on who deserves more and less of what, based on how we feel they could possibly benefit us, which is based on loose stereotypes and handed down information from sources that change their opinion based on their own incentives.

We can't find truths on so many subjects, and instead of accepting that, we trust false and misleading information about individuals; Because having bad information is more comfortable than having no information.

This is my favourite kind of IIN post, although I'd struggle to find an issue I've not already talked about. The environment, poverty, conservation, pollution, war, commercialisation, monopolisation, attention spans, depression, obesity, animal neglect, drugs, alcohol, the economy, child abuse, oil, equal rights, religion, politics, freedom of speech, euthanisation, ethics, education, racism, grammar, science, the energy crisis. I think I've covered them all at least five times (some of them fifty times) and my viewpoints are probably common knowledge.

I can't think of anything I haven't talked about before so I'm going to talk about something I've only rarely talked about. Deafness and communication. There are two issues. Deaf people often need interpreters and people who speak different languages often need interpreters.

My solution is for a version of the various existing sign languages to be ratified and agreed world-wide and then taught in schools as a compulsory subject. You immediately reduce the disability of being deaf, improving many people's lives. You also have a universal communication tool independent of language so the world effectively has a common language. Because of this, learning a language wouldn't require intimate knowledge of the language of the person learning by the person teaching. They could just sign "dog" and then say "koira" (if they were Finnish). Anyone in the room would then know the Finnish word for dog is koira regardless of whether they are Andorran, Laotian, Sinhalese or English.

It would also allow for communication in noisy conditions, or to allow communication while maintaining quiet conditions, communication at a distance, and deaf people wouldn't need telephone interpreters, just anyone local who can watch them sign and then read the words and sign back the other person's response. Having a compulsory second language would also improve people's knowledge of the structure of their primary language.

Ok. I'm going to go on a weird topic in a way you probably won't expect.

Death. I am talking about the fact that people die in this day and age. Within the next hundred years, it is almost a guarantee that there will be a method by which you can become immortal, whether by robotic, medicinal, or other means.

The problem is that this is not occurring fast enough. The only thing I can suggest to help it is to stop telling kids that they can be whatever they want when they grow up. I know it sounds harsh but seriously, it is a delusion worse than Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. We need people in society that have useful skills, not ten million music majors (I have nothing against music).

Anyways, this is definitely debatable, so fire away.

An issue I'd say is unity. This world has almost no unity anymore, especially with the young people. I've seen more than a few videos or stories of a guy getting beat up in a group or bus full of people, and when they're done (getting beat up, that is) they stood and asked something like, "Why did none of you help?" I've never seen anything like that in person, but in my small town, I was thinking of conducting an experiment like this, actually, either here or I'll just go to Boston and do it - grab some friends, act out a scene, and see if anyone helps.

Oh please, the only fucking "unity" people know these days is on sports teams.

For me its religion. I'm not talking about spirituality, I mean organized religion. To many religious fanatics want to obliterate others because they may not believe what they think fit. Or they use that excuse to take their land. Why do we have to separate ourselves? When it all comes down to it, we all poop, pee, and have red blood. No one is better than the other.
I have more opinions on other things but this site isn't big enough.

Campaign finance reform.

With the US presidential election less than a month away I am really tired of the ads, and I do not have TV. Every day it's another story about who can dig deeper into a pile of shit and throw it at their opponent. And of course, this requires deep pockets. I feel manipulated and toyed with by politicians and their backers. Ever notice it isn't a person who supports a candidate, it's a company.

Even in a local election, one candidate tried to encourage funding caps, but when his opponent didn't agree to the terms he went right back to the money game. The stories I read are not about problems that face the city, they are about an incident that happened 20 years ago or some other personality trait of the candidate someone found unsavory and decided to exploit. And I really don't care who they are having sex with.

And why is a large corporation like Monsanto pouring millions of dollars into a campaign to prevent the labeling of GM foods in California? Looks to me like this corporation is trying to shape the laws in this country. Is this really what we have become? Slaves to big business and their bottom line. We let them decieve us because we are too lazy to do the research ourselves.

There are so many issues that need addressing, it's hard to know where to start, and to not feel defeated with every passing day. But if we remove money from politics and the government then maybe politicians can stand on their own merits (if they have any) and not the backs of big business.