[James Guabber]

Afternoon everyone,
Society has been changing for decades are different norms emerge, and change, but now society is always becoming more and more different as time passes. On the positive side, societal norms that are sexist, racist, etc are becoming less and less normal. While I am glad that these changes are being brought up, lots of negative changes are happening too. For instance in the us, everything is based upon sex, gender, and race. As more parents are allowing their children to roam, and aren’t there for them most of the time. It’s a double edged sword that effects everyone. My question is, do you think society is going to become safer, and stronger than it once was; or, are we making steps in the wrong direction that could lead to catastrophe? Thanks

[Wrangler]

Society is not taking away discrimination, it mearly changing the target of that discrimination, and hatred, and unlike in the past it's going to be true discrimination, and hatred

[James Guabber]

@Wrangler honestly that’s one of the best responses I’ve heard in a long time.

[Helios78]

That’s a sobering thought. We aren’t moving towards greater tolerance, as one of the primary markers for diversity is diversity of thought.

[runescaper]

Societal norms have never been static, nor are they shifting in a way that they haven't before. Most of these shifts work a bit like a pendulum, with it swinging to one extreme and then back to another on a regular cycle. Granted, we're dealing with them in ways that are different from most of what we've dealt with before, but give it another ten years and we'll be complaining about a completely different set of societal changes. And the sad thing is, most of these only affect people in a tertiary manner. We don't actually live in the overarching "western culture," we exist in our own subcultures, even online we're broken down into notable subcultures, so even if the average set of societal norms is changing, the subcultural norms are much less fluid unless it's either a new subculture or a subculture based on changing norms. If you get a chance, take or audit a course of cultural anthropology or historical anthropology, and you'll see how the "sudden change" we're seeing is neither sudden nor particularly scary. The only people it affects really hard right now are those that span a generational gap or have some reason to significantly question their own sense of self, and frankly they'll grow out of that. The people screaming the loudest, on all sides, about society change are those that aren't even affected by it, since they already have a strong sense of self and are generally just pissed that other peoples' sense of self doesn't match their arbitrary ideals.

Or, you know, the world is coming to an end because we're seeing the literal same conversations happen that happened in the 1960's in hippy communes.

[alaskayoung]

going to work sick