Society loves ignoring the biggest elephants in the room. These hot topics are too tough to address, so we stick our heads in the sand, hoping they’ll disappear.
Here are the biggest problems we need to stop ignoring and start addressing.
Lack of Community
In a cruel twist, our interconnected world makes us more disconnected than ever. We hide in our homes, engaging in an online world while ignoring our closest neighbors.
The internet may have opened new worlds of connectivity, but it destroyed the essence of community that humans relied on for millennia.
Toxic Individualism
We worship the concept of rugged individualism, not realizing that the human capacity for teamwork makes us stronger.
Toxic individualism tells us we can do everything on our own without help from friends, relatives, or society as a whole. It’s as harmful as it is untrue, as everyone depends on someone else in some way for survival.
Bacterial Resistance
Our over-reliance on antibiotics is causing a terrifying problem. Bacteria adapt quickly, and many are growing resistant to our cures. Scientists must constantly battle to develop new types of antibiotics to fight the ever-lasting battle between man and disease.
Money in Politics
America’s oligarchy runs on cash. We’ve developed a system where those who raise the most money win the elections rather than the best qualified.
To make our country great again, we must get money entirely from politics and focus on the populace’s well-being over ever-increasing profits.
Pollution
As we develop new technologies and creature comforts, we leave a trail of trash in our wake. The oceans have floating plastic islands as our landfills grow ever deeper with more and more garbage.
We’re poor stewards of our planet, and it will eventually catch up to us.
Profit-Driven
Our society cares more about profits than people. The for-profit healthcare system, school system, and even prison system all work against the populace and for the giant corporations who make more money when people are sick or imprisoned.
Climate Change
Half the country sticks its head in the sand, pretending climate change doesn’t exist while we experience the hottest summers on record, along with bigger, stronger tropical storms.
The climate is changing, and it will be too late to do anything about it if we don’t act soon.
Social Media
People have a love/hate relationship with social media. We know it’s a toxic hive of misinformation and hatred, but we can’t seem to pull away.
The biggest elephant about social media is its ability to spread lies about the world like wildfire. People read a headline on Facebook and share it without thinking critically about whether the claims could be valid.
Child Abuse
Everyone says we need to end child abuse, but no one does anything about it. And unfortunately, it’s far more common than anyone would like to believe.
Approximately five kids die every day due to abuse, and abused kids are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal activity as adults.
People also abuse their kids by brainwashing them into religions, kicking them out for opposing views, restricting their access to education, and neglecting their psychological needs, but we rarely even discuss these actions as “abuse.”
AI and Automation
Technology grows at exponential rates. Advances in AI technology are already putting people out of work, and it will only worsen as technology improves.
A good society would use this as an opportunity to institute a UBI and allow people to pursue their passions without worrying about working, but our dystopian nightmare will probably force people into poverty instead.
Addiction
America is facing an addiction crisis. Millions of people struggle with addiction, whether to hard drugs or legal substances like alcohol.
Instead of treating addiction like the mental health crisis it is, we stuff an already overburdened prison system with people who need medical attention.
Failing Education
An educated populace is the key to a prosperous country. Europe knows it and makes university affordable for all its citizens.
The US has a barely functioning K-12 system that gets worse by the day as governments strip funding and refuse to offer teachers competitive salaries.
It won’t end well for us.
Anti-Intellectualism
The failing education system is by design. We could fund schools and teach all children if we wanted to. Unfortunately, a large subset of American society hates education and fights tooth and nail to keep their kids ignorant.
They don’t want to know the US’s true, sordid history or the nuance behind scientific research. They also boast about their stupidity and make outrageous claims that their “opinion” is just as valid as a scientist’s opinion with decades of experience.
An Aging Population
As the boomer generation ages, social security funds will get pushed to their limits. The healthcare system will get overburdened as more people need medical care than it can provide.
Meanwhile, the younger generations don’t make enough money to fund Social Security and Medicare, meaning the resources will get stretched even thinner.
Bad Food
American diets burst with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. We eat junk.
The corporations love it and keep making horrible food filled with stuff we crave cheap, so we keep buying it and eating ourselves to early graves. The healthcare system also loves it, as the constantly sick populace seeks medical cures for their ailments.
A Toxic Work Culture
Our work culture is destroying us. Find out how.
Read it Here: America’s Toxic Work Culture
Generational Poverty
Poverty is a generational problem. Here’s how folks get trapped in cycles of generational poverty.
Propaganda Everywhere
Propaganda surrounds us. It attempts to sway our thinking in both mundane and critical ways. Here are some examples of propaganda we see every day.
The Real Poverty Trap in America
We often think of third world countries when we talk about poverty, but it’s thriving right here in the US.
Here’s the truth about America’s Poverty Trap.
Things America Could Learn from Western Neighbors
Is America the greatest country in the world? If it is, why don’t we enjoy the same perks other Western nations do?
Here are great examples of beneficial programs other countries have we wish America would copy.
Source: Reddit