Old Religious Rules vs. Modern World

[Brickjectivity]

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children, and I encountered what I thought was an almost poetic phrase from the documentary:

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

Spoiler: the source video

What do you think: Have changes in the world begun to make people feel anxious and squeezed between two opposed alternatives? Do we need new social rules? Is what's happening in Japan reflective of a worldwide phenomenon? It seems to me like we are running away from public squares. Out here in the country it seems like we don't know anymore how to just meet strangers and talk. It so quiet, and I think its not just the politics. I think we are a little bit lost.

I have always felt that protocols were important in allowing people to feel comfortable around one another, and I think that right now most of our protocols are for avoidance rather than for introduction. I do believe we are in for some trouble.

 

[Left Coast]

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children, and I encountered what I thought was an almost poetic phrase from the documentary:

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

Spoiler: the source video

What do you think: Have changes in the world begun to make people feel anxious and squeezed between two opposed alternatives? Do we need new social rules? Is what's happening in Japan reflective of a worldwide phenomenon? It seems to me like we are running away from public squares. Out here in the country it seems like we don't know anymore how to just meet strangers and talk. It so quiet, and I think its not just the politics. I think we are a little bit lost.

I have always felt that protocols were important in allowing people to feel comfortable around one another, and I think that right now most of our protocols are for avoidance rather than for introduction. I do believe we are in for some trouble.

I do think we're (I mean Americans) in a weird time of social transition and angst. I think it's a combination of COVID, our political divide, and because of our adoption of a much more existentialist, nonreligious view of life that rejects many of the prior social norms we've had. So I do think the pendulum will need to swing back to us adopting new, agreed upon norms and customs and ways of life. But I don't really know what that'll look like.

 

[Alien826]

This is nothing to do with the question raised by by OP, but I really hate to see dogs dressed up and carried around like that.

Dogs are not furry human children, nor toys.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I do think we're (I mean Americans) in a weird time of social transition and angst. I think it's a combination of COVID, our political divide, and because of our adoption of a much more existentialist, nonreligious view of life that rejects many of the prior social norms we've had. So I do think the pendulum will need to swing back to us adopting new, agreed upon norms and customs and ways of life. But I don't really know what that'll look like.

It's better when changes happen slowly, in increments, but some things are changing quickly and people don't know how to handle it.

 

[Vinayaka]

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children, and I encountered what I thought was an almost poetic phrase from the documentary:

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

Spoiler: the source video

What do you think: Have changes in the world begun to make people feel anxious and squeezed between two opposed alternatives? Do we need new social rules? Is what's happening in Japan reflective of a worldwide phenomenon? It seems to me like we are running away from public squares. Out here in the country it seems like we don't know anymore how to just meet strangers and talk. It so quiet, and I think its not just the politics. I think we are a little bit lost.

I have always felt that protocols were important in allowing people to feel comfortable around one another, and I think that right now most of our protocols are for avoidance rather than for introduction. I do believe we are in for some trouble.

I think the rate of change is accelerating and many people feel stressed out trying to keep up. Fads don't last as long as they once did, and there can be rather massive change overnight. A lot of it is fear of change. Meeting strangers and talking is on the individual.

 

[JustGeorge]

This is nothing to do with the question raised by by OP, but I really hate to see dogs dressed up and carried around like that.

Dogs are not furry human children, nor toys.

I had a cat that liked to wear a dress. It was a green dress with white polka dots, and you'd put it on her, and she'd strut, and show it off, turning all around like a little girl.

Then she got a bit portly, and the dress would roll up. Her daddy(my husband) laughed at her, and she was so angry at him...

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children, and I encountered what I thought was an almost poetic phrase from the documentary:

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

Spoiler: the source video

What do you think: Have changes in the world begun to make people feel anxious and squeezed between two opposed alternatives? Do we need new social rules? Is what's happening in Japan reflective of a worldwide phenomenon? It seems to me like we are running away from public squares. Out here in the country it seems like we don't know anymore how to just meet strangers and talk. It so quiet, and I think its not just the politics. I think we are a little bit lost.

I have always felt that protocols were important in allowing people to feel comfortable around one another, and I think that right now most of our protocols are for avoidance rather than for introduction. I do believe we are in for some trouble.

There are rules, but they vary too much. They're impossible to understand. Text, don't call, at this point. Don't talk to people in waiting rooms. Don't look at people when you walk. Don't use check out counters that have a person manning them(as opposed to self check out) unless you need to.

I give up! The rules I do understand are too grumpy and restrictive for me. It seems like basically, don't reach out to anyone unless some kind of digital communication has been initiated first.

The whole world seems to have developed a fear of being awkward. Its ridiculous to me.

 

[PureX]

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children, and I encountered what I thought was an almost poetic phrase from the documentary:

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

Spoiler: the source video

What do you think: Have changes in the world begun to make people feel anxious and squeezed between two opposed alternatives?

Absolutely!

I first noticed it decades ago when the world's nations and populations seemed to be dividing up according to their idea of and reaction to philosophical relativism. Absolutists vs relativists spread into conservatives vs liberal, and into regressives vs progressives: materialists vs idealists.

For eons we humans viewed ourselves as living in a constant ongoing environment that held everything in it's rightful place and showed us all how we needed to live within it. But humans cognition seems to have begun reaching a new threshold of understand some 400 years ago, or so, and a realization of relative perspective began to develop. And suddenly that static, reliable, trusted reality that we all lived in began to fragment into millions of individual realities trying to hold themselves together, and in some instances trying to tear themselves apart. There was no one single truth, anymore. Truth became dependent upon the perspective through which it was being assessed. And everyone got very nervous.

And humanity has been steadily spinning out of control and flying apart ever since.

Do we need new social rules?

We need a new universal vision of humanity and it's of place in the world. Right now everyone is just making up their own it's causing a lot of confusion and strife.

Is what's happening in Japan reflective of a worldwide phenomenon? It seems to me like we are running away from public squares. Out here in the country it seems like we don't know anymore how to just meet strangers and talk. It so quiet, and I think its not just the politics. I think we are a little bit lost.

Yes, no common vision. No shared view of ourselves in the world.

I have always felt that protocols were important in allowing people to feel comfortable around one another, and I think that right now most of our protocols are for avoidance rather than for introduction. I do believe we are in for some trouble.

We are afraid of each other for a lot of reasons. And the purveyors of chaos are taking full advantage of it.

 

[sun rise]

I think the rate of change is accelerating and many people feel stressed out trying to keep up. Fads don't last as long as they once did, and there can be rather massive change overnight. A lot of it is fear of change. Meeting strangers and talking is on the individual.

Look at what's happening: COVID, polio resurgence, other diseases on one hand. Economic turmoil with shortages in stores, another land war in Europe, China threatening Taiwan, inflation, recession, political turmoil in the US, UK and elsewhere. Resurgence of open bigotry. Attacks on the education system. Drought. Floods. Climate change. I think I'm missing stuff.

Abraham Lincoln put it this way and it applies today: The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Our sense of awe, family, and safety are under assault by modernity. It hurts, and it alienates.

 

[syo]

"The old rules don't suit the modern world, but new rules aren't replacing them. Its a paradox causing deep social anxiety."

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Our sense of awe, family, and safety are under assault by modernity. It hurts, and it alienates.

I agree although I tend to think it has more to do with unrestrained capitalism than modernity as a whole. In both the US and Japan birth rates are declining because millenials and gen z hold a tiny, tiny proportion of the world's wealth, way less than their parents and grandparents had access to at that age. They don't have the funds and support to have children. The few my age (late 30s) that do have children are struggling so badly that a lot resent their decision and discouraged their kids from doing the same.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

I agree although I tend to think it has more to do with unrestrained capitalism than modernity as a whole. In both the US and Japan birth rates are declining because millenials and gen z hold a tiny, tiny proportion of the world's wealth, way less than their parents and grandparents had access to at that age. They don't have the funds and support to have children. The few my age (late 30s) that do have children are struggling so badly that a lot resent their decision and discouraged their kids from doing the same.

Also related: Women are happier without children or a spouse, says happiness expert

 

[Brickjectivity]

Abraham Lincoln put it this way and it applies today: The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves...

That is a wonderful quote by someone deserving of some respect. Great words.

I agree although I tend to think it has more to do with unrestrained capitalism than modernity as a whole. In both the US and Japan birth rates are declining because millenials and gen z hold a tiny, tiny proportion of the world's wealth, way less than their parents and grandparents had access to at that age. They don't have the funds and support to have children. The few my age (late 30s) that do have children are struggling so badly that a lot resent their decision and discouraged their kids from doing the same.

Great points!

 

[IndigoChild5559]

I was watching a certain video about why people in Japan have slowed from having lots of children,

I've read articles that say today's Japanese just aren't having sex because they feel too exhausted. It actually has a name: Celibacy Syndrome. It's not just the sex. They have lost interest in romantic love, dating, and marriage. Not everyone thinks this is a thing. Could be an urban legend?
Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?
Celibacy syndrome - Wikipedia.