Why is the world so divided?

The world we live in is so divided...

Perhaps if we integrated, accepted, and got to know each other, we wouldn't have so much senseless bloodshed of our own sentient species

What would happen if we erased borders, standardized language, and instituted a global democracy (too radical?)

Or is it back to elementary school, where people who aren't like us or our friends are instantly FREAKS

In elementary everyone got along!
But then highschool...not so much.

But yeah that'd be nice, I agree. :/

"We are oooone, one, we are oneeee."

Human nature

Also to sum up the answer you are looking for in one word "differences".

Also to sum up the answer you are looking for in one word "differences".

__Chris__

It's just life. People have been raised for so long and raised the same way their families have been that they can't conform to change. If we lived in a 3rd world country and Arabs dominated this world and wanted us to change our ways and live like them, speak their language, and live by their laws would you?

I used Arabs as an example and don't want people to take that in a negative way. Just trying to show why many countries with different cultures wouldn't want to live like the U.S., speak English, and share the same law etc.

It's just life. People have been raised for so long and raised the same way their families have been that they can't conform to change. If we lived in a 3rd world country and Arabs dominated this world and wanted us to change our ways and live like them, speak their language, and live by their laws would you?

bigblunt537

Historical differences. Something along the lines of "big country, large ego, world domination, invade all neighbours". How can you truly trust someone if they periodically invade and butcher neighbouring nations every hundred years?

because people are generally stupid and selfish. we like to think we're not, cover it up with ifs and buts. but thats the way humans work.

The world is divided because of religeon. Always has been, always will.

We're divided because of our different ideas, weather it be religion, politics, traditions, etc.

[QUOTE="bigblunt537"]

It's just life. People have been raised for so long and raised the same way their families have been that they can't conform to change. If we lived in a 3rd world country and Arabs dominated this world and wanted us to change our ways and live like them, speak their language, and live by their laws would you?

LiftedHeadshot

Well I was clearly referring to your third line which clearly asks what would happen if we erased borders standardized language and instituted a global democracy. That would never happen and globally no one will ever accept others. We don't Even accept other as a country could you imagine the entire world? It would take something really ****ing serious to happen like an alien invasions threatening man kind of us to come together and even then we'd fight for who has more power and calls the shots.

Because the chosen one has not yet restored balance to the force :P Gotta wait til the next Episode.

The world is divided because of religeon. Always has been, always will.

Miyomatic

It is for the same reason that you see 5 year old fighting over toys, human nature.

I think the majority of people look for differences between people and amplify them to make life more interesting. If everyone agreed on everything, there would be no point in arguing or any form of competition and therefore, no reason to win. [QUOTE="Miyomatic"]

The world is divided because of religeon. Always has been, always will.

Genetic_Code

Oceans mostly.

I think the majority of people look for differences between people and amplify them to make life more interesting. If everyone agreed on everything, there would be no point in arguing or any form of competition and therefore, no reason to win. [QUOTE="Miyomatic"]

The world is divided because of religeon. Always has been, always will.

Genetic_Code

When it comes to the world being divided, it is. The competitive nature you speak of may apply to many things, but not when it comes to world order, or the lack thereof. The only reason why we are not one people is because we possess very different beliefs, and these beliefs usually stem from the religeon in that respective area. Why else has the middle east been fighting for zillions of years? I dont think I need to single out any places in particular because war is all around us, even if we dont feel it in the comfort of our own homes. But I bet that if everyone on the planet became atheist, for example, we'd all get along a little better and we'd share of lot of the same goals, rather than killing each other because "God wills it". :)

When it comes to the world being divided, it is. The competitive nature you speak of may apply to many things, but not when it comes to world order, or the lack thereof. The only reason why we are not one people is because we possess very different beliefs, and these beliefs usually stem from the religeon in that respective area. Why else has the middle east been fighting for zillions of years? I dont think I need to single out any places in particular because war is all around us, even if we dont feel it in the comfort of our own homes. But I bet that if everyone on the planet became atheist, for example, we'd all get along a little better and we'd share of lot of the same goals. :)

Miyomatic

the are 7 billion people. they're has to be some haters unfortunatley :(

the only time humans unite is when we have someone to attack. If only some aliens would land here then maybe we can unite in war!AutoPilotOn

YES! you have found the answer! War is the answer! how could I be so blind and not see this before?

Humans are not designed to be tolerant and selfless.

We do not have a common goal that everyone supports.

The world we live in is so divided...

Perhaps if we integrated, accepted, and got to know each other, we wouldn't have so much senseless bloodshed of our own sentient species

What would happen if we erased borders, standardized language, and instituted a global democracy (too radical?)

Or is it back to elementary school, where people who aren't like us or our friends are instantly FREAKS

LiftedHeadshot

Well think about it, dude. You call up customer service because your cable TV service is bad, you don't want to hear about the lady's day. You don't want to be friends with her, she's just the thing that's gonna fix your cable TV. And then look at it from her perspective. She doesn't want to be your friend either. She has thousands of callers a day, it's an awfully big burden for her to actually CARE about every single customer on a personal level.

Same way with a waiter. You don't want to be his friend, you just want him to get you your steak and your beer. Meanwhile, he doesn't want you to be his friend, because then he's waiting on his friend, and that's sort of degrading. The whole waiter/customer relationship is easier for everyone if no one actually cares about the other on a personal level.

I don't know about you, but I probably interact with dozens if not hundreds of people on an average day. If I had to actually get to know all of them and be everyone's friend, I'd ****ing go insane.

Two words: Human Nature.

you mean to have a massive orgy:P

It's the belief that they can't possibly be wrong. I think if everyone had doubt we'd be more open to alternate ideas.cd_rom

It goes way beyond simply not being open to ideas. I think getting closer to the root of things is to recognize that humans have self-interests and agendas, and sometimes getting what we want requires screwing someone else over. At that point, for most people, we STOP seeing the victim as an actual person. He becomes a steretype, a mindless cliche that we have no problem grouping in with the "jerkwads" for purely arbitrary reasons.

Thing is...most people like to see good people do well and to see jerkwads get punished. That's the whole basis of the "good guy kills the bad guy and then gets the girl" formula which is so incredibly popular. People like that ****. The thing is, EVERYONE can get lumped in with the jerkwads provided that you use the proper rationalization. And this means that if you have something to gain from screwing someone over, it is very easy to morally justify doing so by finding any reason to think of them as being a jerkwad instead of a person.

It's like...have you ever known a waiter who got stiffed on tips by a customer, and then that customer comes back at a different date? I'm sure that some of you have known people who said, "that customer is a jerkwad", and made a DELIBERATE EFFORT to provide spotty service simply because they identified that customer as the enemy. Look at all the people here whining about "emos" or "goths". Those words don't actually mean anything in reference to a person, they're just a means of lumping a bunch of people together as the same thing so that we don't have to get to know them.

And that's never going to change. Because we, as a species, recognize patterns, CREATE patterns in our own head, and pretty much NEED to simplify things in such a way in order for society to work. We see something, we like to be able to identify it, to put a label on it. And when we lack the information necessary to properly identify something, we project onto it what we want it to be. If we need a jerk to wail on, we'll either find one or project that trait onto a total stranger.

I blame large bodies of water.

We're divided because of our different ideas, weather it be religion, politics, traditions, etc.

arad96

I think it goes beyond that, goes way back to the dawn of man.

Consider that society as it exists now, is relatively new for humans. For the vast majority of our history, cities didn't exist, there was no agriculture, and we were primarily hunter/gatherers living in small tribes. And in that context, our territorial and aggressive nature makes sense. You'd HAVE to be able to point out other people's differences as a threat, or else it'd be far too easy for your tiny population of 100 or 200 people to get utterly annihilated by a neighboring group who is also desperate for food and water. Remember that this would be pre-agriculture, populations would just have to up and leave whenever necessary. That becomes unfeasible for a population too large. Populations would need to remain small and mobile, and contact with outsiders could likely spell eradication for the entire group.

In that context, undesirable human traits make perfect sense. The problem is that we've progressed so far culturally, while our BIOLOGY hasn't managed to keep pace. We're pretty much the same as we were 100,000 years ago. Our culture ISN'T the same. Culture is changing so fast that our biological tendencies can't quite keep up. As a result, we're a lot like cavemen who went to sleep and suddenly woke up in a world full of spacemen. There are bound to be problems.

...Perhaps if we integrated, accepted, ...What would happen if we erased borders, standardized language, and instituted a global democracy (too radical?)LiftedHeadshot

[QUOTE="AutoPilotOn"]the only time humans unite is when we have someone to attack. If only some aliens would land here then maybe we can unite in war!__Chris__

YES! you have found the answer! War is the answer! how could I be so blind and not see this before?

He's kind of got a point.

As a species, we kind of need an enemy. We usually think in terms of "us vs them", it's the reason why people have a select group of really close friends and are wary of anyone else entering that group. It's the same reason why there are racists and xenophobes, etc.

The point being...an alien attack could very well help to redefine who "we" are and who "they" are.

That is absolutely plausible grounds for enemies to come together as one.

The problem with that scenario is that it's only a short term fix. As soon as we kill all the aliens, we'd go right back to killing each other. The other problem is that projecting the "enemy" status onto aliens doesn't really fix the problem. That's only redirecting the problem towards a group that we all agree needs to get murdered into extinction. So let's suppose that the aliens do arrive, we all come together as humans in order to kill the **** out of the aliens. That's fine, but we still didn't SOLVE the problem of our tendency to arbitrarily define groups to kill.