Could you share your Top 3 global concerns?

Education, Economy, and Equal Rights

Hunger, slums, and religious strife

Nuclear Proliferation, Peak Oil (the lack of utilization of technology to curve this), and the inability for food production to keep pace with population. Or, kind of the same thing, the lack of fresh water resources.

in no particular order…

1) I’m pretty concerned about Islamic religion and it’s propensity to create dangerous sects.
2) I’m disappointed with the amount of hunger we’ve got going on.
3) I’m often distressed by the popular understanding/definition/application of the word “Justice.”

@ninjacolin Christianity isn’t any better.

yea, but they don’t worry me.

lol touche

War, extreme poverty, child soldiers.

war, poverty, energy

Any nuclear proliferation, lack of water in the US, and middle east never finishing it’s tiffs.

1. Apathy
2. Greed
3. Pride

I’m too busy worrying about my own problems to even have time to think about world issues right now. Money is the tighest it’s ever been and my fiancé and I are struggling to keep food in the house. Somehow world hunger in other countries doesn’t bother me as much as my own hunger.

Overpopulation
Insensitive, ignorant world leaders
greed

Only 3?

Endangered species (and the ones we are constantly killing…with a sword), human rights (and the part violence plays in the lack of these), water/food

I’m sure I’d say something different tomorrow. There are just too many.

Reading, writing, and rithmatic

Thinking globally tends to make me crazy. So I just try to live each day as best I can and do what I can do to make the world a better place.

Some might consider that a head in the sand attitude, but truly other than voting for the person I think will lead the country in the most responsible route, what can I do? So why worry.

Ronald Reagan gone
G. Bush gone
GW Bush gone

nah, I think we’re safe for now, unless you guys got some new cowboy in the incubator

1 absence of clean energy providers.
2 lack of total new ideas
3 religious sects which are very discriminatory and cause a lot of useless pain

Disrespect for nature and over-reliance on technology leading to continued spiritual erosion, unsustainable development and eventual crash

1. The media and politicians creating unwarranted fear and atagonism vs Islam instead of trying to unite humans with cooperation and mutual understanding.
2. The hollowing out of our ability to be creative and learn, especially concerning the increasing reach and control by copyright laws.
3. The increasing technological ability to create a big brother society, where everyone is monitored everywhere.

1. World ignorance
2. un-employment/ world hunger
3. a government that does not care

1. Climate change and its impact on food supply and poverty
2. Violence and nuclear proliferation
3. Intolerance and xenophobia

climate change, extreme poverty, restricted access to information

Global warming
Hunger
Political extremism

Natural balance (this could have a lengthy explanation, so I’ll leave it at that).

Pandemic/zombie apocalypse

Human rights

1) Available potable water
2) Ocean health to sustain creatures
3) Human overpopulation in limited resource areas

@rooeytoo other than voting for the person I think will lead the country in the most responsible route, what can I do? So why worry.

i always think one can try to think of something to do!
i figure if you don’t learn and think about what the issues are you’re guaranteed to never come up with a genius solution to a problem.

1) Climate change
2) Resource shortage esp. metals
3) Islamist extremism

@ninjacolin – I come up with answers all the time but no one ever asks me for them. Step 1 is a huge deposit on all glass and plastic containers. Make it big enough so if anyone is drunk or rich enough to chuck them out, it would be worth the while of someone to pick it up. In South Austsralia there is a small deposit on plastic, not enough for the average kid to bother, but senior citizens do! To diminish the manufacturing of more plastic and disposal of same would be a huge gift to the earth. Don’t buy food packaged in plastic at the supermarket, boycott that and support farmer’s markets where purchases are carried home in the reusable cloth bags you bring with you.

Those are just 2 of the many things I do myself to help. I do them instead of worrying.

What do you do?

ignorance, fear mongering , and hate…..or ultra concervatives you say tomato….

@rooeytoo, cool ideas. i think you do worry about these things just enough ;)

World: concerned about nuclear wars, 1 country policing the rest, and would like to see a spread of education

US: would like to see more allowance for personal freedoms (gay rights, abortion rights, etc), an upgrade of education, and am worried about making a mountain out of a molehill (extremist attacks do not mean all muslims are evil, just because someone dislikes you does not mean they are racist, etc)

@ninjacolin – thank you, I try ;-)

1. Dry socks
2. People that smell good
3. Ex Wives

Nationalism,
Fanaticism,
Dogmatism
Leads to schisms of varied nature.

1. Overpopulation. Hunger, poverty and even climate change would be at far lower levels without overpopulation.

2. Islamic fanaticism. They have killed thousands, and continue to migrate to civilised countries where they plan yet more attacks and restrictions on our lifestyle, yet people will not accept the link to Islam. I don’t like Islam as a whole, but for different reasons. I am not referring to them all.

3. Poor education. An uneducated population still carries a force, it is just woefully misguided.

@FireMadeFlesh ” Islamic fanaticism. They have killed thousands, and continue to migrate to civilised countries where they plan yet more attacks and restrictions on our lifestyle, yet people will not accept the link to Islam. I don’t like Islam as a whole, but for different reasons. I am not referring to them all.” don’t you think that should be said of any relgion? christians have killed way more people in the name of god and destroyed so many more cultures and lifestyles in the name of evangelism…. i think maybe religion in general is the scary thing

@evil2 Of course. I do not try to justify any religion, and I don’t like Christianity either. The question was phrased “What are your Top 3 world-sized concerns?” At the moment I think Islam is more of a concern than other religions, although this has been different in the past and will inevitably change in the future.

@FireMadeFlesh
I agree. People seem to be scared to say that islamic fanaticism is a problem.

@jackm @FireMadeFlesh i think the scary thing is fanatacism in any form but its gets dangerous when we single out a specific type of fanatacism, the islamic faith takes a lot of flack for a small percentage of its followers….

Specifically, my concern is for the propensity of the islamic faith to produce dangerous sects. There’s something about the core religion that seems to permit dangerous sects to flourish in a way that is greater than other faiths around today.

As @FireMadeFlesh said, this will likely change over time, just as Christianity in the past was the big bad. But something in that muslim faith.. maybe something in the community or in the the PR has to change so that it too can mellow-out as the Christian belief system has over the centuries. I believe it has something to do with the Maturity of the religion.

@evil2 I have a friend who is what I regard as a moderate Muslim. She does not have to wear the robes or the hijab, and is allowed employment and education, unlike other Muslim women. Still, she is not allowed out with friends because she is not married, and had to fast for Ramadan during final exams. Even at the moderate/liberal levels of Islam it is controlling, and this feature manifests itself in even greater potency in the more radical sects. I think Islam is more dangerous than most people are willing to admit. Here in Australia, we have had clerics preaching hate, saying a raped woman is responsible, justifying jihad, and sending insulting letters to the families of soldiers killed in the line of duty.
I realise it is the world’s second largest religion, and there are bad elements of every religion, but Christianity is mellowing in most parts of the world, Israelis largely keep to their part of the world, and the radical Seikhs and Hindus are only small threats to small numbers of people. Islamic extremism and Sharia Law is the biggest threat.

@ninjacolin I think that is a better way of putting it.

when we begin to think of limiting ones freedom of religion i think its a slippery slope….and at its heart from “my understanding ” islam is about peace and love….though i know someone will agrue that point , but i believe the important part of this discussion is in the freedom to express our beliefs which makes us truly free

I do not wish to limit anyone’s freedom of religion, I wish to limit the powers of a religion that allow them to deny people’s freedom. All people are free to believe as they wish, but that belief should not place limits on people.

I cannot understand why we are constantly reminded to respect Islam, while they do not respect women, do not respect freedom of speech, and in many cases respect their own laws above the laws of the country. Respect is a mutual agreement, and if the religion does not show respect for others then I have no respect for the religion.

i think that westerners tend to try to impose their belief system on other cultures…their actions culturally are acceptable, not that i agree with them but to them its fine….who are we to judge?

The constitution says they have the right to practice it but it doesn’t say I have to respect it. The same constitution says I have the freedom of speech to make an oral judgement. Thankfully, the constitution does not impose political correctness.

Most all religions have some traditions I find ridiculous or barbaric, this one just has more.

so to answer the questiton i would say
1. fanaticism in any form
2. hate
3.ignorance

@evil2 You would have us sit back and say “who are we to judge” when it is part of their culture to declare a holy war on practically everyone else, to keep women as objects for babies alone, to kill women who try to embrace a different culture, kill homosexuals, and to give public beatings to people who place the Qu’ran on the ground?

Well we are exactly the people to judge – if not us, then who? Morality has definite boundaries that any intelligent person can derive from first principles, and although there are many great Muslims out there, the religion itself is certainly not moral.

“It is no longer the time to assure Islamic leaders that we mean no harm, it is time they begin to assure us that they mean no harm.”

@FireMadeFlesh according to whose set of morals? ours ? coming from western culture its a little biased even our news system is biased. I do not have the knowlege of the faith to criticize and i think most people have very little true knowledge of the quran so until we know i say learn first before you have a debate on their faith….

@evil2, i think what you’re saying is important. these people do these things, the things @FireMadeFlesh listed as well as other stuff, some more liberal and some way more harsh. But they only do it because they believe in it at the exact same level as you who believes that you shouldn’t. Both are acting according to their consciences and according to what truly seems to be the right way to live.

the fact of the matter is, we don’t know what they know. maybe they’re right. they could be! maybe they just know something that we don’t. so, i agree that learning what makes them tick is important. even for your own sake. i mean, who does that kind of stuff? What does it really take? Can you imagine if we discovered the exact fallacy in their thinking and were able to make them truly understand it? Or hell, maybe they would do the same service for us. The only way to find out is to find out.

@evil2 Morality is really quite straight forward, in my mind at least. Murder is immoral, because assuming the power over the life of another degrades respect for fellow humans, and leads to decay of a society. Oppression of women is immoral, because there is no reason to assume superiority over them, and as humans they are capable of making a great contribution to society. The basis of morality is the common good.

its just a slippery slope is all i am saying , cause ten years ago homosexuals were viewed as immoral, i am all for womens rights and dont agree with islam on that , just we dont have all the facts and are trying to create more of a schism between our cultures by repeating this conservative retoric….

@evil2 And what would have happened if, in 1938, the Allies decided that Hitler’s form of morality was just a part of Nazi culture, and something that we should all accept without necessarily agreeing to? Homosexuality is not immoral, because it does not affect others. The very nature of religions, with the exception maybe of the Amish and the Exclusive Brethren, is to proselytise and try to coerce others into their way of thinking. I realise it is creating a schism, but is that a bad thing? Do we really want the lines between our societies to be blurred?
I am not generally one for conservative rhetoric. I do not particularly like democracy, which is why I refuse to vote for parties I do not like in a country where voting is compulsory. In this case though, I am convinced that this particular religion has too much power, much the same as the Catholic Church had until a few hundred years ago. Where power is used to promote immoral acts, it should be taken away and given to the people to forge their own path. Simple as that.

Famine, disease, pollution.

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