Social Question

Cruiser's avatar

What are other examples of where "new and improved" may not always be better?

Asked by Cruiser (40449points) March 10th, 2011

This piece of humor wisdom prompted this question….

Indian Chief “Two Eagles” was asked by a US government official: You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress and the damage he’s done.

The chief nodded in agreement. The official continued: Considering all the events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong ?

The chief stared at the government official then replied: When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work. Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing, all night having sex.

Then the chief leaned back and smiled: Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.

What else can you think of that our ambitions and desire to improve things didn’t work out so well or actually made things worse?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

16 Answers

Cruiser's avatar

@lucillelucillelucille Just the words would have sufficed! XO <<barf>>

snowberry's avatar

The US medical system.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

@Cruiser A picture paints a thousand words ;)

thorninmud's avatar

Jon Stewart lampooned this a couple of days ago:

The new Del Monte Single-serve Banana

Aster's avatar

Giving cattle antibiotics and growth hormone shots.
Chemical fertilizers.
Commercial dogfood, catfood.
Mammograms to “prevent” cancer using radiation to the chest wall.
Flouridated water.
Creation of new (or almost new) meds to make us well with dreadful side effects.
Electronic toothbrushes that help destroy tooth enamel.

Cruiser's avatar

That’s just plain wrong @thorninmud! XD

marinelife's avatar

Cell Phones having no feedback circuit so that the speaker can hear how loud he is talking.

john65pennington's avatar

I remember driving down the interstate at 70 mph and receiving a call from the hospital, that my dad had passed away. I almost wrecked.

Cruiser's avatar

Gee @john65pennington Sorry to hear that and they should have at least asked you to pull over before telling you the bad news! Sheesh!

YoBob's avatar

Well, pretty much the whole technology industry comes to mind.

I often joke that I am only one “upgrade” away from being back to pen and paper.

Lightlyseared's avatar

@thorninmud good grief. If there was one fruit that didn’t sticking in a packet its the bannana. I mean it already comes with it’s own very nice (and probably easier to remove) wrapper.

ucme's avatar

Nuclear weapons.

Nullo's avatar

The video phone. You can now see the person that you’re talking to. But why does it matter?

Lightlyseared's avatar

@nullo if you’re deaf it allows you to talk to someone else by sign language. Which is nice.

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther