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What are some big social issues that need to be discussed, but aren't?

There are a lot social issues, but which ones are the most un-talked about and important?

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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Dec 2 2012: how about: suppression of individual traits and talents by peer pressure. forced social behavior in cases in which it should not count at all, like dressing "normally", eating "normally", celebrating the usual holidays, going out "normally", watching the movies, tv programs, listening to the music that others do. from early childhood to late adulthood, simply not doing what the majority does counts as weird, alienating, suspicious.

    the downsides are numerous. such suppression of personality is a partial murder. but in addition to that, it reduces diversity, flexibility and problem solving ability of society. it also creates anxiety and stress.
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      Lejan . 30+

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      TED Translator
      Dec 3 2012: Krisztián! Is that you? Or has your TED account just been hijacked?

      Just kidding. Although, no, it is you, and nothing but neo-liberalism applied to its very best, right? By the way, you don't choose what you are wearing? ;o)
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        Krisztián Pintér 200+

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        TED Translator
        Dec 3 2012: could you please try again to make sense?
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          Lejan . 30+

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          TED Translator
          Dec 3 2012: Krisztián! Is that you? Or has your TED account just been hijacked?

          Just kidding. Although, no, it is you, and nothing but neo-liberalism applied to its very best, right? By the way, you don't choose what you are wearing? ;o)
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        Krisztián Pintér 200+

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        TED Translator
        Dec 3 2012: i choose to omit the obvious quote often attributed to albert einstein.

    • Mark Meijer 100+

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      HostAssociate
      Dec 3 2012: I've struggled with many of the same points, and my inevitable conclusion was: Nobody was forcing me, I went along with it. And the great news about that was that I didn't need to go along with it any longer. And so I didn't. It's an ongoing stumbling and groping process of shedding old fears and habits and beliefs, of falling and getting back up, of giving up things that I never imagined I would, and also, largely, of just things falling away without my noticing it, and wondering where they went. But that is after all exactly what I asked for, and that's what I got, and I'm tremendously grateful for it. The whole trick is finding out what it is you actually want. Everything else flows from there.
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        Krisztián Pintér 200+

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        TED Translator
        Dec 4 2012: well i guess you still do a lot of stuff just to avoid weird looks from those around you. but it is good if you can be free at least in important things.

        for me, it is an "either way you lose" situation. either i do what others want me to do, and not enjoy. or i stand outside of the world, get the strange looks, and not enjoy. it is a nuisance, really. nothing too serious. but certainly an unnecessary drag, which i hate.

        however, i feel that for many people, if not most people, the issue is much more serious. i see people doing nothing but following norms all the time. either they lack personality altogether, which i refuse to believe, or they are locked in this social maze. i especially worry about kids, who are just not developed yet to refuse the bullshit.

        • Mark Meijer 100+

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          HostAssociate
          Dec 4 2012: Yes, you'll get no argument from me. It is a drag, and it is sad, and it is how it is. That is exactly why I started abandoning whatever BS I discovered inside myself. I can't change anyone else, and there's no reason to think that I should even try, no more than anyone else should try to change me. Although sometimes I still have the urge, because of the same things I see that you mention. But at some point it became increasingly clear, that the only way to deal with it is to look at my own BS, which when I'm honest with myself, is really no less BS than anyone else's.

          And that is what makes it a drag. Not anyone else's BS, but your own, as long as you keep buying into it. That's the switch I needed to make, I wanted to stop buying into my own BS and to stop trying to be "normal", whatever that is. Even the fact that I was so upset about all the BS in the world, was just because of my own BS that I hadn't really examined and let go of, because I was still too focussed outward, just keeping busy with having opinions, throwing them around and dwelling on them. We're all full of it, that's just how it works. There is no alternative. But as they say, if you don't like the smell of BS, you'll want to step out of the sewer. Or if that's not what they say, it should be.

          Nobody was forcing me to keep swimming in it, I did it to myself. Why would I want to keep dwelling on anyone's BS, including my own? Get rid of it, I say. And yes, it's a process and a commitment. There is the constant temptation to remain in denial, for example pretending not to care when others are looking at you funny. The thing to do is to come out of denial, to acknowledge it and find out why you really, honestly, feel how you feel and do what you do. That's how you find and drop your own BS. Uncover it, illuminate it, see it for what it is, and abandon it.

        • Mark Meijer 100+

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          HostAssociate
          Dec 4 2012: That's how you get to the point where you no longer feel any need to pretend, and where it's no longer an "either way you lose" situation. Tell you what, there will always be people who look at you funny, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to conform and win their approval. If you can't leave others to their own BS, you'll never be rid of yours. If it bothers you that others want you to be different than you are or more like themselves, consider that you can only feel that way because you want them to be different than they are and more like yourself.

          The only place you can interrupt that cycle is with you. So if you want to get out of that place you are now, start focussing inward instead. Not because it's the noble thing to do or whatever, or because you were wrong to have those observations, no. But because it's the only way forward for you, it's the only way you are not going to be a slave to those things anymore.

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