Nah, but seriously, I'm pretty hopeful. Contrary to what it seems like a lot of y'all are feeling, I'm very optimistic about human nature. Sure, there are definitely some problems, generally either conflict over cultural differences or poor distribution of wealth in the world. Honestly for all the tyranny and that stuff, the world's on a hell of a continuum here, guys. Look at life and liberty a thousand years ago, then 500 years ago, then 100 years ago, then now. Look at the progress the world has made on human rights, peacekeeping, quality of life, medicine, clean energy, tolerance! How about tolerance? God, how far have women's rights come in the last decade in the world? How about right now as they battle for equality before Catholicism and, more importantly abroad, in Muslim countries of the far east?
We're still working out kinks to be sure. Woeler brings up a good point: capitalism encourages materialism, that's for sure. Are we cool with that? Well, it works better than any other economic systems we've got down, so I guess that's what we've got. Capitalism breeds war I guess. There really isn't -that- much war in the world: the Middle East's a mess that needs sorting out, but other than that... it's looking damn peaceful to me. Syria, I guess. Conditions in Africa? Let's talk about human nature: Remember Bill Gates, the guy who's devoting his life and 50 billion dollar fortune to charity, and has all but eliminated Malaria, saving millions of lives, out of pure goodwill? ohhh yaaaaa.
So I'm pretty confident. I look forward to declaring a double major in International Studies and Political Sciences and trying to understand and work on the problems in the world. Frankly, I think some of y'all need to go say hi to your neighbors and realize that the evil people are capable of is greatly exaggerated, while the capacity for human compassion is always underestimated. Just my opinion though, I s'pose.
'Tis the damn media, I tells ya.
TL;DR: i really prefer chocolate chip muffins to blueberry, but it all depends on the circumstances