Why does it seem like the public is becoming more susceptible to believing in things that contradict science (like flat earth and anti-vax) these days?
Well, about a third of the US populace is tribally locked to the Republican Party, and they started down a dangerous and empiricism-denying path about 50 years ago with the explicitly racist Southern Strategy. That scooped up the nation’s white bigots.Then they got in bed with the Moral Majority. That scooped up the Creationists.Then Fox News showed up. That scooped up the people who like them some good propaganda, not a balanced mental diet.Recently, they found fossil-fuel religion and jumped on the climate change denial bandwagon. That scooped up any of the aging white cranks they didn’t already have.Now they are trending to support anti-vaxxers as a political position, from Trump through governors through Oregon state reps who sponsor anti-vaxx bills.Right now, flat-earthers are 52% deeply religious per polling. Anti-vaxxers used to be balanced across the political spectrum, but are now growing concerningly quickly on the right due to some toxic stew of “don’t step on me”, HPV sexual phobia and Christian body purity BS. Scratch a far-right man and you’ll find climate change denial; like hating black people, it’s a requirement of being part of the tribe.This isn’t solely a US problem, but it’s certainly most visible there.References:Conservatives are now the dominant anti-vaxxersDo anti-vaxxers currently have a big influence?Exploring the ‘Liberal Bias’ of RealityMale Right-Wing Nationalists Are Now All Climate Change DeniersConspiracy Theorists, Climate Change Deniers, & The Rejection of Science
How did disco lose popularity?
As others have pointed out, disco is not dead. It's hard to kill a form of music outright.Disco’s sudden fall from grace in 1979 was due to a concentrated backlash that was racist and homophobic (I would add sexist and misogynistic as well) in nature. Some of the self-contained hard rock band fans - most of these white men - resented the pop music station airwaves being overrun by disco hits in 1977 and 1978, and the significant presence of black people, women, and gay men on those records and in the disco clubs. Disco was therefore branded “uncool,” and the order of the day for the "cool" kids was "Disco Sucks.” That slogan began appearing on T-shirts and elsewhere, and anti-disco sentiment boiled over at “Disco Demolition Night” on July 12, 1979 at Comiskey Park in Chicago during a baseball game double header. Fans were encouraged by radio ads to bring disco records out to the field, whether they were destroyed. Many of these fans then rushed the field, causing a riot and a scene.By the end of the year, record labels were pumping the breaks on disco recordings. Disco sounds disappeared from the airwaves by 1981, and some projects recorded in the disco sound (Diana Ross’ “diana” LP is a key example) were heavily remixed before release.The “Disco Sucks” crowd got their wish, and hard rock and the evolving New Wave took hold of pop radio in the early 1980s. Until the success of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in 1983, pop radio was notably segregated at the highest level it had been since the 1950s; R&B records struggled to break into the Top 40, and music videos for them were denied airtime and promotion on early MTV.
Am I a racist for disliking most of the immigrants in my country? Sweden is overflowing with immigrants. The reason I dislike them is because they are treated better than our elders, and the majority of the immigrants treat us like shit.
I do not necessarily think you are being racist. You are over-generalizing of course and you are way off on immigrants being treated better. I get the impression that immigration in Sweden which started off with good intentions has gone bad. The Swedish version of political correctness has prevented people from openly talking about it but hopefully, now there will be a more open and sensible discussion about these things. Sweden is an atheistic country with Christian roots. How sensible is it to think that Muslim immigrants who want to practice their fundamentalist version of Islam would be able to fit in there? It would be about as likely as a bunch of feminist adjusting in Saudi Arabia. Added to that there is the problem of immigrant ghettos and joblessness. Your governments have failed you on this one. I myself am an immigrant in Finland. I love this country and I am very happy to assimilate and contribute to the betterment of this country and its people. I cannot say the same thing about some of the other immigrants though. Fortunately, Finland has been somewhat more cautious with immigrants than Sweden has been. For me personally, it was easier to assimilate because of my Christian background and education level. In the recent past, Finland has taken in refugees from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the balkans, Kurdistan, Somalia etc.. Except for the Somalis most of the others have adjusted to life here. The first generations of Somalis had lots of problems in adjusting to life here but at least some of the youngest generation has been more active in educating themselves and fitting in. If you go back even further, Finland has had (muslim) Tatars who immigrated here and they are well and truly part of Finnish society. Of late, we have had tons of Iraqi, Afghani men (mostly young men mind you) show up with false impressions about what would happen here. Some of them were causing problems with harassing women and behaving badly in general. This caused resentment and the Kurds who were already living here already for example were also rather annoyed with these new arrivals. It is a fine balance, it is the humane thing to do to accept genuine refugees. But one must not be naive about it.
Why are Indians so influenced by the Western culture, when the Indian tradition has so much to give?
Indians have of course been influenced by the west since the time of European invasion in both good and bad ways.good sense-abolishing inhuman practices and superstitions ,introduction of modern education ,idea of indiviual rights and modern technology.In the bad sense - losing of our traditional values,objectification of women , rape culture etc.Although Indians generally have this colonial hangover ,to copy everything from the superior white ruling class of once,the mad extreme of it is seem among women expecially in NCR and surrounding region.Wearing shorts even in cold Delhi winters,going to pubs and hooking up with guys secretely in car parks is seen as the new cool or being culturally advanced…ALL THOSE ARE JUST STUPID ACTS by some hypocratic guys and girls who have no idea of Western culture and values.The way of life in western countries is totally different from what they think .While in India most people try this secretly to keep up their ego and peer pressure ,and remain good in front of parents / society …in the west everyone lives by his / her individual choice and views .For example in the USA you can find orthodox Jewish and xtian communities where even mingling freely with opposite gender can invite social isolation.Also there are hippies and free travelling women who enjoy life to the fullest.Everyone respects the individual freedom of others and never interferes in the personal life / choices of others ..even if it's your mom or sisterCan that ever happen in india ????Will any ultramodern guy who scores worth a new girl every month tolerate if his sister goes to a pub with her stud boyfriend ??Will any guy who supports short clothes and PDA accept his mom / sis wearing a bikini in front of his family ,colleagues ??Will these so called self reliant modern independent Delhi girls ,admit their hookup history to their family .?? Or to the arranged marriage proposal coming in ??While in the west people are open about all these to the people who deserves to know.You can't find a fake sanskari American virgin who secretly hooked up with her college BF and then bitch about other girls wearing sleeveless.So indians being fully western is a total hypocrisy.People just want to satisfy their egos ,thinking that they would be labelled as an old generation if they condemn any western ways.But at heart they are all a bunch of sanskari indian having deeply imprinted values about modesty , virginity , ideal man,women etc.