Which of Our Closely Held Beliefs Will Our Children Be Appalled By?

Oh, eating meat is a good one, because it’s one that I wouldn’t have thought of myself (ie, it’s something I do and don’t question very much).

Also, I thought most people found circumcision appalling already. I know that the culture around this in the United States is different, but is it still a widely accepted thing there?

Yes, Circumcision is widely accept in the US.

I don’t think eating meat will ever be something we look back on and say “how old fashioned”. We can prove that we have the evolutionary need to eat me. Besides, if eating meat were outlawed, I’d have to be an outlaw.

I’d like to say abortion would be looked at as so old-school. I, personally, am against abortion as birth control-you know…oops, I got pregnant-but that’s since it seems you have to try to get preganant-birth control is everywhere.

Calling the future is tough, but I think at the earliest, male circumcision will be in the generation afterwards.

Burning massive amounts of fossil fuel to travel 5 miles.

I’m not sure the future generations will be appalled by homophobia but I do think they’ll wonder what all the fuss was about concerning gay marriage. I live in the Deep South and there’s still many folks here who don’t like interracial marriage, but it’s mostly not even talked about at all. Gay marriage will be thought of in the same manner within a generation or two.

We can prove that we have the evolutionary need to eat me.

Assuming that you accidentally dropped a couple letters there, I still have to disagree. I don’t see how you could prove an “evolutionary need.” We can say with some certainty that our ancestors ate a mix of meat and plant matter, we can say that our teeth, digestive system and nutrient needs show a history of and capability to tackle a wide-ranging diet, usually including some meat, but I think you’re going too far to call it a “need”

that we were willing to run huge budget deficits that our grandchildren are having to pay off.

Abortion, but only because birth control will be ubiquitous and there will be no unwanted pregnancies.

It’s a nice thought, but it will never happen. There will always be a need for abortion. Women get abortions for a variety of reasons. I had a friend who found out her baby was going to be severely, severely disabled and would probably not live past a year and she decided to have an abortion. Also, just because a woman is happy to find out she is pregnant doesn’t mean that things can’t change and she won’t want an abortion a few months down the road. I agree that birth control can reduce the number of abortions, but the need for abortion is never going to disappear.

And put me down for homophobia. I have no doubt that our grand children will be reading their history books in school and shaking their heads in disbelief that this country once discriminated against anybody who wasn’t straight heterosexual. The homophobes of today will become as irrelevant as the racists of the civil rights era.

Tweating:-)

Credit and the cycle of Debt: the feeling of entitlement that you must have everything you want — without working for it.

I don’t get why people find circumcision so horrible. I admit it’s probably unnecessary but I don’t feel like I’ve been “butchered.”

I’m USAn and it’s still standard procedure here as far as I know.

I sure hope eating meat is never on the list, bacon is just too delicious. Maybe eating farm raised meat will be, lab grown meat may be the future. I don’t know, I have no problem with the eating of meat but I raise some of the meat I eat which gives me a different perspective than other people.

The Bush administration. No doubt.

The two generational issues in the original question center around a changing societal norm on certain civil rights (race equality and gay marriage). Assuming the trend will hold, one would have to identify a current issue which, when viewed with foresight, could become a civil rights issue but which which most of the current generation considers “acceptable.”

Some significant level of socialized health care jumps to mind first. Animal rights might next be a likely candidate. Perhaps its even possible that capitalism will, one day, be recognized as something that creates generational inequality. Who knows?

Really great question, though.

With respect to eating meat – I don’t think eating meat in general will go away, but the beef industry is ridiculously CO2-intensive, and if they don’t fix that, the need to slow down global warming may make beef taboo.

Perhaps taboos around sex, especially the orgasm will be a thing of the past. Pornography and masturbation won’t be irrationally feared. One day, we will see these prudes as hilarious, almost as funny as what Danish farmers are expected to do with pigs nowadays.

Circumcision has dubious medical benefit but there’s little risk to it. Science-based medicine has a good article on circumcision. I have personal rights objections, but I understand that adult circumcision is a lot more complicated.

Meat eating will still be around, but some of the cruelties will be banned. Superstitions, CO2 emissions, and drug policies will still be around. Our grandchildren might be pretty pissed about the climate, especially as we’re forcing them to stay sober.

Smoking and homophobia might actually become a rarity for our grandchildren. As equality for women grows abortion will be less controversial, unplanned pregnancies will still be around unless there’s a new invention.

The fact that pornography is so widely tolerated.

The fact that pornography is so widely condemned.

That many parents of our time had no problem with their children seeing brutal violence in films so long as they weren’t exposed to the sight of a woman’s nipple.

Well put David!

My son is appalled by the eating meat thing. He also is disgusted by the way people treat the environment and mistreat animals.

What can I say, I’m a tree-hugging mommy raising a tree-hugging kiddo. 😉

I think they will be appalled by how little we did to save the environment and keep the planet habitable. Sure, we talk about it a lot, but what the next generation will remember is not what we said but what we failed to do.

The infrastructure with regards to transport of goods and waste of resources will be looked upon as gluttonous and embarrassing.

The abuse of 3rd world countries for cheap products and as a dumping ground will seem equivalent to British Imperialism in the nineteenth century.

Homosexuality and the ‘separate but equal’ domestic partnerships will be seen as the blatant racism that it is.

I’m with Aj; if we’re talking about what current attitudes that the majority hold that will be looked at by our grandchildren the way we look at racism and homophobia, I can’t think of a better example than our views on sex. Sexophobia, you might call it.

While I think it would be great if meat-eating is looked on with horror in the future, I think the majority of meat-eaters today would still agree that changes need to be made if they were exposed to the realities of the trade, and I doubt any of them would complain if it became mandatory for the meat-trade to become more ethical. And if meat can be grown (independently of the animal), well, there will be some resistance, but people will get used to it. And I’ll get to have a steak again!

Speaking of circumcision, The Athiest Experience has two excellent episodes on it

UN HIV Circumcision Study: A Fraud?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AfPajxmfbE

Circumcision Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-CsWVnHMA

I hope (for the animals’ sakes) that it’s eating meat. I mean, come on. Murdering sentient beings in cruel and inhumane manners after keeping them in horrible factory farms (aka prisons). Appalling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNn7ZXflMzY

I think it will be the “sanctity of life” A.K.A “zygothism” (conservative trademark 😉 )… you know: protect the zygote, fuck the human being; Protect the zygote, don’t research stem cells; protect the zygote… errhmm … yo’ momma is fat… ( you get the idea)
maybe it will be euthanasia; or the way the drug problem is handled right now (more focused on the production than on the consumption)
… or – should we loose the so called “cultural wars”- maybe our kids will be appalled by the thought of “free inquiry”

Yeah… anyways , the only sure things that they will appalled by will be: Nintendo, Starbucks and baby snacks (how you interpret that last bit is up to you).

Assumed monogamy. I think polyamory will start to take hold and people will be appalled that people would assume monogamy and felt weird about other possible relationship configurations than monogamy.

Am I the only one sick of being treated like a monster because I value steak over a beast with no higher aspirations in life than eating and pooing?
The general pissing on the enviroment will be a bad memory, I can’t wait until we figure out ways to live comfortably without making things worse for future generations.

That mental and emotional difficulties and disorders were a source of shame, and that people died because they were concealing it and not getting help.

That people actually tried to tan their skin with sunlight or with artificial UV rays, aging it and increasing the possibility of skin cancer.

That people mutilated themselves for the latest beauty fashion, slicing off parts of their faces and bodies, vacuuming fat out of their torsos, adding artificial fat into their lips, injecting paralyzing poison into their faces, injecting hair into their scalps, inserting foreign objects into their breasts, and on and on.

That people were so neurotic about sex and sexuality, being simultaneously obsessed with it and conflicted about it.

That we were so fat and out of shape, that we hated ourselves for it, yet we did not do the obvious remedy.

That we spent soooooooo much time watching mindless television shows and got so excited about American Idol and Survival Island.

That we had to use our fingers to type.

That we would go to war for a threat with less evidence of menace than what would be needed to convict someone of a misdemeanor.

Maybe not eating meat, but perhaps eating beef and pork due to the environmental damage done by meat factories. I think eating fish is going to be around a long time, as it is such an efficient form of protein.

Fish? Efficient? Maybe that’s enother thing the next generation will be appalled by – how we cheerfully (and efficiently!) fished out whole species beyond any hope of sustaining them. Enjoy that sushi while it lasts…

For the record, paddy rice farming produces as much greenhouse gasses worldwide as beef production. Why don’t I see anyone giving up rice for the environment?

No one’s mentioned what I think is the obvious.

Just like we thought that Thor made the thunder, witches should be burned at the stake, and it was a good idea to sacrifice a goat to ensure a good harvest. How about that we used to believe that we were all guilty because a woman ate an apple, but we’re all forgiven now because this dude, who’s mom never had sex, was executed so we’re all okay… oh yeah, but we owe him now?

Why isn’t believing that embarrassing?

It’s circumcision they will be appalled by. In the future we will look on this as we do the barbarity of frontal lobotomy…people also once said that had benefits …that may have been true but they weren’t felt by the person it was done to…

AJ says circumcision has little risk…ehhh? You’re talking about cutting off up to 80% of a boy’s penile skin, including his g-spot and sometimes his frenulum too and you say this has little risk. Let’s leave aside the fact it visibly reduces his sexual sensation… and look at the other stuff – what about the fact that babies die regularly from the so-called ‘snip’? 3 in Britain in 2007-8 for example, and we cut a fraction of the number of babies the US does.

And it’s wrong to say circumcision is harder in adulthood – this is one of the myths used to prop up neonatal genital cutting in the US. If the African circ experiments have given us one clear positive proof, it’s that adult circ is quick and is relatively low risk compared to cutting children. Infant circ in Nigeria for example was shown to have a complication rate of 20.2% – the circ trials had average complication rates as low as 1.7%… You do the math.

So please whatever reason you give for butchering a son’s genitals don’t ever say it’s easy on him. Babies feel more pain than adults in comparable situations and they don’t even have a fully functioning immune system.

That the stereotypical ‘nuclear family’ was once considered to be self-evidently ‘superior’ to other family configurations.

Circumcision is the main one. We’re talking about a perfectly evolved pleasure receptor that every mammal on earth has enjoyed for like 65 million years and somehow only humans need surgical modification at birth? Foreskin feels REALLY good.

It’s just superstitious and barbaric to amputate parts of people’s genitals at birth for cosmetic reasons. NO national medical association on earth (not even Israel’s) endorses routine circumcision. This stuff you’ve heard about STDs is very fishy. It only seems to work when long-time circumcision justifiers are in control of the studies. In many African nations it is the circumcised who have the markedly higher HIV incidence. In the US, most of the men who have died of AIDS were circumcised at birth.

In the US, infant foreskins ARE SOLD to labs to make face cremes. Google TNS Recovery Complex (as seen on Oprah). That is the disgrace our grandkids will be embarrassed about.

I’m hoping that we won’t have children and grandchildren, but if we do, I think they’ll be critical of our cavalier attitude about population control–that is, autonomy always trumps utility.

The Georgia Guidestones are spot on.

Interesting subject;

Climate Change:
A very degraded Planet- Climate change – too little too late.

Gluttony:
Financial gluttony, energy gluttony, environmental gluttony, over consumption etc.

Eating meat:
I’m a hypocrite. I love the taste of meat but have a niggling feeling that it’s not quite right.
Just a few variations in the DNA and we feel justified in raising other sentient beings, slaughtering them (often horrifically) and then eating them because we like the taste and because we like the taste of meat we usually choose not to think about it too much, maybe similar to the way religion is often cherry picked.
“If slaughter houses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”
-Paul McCartney.

Far off into the future;
Raising children or having pets with no need of a licence of physiological competency.

That humans somehow are not animals.

That humans have some sort of destiny…

It’s been briefly mentioned already, but I thought I would mention it again. The U.S. prison system is possibly the most offensive thing I can think of that most people think is perfectly normal and even good. No one should be subjected to the horror that is the U.S. prison system. Punishment doesn’t work. We need rehabilitation.

Maybe that’s the real horror: punishment instead of rehabilitation.