Of the frequent commenters here, What is your education level?

tbergs said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

I want to do postgrad, particularly a phD so I can have a Dr. in front of my name and prove my family that I am not stupid and make my nieces and nephew proud of their uncle.

Honestly, about 50% of people with Dr. in front of their name are jackasses who aren't any smarter than someone with a 2 year degree. It's amazing how dumb someone can be who is supposedly a Dr. It shouldn't take a title to prove anything or make others proud. If doctorate work is a part of a career or life goal, then awesome. Do it for you. All we have to do is look at our current POTUS to know how much stock to put in titles.

tbergs said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

I want to do postgrad, particularly a phD so I can have a Dr. in front of my name and prove my family that I am not stupid and make my nieces and nephew proud of their uncle.

Honestly, about 50% of people with Dr. in front of their name are jackasses who aren't any smarter than someone with a 2 year degree. It's amazing how dumb someone can be who is supposedly a Dr. It shouldn't take a title to prove anything or make others proud. If doctorate work is a part of a career or life goal, then awesome. Do it for you. All we have to do is look at our current POTUS to know how much stock to put in titles.

rgambs said:

Go Beavers said:

tbergs said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

I want to do postgrad, particularly a phD so I can have a Dr. in front of my name and prove my family that I am not stupid and make my nieces and nephew proud of their uncle.

Honestly, about 50% of people with Dr. in front of their name are jackasses who aren't any smarter than someone with a 2 year degree. It's amazing how dumb someone can be who is supposedly a Dr. It shouldn't take a title to prove anything or make others proud. If doctorate work is a part of a career or life goal, then awesome. Do it for you. All we have to do is look at our current POTUS to know how much stock to put in titles.

I’ve lived in college towns most of my life and came across a lot of PhDs as a result. The vast majority of them were incredibly smart. I include my dad in that, too. 

And I worked with anesthesiologists and surgeons who thought the Rapture was imminent, black people just need to stop being lazy, and who drank themselves to stupor every night.

rgambs said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

I want to do postgrad, particularly a phD so I can have a Dr. in front of my name and prove my family that I am not stupid and make my nieces and nephew proud of their uncle.

Pretty much anytime in life when you do something to make someone proud and prove something, the people you hope to impress are not going to be satisfactorily impressed.  
It's like, universal, we all get grandiose ideas about how someone will react, and we all get let down.

Don't do shit for anyone else!  
Do it for you!  

dignin said:

F Me In The Brain said:

We are all humans.  I have a piece of paper but it doesn't mean I am better than anyone else.

Not better, but having that piece of paper proves that you were at least trained in that profession. And that's important.

I don't want to live in a world where Joe Schmoes opinion (who did a few hours of research on the internet) on a subject is taken at the same value as the PhD who has spent years researching that subject. That's Trump's world.

mcgruff10 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I think it's true, but I'm curious to know what others think about what Brian said. That many tend to become more conservative as they age. I am particularly interested in this because it's not at all true for me personally. I am becoming more and more liberal as I age... So why do a lot of people become more conservative in their older years?? I have considered the possible reasons, but none of them really make sense to me at the end of the day, besides the ones related to much older people who start getting that whole fearful old person thing going on, and so are more susceptible to right wing fear mongering.

I honestly think kids make a lot more people conservative.  Not that I am a republican in any way but it happened to me and a lot of my high school and college friends (i'm 40 like you Allie).  A lot of our views on different topics went more to the right.
In  a way I think a lot of younger adults identify being liberal because they think they are going to save the world, turns out that is not the case lol.  
I don't know Allie, it's a tough call and hard to explain.

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

mcgruff10 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I think it's true, but I'm curious to know what others think about what Brian said. That many tend to become more conservative as they age. I am particularly interested in this because it's not at all true for me personally. I am becoming more and more liberal as I age... So why do a lot of people become more conservative in their older years?? I have considered the possible reasons, but none of them really make sense to me at the end of the day, besides the ones related to much older people who start getting that whole fearful old person thing going on, and so are more susceptible to right wing fear mongering.

I honestly think kids make a lot more people conservative.  Not that I am a republican in any way but it happened to me and a lot of my high school and college friends (i'm 40 like you Allie).  A lot of our views on different topics went more to the right.
In  a way I think a lot of younger adults identify being liberal because they think they are going to save the world, turns out that is not the case lol.  
I don't know Allie, it's a tough call and hard to explain.

Geez, I don't think your second to last sentence warrants an lol tag. You just managed to say that younger people 1) care more, 2) are more motivated to make things better, and 3) liberals are the ones who have the ideas that will improve the world. We should all be doing everything we can to keep people's heads in that place, not make excuses for old duds who gave up and got more selfish.

I really don't think that's what he's saying. I think what he's saying, correct me if I'm wrong mcgruff, is that younger people have a very idealistic view of how they think the world should be that isn't always grounded in reality. as they get older, they realize this and also their priorities can change, especially if they have kids. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

mcgruff10 said:

PJ_Soul said:

I think it's true, but I'm curious to know what others think about what Brian said. That many tend to become more conservative as they age. I am particularly interested in this because it's not at all true for me personally. I am becoming more and more liberal as I age... So why do a lot of people become more conservative in their older years?? I have considered the possible reasons, but none of them really make sense to me at the end of the day, besides the ones related to much older people who start getting that whole fearful old person thing going on, and so are more susceptible to right wing fear mongering.

I honestly think kids make a lot more people conservative.  Not that I am a republican in any way but it happened to me and a lot of my high school and college friends (i'm 40 like you Allie).  A lot of our views on different topics went more to the right.
In  a way I think a lot of younger adults identify being liberal because they think they are going to save the world, turns out that is not the case lol.  
I don't know Allie, it's a tough call and hard to explain.

Geez, I don't think your second to last sentence warrants an lol tag. You just managed to say that younger people 1) care more, 2) are more motivated to make things better, and 3) liberals are the ones who have the ideas that will improve the world. We should all be doing everything we can to keep people's heads in that place, not make excuses for old duds who gave up and got more selfish.

I really don't think that's what he's saying. I think what he's saying, correct me if I'm wrong mcgruff, is that younger people have a very idealistic view of how they think the world should be that isn't always grounded in reality. as they get older, they realize this and also their priorities can change, especially if they have kids. 

I know what he was saying. What you just said is crap IMO (i mean that theory is crap). Calling idealistic view "not grounded in reality" pinpoints the main problem in the world. Idealistic views ARE grounded in reality. It's just that other people make better, higher ideals/ideas impossible with cynicism, greed, corruption, etc. It is basically saying that people with great ideas have to conform to a lot of shitty ideas just because the shitty ideas have become the status quo. So what is really going on is that SOME people simply get all cranky and cynical because the longer you live in a world run by assholes, the more likely you are to conform to their methods and the results of those methods. It's a terrible weakness in society IMO, and the reason nothing ever changes.

nope. not crap. and the rest of your post? from 0-100 in one sentence. and your quoting is a bit off. I said "isn't always grounded in reality".  

i'm neither cranky nor cynical. I'm more involved politically and socially than I've ever been in my life. i'm just more realistic about those goals and their possible outcome. 

I spend my time at a more grassroots level. raising good kids with good values, and helping other families in my community do the same. 

you wanna try to change greedy old bastards? knock yourself out. and good luck to you.