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Make the world a better place again

Reinforce friendliness and discourage violence
  (+5, -1)
(+5, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

Make games and movies about role models that enjoy friendliness. Show people watching violence and deteriorating, missing out on all the fun because they stay up late at night watching stupid youtube videos about people crashing their face into glass doors or about animals being eaten alive. At the same time, others are laughing and enjoying whatever it is they do without getting stuck in traffic or hating this and that.

The movies are intriguing and funny. The little violence they do show is all ridiculed. The clockwork orange guys get home and find out that there's an arrest warrant and that it's no fun in jail. Meanwhile, the good guys come home, turn on that movie, and discuss with their friends how stupid and disgusting it was, and then just don't have the time to talk about it because they are doing much more interesting things.

The bad guy's wife visits him in jail and tells him all about the fun stuff and beautiful world that he's missing. Meanwhile, a mystery is solved, but there's no murder or even killing in it. (It's about how the car keys reached the fridge and who put them there)

Combine this theme with a series of real-world setbacks that never happen to the bad guys in movies. The wifi always works when looking up something, they access the correct password every time, and all the tools work perfectly, as do the guns that shoot and never get caught.

The good gals could have all the luck reserved for the bad guys until now. Even though they make every mistake possible during the planning stage AND their application of that plan, their luck NEVER runs out, and everything works out perfectly.

pashute, Jan 06 2021

La Belle Verte https://youth-time....-certain-countries/
[pashute, Jan 06 2021]

NWA - "Help the Police" https://youtu.be/iZyqwOOmETI
[hippo, Jan 06 2021]

Motion Picture Production Code aka Hay's Code https://en.wikipedi...ure_Production_Code
There's some prior art here - both as definite no-nos, but with a second more cautionary list describing things that might need to be treated with care. [zen_tom, Jan 06 2021]

The Motion Picture Production Code (1930) https://www.asu.edu...eProductionCode.pdf
"No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin. Correct standards of life shall be presented on the screen, subject only to necessary dramatic contrasts. Law, natural or human, should not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation." [zen_tom, Jan 06 2021]

Two Minutes Hate https://en.wikipedi...ki/Two_Minutes_Hate
... otherwise known as FOX News. [8th of 7, Jan 07 2021]

Ah, yes. https://images.app....l/VGQ4HGqe61UB7qMu9
Here it is. [pertinax, Jan 09 2021]

[link]






       Will tigers in zoos switch to eating soy protein chunks? What about smaller cats? I used to have a pet cat and fed it some allegedly veterinarian-recommended kibble that was grain- based. The cat liked to go out into the backyard and eat grass and then leave grass "gifts" all over the house. This cat issue is one of many of the difficulties inherent in removing all violence.
sninctown, Jan 06 2021
  

       Isn't there a whole subculture of people who play Grand Theft Auto 5 but drive around really safely, obeying all traffic laws?
hippo, Jan 06 2021
  

       //go out into the backyard and eat grass// Ouch! Aaaarg! Our soft tender leaves! The violence of the non-plant beings who persecute us so! Aaaargh! My tips!
pocmloc, Jan 06 2021
  

       I knew there would be some drawbacks but just couldn't figure them out myself. Blessed be the Halfbakery.
pashute, Jan 06 2021
  

       [hippo] what other ways are there of playing it?
pocmloc, Jan 06 2021
  

       //The clockwork orange guys get home and find out that there's an arrest warant and that its no fun in jail//   

       This happens in the original version. It's just presented a bit differently.
pertinax, Jan 06 2021
  

       How about abolishing gravity in the vicinity of elevated locations where despairing people tend to fling themselves off into the void? With no gravity, they would just float around for a while surrounded by pan pipe music and purple butterflies. Happy days.
xenzag, Jan 06 2021
  

       I think some of this might be counterproductive. For example:   

       //The good gals could have all the luck reserved for the bad guys until now. Even though they make every mistake possible during the planning stage AND their application of that plan, their luck NEVER runs out and everything works out perfectly.//   

       Jar Jar Binks. He's a better shot with a gun tangled up with his foot than the bad guys are deliberately.
Possibly that's why everybody hates him.
Loris, Jan 06 2021
  

       What if the people everyone thinks are good are actually really evil, and the supposedly bad guys are secretly nice though they pretend not to be?
pocmloc, Jan 06 2021
  

       [pocmloc] So are you saying that my stories and movie scripts are lacking the other side of cruelty?   

       Or are you saying that I'm depicting everyone one-sidedly, and (as often happens in ideologies) not showing their true world colors?
pashute, Jan 06 2021
  

       [+] Totally in favor, [pashute].   

       As the lyric goes, "Too bad for the children, they are what they see." The media defines our existence and outlook, practically every facet of it.
whatrock, Jan 06 2021
  

       You get what you pay for ...
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       [pashute] - I think the linked video is in the spirit of what you're trying to do here
hippo, Jan 06 2021
  

       They wrote a code in the late 1920's covering this exact same set of concerns. Film at the time had gotten quite dark and racy, and the bad guys sometimes won. The Motion Picture Production Code was written to encourage people to consume more wholesome content.
zen_tom, Jan 06 2021
  

       "Make the world a better place again"   

       Back up a bit ...   

       "again" ... ?   

       Doesn't that imply that there was a time in the past when the world was "better" than it is today ?   

       Was there perhaps some time when human beings weren't nasty, selfish, greedy, venal, untrustworthy little blobs of ego ?   

       Maybe the Greek "golden age" ... an age with widespread slavery, where life was nasty, brutish and short, and lots of people died from communicable diseases ? Ancient Rome, with gladiatorial combats, assassinations left right and centre, an economy based (again) on slavery ? Tudor times, with most of the population constantly on the brink of starvation, primitive medical care, pestilence rampant ? The Enlightenment, which was pretty much the same ? The nineteenth century, with exploitation under the factory system, the development of industrialised warfare, slums, disease and yet more slavery ? The 20th century, chock a bloc with warfare, genocide, weapons of mass destruction, poverty and greed ?   

       Which "better" time exactly do you want to regress to ? One without medications and anaesthetics, civil rights, mass sufferage, fast communications and good food preservation techniques ? An era of violence, hunger, disease, pain and depravity ?   

       Go on, pick one. It's worth a try. What could possibly go wrong ?
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       Apparently the Atlanteans had things pretty dialed in before their economy went under.   

       They just didn't float their IPO properly.
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       Yes, of course, just teasing [pash] - playing "Devil's Advocate". Cruel, but entertaining ...
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       They weren't. They were probably quite a lot worse in many ways.   

       Or maybe just different ways ...
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       The world just got a lot better. The pitchfork mob has broke into the Whitehouse as their monster called them home.
xenzag, Jan 06 2021
  

       So you admit republicans belong in the whitehouse?
Voice, Jan 06 2021
  

       The madhouse, more like, along with all the other politicians of whatever type.
8th of 7, Jan 06 2021
  

       The means (internet connected electronic voting machines), motive (self explanatory), and opportunity (poorly monitored polling locations) were all there, it seems. I don't know what to make of this.   

       Arguably, superhero movies already do what is proposed; there's just disagreement about details of niceness.
sninctown, Jan 06 2021
  

       //some time when human beings weren't nasty [...]?//   

       You may be eliding two different things here, [8th]. On the one hand, yes, many things have got better over time. On the other hand, it does not follow from this that nothing has got worse. There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that (1) sadism in popular culture has got worse since, say, the 1890s and (2) advances in democracy, technology and public health since that time have not been contingent on that increased sadism.   

       This hypothesis may not be true, but it is not self-evidently absurd.   

       Freud seemed to think that human progress *was* at least somewhat contingent on tolerating sadism (see his essay on Civilised Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness), but he was a bit light on evidence for this. To put it mildly.
pertinax, Jan 07 2021
  

       Marquis de Sade was more eloquent on the matter.
Voice, Jan 07 2021
  

       //"Make the world a better place again" Back up a bit ... "again" ... ? Doesn't that imply that there was a time in the past when the world was "better" than it is today ?// - I interpreted the phrase "Make the world a better place again" as suggesting that the world had been 'made a better place' at some unspecified point in the past, i.e. that the word 'again' was a modifier for 'make' rather than 'a better place'. It is instructive here to consider the difference in meaning between the idea title as written, "Make the world a better place again", and the subtly different meaning it would have if this idea was titled "Make the world a better place".

It's also ambiguous as to what the word 'better' refers. It could be that the previous attempt to make the world better sought to improve the world from a prior state of utter ghastliness to merely abject misery. Or it could be that the word 'better' is comparing the world of the past with today and that the gist of the idea is that there was an attempt in the past to make the world better than that of the imagined future world of today, and that there should be another attempt now.
hippo, Jan 07 2021
  

       We could call it 'The Adventures of Pollyanna.'
RayfordSteele, Jan 07 2021
  

       // it could be that the word 'better' is comparing the world of the past with today and that the gist of the idea is that there was an attempt in the past to make the world better than that of the imagined future world of today, and that there should be another attempt now. //   

       In which case the idea title should be less ambiguous, such as:   

       "Make another attempt to improve the world" .   

       As to the "imagined future world", many such visions concentrated on the "good" aspects but studiously avoided any possible downsides; those that did were often accused of being "dystopian".   

       The reality is that, while social and technical changes do indeed bring benefits (medicines, transport, communications) there are invariably negative impacts (chemical weapons, pollution, surveillance) which due to the inexorable operation of the Law of Unintended Consequences are very difficult to spot.   

       Tetra-ethyl lead "seemed like a good idea at the time" ...
8th of 7, Jan 07 2021
  

       Perhaps a title tweak, "Make The World A More Politer Place Again"?
whatrock, Jan 07 2021
  

       In a rather more verbose, but commensurately accurate form "Attempt to improve some aspects of the world in ways similar to those that others have done in the past, bearing in mind that there will inevitably be unanticipated negative consequences that cannot be clearly predicted or quantified until after changes have been made".
8th of 7, Jan 07 2021
  

       The bit following "bearing in mind..." it is traditional to bury at the bottom of a poorly-written Terms and Conditions page (ideally presented as an embedded non-searchable PDF image of multi-column 8-point text) and to just present the reader with the phrase "Check this box to acknowledge that you have read our Terms and Conditions".
hippo, Jan 07 2021
  

       After watching the activities in DC yesterday, and again seeing the footage today, the only reoccurring theme I can hope for is for every single human being to chant in their head "I want to be better than I am."   

       That's all. Each of us, that's about all we control. Made more apparent than ever, January 6th, 2021 in the USA.
blissmiss, Jan 07 2021
  

       // every single human being to chant in their head "I want to be better than I am." //   

       Unfortunately, the real "Inner Voice" tends to chant "I want to be better than them, those others, the ones who don't share my world view... in fact, I'm better than them, because they're different, and "other" is always bad... that's why I hate them... "   

       ... and then just join the mob waiting for Goldstein to appear on the public Telescreen.   

       <link>
8th of 7, Jan 07 2021
  

       "and then it was just impossible not to join in".   

       The two minutes of hate/the 6hours of conflict at the Capitol.
blissmiss, Jan 07 2021
  

       Oh yes, Mr. Blair had it pretty much nailed decades ago...
8th of 7, Jan 07 2021
  

       All right, [8th], you got me; I did a sharp double- take before realising you meant *that* Mr. Blair.
pertinax, Jan 08 2021
  

       Yes, *that* Mr. Blair... Or, Well, possibly his Big Brother (Lionel) ...
8th of 7, Jan 08 2021
  

       //Marquis de Sade was more eloquent on the matter.//   

       True, but not more cogent.
pertinax, Jan 08 2021
  

       [blissmiss] Sometimes I think, "I should be gooder", then try to think of a good thing to do.   

       If I'm not instantly clued in to what I could do/think to be gooder I try to think of a technology that makes people live longer (longevity technology). The pragmatic result is that sometimes charities get moeny, homeless people get tarps and money I put out for them, and I have files and notebooks with a lot of longevity technologies in them.   

       Expanding a little, I also came up with "faster better computers"; Tests of, and technologies based on the MWI/multiverse theory; things that benefit children" So I'f I'm all like ummm 450 year old tortoises (blank), how about million year endolith TCA cycle genes? Hey that's it!   

       Longevity technology: The TCA (ATP making) cycle of organisms, like little bacteria, alhae,and fungi in rocks, that have (based on isotope dating) actually lived, as individual organisms for 1 million years has genes. Variously, 1) put those genes in mice (and if it works, then humans) to see if the mice live longer 2)Analogous genes exist at mice and humans already, copy the epigenetics of the endolithic algae and endolithic fungi genes to mice to see if they live longer.   

       I think people are naturally good.   

       About the actual idea: Who knows. The idea is somewhere between screenplays teaching (If people watch this they might be more beneficial) and a cinematic thing, an art thing, a gestalt. Not much to say, so as [blissmiss] says, What can I do to be better than I am?
beanangel, Jan 09 2021
  

       Trust me, if you even stop for a second, once a day, and ask yourself, addressing the deepest parts of yourself, "what can I do to be better?" You are already being better.
blissmiss, Jan 09 2021
  

       s'truth   

       If you actually give a shit about others and worry even a bit about being better than you were before... you're doin alright.   

       // I think people are naturally good. //   

       Despite the fact that the bulk of observational evidence completely contradicts that ?
8th of 7, Jan 09 2021
  

       I had an annotation blip: Here's what I think I wrote previously:   

       [blissmiss] Sometimes I think, "I should be gooder", then try to think of a good thing to do.   

       If I'm not instantly clued in to what I could do/think to be gooder I try to think of a technology that makes people live longer (longevity technology). The pragmatic result is that sometimes charities get moeny, homeless people get tarps and money I put out for them, and I have files and notebooks with a lot of longevity technologies in them.   

       Expanding a little, I also came up with "faster better computers"; Tests of, and technologies based on the MWI/multiverse theory; things that benefit children" So I'f I'm all like ummm 450 year old tortoises (blank), how about million year endolith TCA cycle genes? Hey that's it!   

       Longevity technology: The TCA (ATP making) cycle of organisms, like little bacteria, alhae,and fungi in rocks, that have (based on isotope dating) actually lived, as individual organisms for 1 million years has genes. Variously, 1) put those genes in mice (and if it works, then humans) to see if the mice live longer 2)Analogous genes exist at mice and humans already, copy the epigenetics of the endolithic algae and endolithic fungi genes to mice to see if they live longer.   

       I think people are naturally good.   

       About the actual idea: Who knows. The idea is somewhere between screenplays teaching (If people watch this they might be more beneficial) and a cinematic thing, an art thing, a gestalt. Not much to say, so as [blissmiss] says, What can I do to be better than I am?
beanangel, Jan 09 2021
  

       There was a New Yorker cartoon from, I think, the 1960s (reproduced in "The Medium is the Massage"), which had the caption "When you think of television's awesome power to educate, aren't you glad it doesn't?"
pertinax, Jan 09 2021
  

       Ha, Pert. That makes me giggle in a nervous, uneasy way. Hmmm
blissmiss, Jan 09 2021
  

       // "I should be gooder", then try to think of a good thing to do. //   

       But have you ever tried doing Evil, that Evil may come of it ? Really, really tried ?   

       Remember Nxon's Principle: "If two wrongs don't make a right, try three".   

       Haven't you ever watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and cheered for the child-catcher ? Or The Railway Children, and felt cheated when those smug, do-gooding kids avert what could have been a most delightful crash, and a fascinating Fatal Accident Enquiry report ?   

       "Kindness costs nothing, but cruelty is more fun".
8th of 7, Jan 09 2021
  

       [+] But is the death rate healthy enough?
wjt, Jan 10 2021
  

       That's the question...   

       I like to think that the preference would be; Dissemination of withheld tech/massive expansion spore like explosion in all directions from Earth requiring many hands to make short work, rather than a downsizing status quo solidifying continuum.   

       Just me.   
      
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