Moral Decline

[Kungfuzed]

Do you think morality in general has been declining over the decades? Today I was reading an article in the April 2007 issue of Awake! magazine. The article is titled "A Worldwide Moral Breakdown". It states that in 1914 World War I triggered the beginning of a worldwide moral breakdown. Soldiers were behaving as though they would die tomorrow and even those living back home excused their actions because a war was going on. Then came the women's liberation movement and then the sexual revolution, and the whole world has been sinking into "Western debauchery". What's the world comming to?

In your opinion, has there been a worldwide moral decline over the past century? If so, what time period do you think the world was at it's moral peak? If you could rewind the world's moral clock, where would you set it to?

And by morals, I mean the whole sense of right and wrong, not just sexual morality.

 

[lombas]

I deem morality something personal and as thus there can be no "peaks" or "lows". It is true that morality changed and that this has not only brought benefits, it is merely "different". If it doesn't succeed, it will change again, and since it always changes, there is no "right" or "wrong".

There are, however, individuals and associations, who might have a different view than the "mainstream" thought. It is always good for those people to give themselves something of a higher authority, like "eternity". By claiming that what they stand for has been a tradition for centuries, they achieve a kind of superiority. Among historians, the jargon is "invented tradition or history". A lot of those who now claim society suffers from a moral breakdown support on these invented traditions.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing, because it is, of course, part of history itself. But it does say something about how discussion can be possible between those in favor and those against "mainstream" morality.

 

[lunamoth]

I would bet the milk money that people today on average are exactly as moral as people were on average thousands of years ago. I don't think that overall adherance to the mores of society fluctuates all that much over long spans of time and globally. When times are hard people may do things like lie, cheat, steal to survive...but is that really immoral if it's a matter of life or death?

I think that our adherance to what our culture deems moral depends mostly on our general physical and mental health.

 

[Mike182]

people's perceptions of right and wrong have changed dramatically, but people still adhere to that perception.

in my opinion, you can't say morality has declined. to say morality has declined is to say that less people are doing the right thing, which doesn't give any indication as to what the right thing is.

 

[jamaesi]

Every generation has said the next had no morals since.. the beginning of time. We seem to be doing fine, despite the naysayers.

 

[Quagmire]

I think people these days feel less compelled to put up a moral facade than they did in the post Victorian era, or as Americans did at the begining of the cold war when their whole value system was based on American vs Un-American.

If anything, I think Western Civilization has become slightly less hypocritical than it used to be, which I'd say is a step in the right direction.

 

[Sunstone]

I'm under-impressed with talk of "moral declines". Most of the talk I've seen of "moral declines" has hardly been informed. Instead, it's been full of irrelevant claims, poor or incorrect assumptions, and ambiguities. To take one example: is it "moral decline" that society is significantly less tolerant of racism today than it was pre-World War I?

I suspect talk of "moral decline" is mere propaganda.

 

[jacquie4000]

How far back in History would you like to go? Durring Roman times a father could kill his children if they did not obey his commands. Gosh I hope we have better Morals then that now.

 

[Kungfuzed]

On the one hand we had the sexual revolution but on the other we had Martin Luther King and the whole desegregation thing happening too. Women now have the right to vote and get a good job. No more slavery or segregation, at least in the US. Are sex and drugs a fair trade for freedom and equality?

 

[Quagmire]

I'm under-impressed with talk of "moral declines". Most of the talk I've seen of "moral declines" has hardly been informed. Instead, it's been full of irrelevant claims, poor or incorrect assumptions, and ambiguities. To take one example: is it "moral decline" that society is significantly less tolerant of racism today than it was pre-World War I?

I suspect talk of "moral decline" is mere propaganda.

Big time

.

Something I've noticed talking to members of the religious right is that if you let them go on long enough it becomes pretty apparent that what they're really calling for is a return to the lop-sided, race/class based value system of the Macarthy era.
I suspect that's what they're really talking about when they say "Heaven".

And like you say, most of their statistics (if they bother to present any) are inaccurate, taken out of context, or just plain made up.

I was arguing with one Evangilical about the change in the abortion rate since the legalization of abortion (it's actually gone down btw) and, after demanding to know where he was getting his data, it turned out that his whole point was that the rate of legal abortions had gone up since abortion was legalised.

Well duh.

 

[jonny]

I think it depends on how you define the terms you're using. In some ways, we have improved. In other ways, we have declined (in my opinion). In some ways, we've stayed the same.

 

[PureX]

I seriously doubt that people were ever any more or less "moral" in the past, in general. I do think there have been certain times and places where people have been especially moral or immoral, though, usually resulting in slavery, mass murder, wars, and the like.

I don't believe that America is in one of those especially immoral times. However, I do believe that as a nation and a people we have become more self-centered and greedy in the last 30 to 40 years. And I attribute that to the ability of modern technology to spread negative messages. In our case it is the inescapable message of consumption, causing us to become a culture of consumers. And I believe this has done us great harm, and will continue to do us harm in the future.

Overall, we are not an especially immoral people. But we are so inundated with negative messages that we have become an immoral culture. And we are becoming more-so every day.

 

[Mathematician]

I'd like to think we've made great progress since establishing ourselves as a separate species from the Neanderthals. Greed has been prevalent in the life cycle for a long time, and it, like many other negatives, will only be eradicated with time, and maybe some natural evolution.

In the past 100 years we've especially made some huge changes. Western countries no longer (willingly) fight war in the name of resources and land (Iraq aside). People try to not discriminate against people based on skin color, gender, and more recently religion and sexual identity. Awareness for the poor and neglected has extended beyond our own borders.

I guess you could equate my optimism with my youth, but from what I've read I definately don't see any moral decline from past generations.

 

[Reverend Rick]

People don't think lying is a big deal. Children are conditioned to avoid the truth at all costs when they get into trouble. As they grow older, lying becomes no big deal. What ever happened to integrity? Anytime someone is about to get into trouble at work, denying the accusation is the norm. Taking responsibility is a fading attribute as well. Car accidents happen all the time. Hardly ever does someone accept responsibility.

Cheating is considered acceptable. How many students plagiarise their reports or cheat on tests? At work, how many people accept credit for something that someone else does?

How about stealing? Is it OK to steal office supplies? If you found a wallet, would you keep the money? Most people think taking little things are OK. Are you truthful each week about the amount of time you work each week? What if your late? Do you dock your time for a late lunch or break? Theft of time is stealing.

How many married couples cheat on their spouse? It's not just the men anymore is it? Just read a women's magazine, if you don't have a husband, a career and a boyfriend, you are not sucessful. Men have always been pigs, don't think I am just picking on the women here.

What is truly laughable is there are college courses in ethics. Does anyone still listen to their conscience? Do some people even have a conscience?

If you have had to much to drink, do you think about how driving could endanger folks or do you think about if you will get caught or not?

What about all the dirty old men? When they are staring at a young women and they are thrice their age, do they ever feel guilty?

I gotta tell you, When God comes back and looks at this country, I could not blame him if he lumped us all together as one big abomination. Think about it, The Muslims prey several times a day and stick to their tennants for the most part. Most Americans have lost their morals, and I believe it is because most kid's are not taught right from wrong any more.

 

[PureX]

People don't think lying is a big deal. Children are conditioned to avoid the truth at all costs when they get into trouble. As they grow older, lying becomes no big deal. What ever happened to integrity? Anytime someone is about to get into trouble at work, denying the accusation is the norm. Taking responsibility is a fading attribute as well. Car accidents happen all the time. Hardly ever does someone except responsibility.

Cheating is considered acceptable. How many students plagiarise their reports or cheat on tests? At work, how many people accept credit for something that someone else does?

How about stealing? Is it OK to steal office supplies? If you found a wallet, would you keep the money? Most people think taking little things are OK. Are you truthful each week about the amount of time you work each week? What if your late? Do you dock your time for a late lunch or break? Theft of time is stealing.

How many married couples cheat on their spouse? It's not just the men anymore is it? Just read a women's magazine, if you don't have a husband, a career and a boyfriend, you are not sucessful. Men have always been pigs, don't think I am just picking on the women here.

What is truly laughable is there are college courses in ethics. Does anyone still listen to their conscience? Do some people even have a conscience?

If you have had to much to drink, do you think about how driving could endanger folks or do you think about if you will get caught or not?

What about all the dirty old men? When they are staring at a young women and they are thrice their age, do they ever feel guilty?

I gotta tell you, When God comes back and looks at this country, I could not blame him if he lumped us all together as one big abomination. Think about it, The Muslims prey several times a day and stick to their tennants for the most part. Most Americans have lost their morals, and I believe it is because most kid's are not taught right from wrong any more.

But you are presuming that human beings have not always been this way. And as far as I can tell, we have. In many ways, in fact, we have actually even improved. We began this nation with several forms of slavery, with religious "kangaroo courts" that often demanded brutal and capitol punishments for all sorts of imagined crimes. Our government has engaged in mass murder on many occasions for the sake of it's own expansion, and the sake of wealthy profiteers. Our own police have murdered our own citizens in the streets at the behest of rich robber barons during labor disputes, as the police were nothing more than paid thugs who hired themselves out for bribes. Our citizens have gone on racial killing sprees, beating and even murdering their fellow citizens for the color of their skin or the nationality of their ancestors.

We have a very brutal and bloody past, fueled by greed and ignorance, that they don't like to mention in our history books. But these things all did happen. And although we're still a violent, greedy, and ignorant people, we're probably a little less so now, than we once were. The fact that you can focus on lies and sexual dalliances rather than outright mass murder is itself evidence that we have vastly improved, though our recent invasion and occupation of Iraq has definitly been a moral setback.

 

[applewuud]

...Taking responsibility is a fading attribute as well. Car accidents happen all the time. Hardly ever does someone except responsibility.
...If you have had to much to drink, do you think about how driving could endanger folks or do you think about if you will get caught or not?

I gotta tell you, When God comes back and looks at this country, I could not blame him if he lumped us all together as one big abomination. ...

In my lifetime I've seen a HUGE turnaround in the attitude towards drinking and driving. In my parents' generation, it was considered a minor foible. In the movies of the time, having a drunken car wreck was a plot device. Thanks to MADD, today there is as much sanction against drunk driving as there used to be against premarital sex. That's progress, to me.

In the past century there is moral progress in the form of increasing regard for the value of life...before 1960 you couldn't buy a car that had seat belts, now they're mandatory and have air bags, despite the whining from car companies when they were introduced. Now we've taken corporate and social responsibility for the machines that we make. In the past, it was chalked up to "fate" and GM and Ford didn't take responsibility...was it better back then?

BTW, when did God go away, that God has to come back? And is God so indiscriminate and unknowing of individual morality that there will be collective punishment despite what's in a person's heart? In that case, we might as well go out and lie and cheat and steal, since we'll be punished on the basis of other peoples' sins anyway. :no:

 

[eudaimonia]

“....shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle.”
Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79)

 

[FatMan]

I don't think morals are on the decline, but rather that politeness is on the decline. A person with less than decent morals in the 50's might tip a hat to you in public, but then one-on-one would do immoral things, while I think today's populace is more brazen.

There is a general lack of reverence for elders, and a "me-first" attitude is fairly widespread. But I don't think that is a moral issue - I think it is a societal change for the worse.