So much negativity amongst americans these days (generations, death, independent)

[chanceryan]

I lived up & down the entire east coast over the past handful of years, and I noticed something very sad, people today appear less friendly than when I was growing up.
Even in some of the more Southern States known for their outwardly friendly behavior have begun to become less vocal and cheerful.

Some years ago I had a fellow Nurse (Well actually I was a Paramedic at time) tell me she noticed how I was always smiling, and I seemed very happy, and it's a personal and professional trait she really liked about me, she then quoted the phrase "Smile & Whole World Smiles W/ U" or however it goes.

So why is this folks that it appears most of us are becoming less friendly and more recluse in our behaviors?

Heck I even read a study that showed an alarming # of Americans would avoid stopping to check on a car accident, or if someone appeared hurt or was being hurt they wouldn't get involved, why is this, are Americans losing our way?

I watched the movie "Pay It Forward" some time ago and I truly believed that if we all could play some sort of nicer role in our country things could greatly be enhanced.

Anyone else seeing this in your part of the U.S./World?

[le roi]

i blame nickelback

[Thursday007]

And these threads http://www.city-data.com/forum/relat...-humanity.html are relationship forum issues how?

[Chatteress]

There seems to be a mistrust amongst us Americans which makes us hesitant to be friendly for fear of being taken advantage of. It is sad, really.

[jertheber]

Over the last fifteen years or so there has been a number of TV shows that tend toward depicting the "world" as a very scary place. Mass media has been shouting the bad news for longer than I can remember, it isn't like the fifties because most American's lived in the rural areas and suburbs of the larger cities in those days and knew a lot of those people they came in contact with.

We also move from region to region more than most people around the globe, work and economics has been at the root of this constant migration, even small towns don't have the isolation they experienced in the fifties, they seem to be friendly only to those they know. One thing I've noticed since moving to a very small town is that the locals look right through you if you are a stranger, even in the cafes and bars they seem to not want to speak to you if you are unknown to them.

As far as the populace being negative about things I'd say they're more beat down than anything else, after two decades of living in a rising economy the hope is gone. The future for children looks especially bad in contrast to the not so long ago promise of an endless party of consuming and raising more kids. The U.S. is entering into that stage of decay that has been the bane of most empires, it's been hundreds of years ago that Great Britain gave up the colonies, America is simply the extension of that old Brit empire so we are actually an older society than most would think, look at the UK they aren't much better off.

[markg91359]

I think much of the negativity in America is because there is an implicit thought held by many people that our country has seen its best days and that we are sliding downhill. Politicians who seek to do something about this negativity are going to have convince the average American that things will get better and we are simply going through a temporary slump.

[texdav]

I thnik it pretty much satrted about 1968 as many historians and writers have said.Bascially mistrust because of so many fakes in politics. I know i certainyl was folled by camelot at the time.

[pekemom]

Stopping to help someone who looks hurt could result in you getting sued these days.....

[mtneer]

I think its a combination of media scaring people, religions teaching their followers that "everyone else" is wrong and the younger generations being socially inept because of less face to face interactions. The result is people are scared, they think everyone but them is bad and they avoid contact because they haven't a clue had to speak to another person.

[rosecitywanderer]

I find there is very little to be happy about and I believe that the media is to blame for almost all of it. As people have said, they've been shouting non-stop negativity at the speed of light for years now and have a young, impressionable population fully programmed to fear the mere thought of interaction. The crap that kids and teens watch nowdays portrays this false B.S. drama as real-world behavior just because it's called 'reality' TV and this leads to even more dysfunction. Then add to the fact that children don't talk to ANYBODY because they've been indoctrinated since birth to believe that anybody who smiles and says hello is automatically some heavy-breathing pervert who is there solely to abduct and molest them. Take ALL of that and combine it with a population incapable of independent critical thinking who have grown up text messaging each other without any sort of true face-to-face interaction and you get a world-class recipe for the crumbling of society as we know it. I hate to break it to you folks...the end of the world isn't in 2012. It's already started. In a generation or two (tops), there won't be any sort of human interaction. You'll go from birth to death staring into a cell phone, texting and Tweeting and NEVER look another human in the eye. When a creature cannot trust its own kind, the destruction is sure to be swift and horrifying. I'm not a negative person but I just don't see it ending any other way. It is a sad state of affairs and I only see it getting worse.

Think of it as being a bit like the Titanic. A little water comes in and fills one compartment...chances are good that nobody notices. Then it spills over into the second compartment; the bow dips a little bit more and the rate of sinking gets just a little bit faster. Gradually, the water fills each consecutive compartment and the rate of sinking increases at an ever-alarming rate and by the time people realize what's happened, it's too late to do anything about it.