The decay of society (Rush Limbaugh, enemy, drugs, Christmas)
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Moderator cut: off topicAlthough their were problems years back - I'm sorry but people respected each other more. Kids were given limits and punishments if they exceeded those limits. Kids were as afraid of a neighbor catching them doing something bad as they were of their parents finding out.
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Yes. Our social and moral decline is more about that than entertainment. Crime shows and car crash movies do not cause weak, permissive parenting and a scary educational system where kids can get away with learning very little and abuse their teachers. Now a high school diploma is meaningless forcing kids to need an expensive college education that still does not guarantee a good job.
If we had held the line with discipline, expectations, and consequences, even if it made some kids and parents "feel bad", we would be in a much better place now.
Materialism does play a part I think but plenty of wealthy people are decent people. The middle class was doing fine. I don't think people became angry and entitled because their union job paid enough to afford a yearly vacation and an Oldsmobile. But when credit became easy to get, a lot of people became tempted and things started to crack.
I remember being so proud of my used car that I bought mostly with cash and a small loan from my local bank. Right about that time leasing became a thing and everyone had (rented) a brand new car that made my car seem like a clunker. Later they bought McMansions and fancy condos with zero down and sometimes no-doc loans. Old school frugality and buying what you could afford became passe and uncool.
Then the value of everything skyrocketed and debt became a necessity for most of us. Also, two working parents became common and in many cases, necessary. Then you have your guilt and permissive parenting and we start the cycle.
Last edited by Ibginnie; 11-25-2017 at 12:17 PM..
Reason: edited quoted post
I am big fan on old movies and can help to notice the difference in behavior btw the old society vs the new one. What in your opinion has caused that?
The best way to see the decay of society is to look no further than the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Rome allowed barbarian German races to enlist in the army which led Germans to take control of the military. Romans were also a very conservative people as well as a very religious bunch. Prior to the rise of Rome, Greek expansion in the Near East created three new cultures, Greco-Syrian, Greco-Egyptian and most notably Greco-Jewish. The faith of the Greco-Jewish faith known as Christianity will conquered the Roman Empire. Christianity at the time was a very liberal religion compared to know, thus allowing many to convert to the faith. The new faith did way with the old faith and many of the traditional Greek and Roman Customs that kept many Romans in check. Plenty of the wealthy Romans hid their taxes away from the city and in far flung places making difficult for tax collectors to collect taxes. Romans had too many Civil Wars which exhausted the Roman treasury. Romans never came up with a system of succession incase if an emperor dies. Rome also had environmental changes that caused its empire to decay like growing deserts in Africa, and the flow of water with rivers in Europe. Monetary reasons also caused for the decline of Rome. Roman currency was backed by Roman grain which came out of Sicily and Egypt. Inflation of Roman grain caused Romans to use less and less silver in their currency. Also Rome had plenty of welfare for its people. Feeding and entertaining the masses was not cheap. Free bread, Gladiatorial matches and chariot racing was not cheap, and it was expensive. Such welfare was paid by the state through taxes. Also police force and every tuesday garbage pickup was also paid through taxes.
By the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In places like Spain and France, Celts, Romans and Germans had to work together. While in Italy Germans, Greeks and Romans had to work together, while in Britain Celts and German tribe known as the Anglo Saxons had to work together. No body of government except for German chiefs who replaced Roman Emperors. Much of the administration was handled by the early Catholic Church, and slavery was replaced by serfdom.
The fall of Rome is one of the most documented forms of destruction ever recorded in history.
Too many people....the government cannot and will not impose/enforce basic standards of civility among the populace. Humans are naturally hedonistic, they wanna do what they wanna do.....the concept and construct of "society" means little to many of them.
All the bad "little things", that so many people do in this society...well they make the world a crummier place for people to live in. Boomcars, insane-driving, littering, blaring your music so all your neighbors have to listen to it, having an animal that screams all day and night long. The list is endless and will just grow.
I am big fan on old movies and can help to notice the difference in behavior btw the old society vs the new one. What in your opinion has caused that?
You badly need to learn about the history of acting. The way you see people acting in old movies has nothing to do with how people acted back then, it has everything to do with how schools and thoughts about acting evolved over the decades.
Unless you are over the age of 50, such assessments, either way, are pure speculation without personal experience to call upon for comparison.
Being of the ripe old age of 60, I can absolutely see vast differences in societal attitudes/behavior as a baseline. While undesirable behavior has always existed, there has been a steady decline in moral values in general, leading to an increasing amount AND acceptance of antisocial behavior as normal. Today, in the eyes of many, the mere term “morality†is a dirty word, and taken as an affront by those holding on to antiquated beliefs that have no place in modern society. That’s true of God, too. Anyone who hasn’t noticed how God has been systematically removed just hasn’t been paying attention. It’s not an accident, or coincidence.
Much of this shift is a result of deliberate social engineering/manipulation by the mass media and the education system, which preys upon the weaker minds, playing to their lower level instincts. We glorify, celebrate and encourage immorality as an expression of personal freedom, because the goal of the social engineers is to eliminate personal regulation, in favor of authoritarianism and government regulation of behavior. “Order out of chaos†.... “Divide and Conquerâ€. If one wants to rebuild something, the first step is to dismantle it, and that is true of society as well. To rebuild a house, you must first tear down the old one. That’s whats happening, and it seems that very few actually have a clue as to how they are being manipulated into embracing self destruction. A comprehensive list of examples would fill volumes, but the Andy Griffith example is a classic case in point. Ole Mayberry was a sleepy old fictional town that never existed in reality, yet the underlying message of the show was of tranquility and good moral values, with clear lines between right and wrong behavior. The same could be said of all of the shows on TV during that era .... “Father knows best†... “Leave it to Beaver†... “Hazel†.... “I love Lucy†... “The Brady Bunch†... etc, etc. what replaced them? “Beavis and Buttheadâ€; “The Simpson’s†.... and no list would be complete without mentioning “Married with Childrenâ€, comprising Al Bundy, the clueless dim wit perpetual loser, his obnoxious wife Peggy, his pervert son and promiscuous daughter. What a fine example of a wholesome American family!
Couple this with 24/7 mainstream news, which broadcasts an endless stream of mass violence occurring hourly ... race baiting stories .... gender inequality stories .... continuous national protests for every concievable unfairness .... corruption ... crime ... terrorism .... the message is clear .... humanity is out of control, and our only all hope is government .... those finely dressed, honorable gentlemen and gentle ladies in Washington DC .... you know ... those sexual predators and peadophile perverts we elected to lead us will pass more laws to protect us from ourselves.
But whose going to protect us from them? That’s the question we better start asking.
Unless you are over the age of 50, such assessments, either way, are pure speculation without personal experience to call upon for comparison.
Being of the ripe old age of 60, I can absolutely see vast differences in societal attitudes/behavior as a baseline. While undesirable behavior has always existed, there has been a steady decline in moral values in general, leading to an increasing amount AND acceptance of antisocial behavior as normal. Today, in the eyes of many, the mere term “morality” is a dirty word, and taken as an affront by those holding on to antiquated beliefs that have no place in modern society. That’s true of God, too. Anyone who hasn’t noticed how God has been systematically removed just hasn’t been paying attention. It’s not an accident, or coincidence.
Much of this shift is a result of deliberate social engineering/manipulation by the mass media and the education system, which preys upon the weaker minds, playing to their lower level instincts. We glorify, celebrate and encourage immorality as an expression of personal freedom, because the goal of the social engineers is to eliminate personal regulation, in favor of authoritarianism and government regulation of behavior. “Order out of chaos” .... “Divide and Conquer”. If one wants to rebuild something, the first step is to dismantle it, and that is true of society as well. To rebuild a house, you must first tear down the old one. That’s whats happening, and it seems that very few actually have a clue as to how they are being manipulated into embracing self destruction. A comprehensive list of examples would fill volumes, but the Andy Griffith example is a classic case in point. Ole Mayberry was a sleepy old fictional town that never existed in reality, yet the underlying message of the show was of tranquility and good moral values, with clear lines between right and wrong behavior. The same could be said of all of the shows on TV during that era .... “Father knows best” ... “Leave it to Beaver” ... “Hazel” .... “I love Lucy” ... “The Brady Bunch” ... etc, etc. what replaced them? “Beavis and Butthead”; “The Simpson’s” .... and no list would be complete without mentioning “Married with Children”, comprising Al Bundy, the clueless dim wit perpetual loser, his obnoxious wife Peggy, his pervert son and promiscuous daughter. What a fine example of a wholesome American family!
Couple this with 24/7 mainstream news, which broadcasts an endless stream of mass violence occurring hourly ... race baiting stories .... gender inequality stories .... continuous national protests for every concievable unfairness .... corruption ... crime ... terrorism .... the message is clear .... humanity is out of control, and our only all hope is government .... those finely dressed, honorable gentlemen and gentle ladies in Washington DC .... you know ... those sexual predators and peadophile perverts we elected to lead us will pass more laws to protect us from ourselves.
But whose going to protect us from them? That’s the question we better start asking.
Remember when they couldn't show a bathroom or husband and wife laying in the same bed on TV (Lucy and Ricky beds anyone)?
All In The Family was the first show to actually have toilet sounds or any bathroom references to be allowed by the censors. Now there's no censors or rules...
I am amused by people that think their blurry memory of a past that never was is preferable to the time we are in. Live in today folks. The past is irretrievable and thankfully so.
Moderator cut: off topicAlthough their were problems years back - I'm sorry but people respected each other more. Kids were given limits and punishments if they exceeded those limits. Kids were as afraid of a neighbor catching them doing something bad as they were of their parents finding out.
There are a lot of great people still out there but too many good people are believing all the BS about how they should feel ashamed for what they are or what they have. Liberal ideas of a Shangri-La where everyone is equal are as factitious as those movies in the 50's but there was more truth in the movies of the 50's than left leaning ideas.
Re the bolded, Mike Huckabee has said that about his own childhood.
Although I sort of find that hard to believe re Hope, Arkansas .
Moderator cut: off topic
Last edited by Ibginnie; 11-25-2017 at 12:20 PM..
Reason: edited quoted post
I am amused by people that think their blurry memory of a past that never was is preferable to the time we are in. Live in today folks. The past is irretrievable and thankfully so.
You are speaking though your own personal lens. Some of us had it different and there are objective measures as well. Society has a tendency to cycle. We look back at our mistakes and failures, but what about what was right, and lost. The past wasn't ALL bad, and society's progression is tenuous.
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