This is creepy

[Versatile]

Is it an increase in commonality Milod? Or is it simply that the global village connects us to all of the horrors on a more regular basis than it did say, 100 years ago before the rapid transfer of information?

 

I'm not sure that humanity is on some kind of moral slide personally, I think we're just exposed to more than we ever were.

 

The Victorian English were convinced that stupidity and defective people were becoming a tide that was taking over the world, just around the time the global village was starting to take shape and the transfer of information over larger areas was becoming common. The Victorian era also believed in sterilization as a way of stopping certian "undesirables" from procreating. That was some scary stuff and shades of things to come in the 30's and 40's.

Well said....

The 'instant global media' we aspired to, and now possess has upped the ante regarding communication of crimes/atrocities worldwide

It is easier than ever, whilst chatting 'over the garden fence' to believe that the world has gone completely mad....

 

V

[milod]

yeah, the media thing is correct too...

 

But I think the more urban, the more different perspective to many things in life. Some 1500 years ago Vegetius in his famed book on the military made the point that farm and village boys made much better soldiers because they were inured to hardships and, in effect, from slaughtering livestock were more used to sorts of things they'd see in an army of swords and shields.

 

Urban folks also think of more specialization where there are those to take care of and, in theory, protect us. Rural folks have much less expectation and are less shocked by hardship, even death.

 

So... I think we're "wimpier" as a society, then add horrid entertainments that remove us from reality and put some of us who already are detached from the rest of us into a completely different world...

 

I dunno. Really.

 

m

[TommyK]

True that, Milod. The more urbanized the human, the wimpier he becomes. There are those who seldom venture far from the blue/green glow of street lights who expect 'someone' to hand it all to them. They want their lights to come on, their streets always plowed with no pot holes and someone to come to their beckon an call when they are in a spot.

 

I bought a van from a big city dealership once. During the delivery, the salesman was showing me how to turn on the radio, work the DVD player (not my choice, but it came with). How the seat adjustment worked, then I popped the hood. He seemed perplexed. "What you looking for?" he asked. "The dip stick," I replied. Then we went around to the back. I said, "Where is the spare?" Again he was perplexed. He stooped down and peered under the van, "THERE it is!" he said with great satisfaction. "How do you get it down? and where is the jack?" I asked. "Um.. just call Triple A," was his only reply. :unsure: I told him if I called Triple A, out where I live, I'd better have a lunch. Friends have reported 6 - 8 hours wait time for a Triple A to come help." After some sleuthing and door opening, I found the jack. When I got home I figured it out for myself. Good thing too. 2 months into ownership I went to the car to head to work and had a flat.

 

"But you have On-Star," he said. At an extra fee I knew. On a hunch I said, no. But the On-Star was free for the first month. On the drive home, the lights that indicate you have a signal from On-Star flickered on and off. Bottom line, away from the blu-green glow of street lights the On-Star signal fades. Bottom line, where I live I have no On-Star. So... It's up to me to be prepared for the inevitable so I can pull my own ox from the ditch.

 

They have no clue.