whitnebrat Loc: In the wilds of Oregon

Call me an elitist, a dinosaur, a throwback to a different age … I'll probably agree with you. I've never been one to lower myself into the fray of the gutter or the rhetoric of the rabble.
In the era that I was brought up in, it was a much different age where deals were struck with a handshake and were as unbreakable as a fifty page contract today. Back then, you didn't need a lawyer to know what the law was or how you were supposed to act. Back then, there was (for the most part) civility in actions, intentions and especially, words.
We treated each other with at least the outward modicum of respect, held doors open for each other, and road rage wasn't a common occurance. We called our elders "Sir" or "Ma'am" and spoke in complete sentences. We operated pretty much on an honor system regarding each other's property. Neighbors knew each other and respected their privacy as they did of yours.
That was the world that I grew up in. I realize that there were a lot of other worlds that didn't share much of the value system that I knew, but that wasn't where I was at. Yes, I was brought up with an elitist viewpoint, but going to public school broadened that outlook in short order. I learned to tolerate other viewpoints and lifestyles, and found that words and honor matter both on the playground and in life, at least to me.
Contrast that with the modern day value system where your word is good just as far as you can see the other person. A guarantee is many times "fifty feet or fifty seconds, whichever comes first." A handshake is worthless as a dealmaker, and if it isn't on paper, there is no deal to be had. Business ethics is an oxymoron. All that counts is the profit margin, while civic responsibility and personal integrity are forgotten in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
We've replaced civility with the language of the guttersnipe, and dialog with the puffery and demagoguery of the WWE wrestler. Gone is the soaring rhetoric of a Churchill or Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln or Adlai Stevenson. Debate has come to mean the hurling of insults at your opponent or making false statements as to their heritage, personal life or anything else that will stick to the wall. Discussion became a dirty word, oratory is a lost art. Who today would engage a political opponent for three-plus hours (ala Lincoln/Douglas debates)talking about national goals and policy, without ever demeaning their opponent.
Words have come to be "squishy", meaning one thing today and something different tomorrow. There is an argument over "what the meaning of 'is', is. "Alternative facts" are a political way of life. Outright lies are repeated over and over until many people just believe them, regardless of their validity. Josef Goebbels would be proud.
Very few politicians today would match up to Eisenhower dealing with DeGaulle during the Second World War, or even Reagan up against Gorbachev. When Senators or Congressmen refer to their opponents, the words "My distinguished friend on the other side" ring hollow indeed, given that they just trashed them on national television.
Grammar and vocabulary suffer greatly in the current environment. We many times do not speak in complete sentences. Contractions and idioms are slung around in ways that my college English teacher would have had a heart attack over. It is said that the average English speaker has a vocabulary of about 10,000 words, and uses 10% of them most of the time. These days, I wonder if that is still true, given what we see and hear on a daily basis.
Spelling also has taken a hit, with the Internet being a major offender. This may be as much a fault of typing sk**ls as a limited knowledge of spelling.
I guess that what I'm advocating for is a return to making what we say mean something, and using our words and actions to restore civility to its former place in society. If we do this, the country, indeed the world, would be a much nicer and safer place.

rumitoid

Deeds are actions.

rumitoid

Use more spacing, make what u write easier to follow.

whitnebrat Loc: In the wilds of Oregon

Point taken, I'll do so in the future.

bahmer

Amen and Amen

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

My God, your moral character, and Logic + common sence are exactly the qualities I am hoping to see more of here at OPP IN the new year. I am so tired of reading topics from people who live their lives through the opinions and gossip of others.
Thank you for your input.
Go with God.
Check out Styxhexenhamm on U-Tube please.

whitnebrat Loc: In the wilds of Oregon

I wrote the additional verbiage in response to a private mail asking what the causes for this moral breakdown were. This was my answer.

===================================================
Thank you for your kind words.

There are a number of factors that I see as contributing factors to this phenomenon.

First, a lack of education regarding civilization in general; including history, civics, English, and the arts. History teaches all the reasons that
civilizations/societies fail and gives us a road-map to keep ours going. Civics lets us know how our own society works, and the reasons for compromise. English lets us put our thoughts into a more "civil" form that people will better understand, and by doing so, forces us to inject more civility into the conversation just having to structure what we say and write. The arts, as Alistair Cooke so wonderfully showed us in the landmark television series "Civilization", elevates our appreciation for beauty and a sense of what makes things pleasing to the eye, and gives us "happy ears".

Second, there is human nature, which at its basis works (usually unconsciously) by the maxim "what is not like me has to be destroyed." It's the basis for most hatred and discrimination. "Us versus them." Civilization and civility has to be imposed in any society if it is to survive. The rules of civility are the laws that we impose in order to keep a "civil" society going. While free speech is sometimes too free, the laws of libel and slander tend to hold us accountable if taken to an extreme. Actions (assault, robbery, murder, etc), when taken against another member of the society, involve more severe penalties.

Third, the level of discourse has devolved in this country (to my way of thinking) because of the previous two factors, in that many people don't have the education to express themselves well, have out-of-proportion emotional responses to uncomfortable situations, and don't analyze why they think or react the way they do (or just have a tendency to h**e to begin with). The idea of civility starts at the top, in treating our opponents with respect, tolerance and dignity ... three civil concepts that are sorely lacking in our present national leadership. As I stated in my post, the attitudes and responses of a WWE wrestler are the norm for the lesser/under educated members of the society because of a lack of understanding of how civilization works both on a personal and societal level.
The pecking order for survival, as you probably know, is: me, my family, my clan and my society. All too often, it's only the first two that get implemented in our thinking. Without education, knowing why my clan and society are important to my survival tend to go unknown, and the baser responses to adverse situations come to the fore. We are a tribal species by instinct, and the job of society is to curb that instinct to push for a greater good.

Fourth, organized religion in many cases tends to foment the "us versus them" mentality. If you're religiously inclined, you may think of yourself as being one of the "saved" souls, which leads to a feeling of superiority that manifests in intolerance for other beliefs and ideas. A classic example is the evangelical movement in this country encouraging the clash between Judaism and Islam so that the Christians can move in and occupy the Holy Land when the two sides exhaust themselves. In this case, all sides have taken up the attitude of "I'm better than you are", with resulting incivility and outright warfare.

All in all, any society will self-destruct if civility and tolerance are not implemented within it. All the factors that I listed are what I think leads up to the incivility which we are seeing today. If not thwarted and tamped down, it will lead to either civil war, or a dissolution of our society as we know it either through being conquered or just plain internecine warfare.within.

Thus has it always been, is now, and (without major changes in our basic makeup) will be evermore.

Thank you for allowing me to express my viewpoints and for your interest.

Big Brain

That was a pleasure to read. I too remember those days. Today? Only in books and memories.