Are We Getting Worse As Humans?

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I write not to gather approval nor dis approval, I write what I see and feel because I can. I do not write to offend people but will not step back from offending but the offence is on the other side and not targeted at any one person. One of the true good and horrors of humans is that two humans can look at the same thing, one sees good the other sees horror

I enjoy forums where people openly and honestly communicate. I find myself intrigued and puzzled, more than offended, when I come across a post that shares a viewpoint that runs opposite of mine. I frequently make the mistake of thinking if I properly educated the person with the opposing mindset, they will see the error in their thinking, and make an adjustment. That is always a mistake, because that never happens. 

My friends are honest and correct when they call me an information junkie. I can be obnoxious in my quest for understanding. Everyone has an opinion, and it is usually based on their own life experiences, but the overwhelming influence of the media and the virtual infusion of social media, has made many exchange reality and commonsense, for a world lived vicariously. This often creates a huge problem, because a vicarious experience brings out emotions on a much deeper, sometimes visceral level. It is extremely difficult to come to terms with truth or reality when you have to first win the battle of emotions.

Reminds me of an evening some years ago, there was a lively discussion on the go but I was enjoying the sun and my whisky too much to get involved. Then one young Lady said "If every one had the same point of view( meaning the POV she had ) the world would be a better place. I answered "What if that POV was lets go to war ", Then another Lady said "Diversity, cant live with it cant live with out it, lets just blow the fu#king place up "

@Wallfire, I am so glad that we don't all share the same POV.  

Though I have to admit, I have had days where blowing something up "felt" like a good idea, in the moment.

[Moonmagic]

The older I get, the worse I think it is!

Then I also see the good side to us more often too.

Some days I feel sick to my stomach when I read things like that, other days I am filled with hope when seeing people do selfless things and when we come together, even for a brief moment.

So my answer is, I don't know!

I think as we grow older we grow not wiser, but perhaps more aware. Our life experiences become resource data from which we can use to make better choices and decisions. As it has been said, some things you can't unsee, especially those things that we find repugnant.

I think evil is multilayered. It is hard for me to explain what I mean because the word itself immediately generates a mental image for each of us, and it is never static. Evil is constantly morphing, sometimes it is so translucent that it is near impossible to see.

Hope is what I think keeps most of us afloat. Love and compassion is what keeps away the darkness.

You just put that perfectly! Thank you!

[Mystic Wanderer]

I agree with SOL and Wondercow, its always been the same. I believe we are all born evil, no matter how good a person is given the right conditions they will do evil. If you want to take a dark look at humans they do two things, Evil and less Evil.
Some religions embrace evil, some try to fight it but at the end of the day its the question of the level of evil.

I respectfully disagree. 

I don't think we are all born evil. Maybe some are born with mental illness that manifests as appearing evil, but most people are born as being a good person, in the image of God.


Racism isn't something people are born with, it's learned from other family members or friends. Evil is the same way.
Although we are all born with sin, sin is different than evilness.

It's a sin to steal a hammer from your neighbor; it's evil to kill your neighbor with the hammer.

Evil is connected to spiritual entities that takes control of humans, and right now they have their grips on a large portion of humanity, but there are also good entities that help fight them off.

This goes deeper into spiritual warfare more than just good vs. bad human behavior.
That's a deeper topic that I don't have time to get into right now.

[Wallfire]

I agree with SOL and Wondercow, its always been the same. I believe we are all born evil, no matter how good a person is given the right conditions they will do evil. If you want to take a dark look at humans they do two things, Evil and less Evil.
Some religions embrace evil, some try to fight it but at the end of the day its the question of the level of evil.

I respectfully disagree. 

I don't think we are all born evil. Maybe some are born with mental illness that manifests as appearing evil, but most people are born as being a good person, in the image of God.


Racism isn't something people are born with, it's learned from other family members or friends. Evil is the same way.
Although we are all born with sin, sin is different than evilness.

It's a sin to steal a hammer from your neighbor; it's evil to kill your neighbor with the hammer.

Evil is connected to spiritual entities that takes control of humans, and right now they have their grips on a large portion of humanity, but there are also good entities that help fight them off.

This goes deeper into spiritual warfare more than just good vs. bad human behavior.
That's a deeper topic that I don't have time to get into right now.

Are people born evil ( is evil in our DNA) and learn to be good, is racism as we call it a learnt response of something in our DNA. But I love the fact it can be talked about with respect here. Love ye MW 

[Mystic Wanderer]

@"Wallfire" asked,
 

Are people born evil ( is evil in our DNA) and learn to be good, is racism as we call it a learnt response of something in our DNA. But I love the fact it can be talked about with respect here. Love ye MW 

No, evil is not in our DNA, that is, unless you come from a linage of Reptilians. Totally different topic.

No, racism is not in our DNA, it is a learned response from our parents, friends, or others who have influence in our lives.

[Serdgiam]

The way I see it.. We are becoming more extreme in our views, amplified by manufactured online presences (botnets) and an inability to perceive scale. Meaning, if we are presented with something, anything, day after day.. We start to perceive that as being representative of "reality" as a whole.

On the internet, we can literally do this with any topic. There are countless resources that we can willingly pound into our brains over and over, week after week. Of course, with centralized platforms, this tends to be done for us in subtle (and not so subtle) censorship, cultivated "feeds," and botnets.

I believe this is intentionally manipulated, but even if it is organic, our awareness of it can stall its progress.

As for racism.. I was raised with some very influential black people that were extensively involved in my life. Looking back on it, their approach was probably intentional and maybe even a bit experimental. I wouldnt go there if I didnt know just how brilliant these people were (high level programmers, top level scientist, etc).

They never brought up skin color in any context other than something like hair color, eye color, or height. I wasnt even aware "racism" was a thing until much later in life.

I still perceive it in that way. I could probably reprogram myself, but I believe they did right by me. It doesnt mean I deny the existence of racism in others, but I do refuse to see it as any different than other physical attributes personally.

I think I can count the number of racists Ive met with white skin on one hand. I cant say the same beyond that. None of it is subtle in my experience.. Even when its packaged in DoubleSpeak.

People like Daryl Davis have done some incredible things too.

[Wallfire]

The way I see it.. We are becoming more extreme in our views, amplified by manufactured online presences (botnets) and an inability to perceive scale. Meaning, if we are presented with something, anything, day after day.. We start to perceive that as being representative of "reality" as a whole.

On the internet, we can literally do this with any topic. There are countless resources that we can willingly pound into our brains over and over, week after week. Of course, with centralized platforms, this tends to be done for us in subtle (and not so subtle) censorship, cultivated "feeds," and botnets.

I believe this is intentionally manipulated, but even if it is organic, our awareness of it can stall its progress.

As for racism.. I was raised with some very influential black people that were extensively involved in my life. Looking back on it, their approach was probably intentional and maybe even a bit experimental. I wouldnt go there if I didnt know just how brilliant these people were (high level programmers, top level scientist, etc).

They never brought up skin color in any context other than something like hair color, eye color, or height. I wasnt even aware "racism" was a thing until much later in life.

I still perceive it in that way. I could probably reprogram myself, but I believe they did right by me. It doesnt mean I deny the existence of racism in others, but I do refuse to see it as any different than other physical attributes personally.

I think I can count the number of racists Ive met with white skin on one hand. I cant say the same beyond that. None of it is subtle in my experience.. Even when its packaged in DoubleSpeak.

People like Daryl Davis have done some incredible things too.

Great text, true that we are been controlled, first it was radio, then as TVs became more popular that was used, then the internet, next perhaps implants, who knows. Raseism is a hard one, I have heard powerful argument for it a learnt response as well as its in our DNA as part of basic survival. Kill and attack what is different as it could be a treat to the tribe. An interesting subject but perhaps not the best time to talk about it

[Serdgiam]

Great text, true that we are been controlled, first it was radio, then as TVs became more popular that was used, then the internet, next perhaps implants, who knows. Raseism is a hard one, I have heard powerful argument for it a learnt response as well as its in our DNA as part of basic survival. Kill and attack what is different as it could be a treat to the tribe. An interesting subject but perhaps not the best time to talk about it

I believe that behaviors like tribalism actually derive from our Cultural Story. Wherein, "Cultural Story" is understood a bit like nurture (nature vs nurture) on steroids and multi-multi-multi generational. Perhaps with some epigenetic factors too though.

I would argue that this particular theme in our Cultural Story has existed since before the Neolithic Revolution (the last "big" change to our Cultural Story), so we have never really known differently.

The concept is explored pretty nicely in books like Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (great author, imo).

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Great text, true that we are been controlled, first it was radio, then as TVs became more popular that was used, then the internet, next perhaps implants, who knows. Raseism is a hard one, I have heard powerful argument for it a learnt response as well as its in our DNA as part of basic survival. Kill and attack what is different as it could be a treat to the tribe. An interesting subject but perhaps not the best time to talk about it

I was just talking about that a couple of days ago at work. The young folk didn't believe that no one in my community had a TV when I was growing up. Every house had a radio though. I remember sitting with my grandfather and listening to baseball. I was a huge baseball fan back then.

I remember like it was yesterday, the first time my Dad brought home a TV set. Of course it was a black and white set, and our house became like the community clubhouse. Neighbors started coming by to socialize and watch TV. It was mostly an adult thing, us kids really didn't care that much for it, in the beginning.

You are right that the programming did start from there, from the very beginning. My brother and I have been spending time a couple nights a week watching the old TV shows that we used to think were so clean and innocent. It is so revealing to watch them now with a more experienced and knowing eye. It is  a bit scary to see how far and how successful the programming has been in less than fifty years. With the internet it has accelerated at a blinding rate. I am terrified at where it will lead us, because the majority of us are not stepping back from the precipice, and it may just be too late to turn back.

[Antisthenes]

No, racism is not in our DNA, it is a learned response from our parents, friends, or others who have influence in our lives.

Totally agree. There are no bad seeds with exception to those born broken.The human brain seems to be a pretty delicate gizmo. Given how easily it goes all scrambled eggs I think a lot of what passes for evil is a messed up scrambled gizmo. So many variables, too. From the constant barrage of media gas-lighting to the poison in our food sources to outright birth defect. Then you have the nonsense parents perpetrate on their own offspring. I have to say that in the present, my perspective is that Social Media has done so much more to propagate than to mitigate the optics of evil. As Pogo so eloquently pointed out so many moons ago, "we have seen the enemy, and he is us".

[Mystic Wanderer]

I was just talking about that a couple of days ago at work. The young folk didn't believe that no one in my community had a TV when I was growing up. Every house had a radio though. I remember sitting with my grandfather and listening to baseball. I was a huge baseball fan back then.

I remember like it was yesterday, the first time my Dad brought home a TV set. Of course it was a black and white set, and our house became like the community clubhouse. Neighbors started coming by to socialize and watch TV. It was mostly an adult thing, us kids really didn't care that much for it, in the beginning.

You are right that the programming did start from there, from the very beginning. My brother and I have been spending time a couple nights a week watching the old TV shows that we used to think were so clean and innocent. It is so revealing to watch them now with a more experienced and knowing  eye. It is  a bit scary to see how far and how successful the programming has been in less than fifty years. With the internet it has accelerated at a blinding rate. I am terrified at where it will lead us, because the majority of us are not stepping back from the precipice, and it may just be too late to turn back.

My maternal grandparents never owned a t.v.  My granddaddy said t.v. was the devil's toy and he wouldn't allow one in his house.
I thought he was nuts.
Looking back now, that old man had more wisdom in his little pinky than all of us.

Kids, listen to your elders!

[Serdgiam]

No, racism is not in our DNA, it is a learned response from our parents, friends, or others who have influence in our lives.

Totally agree. There are no bad seeds with exception to those born broken.The human brain seems to be a pretty delicate gizmo. Given how easily it goes all scrambled eggs I think a lot of what passes for evil is a messed up scrambled gizmo. So many variables, too. From the constant barrage of media gas-lighting to the poison in our food sources to outright birth defect. Then you have the nonsense parents perpetrate on their own offspring. I have to say that in the present, my perspective is that Social Media has done so much more to propagate than to mitigate the optics of evil. As Pogo so eloquently pointed out so many moons ago, "we have seen the enemy, and he is us".

I think that a lot of modern technology simply unveils problems that were always there.

In a sense, this brings them into the light so we can actually work on them, together. Obviously, we dont really take this approach lol

BUT!

When it comes to social media platforms, the harm they cause society and culture is absolutely massive. Whether the true extent of this harm was known when they were designed is almost immaterial. They were built, from the ground up, to foster addiction. The little dings, and "likes & shares," and all that give us constant dopamine hits throughout the day.

Whether by design, or simply the aforementioned unveiling of underlying problems, this slowly coalesced into more and more extreme views. Something that really gets people outraged will garner an immense amount of dopamine hits. And, the emotion itself can become habitual and return a dopamine hit too, particularly after enough times doing it.

At a certain point, in very typical addiction behavior, one looks to keep getting the same fix, or more. This causes an escalation, and eventually a full blown folie a plusieurs in participants.

Now.. If we throw in something like The Virus.. Wow! We are getting those dopamine hits from constant, relentless fear and all of the previous behavior that continues unabated.

Shut that valve off though, and the unconscious addiction persists. But, the tolerance has been amped up considerably. Now, what happens when we transfer it all to a single event that gets repeatedly blasted every where? It concentrates it.

Add into the mix a corporate-political system that wants to destabilize things so they can implement their own system..

And.. Here we are 

[Ninurta]

Years ago, during a discussion of why people do evil things, my police instructor made the observation that "there are just some people in this world born junkyard dog mean. there's no reason for it, no parent that made them wear red underwear as a child or anything like that, they are just plain evil". I've used that as a yardstick since then, and found it to hold up over time.

Some people are just a waste of skin when it comes to the rest of the human race.

When "fighting evil", there is no fair or not fair. there is only win or lose, and if you lose, then so does the rest of humanity, so it's a high stakes game. There are people in this world willing to sacrifice themselves, to become the monster that is the only way to defeat the other monsters, so that the innocent don't have to. I cannot say if that is "selfless", or just their own bit of evil rearing it's ugly head, but either way it's the only thing that keeps civilization from descending into anarchy.

So you don't have to.

.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

My maternal grandparents never owned a t.v.  My granddaddy said t.v. was the devil's toy and he wouldn't allow one in his house.
I thought he was nuts.
Looking back now, that old man had more wisdom in his little pinky than all of us.

Kids, listen to your elders!

I have been reminiscing a lot lately of the old normal. Growing up as a child in the country, neighborhood and community looked a lot different back then. 

Neighbors would discipline you just as quick as your parents,  and you would pray they never told your parents of your wrong doing, or you would end up being punished twice again.

My parents didn't believe in spankings. My Dad was a Sergeant in the military, and his take was, spankings were over too quickly, and did not give you enough time to really think about what you did wrong. Instead, he would come up with long drawn out punishments, like chopping a month's worth of firewood, or hand scrubbing the hardwood floors on your hands and knees.

Back then the elderly were respected and were vessels of knowledge that you sought out. I loved sitting or working beside the old folks and listening to their stories.

I didn't know just how wise they really were. I do know that we should have listened. Especially when they kept telling us, "Never trust the government ". 

[BIAD]

My old man used to take the dog-leash to me when I messed-up. Later, when he was in his sixties
and I knew everything at eighteen years of age, he was getting ready to go to work on night-shift
and we'd been talking about boxing against today's manner of street-brawling.
(This was 1978)

I knew he'd boxed in the Navy during WWII and he'd always explained he'd fought fifty-odd arranged
boxing fights and never won one of them -which I found out later, wasn't true. He was a thin man with
thin wrists and large hands, but he was smarter than me when it came to hiding one's light under a bushel.

He stood up to get his coat and with my mother sat engrossed in Coronation Street on the TV, I said his boxing
prowess wouldn't stand a chance against the way I used to fight back then.

As I buckled due to my stomach telling me it had been hit by a train and then felt two quick punches to
my jaw, I heard my mother lazily-comment without looking away from her long-running series, "leave him
alone, Reg".

Without straying from boxing manoeuvres, he left me sliding down the door to our kitchen and whoever was
having an affair in Coronation Street, continued.

The guy who I've patterned my life of...? He went to work, the kids needed feeding.

[beez]

I don't think we're getting worse, but we're definitely not getting better.

For being the 21st century, we still have wars, human trafficking, murder, rape, violence.

Maybe we aren't the enlightened beings we claim to be.

Maybe we are just smart mammals with opposible thumbs and are good tool-makers.

*grunts*

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I don't think we're getting worse, but we're definitely not getting better.

For being the 21st century, we still have wars, human trafficking, murder, rape, violence.

Maybe we aren't the enlightened beings we claim to be.

Maybe we are just smart mammals with opposible thumbs and are good tool-makers.

*grunts*

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I think the same way.

[Sol]

I don't think we're getting worse, but we're definitely not getting better.

For being the 21st century, we still have wars, human trafficking, murder, rape, violence.

Maybe we aren't the enlightened beings we claim to be.

Maybe we are just smart mammals with opposible thumbs and are good tool-makers.

*grunts*

Maybe you're right !

[beez]

We, as humans, have such a great capacity for love, art, creativity, forgiveness.

And we spend most of our time hating.

I was not ever a "hugger".

Hated human contact.

But my wife, a true pacifist, always hugs.

In our home, we hug our children, I am always hugging my bride.

The world may go insane, but we have a small corner of sanity and love.

[guohua]

We, as humans, have such a great capacity for love, art, creativity, forgiveness.

And we spend most of our time hating.

I was not ever a "hugger".

Hated human contact.

But my wife, a true pacifist, always hugs.

In our home, we hug our children, I am always hugging my bride.

The world may go insane, but we have a small corner of sanity and love.

A Hugger you say,,,  is that you Joe?