The moral decay of society

I guess we'll have to disagree about everything, because nothing you wrote here rings true. Imagine is another song that is just communism with a pretty melody. Hippies became the first homeless in the bay area, and the silicon valley nerds had nothing in common with Freddy, Franklin, and Phineas.

I grew up thinking exactly like you. I thought that hippies were good people who just wanted to live their lives in peace. The problem is that they were very hardcore activists who demanded changes that did not work. Because of them, we lost in vietnam. Because of that loss, vietnam and cambodia are communist shitholes to this day. It could have worked out like the korean war did, but instead, we ended up with pol pot and uncle Ho.

For half a century, half the korean peninsula has had the fortune to live in a first world capitalist society, and the other half has suffered terribly. If left up to the hippies, south koreans would be just like north koreans.

 

What’s your point of reference? Ancient world, medieval or renaissance periods where torture and death was tolerated a lot more than today? Or about forced marriages? Or serfdom and slavery? Or are you referring to 20th century with 2 world wars + Cold War + rise of brutal dictatorships?

I think current moral standards are as good as they could ever be.

 

Because of hippies we lost in Vietnam...lol...How many hippies did Nixon have in his cabinet? I love that one! Vietnam is not a shithole either, it’s a nicely developing Asian country. Whole different story from North and South Korea. Vietnam was a no win from the beginning just like Afghanistan has always been. We got a lot of good kids killed there including my older brother who was killed 5 years after Nixon’s promise of a secret plan to end the war. The last time I saw him he told me that the protestors were right, that the war was bullshit and to stay out of it. RIP....

 

Yes, Vietnam is a shithole.

See, I've actually been there. It's a shithole.

 

Seriously?

That is what you believe that song is all about?

It was just a spoof song about the Beach Boy's California Girls hit song.

 

Something I find interesting is that we sometimes see lines in movies that are very insightful into human mentality. When we think for ourselves, when we accept that responsibility- we can do pretty good. When we let a group tell us how to think, everything changes. Religions are a sort of crutch between the autonomous person establishing their own values, and the adoption of values others dictate. Goof values don't require a crutch, but if you lack the ability to do it on your own the crutch can bridge the gap. Of course- you still have to be aware that you are an individual, not the property of the crutch. Many cannot do that.

Quote from Men In Black- Tommie Lee Jones, Agent Kay:

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

It takes courage and commitment to find yourself, to be yourself, to stand up for yourself. Weak people can't do that, and in recent decades we have been promoting weakness- and thus the decay of our strength, our spirit, our morality and our ability to thrive.

 

We made it a shithole, by destroying its infrastructure, defoliating its countryside and poisoning the atmosphere. That's what war does.

Before its destruction by the US military, it was a beautiful tropical country.

 

Perhaps.... but that is something nature restores.
The country had a brutal lifestyle for it's people. I don't think we improved that, and natures power to restore people to strength and freedom seems to depend on us- and we aren't that dependable.
We shouldn't have been there. Bad choice on our part.

 

Sigh ...

Yes, as always, believers assume that one cannot be moral without fear of a punishing god. Yet, the most moral, ethical, and nice people I know are atheists.

 

I have to agree. A few years ago I took some of my wife's adult children from her first marriage and their families, who live far away, on a vacation so she could see more of them. Paid all the bills. We were deep sea fishing one day, and the captain and I were talking. He asked what my religion was- and I told him I wasn't religious. He said, 'How can that be? You're generous, caring and kind- how can you not be religious?"
I told him that it's not necessary to have someone dictate what is obviously right and wrong to you; anyone willing to think on a scale beyond themselves can determine what good values are- and how they benefit the person who holds them as well as others around them. He seemed to find that fascinating. Then he asked me for advice on how to deal with his wife finding out about his mistress.

 

Yup!

Been my experience that atheists uphold their own morals and ethics because of what they mean to themselves personally.

 

In the good old days child abuse, wife beating stayed in the closet..

 

Gee, I wonder if we could find a Christian to assure us that the most moral, ethical, and nice people he knows are Christians.

 

I'd say no - not 'juxtaposed' but yes to 'commensurate' with the decline in religion.

 

I doubt @Eleuthera wants an answer to this either, but if he or she indicates otherwise, I will suspend my disbelief as long as possible.

 

I’m sure that is some kind of violation of their rights....

 

[QUOTE="yguy, post: 1070989637, member: 36186

No trust me I can recognize when someone says something substantive or even informative. So far you have been completely unable and so resort to stupid comments like the one about tyrants above.

So, would you find these people moral?:


or how about this guy?:

or this How about this guy?

Or can you give a coherent reply to Chris's documented thesis that American evangelicals have become so political that they are becoming right-wing fascist in nature?

What? WTF are you talking about. My children are adults with children of their own. Even by your standards this is an idiotic statement and proves you have nothing intelligent to say on anything. Waste of time.

I didn't misrepresent anything and your resorting to moronic insults is a waste of my time.

 

lol

Please, you avoid such recognition like vampires avoid crosses.

Hell if I know, as they're all adblocked, and I'm not about to unblock anything - not that I'm dumb enough to get suckered into an argument over personalities when the issue is principles anyway.

I wouldn't know, having neither any idea who Chris is, nor any reason to give a damn...

...any more than I have any reason to defend evangelicals, seeing nothing I said depends on their conduct.

But not a whit more idiotic than the question I was responding to. You're welcome.

That's a rule violation, in case you're unaware. Someone may report you.

Then providing a verbatim quote and link to me saying "religious people are not subject to tyranny" won't be a problem, so ante up already.

 

A crime on our part. Just like the fraud called the war on terror.

 

What question was asked?

 

"Imagine all the people
Living life in peace"

Yeah...that just screams communism....wtf...

 

Good call, ECA.

 

Morality is largely hardwired into us. We are social by nature, with very few exceptions. Over many years, our earliest ancestors developed instinctive behaviors that would guarantee our continued existence within a group or clan or tribe. It stands to reason that those behaviors would include being helpful and kind at need, as well as being willing to put our lives on the line to protect our group.

Morality preceded religion to a large degree. Religious leaders simply used the behaviors we already knew were moral and ethical to their advantage, making it amoral, even illegal, to behave in any way not prescribed by the god or gods they espoused, and in the case of many beliefs, they managed to instill the notion that if we did not behave that way, with rule 1 usually having something to do with what we believed or how we worshipped, and especially how we "honored" their church (i.e., keep the faith and give them money), then we would not benefit from whatever paradise they made up as an afterlife.

The Christian ten commandments are an excellent example of this: "Thou shalt not kill" doesn't enter in until #5. Shouldn't that be the first rule for humans to live by? How jealous is their god?

I'm trying not to offend believers here, but this can't be explained without that, so I apologize to those I've offended. That said, I would remind you all of something I've learned by studying many of the world's religions, current and defunct. They have a common theme:

My faith is the one true faith.
My church is the one true church.
My god is the one true god.

They can't all be right, so by employing the scientific method known as Occam's Razor, that the simplest explanation tends to be the right one, they are all wrong.

 

See comment 523.

 

That's your opinion.