Are people crueler, less humane, and less sensitive to others now?

Question

Are younger generations becoming colder and more selfish and less empathetic to others? Younger people seem much more hostile today to programs aimed at helping the disadvantaged. It seems that more people live by the belief that others deserve whatever misfortune they encounter, even if they are born into it. We are quick to condemn others for their mistakes and flaws. We sneer at peoples who claim that they were victimized by forces outside their control. At the first sign of trouble, we shake a fist rather than extend a hand.

The hippies of the 60s and 70s seem to have been replaced by a generation of intelligent but highly individualistic kids who can't understand why others can't simply jump over obstacles to achieve success.

Is this related to shifts in attitude after 9/11? Or is this related to deeper changes in society and culture that were developing regardless of 9/11?

Answer 1

I think people have become more crass and impolite because of TV desensitizing people.  However, there are so many organizations and charities and public guilt trips that I think it's wrong to say people are less caring/empathetic.

Answer 2

I think it cycles because previous generations have had the experience of living through depressions, wars, rationing, high taxes, high inflation, and other privations which the current generation has yet to experience.  

On the positive side, the current generation doesn't remember racially separated washrooms and hearing black adults being called 'boy' and 'girl.'  

Internationally however, I think people accept that the government has a responsibility to care for the aged, unemployed, sick and to provide free education up to and including college. As the last industrialized nation to provide these things, this will inevitably come to the USA.  I think that the fear of lawsuits in the US pervades and keeps unlawful business practices here to a lower level than the moral imperatives would suggest.

None of this is related to 9/11.  Acceptance of security measures and loss of freedom may be related to this, but the information age is more to blame than this single incident.  They will soon learn what it is like to have to carry their draft card (or RealID) at all times.  Americans living today have never known a time when their government made them feel secure.  n***s, Communists, Terrorists whether real or imagined, have always been the bogeymen which permit a high percentage of our GNP to be expended on security.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, it started before 9/11.  It would be so much more comfortable to blame it on terrorism, but civility was already slipping.

The good news is that more and more people are starting to notice the problem.  That means that little by little we are starting to change things.  

We start with ourselves, then others who see the example will follow suit until it becomes an epidemic, just like the rudeness did.

Answer 4

Well it depends on how far you go back.  

We don't keep or beat slaves anymore. We don't burn women at the stake for being witches anymore.  We kindly permit women and blacks to vote.  We try not to exterminate other races such as the American Indians anymore......... We didn't put the Muslims in America in prison camps like we did our very own Japanese Americans in WWII...(see Rohwer War Relocation Center, George Takai)............we don't steal American Indian children from their parents and force them into adoption with white families anymore...

I think that as people age, they always think the newer generation is more degenerate than their own generation was.  Hippies were the degenerates of their time too. All that drugs & s*x ;-)

So, I think alot of it is perspective.

But I do agree that we have alot of problems right now.  I think that with a world wide media, it seems crazier than it is sometimes because you know everyone's business 24/7.  The news used to be on in the evening after dinner. Now you can indulge your fears 24/7 on channels devoted to news that makes you afraid.  Every horrible thing going on under every horrible rock in every corner of the earth is under magnification all the time.  The violence never goes away and we just can't seem to turn off the TV and go outside.

Answer 5

I attribute it to societys acceptance of their behavior.  Also to the lack of parenting skills or simply a lack of parenting.

In the old school days when we misbehaved as kids, we were punished and we knew that we not dare repeat the offense.  Parents not only had the right, it was expected and it was their responsibility to correct and punish their children to ensure they did not repeat the offense.

While I did not have to practice corporal punishment with my children, I was up to the task of a swift smack on the bottom when the situation deemed it necessary.  That being said, I also firmly believe that there is a fine line between a spanking and abuse.  Those lines have been grossly overstepped in today's society.

The legal system now prevents parents from punishing their children for fear of entering into the legal system via a child abuse charge yet the same system looks with glares at the parents when a child commits an illegal act.  The laws are not clearly defined and not upheld.

This coupled with the street language, the acceptance of ebonics, all of the negativity in the music industry with Rap music which cries out and promotes violence, and a self indulgent and non empathetic society creates a negative sense of acceptance.  We are left with insensitive impatience.

May not be popular and I have been wrong hundreds of times.  But, this is a portion of my opinion on the subject.  Obviously it is much deeper than this.  If we were to scratch the surface to find a starting point in which we would correct the problem, this would be mine.  Teach the children to act at home as they "should" act in public and always treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.  Parents would have had to be taught to begin with, the children will one day be parents!

Answer 6

No, but I think that adults think that my(teen) generation is going to ruin the world! This isnt true, If you look at our generation more closely, you will notice that we are alot more open than alot of other generations. We are being ourselves, being creative, racism is alot less, gender isnt much of an issue, sexual orientation is more open.