What happened to the world? Has it really changed so much in so little time?

Question

Thirty years ago, we didn't use doorlocks in my home. The only use for a latch was to keep animals from walking in. Now you just about have too keep an uzi. What caused such a dramatic change? Is it simply that the modern world has wormed its way into even my little redneck region? Or has common sense and respect been lost in this world of instant gratification and entitlement mentality?

Answer 1

I think your last question answers your first.

Answer 2

Two things have happened.

First perception of risk has risen. In many areas actual recorded crime has fallen, but in all areas people's fear of it has risen. The fact you did not latch your door does not mean it was safe not to, it just means you thought it was safe. And I suspect even then you would lock the door when you were out - I live in a city with high crime and I leave the door wide open half the time when I am in, but I lock it when I am out.

Second, we have become more mobile. This means crime is more mobile too, so just because you live in an area of low crime there is still the risk that crime will be imported if your area is targetted. But again the figures show that actual crime has fallen over the period you mention, in many areas dramatically.

You may be interested in WHY crime has fallen. Economist Steven Levitt has shown through his reasearch that it correlates precisely with the introduction of legal abortion. It does this to the precise year in every region studied, even though different areas and different countries legalised abortion at different times.

Answer 3

Yes, the world has changed like that. Also there are many more atheists willing to speak out. That should tell everyone something about the adult version of Santa and the Tooth Fairy.

P.S. Maybe the future is really going to be grim, It's not like some supernatural force is looking out for us.

Answer 4

Around the sixties we shifted philosophically to a secular-relativistic-materialistic society based on Huxley's -Brave New World and the likes of other influential humanists. This shift to secular relativism began to work it's ways into our education and judicial system. Activist judges and lawyers re-interpreted law and the Constitution became a changing document for some.
This has led to the loss of a standard for right and wrong since the standard was predominantly Biblical and has now led to the overall "Meism" of the age.

Answer 5

I think everyone is starting to be very wary of their safety, whether it's at a national, regional, or local level. We just don't know what people are trying to do anymore, we hear stories about babies being kidnapped for drug trafficking, children kidnapped for prostitution trafficiking, wars, identity theft, insane gun men, gang initiations, religious wars, etc...

I think out of fear, comes anger and animosity.

Sadly, I think brotherly love is starting to run cold in the world.

Answer 6

Drugs

Answer 7

You're last statement fits the bill at least in my thoughts. About respect, common sense and manners being lost.

Answer 8

in most of the world yes but i live in a Southern State in The Great U.S. of A. (but I will not say which one) and I never lock my house and my keys stay in my new cars 24/7 with no worries at all...........and yet they still say the south is a bad place to live......ohhh almost forgot..my shed full of tools does not even have a way to lock it and my ski boat and 4-wheelers don't have locks either !!! I love the Bible belt !!!

Answer 9

Bad food. Bad nutrition. For me it explains 90%. You are what you eat.

Did you see that part in "Supersize Me" about the high school, somewhere in Wisconsin I think, for really really bad evil teenagers where they make them eat nutritious food instead of the usual school crap, and the behavioural problems begin to vanish, like magic.

Answer 10

I blame Child Protective Services. Forty years ago a parent didn't have to be afraid of being incarcerated for putting the fear of God into his child; now you talk mean to them and you go to jail.

Because of this we have raised a generation of kids who have no respect for authority. These kids are now becoming parents, and being even more of sissies than their parents were. I shudder to think of what it will be like in another 30 or 40 years.

I do realize that I am generalizing, and do not want any of the good parents on this forum to feel like I am targeting them specifically.

Answer 11

Meth. That is why everything is so bad now days. These meth-heads will do anything when high. Anything. Meth and its users are plague speading not just around the country but the world.