There have been fierce debates about gun control and other matters on these boards, and I do not wish to add to it, but I would like to provoke some other posts with a simple question:

What has gone wrong with us?

We used to live with relatively little seurity. People would self-police their own neighborhoods. People were republicans or democrats, liberal or conservative and they did not demonize one another. They debated, sure, but there was not this air of hatred.

People were religious or not, and there was not the self-righteous hatred that we see now.

We have become less civil in every aspect.

I recall learning about people like the president principles like you don't have to like who it is, but you have to respect the office. That is gone, not ony for Obama, but for the congress, the courts, the police... you name it.

People have no manners. No one stops to let the other guy into a lane on the road, and you are more likely to see someone filipping you off as much as anything.

Is this the beginning or even the middle of the decline of America?

Too much tolerance my friend. Americazns in general are incredibly stupid and lay down because we have no back bone anymore. In the 50's and 60's anyone who would pull the crap these clowns pull today would have gotten skull drug by society in any town across the country. Now we embrace "understanding and nourturing of these demented people" We used to be united no matter what the cause, but now any time that our government makes a decision you either have the liberals asking why we are going to war and not humping each others legs, or the right wing Nazi's threatening to start a civil war (which won't happen).

Guess we are gonna end up like the Romans. Number one reason they fell was overexpansion and more of a focus on entertainment rather than the nations future which is exactly what these brainwashed children and my generation are only focused on today.

Not just in America, people in general have no respect for others anymore. Blame the Internet

I agree. I haven't been here that long, but have participated on other chat boards. On other boards, it usually boils down to posters being in utter shock that someone out there in the world wide web has a different opinion. And that causes them to lash out in anger.

America in one way or another has always been that way. Look at the political election debates of Adams and Jefferson, or Lincoln. People certainly did demonize others back then.

Live in little security? Murders were just as rampant in the big cities of the past as they are today. Same with corruption. Look at the histories of Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, etc. When this country was founded it was a country that enslaved people. It cheated native peoples out of land and murdered them. Where was the civility for them?

There were more manners in a general sense that came out of Victorian influences, but since the 1890s there has been a dechristianization of America in the courts and all other branches of government. During the flapper era of the 1920s there was a decrease in civility and a resurgence during World War II until the mid-1960s.

Much of today's left-wing political ethic derives from Herbert Marcuse and the Frankfurt School of Marxism. They helped create the New Left, which dominated the media and Democratic politics. It influenced education, which went from focusing on the three R's to self-esteem. All together it helped create a sense of entitlement. There is also a modern definition of equality that comes out of the French Revolution that focuses on result rather than opportunity, and this prevails everywhere.

I agree.

I think it comes down to too much disparity between the haves and have nots, along with our instant gratification society. People are less patient and many are poor at personal interaction. We have cell phones, texting, Twitter, and all of these ways to communicate without interacting with one another.

Yes to the lack of interaction. Let's face it, while the internet can provide some wonderful things, it also has its drawbacks. Not only are you more apt to say things in an email or on a bulletin board than you would be if you were face-to-face with someone, but you may innocently insult people because you can't judge tone in an email.

Agree 100%- something is wrong. As an older man, I recall when we could leave our doors unlocked and not worry. Posters have mentioned the internet, cell phones, instant gratification Etc, but a big contributor in my opinion is drugs. They weren't very popular "Back in the day". We are too permissive. In high school in the 50's and 60's if you shot off your mouth, you might get slammed into the wall, and your parents would punish you too, not file a lawsuit. Many, but certainly not all Young kids today are used to getting what they want. My grandson- in HS walked me through the student parking lot- WOW- cars nicer than I had. Parents too wrapped up in Dancing with the stars or American Idol and too lazy to discipline their kids and too cowardly to tell the kids "No". I remember being a young Republican and hanging out with Democrats, and no real arguments, there was a mutual respect. Just my opinion

“Is this the beginning or even the middle of the decline of America?” – Dontomasso

I guess that would depend on how far away is the bottom. I prefer the term decay rather than decline. It has a little more bite; the smell of something rotting. If you take a high-level view of human society there are some factors to consider. Humans have varying degrees of "survival of the fittest", which is manifested by greed, aggression and the need for power. Our society places a high value on the individual and achievement, which usually comes at the expense of others. Along with that comes disrespect, malice and deceit. The virtues of compassion and charity are losing ground. For society to work there has to be rules that benefit the whole. People take offense if their individual “rights” are infringed upon.

LaLousiane cited the Roman Empire’s demise. Maybe that has to happen to our society. Government corruption, unethical business practices, disrespect for fellow humans, all contribute to the decay. These are all evident in our society. The primary social group is the family. That institution has definitely decayed. Go to a family restaurant and observe the mother, father, son and daughter staring at and thumbing their smartphones. Is that a healthy social group?

THIS
Don, with all due respect; how the hell would you know?
This is grade A revisionist history, the kind only a far leaning lefty could draw up.
Even by your standards, a ridiculous post. This is typical Don, trying to appear neutral all the while spouting leftist garbage.

Amazing that you can use insulting language in a thread aimed at discovering why there is a lack of civility today. Nice job, Vinnie.

Self-consuming.

Did you guys actually study history?

Go back and read papers from the 1920- the political discourse was orders of magnitude more coarse. This narrative that things have somehow become less civil is just complete horseshit. It comes out of the same school that believes that "bi-partisanship" will produce utopia, is only being held back by evil republicans.

I think sometimes we can look back at days gone by and remember that things were better, a lot of times that is true.

In these modern days I find that some things are better than the old days, whilst a lot of other stuff has turned to shit!!

Maybe its progress or maybe I am just an old dinosaur

History is incomplete, in a constant state of transformation, etc. Embrace and accept contradictions, not as anomalies but as necessary parts of a problematic whole. Don't blame the youths of today when your own fires die.

It's no coincidence that all this confusion, resentment, anger and so-called moral decline are happening at a point at which the world's global economy has systematically failed.

We're heading toward barbarism - i.e., the death agony of capitalism itself. But we don't have to let society disintegrate completely. We can (and need to) overhaul the current system - its laws, its governments, its working relations, its entire top-to-bottom set-up. And there are signs that this is happening. Don't forget our demonstrable advancements in togetherness and social consciousness: the Occupy movement, for starters, represents a massive change in how people are getting together and uniting in a common cause.

Keyboard warriors will always cry about fragmentation and disintegration.