Nicole Johnson wonders if the excess of excessive disturbing headlines lately means that humans are losing their goodness.
I am sickened by the latest news headlines. The stories I have read are shocking. Given these reports, you would never believe we are living in a civilized society.
To highlight the hatred, bigotry, dysfunction, and deception, let’s analyze the captions that have been broadcast to millions over the past several days:
Via National Public Radio: Florida Teen’s Killing: A Parent’s Greatest Fear
What happened in the Trayvon Martin killing is unconscionable. I abhor George Zimmerman’s actions and I abhor his belief system. I pray there will be expedient justice brought to this case.
Via CBS News: Miss. teen pleads guilty in rundown hate crime
Deryl Dedmon, a 19-year-old white Mississippi teenager, has pleaded guilty to murder and committing a hate crime for running over a black man, James Craig Anderson, with his pickup truck. This is disgusting and unbelievable! Here’s another glaring example of hatred, bigotry, and vile human behavior.
Via ABC News: Florida Woman Allegedly Offered Friend $25,000 to Kill Husband
Doreen Dufresne has been charged with solicitation to commit a murder after she allegedly offered a friend $25,000 to kill her third husband. Yes, I said third husband. Wait until you read what happened to her second husband…
Via TIME: Saints Coach Suspended
The National Football League has suspended New Orleans Saints head coach, Sean Payton, without pay for next season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, for running a vicious hit-to-injure cash bounty program. What happened to sportsman-like conduct? What happened to having compassion for your fellow man on the field? Why have athletes become so malicious?
After reading these stories, which have sadly become persistent and pervasive throughout news outlets, I am left wondering: has our society lost its moral compass? Are people losing their goodness and respect for human life? If so, what do you believe accounts for this loss?
Photo courtesy of Xurble
I would have to agree with some of the people above and say that this kind of stuff has been happening for years its just that now a days with the Internet and the power pf social media it seems like we can’t help but notice all these news over and over again. In the old days if you didn’t want to hear about something you would just keep your tv off and would not read the paper. Now, you’ll hear about it through your email, mobil device, computer, a FB update, a tweet and even txt messages if you’re… Read more »
Of course not. In fact, as time goes on, humans become MORE ‘good’ and respect human life more! What makes you think humans valued human life before the modern age? Think about it: would we consider breaking someone on the wheel (breaking all the bones and then weaving the person along the spokes of a wheel while they’re still alive) for a minor crime like stealing? Definitely not. We wouldn’t even execute most (if not all) punishments listed in the bible. After the advent of nuclear weaponry, how many humans have died from nuclear warfare? Zero, because world leaders know… Read more »
Interesting article. I voted ‘yes’ here but it’s with some apprehension. I agree with some of your points – there’s a disturbing trend of “bad” stories right now, showing us the worst of people. But I wonder if it’s the way stories are scrutinized and portrayed that contributes to the way we feel about what’s happening around us? I tend to agree with HeatherN that the internet increases the volume of these nasty things.
We always hear the worst while those who sacrifice and struggle and move us forward as a society do so silently. We hear those who boast how great they are while many do the right thing without fanfare because their acts are selfless. We focus on the flashy, admire the loud and worship images we believe are real… at least some of us. Every day there is enough kindness, sacrifice and intelligent thoughts and actions to keep us evolving. We have better medical care, less people are starving to death and wars despite what we see on the news, are… Read more »
My bad – here is the correct link
http://www.suntimes.com/11521656-417/2-children-killed-by-driver-who-was-fleeing-fender-bender.html
I’m undecided. Add this story to your collection –
http://www.suntimes.com/11521656-463/2-children-killed-by-driver-who-was-fleeing-fender-bender.html
Simply stated… I do not believe we are losing our goodness. IMHO, there are two things at play here. First and foremost, as with the incorrect belief of many about our children being less safe today than years ago and therefore hovering over them, we have so much access to information, from so many sources, it leads us to believe many more bad things are happening. Now we not only hear for traditional news sources, independents, and bloggers, but also anyone with a smart phone is publishing. People tend to think more people are interested in hearing negative news, than… Read more »
The blog poses an interesting question that is easily answered if we dissect the semantics. No, we have not “lost” our goodness, but rather, there have always been individuals across various cultures who deviate markedly from their cultural expectations for a plethora of reasons. Ethnocentrism, racism, cultural biases, mental health conditions, sociocultural cavities, poor parenting, spiritual distres, and genetic predispositions all have an influence on an indvidual’s actions in a given context. However, the consistency of many of these factors contribute to consistency of defiance. So, we aren’t losing our goodness; many people are just engulfed in a pattern of… Read more »
I’m simply going to look at trends that I’ve observed. Kids are using drugs at a much earlier age. Teen and pre-teen crimes are on a rise. Gang violence is up. Female violent crime is up. 24/7 coverage is simply showing what news didn’t show in the past. And I firmly believe that even with 24/7 coverage, we’re only seeing the yip of the ice burg.
I would agree that part of the reason we feel like the world is worse than it used to be is due to 24/7 news coverage and, of course, the internet. Now you can hear about all the atrocities that occur in the world within moments of them happening, and if they’re bad enough or strange enough, they’ll be everywhere. I’d also like to point out that, historically, people are always looking back with rose colored goggles and talking about how things used to be better, particularly with regards to morality and goodness. There were periods in ancient Rome where… Read more »
24/7 news coverage, yes, but what really accounts for the loss? In my opinion – a lack of family and a two-parent household, a lack of effective parenting, a lack of real community (social media is not real community), a lack of education, a lack of religion in people’s lives, egocentrism, unemployment, poverty, anger, fear, ignorance, greed….
Sorry for the delay, but I had to finish watching porn.
I agree with the posters who have targeted 24/7 news coverage; we simply hear so much more than we ever did.
I think crimes have shifted. I think it used to be a lot more like spousal abuse, child abuse, family murders, child abductions, baby murders; now it’s more bullying, riots, white collar crime, Internet crimes, Internet sex trafficking. Notice that, the first group deals with individuals; while the second is groups/classes of people. Groups of people, actually on the whole, commit more crimes…but when it’s reported, it’s mostly all under one umbrella/term — ie. Internet sex trafficking, white collar crime…so we don’t interpret it as criminal/harmful as one-to-one stories that single out individuals; therefore, don’t believe that crime has increased.… Read more »
“I think crimes have shifted. I think it used to be a lot more like spousal abuse, child abuse, family murders, child abductions, baby murders; now it’s more bullying, riots, white collar crime, Internet crimes, Internet sex trafficking.” I’d like to know whether you’ve got statistics on that or whether it’s just a general feeling you’ve got. Because, if you don’t have statistics…then I’m willing to bet that the reason you think that is more to do with the narrative told in the news than actual numbers of each type of crime committed. For example, a lot of people in… Read more »
Are we losing our goodness? Not really. I think we’re losing our civilization, and that with it, we’re losing our sense of decency. I mean… look around. Outside of the major cities or the best neighborhoods in the smaller communities, everything is crumbling and falling apart. We have few jobs, and what jobs we do have aren’t going to pay the bills. College tuition is astronomical, and the wages a degree would provide aren’t keeping up with those costs. Healthcare – even if you have insurance – is too expensive to actually use. And our entire political system (except for… Read more »
It is disturbing … the headlines you see, but I believe the best thing is to keep up hope. I will always believe in the goodness of people. The whole yin yang shebang. There will always be bad people, but where there are bad people there must also be good people. And in most “bad” people there is a little bit of goodness in them, and in most “good” people there is a little bit of badness. But, I do not believe humans are losing their goodness. I believe there are more good people on this earth than there are… Read more »
I just finished reading “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” which describes all kinds of violence and lynchings…I don’t think we were that good to start with….perhaps some people want to turn the clock back…?
i have to agree. inkeeping with other species, im not sure this species’ moral compass is set towards good. i feel it’s set to indifference-to-slightly-bad.
my own impression is that human instinct tends towards being inclusive and kind, only 30 to 40 % of the time
Depressing at those things are, I wouldn’t attribute them to “lost” goodness. If anything I’d say we’re still progressing:
Violent racists still exist, but more people voted for a black president. Could that have happened in the 1800s?
I agree with Peter (and Heather, below. I think the way nostaligia works is that the past tends to seem better in our memories than it actually was, so we see something like a hate crime in the present and it affects us strongly, while glossing over hate crimes of the past that we weren’t there or that went unreported. As Heather notes, it’s often older generations blaming the younger ones, until it’s their turn to be among the older ones who look back with nostalgia and blame the new youngsters. Also, it’s a truism of journalism that “if it… Read more »
To address your questions: I don’t believe we have lost our moral compass, one the possible reasons for the apparent upturn is that we now have 24/7 news, it has become a business, not in the way it used to be, when news was reported NOT created. I think it was Walter Cronkite who said (when asked about the difference between news in his day and now) “Today, newsreporters never let the facts get in the way of a good story” Remember when you have stations whos only product is news, they have to produce that news ALL THE TIME… Read more »
The first thing I thought when I read that about the suicide of the second husband was a few years ago a man died from 4 blows to the head with an ax…it was ruled a suicide that was until about a year after the crime his wife was taped confessing to the crime and was having an affair with one of the local cops.
Wow. suicide by drinking anti freeze over a long period of time…Sorry but I have that damn near impossible to believe.