Nature, Nurture, and the Wisdom of the ‘Bell Curve’

These days, much of the world seems to be regressing fast towards fascism and barbarism — and this leaves many of us worried and scared. It leaves us wondering: Why? Why is all this craziness happening — and why now in particular?

As I’ve wrestled with these feelings, fears, and wonderings, I’ve begun noticing certain destructive patterns in western societies, especially the U.S. These patterns revolve around a central theme, it seems to me: the accelerating disintegration of “traditional morality” and the accompanying dissolution of many people’s inner “moral compass.”

Now, I’ve got to say: as a long-time liberal, I’ve never been a big fan of “traditional morality.” I’ve often associated it with conservatism and conservative views. Yet… there’s much more to this issue. I’ve been observing the rise and increasing dominance of amorality and political immorality in the U.S. for decades now — and I’ve found myself in a protracted, painful mental/emotional confrontation with our society’s degrading morality.

I’m referring to our socially-approved greed, our extreme selfishness, our callousness toward the natural world, and our denial of scientific and medical truths (such as proven, fact-based information on climate change and vaccines). Worse, we’re increasingly refusing to abide by long-held cultural standards of decency, politeness, empathy, and kindness.

I see our inner sense of morality fraying or even disappearing, in many cases — which to me reveals our societies’ almost total failure to provide strong, wise moral guidance as part of their citizens’ education. (Of course, this is not surprising in capitalist societies, since they very deliberately take a hands-off, laissez-faire approach to morality, education, regulation, environmental protection, etc.) I find myself re-evaluating my most basic ideas about culture, education, and morality, and looking at the whole, vast ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate through different eyes now.

I’ve begun to think that the vast majority of human beings are not inherently moral, good, or kind — nor are they inherently evil, mean, or cruel. I’ve begun to think that most of our desired human traits — like kindness, generosity, friendliness, openness, rationality, thoughtfulness, etc. — are there within us only in latent form, and need to be supported and developed.

That is, if we want people to have these desirable traits, then they need to be actively encouraged. And this means that early, consistent moral training and ongoing education (including in civics) are crucial to the growth of civilization and successful societies.

Life with my super-conservative father

At this point, I want to tell a personal story that illustrates these points — and then I’ll return to my analysis.

When I was a teenager and young man, during the 70s, my father, a very conservative political science professor, frequently worried and fumed (loudly) about the declining morals of our society. He was very concerned about all the drug use, the sexual freedom and licentiousness, and the whole hippie movement with its “do your own thing” motto.

For many young people and ‘liberals’ — including me — it seemed like an era of liberation. We were throwing off the shackles of the past and an outmoded morality, and finding new, better moral foundations deep within each person. We believed we were “breaking free” from both religion and the limits of traditional morality — and being quite liberal myself, my conservative father and I got into tremendous, frequent arguments about American politics, morality, ‘freedom,’ and the various ‘liberation’ movements that were spreading then.

He was just… so stuck in the past and stale, outmoded concepts — and so wrong! I totally knew that, in my bones, and without question. He was dead wrong (I believed)!

But now I’m older, and hopefully wiser — and I’m not so sure anymore. My father was an interesting, one-of-a-kind character: very strict and judgmental in some ways, and very sensitive and kind in others. He was an enigma to me — then and now, after his death. He had some very unusual views about society, morality, and education, and only now are they starting to make more sense to me.

For one thing, in his fantasies, Dad imagined himself as an English nobleman (even though he had no English heritage whatsoever) and “gentleman farmer.” That is, he always fancied himself the ‘lord of the manor’ wherever we lived — he was firmly ensconced within the patriarchy, for sure — and identified strongly with British culture and British cultural mores. He pined for the lost ‘good old days’ of the past, and imagined out loud that the late 19th century in England was the best time and place to have lived. He was also quite a prude, in terms of sex and morality, and enforced rather strict moral and sexual standards at home.

I can admit it now: my father was partially right

Of course, we fought about everything back then: Girls, sex, hair length, morality, the Vietnam War, freedom, the hippies, drugs, miniskirts… on and on. At the time, I thought his insistence that the West, and the U.S. in particular, was experiencing a severe “moral decline” due to the intensifying collapse of traditional morality was just a bunch of conservative, reactionary B.S. His impassioned arguments fell on totally deaf ears, for many years — but with the rise of Trump, his MAGA movement, and far-right fascism, I’ve felt compelled to dig much deeper into the whole question of morality, moral training, and citizen education.

I’ve had to admit to myself: my father was no dummy and was onto something (though he was also a moderate Trump supporter: go figure). His view of human nature was that human beings in general are not inherently kind or civilized, and need extensive education and training in order to become kind and civilized. That’s one reason he admired the Brits so much: he admired and supported their former strict moral codes and strict educational standards — the old, traditional British upbringing and education. He saw the Brits of the late 19th century as the most genteel, polite, and civilized generation — and always contrasted these “ideal” citizens with self-centered, rude, and contentious ‘modern’ Americans.

While I still disagree that the late 19th century in Britain was a veritable paradise (far from it!), I now agree that the process of in-depth education and moral training is crucial to human civilization. This perennial issue/problem thrusts us into the very center of the ancient “nature vs. nurture” controversy, which at its core questions whether human beings are inherently good, intelligent, and moral, or must be trained and educated to become good, intelligent, and moral. It’s a huge, unresolved issue both in philosophic terms and in practical social and political terms.

What the bell curve teaches us about humanity

But it’s the practical, social level I’m most concerned with. Today, our societies are undergoing a dangerous, intensifying process of collapse, on many levels: political, economic, moral, ecological, and educational. So, I’d say it’s crucial now — truly critical — that we understand and learn to apply several practical truths about human education and the whole process of creating a workable civilization.

Here’s what I’ve come to see: Though there are certainly some individuals who seem to be born with great intelligence and a strong moral and spiritual compass, and are ‘naturally’ that way, these people represent only a tiny fraction of humanity. If these ‘naturally moral’ people have even a mildly supportive or neutral environment, they usually turn out to be wonderful, creative, compassionate ‘model’ humans. They often can survive and thrive despite a harsh, unsupportive home or school life.

But I’ve realized that this isn’t true of most people — the vast majority, sadly. Looking at the societal evidence in front of us, and especially at the steep decline in morality and compassion since the rise of Trump and all his hostile, paranoid, and amoral attitudes and actions, I’m forced to conclude that most people only think or behave this way or that way because… they’ve been strongly educated or trained to be this way or that way.

In my mind’s eye, I imagine the vagaries of human nature as a bell curve, with a small minority at one end being ‘naturally good’ and moral and a contrasting tiny minority at the other end that is ‘naturally evil’ and amoral/immoral. That leaves a tremendous ‘hump’ in the middle that includes the vast majority of human beings — almost all of whom can be trained or influenced to go either way.

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Chart image from Alamy.com

The dire social effects of far-right media ‘grooming’

One recent — and very potent — illustration of this reality is the intense, disastrous impact of far-right radio, TV, and Internet ‘news’ on many Americans’ morality and mindset. For over 30 years now, the far right has been inundating our right-leaning citizens with non-stop hate, racism, fear-mongering, immigrant-bashing, LGBTQ+ bashing, and other unsavory, hateful attitudes.

As I’ve written before, this constant exposure has radicalized many Americans. It amounts to intensive mental/emotional “grooming” and induction into the dark world of paranoid, racist far-right beliefs. (Yet the far right loudly and persistently accuses the ‘libs’ of “grooming” folks to be liberal, socialist, gay, trans, etc.!)

Such radicalization is no small or laughing matter. In this case, it means that people are heavily programmed — brainwashed, really — into rageful, antisocial, and/or anti-democratic beliefs. Then, these angry, racist, and paranoid beliefs start to goad people into horrific antisocial actions — as is happening all around us, right now, throughout our society. The causal chain is as clear as day, despite all the vehement Republican and right-wing denials.

The direct causal chain is totally obvious, to anyone willing to examine these issues with an open mind. And an additional inference is also crystal clear: the type and quality of education and information that people are exposed to often determines the type of person and citizen they become. These days, for example, we all have or know a sad, bizarre story about how our relative, parent, coworker, or friend was ‘lost’ to Fox ‘News,’ and was quickly turned into a very different, far worse person: a harsh, angry, paranoid “libtard hater.”

This same insidious antisocial “grooming” process takes place throughout our society, on many different levels (it’s intrinsic to unbridled, predatory capitalism, for instance). Far-right media’s intensive “grooming” process is just the most egregious, obvious example — and the one that’s producing the most visible and dangerous antisocial results.

Western societies are abdicating their social responsibilities

The larger, deeper point here, though, is that our western societies, especially the U.S., have utterly fallen down on the job of educating and providing strong moral training for our citizens. Not only have we fallen down on the job… but we’ve basically abdicated any responsibility at all for creating kind, generous, knowledgeable, and effective citizens.

In effect, we’re leaving that entire vital arena up to the greed-driven whims of the ‘free market,’ so-called “parental rights,” and pure chance — and we can all see just how well that’s turning out!

To sum up: if we want to have compassionate, responsible, and functional citizens — and a functional society — then citizen education and strong moral foundations are a must. They are not optional, or just “somewhat important,” or just a “preference.”

The truth is, no society can survive if its citizens are selfish, amoral, uncooperative, and uneducated about how their society functions. It’s just not going to work. Never can, never will. It’s a non-starter, and a sure recipe for societal disaster.

Period. End of story.

So, if you’ve been wondering why our society is slowly collapsing and failing — well, wonder no more. The reasons and evidence are all right here in front of us… if we just have eyes to see and ears to hear.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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