Do our societies become more and more brutal or vulgar?

[noname223]

I think DFW thought that. I am not sure about it. In my language we use a term which is more accurate in my opinion. It (verrohen) can be translated with brutalize, vulgarize, or become brutal.


I am not sure with which time one should compare that. I mean in Middle Ages there were public torturing events. I think even children watched them. People who were considered witches were publicly immolated. This sounds pretty sick.

I think he refers to the media and the internet. If one wants one can watch the most cruel things one can imagine you can find them easily on the internet. It is quite easily accessible. The same applies to pornography. Young people see such stuff often very early nowadays.


The media is very sensationalistic. Especially the yellow press. They don't care about moral standards.

One thing I personally experienced on the internet one has to become more and more extreme in order to stick out and gain attention. I think I read some good examples here in this forum which shocked me. People fatten themselves in an extreme way just to gain fame. This is quite sick.

Terror attacks which are streamed online. Vicitms which are made fun of. All of that is pretty disgusting.

I can remember when I was young Lady Gaga stuck out because she was so extraodinary. Honestly nowadays noone would give a fuck about her. The things one has to do in order to get attention is far more extreme. And this can be quite detrimental.

On the other hand I am not sure whether this is a little bit too much of moral panic. There were also very provocative scandals decades ago. The Beatles did so much drugs, the protestors of 1968 were seen as rotten. Not all of their aims were reached. Though I think we incorporated some good ideas and rejected some bad ones. I don't know. I am not an expert and cannot really compare nowadays with former decades. However when I compare the time when I was a child or teenager I think there were less extremes in the past. The internet was a catalyst for some phenomena.

What do you think about that?

 

[hungry_ghost]

Society has always had its fair share of barbarism.

Religious people in particular have this occluded view of the past, where they think people were more moral, more reserved than they are now.

It just simply isn't true.

 

[VirtualSnow]

People don't seem to change at all, they still go to public executions where they're still a thing, and I'm sure some would if they were also carried in first world countries.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

People don't seem to change at all, they still go to public executions where they're still a thing, and I'm sure some would if they were also carried in first world countries.

In the US, at least, they still have viewings for executions. I have heard, too, that if too many people want to view an execution, and the viewing room is full, they even close circuit the execution to other areas to accommodate. Isn't that just so special?

 

[makethepainstop]

Yes, society has always been brutal, nowadays we are just sometimes more sophisticated about it. Look at all of the homeless and hungry people. Look at the people who desperately need medical care but can't afford it. Look at the people law enforcement types beat and kill behind closed doors. See the kids being picked on in schools, orphanages, and juvenile detention centers. The rapes, the murders the robberies.......
Humans are such delightful little darlings, NOT!

 

[CowsAreCool]

Things are both better and worse. In the 60's, American teens were out dying in the jungles of Vietnam. So I am glad that isn't happening.

Part of it is that our society is transitioning into a society which values victim-hood. Everyone is competing for whoever has the most disorders and defects and issues. I've seen people I know actually list their diagnosed disorders within their social media bios.

It's mostly for attention. In the age of social media, where all social interaction is quantified, people have become attention-starved. Counting how many "followers" and "likes" poeple receive has transformed their brains. And as time goes on, people will do more and more desparate things for their 15 minutes of fame.

I've removed myself from (most) social media for this reason. Humans were never meant to quantify our social interactions. We aren't meant to keep lists of our friends and count praise. People create fake personas of themselves on their social media, and as the divide between their true self and their online persona widens, self confidence is shattered.

 

[Lost Magic]

I think we are just becoming so numb to all the horrors of the world now. We have 24-hour news that just filters all the worst things that are going on in the world. We have governments that are giving tax breaks to the richest few while trickling crumbs down to the rest. We have mad leaders who are invading neighbouring countries while threatening Nukes. There is a global warming catastrophe that the powers to be ignore in favour of protecting the fossil fuel industries. We have people having to choose whether to eat or heat their homes during a cost-of-living crisis. Workers from all industries are striking because their fat cat employees don't want to pay them enough to keep up with inflation. I could go on and on. It just amazes me how many people turn a blind eye to the horrors of humanity. Anyway, let's just watch Disney (who owns most of the entertainment industry anyway) movies from our childhood and watch the world burn.

 

[hamvil]

Society has become much more superficial, short attention span, short memory, pretending easy answers to complex problems and unable to understand language that is why you have so much graphic stuff on news, people want to watch because they cannot process a text or a speech. In my country TV, movies etc are becoming simpler and simpler, dialogues use short sentences, the use of verbs is decaying. It seems we are devolving.