The decline of Western Civilization...

...has already happened. This is not to say that we aren't better off now then any other time in recorded history, but we are not at the standards that we should be. Sure we have medicine, sanitation, available housing for the masses, but does this make us civilized? To me it is more than a simple equation of technology. In a sense there were times that we were more civilized than modern times.

There used to be simple things like courtesy and decency that have gone the way of the dodo for the most part. Don't believe me? Do something simple like drive down a highway and see how people behave. Driving is, for most people, a simple act that requires little cognitive brain function. It's like walking. You don't consciously think about every step you take, you just do it. Now it seems that people are so distracted with their own petty lives to even let a moments thought for others enter their crowded minds. Try to merge. You have to fight your way over most of the time. I know there are times when we've all been in a hurry and for a brief moment you prioritize yourself over others on the road. This happens. This isn't all the time. Everyone needs to step back and realize that the world does not revolve around you. Sure we can all be guilty of this behavior from time to time, but now it seems to be a constant. A complete lack of courtesy for anyone other then oneself.

There is the saying that there is honor even among thieves. This may have been true at one time, but not anymore. About the only example of this you'll see these days is that even inmates in a maximum security prison who themselves have done the most horrific of things don't tolerate violence on children. A typical child molester or murderer will be done in by their fellow inmates long before our snails pace justice system can be burdened to do it themselves. Is this justice? Abso-posi-lutely. There is no excuse for defiling innocence. Someone who can consciously do this doesn't have it all going on upstairs if you know what I mean. They will probably never be made better through rehabilitation. Sometimes we have to understand that not everything that is broken can be fixed. I would describe myself as a fairly liberal person, but in terms of certain things I have no patience for the so called bleeding hearts. It's not that crime is a new thing, it's the levels that it's reached. It was commonplace for a murder to occur in the past, but now it's a step further and it's in our faces 24 hours a day through the globally connected media networks. It's almost as though these broken people are trying to "outdo" each others exploits to gain at the very least notoriety. I'm not saying we should report the horrific news along with the good, but I think it's wrong for it to pervade our airwaves and print media to the extinct that it does. This only encourages the criminal mind to become a media star through something they were probably going to do anyway. Only now they have to outdo the last wacko.

I know that I present a lot of negative here, but this is to be my dumping ground for all things that make me sick. I really am an optimistic person and it's that optimism that makes me that much more sick when I see what we are becoming as a society. We have the technology, we have the resources, we must rebuild our consciousness now. Call it the $6 million psychology session. Do something with your life that is beyond you. Care about someone. Not a non-corporeal figure you see on the television, somebody you will never meet and will never know your name. Not a celebrity or star of infamy. Give a damn about things close to you wherever you go. This will go a long way in making the world a better place. We'll work on the rest later.