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max
Guest
In particular places like the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and those countries typically associated with the west.
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J
J. S.
Guest
If you believe such a statement, and I am aware of the certain things in a state of decline in Western civilization, have you ever though to ask yourself: "Is there really any moral incline on the part of Eastern (Middle East, Asia) civilization?" Perhaps you need to take a good look at Asian society today, which is becoming more and more "Western" at an even quicker pace. It only follows suit that some of the areas that are in decline here in the West will one day decline in the East. In which case the decline is a global trend.
I see no reason to not include Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as part of Western civilization, as they have never been associated with any other part of the world. I intentionally left Africa out for reasons that I will not go into here.
I see no reason to not include Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as part of Western civilization, as they have never been associated with any other part of the world. I intentionally left Africa out for reasons that I will not go into here.
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Philip Mayron
Guest
Decline isn't the word. The places you've named (add Australia to the list), seemed to have no morals left. President Bush "justified" blowing up kindergartens and murdering children by calling it "collateral damage", then threw a psycho fit when quite reasonably Muslims responded by calling the Bali bombing collateral damage.
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MICHAEL B
Guest
No more than usual. Civilisations change their moral habits all the time. Once we though it immoral to refrain from hanging murderers, now most of us believe the opposite. In my lifetime I have heard gossipping women excusing a man imprisoned for molesting a little girl on the grounds that "At least it's normal," - by contrast with those disgusting homosexuals who did unspeakable things to other grown men! Now of course the reverse is the usual moral response.
The test (in secular, social terms) of a morality is whether or not it works; whether or not it creates conditions in which the mass of people may live fulfilled lives. It is clear that a huge variety of systems might do this, if accepted by the people of the community.
Even religion, despite its claim to be eternally valid, usually progressively bends its rules as time goes on. We no longer burn heretics, for instance, and the churches' attitudes to family and sexual life are not what they were even 50 years ago.
What we should rightly be terrified of is any moral system, religious or secular, which fails to adapt to changing circumstances. Having no choice, we must live in the world as it is, and regulate our behaviour appropriately - we cannot, and should not try to preserve outdated systems of ethics.
The test (in secular, social terms) of a morality is whether or not it works; whether or not it creates conditions in which the mass of people may live fulfilled lives. It is clear that a huge variety of systems might do this, if accepted by the people of the community.
Even religion, despite its claim to be eternally valid, usually progressively bends its rules as time goes on. We no longer burn heretics, for instance, and the churches' attitudes to family and sexual life are not what they were even 50 years ago.
What we should rightly be terrified of is any moral system, religious or secular, which fails to adapt to changing circumstances. Having no choice, we must live in the world as it is, and regulate our behaviour appropriately - we cannot, and should not try to preserve outdated systems of ethics.
helloworldtomorrow
New member
Yes. I believe that in the pursuit of trying to be more "intelligent", western civilisation is using science to try and explain everything. Unfortunately, science is unemotional and lacks humanity, it only explains things on a superficial and "mathematical" level. It doesn't really take morals or values into account and while it provides tangible proof to many mysteries, it still lacks that "something extra" that makes us human - the soul (which includes morals).
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bloggersvilleusa
Guest
"Patriotism, a casualty of the anti-Vietnam War movement, was replaced with relentless anti-Americanism. Old-time American reliance on family and home was engulfed by radical feminism, which vehemently denied that a woman's most important role in life could be motherhood. Abortion became widely regarded as a right protected by the Constitution of the United States.
An "anything-goes" attitude pervaded society. It soon became the motto of a whole generation far more likely to demand unending fun and comfort than to agree to the hard work and self-sacrifice for family and nation that had characterized earlier generations and which had led to American success and prosperity of the West. At least that's how conservative intellectuals have viewed what's happened during the last 40 years."
An "anything-goes" attitude pervaded society. It soon became the motto of a whole generation far more likely to demand unending fun and comfort than to agree to the hard work and self-sacrifice for family and nation that had characterized earlier generations and which had led to American success and prosperity of the West. At least that's how conservative intellectuals have viewed what's happened during the last 40 years."