Why is there such a lack of value to a human life in today's society?

[RGrizzzz]

It isn't that the world is getting worse, it's that we are all much more aware of negative news in places we didn't use to hear from. The internet and overall more connectedness of everyone makes it seem like crime is higher and society is failing. Before, few on this board outside of Kansas would have even heard about a Sherriff's deputy in Kansas. By almost any metric, violent crime has plummeted since the 90s.

View attachment 79581
Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/

I completely agree that we are inundated with news of "scary things". We now know every bad thing that happens. I feel like it started in the late 80s when I was a kid. The local Philly news in unwatchable because the first third is the daily murder/crime report. We wonder why our kids have anxiety.....

 

[BenA]

I agree that we are seeing more of the negative news from around the world, but it seems with that comes more tolerance of it or at least people are more accustomed to it. There's always been evil. Now, more of it is out in the open and accepted.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Go into any major city and go to certain areas. You can see society crumbling right before your eyes. It was wasn’t that way prior to say the 60’s

 

[Hoytvectrix]

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."





- Socrates, 400 B.C.

 

[West_Fork]

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."





- Socrates, 400 B.C.

Ouch, that really hits home 2425 years later.

 

[BenA]

The children now dress up like dogs and cats, barking and hissing at each other in the school hallways; they shoot each other in the classrooms. Children utter profanity at each other and elders. They rule the house because parents refuse to discipline them.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Let’s send Socrates to East Point in Atlanta. Words would fail him

 

[letemgrow]

The loss of respect for others is a good starting point.

That starts in the home. My kids threw a fit one time where they stormed upstairs and slammed the door....the rest is history.

I'd also be willing to bet that they'll never be involved in those "mostly peaceful" protests.

 

[Electrodigical]

It isn't that the world is getting worse, it's that we are all much more aware of negative news in places we didn't use to hear from.

24 hour cable news and the internet, and the constant craving for sensationalism, ratings and clicks have made every local store into national and international news.

HOWEVER... I do have a problem with crime stats. I know they are down and have been, but I still don't trust them.
Crime stats are kind of like covid numbers were but in reverse. (the more tests you do, the more the numbers go up) When you have departments and municipalities INTENTIONALLY under reporting crime stats, guess what, crime goes down. Arrests go down when you tell people not to make arrests. Convictions go down when you let everyone go.

In NY DUI accidents are up some crazy amount, like 400+% since the decriminalization of weed. But the DUI arrests don't come anywhere near that increase. Because folks like the NYSP were "unofficially" (wink wink) told don't write tickets, don't make any arrests unless your absolutely have to. (We can't have the governors (past and present) looking bad) More unrealistic stats.

 

[Westwind]

HOWEVER... I do have a problem with crime stats. I know they are down and have been, but I still don't trust them.
Crime stats are kind of like covid numbers were but in reverse. (the more tests you do, the more the numbers go up) When you have departments and municipalities INTENTIONALLY under reporting crime stats, guess what, crime goes down. Arrests go down when you tell people not to make arrests. Convictions go down when you let everyone go.

In NY DUI accidents are up some crazy amount, like 400+% since the decriminalization of weed. But the DUI arrests don't come anywhere near that increase. Because folks like the NYSP were "unofficially" (wink wink) told don't write tickets, don't make any arrests unless your absolutely have to. (We can't have the governors (past and present) looking bad) More unrealistic stats.

I agree with all of this.

Also there is a phenomenon where if the police department really sucks and maybe even doesn’t show up when the public calls, reports of crime go down because the public has no confidence. The public quits reporting crime so their crime stats “go down”. The chief can then go on the news and say he’s doing a great job even though everyone knows different.

Next town over might have a great police department. When the public calls they show up and give it first rate effort. Public sees this and they do what should happen- they report crime to the police. They have confidence that the nice young police officer that gets sent over is going to treat them with respect and take their report seriously. They have confidence, so they call. So even though that towns department is doing a good job, crime stats “go up”.

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

 

[Electrodigical]

Drifting even farther, but this reminded me of it... take it with a grain of salt, agendas and all that... great video to watch all the way through if you haven't seen it, but if nothing else watch the few seconds from where this starts here...

 

[Westwind]

I think fertility plays a part too. The world wide decline in fertility is an interesting discussion and it seems like it might dovetail with the lead issue. We should have been fixing the lead problem long ago. I’m almost 60 and they been talking about it since I was a kid.

Freakonomics is doing a series on fertility and how the world is becoming an aged society and how we look at healthcare and retirement in an inadequate way. We are all living to be much older and healthier. One economist says raising the retirement age is the wrong thing for governments to do. What they should be doing is finding ways to lure people with skills to work longer because they are healthier. A small percentage of older skilled workers working longer exponentially increased projected GDP.

I wish I was young again. I would have studied economics.

 

[West_Fork]

View attachment 79602I think fertility plays a part too. The world wide decline in fertility is an interesting discussion and it seems like it might dovetail with the lead issue. We should have been fixing the lead problem long ago. I’m almost 60 and they been talking about it since I was a kid.

Populations in developed countries are relatively flat, while those of developing countries is growing exponentially, or at least that's how it was a few decades ago. I guess that could still fit within the lead issue, but I think it is more a social behavior phenomenon.

But then again, the wife and I tried to reproduce but were unsuccessful. Not sure who is at fault, but I do love my lead.

 

[West_Fork]

Drifting even farther, but this reminded me of it... take it with a grain of salt, agendas and all that... great video to watch all the way through if you haven't seen it, but if nothing else watch the few seconds from where this starts here...

Agreed on the agenda, If they would have left off that last part I would give it more cred, but I am all too familiar with what has been going on in our institutions over the past few decades with regards to environmental science.

Then again, I am going for an ultrasound of my liver in the morning. Got some blood work done, doc asks if I drink alcohol, but not a drop in 21 years, we need pictures immediately. Shouldn't interfere with my spine surgery next week though.

The good news is missing work isn't a big deal. After 5 years of a cabal trying to ruin me any which way they can on the basis of politics and other, I have dragged them in to deep water. I essentially do not have a direct supervisor, or a second line, or even a third, because I have $20k worth of legal documents that show who is telling the truth and who is lying, under oath. Not what I expected to be doing as a professional scientist, but it's entertaining none the less.