Thursday, July 31, 2014

Why are people bad these days?

Some people are bad for the same reasons they've always been bad: greed, jealousy, ignorance, hatred, hopelessness, mental illness, religious/political extremism, desperation, etc.


It isn't the reasons for bad behavior that have changed, it is the social/technological context in which this bad behavior occurs. Some of us (like me) are old enough to remember life without a) cell phone video, b) internet information saturation c) the proliferation of assault weapons, and d) splinter terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda. These are four factors that impact either the rise in high-profile violence or our awareness of that violence.


For example, before everybody had a video camera in their pocket, a police shooting was nothing more than he said/cop said, and everybody assumed the cop was the one telling the truth (which was probably usually true, but not always). But when we see video of such things on the news it has a more powerful impact on our perception of violence in society.


Terrorist groups can use a combination of video and internet distribution to recruit in a way that could not happen twenty years ago. 


The things we are seeing happen have always happened, and they're still happening for the same reasons, but we haven't always been aware of it, or had the ability to actually see it. These factors have probably led to the rise in events like shootings at schools, nightclubs, and gathering places. On the more positive side, it is also worth noting that while violence may be more visible than ever, the actual statistics on crime worldwide show that we are experiencing a global decline in crime.

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