Is it me, or do we as a species seem to be getting meaner

[Taverner]

Granted this is after reading that flamingo story - but add to that the racism all over right now, and the stupid idiot who was feeding rare animals to the crocs....

Are people getting meaner?

I remember when the "Bush as a kid tortured frogs" story came out and it didn't faze a lot of people.

It did me.

[TZ]

1. No. We've been cruel and nasty for thousands of years.

What is changing is that we now have instantaneous world wide communication and things one might never hear about get reported.

[Taverner]

2. True

The story that jumps out at me was when Shackleton finally hit land after several days with his crew on a small boat lost in Antarctica. They saw a bunch of seals and just started beating them to bits. Not for food. Not for sport. Just human behavior.

[TZ]

3. William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

and Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" touch on this theme of man's inherent cruelty very very well if you haven't read either.

[Taverner]

4. Read Heart of Darkness, saw Lord of the Flies

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. I'm reminded of the story...

...an American Indian child asks his elder a question.

"What is Christianity?" The elder replies, "Christianity can be described as the belief that we have two wolves inside each of us; one white, one black, and they are constantly fighting."

"Which one will win?" asks the child.

"Whichever one you feed", answered the elder.

[Aristus]

6. It's sad that it is humanity's nobility, and not its savagery, that surprises.

Best line from a stupid movie: In "Revenge Of The Nerds", Anthony Edwards is talking with a nerdy girl in the college library. She's having trouble with the computer and says: "I just can't relate to this inhuman thing!"

He responds: "Computers aren't inhuman; Only humans can be inhuman."

[MsKandice01]

7. I remember that line!

Right before he miraculously whipped out enough code in 10 seconds to create computerized images of them holding hands and dancing. Classic movie.

[Aristus]

10. Yeah, what was that computer language he was using, anyway? BASIC? FORTRAN?

Something you'd need the Rosetta Stone to translate today, that's for sure. The days before graphic interface must rightly be considered the barbaric age of computers...

[Lyric]

8. Yes, kinda. The internet is partly to blame for that.

We aren't getting meaner as a species, but "civilized" societies are getting much, much meaner--especially ones that have a large population of internet users. The anonymity of the internet lets us shed social conventions and manners and act as asshole-like as we wish to. Over time, that behavior starts to affect the way we interact with the "real" world, too.

I'm not saying the internet is bad, but I'm also not going to lie to myself and say that it's perfect, either. We are much better-educated thanks to the internet. But we are also more cruel.

[Xithras]

9. Rats in a cage.

We turn on each other when resources start getting thin.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Not necessarily. Remember that public executions by gruesome means used to draw crowds

As far back as ancient texts in any civilization go, there are descriptions of great cruelty.

[Midlodemocrat]

12. Oh, FUCK YOU, Taverner. You rat fucking bastard.

To answer your question, I would say no. :rofl:


:loveya:

You know I'm kidding, right? :hug:

[Taverner]

14. Oh yeah? You wanna piece of me pally?

:D

[skygazer]

13. No, we just hear about more of it

Media gives us access to every ugly story out there. Cruelty used to be local, now its on the 24/7 news cycle.

[Midlodemocrat]

15. There's a lot of good stories out there, too, though. Don't you think?