Are We More Moral Now or 200 Years Ago?

[M.D. Holloway]

I always figuered that people in the US have become very immoral but thinking about the behavior of the past got me wondering. While I think we have more time to do more stuff - and get into more potential trouble, I think (yet may not be able to prove yet) that people are actually more moral now then their ancestors were.

What do you think?

[porsche4life]

Our founding fathers not only had slaves, but many were boinking their slaves.....

I think that says a bit about it...

[RWebb]

moral?

or ethical?

[Drdogface]

The slave issue is a big one but that's today's judgement...and mine. In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

[Evans, Marv]

I would imagine people in the past were less moral in terms of our judgement. They used a lot of institutions to cover up/ justify perverse behavior (the Inquisition, witch buning, etc. - of course I think things still happen along those lines whenever there is a fairly closed, authoritarian enviroment - Warren Jeffs comes to mind). The lack of enforcement of rules because of a sparse population spread out over wide distances probably contributed to lots of things like unlawful behavior, incest, etc., etc. I think lots of people now would act less moral under those circumstances.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

The slave issue is a big one but that's today's judgement...and mine. In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

^this^

[krichard]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

The slave issue is a big one but that's today's judgement...and mine. In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

Originally Posted by Tobra

^this^

Seriously??? you guys can somehow rationalize that the slave traders and owners were somehow moral and ethical in any sense of the definition??? you guys make me sick!

[aigel]

We are definitely more morons today, as this thread clearly demonstrates!

G

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

That's a big call. Just look at the medical industry 200 years ago. I would not like to have been alive and ill in those days.

I bet every scumbag doctor with a female patient told them they were suffering from hysteria and it required treatment

Since ancient times women considered to be suffering from hysteria would sometimes undergo "pelvic massage" — manual stimulation of the genitals by the doctor until the patient experienced "hysterical paroxysm"

[stuartj]

There were 60,000 casualities on the FIRST DAY of the Somme campaign in 1915. We dont do that anymore.

[DanielDudley]

Peoples personalities run from soup to nuts. Mostly nuts. Technology is changing, but people remain the same. In the end, it always falls on the individual, but as a society, we are woefully unprepared for the challenges of the next hundred years, and emotionally incapable of embracing them.

''Better stay away from him, He'll rip your lungs out Jim. / I'd like to meet his tailor.''

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

The slave issue is a big one but that's today's judgement...and mine. In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

^^^NOT this.

[Jim Richards]

I'm surprised by the viewpoint of our foot and animal doctor.

[IROC]

Books have been written on this very subject. This one, for example:

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined: Steven Pinker: 9780143122012: Amazon.com: Books

Believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence. In his gripping and controversial new work, New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly enlightened world.

The consensus seems to be that we are way more moral than we used to be. This whole "moral decay of society" is false by almost any measuring stick and is mostly only propagated by those with something to sell.

[imcarthur]

Our concept of morality didn’t even exist. 200 years ago? The Brits repelled the American invasion of Canada. Napoleon was retreating from Russia. Slavery was accepted everywhere since Africans were not human anyway. Women were basically property & treated accordingly. Children worked. Lewis & Clark had just 'discovered' all of the great land to the west & the Native American clearances were in swing. Etc etc. If you were rich enough, you could afford to be moral. For the rest?

Ian

[Chocaholic]

Problem here is that we're comparing apples with oranges as others have stated. Essentially nothing other than mental masturbation.

[Jim Richards]

Well, the lubricationmeister did start this thread.

[GH85Carrera]

Lets see, women were just property and not allowed to vote.
Slavery.
Priest were raping little boys (That has not changed) with full protection of the church.
Blacks or most any ethnic minority were not allowed civil rights.

The big difference is today with instant communications we have invented new ways to be "different". With cheap cameras and video equipment porn can spread. There is more porn on the internet than anything else. I feel sure you can find albino midgets dressed as clowns with animals dressed as cars porn if you search for it. If it is between consenting adults is that immoral?

To answer the question, no I don't think humans are any less or more moral. We just have orders of magnitude more freedom to do whatever turns ya on.

[sc_rufctr]

Most of the taboos of 200 years ago are no longer taboos... IMO the only taboo left is incest.
Tattoos, piercings are OK now and it doesn't matter much were you put them.

I think there should be some standards that we stick with. For instance, Marriage should be the norm for having children and the two people involved should take it seriously. And if it gets a little rough they should work together to make it better.

The soft option... That's the easiest thing to sell right now.

We are like spoilt children. Our parents and their parents were not like us.

My GF was having a whinge about work and how hard it was. To be totally honest her complaints were pretty feeble.

I told her. The biggest problem we have right now is that we can't afford a new Bentley.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

The slave issue is a big one but that's today's judgement...and mine. In general they were way more moral and ethical that we are today.

Totally agree.

Most people today are dumb as fenceposts and have the morality of a dog in heat. They could care less about the future or doing what is right and barely see beyond the end of their nose.