Quote Originally Posted by regularjoe View Post
I would guess a large part of our view of the world is painted by the media. There's always been bad kids, there's always been bad parents, and so far as I know, there's always been drugs(the bad kind). The thing is, we were'nt always able to log on to the world wide web and read about calamity all over the world. If someone in the next state had a bad kid that beat up little kids, or stole, or took drugs, you weren't likely to ever hear about it. Because you didn't know them, and it wouldn't be in your local newspaper. There's always bad people in every town, but people got by thinking they knew who all the bad ones were. The world got smaller on us, is all.

The world isn't really going to hell I don't think. We're just a lot less likely to trust people these days, because we have access to the worst news of the worst news, from all over the world. And it has a cummulative affect on our perception. If the only people you ever heard about were in your own town, most of us wouldn't think the world was so bad off I think. Then again, I live in a pretty small town.
Some valid points here foe sure. Especially that of the world getting smaller. But there's more than that. The media isn't just pulling back the cover and exposing what is there. The media also takes a more active role in our society and it's influence has changed dramatically over the years. Years ago the good guy always won. Principle and virtue paid off. This week I watched a show on tv where a girl stabbed her mother to death because she felt verbally wronged by her mother. The director made sure to make the girl seem like the victim. What is the message that is delivered here? If you are wronged, you're entitled to do what you like. This is not an exception. It's more of the rule.