America in Decline? - Answers Part II

One of the supposed reasons that I find particularly interesting is "The Increasing Coarseness of American Culture."

This regular accusation by politicals and political media seems to have three, very related aspects - 1, vulgar language, 2, decadence, and, 3, indifference to others.

Decadence is a difficult one to assess. Is America more decadent than it was? Beauty pageants can't even buy an audience anymore. Dance halls are all but gone. The make love, not war days are in the increasingly distant past.

True, people are more open to talking about sex, but not so much in a vulgar fashion once a ways past puberty.

There is only one place where the din of conversation is actually increasingly decadent - advertising and entertainment. There are so many advertisers and shows out there, the din of voices has become so loud, that it is difficult to be heard above the cacophony. In order to be heard, they turn to things that will catch the public's attention - like humor and sex. Someone pushes the envelope in order to be seen. And then everyone else that also want to be heard do the same, and on.

But why is that old bit of reasoning important? Because, outlaw the use of that imagery over public airwaves, and all of it disappears instantly, because that decadence isn't a part of the culture of the PEOPLE of America. It is only a part of the culture of the business of America.

The only part of American culture that has actually changed to any measurably degree in this area is to become increasingly closer to allowing American business to do or say anything they want.

The casual indifference to the people around you is partly tied into that same business culture. American business wanted a mobile workforce, and America increasingly gave it to them.

A mobile workforce means a workforce ready and willing to go wherever business is or wants to go, instead of business having to set up where people are. That means, no extended ties of family, place, or community. If you have ties, you aren't mobile.

So, cut those ties, and what do you have left? No family, no place, no community. A group of strangers.

This isn't actually a new phenomena either. It is the ancient problem of cities. You might live in close proximity to a million people, but you know none of them, they are all strangers. And it is part of the nature of humanity not to trust or much empathize with strangers.

Tie that in with the old merchant-middle class values of wealth and competition, along with the increasingly numerous middle class in America, and you have an increasing indifference to the people around them.

But, to point it out more directly, increasingly large cities and an increasingly middle class are not signs of decline. Just the opposite.

The last, and most interesting, of these accusations, though, is the "increasing coarseness of the language." The frequency in which people curse with words like f*ck and sh*t.

And it is true that cursing is in much more common use that in recent times past. But, why?

To understand that, you have to understand the nature of curse words, or taboo words. An English professor of mine pointed this out to his classes long ago.

Every culture has taboo words. But they do not always have the same taboos from one era to another. Times change, cultures change, and Taboos change with them. So, the question then becomes, why does a culture make certain words taboo.

Why were words like f*ck taboo in America?

Most of America's old taboo words were just regular Saxon words. But when the Normans conquered the Saxons, they brought their French culture to Britain, and they considered the Saxons to be little more than barbarians, and considered their language to be coarse and vulgarly barbaric.

Back then, you didn't want to use Saxon words because you didn't want to be seen as vulgar, and, worse, common (the Saxons being the underclass under the ruling Normans).

And on down through history, people who cursed were told: "Don't be vulgar!" Or crude. Or common.

But then, there was a sea change in American culture during the 60's and 70's, and it became not just acceptable to be seen as common, it became the ideal. People took pride and power in being common during that time, and trailing on into the 80's.

And in doing so, the old Saxons words lost their taboo.

But, that doesn't mean that America no longer had any taboo words. Instead, it had new taboo words. N*gg*r. Ch*nk. M*nk*y. Those were the taboo words of the day.

American culture hasn't became suddenly debased or immoral. It simply changed, at least for a while, from taboos of the common and vulgar to the taboos of racism and slavery. In doing so, morality-wise, American culture became more moral, for a while.

The taboos of class began to return in the 90's, however, until it has become once more okay to say: "You want to be a janitor? Why? That's a job for a Mexican."

So, America is heading back to its more traditional taboos. But even if it weren't, it would have shown America to be more moral than it had been, instead of having the same level of morality it has traditionally had.

In other words, nothing much has changed in the coarseness of American culture. And, really, a quick trip down the memory lane of the Wild West could show you that. No, the one part of American culture that has actually changed is the American people's relation with its businesses.