No More Decency? Part 6

By Bruce Goldfaden

Last fall, I wrote in an essay, No More Decency?, that the United States has become so emotionally fractured that we have unleashed a monster-like state of mind guiding our thoughts and actions. This monster thrives on our insatiable love of hate. The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk confirms again that as we sow hate, so we will reap tragedy.

The monster is a chimera, a mythological creature with a fire-breathing lion’s head representing political indecency or the attack on our constitutional foundation; a goat’s body, representing cultural indecency or adolescent exploitation on social media; a serpent’s tail representing psychological indecency or the tempting allure of media violence, including video games.

The chimera’s omnipresent negative energy has neutralized our once-thriving, essential moral and ethical principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness. Strangely, this negative energy began infiltrating us years ago when the calendar turned over to the 21st century, and one sorrow after another fell upon us. You can see the chronological events here.

These 25 years of turmoil must have rewired our neurons, causing us to think survival is dependent on separating into two groups of disillusioned and fearful people—50% on one side; 50% on the other—divided by a chasm of political indecency too deep and vast to bridge. We live within two distinct echo chambers of approved, agreeable thoughts.

But, the echoes in each chamber grow harsher, causing hatred and, even worse, attacks on public figures or politicians with whom we disagree. No wonder an October 2023 survey documented that 23%, or nearly 61 million American adults, believe extremism is the correct action by agreeing with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

We’re also “so far off track” culturally that a disturbing number of adults engage in the sexual exploitation of minors on social media. This heartbreaking reality represents cultural indecency, the second type of indecency. Social media can be so dangerous that the US Surgeon General wrote in June 2024, “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor…It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms,..."

My essay documented 11 social media news events from mid-June through mid-September 2024, plus earlier related events about adolescents, including sextortion, the exploitation I described in the previous paragraph. If you have a moment, please read the FBI advisory at the link to be aware of this merciless crime.

The third and final indecency, a potential harm to children and adults, is psychological indecency: the insidious attraction to media violence, including video games, that can cause real-world violence in cities, mass transit systems, and in our nation’s public schools.

Besides school shootings, there’s also student-on-student crime that never makes headlines for some reason. Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2021–22 shows an unbelievable lack of civility: 1,337,000 total incidents: 857,500 violent crimes + 479,500 nonviolent crimes. In public schools. Why is student anger increasing, and why is breaking the law their answer?

Maybe we should think about this quote from the American Academy of Family Physicians: “An average American youth will witness 200,000 violent acts on television before age 18. Weapons appear on prime-time television an average of nine times each hour. The violence depicted in television content is often considerable, even in programs not advertised as violent,…children’s shows are particularly violent…a growing body of literature shows a strong association between the perpetration of violence and exposure to violence in media, digital media, and entertainment.”

And so, this is where we are, 250 years after the founding of our great country. Will we allow the chimera’s omnipresent negative energy to strip us permanently of the essential moral and ethical principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness? That destination seems to be where we’re headed because we’re all complicit.

All of us are to blame for thinking we’re safe by huddling on opposite sides of the chasm, listening to only one point of view when, in reality, the chasm could be our permanent downfall. Can we continue to prosper if we continue to fracture? Fracturing distracts us from what truly matters: fortifying liberty and enhancing prosperity, based on mutual respect. What is your decision?

As you think about your answer, consider that the light never goes out. As in, The Light of decency that is within each of us, waiting to shine through the clouds of political division; adolescent exploitation; and continuous violence.

But, first, we must stop. Stop listening to our egos, the destructive self-talk that can make us feel small, unworthy, and powerless. The anger that arises from those feelings can result in some pretty bad decisions.

In reality, we are powerful: Nothing is working against us except our decisions. So, let’s stop standing in our own way and, finally, let go and…trust. With trust, everything changes so we can make wise decisions about how we treat each other. Respect each other, three simple words that will allow us to choose compassion over indifference, goodwill over hostility, and kindness over cruelty. Only then will we heal. As individuals. As a nation.

Bruce Goldfaden is the founder of LSV Communications and decency action network. He is the author of The Man of Many Colors, a parable about recognizing one's individual value to recognize this value in others to live by the Golden Rule, the appropriate code of conduct. The Man of Many Colors is available on amazon.com.

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