Erosion

Societal norms are eroding before our very eyes as we experience a rise in bad behavior.

We’re a country of laws and order. For centuries, we have been the shining example of how the rule of law, which at its heart says no man is above the law, has been inspirational in much of the world.

Now, we find many things—little and big—eroding the rule of law. It is particularly evident when driving. It is an everyday occurrence to watch drivers cut across multiple traffic lanes to make it to an exit. The pandemic seems to be key to a spike in speeding, reckless driving and fatalities. Going the speed limit on freeways now means getting passed like you’re painted on a billboard. Drivers have always been good at rolling through stop signs, but now it’s like an art form. The other day, I saw a bumper-sticker that said “Forget world peace, imagine using your turn signal.”

Frustration is high.

And with all that frustration comes road rage, and with all the guns out there, road rage too often turns into assault with a deadly weapon. Our highways and byways are the most obvious manifestation of a declining respect for order, let alone law. There are many other, more subtle hacks and cheats going on all around us.

•How long were the rich and famous paying bribes to get their kids into prestigious  universities before enough were caught to cause a very public scandal?

•When did it become okay to follow one's own rules, rather than the experts’ regarding public health?

•What is the source of the simmering resentment we see all around us, and the breakdown of the written and unwritten rules that lubricate societal interaction?

The glue that has traditionally held us together was made of widely accepted and respected social-mores. It is losing its adhesion. Whether religion, civic obligation, the manners our parents and teachers taught us, or just plain common sense, it all seems to be fraying at the edges faster than we can mend it. The fall of the Roman empire took centuries. If unchecked, ours will happen at a much accelerated rate.

There’s little doubt that the election of the Former Guy lifted the lid on the trashcan of reprehensible and disrespectful behavior. FDR famously said the Office of the Presidency is less political than it is moral. It logically follows that by placing a decidedly immoral/amoral person in the Presidency—someone who spends more time on personal goals than societal goals—damage will occur.

However, so much social disruption must have more than one animating factor. It is also likely that the rise of social media has played a major role in the societal disintegration that’s occurred since its inception. When we were all on the same page, shame was a brake on bad behavior. No one wanted to be socially ostracized, and no one wanted to be publicly shamed. The potential for being cast out was a governor on bad behavior, but when you can behave badly and find a huge audience that reinforces your bad behavior, there’s little reason to behave well, and regrettably, pride replaces shame.

The pandemic has undoubtedly been a cause of our slide into disrespect and our disregard for laws and norms, but it does not fully explain our current circumstances. Our decline also has to do with a selfish individualism that forsakes community.

The talking heads on radio and TV are slick and purposeful. They’d have you believe that this new style of previously unacceptable behavior is an improvement, and that obeying the rules is a manifestation of weakness. Talleyrand seems apt here: he declared that "language was given man to conceal his thoughts."

Dr. Ghazala Sharieff, chief medical officer at Scripps, told the San Diego Union-Tribune, “There has been a shift in the overall attitude of patients. The unvaccinated majority,” she said, “is far more likely to push back hard against visitation restrictions designed to prevent the spread of the virus inside hospitals. And there is significant resistance even to receiving test results. This is a different pandemic than what we experienced last year,” she said. “We’ve had patients calling our staff liars when they give them the results of their COVID tests.”

Our healthcare professionals want to take care of us, but they are castigated in the deadly, politically-based conspiracy theories that the internet, and social media in particular, are riddled with. They are selfless, and are currently losing to the selfish. Society cannot function without an agreed upon compact that says we must pull together because, like it or not, we’re all in this together.

We seem to have lost the thread of civility and order; the cherished order that said no one is above the law. The idea that we all do better when we obey the basic rules of society, is eroding.

©2022 Jon Sinton