Why FREEDOM willl not cause decline in moral values?
481736
Wow, dude, you expect a lot. Ever heard of research?\n\nA few ideas:\n\n1. Given that it's virtually impossible to control the movements of all the people all of the time, you have to provide them with a certain degree of freedom anyway. True, if you kept someone in a box for the rest of their life, it's pretty safe to say he won't be committing any atrocities or breaking any laws. But since that in and of itself would be immoral, there has to be some degree of freedom.\n\n2. If people are allowed to make decisions about the direction of their own lives and are allowed to pursue happiness, they will usually be less likely to break laws or try to hurt others.\n\n3. An example: a child who is never allowed to make choices for himself never learns to make them and grows up to be a problem. A child who is brought up lovingly, rewarded for good choices, educated, and slowly but surely given the freedom to make its own choices usually makes much better moral choices.\n\n4. Societies with less personal freedom do not necessarily enjoy a clear moral advantage. For example, in certain areas of Pakistan (which is a conservative Muslim country), there is less promiscuity because the laws against promiscuity are so harsh and personal freedoms are so limited, especially for women. On the other hand, particularly violent crimes are often directed against women. Mukhtaran Bibi was gang-raped in a conservative Pakistani village as retribution for a crime her younger brother never committed. In fact, her brother was sexually molested by three men himself. (See link before for more info). It's not uncommon in societies with strict moral codes and corporal punishment for the weakest members of the society (women, the poor, etc...) to be the victim of oppression, crime, and torture.\n\n5. Sometimes a society that reacts too strongly against a certain behavior actually encourages it. When something is forbidden, some people will naturally find it that more compelling.\n\n6. Some people have a tendency to come down very hard when it comes to OTHER peoples' sins but not on their own. For example, although the Bible comes down way harder on divorce and remarriage than on homosexuality, most Christians openly despise homosexuals but don't criticize divorced people at all. When you couple this hypocrisy with a society that has highly repressive moral standard, the result is often violence: for example, men who may (or may not) have repressed feelings of homosexuality beating an openly gay man to death. An example of this is in Wyoming when Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left for dead by two homophobic men who, feeling themselves "morally superior" to a homosexual, committed a particularly vile crime. More info on Matthew Shepard below (or you can google him yourself.)\n\nWell, that's a few ideas. Hope that helps.
511253
Excuse me, but you are confusing "Freedom" with "Being Free to do what you want".... they are not the same thing. \n\nFreedom in this case is the concept of political freedom  closely allied with the concepts of civil liberties and human rights, and the fundamental idea of positive and negative freedom corresponds with the concept of negative and positive rights. Most democratic societies are characterised by various freedoms which are afforded the legal protection of the state.\n\nYou have these Freedoms in the USA and not all countries allow the same Freedoms:\n\nFreedom of assembly \nFreedom of association \nFreedom from government sanctioned discrimination \nFreedom of education (to get a basic education)\nFreedom of enterprise \nFreedom of movement (or travel) \nFreedom of the press \nFreedom of religion (or belief) \nFreedom of speech \nFreedom of thought (or conscience) \n\nI don't see being a drug using nudist listed above....sorry.
292919
Nobody can be "forced" to be free-in that case,it's not really freedom,just another kind of coercian.Not every culture in the world subscribes to Western values,and attempting to force them to do so is counter-productive.\nTake a look at Iraq,where tens of thousands of people have already died and that's just the tip of the iceberg.\nNo matter what Bush says,they're on the verge of civil war\nand when that breaks out,what's happened up to this point will seem like a garden party in comparison.
931566
Not necessarily.  I've seen alot with belief who step outside of what is considered moral, even by their own religions standards and then hypocritically justify it with that same religion.  I wouldn't consider that person better for their belief.  Though, on rare occaisions, I do find people with belief who have become better people for it... those are usually the one's who don't pressure others about belief.  Sad thing is, they're greatly outnumbered by those that step outside of the moral boundaries believing they are Better than others.
1032275
I think you make some interesting points - words definitely have limitations for the definer and the interpretter.  Its always a rhetoric game and only real thieves hide behind definitions to justify their actions.  As for morality - this is not a truth - it is a social norm - and each society determines what is or isn't moral based on their level of consciousness.  As long as we are trapped in words - we are limiting our consciousness.
334664
I think if our plan is to "educate" them, we might consider that we have been in a state of near continuous war for centuries. How is imposing our values ethical or moral really valid.\nI also wonder how truly free we are. We do have freedom of thought, we just don't have the freedom to vocalize it. Maybe on paper. Maybe we are free relative to being in bondage, but by its pure definition are we really free?
243385
Yeah, but we're the richest and most powerful country in the world, so the rules don't REALLY apply when they're not convienent, do they?  We're not worried about being MORAL, just as long as we can wage unilateral war to make OTHERS moral.\n\nWe're America, we don't have to worry about being hypocrites.
354940
The person who answered that "the "decay of morality" that you see is a myth" is right and wrong.\n\nHe's right in that "decay of morality" doesn't mean much.\n\nHe's wrong in that there is an actual increase in behaviors that harm people: obesity, high school dropouts, addictions of all kinds. These are the results of our increasing inability to see clearly from a moral point of view. That is, there IS a decline in our moral judgment abilities.\n\nIf you could see clearly and know what it right and what is wrong, then pornography could be multiplied 50 times, it would not make a difference.\n\nThe problem, of course, is that the increasing supply of pornographic material makes it easier to consume, thus increasing the demand, which then increases the supply. Hence, the vicious cycle continues.\n\nThe solution might be to have non-judgmental and open discussions, among men, about pornography.
828868
Corruption couldn't exist without values. Furthermore values are often concieved through corruption.  Unless people were utterly apathetic, which they are not, there wouldn't be values; corruption serves as a caution to reinforce values.  You may also add that humans are by and large not masachistic; that human nature would not allow corruption to direct a detramental  relationship between corruption and basic values of life.
822732
You make a very valid point.  I'm a Humanist, and I think happiness is extremely important, but a good life is not just one filled with pleasurable indulgences.  It is important to live a moral life, and sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun and don't give us immediate pleasure, but they are the right thing to do in the long run and will help to secure our freedoms and make a better life possible for us, our loved ones, and others.  You call this moral motivation righteousness.  We shy away from that term because of its religious connotations.  Instead we call it living a moral, useful, meaningful, responsible, and fulfilling life.  In short, a good life.
895993
No strings attached. If you don't believe in God you have no reason to have morals or a conscience. Life becomes a game... until you die and realize it's too late and then you get to enjoy hell with no regrets.
473647
i think that most of us humans forgot the word MORAL means because of the way we act at times\n\nif there is anybody out there that does not agree please ontact me we will discuss it
587236
When the dollar bill was designed, the new world order meant that this is the land where you can pursue a life of liberty, and without religious persecution. Despite what people may argue against that, it still holds true. The drawback of a free democratic society is that too many hands are on the wheel and some interests, rights, and freedoms are at the forefront at the expense of others. But the good thing is that things are always evolving.
258264
I concur.  I feel like adherence to a prescribed moral principle removes personal responsibility.  I've felt that way (only perhaps less eloquent!) since I was eight.  If you are a good person because you adhere to the Bible / church values unquestioningly, you aren't actually a good person.  You are only truly good if you are the person choosing your own behavior.  I think fundamentally it boils down to manners - in greater or lesser dimensions.
198924
Not a bad question!!\n\nNot sure that I can help though.\n\nThe first thing that came to mind was this quote by Hightower:\n\nDiscipline without Freedom is Tyranny.\n\nFreedom without Discipline is Choas.\n\n\nI hope that helps\n\nGood Luck\n\nJimmy
86243
I think the main thing that characterizes the western world in comparison to the eastern is the idea of the sanctity of the individual.  Possibly because of Christianity, or possibly for more esoteric reasons, individualism has been more important that collectivism throughout western history.  Freedom is more important that tradition and structure.  These are basic judeo-christian values which spring from a belief in free will and the responsibility of the individual to live up to a moral standard that started with the Ten Commandments.  Coupled with curiosity, imagination, ambition and even greed, it has created much of what we consider to be western culture.
1105627
I would say morality is taking a backseat to technology.  I don't agree that a decline in morality is due to technological innovation, but you hit the nail on the head with the Rome comparison.  History tells us that society as a whole reaches a plateau, then starts to decline.  \nGood question.