# Has the world always been going to Hell in a handbasket? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231 "2012-01-11T23:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/21 "2012-01-12T20:21:16Z")
I always like this line from that _Wear Sunscreen_ song from the 90s: “Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old; and when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.” ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/22 "2012-01-12T20:37:17Z")
We can get (or propel someone else) to hell a whole lot quicker now. In olden times, if your army in Rome wanted to kick some ass up in England, it took several months of arduous journey to get your soldiers on site. Now-a-days, a cluster of nuke warheads can arrive over a given city in under thirty minutes. [del]And as soon as the rest of the satellites are in orbit, vaporization from space will be seconds away[/del] forget I mentioned this; these are not the droids you seek. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/23 "2012-01-12T20:42:34Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Around 12,000 years ago a startling jump in human population and attendant increasingly rapid technological change occurred. This is an absolutely brand-new thing in the long history of the earth, an experiment whose outcome is unknown. We already recognize that the impact on the environment is profound – despite our psychological incentive to downplay and ignore that impact. > > It’s unknown whether this will result in catastrophe…but to portray it as in any way part of a cycle that’s happened before is fantastically wishful thinking. As the dinosaurs were breathing their last, we can imagine in their walnut-sized brains they wondered if the volcano or asteroid which was laying waste to the planet and distributing a fine layer of iridium worldwide was a brand new thing in the history of the earth or because dinosaur farts were finally too much for the world to bear. What indeed has been the trigger to ice ages in the past? The earth’s environment has never really been static, for whatever reason. A well-placed asteroid can do more damage with one impact than greedy man has done during his infinitesimal sojourn here on earth. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/24 "2012-01-12T20:47:50Z")
And our language has been getting corrupted for so long, it is amazing that we can communicate at all. But somehow we can. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/25 "2012-01-13T05:51:24Z")
Yes. Also, every generation thinks they invented sex. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/26 "2012-01-13T06:04:00Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > These kinds of complaints have always been there, along with such gems as: “The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer”; and " poor people breed liek mad while our best and brightest only have a few children" > It is far more interesting why people have the need to remark stuff like this, then to treat it as an observation with factual merit > (excuse me, my period key is stuck) In your country, is there a fair amount of “sex, drugs and media-young-people-like” denounciation? What does it sound like? The pot isn’t like it used to be in the olden days? When I was your age, we had to [OMITTED] hookers both ways? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/27 "2012-01-13T07:54:07Z")
I suggest you read up on the Netherlands, and discover it is not the sex and drugs hellhole you think it is. Actually, the latest big complaint against our youth was directed at our black/arabic second generation immigrant teenage boys, who bothered bus drivers and ambulance personnel to the point where they had to retreat from the scene. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/28 "2012-01-13T08:21:11Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I suggest you read up on the Netherlands, and discover it is not the sex and drugs hellhole you think it is. Damn, I should have bought refundable tickets. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/29 "2012-01-13T10:48:41Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I can’t get TOO over whelmed about this global warming stuff. The Earth has undergone several ice ages, and they are cyclical. It’s been warm before, it will eventually get cold again. A major difference being, there are now \*\*7 billion humans \*\*on the planet that require feeding, which wasn’t the case the last time the Earth’s climate changed significantly. [Recent research](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16439807) suggests that carbon emissions have already reached the point where the next ice age will be deferred. In isolation, that might be a good thing - glaciation would eventually reach major food-producing regions such as the American midwest. However, the concern is that current levels of CO2 will eventually lead to complete collapse of the polar ice sheets. Looking at the [historical record](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8299426.stm), it appears that CO2 levels of 400 ppm may lead to a complete melting of the Antarctic ice sheet and sea levels 25-40M higher than today. > [@VOW](#): > > What indeed has been the trigger to ice ages in the past? The earth’s environment has never really been static, for whatever reason. It’s related to [Milankovitch cycles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovich_cycles). As ice age begins when there is a positive feedback loop of increased glaciation. As ice covers more of the planet, more of the sun’s heat is reflected away, leading to further glaciation. > [@VOW](#): > > A well-placed asteroid can do more damage with one impact than greedy man has done during his infinitesimal sojourn here on earth. True, but the average time between major impact events is very large compared to the span of human history. Climate change is likely to have a significant impact this century. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/30 "2012-01-13T12:05:38Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Damn, I should have bought refundable tickets. Indeed. ([link to documentary](http://http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sex-drugs-and-democracy/)) > [@](#): > > The Dutch idea of a free society includes a legalized sex industry, the open (but regulated) sale of marijuana and hashish, total equality for gays, distribution of clean syringes and methadone to addicts, and government financed abortion, euthanasia and sex education for schoolchildren. > > Has this unconventional approach changed Holland from a land of tulips, windmills and wooden shoes into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah? > > Apparently not. In Holland rates of drug use, addiction and AIDS transmission are extremely low, and the Dutch have the lowest rates of abortion, teenage pregnancy and imprisonment in the world. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/31 "2012-01-13T12:15:14Z")
Maas, I don’t know if I’ve given you the impression of being against any of those things or if you presume that, this being an American board, Fox-inspired views are the norm. I wish all those policies were adopted worldwide, with a few quibbles here and there. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/32 "2012-01-13T12:44:17Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Well, going back to Ancient Rome, they were eaten with thinly cut and deep fried vegetable fritters. Which may have been involved with the Roman orator Cicero famously bemoaning, _O tempura, O morays_! when a teenaged cook didn’t make it right. Though maybe I’m remembering that one wrong. Giving this the applause it deserves. Really really good. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/33 "2012-01-13T14:25:25Z")
When was the handbasket invented? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/34 "2012-01-13T16:04:05Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > When was the handbasket invented? i’m struggling to find an older containment vessel. so i reckon prior to the basket, we were going to hell in someone’s utilitarianly cupped hands…? btw your post made me actually lol. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/35 "2012-01-13T16:19:28Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I suggest you read up on the Netherlands, and discover it is not the sex and drugs hellhole you think it is. > > . Hellhole?!? Why would you think that legal dope and beautiful clean hookers would be our idea of a hellhole? Just the opposite, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/36 "2012-01-13T16:47:11Z")
From Jonathan Carroll’s Bones of the Moon: **’The old days’ were probably just as bad as now; people just use them as an excuse to condemn things."** ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/37 "2012-01-14T06:15:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by \*\*Colophon \*\* > I can see why violence is a bad thing, but why sex? The phrase “sex and violence” always utterly puzzles me. It’s like, I dunno, “marshmallows and landmines” or “kittens and cancer”. Who first thought they should be linked together? isn’t this a left wing/right wing thing? leftists HATE violence but LOOOOOVE sex (hippies) and right wing LOOOOOOVE guns and war but are sooooo uptight about sex (middle americans). lumping sex and violence just appeals across the spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/38 "2012-01-14T06:36:45Z")
Sex and violence represent the lizard brain, the lower nature of man. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/39 "2012-01-14T11:38:44Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Sex and violence represent the lizard brain, the lower nature of man. I’m pretty sure that most people have a lot more sex than lizards do. Maybe you mean bunnies, but they’re not very violent, with a couple of hilarious exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/40 "2012-01-14T11:42:39Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I’m pretty sure that most people have a lot more sex than lizards do. Maybe you mean bunnies, but they’re not very violent, with a couple of hilarious exceptions. The lizard brain is the old brain, the primitive center of lust, hunger, aggression and the fight-or-flight response. As opposed to the cerebral cortex. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231.md?page=3)