# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**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, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/41 "2012-01-14T11:45:48Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > 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. Yeah, but what it makes it so lizard-y? It seems more like a bunny brain, or possibly a Roman Emperor brain. ---
**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, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/42 "2012-01-14T11:48:19Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Yeah, but what it makes it so lizard-y? It seems more like a bunny brain, or possibly a Roman Emperor brain. I think that’s just a nickname someone gave it. Caligula sure was a dedicated hedonist, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/43 "2012-01-14T13:54:36Z")
People have always liked to complain, but the general level of optimism certainly rises and falls with the times. If you look at things like the stock market, marriage rates and birth rates, they display definite trends, not just random variation. Optimism also changes from place to place. I would argue that the US birth rate of 2.1 children per woman, compared to the Italian rate of 1.3, indicates more optimism here, or at least a greater tendency to take the long view instead of living solely for one’s own enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/44 "2012-01-14T18:14:25Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Sex and violence represent the lizard brain, the lower nature of man. _ahem_ I resemble that remark! ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/45 "2012-01-14T18:15:34Z")
> [@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. Unfortunately, all too true these days. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/46 "2012-01-15T02:46:42Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > 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. Is that _ **your** _ opinion, or are you just echoing the dogma that’s been repeated _‘ad nauseum’_ for as long as I’ve been able to read? (Which is quite a long time.) 😃 Most of the people that know me personally, would say that I’m just about as ‘right wing’ as they come, in _ **most** _ ways. I LOOOOOOOVE my guns, but I actually HATE war and violence. I LOOOOOOOVE sex! (and I’ve got a hundred dollar bill that says you wouldn’t be able to find _ **anyone** _ that I’ve had sexual relations with, that would classify me as being “_uptight_” about it.) 🆒 (I would be more than happy to provide a list of references, if you care to take that bet). 😛 I’ll agree that sex, “appeals across the spectrum”, but I’m not so sure about the violence part. By the way… I just _ **love** _ your ‘username’! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@robinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinson)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/47 "2012-01-15T03:12:19Z")
A friend once told me "Things ain’t what they used to be . . . and never were. Wise guy. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/48 "2012-01-15T12:50:32Z")
When you were a kid, the experience for you and for the vast majority of kids was that they and most of their friends were pretty decent, respectful, etc, and the bad kids were kind of background noise. That’s the view from below. From above, the point of view of teachers, etc, the 80/20 rule applies. The bad kids get disproportionate notice. So when kids grow up, they compare their childhood experience with the distorted view they have from the noisiness of the bad kids. Voila. Kids today are worse than my day. Attentional bias. ---
**Author:** ![Zep\_Tepi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@Zep\_Tepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zep_Tepi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/49 "2012-01-15T13:03:55Z")
My answer is also YES and I put the blame fairly and squarely on Media. Back in the 1940’s post war, children knew nothing about sex until they were at least 13 or 14 years of age. There was no swearing whatsoever on radio or television. No explicit sex, the nearest thing allowed was a peck on the cheek on television. Music was melodious and one could hear the words sung. You could park your car anywhere without it getting keyed. As children of that era we would go and play over the fields close to our home and our mothers did not worry if we were late as they knew that we had no idea of time when we were playing. We never knew about homosexuals as it was kept very quiet. Roll on 21/12 2012. ---
**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 15, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/50 "2012-01-15T16:48:34Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > My answer is also YES and I put the blame fairly and squarely on Media. Back in the 1940’s post war, children knew nothing about sex until they were at least 13 or 14 years of age. There was no swearing whatsoever on radio or television. No explicit sex, the nearest thing allowed was a peck on the cheek on television. Music was melodious and one could hear the words sung. You could park your car anywhere without it getting keyed. As children of that era we would go and play over the fields close to our home and our mothers did not worry if we were late as they knew that we had no idea of time when we were playing. We never knew about homosexuals as it was kept very quiet. Roll on 21/12 2012. In other words, ignorance is bliss. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/51 "2012-01-15T16:51:49Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > In other words, ignorance is bliss. Both evil and the ignorance of it were established long before the 1940s. ---
**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 15, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/52 "2012-01-15T17:02:45Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Both evil and the ignorance of it were established long before the 1940s. No argument here. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/53 "2012-01-15T18:43:13Z")
> [@Zep\_Tepi](#): > > My answer is also YES and I put the blame fairly and squarely on Media. What question are you answering? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/54 "2012-01-15T23:50:52Z")
Parents shield their children from a lot of the world’s harshness. So people always remember their childhood as the good old days, and the their adulthood as the decline. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231/55 "2012-01-16T05:13:15Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > …I hear a lot about how the decline of social morays is the harbinger of the end of days. … Social morays and other types are discussed extensively in GQ, mostly in verse, here: [What kind of eel is this?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605944&highlight=Moray) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/609231.md?page=2)