Moral degeneration

Kate posed a nice question in her blog today, after reading a writer lament the decline of moral values in the Roman Empire, 2,000 years ago.

Although I wouldn't agree that poverty go hand in hand with contentment, I have been worried for a long time about a decline stroke alteration in society's attitudes. When times are hard, people tend to look out for each other more. Now that times are good, there is a great problem with loneliness and isolation. Time and time again, some poor soul is found dead, years after they passed away. Letters keep piling through the letterbox, bills keep on being paid (Direct Debit), and nobody takes a bit of notice that one person is not seen out and about for days, weeks, months, years.

Another change, and I'm going to offend the women's rights movement here, has been birthcontrol. The Pill freed women up from the chores of the house and kids, and being able to take up a career. Whereas in the past, women were supposed to sit at home whilst the men went out to work. I fully support the idea that men and women are equally good in the workplace. The point I'm making is that mum and dad are both out working all day. Out of sheer necessity. Not because they cannot live without a lavish lifestyle, but just to pay for the bare essentials of life.

So here we have children let loose from school at 3.30pm, and their parents not home until 6pm. They are left to roam the streets, in the worst possible instance. I accept that the vast majority of people take their parental responsibility serious and arrange for someone to take care of their youngsters. But a section do not.

The result is young teenagers roaming the streets in groups, or worse: gangs, not knowing what to do with themselves. They get up to mischief, worse, intimidate people for the heck of it, vandalism, you name it. The drugs culture thrives on this as well.

Yes there is great affluence in Western society nowadays. But there is a large proportion of people who have great difficulty making ends meet. It is of course quite easy for me to sit here pontificating about the problems in society nowadays. The solution is much harder to find, because one of the greatest challenges, drugs misuse, requires not just a national but an international approach.

The War on Terrorism, as George W. Bush grandiosely put it, has had one negative side effect. Although the Taleban were kicked out of power, it also meant that the growing of opium poppies in Afghanistan, the source of about 90% of the world's supply of illicit heroin, has resumed at record levels. At least the Talebon proscribed growing poppies.
The culture of coca leaves, source for cocaine, is a multi-billion industry, which creates a society, a state within a state in countries like Colombia. The drugsbarons have power, equal to that of a head of state. Sending the cavalry in, no, I have never believed in the doctrine of bombing your opponent into submission - see Iraq.

There is international migration, with thousands travelling overseas in search of a better life. People arrive in Europe and America, from places with a vastly different culture, and integration is a slow process. It leads to tensions in society, again.

In Roman times, there was only the Mediterranean to worry about. In the year 2007, all problems in society have an international root.