Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with decline

"These youths wearing their togas halfway down their legs"

Petrot — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:32:33 -0800

My father says that a decline in morals and standards is a particularly modern occurrence. What argument, quotes or sources can I use to persuade him that people have been complaining of societal decline for thousands of years? I'm not too concerned with arguing the specific facts (he is a stubborn old-fashioned Catholic, with all that that entails), but I would like to convince him that he's not experiencing anything new in regards to today's society and youth.

I would really like quotes from as early in history as possible right up to about the 1940s/50s that complain about their society and how things are all going downhill, and it wasn't like that in their day etc.

Thanks!

What on earth happened to The Simpsons?

schmichael — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:58:32 -0800

What happened to The Simpsons? My family used to love The Simpsons. And I know that everyone says that, but we were nuts. My Dad was an American emigre, and I think The Simpsons helped him to connect in a small, sad way with his lost country. In the days before DVDs with HDD recorders and TiVo, he used to tape every single episode on (severely limited) NZ TV. Over time he managed to get an almost-complete collection of grimy old VHS tapes (current to the current season, at the time about 14). And I used to watch them relentlessly, over and over.

But then I grew up - and, it seemed to me, Simpsons grew down. I grew increasingly bored with the new episodes, and by season 15, I stopped watching. Now, whenever I watch a new episode - which is not often - I usually give up after a couple of minutes. The sense of humour is wrong, the characters are all wrong, the plots are gasping for air... it feels like the show's heart is gone.

When I go back and watch episodes in the vicinity of season 6, I still love it. Episodes like Homie the Clown are just, it seems to me, on a completely different level than current efforts.

How much of this feeling is really coming from the decline in show quality? And can someone explain what exactly has changed in the nature of the show? I saw a recent episode with a slick new intro, and it just felt wrong. It was like they've had to sex the show up, make everything shiny and spotless, increase the tempo to breaking point, to continue to grab people's attention as the competition between media becomes more and more vicious, and TV gets louder, faster, and gaudier.

And am I paying to much creedence to the mementoes of my childhood? Maybe my nostalgia covers up for weaker jokes in the old stuff. Maybe the new episodes are perfectly good without this inbuilt assumption of how the show should work and how the characters should act. And I'm just turning into an old codger sniffing distrustfully at the new-fangled.

Or maybe The Simpsons really has jumped the shark - maybe it's jumped it more than once.

Teach me, Askmefi!

Forgotten fall of the Roman Empire quote?

jellywerker — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:51:38 -0800

I am looking for a quote I once read about the decline of nations/empires. I think the quote was specifically referencing the Roman Empire and said something to the effect of when a nation starts putting the current generation ahead of the unborn generation, that's when it falls. I think the quote might have been in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but I can't find it. I have always thought it was a very powerful quote, and rather relevant to today's social security issues.

Another way I think it might have been said was something along the lines of an empire falls when it puts pleasure ahead of the needs of the next generation.

I think this is also applicable to the cuts on education and research and development that recently went through, and I'd like to be able to quote it correctly.

The decline of civility

citybuddha — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:18:23 -0800

Can you please point me in the direction to some good articles/rants/books regarding the decline of civility these days in the U.S. or anywhere for that matter.

What's going on with my brain?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 07:34:17 -0800

Is this depression, or is it something else? And what should I do to make it better? I don't feel sad or tired all the time. Just utterly, utterly unmotivated. My lack of motivation is messing with my life at home and at work. And I'm drinking, smoking dope and surfing the internet more than I probably should.

Six months ago, I was the happiest I'd ever been (this was me). I wanted more, I went for it, and things don't seem to be working out as well as I'd have liked. I think I'm sliding back toward depression, but I'm not sure if I'm actually there yet.

I'm exercising, I'm eating well, I'm in a good relationship, I'm paying off my debt. I started a new job, and it's got me back in in the city I was yearning for.

But I don't like my boss, and the job isn't what I'd hoped it would be. I'm a very career-focused woman, and I've been angling for this job for six years now. My disappointment with the job is pretty overwhelming, but I'm still dedicated to my career even if I don't like this particular employer. I feel stuck.

I have zero motivation at work. I'm smart and fast, which means I can get the minimum done fairly well in a short amount of time. But I probably spend six hours a day surfing the web and posting to various message boards from work, and two hours scraping by.

I have zero motivation at home, too. I'm leaving newspapers everywhere, dishes everywhere, bills, paperwork. The bathtub is a mess, the toilet is unscrubbed. There's moldy food in the fridge, and when I look at it I just groan and shut the door. I'm having trouble paying bills on time. I can't make myself do anything about it. I keep telling myself I'll take care of things next weekend, but then I never do.

I'm probably averaging 10-12 beers a week. Not as much as during my last depression, but enough that I get a buzz more than half the nights when I come home. I'm smoking pot 4-5 times a week. Again, not as much as I've smoked in the past, but I know it's all about escapism. Mixed with the drinking and my smallish frame it really zonks me out.

And I'm feeling overwhelmed by the stress of my recent move, my new job, my impending wedding, the death of a cat, and the loss of a friend/support network I had before I moved.

At work and at home, I feel like I'm sabotaging my future by slacking off so much.

I'm not sad, really, just weighed down, overwhelmed and unable to move.

I don't know what to do.

Advice?

Please don't tell me therapy. Unless you can recommend a genious miracle worker who takes Blue Cross in the Portland metro area, I don't want to hear it. My experiences with therapists have been universally disappointing.