anger

Maybe this will make me sound like I'm getting old or jaded early in life but I can't stand it anymore. Dignity and integrity in American culture is disintegrating. If someone is doing something that is hurtful or wrong or in bad taste and someone else takes issue with them, the first reaction seems to be to find a way to shut the injured party up (either through discredit, debate or sheer force) rather than consider whether or not what they have done is wrong. At one point in this country, the ties of community and family were still strong and the threat of a bad reputation was deterrant enough for people to not be shitty to each other. Now, everything is compartmentalized and independant and anonymous--now, any person who wishes can be an island unto themselves. In cities, we are stacked three deep and speak not a word to the person we are packed in next to. Somewhere between the abuse of anonymity and the fear of a nameless killer, people have discovered that it is possible to be really shitty to someone else, profit from it and never have to deal with the injured party or their suffering. Is this the next logical evolutionary step for a capitalist society??