We know America is going to hell because one eccentric researcher has been keeping track, and counting all the little ways in which we all cheat and steal, from disregarding the 10-item limit in the express checkout lane to rolling through stop signs to taking candles at church without paying. And we're getting worse, demonstrably so.
He is business professor John Trinkaus and you can find some of his work here.
I have a few ideas about why America is becoming a nation of cheaters and scammers. I doubt it has to do with our turning away from worshiping God, as many conservatives complain. Nay, I think it has to do with our increasing worship of wealth and success (often by those very same values-preaching conservatives), and our culture's contempt for "losers." The absolute worst thing in America is to be labelled a loser. (But logically, how could everybody possibly be a winner?)
Meanwhile, how you win isn't important, nobody seems to care, it's only the outcome that matters. And if cheating is OK when it comes to the big things, then it's doubly permissible when it comes to the small things. Hence Prof. Trinkaus's noticing our increasingly frequent fibs, fudges and infractions.
By Flora Lichtman
October 19, 2012 | NPR
URL: http://n.pr/T35GC3
1 comment:
Here's a good sister piece that helps to explain our rationalization doing bad things http://vimeo.com/49462153
love your blog, keep up the great work!
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