Thursday, Apr 14, 2005 by

Americans Increasingly Irresponsible

Writing for Knight Ridder, Steven Thomma provides evidence for the erosion of personal responsibility, marked by any number of acts of self interest without regard for consequences.

Historians, philosophers, political scientists and sociologists cite many reasons for the decline of an ethic of responsibility in America over recent decades, including:

  • A culture of narcissism or self-absorption;
  • The rise of celebrity worship and entitlement;
  • The distractions of the war on terrorism.

Examples are appallingly abundant, from the fundamentalist’s sense of divine righteousness (e.g., nature is a resource to be exploited (see resourcism)), to the happy consumer’s oblivious ignorance of the hidden cost of cumulative indulgence.

In the article, Rev. John Staudenmaier, a historian at the University of Detroit Mercy, says, “You take your eye off the ball and you get bad behavior.” Sounds more like the consequences of rule by the lowest common denominator.

categories: consumerism, the ignoranti


One comment (subscribe)

  1. I have noticed this, too, in just day-to-day experience, though I’d more likely refer to it as increasing self-involvement and/or the decline of the community (as individuals are more apt to think of themselves than the greater common good).

    A bloated sense of entitlement has been of particular concern in the United States, as evidenced by our increasing litigiousness and our increasing intolerance for immigrants and even foreign visitors to our country. Note to my fellow Americans: the rest of the world is not our personal labor force, nor one big strip-mining or marketing opportunity.

    The good news is that there are still a few folks around with enough forward thought and compassion to know that we just need to get over ourselves and start behaving more reasonably. :)

    –Jen W on May 5, 2005 @ 11:46 am

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