The Corrosion of Character

The Corrosion of Character
by Jeffrey Perren

What’s happened to the character of the average American over the last forty years?

Any of a dozen rap noisemakers are better known today than Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra. Motion picture plots (and I use the term loosely) generally revolve around one of two kinds of patently psychopathic types: the utterly superficial "nice guy/gal" ("entertainment") or the chronically morose loser ("art"). The average corporate executive is now a bigger liar than the average politician. And most journalists can no longer tell the difference between reporting and editorializing.

But all these are the well-known, well-trod complaints of anyone who still has a moderate amount of sense left (and dozens more could be generated easily). Let's look for slightly bigger game: the causes and consequences of the situations listed above.

Though the roots go much farther back, the 60s are known to have been a time of rapid and large-scale social change in America. Some of its more blatant forms of insanity are gone: there hasn’t been a Kent State-style incident lately, LSD isn’t so popular today (though Ecstasy[1] may be no better), and homegrown terrorists (like the Weathermen, Black Panthers, and SDS) are much less common. These days, many former members of those groups are “respectable,” which is to say, they’re in Congress or lobbying firms—or "teaching" at universities. Or, they’ve joined any one of dozens of other “social activist” or philanthropic groups.

The social consequences of these historical phenomena have been widely discussed. What isn’t quite so common is the recognition of the effects on character on the individual level.

In particular, discussions of politics are as common as breadsticks in Italian restaurants. Objectivists, Conservatives, Democrats, you name it ... all are talking about the effects of this or that piece of legislation. What kind of Supreme Court Justice should be appointed, whether drilling for oil in Alaska should or shouldn’t be pursued, whether Iran should be permitted to have nuclear weapons—these questions are debated endlessly.

It’s much less common to observe that, over the last forty years or so, the character of the average American has declined. That is, most individuals are simply not as good, measured by any one of several standards—for instance, ability to frame a sound argument, degree of honesty in personal or business relationships, amount of alcohol (or other mind-numbing drugs) consumed in college, or propensity to take action against injustice—as most individuals were in decades prior. (And this, of course, is measured against a base which, compared to, say, the turn of the prior century, was already pretty low.[2])[3]

The causes for these phenomena may properly be subject to debate. For my part, I point to the standards of measurement themselves. For example, consider the ability to frame a sound argument. If you can’t tell correct from incorrect very clearly, it’s hardly surprising that you won’t be able to distinguish right from wrong very well either. The consequences are fairly obvious.

Look at the degree of honesty to be found in the average business relationship. When was the last time you had confidence that the manager of the H.R. department actually believed what she was saying? How many times has a coworker sat by silently while a pragmatic manager lied to his manager about the real cause of some system failure? How often does your bank or cell phone service provider tell you the truth about the errors in your account?

But above all, whether considering causes or effects, the single aspect of character that has suffered more than any other is: integrity. Whether a good man or bad, an individual in earlier decades was generally much more recognizable from day to day. Even bad men were more consistent in their choices. You generally saw them coming. Good men were much more likely to keep their word, and to do what they said they were going to do.

Forty years ago, when your neighbor said he was going to help you fix your car on Saturday, he did it—even if a previously unscheduled playoff game happened along in the meantime. When a realtor said she was going to meet you at noon to look over a house, she showed up at 11:45, not 2:30. When a woman agreed to go to lunch on Wednesday, she didn’t flake out, and then make excuses when you asked about it on Thursday.

Why single out this one characteristic? Because it is both cause and consequence of the others. To have integrity in reasoning is to adhere to facts and to the principles of sound reasoning. To display integrity in personal relationships ensures that your behavior is predictable by others, and that you can be relied upon. To show integrity in your behavior is to actually pursue those things which you tell yourself you value.

And these things are the glue of civilization.

For thousands of years, in every major ethical system of the East or West, keeping your word—doing what you said you were going to do—was considered a major virtue, even when it wasn’t widely practiced. Without it, trust is impossible. Without it, it’s impossible to achieve anything you claim to want. Without it, it’s impossible even to feel good inside your own skin at night.

Whether examined from the aspect of the effects on civilization or the consequences for your own life, this virtue is a prerequisite for a decent life—material, spiritual, social, and individual.

What is needed is a renaissance in developing the conscience. And, it's no accident that this ethical term has its roots in the Latin "to be conscious of." For "to be good," ultimately means, "to be aware." Integrity will follow in due course.

[1] Ecstasy or MDMA (3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a synthetic, psychoactive drug chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. In 2002, an estimated 676,000 people in the U.S. age 12 and older used MDMA.
[2] Examine, for example, the mathematics problems the average high school student was required to solve for graduation circa 1905 compared to 1965. Or compare the facility with the English language between the two periods.
[3] E.g., Walter Williams's article, "The Decline of Higher Education," provides many examples. But learning ethical principles, consciously or otherwise, starts much earlier than high school or college.

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