A new Pew Research Center study found 53% of U.S. adults rated Americans’ morals and ethics as “bad,” making the U.S. the only country surveyed where that view prevailed.
Trust in other people underpins everything from civic life to everyday cooperation, so broad skepticism about neighbors’ character can shape politics, institutions and social cohesion.
Pew’s findings add an international benchmark to a long-running American debate about polarization and whether people see opponents—and even fellow citizens—as acting in good faith.
If you’re a republican or a conservative or otherwise support the current administration, then you’re a bad person. If you don’t think trans rights are human rights, then you’re a bad person. If you treat anyone in such a fashion that you would not want to be treated you are a bad person. This easily eliminates two thirds or three quarters of my countrymen. Americans are largely the problem with America, our whole culture is built around effectively anti-social principles and it fucking shows. We pour bleach on dumpster food instead of distributing it to homeless or needy even though we have legal protection from liability. Throwing away excess food costs more than redistributing it to local shelters, so we are intentionally cruel just for love of the game. Americans are bad people, nobody needs to think about it.
It’s not just the US though… the rest of the world is following the same path. You’re just winning by a good margin.
This is the social attitude that forces of capital want every human on Earth to share, and it’s spreading like fucking fire through dry brush right now.
When your absolve yourself on any moral judgement and follow a divine command ethics you have no morals, just unquestionable commands from an authority. When you absolve yourself on any moral judgement because you’re a maga cult member getting your motivations from a political authority and the people giving those commands are nihilists who refuse to engage in ethics because their philosophy hasn’t developed past childish egocentrism you don’t just have bad morals, you have no morals. And the rest have compromised morals by their inaction to remove unethical violent children from positions of power within communities and government.
I see people blatantly run red lights almost every single day. In terms of the intersection between malicious and just plain stupid, it’s hard to get much worse imo.
I feel like lawlessness really ramped up during COVID. Underlying tension and lack of enforcement probably, but COVID is long over and people are still doing bonkers stuff. I saw people driving on the sidewalk because they wanted to left turn out of a lot and cars were in the way, people shooting the wrong way down the street to skip past a long line of left turning cars, and most of all people stopping at a red then deliberately running it because nobody else is coming.
most of all people stopping at a red then deliberately running it because nobody else is coming.
Ah, shit, I feel called out. I feel that one’s defensible in certain circumstances. The stupid underground magnet sensors never seem to detect me, it’s nearly midnight with a traffic rate of 20 cars an hour, and I can sit at that intersection for 10 minutes without the light changing…
Even without those circumstances though, stopping at a red light, ensuring the way is clear, and then proceeding seems responsible enough.
making the U.S. the only country surveyed where that view prevailed.
American exceptionalism come home to roost
The progressives think the conservative morals are horrific. The conservatives think the progressive morals are horrific. But it’s not a both sides thing because only one of those two groups are standing behind and protecting pedophiles.
The conservative morals are horrific (as evidenced by their support of a convicted criminal and child rapist among other things), conservatives think godless progressives don’t have any.
I was doorbelling for a local mayoral race. One of the people who we met openly talked about how if we have him a squad of US Marines (he said he was one) and a wood chipper he would “solve the homelessness problem in no time”.
So… That’s the kind of interactions I have with conservatives. Please let me know what I should fill out on this survey based on that kind of data.
My neighbor is a Vietnam era Marine. Looking at him you’d expect him to be that kind of guy. We live in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population and have been having problems with wannabe ICE cruising around trying to identify homes where they live. Watched old boy stroll out of his house casually strapped (open carry state) and up to a car load of cousin fuckers who he sent skittering when they stopped to harass our Hispanic neighbor’s kids. Ironically the dad of the kids they were there to harass is a “Fuck Your Feelings” flag-waving Trumper 🙄
Removed by mod
At least they are right about something
Well, republicans fully support child rape at this point… so …
Rape and murder (see Iran bombings, Palestinian genocide, American school shootings, etc.)
Well yeah, a country running tattletale hotlines is not a country of good morales
not a country of good morales
I had a tryst with a young woman with that surname and that was pretty damned good. I won’t generalize beyond that.
… I’ve NEVER been surveyed in 40 years of America life… starting not to trust titles like these
Don’t worry, I get enough calls for surveys that I immediately hang up on to count for both of us!
Well you’re surveilled so that’s close enough, Citizen!
In America there’s a pretty safe bet you’re correct in that assumption. Unfortunately the ones with the shit morals also think that of the rest.
Pew reported a partisan split: Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to rate fellow Americans as morally and ethically bad, 60 percent versus 46 percent.
Can’t say I don’t see why.
The United States stood out as the only country where a majority described others’ morality and ethics as bad (53 percent) rather than good (47 percent), according to the report.
Have they tried asking those other countries about the United States?
In the area I’m in, people think that lying is perfectly fine now. Even if you’re not a liar, people assume that you’re lying all the time, because they think it’s stupid to not lie. People think if you’re not lying, you’re a sucker.
It’s hard to get anything done because the mechanics and the plumbers and the city workers and the doctors and dentists and insurance companies and the people we work for and the religious leaders and on and on are all lying. If you’re a good liar with no conscience, life is a paradise–for the rest of us it’s hell.
The christian nationalists are satisfied
They’re all thinking of people in the opposite political party
It’s so weird how US political parties are ingrained as a personality trait. Just the way someone cheers for a sports team, even if they don’t like the current roster, Americans seem to vote for “their” party even if the offering isn’t good.
This practice undermines the entire point of democracy. If a party has your vote without having to earn it, why would they ever do anything good for you?
I’m mostly thinking of enlightened centrists, the ones actually responsible for Trump and Co.
My favorite take right now from the reactionary/enlightened centrists is when they point at things like RFK jr saying something about food dyes. Or getting rid of pennies.
Really, things like that make all the rest of it worth it? I just can’t even with that bunch. Imagine flipping the script: if the Democrats were letting Biden just go buck-wild with the country and no one was stopping him? Would these “centrists” be talking about dyes and pennies?
Me personally, I’m very literal minded. When I say getting rid of pennies is good, I mean just that: getting rid of pennies is good. I certainly DO NOT think that tiny little good thing is equal to all the horrible crap Trump has done. I don’t think it makes any of the suffering worth it. I’d go back to using pennies if it meant all the horrible things from the Trump administration went away
The weird thing? He couldn’t even do that right. He unleashed more chaos by just announcing the end of pennies. No real planning, no direction given.
I’m rather ambivalent about pennies myself. The claim is that it will save $56 million per year, which is a rounding error in the U.S. budget. Hell, Noem apparently stole $220 million for ads featuring herself cosplaying. I have to wonder what it ends up costing the average American, though. And it seems it has unleashed some real chaos for retailers.
