Freedom evolves (and so does common sense)

[Ron_Tomkins]

It is kinda striking to watch this video and realize that this was only twenty years ago. Twenty years for many radical changes and improvements in the mentality of human beings. It seems almost inconceivable that there used to be a time when the majority of people thought that selling records with "nasty" lyrics could corrupt mankind.



It all comes down from the same argument: Where do morals come from?

When we begin to learn that morals is not some magical thing that lies in the realm of the "Good" Gods and that there is, additionally, some mysterious Evil Force led by the "Bad" Gods.... but that instead morals are a product of human culture and that there also exists something called "common sense" which allows us to grasp that for things to have a meaning, they have to be put in context (and that for such reason, we can extrapolate meanings and make jokes about anything without hurting someone's dignity because we are acting under a code which permutes things through irony and other similar traits), when we begin to understand the true basic concept of consciousness and what is it that makes us human, and we connect it more to reality and not personal bias.... then, we can say that freedom is evolving.

But it's a slow journey. We still have people like Bill O' Reilly and other bigots. There's still racism and hatred against homosexuality. There's still tendencies to fanatism and appeal to authority. And we still don't seem to drop our guards in the process of destroying ourselves through our own technology.

When I watch videos like that, I both get upset and at the same time happy, because I am tracing mankind in its maturity process. And I have the feeling that our tendency will be to continue evolving.

 

[TobiasTheViking]

Now that was interesting

 

[Euromutt]

Wow, Crossfire was already crap in 1986. And Frank Zappa was even cooler than I realized. I cannot imagine how much self-control it took not to snap at that toupeted toad from the Washington Times "will you STFU and let me finish at least one sentence?!"

 

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

It took a long time for the guy with the toupee to Godwin the debate.

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

Wow, Crossfire was already crap in 1986. And Frank Zappa was even cooler than I realized. I cannot imagine how much self-control it took not to snap at that toupeted toad from the Washington Times "will you STFU and let me finish at least one sentence?!"

I know. I was thinking the same thing. Zappa really is a gentleman. I would have already kicked the idiot in the face.

 

[bigred]

Twenty years for many radical changes and improvements in the mentality of human beings. It seems almost inconceivable that there used to be a time when the majority of people thought that selling records with "nasty" lyrics could corrupt mankind.

Yeah, the wonderful state our current society is in sure disproved that silliness.

uh........

FYI the video didn't load for me and more generally, I'm hardly a prude, nor intend to imply lyrics are the source of all evil to say the least, but IMO common sense - and the human race - isn't "evolving." It's spiralling down the toilet. Rapidly.

 

[quixotecoyote]

Yeah, the wonderful state our current society is in sure disproved that silliness.

uh........

FYI the video didn't load for me and more generally, I'm hardly a prude, nor intend to imply lyrics are the source of all evil to say the least, but IMO common sense - and the human race - isn't "evolving." It's spiralling down the toilet. Rapidly.

Those kids today, I tell ya...

 

[GreNME]

Yeah, the wonderful state our current society is in sure disproved that silliness.

uh........

FYI the video didn't load for me and more generally, I'm hardly a prude, nor intend to imply lyrics are the source of all evil to say the least, but IMO common sense - and the human race - isn't "evolving." It's spiralling down the toilet. Rapidly.

Could you provide three examples?

The reason I ask is because I have similar observations as the first post, but I base my conclusions about what's happening on different things. Basically, my conclusion is not so much that we're evolving in any real sense of the term, but we are widening our bases from which we define morality and, in the process, continually becoming less and less morally absolute about the world around us. In my own opinion, this is a good thing, but that's mostly because I have a conclusion that the worst things humanity has done tends to stem from a moral absolutism that provides a justification to those committing atrocities that what they are doing is right, or in some way necessary or not as bad as alternatives. Obvious examples of such absolutism would be suicide bombing or ethnic cleansing, though softer examples such as rhetoric condemning whole groups of people (whether political, cultural, religious, or ethnic) qualify as well. The more society gains additional perspective outside of their own immediate surroundings, the less justified those absolutist activities become, and the general consensus of those things tends to become that such things are wrong where they once were right or tolerable.

But, hey, if you think society is going down the crapper, I'm sure you have reasons to support that opinion. I'd be able to better understand what you're trying to say if you can elaborate at least a little bit, though.