Essay on America's Moral Decline

The tremendous moral decline in America is startling, but not sudden. America has suffered from a bankruptcy of ethics for decades. This lack of morality is very evident in such ubiquitous mediums as the entertainment industry, and the beliefs concerning this topic are as varied as the people who hold them.

In recent years, the economy in the United States has been in what most would see as a recession. American people differ in the way they react to a recession. Some, such as Michael Moore, feel it becomes a downward spiral as big business and it’s stockholders gain more money and power, and it’s workers gain less money and stability.

The Winter of Our Discontent    The life of Ethan Allen Hawley, which had for so long held to an irrefutable ethical standard, was about to undergo an unexpected and irreversible change. Likewise he was not alone; progress was descending upon all of New Baytown like the jets which swarmed "with increasing regularity" (196) at the nearby Templeton airfield. With them was coming a new breed, more and more focused on material wealth rather than honesty and principle. Ethan’s fourteen-year old son, Allen, was the embodiment of this new morality by which money was God and "morals are paintings on wall and scruples

     Today, in the 1990's, citizens in our society are being bombarded with obscene material from every direction. From the hate lyrics of Gun's 'N Roses to the satanic lyrics of Montley Crue and Marilyn Manson to the sexually explicit graphical content of today's movies, the issue is how much society is going to permit and where we, as a society, should we draw the line. The freedom of speech has always been considered a right, but that doesn't mean that you can shout, "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater. The real question is whether such material is harmful or dangerous to our society.

Many people try to argue that there is not a moral decline going on. I have heard things such as, “the ratio of moral people and unmoral people is the same as fifty years ago; as the population grows the amount of moral and unmoral people grow too.” And what about “life around us is changing, we just have different priorties and values which determine our morals.” Everyone has their own idea of morality, what’s right and wrong and what is causing this moral decline, if there even is one.

In the last decade or so, however, the growing awareness of the dangers of AIDS does appear to have contributed to a decline in the rates of sexual intercourse among teens. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that between 1991 and 2005 the percentage of teenagers who are sexually active dropped from 57.4 percent to 46.3 percent among males and from 50.8 percent to 44.9 percent among females. The rates of pregnancy, abortion, and sexually transmitted disease among teens have actually dropped even faster than the rate of sexual activity. So it appears that, in addition to postponing sex, teens are also becoming more responsible in their sexual activities. For example, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 87.5 percent of teens were either abstinent or used condoms. Of course, that means that 12.5 percent of teens were still having unprotected sex, but that is a significant improvement over past decades. Similarly, although the rate of teen pregnancy has declined, more than 11 percent of the babies born in the United States

The pornification (or alternatively pornographication) of the social world has created lasting effects in the lives of people that they must deal with every day (Dines 1998, p. 164). Pornification is the process by which the social and cultural world is sexualised. This occurs through the expansion of media technology and the pornography industry, as well as changes in media regulations and restrictions which allow pornographic imagery to intrude into public spaces (Tyler 2011, p. 79). This essay will offer explanations for why the pornification of the social world is occurring, how the phenomenon differs from a freedom of expression issue and is instead considered a sociological issue, what consequences and harm arise from these explanations, and will offer social measures that can be adopted in order to deal with the issue. Pornification has occurred in almost every realm of the social world, including in its unaltered form on the Internet, social media, marketing, advertising, music, fashion, sport, and art. However, this expansion of easily accessible pornified content is a stark and confronting challenge for our social world.

It is time for a change in the way teenagers are approached with sex, instead of forcing them into abstinence without so much as explaining why they should be abstinent. They should be presented with the facts and how to be safe because it is no longer a time where children will just do as they are told just because they are told not to do something. If they are engaging in these acts the least that could be provided for them is a class on how to keep themselves and their partners

Teenagers are notorious for being curious. Not every teenager has, but there are many who have tried drugs and alcohol despite all of the school’s and parent’s warnings. Why is sex any different? A study in 2015 reported that 41% of high school students have had sexual intercourse (Child Trends Data Bank). That number isn’t extremely concerning but what is the legitimate likelihood that all of those students were honest? Schools such as MCPS teach about contraceptives, but stress abstinence more than anything. By withdrawing information such as a minor’s rights when it comes to abortion or contraception, students could ruin their entire future. Everyone has made mistakes and has regrets, but withdrawing information from students in the hopes that they practice abstinence is not worth a student’s future. School systems should be teaching students their rights when it comes to sex.

    The founders of America believed that a popular government and its laws necessarily rested upon an underlying moral order that preceded both the state and man-made law. They referred to this transcendent moral order in the Declaration of Independence as "self evident truths" and "the laws of nature and of nature's god" (Barr pg. 211). For a republic to work, the founders thought, the people had to internally guided by commonly shared moral values. The founders viewed themselves as launching a great experiment: Could a free people retain a moral culture that would promote the self-discipline and virtues needed to restrain corruption? "We are still, in many ways, 'the shining city on the

The increasing amount of violence, foul language and sexuality available to children on TV is harmful to their development. What was once a time for children to watch TV with content suitable for their age is now directed for an older audience, Family Hour. Statistics show that this is the time most children are watching television with their family members. Despite knowing this, “Since 2000-2001, the amount of sexual content during the Family Hour has increased by 22.1%” (Parents Television Council 55). A poll done later in March of 2007 asked the general public if they thought there was too much sexual content on television. 79% of those that participated in the poll stated that there was too much.

Why is it that the majority of teenagers in recent decades are having unprotected sex with their boyfriend or their significant other? What generation of teenagers will decide that enough is enough and end the rapid epidemic of teenage pregnancy by protecting themselves? In today’s society, do teenagers not know that when they decide to have unprotected sex they are putting themselves at risk of getting pregnant, or even worse opening themselves up to contract a number of viruses or diseases? From personal knowledge and hearing other people comment on the issue, most teenagers decide to have sex because of their ranging hormones and the attractiveness of a person they like or because they want to fit in and be cool like other kids their age.

While parents would like their children to wait as long as possible to begin having sex, the reality is that teens are having sex much younger than many parents think. Some teens, or preteens, begin having sex or engaging in sexual behavior in junior high. By the time they are seniors in high school, an estimated 65 percent of teens have had sex, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007. (Dawn, 2009). Unfortunately, a percentage of those teens will become pregnant. After more than a decade and a half of decline (a 27 percent drop from 1991 to 2000), teen birth rates rose again in 2006, which was the last year for which data are available. It is still unclear on what caused teen birth rates to rise again, with supporters of abstinence-only sex education programs and contraception-based programs each blaming the other side for the increase. However, a 2007 study in the Journal of American Public Health attributed the trend in decreasing pregnancy rates to improved contraception use among teens during that time. (Anderson Orr, 2009).

The United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD’S) compared to other developed countries (Darroch, Singh, Frost, 2001). There are several arguments when it comes to sexual education being taught in school systems. Many parents fear their student will learn too much at young age and won’t know how often sexual education is being discussed. Children in today’s society are going through puberty at young ages and obviously waiting years to become married. According to Health News (2009), students in the United States 12 years of age had already participated in vaginal intercourse by 12%, 7.9% of 12 year old students participated in oral sex, and 6.5% participated in anal sex. The statistics just mentioned are very startling! Teenagers becoming sexually active by age 14 are at a higher risk of having multiple sex partners throughout their lifetime. A study found about 8 in 10 males and 7 in 10 females had become sexually active by age 19 (Guttmacher, 1981). Another survey proved 64% of males and 44% of females were sexually active by their 19th birthday. By 15 years of age, 7 in 10 males and 5 in 10 females reported having sexual intercourse (Masserman & Uribe, 1989). Proper condom use is important to be taught to students. Many sexually active teens don’t know how to properly use condoms. Proper condom application will prevent the risk of unwanted teenage pregnancy, spread of sexually

Today’s society is filled with a lot of pressure among our young people. They’re a lot more bold, and liberal which causes a lot of influence and problems. For an example, it’s almost rare to go to middle school, and not be exposed to drugs, sex, and violence. Drugs are used to experiment, and in most cases, it becomes a bad habit as young as 15 years old. Kids are taught that it’s cool if you go against authority, and do the complete opposite. Tweens are more sexually active than before, that it’s almost abnormal to be a virgin at age 14. Most boys lose their virginity before 15 years old, and the percentage among young girls have increased over the years. It soon becomes “un-cool” to be a virgin, and they’re forced into peer pressure to have sex and lose their childhood. Young men usually lose it before young girls, so most of the time, it’s the young men who are pressuring the girls to conform. Most young boys don’t think of oral sex to be actual sex, they just write it off as “fooling around.” In that case, they feel it’s okay to do it, and girls are more prone to take part in it, because in their eyes, it’s not the real thing. I can remember as far back to 6th grade, my best friend was 11, and she was pregnant. Her family was actually proud that she was having a baby, while my family no longer allowed me to be friends with her. Families are a big factor when it comes to