This is a thought that just occured to me, but it seems that an increase in crime has a direct correlation with materialism in society. People want stuff, and to get stuff you need cash.
With an increasingly short attention span, thanks to the influence of things like music videos where any given scene is less than 4 seconds long, most being merely 2 seconds and acting as a sort of strobe effect that bombards your senses, people have no patience anymore. Consider the people of modern society as a sort of collective Veruca Salt - Needy, greedy, and inconsiderate - and old society as Charlie - Just getting by.
There were, of course, problems in old society, too, but not to the extent that murder for possessions was commonplace. By old society I don’t mean “ancient society”, but a nearer time when human culture had gone through considerable progression, which contrasts modern society in which I feel many elements have actually gone through regression. I wonder when we’ll be presented with a reality TV version of gladiator events? Or isn’t that K-1?
There were always crimes. Crimes of passion. Crimes of hate. Crimes of jealousy. Perhaps that’s what we’re seeing a lot of now - Crimes of jealousy. Anymore, it’s not that we’re simply keeping up with the Joneses, but we’re murdering them so we can take what the Joneses have. It’s really strange, too, because it’s not even about survival - It’s about luxury, and it has become a mainstream mentality.
8 Comments
July 7, 2008 at 2:30 pm
With the gap between the haves and have-nots growing as it is, these kind of crimes will become more common. It seems like almost yesterday people were being shot in the urban centers of America for Starter jackets and Jordans. Today, its iPods. My hope for America often wavers between hopeless and doubtful. It seems things are bound to get much worse before they start to get better.
Maybe that is a good thing. We need a renewal in this country. That mainstream urge to indulge in luxury is definitely something that is destorying us and we need to get away from it. I mean, all we have to do is read the writing on the wall: iPods, iPhones, “Have it your way;” the branding of objects are feeding into our selfish ways. We’ve become some wrapped up in ourselves that we’ve forgot alot about what life should be about.
We are at the tail-end of a generation that was frugal and self-sacrificing , the greatest generation if you will; its just sad that the generations replacing that one have not learned more than they have, myself included.
Good post, Alex. This is something I’ve been thinking a bit about lately as well.
July 7, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I don’t think crime levels have changed much one way or the other…
July 7, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I agree that our patience has gone out the window. We live in the age of CDs and other discs. There is no need to rewind or fast forward. You just skip to the songs you like. Cassette tapes have gone the way of the dodo. And I tend to agree with Clay - I don’t know if crime levels have increased so much as their types have changed. I bet embezzlement is WAY more common in modern times than it used to be. And heaven knows piracy is up. So, I dunno. But sure, materialism has its role to play too. I agree with that too. Good post.
July 7, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Exactly what crime are you refering to? In order commit a crime, a law has to exist. At one time, piracy was considered an immoral act against one’s ruler and the ruler’s possesions, We, as American’s, don’t have a ruler, so we initiated the idea of copyright, to protect the rights of the individual. Ipods are not a crime. I still use Cassette tapes. One of the number one issues in regards to crime is ignorance. Be sure and get your facts straight.
July 8, 2008 at 12:24 am
Red: I think what Jordan was getting at was that people are committing crimes so that they can get the money to buy things like iPods, whereas in the past it was only for things like brand-name goods. They can’t buy the goods, and they’ll do almost anything to get the cash…No one is saying that iPods themselves are illegal. I hope they aren’t, cause mine’s sitting in my kitchen charging up at the moment.
Also, I think what Deas was saying is that the existence of digital-format media means we can expose ourselves to more entertainment quicker. People start hitting the next button before songs end, when they used to just let the tape play. The attention span of kids has gone out the window.
Copyright laws protect the amount of copies of any given data. Technically, it’s illegal to even record a videotape of an NFL game.
The crimes I’m referring to are ones like these, where two guys suffered more than 240 stab wounds before being set on fire so that thieves could run off with “their bank cards and two Sony PSP games consoles”.
July 8, 2008 at 1:41 am
I don’t think anyone here was referring to copywrite laws at all. I brought up the iPod (note the “I”
to underline our society’s infatuation with itself. Alex’s post was about people stealing in order to get things they don’t necessarily need and my thoughts were that, along with materialism, these crimes are born in some part out of our society’s often self-centered disposition.
240 stab wounds and being set on fire is macabre.
July 8, 2008 at 9:33 am
Deas: “And heaven knows piracy is up.”
I have been hearing a lot about increased piracy rates, which is kind of concerning (http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/09/piracy-logistics-shipping-biz-logistics-cx_wp_0610piracy.html) but since I don’t take long trips on boats I don’t think it will impact me much.
Did you mean that copyright infringement is up? I agree with that, but I would argue that copyright laws are not anywhere near in line with societies expectations about cultural use of art. I don’t think you can cite copyright infringement as proof that lawlessness and crime is up any more than you can point to blatant jaywalking on the streets of Manhattan as an indicator of the impending doom of western civilization due to a blatant disregard of the law.
July 8, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Well, geeze, guys, if you’re all gonna get into technicalities about crimes of a “lesser” nature, we all know the old, exploited books based on outdated laws that are still on the books of various states. I’m saying that when the risk factor goes down for any kind of shady activity (whether it be explicitly illegal or not), if the benefits are still to be reaped it will see a swing upward in popularity. In short, I speed more when I feel there are fewer police out and about. I speed less when I do the math and realize that red lights even it all out in the long run on certain routes.
I was originally just commenting along the lines that Alex and I think Jordan were - that patience has jumped out the window in our instant gratification, self-catering world. Crime and shady stuff simply follows the trend. Easier and faster are the coins of the realm.
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