Is There Less Innocence/Purity in the World Today?

[Willias]

He is saying the world was already like that which probably has some truth to it. I am saying technology changed things which probably also has truth to it.

The moment mankind figured out how to put the written word on a piece of paper, we lost "innocence". It seems like you're using the word interchangeably with ignorance.

Innocence isn't useful. Ignorance isn't always bliss.

The monkey part of your brain that is saying "man, i just wish i could be swingin on trees all day and eatin bananas" isn't always right man!

[Tradewind]

My innocence was shattered when someone used "Begs the question" incorrectly. So about 5 pages ago.

[Iamanerd]

All you care about is the physical things:

Yay, we got new smart phones at the price of using lots of energy which comes from power plants which pollute the earth. Yay, we have fast and processed food now which makes getting food much easier than 100 yrs ago except it makes us fat, depressed, kills us faster, and makes us gluttons but I love it lol!

That's what you sound like to me. Blindly interested in physical junk with seeing its consequences.

You do realize technology is a good thing right? Yes we may pollute the earth but we are working on fixing that. Humans as a whole learn from past mistakes, which is why we don't have slaves and we're not slaughtering people because they practiced "witch craft". We are moving towards a green society, take solar, wind and even those algae farms for energy which is natural on this earth and can be used for green energy. Also even nuclear power is very clean energy and the Uranium after it's life cycle in the reactor is properly disposed of and nuclear energy doesn't pollute. We made a couple of mistakes with nuclear power but have since then learned from it, I've working in a nuclear plant and it's some of the most procedural and safety related work I've ever seen. I think you just like to think you know better then others and how they should be, innocence = ignorance.

There's nothing wrong with knowing what's going on in the world, yes there will be violence, but it's been tamed down a lot compared to years ago. Also about processed food, you do have a choice in what you eat and how much you eat. The good in this world outweighs the bad by tenfolds or else we as humans would still be flinging poo at each other.

[Deleted]

No, the world actually was more innocent and pure before technology started broadcasting deplorable images, videos, and text. After that it spread throughout the world infected and corrupted everyone.

The only way that the media has affected me, is its contribution to my loss of faith in humanity. But the amount of atrocities is the same, and hiding the reality doesn't make it any more innocent.

[Deleted]

Define innocence.

This What exactly is innocence and purity? I think its best to choose for yourself instead of having someone tell you whats wrong and what isnt. I've been exposed to the internet since I was six and no regrets. Having all the information and acting on it are completely different things. Does having seen some really disturbing things and avoiding them because I dont like it make me less innocent than someone who has been kept in the dark?

I think choice is the only thing that matters. A bad person who doesnt know about the bad stuff isnt pure and innocent or someone who has been scared into submission out of fear of punishment (threatened with hell or something more earthly), a person who knows about them and chooses not to follow it on the other hand is worth much more in my eyes at least.

[Tradewind]

On second thought, I lost my innocence when Chumbawumba became a thing.

[purefury]

there is much more innocence even with internet, unless you consider consensual sex being depraved while less rapes, slavery, arranged marriages to old guys, carnal punishments, public executions, family barbecue lynchings, discrimination, honor killings etc. were ok...
we might know more, but second hand.

purity? its a different word for naivete, its something very new in our history, you cant be 'pure' if you arent happy and well fed.

[vep]

But this also begs the question, what is innocence and purity good for anyways?

If you need to ask then you will never understand.
Yes, there is less innocence/purity in the world. It is a bad thing. People forget about bonds between humans and only look to pleasure themselves, often at the expense of other, innocent people.
When was the last time you saw someone randomly help someone in need, with your own eyes? How many times have you thought to yourself "Not my problem"? How many times have you just turned your head the other way? How many times have you (and I) judged other people without knowing anything about them? How many times have you mocked other people's choices?
If you saw an old man fall down on the street, would you help him out? If you saw a woman (Not attractive, for this example) crying, would you go talk to her and try to help her out?

There's a serious issue where we forget who we are. We try and think we're better than the homeless guy sitting on the street while we're not. Just because someone had a streak of bad luck and couldn't manage to handle it doesn't make us better than him/her.
So, since you're asking that question, take a look in the mirror and tell me what is innocence and purity bad for.

Note: when I say "you" i mean community in general, not only you alone.

Oh and I would also like to add that the internet doesn't really have much to do with day to day "innocence".

[Deadvolcanoes]

Yes, there is less innocence, and I would argue strongly that that is a good thing.

[mafao]

I have no idea what innocence or purity is and especially how it is related to sexuality. I don't understand how sexually educated or open people can be considered 'unpure'. Anyway, corruption and moral depravity (whatever the heck moral is supposed to be) have always been the defining feature of the human society and internet didn't change it a bit. If anything, modern communication allows people to better educate and realise themselves.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 11:45 AM ----------

When was the last time you saw someone randomly help someone in need, with your own eyes?

I see it all the time.

If you saw an old man fall down on the street, would you help him out?

Of course. I mean, everybody would do it, right? I have experienced similar situations several times and I always helped - as well as a bunch of other random people. They would even stop their cars and get out to help.

If you saw a woman (Not attractive, for this example) crying, would you go talk to her and try to help her out?

No, I probably won't do it. Because I don't believe that I can help with stuff like that.

And besides, all these instances have nothing to do with current state of the society. You claim 'there is less innocence in the world', yet what would happen in the similar situations, say - 100 years ago?

[vep]

I have no idea what innocence or purity is and especially how it is related to sexuality. I don't understand how sexually educated or open people can be considered 'unpure'. Anyway, corruption and moral depravity (whatever the heck moral is supposed to be) have always been the defining feature of the human society and internet didn't change it a bit. If anything, modern communication allows people to better educate and realise themselves.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 11:45 AM ----------



I see it all the time.



Of course. I mean, everybody would do it, right? I have experienced similar situations several times and I always helped - as well as a bunch of other random people. They would even stop their cars and get out to help.



No, I probably won't do it. Because I don't believe that I can help with stuff like that.

And besides, all these instances have nothing to do with current state of the society. You claim 'there is less innocence in the world', yet what would happen in the similar situations, say - 100 years ago?

Honestly, your first sentence kinda kills your whole argument.

[Wikiy]

Eh... innocence, purity? If you're talking about sexuality, yes, people lose their virginity earlier these days and have sex more often these days but I don't see why that's impure or guilty of anything. If you're talking about crimes, then no because crime rates only keep decreasing. If you're talking about the purity of the soul, I suggest you abandon that route because all that philosophy and gnosticism manage to achieve with such silly terms such as the innocence or purity of the soul is the belief that somehow that should be and is the center of all human affairs.

I get enough of this shit from my literature teacher (who has a major in philosophy as well), all she does is go on and on about what's on the inside and about the soul and yadda yadda and this makes her think everything physical and material (such as sex) is bad. My point is that thinking about the "soul" will get you nowhere, you'll get stuck in a loop of thinking that's all humanity's about.

[Affixiation]

The world has grown dark, innocence itself seems to have been brought to an all time low. In the world's darkest hour a noble soul was born. A soul untouched by the horrors of this world. A soul that refuses to be gripped by despair and impurity. That man has lived his entire life with the true ideals of mankind. To look upon him is to know innocence in its purest form. To converse with him is to become purified through the air of his breath. My brothers and sisters, know this: Purity walks among us. He will show us the bright true path away from the darkness that this world has nearly succumbed to.

I cannot say his name for it is not my place to say, but know that he is closer than you might think. He is always watching, always planning ways to save you from yourself. He is a true beacon of light, such as the lighthouse for the boats into his pier. We are the boats in this endless ocean of darkness my friends, and he will guide us to shelter from the storms of the impure. Mark this day well fellows, he has resisted all mortal calls of impurity since his very birth.

[Drafo]

The world has grown dark, innocence itself seems to have been brought to an all time low. In the world's darkest hour a noble soul was born. A soul untouched by the horrors of this world. A soul that refuses to be gripped by despair and impurity. That man has lived his entire life with the true ideals of mankind. To look upon him is to know innocence in its purest form. To converse with him is to become purified through the air of his breath. My brothers and sisters, know this: Purity walks among us. He will show us the bright true path away from the darkness that this world has nearly succumbed to.

I cannot say his name for it is not my place to say, but know that he is closer than you might think. He is always watching, always planning ways to save you from yourself. He is a true beacon of light, such as the lighthouse for the boats into his pier. We are the boats in this endless ocean of darkness my friends, and he will guide us to shelter from the storms of the impure. Mark this day well fellows, he has resisted all mortal calls of impurity since his very birth.

His Name is Freyera!!

[Rendia]

Why is fighting for a good cause a bad thing? Revolutionary war freed us from the Tyranny of England, the civil war ended slavery, and WWII stopped millions of jews from being killed. Yet we look at these times of our history as bad just because some blood was shed?

Take that on the flip side. To England, their's was the good cause during the US Revolutionary War. To the South, their's was the good cause during the US Civil War.

PoV means a lot. Just because you don't agree, doesn't make the other party wrong.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 09:22 AM ----------

And now psychotics go on killing sprees carrying a hammer around and striking people in the head because it makes good video on the internet. So much better...

Never heard of Jack the Ripper? That was before video recordings, the internet, etc. We hear about psychos more now because communication in instant now. That and the population is higher, so just through sheer odds there is likely to be more crazies. However, I counter that not all crazies go ape-shit. We have progressive medicine to help with that. Healthcare that tries to help these people.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 09:50 AM ----------

No. Humans without much technology and humans with technology is a far different ball game.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 01:07 AM ----------



And this is why we continue to spiral down hill. Societies are built upon moral foundations, and the moment you start to tear them down or disobey them the society in question begins to crumble.

Morals are personal, Ethics are societal.

Ethics are a much broader thing than morals. Also, it is good to question the Ethics of a society. Otherwise stagnation begins to set in and the society in question begins to crumble.

---------- Post added 2013-04-21 at 09:53 AM ----------

So you basically view innocence as ignorance and you say it can go to hell but then you want to teach your kids to be loving people...which is essentially innocence

No. Good-natured =/= innocence.

[Deleted]

I believe that once someone logs onto the internet, innocence goes right out of the window.

This ^

With the world been more connected things that as a child would take longer to find out now take seconds on the net.

[Deleted]

Only very young children are innocent.

[Deleted]

Being almost forty I can remember a time before the the Internet was prevalent and you may all mock Sandmoth but he's right; we were innocent and pure. Nobody thought bad thoughts or felt ill feeling, there certainly wasn't any violence, war or human atrocities in the golden age of mankind pre internet and we were all skipping along with our naive heads in the clouds singing songs from our "The Best of the Carpenters". Then somebody had to go and make the internet widespread and our innocence and purity went straight out the window as 4chan and reddit made their way into our homes. Because, youknow, before the internet we absolutely didn't have access to information in the form of books and our imaginations were tiny, stumpy things which struggled to visualize an acorn never mind some pretty awful, sick stuff which could taint our innocence and purity.

[Deleted]

We're a lot more innocent than the savage era of monarchy and empires where you could lose your head for saying what you thought.

[skrump]

with how easy it is to get porno these days i'd say there's an increased risk

I wouldn't consider anything about porn indecent, especially these days when I can look up pictures/video of mutilated corpses and people strapping explosives to live animals.

I think the Op is relating his definition of innocence/purity to ignorance though in which case it's very hard to remain ignorant of such things with access to the internet

personally though I like to think it's about what you do, not what you know in which case the internet is still capable of planting the idea in your head the increasing the likelihood you would do something deemed less than innocent by someone else.