This Moral Decay

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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We are going down. There's not a doubt in my mind that this is true. The deterioration of our society has been occurring since the beginning of time. However, it seems to me through things I've seen and heard, that this process has increased greatly in the 20th century. Our categorizations and stereotypes of people and groups, our "money-means-everything" approach to all that we do in our lives, and worst of all, our false notion that everything is alright, are just a few of the things which are destroying our freedom.

In The Handmaids' Tail, Margaret Atwood portrays this message very clearly in the way she illustrates the "pure society". She warns us of the strict rules and regulations that could potentially come in to play if our society ultimately corrupts to the point of perversion, blasphemy and business/power-driven existence.

However, an alternate message to this, is somewhat mocking the opposition.

She implies that possibly some groups take things out of hand, and read too much into things. For example, if all the groups protesting pornography, ignored it, then potentially there would be no problem. It would still be there for those who enjoy it, but it wouldn't be there in the faces of the protesters if they didn't seek it out.

Atwoods' view on society however differs from my own. I understand that she holds somewhat of an optimistic perspective of today's society, whereas I do not. I truly believe that we are consuming ourselves so much so, that if a government movement, or any type of movement for that matter, occurred, it would go unnoticed until it was too late. We would have no time to gather and create an opposition, simply because our heads are too far up our asses.

Think of the United States government.