Society is Getting Worse

As con, the polar opposite of Pro's stance that I shall defend is that "Society is Getting Better" for the 1st Bracket of the First Debate.org Tournament, to be Judged by username Noblethe3rd. In accordance to actorgurls request, I shall answer all her points in the order she has given them in all the detail I deem necessary. Actorgurl seems to have limited her meaning of society to mean only America's, and until she feels the need to attack the subject from a more global standpoint, I too shall limit my arguments to this 1 country. Society is getting better. An important word in this topic is "getting", aka progressing. Progressing from what you ask? The past. It can most certainly be seen from almost any perspective that society is indeed better than it ever has been. I shall highlight these advances, both technologically, socially, and politically in my provided 'road map'. 1) Rudeness - Really? Rudeness is a crisis? I will not attempt to deny that there is rudeness, especially on modern highways, in America, but I think it hardly a reason why society is worse. In fact, it may very well be a sign of society getting better. Because we are progressing throughout the years there's been many example of extreme rudeness. The best example of which would be slavery. How unimaginably rude for someone to own, beat, and force another human being to do manual labor? And worse yet it was on a countrywide scale! Most rudeness today is simply shouting obscenities and maybe an inappropriate gesture her and there, but I think that hardly anything compared to this http://www.thechessdrum.net... Next to that, any amount of rudeness we now have to endure is like a friendly "hello". Surly, the progression from slavery to bad language is a sign that we've progressed considerably. 2) Stupidity - All because of warning labels? It seems that if one criteria for societies worsening, labels are hardly a good judge of intelligence. These labels as well can be viewed as societies progression. The labels are only a method of avoiding legal issues, not really there to educate an entire 'moronic' populace. This coffee woman is just 1 out of hundreds of intelligent citizens. The average person now is actually probably 10 times smarter or better educated than nearly any colonial patron. Today, an average ten-year old is beginning early stages of algebra. Algebra! A ten-year in colonial days had barely started multiplication. So already, we have progressed educationally. We are also smarter. Because we are better educated, we know so much more. A high class colonial would have nowhere near the knowledge I have on physics, chemistry, or calculus. So already, we can see that the people today are much more intelligent than they ever have been, meaning education is getting better. Every age has its morons, but on a society wide scale we are much better off. 3) Government - Au contraire. The government has taken many more steps to ensure the peoples safety. The reason why we found out all those Chinese products were bad AND sent them back was because they cared. They set up a health code and child safety laws, and as soon as the toys did not make the cut there was an instant recall. This shows much better child safety and well being concerns than what there was back in 1938 and earlier, when corporations used child labor. It has now been 70 years since that past, and already look at the progression. From manual labor to toy safety! That is a huge jump! If you want to explore more on safety, just look at cars. When it was first invented they were a death trap, and if not for the protests of individuals like Ralph Nader, they still might be. But action was made, and the government was finally brought to light on it, and now there is not a single car, foreign or domestic, that is not required to have seatbelts and airbags, and they mandate all car companies to do excruciating safety tests on every vehicle model. If that's not society getting better, I hardly see what is. 4) Gas Prices - One cannot lose their home due to gas prices unless they have no fiscal brain at all. If ones job is to far way then take a bus. If filling up your tank costs more than your house you don't deserve a car. But to date, I have never heard of gas prices causing a family to lose their home, and will assume that this is merely a hypothesis until you can provide evidence that it actually has. Yes, it is more expensive, and makes paying bills that much harder, but in no way can it cause one to lose their house or job. Until you show evidence I discredit it as a mere theory, unlike your above three. But supposing it has merit, it also has made society better. It has finally made people think about the environment, and gas efficiency. New hybrid cars, energy efficient trains, solar power, hydropower, and more are starting to come more into play now more than ever. These advances are not only good for the world, but to the people of society as well. The prices have encouraged better energy use because people no loner want to rely solely on such an expensive necessity. So while it might hurt the wallet now and then, raised gas prices have started to better society by motivating it to come up with better, cleaner, and less expensive methods of power and fuel. 5) Living Conditions - Also not true. Today's standard of living is infinitely better and more comfortable than that of America's past. Even a horrible modern apartment provides more shelter, warmth, and livability than the colonial log cabin. Since America's birth our standard of living has greatly improved, and is now one of the worlds highest SOL countries. These fears we have now are temporary, and will pass given time. But until that time they can safely and comfortably rest in their temperature controlled houses, while in the past, our forefathers get to sleep in the cramped, chilly, creaky cabins. Overall, I would have to say the American's living conditions are far superior now than they have been. So again, progression. So what I am saying amongst all is that no, our society is not getting substantially worse and if we just reap the benefits and take pride in all our achievements, we will live to see a beautiful tomorrow. The way things are heading now, in comparison to the past, a few nasty words, warning labels, aqua dots, fictional gas-induced homelessness, and the heepy jeepies are hardly reasons to think that society is showing signs of collapse. Rather, these small nuisances should be a clear message that today's society is far surpassing that of the past, and thus, is only getting better.