A Culture Sunk in Vanity

[Extra Toasty]

The Western culture has been sinking deeper and deeper into vanity. I feel that, in our society, virtue has become degenerated from something that is valued in itself to something valued as a rhetorical tool.
We have developed into a sort of 'hype culture' where a virtuous action is principally something that can be filmed and turned into a viral video, collecting millions and millions of views (and money). We have celebrities, politicians, and multi-billion companies constantly virtue-signaling to the masses in order to have a greater influence on people's opinions and gain control on how they live their lives (and fail to demonstrate any integrity to that manner). When it comes to important political issues, it feels as though we become passionate in stating our stance on social media platforms and 'destroying' an adversaries' position not for any real concern about the topic, but more for the sake of gaining the 'higher moral ground' (being more 'woke'). In other words, we are more concerned with convincing ourselves and others that we are good people than actually BEING good people. This is not to say there is no one with any real concern for such matters, but it is, to my opinion, the general state of our people.

This brings me to my point: What are the main causes of this? And how can we rise out from such a degenerate culture?
In short, I believe that our insistence on the supremacy of rationalism has inevitably ignored the internal matters that connect to our identity, purpose, value, etc, thus bringing forth a people who don't know who they are and have not had the chance to develop a mind/heart that purely seeks for virtue. As a consequence, we are desperate to find an identity (and value) for ourselves and try to fill in this gap in our hearts by latching onto our ego, resulting in what I have described previously.
Accordingly, the solution would be to have substantial and serious searching for internal truths that can be taught to all and shared amongst our people. It doesn't even have to be from one particular religion; all major religions share so many common values, it would be far from difficult to create such a curriculum.

Please let me know what you think!
Thank you, and God bless.

 

[durangodawood]

....virtue-signaling....woke....

"Virtue signalling" is such a right-wing rhetorical buzzword these days that I'm almost convinced youre complicit in the exact same game you claim to reject, as you try to puncture "woke".

....When it comes to important political issues, it feels as though we become passionate in stating our stance on social media platforms and 'destroying' an adversaries' position not for any real concern about the topic, but more for the sake of gaining the 'higher moral ground' (being more 'woke'). In other words, we are more concerned with convincing ourselves and others that we are good people than actually BEING good people.....

Youre talking about the character of the discourse, stances, positions, and so on. Thats fair. The discussion arena these days is hot, as in way more heat than light. But then you make huge leap to casting doubt on the quality of peoples behavior in real life. Now, maybe youre right. But its a pretty heavy judgement to drop without justification.

 

[Extra Toasty]

"Virtue signalling" is such a right-wing rhetorical buzzword these days that I'm almost convinced youre complicit in the exact same game you claim to reject, as you try to puncture "woke".

Aah, true. But in all honesty I say these things exactly because I'm guilty of the same thing. I think it is all the more reason I would perceive it in others and wish to reject it. Wouldn't you say that you are able to perceive such problems in my statements because you yourself wish to avoid doing it after having done it yourself?

So the purpose isn't to say 'hey why are you guys like this,' but to seek for change in both myself and society.

Still, you right, I have to be careful not to be too caught up in the very thing I wish to change.

Besides that, I was interested in knowing your opinion on the matter?

 

[bèlla]

Please let me know what you think! Thank you, and God bless.

I have echoed some of your sentiments in my posts. I shared my own convictions earlier. You may find something useful in my remarks that will be of assistance. God bless.

 

[ananda]

This brings me to my point: What are the main causes of this?

Ignorance, greed, and aversion are the main causes.

In order to further their personal objectives (e.g. wealth accumulation, power, etc.), the greedy use methods which appeal to the ignorance, greed, and aversions in others (e.g. click-bait, inflaming rhetoric, fear of the unknown, etc.).

 

[Shempster]

It is not just America. This is happening to many nations. If you remember your history, every civilization was born, grew to power and influence, then after a peak of wealth and safety became corrupt and declined until they were over thrown. You are just watching one more nation rise and fall. There have been many and there will be many more. Nothing much to marvel at.

You'd think we would learn from our forefathers mistakes. But we never do.

 

[Tanj]

Ignorance, greed, and aversion are the main causes.

No they aren't. All 3 have been around for millennia, they weren't suddenly invented

The Western culture has been sinking deeper and deeper into vanity. I feel that, in our society, virtue has become degenerated from something that is valued in itself to something valued as a rhetorical tool.

The internet is to blame.

This brings me to my point: What are the main causes of this? And how can we rise out from such a degenerate culture?

We start by not thinking that the minutiae of our thought processes are worthy of putting on social media. For example, several self-righteous pompous paragraphs about how horrible the world is according to you.

 

[ananda]

All 3 have been around for millennia, they weren't suddenly invented

Exactly. The examples the OP gave are merely variations on the same theme: Ignorance, greed, and aversions have been leveraged through new mediums of communication/tech.

 

[variant]

You'd think we would learn from our forefathers mistakes. But we never do.

Large groups of people acting over time (societies) aren't exactly something easy to steer in a better direction. It's a bit more like a force of nature than a machine to be directed.

 

[gaara4158]

I see capitalism and an individualistic society being the biggest contributors to vanity culture. Everyone has to prove they’re more well-off than the next person and it leads to rampant consumerism, exacerbating the need to make more money which feeds right back into capitalism. It’s quite the vicious cycle.