Students lie, cheat, steal, but say they're good

[Despanan]

Way to speak in a massively general way about a point I've already agreed with. It still does nothing to refute the fact that you're massively over-emphasizing the impact of the highest levels of government on everyday life. It's like you're arguing that since Nixon ran as a "Law and order candidate" he was personally arresting every criminal in the country.

Rhetoric is not a substitute for actual thought Sterrn.

[Beneath the Shadows]

Sternn, let me get this right... you're saying that because Bush is a greedy warmongering blithering fool with a penchant for butchering the English language, that makes students cheat on tests?

What the fuck have you been smoking?

Now, maybe if those students were also turning into greedy warmongering blithering fools with penchants for butchering the English language, you'd be onto something.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Well, many youth *do* have a penchant for butchering the English language, but I have a feeling that has more to do with shortcuts on IM programs and in text messages.
I also think a fair amount of them are blithering fools... though they might possibly remedy that later... I hope...

Originally Posted by CptSternn

Moral decay starts at the top. A nations leaders start the decline, which then brings with it the workers and their families. Everyone is effected when there is corruption at the top.

No. Moral decay is pervasive. It's hard-coded into pretty much everyone. Also called "survival instinct," which is left over from our wilderness past when greed and laziness were quite conducive to life. Power just brings it out, with all the opportunities it presents.
That's my theory anyway.

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Originally Posted by LaBelleDameSansMerci

Well, many youth *do* have a penchant for butchering the English language, but I have a feeling that has more to do with shortcuts on IM programs and in text messages.
I also think a fair amount of them are blithering fools... though they might possibly remedy that later... I hope...


No. Moral decay is pervasive. It's hard-coded into pretty much everyone. Also called "survival instinct," which is left over from our wilderness past when greed and laziness were quite conducive to life. Power just brings it out, with all the opportunities it presents.
That's my theory anyway.

Survival instinct is doing whatever is needed to survive. It is not greedy or evil, it is the most primal instinct we have. Some animals will turn on each other in order to survive, some band together. The ones that band together have higher survival rates. So no, survival instinct is not akin to unchecked douchebaggery.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Perhaps the phrase was a little off... Would "gene passing instinct" work better?
I think that unchecked douchebaggery is not the whole of survival/gene passing instinct, but it is a part, because it does work in a fair amount of situations. The more powerful you are, the more you take for yourself. The leaders of packs often get first dibs at a kill, and the rest are left to pick over what remains (again according to rank). This is much like human society (especially capitalism), except that money is our metaphorical kill. We band together, but the strongest (in whatever sense of the word) still get the best.