The US has normalized so much moral rot and legal breaches in the past few years, all in the interest of making more money... Rarely does a country degrade so much, so fast, and I'm afraid this isn't even the low mark.

▲

m4rtink 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Fall of the Roman Empire took hundreds of years and long tomes have been written about it.

In this case it looks like there would not be enough material even for a thin paperback.

▲

doctorwho42 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It hasn't degraded in such a short time, this rot has been there for 30 odd years. Infrasture, systemic corruption to an unprecedented level (it's always there, but the scale is different), etc.

What happened 'so fast' was how fast they pulled off the mask. 10 years and it's practically off in its entirety...

	▲	Telaneo 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> 'How did you go bankrupt?' Bill asked. > 'Two ways', Mike said. 'Gradually and then suddenly'.
	▲	msftgreed 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		As someone who was around during Reagan, you are correct. The turn happened in the 80s, and then rapidly accelerated in the 90s and 2000s, then rapidly accelerated again in the past 10 years. I think a lot of folks are stuck on the idea that it's been a singular bad actor -- a Trump, or a McConnell or something. This "Great Man Theory" is almost certainly a very naive read of the systems that are leading to this moment.

▲

Razengan 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The real shame is that the next "best" countries are.. China? and the European countries pushing for age verification and sweeping surveillance and apparently bent on destroying the freedoms that made them better than China & Russia..

God can we have an alien invasion already please

▲

whatsThisBtn4 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

China?

Not sure if Chinese propaganda got you or what.

They did 100,000,000 forced abortions, killed tens of thousands of their own people and covered it up.

The United States kills 4 of their own people and the news outlets go wild.

▲

jmclnx 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>God can we have an alien invasion already please

I do not think we need that. With Climate Change a huge reckoning and leveling is coming. The way things look now, in 50 to 100 years there is a very good chance this civilization will probably come to an end.

As for Aaron, I hope the people who went after him can be sued for wrongful death. With meta doing the exact same thing, even to the same MIT Sites, I think a case exist.

	▲	Jskewel 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"there is a very good chance this civilization will probably come to an end" OK doomer

▲

Gigachad 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Age verification isn’t moral rot even if you disagree with it. The rot is the obvious corruption and legal system that only applies to average people which billionaires constantly violate.