The Day America
nO raises fear and doubt, which oflen lead to depression: Did I do the right thing? Does it matter anymore? Does anything matter? Doubl comes with freedom as surely as ash follows fire. Americans in the 1990s haw more of both freedom and doubt-and of depression too than did any previous generation. In interview after interview, we saw men and women grappling with the cOl1l>equences of their new freedom to define their own moral codes: • If no one I can trust is available to counsel me, how can I be sure thal what I'm doing is right? • Is the other person-my lover, my business partner-playing by some set of reasonable rules? • What are the rules't My rulcs't Their rules? No rules at all?
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THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH
THE REAL MORAL AUTHORITY IN AMElICA
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Americans wrestle with these questions in what often amounts to a moral vacuum. 'The religious figures and scriptures that gave us rules for so many centuries, the politiCal system that gave us our laws, all have lost their meaning in our moral imagination. Most Americans (83 percent) now look back to their parents' day as a time when people were more likely to be moral and as a time when people clearly knew the difference between right and wrong. In addition, we believe that our parents' generation was much more ethical than our own. \'k see most moral issues in shades of gray, not in black and white as our parents did. \'k'ye become wishy-washy as a nation. Some would say that we've lost our moral backbone. "I fER STRONGLY EITHER WAY AIOUT THIS ISSUE"
We ~5ked people if they see ~ 5t!t of currenl public issues ~5 being mor~lIy "gray" 01
PERSONAL DOUBT
As to their private lives, half of adult Americans said that they had been in situations that caused them to seriously doubt the morality of something that they had done or were thinking about doing. \\e asked those people to tell us about the events that bad caused those doubts. Their answers give us a unique insight iitto
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THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH
THE REAL MORAL AUTHORITY IN AMElICA
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Americans wrestle with these questions in what often amounts to a moral vacuum. 'The religious figures and scriptures that gave us rules for so many centuries, the politiCal system that gave us our laws, all have lost their meaning in our moral imagination. Most Americans (83 percent) now look back to their parents' day as a time when people were more likely to be moral and as a time when people clearly knew the difference between right and wrong. In addition, we believe that our parents' generation was much more ethical than our own. \'k see most moral issues in shades of gray, not in black and white as our parents did. \'k'ye become wishy-washy as a nation. Some would say that we've lost our moral backbone. "I fER STRONGLY EITHER WAY AIOUT THIS ISSUE"
We ~5ked people if they see ~ 5t!t of currenl public issues ~5 being mor~lIy "gray" 01
PERSONAL DOUBT
As to their private lives, half of adult Americans said that they had been in situations that caused them to seriously doubt the morality of something that they had done or were thinking about doing. \\e asked those people to tell us about the events that bad caused those doubts. Their answers give us a unique insight iitto