I wonder whether the world has become a less kind/courteous place, or if it just seems that way. Miss Manners had an interesting comment recently about the "stress" excuse for general rudeness/disconnectedness in our culture though, if the effect is real and not imagined: she pointed out that in times of Really Big Stress, such as during disaster cleanup, people become more polite, more caring, and more connected, so stress can't be the simple explanation for loss of manners in everyday life.
Different kind of stress. Daily stress makes people focus on their own troubles too much, and they sometimes have blinders on where other people are concerned. Disaster stress is a shock to the system; people are forced to notice something outside themselves, and at that point it turns out that most people are decent after all.
Re: Decency
Re: Decency