Do you think the world is getting worse than past times? Or is it perhaps just that we are now bombarded with 24-hour news channels and access to online news and information constantly? Also, it does seem that we are more open about to talk about formerly taboo subjects.

I was watching the news today and seeing all the stories about tornadoes and storms throughout the US, the cyclones in Myanmar, then thinking about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Asia. At first, I found myself thinking, "Mother Nature is really pissed off." But then I realize this is the first time in history that we've had the ability to learn all of this news so immediately.

The same goes with the stories about child abuse and sex crimes. I still cannot comprehend the monster that was just caught in New Jersey after openly showing his face in video having sex with very young boys. And the man in Austria who kept his daughter, and the children he fathered with her, locked in a basement dungeon for what, twenty-some years? Back in the day, no one ever talked about these things. I remember telling my mother when the perverted old neighbor slipped his hand in my shirt and her response was, "He's a war veteran, he would never do such a thing." She just couldn't accept the idea.

Heck, back in the day, people never even got divorced. I recently worked as a home health aide and my client was 100 years old. Her daughter told me that the mom had been fooling around with another man. She wasn't sure, but she thought the man was probably her own father. She told me that back then, they didn't get remarried. The first husband actually adopted the second man, so everyone could have the same last name. Can you even imagine?

Not long ago, I saw a historical story about George Washington and his supposed extra-marital affairs. The report said that it was unheard of for the news at the time to ever mention such a thing publicly. I believe the same was true even in the time of John F. Kennedy and all of his supposed affairs were kept private. Of course, they probably weren't hounded by paparazzi as we see today, but I still think they had, if not any sense of ethical responsibility, at least they kept thing secret and weren't publicly flaunting their activities.

All of America, perhaps the world, is shocked by the news of the offshoot sect in Texas where Child Services took away all the children in the face of charges that they were forcing teenagers to marry older men. Yes, it is hard to believe in this day and age. But it wasn't that long ago that people were commonly married at 14 or so. Of course, back then, life expectancy was much shorter and people had vastly different expectation of self-determination and romantic love and so many ideas that seemed crazy at the time. Even now, some cultures practice arranged marriages where the parents make the plans and the bride and groom do not have the expectation to meet that special someone, fall in love and then get married.

Okay, so I'm really ranting here. But back to the original question, is the world any worse or are we just more aware of everything? What's your opinion?