Degradation, or the alteration of social fabric is nothing new or unique. The United States has experienced it before, but here are five major things that have appeared this time around that promote the feeling of its return. No idea is given the full explanation it deserves for various reasons, namely space, but nonetheless, these are some from the essentials collection.

This list could start anywhere, but there have been enormous changes to this particular situation. Police forces grew the association they have today with assault rifles from the late 90s, something that was only reinforced after 9/11. The federal assault weapons ban would also not be renewed under the Bush administration (the sunset provision having been a decade). However, this was still a sizable amount of time after a particular organization (guess who) altered their image from being one of the most ardent supporters of gun laws and regulations to virtually the complete opposite. Since then, weapons regulations for the general public have reached status as a third rail issue.

If people were afraid of everything, society wouldn’t function. Likewise, if people were afraid of nothing at all, society would struggle to function then too. Some fears are genuine and others are not. Bill Maher rightfully argued in this season of “Real Time” that terms like “transphobic” are heavily corrupted since it is deployed towards any form of criticism towards the transgender community. Just because someone criticizes something, doesn’t mean that that person is afraid of it. The average student has likely conducted constructive criticism during their time here, and surely you weren’t afraid of the thing you were criticizing. In the same breath, someone also isn’t homophobic for wondering what the causes are for the doubling of the gay population ever since the class of 2023 started school at SLU. In any case, no group is necessarily immune to criticism, especially when there are quick shifts in culture paired with mandated obedience.

This idea surged in recent years, especially 2020 onwards, as the question of what it means to be black in America returned. Larry Elder and Al Sharpton would have wildly different takes, and they have the full right to, which is one of the purposes of America in the first place. However, racially based money is already muddy water. There are also tons of minority oriented programs across the state, whether they be related to the government or not. In the case of reparations for slavery, state and local governments, should they really choose to go forth with such

a thing, would be wise to more effectively invest in their communities than simply handing individuals money based on whether their ancestors were slaves.

Thomas Jefferson owned slaves because he was a man of wealth from the state of Virginia. He also owned slaves because it was what people did at the time. Jefferson also made sure that the American experiment would work, while also observing one of the largest land expansions in the nation’s history by the time of his presidency. Praise for Jefferson doesn’t necessarily imply approval of his slave ownership. Your favorite YouTuber will likely never live up to what Jefferson did, and shockingly enough, neither of the two people are “perfect” and neither am I or you, and especially the you that thinks they can weave out of this. Some people at SLU can casually break a law and brush it off like it’s nothing, while others don’t. If every historical figure was “perfect” then society wouldn’t exist. In other words, don’t cancel someone else if you won’t cancel yourself first, because chances are with those stakes, you likely wouldn’t.

The hardest one to digest is perhaps the one that is used the most often. Culture wars are developed on the idea of trying to decipher what something means or how a certain group of ideas are meant to cooperate. Calling an illegal alien an undocumented noncitizen doesn’t make you any better than the next person (also try making someone who is say the latter phrase), but this is just one of many little intertwined scenarios that have sprung that never really needed to.