Has western social morality improved or declined recently?

[OntheWindowStand]

It doesn't have to be those 2 choices say what you think the right answer is

[paulhanke]

Originally Posted by OntheWindowStand

It doesn't have to be those 2 choices say what you think the right answer is

... at this point in my life, I see morality as the conscious balancing of (the often conflicting) selfish and social instincts within an individual ... this conscious balancing can be achieved in a number of ways: seeing the situation for what it is, setting personal goals, and behaving in ways to achieve those goals (e.g., "I need to control selfish desire X in order to achieve social goal Y"); reliance on a religious belief system and its implicit social goals ("If I don't obey the Bible, I'm going to Hell!"); and so on ...

[Farthender]

The way I see it, asking if morality has improved or declined indicates a certain value scale. I, however, don't think that a given moral system is better than any other moral system.

But you probably mean how has western morality changed in the context of my views. I, personally, think that it has improved. My opinion is that clean language and sexual innocence, etc. are not necessarily virtues, an these are the possible moral values that I would say have declined recently. I find these rather (in my opinion, of course) superficial issues to be overshadowed by the great advances we have made for civil rights, such as the gay rights movement, racial equality, etc.