Honesty used to be important and even critical to a person's social position and employment. The simpler times before the explosion of technology are viewed by many as more honest times. People did not even bother to lock their doors. The modern era of technology brought us advanced communications and an awareness that not everyone is as good as we might have assumed in the past. With technology came a worldly awareness that made people a little more suspicious of others. It became easier to move to another town, state, or country, so our neighbors became strangers. In conjunction with this increased awareness of the world, we also somehow became less aware of our own neighbors and neighborhoods. Who knows whether a Frankenstein or serial killer is at the door or in the neighborhood? Maybe the people down the street bought their house and cars using drug money.
It used to be that people viewed their world more from the narrow confines of their own neighborhood, their schools, their local businesses, and their religious communities. Most of their experience was on-the-level. Dishonesty and deception existed, but they were not of constant concern, even when dealing with strangers. If it was not totally natural to be honest, it was natural to be nonviolent and to participate positively in society. Whether or not this is true today seems to be obscured by our view of society, a view distorted by television, movie, and computer game violence.
Now people view their world from the broader social and emotional environment created in the profit-and-loss world of commercialized technology, particularly movies and television. Dishonesty and deception are depicted as being everywhere, even if the good guy usually wins. Indeed, with increased pressure on movies and television programming to contain some redeeming value, the trend is to include some gratuitous moralizing near the conclusion. While concluding violent and immoral stories with countervailing scenes of morality is a nice trend, the net effect to excuse and promote more titillation to achieve higher ratings and profits.
Most of us find it difficult to discourage titillation, yet it is not good for our children or our culture. Our emotional weaknesses override our logic and common sense. Even with the increase in television shows that purport to represent angels and even cartoon depictions of God, one wonders if the writers have sufficient religious background to present an appropriately religious or socially beneficial theme. "Touched by an Angel" seems to encourage the development of character and integrity.
There remains a great deal of controversy over other television shows and are titillating in every conceivable direction, seeking improved ratings. This is especially true of those that suggest homosexuality should be considered a normal lifestyle. We have now come to accept homosexuality on television more than we really accept it in real society. Comedy shows are particularly able to promote homosexuality, as long as the net impression is at least neutral, if not positive. Certainly, no show would dare suggest homosexuality is a bad thing. Indeed, it is now difficult to imagine a news story or television show presenting homosexuality in a negative light.
The change in attitudes in this area was perhaps enabled by technology since it is now much easier for small groups to influence society. The news media cover small group activities such as marches and protests, which are encouraged by that coverage. With a sympathetic presentation, the news media can start the process that results in forcing society to change its view of certain topics. Those who stick with the conservative views are treated less sympathetically and become the new object of ridicule. It is as if conservative people have no right to be conservative. Liberal activism and liberal changes to society are the life blood of the news media and of television in general.
It is the purpose of Technidigm-2000 to help us to come to grips with both the good and the bad in society, defining each as objectively as possible. Technidigm-2000 provides a framework that enables us to deal with modern communications and the diverse motivations that come before us as sound-bite speed and disappear like bullets into a target. With Technidigm-2000, we can catch the bullets in mid-flight, examine them, and even turn them around.
Sometimes people of integrity also become temporary victims of society, but they do not make it a life-long profession and an excuse to fail. Their shortcomings are always newsworthy events since we are more shocked by chips in diamonds than by chips in coals. It is not so much a problem that news media people tend to be liberal, there are just more diamonds in ancient rock formations than in river mud.
People of low integrity simultaneously become part of the problem as well as part of the explanation of the problem. They are reliant on their own corruption and on the corruption in society rather than being self-reliant. It is easy to blame society's corruption while ignoring one's own corruption. Honest people of integrity do not spend their lives blaming society for their problems. They are intent on becoming self-reliant regardless of the obstacles. They are the diamonds.
With so many people seeking to explain why people are corrupt, the fact that they are corrupt seems to become less important. That is, corruption is largely ignored unless the corrupt individual is supposed to be one of the "good guys." Interestingly, when someone is viewed as a defender of society's supposed victims, that person's integrity seems less vulnerable to being held to high standards. They may hold a political office normally reserved for the good guys, but they are not held accountable to the level that defenders of goodness and self-reliance are held. Thus, we are less disappointed and less surprised when an individual of obvious low character simply conducts himself in ways that seem normal to him.
In the United States, there are so many personal freedoms and economic opportunities that it is difficult for people in other countries to understand why there are so many supposed victims. Self-reliance is all that is needed to be successful in a free country, but there is so much government-reliance in the United States that many people are led away from self-reliance. Government assistance becomes viewed as a life-long right that carries no obligation to strive to be self-reliant. This expectation is being turned around, but more for financial reasons than for common sense reasons. In the absence of a foundation built on principles, principles are only applied when they are convenient. When they are not convenient, we are asked to be flexible and understanding. Fortunately, using the Technidigm-2000 framework, we are able to be very understanding.
Dishonesty is easier than honesty. It is the "path of least resistance," so it grows. It also is surrounded by excuses, some of which even make sense within the confusion of modern society. For example, income tax forms are harder to fill out when you are trying to be honest and law-abiding. Honest people are tempted to be dishonest, and they certainly suspect that many other people are not as honest as they. Successful politicians and lawyers are presumed and expected to be skilled at being dishonest. Chances are the unsuccessful politicians and lawyers are more honest than successful politicians. Technidigm-2000 turns this around.
Being on-the-level can be morally fulfilling, but it can also be a great disadvantage in a society that tolerates dishonesty. If that society also has all of the tools provided by modern technology, honesty and integrity can not only be a disadvantage, they can be a real hardship. It becomes acceptable to move to Canada rather than be drafted into the army. After all, everyone knows that corrupt politicians cause wars and that Rambo will eventually regret fighting for his country.
In spite of the current media-based culture, most people are really quite honest. There are more people in prison, but there are also more people who have never committed a serious crime. Yet, "the tail is wagging the dog" when our perceptions are that dishonesty and a lack of integrity are the norm. The bad guys represent only a small percentage of the population, but they seem to be getting all of the attention.
Under Technidigm-2000, honesty and integrity are again the norm for society. The importance of being on-the-level within the Technidigm-2000 problem solving process is apparent in that those who are not on-the-level are not allowed to be part of the process. Honesty and integrity are rewarded, sometimes with the aid of technology. No one needs to go to a dishonest used car dealer when there is an honest one available. No one has to vote for a dishonest politician when there is an honest one available.
The standards for honesty and integrity change to conform to the expectations of society. The bulk of society simply needs to have a means for expressing and enforcing its expectations. The "silent majority" needs a voice. Technidigm-2000 is that voice.
With modern technology, it is now possible to label each person of integrity as being on-the-level. Those who consistently demonstrate that they have earned such a label are included in the database of on-the-level people. Modern social attitudes make such a database seem at first to be repugnant and unmanageable, but that was before Technidigm-2000.