When you consider ‘The Lord Of The Flies’, the baseness of human nature is thrown in your face for examination. One cannot help but conclude that without civility we are doomed to be overrun by animal nature.

Without a code of conduct or any honor system, society becomes its antithesis.

The stability of a culture or society really depends on the morality of its people. The more virtuous the people, the more likely they will have a strong society and culture. To validate this theory, one does not have to look very far.

Let us take corruption as an example. One can certainly make an argument that the more corruption exists, the less stability exists. Corruption starts with officials and ‘persons in position of authority’. The people, or rather, the masses can often stand a large amount of this nonsense, but there is growing frustration and a breaking point leading to the potential for violent dissolution and the formation of a new government. Alternatively, an external agressor may come in and conquer a nation when corruption becomes too great and the loss of virtue too much.

It appears that the time it takes to reach the point of government change depends on many factors and circumstances. A government that does not reject the notion of violence routinely used against the population can often keep the people subdued for extended periods of time. Perhaps even indefinitely. However, it does seem that evil cannot last forever.

For a good case study of a government that has persisted for some time, one should look up The Nine Commentaries – it is an interesting historical record of how what amounts to a gang of hoodlums can legitimize themselves through long term oppression that lasts for generations.

It is difficult for the new generations to discern the truth in mass once ‘educated’ within such a closed system. Only a few ‘thinkers’ or individuals seem to be able to pierce through lies that make up an entire educational system. Or, perhaps only a few brave souls dare to. No matter, if there are only a few, there is little they can do to change the status quo – or so it seems.

History is full of many examples of individuals making a difference, and paving the way for a better life and better conditions for the masses. These people are generally remembered in a positive light, even though at their own historical time, they may have been viewed as trouble makers or radicals. Sometimes they are even unjustly criminalized.

Great societies can fall when their internal standards of morality continue to sink without boundaries. How close is the society that you live in to fitting that description?