I'm tired of the gross generalizations.

"What happened to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

I beg to differ.  The world is not a scarier place than it was sixty years ago...

The 1950s
The 50s brought us the Korean War where 50,000 Americans were killed.  Food was still being rationed until 1954, so I hope you enjoyed the apple you just ate because at that time, it was only for the rich.  Polio was running rampant and killing children, with no treatment or cure in sight.  Jim Crow Laws were still, fully, in effect so no race mixing at the "Whites Only" drinking fountains. Domestic violence, actual men beating their wives was not a criminally prosecutable offense and women could only wear skirts and dresses except to horseback ride.

And they said, "What happened to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

The 1960s
On November 22, 1963 The President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas; an act of hatred and violence. Three African American civil rights workers were abducted and lynched by the Ku Klux Klan.  Four days of riots took place in Los Angeles, where blacks protested poor living conditions.  More riots, this time in New Jersey and twenty six lives were lost and then more riots in Detroit; 40 dead and thousands injured. Our very own US Soldiers mutilated 350-500 villagers in My Lai, South Vietnam...men, women and children. Martian Luther King Jr, a man who stood high on the grounds of morality and peace was assassinated.  Charles Manson, cult leader, and what became to be known as The Manson Family, savagely murdered many in the most horrifying fashion.

And they said, "What is happening to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

1970s
Unarmed college students were murdered during a peaceful protest at Kent State.  During the Summer Olympics, where the world unites to compete, eleven Israeli Olympic athletes and a German police officer were taken hostage and killed by a Palestinian terrorist group. Nixon found himself in a web of political scandals with Watergate and resigned as the President of the United States.  Ted Bundy did the most unspeakable things to women that he kidnapped, raped and killed.  Jim Jones brainwashed hundreds convincing them to voluntarily commit suicide by drinking poisoned punch-918 men, women, and children gone.  There were not one but two assassination attempts on another US President, Gerald Ford.

And they said, "What is happening to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

1980s
John Lennon of the The Beatles, a pacifist, was assassinated and people attempted to kill the pope and President Reagan.  Lebanese terrorists hijack Flight 847, holding some of them hostage for seventeen days.  US Bombs Libya with over a hundred US Air Force and Navy aircrafts.  Exxon Valdez spills millions of gallons of oil in the second largest oil spill in US history and it was caused by humans...tired humans.

And they said, "What is happening to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

1990s
The streets of LA filled with rioters and looters after the Rodney King verdict was announced.
For four months, in Rwanda, over 800,000 people were murdered in an effort to rid the country of the Tutsi people.  Look at that number again.  800,000.  Genocide.  In the 1990s. A six year old girl, JonBenet Ramsey was murdered, possibly by her parents. President Clinton was impeached for lying under oath to a federal jury.  Two young men went on a shooting rampage in their high school.

And they said, "What is happening to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

2000s
The Nation watched in horror as a hijacked plane was flown directly into the Twin Towers, collapsing them killing almost 3,000 people.  Hurricane Katrina ripped through Louisiana and FEMA took days to respond...days too long.  Enron filed for bankruptcy which became the largest in US History.  The Nation went into a deep recession-house weren't being built, money wasn't being spent, and people were being laid off all over the place. A Tsunami 292,000 people in Southeast Asia.  One man went into an elementary school and fatally shot twenty children and their parents were never the same.

And they say "What is happening to our great Nation?  It's falling apart."

Terrible things have been happening since the creation of the world.
We can't stand by and watch them but we can't overgeneralize that our Nation, our great Nation, has become a bad place.
It hasn't.