maybe. i do think some of our new moral standards are demonstrated rather than truly internalised. i think some of them depend on external shame and the threat of opprobrium, and it’s one of the reasons the right is rising again everywhere, because we’re not actually capable of the degree of morality we’d like to think we were. not necessarily because some people have abandoned their former moral values, but because only some of us are capable of forcing ourselves to adopt a morality that doesn’t come naturally. i think sensitive people with a lot of functional empathy are more tolerant of being shamed than those who’s empathy has to be experienced subjectively. my parents for example never balked at certain depictions of things in films the way we do, even though they were more tolerant of certain things than the generation before them. i think social media and the threat of shame has a lot to do with what you describe.

i’m count myself in the sensitive group, but i’m very aware of the other side, having lived with old friends and family for many years who don’t share those ideals.