We Are Socially Decaying…

Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar Üniversitesi, was a guest on the “Dr. Feridun Kunak’la Evlerinize Sağlık” program broadcast on Kanal 7. Tarhan made striking evaluations regarding “Social Decay.” Emphasizing that humans are relational beings, Tarhan stated that social decay is most visible in places where a culture of pressure prevails. Speaking about what needs to be done to prevent social decay, Tarhan said; “Firstly, lies must be eliminated. Where there are lies, trust diminishes. Where trust diminishes, fear increases. And where fear increases, there is no peace.” Tarhan also underlined that the biggest symptom of social decay is loneliness.

Humans are created as relational beings

Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out that humans are relational beings, stating that these relationships are what make humans human. Tarhan; “We can define social decay as the decay in human relationships. That is, a person has a relationship with themselves, a relationship with their family, and a relationship with social life. These relationships are what make humans human. Humans are created as relational beings by nature. In other words, humans are not created to live alone. When a person lives alone, if you put them in solitary confinement without stimuli for more than 15 days, it is considered torture. Because when humans are deprived of stimuli, they exhibit schizophrenic reactions. This has also been tested on animals,” he stated. 

The biggest symptom of social decay is loneliness…

Emphasizing that social decay is most visible in places where a culture of pressure prevails, Tarhan said; “Behind addiction lies loneliness. The biggest symptom of social decay is loneliness. Individuals feel that ‘Society is not a safe space.’ In this situation, people live in constant fear. There are high-security societies and low-security societies. Low-security societies are those where social decay exists. Social decay is most prevalent in cultures of fear. It is always present where there is intense oppression, fear, and threat. For example, if in a family environment everyone seeks a place to hide when the father arrives, there is social decay. A child raised there will later oppose their parents and their parents' values. There is a statement made at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It mentions three threats facing humanity. The first is global income inequality, the second is climate change, and the third is loneliness. One of the most important indicators of weakening social ties, deteriorating social relationships, and crumbling family relationships is a lack of empathy.”

Don’t say, ‘What is this? Everyone does it!’ 

Speaking about what needs to be done to prevent social decay, Tarhan said; “Firstly, lies must be eliminated. Where there are lies, trust diminishes. Where trust diminishes, fear increases. And where fear increases, there is no peace. That’s why, if you fill a room with all evils, lies will open its door. Lies exist, but they are marginal. They constitute 5% or 10% of society, but if more than 50% of society normalizes lying, this is the trivialization of evil. When evil becomes trivial, everyone says, ‘What is this? Everyone does it.’ Thieves would supposedly distribute a part of what they stole to their friends and family to ease their conscience; this is similar. When people do evil, and others also do evil, their ego is appeased, they feel satisfied. If you ignore evils, they become normalized, trivialized, and continue. Then they corrupt the heart, they blind the heart.”

The portrayal of evil corrupts pure minds…

Emphasizing that one of the most important things increasing social decay is television programs, Tarhan said; “In our culture, it is said, ‘Be like earth in covering the faults of others.’ A saying by Rumi. Now, when we ask why they run such programs, they say they want to create awareness in society. By awareness, they mean things like explaining theft techniques to create awareness about theft. Or explaining how to use drugs to create awareness about drugs. In matchmaking programs, who is cheating on whom, how are they cheating? How did it happen? They sit and talk about these things. As if to create awareness so that people are aware. They are actually implementing one of the devil’s methods of deception, without realizing it. There is a rule that says, ‘The portrayal of evil corrupts pure minds.’ It corrupts beautiful, pure, innocent minds – good-hearted people who don’t think evil…” he stated. 

Media has great responsibility in social decay…

Referring to the media’s role in social decay, Tarhan said; “If there is social decay in society, if there is moral corruption, if people’s trust in each other has weakened, then the media bears a great responsibility here. In Quranic ethics, deeds are according to intentions. For scholars and administrators, deeds are not according to intention, but according to outcome... Because you are managing a company, you are managing a ship. If you say, ‘I have good intentions,’ and run the ship aground, even with good intentions, you are responsible for the people who suffer losses because you did not take precautions, and the blame is on you. Because a manager, a scholar, has the responsibility to take precautions and foresee and consider the outcome.”