picking up on carrol's point, this tendency in the west can be traced backto the garden of eden story, which is to say a long way back -- at least 10th century bce, and the story's probably much much older than that. interestingly, though, many of the biblical writers understood the earlybehavior of the hebrews/israelites as negative examples -- they're"stiff-necked" and always doing stupid things like making golden calves. ---- The "the country is going to hell" motif was a recurring theme in Ancient Egyptian literature, the so-called "literature of pessimism," alongside love poetry and religious writings. It's not just Judeo-Christian *******
CB: If we think of ancestor "worship" as holding on to the good ole days, we might speculate that this is older than old Egypt.