OK, I'm sure everyone is well aware of the nasty back and forth in the House, brick throwing & bullets through windows, Hitler picture modifications, threats, prejudicial slurs and name calling and the general lack of decorum taking place across the country and in the Capitol right now. We have apparently devolved as a nation, into the worst possible 'Jersey Shore' episode. Frankly, C-Span and MTV could save a lot on production costs if they just share their content.
I don't know about you, but I find it a bit scary when drunken, half-naked Spring breakers have better behavior and general decency than a middle aged parent of two. Does anyone feel like they've woken up in Bizarro world?
It's a tragedy that most of the "Greatest Generation" is dead. I imagine many of them could tell us a thing or two about conducting ourselves like rational adults, persevering through major economic downturns, sharing responsibility as citizens, and facing down true fascism that killed millions.
Frankly, they would have every right to be shocked and dismayed at how dramatically we rant about stuff that would have been a blip on their radar back in the day. I am starting to believe that they may have been the last group in our country, that actually made it to adulthood.
I'm considering re-reading, "Lord of the Flies" for cultural survival tips.
Our current generation, Baby Boomers & Busters included, has been coddled, protected and infused with the idea that everything should be done our way, all the time. Over the past decade or so, it seems that if we don't win or someone disagrees with us, we get angry, indignant, rude and whine. We don't just disagree, we HATE and RAGE.
What a wonderful legacy we are leaving to our kids. I imagine great books, mini-series and sonnets will be written about this period of time, honoring "The Pissed-off, Whiny Generation."
Can you feel the pride?
This goes way beyond politics, so don't think for a second that this is about one political group or another, I'm condemning the ENTIRE, ill-behaved population. So let's get that straight.
I imagine that as I write this, Canada is considering legislation to put a huge fence up on their southern border. And frankly, if they aren't, they should be - if only to protect the niceness of their population. I doubt they want Americans busting in and wrecking the place...
Are you offended yet? I bloody well hope so.
I hope you are so offended that you go out of your way to prove me wrong.
I hope you defiantly have rational, fact-based debates and are respectful of others, even if they are acting like jack asses. I hope you funnel your anger into something positive and take to behaving as though the person you respect most in life was watching you on a 24 hour web cam. I hope you are so willing to prove me wrong, that you share your intent to be respectful and decent with other people too, so they start thinking about it.
That'll show me!!!
I dare you to not pick a fight, to be respectful of opposing views, avoid accusatory statements, including anything that remotely sounds like taunting and oh yea...no shitty comments said quietly under your breath.
I DARE YOU!
You can be miffed, you can be angry, you can be outraged, you can be up in arms, you can even feel like you want to kill someone, but just ACT and BEHAVE like a rational human being on the outside. That's all.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, because most of you are conscientious people, but I urge you to start going out of your way to change this culture of hate and nastiness. If you see a friend or relative behaving badly, help them out by telling them how they are being perceived. Write your government officials telling them what kind of behavior you expect of them as well. If you have kids, raise them to have and show respect and to be humane and polite, by setting a good example and apologizing to them if you screw up.
If we are to change our legacy and our reputation as a country and as a generation, we need to start right now.
Unfortunately, The Crown Jewel Club doesn't exist for adults, so were going to have to take a good hard look at ourselves and snap out of this terrible national attitude of hate and pettiness. It would be great if we could all make the effort to grow up into a generation that we can be proud of and that future generations can respect.
End of lecture.
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I will be blogging about interesting, silly, important, irritating and amusing things regularly. Seriously, I will.
Well played Mayans....
7 comments:
I agree. As they used to say on Get Smart, we should all use our powers for niceness instead of evil. I had not heard of the Crown Jewel Club, but it sounds like a great idea. I could write something critical about those who I'm sure would oppose an organization like that, but in the spirit of harmony, I won't. :-)
Thank you John - I appreciate that coming from one of the most ethical and level-headed people I know!
Well said, I do agree, but we have to take into account and remember that social change has always been opposed in this nation, not just by the elite which has a vested interest in preserving the status quo, but by easily manipulated angry mobs.
Unions, civil rights, anti-war demonstrations (Vietnam) brought out the very best and the very worst in Americans. Previous generations were not so well behaved, and actually resorted to violence, and to maiming and killing, to oppose change. I think it is Roosevelt who had to call in the army to protect strikers (union activists) against violent mobs and the police. And of course we all know Martin Luther King was assassinated.
Nowadays the news media, bloggers and talk show hosts thrive on hot air, on controversy and inflammatory rhetoric. Common sense is of no interest to anyone, because it does not arouse passions and consequently does not sell (products or services which are advertised on blogs and talk show radio for example).
The masses are easily controlled when divided, the two political parties playing good cop-bad cop while roughly following the same agenda of serving their corporate masters, and the crooks (Wall Street comes to mind) taking off with the loot while the people are at each others throat.
What a waste of perfectly good energy!
Hey Anon,
Thanks for the interesting comments - well said. Of course, you are right about the fact that throughout history, people have felt impassioned about their views to the point of anger and violence - for right and for wrong.
It seems to me, that if all of those groups on the wrong side of history hadn't been so hateful, paranoid, selfish and angry in the FIRST place, chances are they wouldn't have been beaten down by an opposition group.
Golden Rule 101.
I don't believe for a second the entire country is capable of NOT doing mean, awful shit to fellow citizens. We have to live with that, but we can try to lessen it.
No generation is perfect, not even the "Greatest." For the sake of my post, I recalled many of the traits that are worth honoring or emulating from a previous generation. I'm blogging to discuss my point of view, not necessarily to write an even-handed article. Blogs are the last place to look for solid journalism...especially mine!!! ;)
We need good leaders in society right now. People that study, think, discuss and present their ideas in rational, intelligent, respectful ways. These people are everywhere, not just at the head of a company or ruling a country, they are every day people that other people respect and listen to.
I believe they are the ones that can fight the "good" fight and tone this hateful climate down.
We need to be asking more of ourselves (and others) when it comes to treating people as we would like to be treated.
And that, my dear anonymous, is my point.
I understand, very good points, I was not criticizing your blog...
What we need I think is a well-behaved well organized bi-partisan movement of revolutionaries to outlaw lobbyists in State and Federal government, and to force exclusively publicly founded elections, so as to
reinstate a government of, by and for the people rather than one controlled by the corporate and banking elite.
As long as people do not have the courage to face real issues, they will keep on being easily manipulated by demagogues and by the elite, and will predictably react like Pavlov's dogs to specific ideological stimuli, such as the word "socialism".
But it is rather simple: in America, all that benefits the people to the possible detriment of corporations/banks (regulations) is called "socialism", all that benefits the elite to the detriment of the people (deregulation, screwing the environment, etc) is called capitalism, even in the case of corporate welfare.
We are possibly the most brainwashed people in the world (apart from the North Koreans?)
I couldn't agree with you more with regard to lobbying - it's institutionalized bribery - period.
That said, it is only bribery for the elite, the groups with money and people with influence. At least in Mexico, everyone, no matter who you are, has the right to "pay" their ticket to the officer to get out of a trip to jail - and it's negotiable on a sliding scale ;). There's something actually very fair about that...but I digress...
Lobbying keeps the general population from being heard as individuals. The truth is, I doubt either side would really support doing away with lobbying - some like the perks of it and others like the fact that environmentalists, human rights activists, etc. can get to them under the lobbying umbrella.
It is another one of those things that may see some reform in the future, but I doubt will ever be completely done away with. Nice thought though.
Thanks, well, as a people, we have the power if we want to use it, whether under a Democrat or Republican administration. It shouldn't be about what "they" want, but about what we want.
Look at Europe...a general (national) strike can get any government's attention, and it is neither violent nor illegal. I am not sure Americans really know what they want thought, because they tend to think standing up to their government is a radical act...
Anyway thanks for allowing me to express my views :)
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