The inimitable Jack Paar from the days when there was actually interesting conversation to be found on late night television.
Now, let's talk once again about how we can improve our daily attire, character, and manners. Like we used to before all of the toxic ugliness took hold of U.S. sociopolitical life. I've got to believe that we are capable of more than that. Let's hope we are able to cleanse ourselves of the viscous excrement that has permeated absolutely everything for the last several years.
-- Heinz-Ulrich.
The loss of basic manners, personal pride, restraint in our language, loss of self respect evidenced by appearance, profanity, disregard of others sensitivity and values, has impacted the quality of life of many and most of it is by design. Descriptions of America include terms like "slob Nation", "Greedy", "personal aggression over peaceful existence", "insults to self-reliance" plus many more. How we got here in little more than one generation is the study of many respected scholars. Theories abound. One big problem is that many many American's don't see these things as an issue. Did it start in the home? On college campuses? in economic stress?, who has an answer?
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a clear answer, but I suspect there has been a confluence of various (probable) causes for our social malaise during the last 50+ years. The subject could probably fill a book, which could then be broadly dismissed as classist, racist, sexist, exclusionary, etc., etc., on and on ad infinitum. I've never quite understood how an effort to pull oneself up from the muck, or to keep from getting sucked into the mire, is such an awful thing. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteH-U