Cool and wet again. Or still. But yeah, not awesome out.
Like yesterday, which was overcast for most of the day, with occasional drizzle. Got the kids off their screens for an hour or so and outside during the only real sunshine of the day. They spent the rest of the day playing Minecraft, which I continue to insist is just the grinding aspects of other games made into the whole game. I don’t get it, that’s for sure.
I dragged my feet all day, but did get some stuff sorted, and cleaned up out of my office. My wife was on the computer working from home all day. With some people not getting the note about the time change, she was ‘at work’ until about an hour later than normal. One of the downsides of being able to work anywhere is having to work everywhere. I think that holds true for ‘any time’ and ‘all the time’, too. Still, having work is not something to complain about, and she does a good job of managing it.
It seems that several trends in the world at large are coming to a head.
It looks like there is and has been a concerted effort to attack and destroy the institutions, traditions, and beliefs (as well as the history) that used to make up the ‘story of America’ that shaped who we are.
In the 60s the attacks started on government and peoples’ faith in it. (Whether the government DESERVED the faith of the people is another question, that a system set up on the ‘consent of the governed’ must also have the respect of the governed should be a given.) Woodward and Bernstein did more to damage the United States than any dirty tricks by Tricky Dick could have. They spawned two generations of press that were looking for their own ‘Watergate’ moment, and magnified everything to try to fit that mold. The corrosive and damaging effect of that on the body politic shouldn’t be underestimated.
The sixties started the attacks on the social structure of America too, including one of the most effective, Teddy Kennedy’s changes to immigration policy to shift the emphasis from skilled and semi-skilled european immigrants to illiterate and unskilled immigrants from Latin America and other third world places.
Social engineering policies like “urban renewal”, the creation of the welfare state, and the destruction of the black family and community planted the seeds for the vast underclass we have now, living in continuous poverty and with violence at every turn.
The social shift from a life of restraint, sacrifice, and duty to one of ‘if it feels good do it’ and narcissistic selfishness further destroyed families and social structures (the sexual revolution seems to have mostly resulted in a huge increase in sexually available women, and moreover, a willingness to participate in what, in the past, would have been extreme sexual acts even for professionals.) At the same time, drug use became prevalent, almost ubiquitous, and over-using drugs was re-defined as a disease that the person was a victim of, not something that was expected to be controlled or punished.
The rise of victimhood and victim classes followed, with social engineering solutions to the ‘problems’ that did nothing to help and did incredible damage to the very people they professed to help.
There are many other examples of institutions attacked and destroyed from within, and of areas where the attacks created problems that the attackers then proposed solutions to, which became the next iteration of the attack.
It doesn’t all come to a head with the Grammys but they did represent just how far the destruction has gone.
The Grammy award performances by two of rap and hip hop music’s ‘finest’, was by all accounts soft core porn, glorifying stripping and prostitution, complete with simulated lesbian sex acts. (Some discussion and links in yesterday’s comments.) The song the duo sang has lyrics that I can’t even quote with obfuscation here, the title alone (which Daily Mail coyly calls an “ode to female anatomy”) is titled “Wet A$$ P#$$y.” The title is the least offensive and obscene phrase in the song, and it’s repeated ad nauseum. They will likely win a Grammy award for it when they submit it next year. I’m not a prude, or religious person, but I can recognize behaviour that is unhealthy for a person, and for our society. The Grammy’s are billed as a musical talent award, the TV show is an ‘extravaganza’ and airs on broadcast TV in prime time. People don’t have to seek it out. It comes, unbidden, into their living rooms.
Everywhere you look you see the same things being attacked and damaged. Trust. Restraint. Duty. Individualism. Achievement. Faith. Hard work. Moderation. Tolerance. Love. Joy. What do you see celebrated? Envy. Self doubt. Group identity. Free riding. Impulsiveness. Violence. Lawlessness. Wantonness. Bragging. Flaunting. Entitlement.
America has been fundamentally changed. It started slowly but is accelerating.
And I don’t like it. It won’t support the technological world we live in. Our built environment is already starting to break down, along with our social order. Our systems are starting to show cracks, along with our communities. I see a lot more down coming before the trend starts back up, and a lot more misery headed our way.
When the sons of Martha decide they no longer care if the bolt is tight, or stay late to be sure the job gets done right; when they get tired of shedding their blood, to smooth the way and avert the flood; then I’m afraid the lesson we’ll learn, is how easily the people starve, and the cities burn.
You don’t have enough. Keep stacking.
nick