Posted by
Andrews on Friday, April 04, 2008 2:47:54 PM
In "
I Blame the Romantics", "
The Adoration of Youth", and "
Frightened For Our Future" I wrote about how our society has managed to destroy most of our standards by idolizing youth. Well, I really don't have much new to say, but, in a comment to a
Brent Bozell article, I think I sumarized it particularly well.
So here is an excerpt from that post:
In
the past, people looked at kids, said they were on the road to ruin,
and then those kids grew up and became like the adults, and the cycle
started again. Every generation pushed the same envelope.
At
some point in the recent past, we changed the equation. We started
worshiping youth and letting them set the agenda. So, when they pushed
the envelope, society accepted it, and the envelope grew.
So we end up with next generation pushing against even more distant barriers, and so on and on.
That
is why we see a society no longer shocked by torture porn or celebrity
sex tapes. We have moved the standards to chase the youth demographic
and have ended up allowing the "highs spirits" and lack of sense common
to the young to drive our society.
It really doesn't say anything new, but, as it is more concise, I think it is perhaps better than the articles I mentioned earlier. But if you do want more explanation of my thinking on this topic, please go back and read those earlier essays.