Euphoric recall
Dear Editor,
Your editorial last week was perfectly reasonable, accurate, balanced and well presented. Considering the subject topic was about how uncivilized, rude, nasty, inconsiderate and opinionated the town and the nation have become, as we deal with controversial issues, thank goodness there was nothing but common sense and logic in your piece. Rest assured, you’ll find some who disagree; but your point was the way in which people disagree and how civility, diplomacy and respect is in real short supply.
The question is: Why?
There isn’t one answer. There are many, and probably plenty of disagreement out there about which answers are the most egregious. As long as the convention is civil and doesn’t descend into attacking, interruption, screaming, name-calling and threats of violence, okay. That’s the point of your editorial. Here are a few answers to the question of why discourse has become so vitriolic.
In our lifetime, technology has isolated people more than in the past; most movies are awful video games instead of about love and romance, popular music has cummy lyrics versus rock n’ roll, which saved the world. As Jack Black said in School of Rock, “One great rock concert can saved the world.” There’s more junk food, beer has become a soft drink, reality T.V. shows can’t be accused of elevating the culture, permissive parenting hasn’t helped a bit, fashion isn’t fashionable — it’s embarrassing. As Charlie Chaplin wrote and said in the Great Dictator, “Greed has poisoned men’s souls.”
I’m sure readers will take issue with some of this opinion, but let’s just do it the old fashioned way, politely.
Chuck Levin