A couple of weeks ago, while I was knee-deep in deciphering the debt ceiling debacle, I ran across a disturbing AP story out of Philadelphia.
Young people—some barely teenagers—were organizing themselves via social networking and beating the hell out of random people in Center City. Center City, man. That ain’t the ghetto, brother. I’ve vacationed there enough times to know. It’s nice, the kind of nice we wish downtown Birmingham was, and now the folks there are afraid to walk outside and pick up the morning paper. Presently, a city-wide curfew is in effect.
A couple of days later, I ran across another disturbing story, this one out of Atlanta. A massive cheating scandal has implicated dozens of educators in 44 of the city’s public schools. Most of the students involved are your so-called “disadvantaged” types. The teachers, in pursuit of performance-based bonus cash, figured that the only way those kids would pass a test was with the answer key. So they sold those kids out on their standardized tests.
As I write this, with apologies to The Clash, London’s burning. An unchecked mob of shockingly ill-mannered teenagers—again, organized via various social networking web sites—are smashing, grabbing and burning the city and neighboring towns, largely unchecked. The reason? Well, using tried-and-true South Park logic: Step one, they’ve realized that life is unfair; Step two, they pillage; Step three...profit?
What am I getting at? Well, look, there are tipping points within each generation whereupon some folks figure the end is nigh, civilization has become irreparably damaged and martial law is just a matter of time, but I honestly believe that this time we may have gone too far. Years of loose parenting, eroding social mores, failing schools and a popular culture that values fame and fortune at any cost have finally caught up with us. Thinking men and women, so-called decent human beings, are becoming a sideshow attraction, and that’s pretty bad.
Let me preface this by getting the religious argument out of the way. That’s not what this is about. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian or a Buddhist, Druid or Hindu, Mormon or Muslim; you should know that (a.) Parents have to mentor their children on how to be proper adults; (b.) Children should not be exposed to certain things in society that are of an explicitly sexual or violent nature; (c.) Education is the foundation of success.
Western culture has almost completely blown up the idea of parents actually parenting their children. The generation of kids that’s turned London into “Grand Theft Auto: Real Life,” are by-products of the “time-out” generation. Parents are more into friending their kids rather than disciplining them, which blurs a child’s respect for authority. When a child has no respect for authority, well, turn on CNN and watch what happens. Parents have to be actively involved in their children’s lives in order to perpetuate a civil society. This country and others have lost sight of that over the past few decades, and now we’re paying the price.
Now these children, absent authority figures and parents who give a you-know-what about what they’re up to, are turning to pop culture icons for pointers on how to be successful adults. I speak for you and me when I follow that with a “God help us all.”
Look, I’m a 27-year-old white guy who lives in the suburbs. Yes, I am a Democrat and I write for an alt-weekly, but I’m not the target audience for rap/hip-hop culture. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about how it started, but I’m pretty sure it started honestly and earnestly, much like country music, with which I’m also largely unfamiliar. But, regardless of its original intent, here’s what it’s devolved into now:
“I put the pussy in a sarcophagus, now she claiming I bruise her esophagus.”
That’s an actual line from a real-life song. I don’t know when the history of music actually began and I don’t claim to be an expert of any particular genre. But I’m going to step out on a pretty sturdy limb and say that this particular song lyric is the nadir of musical history. The artist is a man named Kayne West. He made a video for the song, too. Some anonymous Wikipedite gives us a play-by-play:
“The nearly six-minute clip features an onslaught of depraved scenes: hanged models dangling from the ceiling on chains; West rapping while casually holding a woman’s severed head; a bloody amputated hand; and Jay-Z rapping with a semi-nude, necrotized woman in heels splayed across a couch.”
You should know that this West character is estimated to be worth about $75 million. He was voted “Man of the Year” by MTV in 2010, and whether you like it or not, he’s a modern-day role model for our children.
Let me say this: It’s a matter of opinion, and it may cost me some friends, but it needs to be said. If you’re a woman and you listen to music with lyrics like this, you are a fool. You’ve got more issues than National Geographic. Oh, you’re feeling the beat, you’re listening to the hook? It sounds good? Baloney. Subliminally, you’re getting these atrocious message drilled into your consciousness: You’re nothing but an object, you offer nothing but the opportunity to be sexually exploited by anyone carrying a Y chromosome; men will abuse you, use you and abandon you, but hey, that’s cool, because the song has an awesome beat.
The counterbalance to poor parenting and even worse leadership from our role models is and always will be solid public education. School discipline used to be the safety net that we used to overcome bad parenting, but that’s a thing of the past now.
Corporal punishment is out, stern warnings are in. Dodgeball is out, quiet time is in. Holding kids back a grade is out, No Child Left Behind is in.
As a result, we’re graduating kids— graduating kids—who cannot read or write. A background in college sports has given me enough access to term papers from “student-athletes” to know that’s true. We’ve got teachers in Atlanta—and all over the country—that are so desperate to get undisciplined kids out of their classrooms that they are willing to say, “Screw it,” and hand over the answer bank. They get rid of the kid, they get their bonus and we get a generation that can’t tell you how many stars are on the American flag or who the Speaker of the House is.
So, what are we going to do? The near term answer is unfortunately bleak. There’s nothing much we can do, except expect things to get worse. This unruly generation is about to begin an unholy reproductive cycle, whereupon they pass their authoritative skills and morality on to their replacements. And so forth, and so forth.
Soon there will be no paper volumes to guide them, only Kindles and text messages. There will be no Mozarts, only Kanyes drilling egregiously insensitive messages into malleable psyches. There will be no brick and mortar schools, only the University of Phoenix. In which case, maybe there will be a way to get the morning paper each day without leaving the house.
Who are we kidding? There will be no morning paper, either.
“PolySigh” is a weekly political column by Matt Hooper. Send your feedback to hooper@bhamweekly.com.
%u84B8%u716E
%u70AD%u706B%u713C%u304D
%u5510%u63DA%u3052
%u9D8F%u306E%u5510%u63DA%u3052
%u5510%u63DA%u3052%u5B9A%u98DF
%u8C5A%u8089%u3000%u91CE%u83DC
%u91CE%u83DC%u52A0%u5DE5%u54C1
%u304A%u3044%u3057%u3044%u9D8F%u8089
%u51B7%u51CD%u3000%u9D8F%u8089
%u8C5A%u8089%u3000%u52A0%u5DE5
%u304A%u3044%u3057%u3044%u8C5A%u8089
vacuum circuit breaker porcelain insulator cable joint composite insulator ceramic insulator porcelain insulators High voltage products insulator connector epoxy insulator Sodium alginate Sugar Alcohol Seaweed Fertilizer Alginate Mask sorbitol liquid sorbitol powder alginic acid Propylene Glycol Alginate potassium alginate seaweed fertilizer liquid seaweed fertilizer suppliers