Posted on 06/27/2007 7:57:39 AM PDT by Hank Kerchief
The Characteristics of an Uncivilized People
by Reginald Firehammer
In describing the character of the people who dominated the society of the 50s I used words like courtesy, decency, respect, reverence, and dignity. None of these words can be used to describe the last two or three generations except in the negative. Today's society can only be described as discourteous, indecent, disrespectful, irreverent, and; well, there isn't a word that captures what those with no sense of personal dignity truly are, graceless, or despicable, or contemptible, perhaps.
I'm not attempting to characterize today's entire population. There are obviously many decent upstanding people today just as there were scoundrels in the 50s. There are always exceptions. The practices and lack of values that dominate every strata of today's society, however, from presidents to parents, from its artists to its police, from its educators to its religious leaders were confined, in the 50s, to periphery of society.
In the second article in this series, I used Michael Crichton's list of today's commonplaces that anyone from before 1900 would never have heard or dreamed of. Those were mostly scientific and technological things.
There are commonplaces in today's society and culture that those in the 50s could not have believed would ever be possible in America, things that might have existed as exceptions then, but today dominate our daily news and every aspect of our culture—our government, entertainment, educational institutions, even our religions, not technical things, but the characteristics of our society and culture.
If I were to make a list of words common in this day that would have been meaningless, as well as incredible, to anyone in the 50s, it would include—crack, ecstasy, ropies, date rape, thongs, waxing, Brazilian, freak dancing, pole dancing, lap dancing, bum fights, family planning, Nambla, out-of-the-closet, sex education, sex industry, sex workers, sex trafficking, navel rings, lip rings, HPV, HIV, AIDS, abortion clinics, planned parenthood, porn stars, kiddy-porn, porn-addiction, hook-ups, Lewinsky, and many more which I refuse to write.
The realities these words suggest are worse and include—child molestation and abductions; sex in schools between teachers and students, students and students; crime in schools including beatings, theft, and rape; school shootings; blatant public sex and sexuality, militant homosexuality; public nakedness; body piercing and tattoos, pervasive use of coarse and vicious language, especially by children; total disregard and disrespect for others, their persons and their property; rampant STD's; sexually provocative dress—of very young girls; rampant use of drugs; staggering rates of divorce, shack-ups, out-of-wedlock births, and abortions; vicious attacks on religion and the religious or anyone with standards; ... the list is endless.
But all of these are only symptoms of something much worse than any of these cultural and social horrors, and what they are symptoms of is a sick society, a society in which all that was Western civilization is lost—a vicious, barbarian society with all the characteristics of such societies.
What Dominates the Culture of So-called Civilized America
"Everyone knows about the intensifying sex, violence, and foul language in movies and TV," and some blame that for much of today's social and cultural decline. No doubt, it is an important contributor, but it is also an indicator of that decline. That product could not exist without a market, which indicates level of decadence of the entertainment buying public; but worse, the content of the vilest of today's movies and TV programs is sadly a reflection of today's culture and society itself.
Pornography is not new. In fact, at the end of this article I will show that every decadent uncivilized society in history has been swamped, not only with pornography, but has been obsessed with sex. This is certainly true of today's American society.
Nothing is more indicative of what today's modern American culture is than its technology, such as the Internet. That one of the most lucrative of today's businesses should be an Internet business is no surprise, what ought to be a surprise, but really is not, is that one of the "most profitable" of all businesses on the Internet is pornography. 89% of Internet porn is created in the US, generating $2.84 billion for US porn sites in 2006. $89 is spent on Internet porn every second. There are 260 new porn sites online daily.
A whole industry has grown up around the new "disease" called "porn addiction," that both men and women are afflicted with. I am not particularly interested in the details of that addiction, itself, men find all sorts of things to sell their lives to. There is plenty of information about that on the Internet.
I am also not addressing the effects on society as a whole, especially to individuals and families, which are bad enough, I am interested in what this indicates about the kind of society and culture America has become. An industry this big is only possible with an enormous customer base. It is enormous. These are your neighbors: one in every five men and more than one of every ten women admit to accessing pornorgraphy—at work.
What kind of people desire pornography so badly, they'll cheat their employers of their time to look at it? A better question, and a more troubling one, is what kind of people want to look at pornography, when the object of that pornography is children. There are over a 100,000 child pornography sites, generating $3 billion a year in the USA. What kind of people are spending that kind of time and money on this perversion? Probably your pediatrician, your lawyer, your child's teacher, your college professor, your local policeman, or the former president of the ACLU.
What kind of society is comprised of those kinds of people? The experts can argue about the possible connections between pornography and sex crimes, but one is obvious, the kind of person who could not even look at child pornography will not be a pedophile but pedophiles love it and is why it's there—this too is an indication of the corruption of America's society.
The Internet is part of this corruption too, but like every other technology, it does not cause the corruption, it is the kind of people who use it that corrupt the Internet. This 1999 study found "One in five children (4.5 million children nationwide)... received a sexual solicitation and one in 33 was aggressively solicited for sex, meaning the child was asked to meet with a person soliciting sex, was called or received mail, money or gifts." "Girls were targeted for sexual solicitations almost twice as much as boys." And "... 22 percent of children who were sexually solicited were 10 to 13 years old."
A Vile Society
I have been very reluctant to do this article, because I knew I was going to be forced to lift the veil of decency that covers our everyday experience, though that veil is extremely thin in most places. But reality is reality and the worst of evils is evasion of the truth, and the one that precedes all others.
A quick look at the statistics is an illustration of what has become of civilization in America. According to this report, between "1960 to 1999" there was a "70% Increase in murder reports, 168% Increase in aggravated assault reports, 418% Increase in "forcible rape" reports (excludes many child victims)," and between, "1982-1999," a "1,300% to 5,166% Increase in child sex abuse reports. "In 1999, 67% reported sex abuse victims are children under 18, 64% reported forced sodomy victims are boys under 12," there were, "4,200 (to 19,000) 'in school' rapes and sexual assaults, 350,000 estimated children in prostitution/pornography," and "58,200 non familial abductions of children."
It's true that statistics do not lie, but they also cannot give a picture of what is wrong with a society that makes such statistics possible, or the kind of people a society is made up of that do what the statistics only suggest. What kind of people is the country comprised of?
It is comprised of men like this day-care worker who pleaded guilty of sexually molesting children and told authorities he molested up to 28 boys and girls, "mostly 2 and 3 years old." This is not an isolated case as it might have been in the 50s, if it happened at all, today it is a national epidemic, and frequently a "family affair."
A "girl's 35-year-old father was indicted on 51 counts" of child sex abuse that began when the child was only "three months old." He "orally sodomized the child" after discussing, "swapping children for sex," on the Internet. That, apparently is becoming a commonplace. Another father has been indicted for, "abusing his own 4-year-old daughter and offering her for trade on the Internet."
Another father has been charged with "one count of first-degree child rape and one count of possession of child pornography, after "drugging and raping a 10-year-old girl," who was sleeping over with his daughter. He drugged them both, and took videos of them. This grandfather videotaped himself having sex with his 15-month-old granddaughter."
(If you want on or off this list please freepmail me.)
Hank
Only time I’m shirtless in public is when I’m on the beach. Other than that I’m a decent person.
In a country of a half billion, being able to dredge up enough deviants to make an episode of Phil or Sally doesn't mean that's who we are.
Ping 4 Later
Depressing statistics. Fortunately, we live in a community where the youngsters are generally a decent bunch of kids. Their parents insist upon it.
The difference is, in the 50s it would have to be dredged up, today it is thrown at you from every venue.
There is always some decadence in any society, whether or not a society can be classified as decadent depends on whether its on the periphery or has gone mainstream. Read the rest of the series as it’s posted. You will not be able to deny it has gone mainstream without denying facts.
Hank
I appreciate that “Hank Kerchief” is a good screen name, but are we really supposed to take seriously an article by someone named Reginald Firehammer? Sounds like a name from a W.C. Fields movie.
Thansk for posting. I was just thinking about this the other day. I was thinking that,
In the ‘70’s we gently poked fun at Ward and June Cleaver.
In the ‘80’s we mocked Ward and June Cleaver.
In the ‘90’s we pointed to Ward and June Cleaver with unmitigated contempt.
In the current decade we do not even recognize and cannot even imagine life for Ward and June Cleaver.
It is so very tragic.
We presently can wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and keep US soldiers, airmen, naval personnel and marines stationed at bases in several dozen countries exactly because enough young people, mainly men, think enough of their country to volunteer for military service.
How many fierce young men will volunteer to protect homosexual activists who beat up on women protesting gay marriage? How many young women will lay down their lives so a city can seize their grandmother’s home in an eminent domain action to build a commercial real estate project? How many people will be willing to drop bombs on enemies of the United States, and protect a government that does not seem to care about its own border security? Who wants to fight to protect a Senate that confirms the battle’s general but quickly finds it so easy to call him and the people who do the heavy lifting incompetent?
These issues are all grains of sand, slowly eroding from the conscious will and determination of our youth. We will not be able to measure it directly. We can only measure it at the margins. Are more youth or fewer interested in serving the country? Are people running towards or away from the fight? Are people putting forth reasoned or irrational arguments about protecting this country? How many are willing to allow that this country is not worth protecting How many want to attack those who are concerned about morality, indeed how increasingly often are concerns about morality called “hate speech”?
To be blunt, we are approaching a point when non-libertine people will decide that they are not willing to put their lives at risk to save libertine people. When the sheep dogs say the sheep are not worth protecting, then the country is doomed.
I'll wait, then. Typically I when I hear people talk about how sexual deviancy has gone mainstream, I have to ask "Why haven't I met any of these people?". Maybe I just live a sheltered life.
I'm betting it's because you don't watch much television. Turn it off, and about 95% of this stuff simply becomes irrelevant in your life. People today generally don't live the "indecent" lives that the author imagines, but they do turn on the TV and feel bad because they think everybody else does and they are missing out on something. ;)
And, the Good Ol' Days weren't all that good, it was just easier to hide things. Examples from my own family and their friends from those golden years:
My grandmother's sister married a guy who beat her regularly because she didn't get pregnant (she eventually divorced him, married another guy and went on to have 3 kids).
We have reason to believe my other grandmother was sexually abused by one of her creepy brothers.
One of my great-grandmother's gave herself abortions with knitting needles - and bragged about it.
A woman my parents know from their high school/college days went searching for her biological mother and discovered that she (the woman, not the mother) was the product of incest.
All was not golden at the Cleaver house apparently.
Typically, I don't watch much TV so you may be right. To give you an idea of what my telivision habits are, I still miss Junkyard Wars.
Maybe I just live a sheltered life.
I don’t think it’s that. People choose their companions and associates based on the kind of people they can appreciate and enjoy being with. The decent just do not expose themselves to the kind of things that are going on today, because it doesn’t fit who and what they are—but they need to look, and too many decent people have just not looked—although it’s becoming more blatant every day. (Have you beent a mall lately?)
I appreciate your willing to wait. I think it will be worth it, even if you ultimately disgree, it will an informed opinion.
Hank
Maybe I just live a sheltered life.
I don’t think it’s that. People choose their companions and associates based on the kind of people they can appreciate and enjoy being with. The decent just do not expose themselves to the kind of things that are going on today, because it doesn’t fit who and what they are—but they need to look, and too many decent people have just not looked—although it’s becoming more blatant every day. (Have you beent a mall lately?)
I appreciate your willing to wait. I think it will be worth it, even if you ultimately disgree, it will an informed opinion.
Hank
Nope. I've been to the local scrap yard more times than I've been to the mall in the last 10 years. The few times I have been have typically been Christmas shopping, and I don't remember anything particularly opprobrious about the people there, other than there were way too many of them to suit me.
Yea, but they had their share of porn. Like when June would tell Ward when she thought he was too hard on The Beaver.
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