By Ken Kreps
©2001, all rights reserved
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Medically speaking I've always heard that in your forties you have some "condition" treated; in your fifties you have a procedure and in your 60's you have an operation. I'm in my 60's now and while I did have an operation a few years ago, I somehow missed the condition in my forties and the procedure in my 50's. It's also been said that the older you become, the more conservative are your politics. Again, I seem to be going against the norm since I've become more liberal as I age. Before you start beating your chest and shouting, "He's going to lecture us about politics, again," you need to know that I'm not. Instead, I'm going to discuss something that's been on my mind for quite some time.
While I wouldn't call my life typical regarding the aforementioned medical and political history, I do share a feeling that not only many in my generation share, but one that is beginning to be shared by more and more people of all ages.
When we were in our twenties, we looked back on the accomplishments (or lack of same) of the past few generations and thought, "We can do better than that." This type of thinking is certainly not bad and, in fact, it's those types of thoughts, ideals and goals which drive us to work hard and which help to enrich our lives.
Now, some forty years later, I look back at what my generation and the ones who have followed, have done and realize we were no better than those who proceeded us and, indeed, in some areas have made conditions worse instead of better.
Some of you will no doubt point to the many significant technological advances that have occurred in the last forty years and think I must be some type of addle brained fool to make such a statement. Look at the incredible strides we've taken in communications, computers, space travel, automobiles, cloning, DNA research, as well as what we've been able to accomplish in medicine. Worse? Why we're ten fold better in all those areas than we were forty years ago. Yes, I must agree. We are definitely better off in all of those technical areas and more. But at what price?
We have in that forty years developed an "in your face" attitude about so many aspects of our life and our daily interactions with those around us. We treated others much better forty years ago than we do now. Yes, we still had segregation laws back then and that was a terrible injustice and just plain wrong. We now loudly proclaim to the world that we're past that and we have tolerance for all. Yet, doctors who perform abortions are murdered, blacks and other minorities are profiled and stopped on the streets much more frequently than are whites, women are still, by and large, second class citizens, and gays are still harassed and defiled by a hard charging and zealous religious right wing. Prejudice hasn't been eradicated. Its merely gone underground. I have no sympathy for rednecks who march through some of the streets of our nation while wearing their silly looking white sheets. I find them despicable. Yet, even these goons show more class than some because, at least, you know where they stand and they don't try to hide their racism. More modern racists hide behind respectability. In forty years we've done little to stem the bigotry and intolerance that we once said we could stop.
Listened to the top 40 radio stations lately? While there are some professionals who still make the charts, for the most part these top forty tunes are cranked out by amateur musicians with little talent or worse, rap artists (there's an oxymoron for you) who aren't musicians at all. Lyrics about murder, gang war, killing police and cruel treatment of women have actually become best selling hits. The songs on "your Hit parade" may have been sappy (correction: they were sappy) with their moon, croon, June lyrics, but I never heard any words in those songs that advocated killing or maiming.
Video games (a product of our advanced technology) teach kids from a young age how to kill the bad guy. It's just a game some say while others claim it makes harming another more acceptable. Some studies have shown that it makes the death of another seem far less serious than it really is. It's a far shorter step than many would like to believe from killing a character in a computer game to killing a real human being.
The new reality TV craze bombards us with the worst that human behavior can produce. Shows like Survivor, Big Brother and others have contestants (some, with antisocial behavior clearly defined prior to their being selected as contestants) which are driven by contrived circumstances until they do or say things that are best left unseen and/or unheard. New quiz shows like The Weakest Link seem to have found fun and profit by showering the lowest form of insults on its contestants Programs such as these pander to man's most basic instincts, are inexpensive to produce and draw large audiences much like public hangings used to do. New television promos promise even more of this type of inane programming for the coming season with each new program trying its best to outdo its predecessors in shock, schlock and bad taste. While many of us can gladly ignore these shows, young adults and worse, children, often make the mistake of thinking this type of antisocial behavior is acceptable and proper. Like a virus, these shows wind their way through the population, infecting many that they come into contact with. Hey, I saw in on TV so it must be OK.
Airing man's worst side on television is, of course, not a new idea as Jerry Springer and a whole handful of Springer clones have been hitting us in the face with gap toothed village idiots who will do and say whatever it takes to get their fifteen minutes of fame splashed all over the airwaves. Professional wrestling with all it's gimmickry and fake violence influences many (particularly children) into thinking that hitting someone is the most direct and proper way to gain retribution.
Movies like "Pulp Fiction" and others draw critical raves and are a bonanza at the box office while showing us (with all the gore the special effects people could dredge up) that hired killers are, after all, just regular people who got a little mixed up.
We have polluted our environment far beyond what previous generations did and some of our politicians seem to feel that business and making a profit are more important than preserving the world for future generations. Lest you think I'm picking solely on George Bush for his "what me worry" attitude towards our environment, Republicans and Democrats alike have been guilty of doing little to protect the environment for decades.
Individual privacy is being ignored as computers and other hi tech devices invade our lives with ever increasing frequency. Computers, while certainly a worthwhile and useful invention, are used more and more to spy on our buying habits, our personal finances, our conversations and, in general, any part of our personal lives that someone wishes to know more about. Small TV cameras are appearing on every lamp post, in stores and restaurants and even in public and office restrooms. Every month more and more of these little devices are installed and, while it may have come a bit later than 1984, Big Brother really is watching (and listening to) our every movement.
Religious people will tell you the problem is, we've strayed too far from God and that is the absolute cause of all of our current problems. Maybe so, but I prefer to look at bit closer to home for the cause. Civility in our personal and business lives has simply fallen by the wayside. We're out for me and me only and we really don't give a damn for anyone else. True, there are still a few who do not feel this way and when they do a good deed it makes the headlines because it's so unusual. I feel the majority of our modern day problems can be summed up in one short sentence. People no longer care about people.
Somewhere, some day, a person in their twenties will read this and, whether they agree with it or not, will say to themselves, "We can do a better job than they did." Can they? I don't know nor will I be around in forty years to find out. I hope they can. I hope someone, someday can stem this tide of selfishness and uncaring that has become an epidemic. I hope they can because if they can't, one day there will be no more generations left to try and this grand experiment called civilization will have failed and disappeared forever. That would indeed be sad except, of course, by then there will be no one left to mourn the passing of mankind. There will be no one left to be sad.
©2001 by Ken Kreps. This article may not be re-published in electronic or print media without the express written permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Ken Kreps lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife. He has written a number of published articles, essays and short stories, as well as numerous consumer and business pieces. Ken has also written scripts for Imagination Theater, an award winning audio drama series heard on over 150 commercial radio stations across the nation.