Just An Old Fart
There seems to be a tendency in people as they get older to predict the breakdown of society. I have a socialist (self-described communist) friend who predicted the death of American society when GW Bush was president. I have conservative friends that are making the same prediction now.
What I wonder is if that tendency in me is just a function of the fact that I am in what the Spanish call "la tercera edad" (basically, retirement age). Believe me when I say that I hope so. I hope I am just "gilding the past". And, I must admit, the past had some horrible aspects: greater racial segregation, intolerance of alternative sexual preference, strict gender roles, belief that emotional problems were a character flaw, etc., etc.
And let me say before I go on that I think the death penalty is barbaric; I've been in favor of same-sex marriage as long as I've thought about the issue; and, as far as our "War on Drugs" is concerned, I think we've been met on the field of battle and soundly defeated.
But I wonder about the future of civilization when in this country we're murdering our policemen, when in Germany a person is denied asylum and blows up a bunch of innocent people (Hmm...I don't get my way, so everyone else has to die(?)), when in Sweden since it opened up immigration the incidence of rape has gone up by a factor of 15.
It seems to me that the rule of law is a necessary (but not sufficient) basis of civilization. And to blame all policemen for the acts of one or two is no different from making gross generalization about any other group.
I do hope I'm wrong in my concern that this is the product of a society of spoiled children. (i.e. "I don't get asylum, I'll kill a bunch of innocent people." Or, "if you arrest me and I try to beat you to death, you have no right to defend yourself.")
I had a great Aunt Allie who was a real curmudgeon. When I was a young radical leftist in the '60s she said, "I think all those college protesters just follow the crowd." I thought at the time that she was just an old reactionary biddy; I considered myself truly revolutionary. Now, I wonder if she wasn't right.
What I wonder is if that tendency in me is just a function of the fact that I am in what the Spanish call "la tercera edad" (basically, retirement age). Believe me when I say that I hope so. I hope I am just "gilding the past". And, I must admit, the past had some horrible aspects: greater racial segregation, intolerance of alternative sexual preference, strict gender roles, belief that emotional problems were a character flaw, etc., etc.
And let me say before I go on that I think the death penalty is barbaric; I've been in favor of same-sex marriage as long as I've thought about the issue; and, as far as our "War on Drugs" is concerned, I think we've been met on the field of battle and soundly defeated.
But I wonder about the future of civilization when in this country we're murdering our policemen, when in Germany a person is denied asylum and blows up a bunch of innocent people (Hmm...I don't get my way, so everyone else has to die(?)), when in Sweden since it opened up immigration the incidence of rape has gone up by a factor of 15.
It seems to me that the rule of law is a necessary (but not sufficient) basis of civilization. And to blame all policemen for the acts of one or two is no different from making gross generalization about any other group.
I do hope I'm wrong in my concern that this is the product of a society of spoiled children. (i.e. "I don't get asylum, I'll kill a bunch of innocent people." Or, "if you arrest me and I try to beat you to death, you have no right to defend yourself.")
I had a great Aunt Allie who was a real curmudgeon. When I was a young radical leftist in the '60s she said, "I think all those college protesters just follow the crowd." I thought at the time that she was just an old reactionary biddy; I considered myself truly revolutionary. Now, I wonder if she wasn't right.
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