Either AOL is staffed with shallow-minded groupies posing as editorialists, or they have made a corporate decision to lead America into the heights and depths of breathtaking banalities that we never knew existed. I have a name-combo for them: gossiptorialists. Or maybe…trashatorialists. Whatever. (It’s not that easy…I’ll give them that.) Oh, and they just told me that people are more stressed out at work than they used to be…you know…yelling, screaming and getting into fisticuffs. Shocking stuff. I would have never guessed. And they excel at reporting news I can use…like we can catch a certain disease by living in a tidy house, and that an inmate on death row claims he can’t be executed because he’s too fat.
I shouldn’t be too harsh. AOL does their obligatory dabbling in politics too. They just undertook some major pieces on John McCain’s youthful looking wife, Cindy, and compared her prospects for being an awesome first lady to Michelle Obama’s. Oh yeah, we must be sure to factor in the fact that Michelle dresses much better than Cindy. Extremely important. And that’s not even getting into their hair styles. And just when I was starting to get restless for lack of substance, I discovered that Los Angeles Kings center Jarret Stoll’s romance with Rachel Hunter will not likely lead to marriage because she she has no real need to marry the athlete…because…because…I’m sorry, I just can’t do this anymore.
AOL’s apparent philosophy of life terrorizes thinking Americans. Has the public discourse degenerated to the moronic level of gossip and worthless trivia? Is AOL symptomatic of the decline or are they facilitating it? Am I a hopeless throwback to another time in history that dealt with infinitely more substantial issues? The subjects that I like, the critical thinking patterns I use and even my routine vocabulary no longer fits with this new social paradigm. I was brought up in the values of an earlier generation that encountered the Great Depression, WWII, Nazism, the holocaust, polio, diphtheria, and other monumental struggles. I cut my teeth on talk of the Communist menace, nuclear deterrence, space travel and major scientific and medical breakthroughs.
AOL’s generation despises true science and the scientific method. It yawns at higher mathematics. It abhors all talk of law enforcement and military action that preserves the peace. It has no clue about the way the economy really works. It wants pleasure, good times, money, guaranteed health and health care, a life of leisure, fewer commitments, the right to live irresponsibly with no consequences attached and a nanny government that will see that all of this happens. It wants cosmetic beauty, faddish clothing, fun and more fun and more fun and more fun and more fun. It quickly turns on anything that is not fun.
AOL’s philosophy of life cannot be sustained forever. Morality is a bank into which the previous generation has deposited courage, stability, loyalty, responsibility and serious living. Not only has this generation failed to make any substantial deposits, it has nearly depleted the account. We are in danger of overdrawing. I literally become nauseated in the pit of my stomach when I contemplate the future of this nation. Not only have we abandoned the values that brought us to where we are, we have held them up to derision and ridicule.
I see no evidence that AOL tries to lift up this generation to a higher plane of living. I discern no attempt on their part to elevate the discourse or to challenge people to be more knowledgeable, proficient or self-reliant. I detect no campaign to encourage the citizens of this nation to understand its laws and grasp the way its economy functions. In fact, anyone who does try to cut a swath of understanding through the cultural wilderness that now describes America meets a wave of resistance from people like those who run AOL. The dirty little secret is that when our main focus is fun and pleasure, we will eventually birth a society that is neither fun nor pleasurable. This is not rocket science. It is, or ought to be, extremely plain to see.
There are societies on the planet who do take life seriously. The Chinese, the Indians and many Arabic cultures are becoming more proficient in mathematics, science and disciplines that require total commitment. More and more medical doctors employed in the United States now hail from these societies. The same is true with scientists, engineers, technologists and other professions. Slowly, but methodically, financial moguls and entrepreneurs from these backgrounds are gaining control of our economy as well. Some of these societies have no roots in democracy. Their political traditions were shaped in closed societies run by totalitarian regimes. They see Americans as spoiled and stupid. They see our way of life as weak and deficient. Will their infiltration ultimately lead to our demise? What do you think?
AOL cannot be blamed for the wholesale problems of America. It does, however, represent a frightening shift in the wrong direction. The least they can do is get a hold of the myopic cabal that decides what to emphasize as news on their home page. They can stop their participation in the dumbing down of America. They can start stimulating this generation to achievement and strengthening of character.
At the very least, they can stop leading with tinsel town drivel.