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The Nation's Pulse
Looking Good
Gazing into the future of moral condemnation.
You can tell a conservative from a liberal by those things each worries about. Conservatives tend to worry about things like creeping socialism and socialist creeps, while liberals worry about what their great-great-great-grandchildren will hate them for.
Conservatives couldn’t care less about such things. After all, we’ll be dead. Even our kids, conservatively speaking, will be dead. Do you think the ghosts of Cortez or Buffalo Bill Cody give a damn what we think about them? (They would probably think we were a bunch of softies, and in the main they would be right.)
But for those who do care, if only as a thought experiment, here then — according to this “think piece” in the Washington Post — is what our ungrateful, smug, condescending descendants will condemn us for:
Prisons, feed lots, nursing homes and the environment.
Really? That’s all they got on us? Compared to past generations with their pogroms and lynchings, slave trading and, lest we forget, disco music, I’d say we look pretty good.
Anyway, I’m not at all clear why we would get blamed for these things. It’s not like our generation invented prisons. Or nursing homes. I suspect that feed lots have been around for a few years. So has the clear-cutting of forests. Just read Jared Diamond’s account of the collapse of Easter Island.
What’s more, I happen to think the jailhouse a fine, albeit old fashioned, institution. The author, however, doesn’t believe non-violent criminals should be locked up. I disagree. When thieves are behind bars they aren’t smashing my car windows and stealing my GPS device. He believes in alternatives to prison — not alternatives like public shaming, which might hurt a convict’s self-esteem — but alternatives like probation where the criminal is set free to smash my car window just as soon as I replace the last one he smashed. Apparently, the author considers loosing “non-violent” criminals onto an unprotected society — no doubt he opposes gun ownership too — the “moral” thing to do, which tells me his moral compass must have been stepped on by elephants.
Factory farming seems another odd choice. His biggest gripe is overcrowding. Not overcrowding in our cities, our schools, or even our emergency rooms, but in feed lots. I guess the livestock the author knows just aren’t living la dolce vita. As a guy who is chained to desk in a fabric-covered cube nine hours a day beside a fat guy with gastro-intestinal problems, I have little sympathy for the living conditions of swine.
And why pick on those Baby Boomers who ditch their ancient relic of a parent in an (obscenely expensive) nursing home? Has the author never heard of karma, the circle of life, Nietzsche’s eternal return of the same? Soon enough those selfsame Boomers will be taking mother’s place at Delmar Gardens. After all, what comes around, goes around.
I DON’T DOUBT that future generations will be better stewards of the environment than we are. We are better stewards than were our grandparents. Water and air are cleaner today than fifty years ago because of legislation and technological advances. These advances will continue. For our great-great grandchildren to feel smug because they’ll be born in a time of greater innovation is like me calling Aristotle a simpleton because he was wrong about the theory of gravity.
The author takes for granted that our descendants will be uber-compassionate, vegan liberals and not gun-owning, meat-chomping conservative-libertarians. This is by no means a certainty. (Apparently he has never seen A Clockwork Orange.) But don’t take my word for it. The idea that we are becoming more liberal and compassionate will be overwhelmingly refuted in next week’s election.
My generation — Generation X — may not have lived through the Great Depression, defeated communism and fascism, and made America the greatest nation on earth, but we haven’t really done much in the way of global destruction either. That’s because we are at heart a bunch of slackers, and prefer to gaze at our own navels or play video games, which is why we were the wrong generation to get behind the Bush Doctrine (spreading democracy to undemocratic countries), and explains how we managed to run up a $13 trillion debt. (Four in ten Gen Xers say they’ve got too much debt to consider investing or saving.)
Therefore, if a few future-scolds want to condemn us for nursing homes, prisons, and crowded feed lots, I say we respond in true slacker fashion: with a collective “whatever.”
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (24) | Leave a comment
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Patrick| 10.28.10 @ 7:05AM
What can I say about Gen X? Well, it isn't a real generation, just a time filler. Seriously, look at the demographics. Gen Xer's were, for the most part, the "oops" generation. Let's face it, some boomer girls got knocked up while partying. Gen Y is the progeny that the Boomers actually wanted, and thus protected with hysterical focus.
As such, as a proud Gen Xer myself, I will have to support my super-numerous Boomer parents while doing my best to explain the meaning of "harsh reality" to my Gen Y siblings.
At least I got $20 on a bet with a Gen Y friend. "This powder is actually milk. See, mix it with water and it almost tastes like rancid milk. *gulp* Now you try." Ah the things I learned from Carternomics.
Tomas| 10.28.10 @ 4:12PM
Criminals tend to return to their feeding ground. Witness whole neighborhoods taken over by gangs. They know they're safe from the legal consequences of their actions, so they have nothing to fear from authority. They take over.
Removing punishment from the justice system by replacing real, life-alerting consequences with "please don't"s, will only hand over whole swaths of our nation - particularly our urban and suburban areas - to the criminal element.
Criminals always return to the scene of the crime, particularly when it is clear that, a. the scene has more to offer, and, b. it is an easy mark for lack of true law enforcement judicial punishment.
If the feel-good approach to criminality becomes the dominant approach, citizens WILL arm themselves and protect their neighborhoods. Wherever this has happened, crime in those neighborhoods has plummeted. Criminals are - when all is said and done - cowards. They will always run from a fight against a determined citizenry.
=
Patrick| 10.28.10 @ 5:07PM
Tomas, I must admit that I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly, but I fail to see how this reply has anything to do with my sleep-deprived meandering above.
However, being off-topic never stopped me from going onto tangents, especially when I haven't slept in two days.
As such, I must state that the prison/jail system currently used is hopeless. What is the deterrence in jail these days? With absurd interpretations of "cruel and unusual punishment", prison has devolved into an adult "time out" session. Since it doesn't work, longer sentences are prescribed for all offenses, which doesn't do anything other than keeping unreformed miscreants from entering the system. Of course, since that means that so many people spend so much time in prison, and the guards are all on union pay and benefit structures, it becomes too expensive. As such, unreformed miscreants are let out early, so long as there was no conviction of a violent or gun crime. Of course, that doesn't help as the gun charge is usually the first to be plea bargained away, so the gangster who threatens the neighborhood walks.
Of course, my ideas regarding hard labor and corporal punishment will never catch on.
Booger | 10.28.10 @ 7:12AM
From the desk of D. Mephistopheles, Attorney-at-Law:
Dear Mr. Orlet,
I am most intrigued by your ode to sloth, the child of doubt and the father of despair. Indeed, you should well be quite comfortable in your current cocoon, for your skill of measuring yourself by yourself (one of my favorite pastimes) is truly well-developed.
I find it ever so humbling to watch you dissect the slings and slurs of your "liberal" counterpart, after which you freely admit that you feel no compunction towards ignoring the sufferings those who will come after you. Oh, I do not mean the petty grievances listed by the Washington Post, of course. You are quite correct in their morally obtuse blather. Rather, I am impressed by your ability to see their blather for what it is, and then conclude you are a morally superior being, able to view the future and its discontents through the prism of that eloquent "whatever"!
Truly, we need you as a propagandist for our firm. Concern for the mounting debt your children will inherit? "Whatever." Concern over the loss of the pathetic "freedoms" that your kind can never make good use of anyway? "Whatever." Anguish over the fact that so many of the next generation are slaughtered before they can ever see the light of day? "Whatever." Consternation over the death of marriage and family, the pillars of your feeble and useless society? "Whatever." Outrage that your public "schools" do not teach their students to read, thus ensuring that the next generation will never read for themselves the Word (ugh!) of the Great Enemy of our firm for themselves? "Whatever."
Yes, I believe "whatever" is just the slogan, and the man who extols it just the writer, we need down here. Your ability to list a few missed jibes from a fish wrapper printed in D.C., refute them, and then be safe in your own moral superiority, while admitting to sloth and indolence, is just the sort of man were looking for. I believe I have an offer for you. All you need to do to accept is simply continuing to chant "Whatever." The rest will be taken care of by my firm.
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
D. Mephistopheles, Attorney-at-Law
Petronius| 10.28.10 @ 9:07AM
B
Tell me your not after this guy's job. If he does wind up down Here, I'll have Beelzebub put him in with the telemarketers.
dw| 10.28.10 @ 11:17AM
From the desk of Foghorn Leghorn
Attorney at Law
Dear Mephistopheles,
I say, I say, I am contacting you on behalf of my client, one Christopher Orlet, regarding your offer of employment dated 10/28/10.
Mr. Orlet very much appreciates your expressions of compliments and praise. As with anyone, recognition of talent and ability is always rewarding in and of itself, but the potential for economic subsidy which you have proffered is most tantalizing to my client.
As such, Mr. Orlet has retained my services to begin a negotiation process with the intent that the end result become one of mutual satisfaction in the ultimate retention of Mr. Orlet as one of your most prominent employees.
Mr. Orlet has spent his life, up to now, developing and honing his version of the "whatever" attitude and he does believe it to not only to posess a certain uniqueness from all others , but to literally, "transcend this genre to here to fore levels only dreamed about". (I quote Mr. Orlet directly)
So, Mr. Mephistopheles, please understand going in to these discussions that we expect your offers to reflect that level of committment on Mr. Orlet part and, further, to represent to the world by the quality of compensation that the "whatever generation" is, indeed, a serious movement to be given its due at the table of intellectual discourse.
In case you are not familiar with my work, I will cite one of my more prominent legal landmarks.
I represented Mr. Elmer Fudd in his law suit against then congressman Barney Franks for Mr. Franks egregious mock use of Mr. Fudds genuine speech infliction. I proved that Mr. Franks studied past films of Mr. Fudd to perfect that pattern of speech as a tool to gain sympathy in his bid for elective office. Mr. Fudd was rewarded $5,000,000 in damages and another $5,000,000 for pain and suffering.
I only point this out so that you will know that you are dealing with a professional equal and we may set that expectation before we begin our first meeting.
I am availible to begin our negotiations immediately and will expect to hear from you.
Until then, Sincerely,
Foghorn Leghorn
Petronius| 10.28.10 @ 3:37PM
To Foghorn Leghorn @ Capon, Stewhen, Bantam, and Cockerell LLP
Your offer is noted. But you misconstrue my meaning. My profession is Sin. And we Professional Sinners know when and how to utilize and manipulate it and also to yield to the advice of the Beatles and just Let It Be.
Nobody is employed Down Here. Choice assignments come the old fashioned way. We earn it. And I doubt Mr. Orlet would ever qualify to inhabit this Realm. The best prospects in his area are in East St. Louis, Brooklyn, Washington Park, Allorton, and Centerville. The resume pile east of Signal Hills is pretty thin.
Incisive observation is welcome. But this bit, as B seems to imply, borders on maundering. So a tutorial eon with the telemarketers might sharpen him up a bit with more passion and resolve; what We call Moxie.
As ever
Gaius Petronius Faustus
Appleby| 10.28.10 @ 7:15AM
I have no descendants, and yours are bankrupting me; what they may think of me for not giving me their last dime, and incidentally for warning them that binkie-slinging can be dangerous, as there is a Less Fortunate on parole for the 45th time of asking, creeping up behind them prepared to knock them on the head, is of no interest to me.
Besides, Gen Y cannot hear anything we say. They are, at age 30, profoundly deaf.
P.S. It could be a terrible shock to Gen Y when their Boomer parents sell thir homes, including the basement where the Yner has lived in semi-darkness watching Lord of the Rings marathons and playing WarQuest, and voluntarily move to The Village which does not allow them to take their parasite children along.
Andrew B| 10.28.10 @ 7:55AM
I don't put much stock in what the Washington Post predicts about the future. They view it as some sort of eco-Utopia, but I just don't see it. Will hundreds of millions of militant Muslims really concern themselves with feedlots? Will millions of Chinese men, unable to find a mate because of mandatory abortions, really care about old folks' homes? Will a Europe with a debased culture, a collapsed economy and no faith in God really care about the plight of prisoners? Why should they?
I think the future will chiefly judge us for not appreciating what we have. A hungry, angry, scared world will look back on our time and say "What were you thinking?"
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.28.10 @ 10:53AM
Andrew,
that was powerful and precise. Thank you!
Booger,
Thanks as always for cutting through the bs...with humor.
Patrick| 10.28.10 @ 12:55PM
Wait...what Europeans? They running at full tilt towards extinction.
Curly Smith| 10.28.10 @ 8:15AM
For a "think piece" it's remarkably lacking in thinking. Let's see if we can trace the root causes of the "4 deadly ills" (prisons, feed lots, nursing homes and the environment)...
The greatest sins are, of course, public sanitation and modern medicine. It's now rather rare for a newborn to not reach maturity, in the past large broods were required to ensure that one lived. There was no need for nursing homes, you died well before needing a home, either from disease, poor nutrition, or just hard work. Much smaller prisons were required because a life sentence was 20 years, rather than 70 years.
Now if you add in technology and all of the labor saving devices, modern farming techniques along with modern pesticides and fertilizers, indoor climate control with heating and air conditioning, we get to the point where we can contemplate our navels in well fed comfort. We don't have to get up before dawn and tend the animals, sweat in the sun all day tending the crops, struggle to cook over a fire pit, and crawl shivering and hungry into bed at dusk.
But not to worry because Cap-n-Trade will take us back to our roots! Not to worry, the "Go Organic!" food campaigns will take us back to our roots! Bedbugs are not a sign of the apocalypse, they're a sign that the past is our future! Hark and rejoice because you'll be dead by age 40!!
PattyMor| 10.28.10 @ 10:30AM
Well our illustrious governor, Pat Quinn had an early release program. They released a violent criminal who promptly went to Peoria, IL and KILLED a woman. Where is the compassion and justice for the sane and law abiding people??
Douglas| 10.28.10 @ 11:54AM
I think you have this all wrong. Our descendents will not be liberal. They will be islamic. They will murders gays and stop the spread of feminists doctrine. When the virus of islam burns long enough, just maybe it will burn itself out.
Nanette| 10.28.10 @ 2:39PM
This piece is incredibly shallow; not worth the reading time.
PELLIGRINO| 10.28.10 @ 6:40PM
Thank you Andrew B. and Curly Smith for properly steering this discussion in the right direction.
Won't our great-great-great grandchildren (assuming anyone procreates anymore in Western societies where there are no family values) wonder:
Won't the wonder what kind of idiot former generation in the start of the 21st century prfoessed to obsess and hold dear its retirement plans, 401Ks, IRAs and overall portfolios when unable to use self restraint with 5 credit cards in a completely unncessary months-long orgy of mall shopping sprees? (while repeating the cycle of 'financial self-restraint' every year or so)
Won't they be wondering what brilliant minds were at work while these same people pursued homes and automobiles that were financed to the max...and repeated the cycle of unnecessary acquisitions every 6-8 years.
Yes, they'll wonder mightily how the world's centerpiece for modest democracy and freedoms so selfishly looked the other way as China, India, and the Muslim world overran all things Pacific, Europe, and ushered into full world dominion new forms of tyranny, oppression, and poverty.
They'll wonder just how adults in their 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's could somehow squeeze 49 hours of TV, movie theatre visits, NetFlicks!, pay-per-view, and DVDs into their weekly routines.
They'll wonder how a generation who should have been most grateful for all things Judeo-Christian scorned this bedrock belief for a secular humanism that caves and runs cowardly from all adversity.
They'll wonder just how anything good happened with everyone so overdosed on their own MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Blog, and personal webpage (with live streaming every Friday!) while simultaneously juggling 9 different email accounts -- all of which were exclusive to the actual communication tools required of one's vocation.
They'll wonder what it would have been like to be able to visit so many parts of the continent and indeed the whole world in relative peace AND with very modest financial means. They'll again regard travel as something exquisite only for the world's ruling despots, something never again to be attained.
They'll wonder how their forefathers -- with every opportunity for limitless learning and academic resources in overabundance -- would so carelessly sacrifice it all in pursuit of daily, weekly mindless hedonism.
Yes, they'll wonder how we could have been so selfish with our egos killing all of what once was.
This is presuming of course that there will be books, journals, electronic records, and other artifacts from earlier times not already destroyed AND that they might enjoy occasional privileges of access and reading for themselves.
Jon B| 10.28.10 @ 9:21PM
You lost me at "conservatives tend to worry about creeping socialism.." Are you SHITTING ME????
Republicans redistributed literally TRILLIONS in tax dollars away from working Americans to US corporations that fund their campaigns. IN REALITY (far removed from the American Spectacle...err, Spectator), Republicans are the biggest socialists in US history, bar none. But then they're smart enough to shift the wealth to those who control the media and the trolls who like this site...
geronl| 10.28.10 @ 9:41PM
Jon B- He wrote "conservatives" not "Republicans", there is a very big difference between the two.
Tony in Central PA| 10.29.10 @ 10:14AM
I found the " Clockwork Orange " reference interesting but underutilized. The protagonist in Anthony Burgess' book observed that the authorites trying to comprehend the violent, antisocial behavior of his kind didn't seem to understand there was " evil abroad ".
This is how it is today in our universites, think tanks, government and much of the media. There is no such thing as evil. There is also no such thing as good. The thinking minds have told us this. There is only ignorance, bad genes and unfortunate circumstances. Everything is determinable. Free will is an ancient superstition.
Its not surprising that the wealth and plenty the West has experienced, especially since the 1950's has led to this sort of abstraction from reality. It won't last much longer.
Patrick| 10.31.10 @ 1:18AM
There is no such thing as evil to liberals, well, except for Republicans. Once you mention the "R" word, they go from "shades of grey" to full out Manichean. There is nothing more horrible, so nothing that a liberal says or does, no matter how unethical, can possibly come close to the pure evil of conservatives.
I suppose that's why vote fraud is done so enthusiastically.