"What's Shakin'" and the Decline of Western Civilization

How's everybody doing out there? It's been a bit of a hiatus for me here, with the Holidays and all. Plus, a personal crisis a couple months ago sort of threw a wrench into my blogging activity. Not to worry, everything's fine now, and maybe sometime I'll write about what actually happened, but I'm just not feeling up to it today.

Overall, Christmas was nice this year, especially since my beloved Washington Redskins made it into the playoffs for the first time in years, even knocking my most hated rival (The Dallas Cowboys, who else?) out of the playoffs (Sorry, Rob, but the last few years have been pretty miserable, so I'm going to enjoy this one a few months more.). Yeah, I'm a huge football fan, and have been since I was a young'un. It's odd, because no one else in my family is nearly as intense about it as me, and I've been that way as long as I can remember. In fact, I remember throwing one of my mom's pillows once after the Skins lost a close game when I was 11 years old. Of course, it knocked over one of her flower pots and broke it. I've also smashed a few remote controls in my time. Nothing I'm proud of, but hey, this forum makes me feel all honest and stuff.

But I'll deal more with football at a later time. For now, let's talk about something light...like...oh, I don't know...the decline of Western culture?

Warning: the rest of this blog will be of a more rambling nature than usual. Read at your own risk.

As I get older (I'm in my thirties), I start to see myself drifting more towards "grumpy old man" status. Things annoy me. Lots of things. Little things, big things, people especially. They just annoy me. And since I live in America, I can only use Americans as my reference point, so I'll try to give some examples of what I'm talking about.

One thing really hit me more than usual during the holiday season: how America is so consumed with entertainment. I mean, utterly and completely consumed, almost to the point of obscenity at times. And it's like selfish entertainment, too. The motto for Best Buy, for example, is "Get yours." You have to get the biggest TV (heck, I'd love to have a plasma myself, but $5,000 for a TV? Are you kidding me?), you have to get this, you have to get that, and it's all about instant self-gratification.

I mean, even our phones now can play video clips, songs and games. Plus, if the XBox and PS2 weren't enough (I prefer PC games, myself), now you can also pick up a PSP Portable to take with you so you can play a game anywhere you go.

Now look, I LOVE to be entertained as much as the next guy, and sometimes my idea of the perfect day is to go eat, see a movie and play video games on my computer. But, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I've just become more sensitive to the gluttonous aspects of it in our culture, when it's taken too far.

I mean, America is one of the fattest nations on the planet, and it's no surprise. Where else can you super-size every bit of crap you buy at a fast food joint? As if the small portion wasn't bad enough for your arteries. Our portions are huge, and we've become used to them, so we demand them that way. It's like these Taco Bell commercials where people stuff their faces and then proudly shout out, "I'm FULL!!!" I saw a Dominos commercial recently where you can order a big thick crust pizza and then get a huge order of thick, doughy cinnamon breadsticks with icing as a free side order. It was friggin' sickening. I mean, I love pizza, and I love cinammon and icing, but....all that together, for one meal??? Or these bacon, double-beef, extra ham cheesburger thingies....

And, with all the options to sit your big butt down after consuming all this junk, exercise is pretty much out of the question.

But something else really bothers me these days (and now I'm really going to start sounding like a grumpy old man). And that is the general nastiness of so many people, the selfishness, the complete and utter disregard for others. And I'm not talking on a grand scale here, I'm talking about simple things like not holding a door open for someone, or (one of the worst for me) talking in a movie theatre, or not saying thank you or please or whatever. I absolutely hate paying for something and having a cashier not say thank-you, barely even acknowledging your existence.

And it's not just young kids, it's older adults as well. Another thing that bugs me - when I go to the grocery store, every time I load up the car and go to return my cart, without fail, there are tons of stray carts just left in parking spaces. People are simply too lazy to walk an extra ten feet to put the cart back in its area. Who cares that someone else has to do it, or that it blocks a parking space? As long as "I got my stuff done, what do I care?" It's really an "every man for himself" mentality these days. And for sensitive types like myself, it can be trying at times. :-)

Finally, there are commercials, the utter deluge of commerciality. I remember years ago making fun of an older guy who used to mute the tv every time a commercial came on. Now, I'm that guy. They drive me bonkers. Even the clever, funny ones do after awhile, as they're shown so many times and so often.

I like to listen to morning radio on my drive to work at times. I have about a 20 minute drive to work, and I'll be lucky most of the time if I hear 5 - 10 minutes of actual content and then the same 5 commercials over and over. And speaking of football, if you've watched a game recently, you'll be familiar with the pattern:

1. Team mounts a drive and scores
2. Commercials
3. Kickoff to other team
4. Commercials

I collect a lot of old Redskins games as a little hobby of mine, and recently I was watching their Super Bowl appearance in 1972. There were BARELY any commercial breaks, and when there were, there were usually just two commercials shown, at the most three, and then back to the game.

And remember when you could watch a game on TV, or even a show, and just SEE THE SHOW? I like the score up in the corner, and I like the occasional graphic update of scores of other games, but now they have graphics over the field showing red zone stats, they have crawls running along the top, along the bottom, and even after a score, it's not enough to just change the score - it has to be done with an animated graphical flourish and a sound effect!!

Again, gluttony. Gluttony of the senses. That's what I object to.

Now look, as I said earlier, I'm just as guilty as anyone else at times about these things. And there's actually a lot to be said for recreation and entertainment and enjoyment. I couldn't live without movies. I go to one a week, at least. And I love football, I love games, I love a couple shows, and I love good food. But whatever happened to moderation? Whatever happened to a balanced life, whatever happened to just good old-fashioned (did I just say that?) basic concern for the "other guy" to go along with a healthy concern for yourself? What happened to manners, just basic common sense, i.e. if our cell phone rings in the middle of a movie, you don't answer it in a full speaking voice, but instead either embarrassedly shut the phone off or get out of the theatre and talk in the lobby?

Anyway, I warned you, this would be a rambling diatribe. And I guess every generation seems to feel this way at the "next" generation coming up behind them. But, as I said, I don't just see these problems in kids, I tend to see them across the board, and it makes me cynical about the future.

It also makes me feel like a rambling old geezer. So I think it's time to shut up now.