"Go away. 'batin'!!!!!" Is what happened.

The internet made it so that every idiot has input into who's important and worthy of worship, rather than the editorial boards of a few publications like it it used to be.

Done in the Boobies.

Some assholes started glorifying Ronald Reagan, is what happened.

/yeah i was one of them
//but i was cured by education, years ago
///the remaining assholes have no excuse

I think it started with the Jerry Springer type shows. The greater your dysfunction, the greater your celebrity.

We've created a society of the people on the Long Island drunk train.

"You think you better than me?!" *drink to the face*

I think it has to do with accessibility and homogeneity of culture. Science and politics used to be a common touchstone, while culture was very much localized. Now, science* and politics seem fragmented and culture gets packaged by Hollywood and shipped out to every corner of the country/globe.

/*I use "science" loosely here in the age of the uninformed citizen "scientist".

We respected Margaret Thatcher?

JerseyTim: We respected Margaret Thatcher?

Well, I like the movie.

Done in one.

As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than the rest, a process which had once favored the noblest traits of man, now began to favor different traits. Most science fiction of the day predicted a future that was more civilized and more intelligent. But as time went on, things seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. A dumbing down. How did this happen? Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species.

I think socialism happened.

Diogenes: I think it started with the Jerry Springer type shows. The greater your dysfunction, the greater your celebrity.

We've created a society of the people on the Long Island drunk train.

"You think you better than me?!" *drink to the face*

Yeah, because freak shows are such a new phenomenon. it's the medium that changed, not the appeal.

SurfaceTension: Diogenes: I think it started with the Jerry Springer type shows. The greater your dysfunction, the greater your celebrity.

We've created a society of the people on the Long Island drunk train.

"You think you better than me?!" *drink to the face*

Yeah, because freak shows are such a new phenomenon. it's the medium that changed, not the appeal.

[www.bookdrum.com image 500x380]

Did people aspire to be circus freaks? Not the way they emulate Jersey Shore defects.

it probably has something to do with the advent of television and its "vast wasteland." humans are animals. and just as a dog will eat itself to death if given an unlimited supply of food, so too humans will "amuse themselves to death" if given an unlimited supply of mass entertainment.

JerseyTim: We respected Margaret Thatcher?

Well, consider the fact that she was the first female Prime Minister of England and more or less a pioneer for women. She was the first female head of state (non-monarch) in Europe. The US still has not had a female President. In the rear view mirror, we can second guess her policies, but she broke a fairly significant glass ceiling that women in many first world countries have yet to break. And she showed the boys that she could run with the big dogs.

FlashHarry: it probably has something to do with the advent of television and its "vast wasteland." humans are animals. and just as a dog will eat itself to death if given an unlimited supply of food, so too humans will "amuse themselves to death" if given an unlimited supply of mass entertainment.

Democratization of the mass media. The more choices you give people, the more choices they will exercise, and like a grocery store where the junk food aisle out sells the produce section, people may not always choose what is best for them. Add to that a media industry that is more than happy to keep that going because it generates vast sums of wealth for them, and it's not that hard to figure out. People crave entertainment. Look at cable news channels - most of them are more like entertainment than real in depth news. Even most of our "news" sources could be better described as "infotainment."

I'm pretty sure they were glorifying stupid celebrities back then, too.

Humanity isn't dumber, only different.

"Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety."

That was social theorist Daniel J. Boorstin back around 1961.

The golden age never happened.

Sorry to say, but society at large has not changed at all. Every generation has its Kim Kardashian, they are just forgotten by history.

Margaret Thatcher?

Hitler with a bad wig you mean?

Jake Havechek: Margaret Thatcher?

Hitler with a bad wig you mean?

You know, now that I think about it, I don't think even the British respected Thatcher all that much when she was in power.

the author poses a good question...but she wimps out on an answer.

for what it's worth, I don't think there is any one single reason for our decline...I think there's a lot of little reasons combined that have pulled us off into the land of distraction.

The Marie Curie sex tape is very difficult to masturbate to.

I didn't say "impossible."

One word: Idiocracy

Mr. Coffee Nerves: The Marie Curie sex tape is very difficult to masturbate to.

That's surprising. They were given glowing reviews.

BKITU: Mr. Coffee Nerves: The Marie Curie sex tape is very difficult to masturbate to.

That's surprising. They were given glowing reviews.

*golf clap*

Well, the right started saying everyone with an intelligence is bad, so I'm blaming them. The media went along with it because if the media deviates in the slightest from the GOP talking points, they scream about a liberal media.

Shostie: I'm pretty sure they were glorifying stupid celebrities back then, too.

Humanity isn't dumber, only different.

James!: The golden age never happened.

DamnYankees: Sorry to say, but society at large has not changed at all. Every generation has its Kim Kardashian, they are just forgotten by history.

Came in here to say something like this. In 100 years people are gonna say, "Once, we as a society respected great leaders and thinkers like Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, [insert your particular favorite politicians]. Now, we glorify Generic Pop Culture Icon and Generic Pop Culture Icon. What happened?"

And so it goes.

Dancin_In_Anson: BKITU: Mr. Coffee Nerves: The Marie Curie sex tape is very difficult to masturbate to.

That's surprising. They were given glowing reviews.

*golf clap*

Meh, I saw right through that joke.

Shostie: Jake Havechek: Margaret Thatcher?

Hitler with a bad wig you mean?

You know, now that I think about it, I don't think even the British respected Thatcher all that much when she was in power.

Some did. It just depended whether you were a northerner or a southerner. Also...

Nabb1: JerseyTim: We respected Margaret Thatcher?

Well, consider the fact that she was the first female Prime Minister of England and more or less a pioneer for women. She was the first female head of state (non-monarch) in Europe. The US still has not had a female President. In the rear view mirror, we can second guess her policies, but she broke a fairly significant glass ceiling that women in many first world countries have yet to break. And she showed the boys that she could run with the big dogs.

Some very good points.

I've often wondered the same thing, Subby.

I think every aging generation bemoans the younger generation. Lighten up, Francis.

Nabb1: Meh, I saw right through that joke.

I would guess it something to do with precious twits like Slate taking themselves so seriously than the word no longer has any meaning at all.

I'm not going to defend that idiot Kim Kardashian.

But Justin Bieber has got talent and charisma. He stands to become very important in the next few years as he matures into a more bluesy and less pop artist.

As much as we may have respected great leaders like Edison, Curie, and Roosevelt, we still flipped out over the Beatles, Stones, and Bon Jovi.

Maybe you're just too old, subby.

Thomas Edison was not a great thinker. He was an invention thief.

antidisestablishmentarianism: Done in the Boobies.

Go on...

It was a more refined age...

machoprogrammer: Thomas Edison was not a great thinker. He was an invention thief.

Uh oh. Here we go.

/Please explain

/Everything was better in the past when it had things I liked
//Everything was bad in the past when there are new things that I like

Dancin_In_Anson: Nabb1: Meh, I saw right through that joke.

I lol'ed.

/Well played, you magnificent bastards.

/hot like smoking cigarettes on TV

sharkbeagle: I would guess it something to do with precious twits like Slate taking themselves so seriously than the word no longer has any meaning at all.

A Slate article is where I came across Fark.

/consequences were never the same

Were they the heroes of the common man?

Car_Ramrod: Shostie: I'm pretty sure they were glorifying stupid celebrities back then, too.

Humanity isn't dumber, only different.

James!: The golden age never happened.

DamnYankees: Sorry to say, but society at large has not changed at all. Every generation has its Kim Kardashian, they are just forgotten by history.

Came in here to say something like this. In 100 years people are gonna say, "Once, we as a society respected great leaders and thinkers like Steve Jobs, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, [insert your particular favorite politicians]. Now, we glorify Generic Pop Culture Icon and Generic Pop Culture Icon. What happened?"

And so it goes.

Yeah, this is just the usual pining for the "good old days," which never actually existed. There are Sumerian tablets biatching about how kids have lost all respect for their elders and dress funny.

DROxINxTHExWIND: machoprogrammer: Thomas Edison was not a great thinker. He was an invention thief.

Uh oh. Here we go.

/Please explain

I'm gonna go ahead and guess macho meant that he stole inventions.

What happened? We became the Pakleds.

Yes, my head is filled with pathetically stupid thoughts about inconsequential people, and so, quite frankly, is yours.

No, it's not. Just because you're vapid and shallow and pay attention to these people doesn't mean that everyone is/does.

I knew a lot of people at Somerville College, Oxford--Thatcher's old college. A statue of Thatcher was put up by the college administration after she retired...that same night a large group of students tore the statue down and broke it into pieces. The administration rebuilt the statue and re-dedicated it...and that night another large group of students tore the statue down and threw it in a garbage skip. Thatcher was hated, hated, hated at Oxford.

Because subby, history filters out the fools and their blusterous noise. Nobody would wish to preserve anything not worth preserving.

The problems we deal with are the same as the problems we dealt with in the past.

For example, the puritan had a bit of a kerfluffle about anti-intellectualism. Think about that - in their view, faith trumps knowledge. (See historical notations on John Cotton for more information.)

I doubt history would preserve the knowledge of the kardishans over the hawkings and the wozniaks of our time.