Generation Smug

Dr. Keith Ablow recently reported our current generation of young people should be called “Generation Smug.” After an in depth study of the habits of America’s youth, the conclusion was reached a majority of adolescents suffer from delusions of grandeur. They are overconfident their underachievement will result in some type of safety net for their lives. Traditionally this was behavior reserved for the wealthy children of celebrities. With a trust fund securely in the bank, what is there to worry about in life other than addiction? Jail has become an issue as has the overdose. The trend in pop media has fueled this perception. The movies in particular have embraced the modern superhero as both a mentor and an icon. Is it a good idea to continue suggesting human beings can fly? While pundits will continue to argue pop media violence doesn’t effect our youth, America knows otherwise. Our public schools have regressed into gangland battlegrounds as teachers have continued to lose respect in our socioeconomic system. Since Bush senior and his reemphasis of the three “R’s” education sorely has been neglected in America. The proof is all around us, and not just in the test scores. It has been reported that America has no real work force. With the outsourcing of traditional manufacturing jobs and the decline of labor unions, America’s youth have been sheltered. The internet has contributed to the decline of social skills, and corporate America and government have failed with their responsibility of both training and employing new workers. Interactive video games, online pornography, reality and talent shows, and pop music all have built an unrealistic portrait of adult life in America. This coddling and procrastination of adult life could prove fatal to some. Education, church, and parents traditionally have been the sources for information on life. Today instead there is pop media, and the media of the Internet has been brought into the classroom. The traditional role of the Internet, a networking of databases for the Department of Defense concerning nuclear development during the Oppenheimer tenure, is valid. A T3 line at a university is a blessing for scholarly research. Similarly a laptop can be a self-contained library providing not only scholarly research, but an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and a word processor all in one. No one can dispute the value of the PC, but the personal computer cannot instill ethical and moral values in our youth. Neither can slime TV. The issue still exists, if Conservatives continue to resist the passing of the torch of America to America’s youth, there will be no one trained to operate the infrastructure of our country. The example all ready has been set in our federal government. The hole has been dug and the shovel is being passed empty and begrudgingly to a contingency seen as the enemy. It is because of an attitude like this the Civil War was born. It truly is unfortunate the model of preservation of life includes death. While God did sacrifice His only Son, the message of Christianity preaches peace and serenity.