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What really, REALLY angers me about a whole bunch of conservative commentators.
It's claims that America's society is decadent and narcissistic at levels never before seen in any society in history, that modern political campaigns are dirtier than that of any society in history, that today's youth are surly and egotistical at levels never before seen in any society in history - or, to be frank, that ANYTHING is ANYTHING at "unprecedented" levels "unlike anything we have ever known".
I suppose one is supposed to be shocked and awed by the grandiose claims, impressed by the chutzpah of the author, and compelled into reflecting upon the decay of modern society. "Gee whiz," we're supposed to get from these articles, "am I not incredibly clear-sighted and sharp-tongued, readers? Clearly, I am a [man/woman] of a sort no longer made in this decadent world. A regular Cato the Younger, I am."
Oh, that's right - your hyperbole just made it clear you have no idea who Cato the Younger is whatsoever.
You know what I get from such articles?
( It's not quite what they're expecting. )
The only audience to which these people can appeal must be proud-yet-hypocritical Luddites who love to hear how their generation was infinitely superior for growing up before all this newfangled technology stuff, yet see no irony in reading such articles on the internet that is filled with such evils, embedded in news sites that epitomize the shallow, attention-grabbing mentality they claim to so hate, and on pages flanked by tacky, flashy advertisements that are supposedly the very things that are corrupting the youth of today.
The sad thing is that I can't even say they'll die off with time. Such hatred of new things has been embedded in "intellectuals" for all of recorded time, and will doubtless persist for as long as humanity's genetic make-up remains largely unchanged. And they're not even limited to conservatives - sickening numbers of progressives, for all of the general group's love of modernity, are quite likely to stamp down on their fellows' faces in a desperate attempt to scramble to the top of the huddle and proclaim hysterically just how much better their decade was, and how the radicals back in their good old days of the 60's/70's/80's/90's/00's were SO much better than these spoiled, overindulged college children now, and how technology is making everyone so much more decadent and conservative look at me I'm special I'm not like the rest of this drooling rabble look at me please I'm special Mommy always told me so I'm special please lookatmeLOOKATME
And so it has been ever since that great philosopher, the erudite and enlightened Socrates, warned us all about the dangers of this sickening, radical new technology that would erode pupils' memory, render them unable to distinguish truth from illusion, and surely lead them terribly astray, making them "hearers of many things [that] will have learned nothing", "[those who] appear to be omniscient [yt] generally know nothing", and" tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality" -
Yes, this disturbing new technology of WRITING.