In handing out an overall grade of B,
David Brooks had, by way of summary, this to say about the Generation of
Swine.
“As a generation, boomers have
excelled at the material things that make life pleasant, convenient, long and
fun. They have struggled in the realms that
other civilizations considered more profound: governance, philosophy, art and
public morality”. (1)
This is simply another way of
saying that the Generation of Swine have excelled at nothing other than
self-indulgence, and they have done it at the expense of everyone and everything else.
There are many things that one
could have included in this essay, but the pig’s breakfast made of governance
by this Generation of Swine is far too serious and threatens to be much
more permanent that to blithely kiss them off with an underwhelming blessing
and a comfortable B.
As noted in a previous post (2), historian
and philosopher Arnold Toynbee pointed out that when a civilization is
overwhelmed by the challenges before it, the likelihood of its demise is certain. And, as the looming environmental catastrophe
approaches, the Generation of Swine have responded with gridlock, denial
and not-so-beguine neglect.
As a final consideration Brooks
asks the reader to identify who among the listed is the quintessential
boomer. Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs,
Madonna, Bob Dylan, Steven Spielberg, Donald Trump. The answer is at once obvious and revealing:
our very own Caesar Disgustus. In tRUMP
one finds all the characteristics of Boomerism on full display: self-indulgent,
lacking interpersonal skills, self-invention, promising to change everything
and changing nothing. One could also add:
psychotic, incompetent, corrupt, greedy and a willingness to vandalize our
institutions, to tear down without any idea of what is lost in the bargain or
how to rebuild. Narcissism in the
extreme. A generation ripe for
manipulation. The worst generation in
American history.
Overall Grade: F
“An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh
an laugh”
___________
1.
Brooks, David. Op Cit.
2.
See July 28, 2019: Have You Read Toynbee?
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