North American society started to disintegrate in the hippy-dippy 60s. I have expressed that opinion before. Just about every aspect of our lives has gotten worse. A list of what's wrong with our countries, our communities and our families would make a long book. Indeed, many such books have already been written.
It must have been about 50 years ago, the date when everything turned to shit. TV, health care, fast food, cars, politics, air travel... it's all shit! Compare the state of any of those things 50 years ago with that of the present day, and you can't help but think that the good old days really were better.
It's not just a case of looking backward through rose-coloured glasses. It's true.
Yesterday I got to think that we should be able to pinpoint a precise date when the rot set in. It's important that we do so in order to celebrate properly the 50th anniversary of the Reverse Midas Touch. Exactly when did everything start to go pear-shaped?
I nominate November 8, 1960 -- the day John F. Kennedy was elected. Those who said the world would never be the same again were right. Unfortunately, they were wrong in predicting the direction of change. Instead of marching bravely into a new Camelot, we took the first step down the long and slippery slope into the Inferno.
Readers are invited to name their own Day the World Changed Forever. Comments to walt.whiteman@yahoo.com.
Come on Walt! Fast food got better. We only had A&W; now we have Extreme Pita. Politics got better; we have women holding office, or trying to hold office as in Sarah Palin. Cars are automatic, health care is free, air travel is commonplace. We have birth control -- oops, forgot the Pope is a fan of Walt's -- and tampax.
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