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Global (& Postmodern) Culture & Changing Values
2005-2006 (more recent Here)
See also Postmodern Beliefs | Modern versus Postmodern Culture
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November 2006
Energy drinks hook a generation: "More than 500 new energy drinks were launched worldwide this year....Thirty-one percent of U.S. teenagers say they drink energy drinks....Nutritionists warn that the drinks, laden with caffeine and sugar, can hook kids on an unhealthy jolt-and-crash cycle.... Some report downing several cans in a row to get a buzz, and a new study found a surprising number of poison-center calls from young people getting sick from too much caffeine. Danger only adds to the appeal....
"'Young people need to break away from the bonds of adults and what society thinks is right.... Heart palpitations aren't likely to scare them off.' ...Greenberg said the fierce competition among hundreds of new drinks, with Red Bull guarding the biggest market share, leads to a 'ratcheting up' of taboo names.... Cocaine Energy Drink, which launched in September and now sells in convenience stores and nightclubs in six states, is the latest example, following a twisted logic set by drinks like Pimpf America
October 2006
Mall finds classic music keeps teens away: "At least two towns in Finland have discovered that classical music may not soothe young troublemakers -- but does drive them away. ... Sure enough, when the loudspeakers were silent teens gathered again.... Another town, Lojha, took up the idea this summer, using early church music in a park that had become a teen gathering place.... Local business owners say that vandalism and other problems have dropped since the music began." See Popular Music with Pagan Roots
Alcohol Without Liquid: "There's a new low-calorie, low-carbohydrate way for adults to consume alcohol in The United States, and you don't even need a glass. It's AWOL, Alcohol With Out Liquid, and for the first time, it is available in The United States after successful debuts in Europe and Asia." See Transformation
September 2006
Thousands rock at Christian rock fest: "ShoutFest 2006 brought more than 2,500 Christian rock fans together.... In 2007, the ShoutFest crew will travel to Kenya for 'Shout at the Drought' and attendees who sponsored a child at Sunday's concert might also get to travel with the bands and meet their sponsored child....
"'It's good music,' agreed Matt Gingerich, 15, also from Columbus. 'It's a good place to meet people and rock for God. This is a great way to get kids into the ministry.'
"'I think it's wonderful for kids to be able to get together and listen to music they like,' said Beverly Lane, 52, a youth sponsor at First Assembly of God in Columbus, which brought more than 50 of its youth to attend the event. '...They can have a good time without all the negative influence,' added the church's youth pastor...."
August 2006
Wal-Mart joins 'gay' chamber of commerce: "...Wal-Mart had not only joined the NGLCC but also has hired a 'gay-marketing' shop and started discussions about extending domestic-partner benefits to employees. ... In the AdAge report, Justin Nelson of the NGLCC said the company was just being 'pragmatic.' 'They have been viewed with some degree of skepticism by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community, and it's important for them in terms of gaining market share to change that,' he told AdAge. ... ["Wal-Mart will sponsor two of the group's annual conferences."]
"'It is unfortunate,' Perkins said, 'that Wal-Mart has joined forces with an organization whose mission opposes many of the values shared by rural and small-town America. It is precisely the interests of average Americans that Wal-Mart has prided itself in promoting." See Total transformation
Pop music's sex education: "A couple of years ago, researchers at the RAND Corp. released a study that found heavy exposure to sexual content on television shows relates strongly to teenagers' initiation of intercourse or their progression to more advanced sexual activities.... Now the RAND Corp. has a new study, published in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics, taking on another major teenage influence: their music. The same alarming results jump off the page. According to the study, based on interviews with nearly 1,500 teens, those who said they listened to sexually explicit music were almost twice as likely to start having sex within the following two years than those who listen to little or none of that music." See Popular Music with Pagan Roots & Resisting sensuality
June 2006
Vulture culture: "...when shots rang out in Moreno Valley the night of June 10, several bystanders' first instinct apparently was not to reach for their phones to call 911, but to take pictures of the mortally wounded 15-year-old who had been celebrating her middle-school graduation.... These twisted voyeurs took their pictures and scurried off into the night the moment authorities arrived. Other revelers inexplicably attacked police who tried to save the girl with CPR.... The murder of a young girl is a heart-rending crime. But for witnesses to shamelessly click snapshots as the victim bleeds to death simply turns the stomach." See The fall and rise of human violence
May 2006
I Know It’s Politically Incorrect, But… (by Rabbi Daniel Lapin): "Astonishingly, in a society that prides itself on its openness and welcomes even shocking candor into public discourse, some things are somehow understood to be off limits. Among them, thou shalt not speak of sexual difference, thou shalt not criticize homosexuality in any way whatsoever, and thou shall never acknowledge that the culture of the Koran is at war with the twin civilizations of the Bible....
"There is only one other environment which encourages this level of intolerance for dissent. Let Mr. Abdul Rahman, an Afghani convert to Christianity tell you all about it....
"While facts never ignite our passions, even trivial beliefs do. That beliefs defy proof is part of what locks them into our souls and turns us against those who assault them." See Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules
March 2006
Culture. What's Going On in "Young Adult" Literature? "Young Adult publishers are journeying into new and potentially dangerous subjects. One YA editor notes, 'As more and more edgy fiction is being published, the books are dealing with issues that hadn't been dealt with before: oral sex, male rape, incest. There seem to be no boundaries anymore."
Victory. The Armor of God. Our children need to wear it!
The Myths and Reality of Living Together Without Marriage: "In the United States, living together instead of marrying has become the norm for couples - half of young adults aged 20-40 are cohabiting instead of getting married. Cohabitation has increased nearly 1,000 percent since 1980, and the marriage rate has dropped more than 40 percent since 1960. Some see substituting living together for marriage as an insignificant shift in family 'structure.' Those who are better informed realize that the shift has disastrous ramifications for the individuals involved, as well as for society and public policy." Warnings against promiscuity
An anti-American hero: (John Leo ) "Stanford University gives the Allan Cox medal each year for faculty excellence in guiding student research. Cox was a professor of geophysics and dean of the school of earth sciences at Stanford. He committed suicide in 1987 while under investigation for sexually molesting the son of a former student. ....
"Bard College notoriously maintains a chair in social studies named for Alger Hiss, the Communist spy, traitor and perjurer.... Manhattan Community College in New York announced a new scholarship named for Ho Chi Minh...." See
The International Agenda and The Revolutionary Roots of the UN
Multiple Single Moms, One Nameless Donor: "Not one of them has met the donor -- his identity is kept secret by Fairfax Cryobank in Virginia. He has fathered all of their children -- 11 so far....
"'It's an emotional connection. We have a common base,' explained Schouten, who adds that the women have less interest in knowing the donor than they do one another. 'Most of us are single. We all desired children, and we were all attracted to the same donor.'" See Depravity
January 2006
The Next Conservatism: A Post-literate Culture
: "The place of reading has been taken by the viewing of images, images presented on electronic screens. The image has displaced the word. ... This development is more profound and far-reaching than most people comprehend...."A post-literate culture will have little ability to think logically. Reason and logic demand words; images, in contrast, feed emotions. It should not surprise us that Americans no longer think but rather feel. Again we find ourselves up against one of the bedrocks of Western culture; logic and reason have been particularly Western characteristics....
"A people cut off from its past, largely unable to reason and directed primarily by images, will be easy to manipulate. In fact, the people will be as easy to manipulate and control as the images themselves."
See Movie Magic and Unconscious Learning
December 2005
Aphorisms 2006: "Columnist and author David Brooks wrote: 'If the true thing is obvious and boring, the liberal person will go off and say something original, even if it is completely idiotic. This is how deconstructionism got started.'...
"North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il issued a sort of aphorism this month: 'The Destiny of a Nation Is a Destiny of an Individual and the Latter’s Life is Guaranteed by the Former’s Life.' This needs work. Try this version, KJI: 'Live for the state and the state will live for you.'...
"Author Tammy Bruce, writing about the cult of victimology, wrote: 'When your victimhood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy.'...
"'The right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended,' said Andrew Sullivan ...'Diversity at the expense of quality is no virtue, but quality without diversity is nonetheless a vice.'" See Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules
Martyrdom? “'Tookie' Williams, put to death by lethal injection last week in California, was a 'legend' who underwent 'a meaningful martyrdom that sent a lasting message to the world,' according to old-time leftist Tom Hayden, formerly Mr. Jane Fonda.... What can Hayden be talking about? Martyrs die for a cause. Williams died for executing four unarmed people during two 1979 robberies, shooting a woman in the face, and laughing uncontrollably at the gurgling sounds a male victim made as he died in agony." See The fall and rise of human violence
November 2005
HIV/AIDS Conference Shifts Focus from Education to Action: "'The church is the best positioned organization to reduce and remove the stigma of this virus,' Kay Warren said. 'Government can't do it, only the church can -- because we offer love and forgiveness. Sin hurts, and there are consequences -- but it is not a sin to be sick.'"
True. But homosexuality is a sin according to the Bible, though Western nations are fast outlawing such "judgmental" standards.
As changing philosophies and collective social movement join together in opposition to Biblical truth and God's unchanging values, the following three definitions might be useful. This new Universism (not Universalism) matches UN goals as well as the communitarian agenda:
Universism: A Union of Free-Thinkers: "...free-thinkers are opposed to the narrow-minded dogmas that have held back humanity's development.... Though they disagree in their conclusions, they share far more in their similar process of finding these answers and in their devotion to creating a more enlightened and tolerant society. These different philosophies are brought together in Universism: A united free-thought movement. Universism isn't so much concerned with establishing a set of answers that members must conform their thinking around. Rather, it's concerned with setting minds free to find the answers for themselves." Sounds a bit like the emergent church, doesn't it? See Emergent Delusion
Latino gangs target African-Americans for murder: "A federal grand jury returned an indictment that adds a fifth gang member to an indictment that had previously charged four others in connection with a six-year conspiracy to assault and murder African-Americans in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles ....The indictment charges that the five defendants, all members of the Avenues street gang, conspired with each other and with other gang members to violate the civil rights of African-Americans in the gang's neighborhood by attacking and sometimes killing the victims."
October 2005
Halloween sales pegged to top $1 billion: "'There are a lot of people that are so into Halloween that they start shopping at the end of September.' ... 'Halloween is now approaching the Christmas holiday season as the biggest season for retailers,' said Kevin Evans." See Popular Occultism
Bible is not all gospel: "The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true. ... the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country's Catholic bishops insist cannot be 'historical. At most, they say, they may contain 'historical traces'." God's eternal, unchanging Word
September 2005
Marriage on the rocks as fewer say I do: "'The serious decline of marriage is a very worrying development. Cohabitation is an inherently fragile partnership. It is not divorce which will have a serious impact on children in the future but parents moving in and out of different relationships in which marriage is not a factor.' ... Statistical evidence says that children brought up by married parents tend to do better than those of cohabiting couples or single parents." See Change Agent's Guide
Libs find kids' book a little hard to swallow: "State education spokeswoman Vickie Chapman has taken Griffiths to task in parliament over The Bad Book, an award-winning collection of vignettes showcasing the antics of Little Willy, who sets fire to the family cat before incinerating his own head, and the Old Lady who Swallowed a Poo. 'Every one of the 50 poems and stories the book contains depicts children and adults being cruel, violent and disgusting,' Ms Chapman said....
"Melbourne-based author Griffiths blames the controversy on 'a new conservatism that seems to be creeping in'.... He said younger children 'all pick up on the spirit of fun that's being created'." See The Power of Suggestion
August 2005
All Cultures Are Not Equal: "Go into the field that barely exists: cultural geography. Study why and how people cluster, why certain national traits endure over centuries, why certain cultures embrace technology and economic growth and others resist them. This is the line of inquiry that is now impolite to pursue. The gospel of multiculturalism preaches that all groups and cultures are equally wonderful. There are a certain number of close-minded thugs, especially on university campuses, who accuse anybody who asks intelligent questions about groups and enduring traits of being racist or sexist...
"
Not long ago, people said that globalization and the revolution in communications technology would bring us all together. But the opposite is true.... People are moving into self-segregating communities with people like themselves.... If you look just around the United States you find amazing cultural segmentation. We in America have been 'globalized' (meaning economically integrated) for centuries, and yet... we are actually diverging."Yet, through education and the media, the youth from the various cultures are learning to embrace postmodern ways and values. See Modern versus Postmodern Culture
Karate, Kids, and the Culture: Your Child and the Martial Arts: "Martial arts expert Chuck Norris has teamed up with former President H. W. Bush to promote Norris's KICKSTART program, designed to introduce the martial arts to 'at risk' middle school children to raise their self-esteem. To date, KICKSTART is in 30 schools... and has graduated more than 30,000 students..... Dozens of similar programs are promoting martial arts training for our youth.... Taekwondo and the Martial Arts are not merely physical exercise, but in fact are Zen Buddhist meditational practices." Toying with Death
More homes in U.S. go solo: "Nuclear-family households -- two married parents and a child -- were the most common as recently as 1990, when there were 25 million such households. But by 2000, nuclear-family households fell to second place, both because there were almost a half-million fewer of these type of homes and because the number of single-adult households surged past 27 million. Married households without children remained the third most common...." Don't conform to the ways of the world
July 2005
The Marketing of Evil: "...much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped and sold to them as though it had great value. Highly skilled marketers, playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive – in a word, evil. ...
"
Few people realize America was actually 'sold' on abortion thanks to an audacious public relations campaign that relied on fantastic lies and fabrications. Or that the 'gay rights' movement – which transformed America's former view of homosexuals as self-destructive human beings into their current status as victims and cultural heroes – faithfully followed an in-depth, phased plan laid out by professional Harvard-trained marketers." See Marketing 'Christianity'
Sex and the Single Christian: "'Three surveys of single Christians conducted in the 1990s turned up a lot of premarital sex: Approximately one-third of the respondents were virgins -- that means, of course, that two-thirds were not.'...
"What I think has happened with the dissolution of the social stigma against premarital sex is now happening within the homosexual movement,' she added. 'Once society has accepted something as 'no big deal,' all bets are off and anything goes. It's quite scary.'...
"'I think to be in the dating scene at my age is tough,' Fields said. 'There's so much pressure on TV, in magazines ... everywhere. It's getting harder every day ... not to succumb to the worldly desires that we're faced with every single day.'" See Resisting sensuality
June 2005
Eating fetuses not against law? Why Kansas abortionist was not charged with crime: "Krishna Rajanna's clinic was closed in March, but only after the testimony of law enforcement agents who investigated the grisly charges – including one employee's contention the abortionist microwaved a fetus and stirred it into his lunch. ... But Tomasic's hands were tied. There were no laws on the books to prohibit an abortionist – or anyone else – from eating a human unborn baby." See
SignsApril 2005
Destroying America's most important feature: "Bill Clinton created Executive Order 13166 which is an un-legislated multilingual policy that requires all government agencies like the IRS, Social Security Administration, the INS, Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice, and others to print all documents in foreign languages and provide for non-English speaking people. It costs you millions of your taxpayer dollars to service foreigners who came to our country but will not honor that privilege by speaking English. ...
"Over 329 languages are spoken in the United States making it impossible for all minority languages to be represented in such sectors as government, education and health care. Further, it creates separation and balkanization when you can’t speak to fellow Americans."
Yes, we're in trouble! But this is not our greatest loss. The loss of the ability to think clearly based on truth, fact and logic (or reason) is far more serious. Without it, we cannot follow God and are left to the mercy of our capricious human nature and unreliable feelings.
See Human Nature and Charts: Total transformation
School nurses warn of 'daisy chain' sex gangs (UK): "School nurses said they are facing a rising tide of sexual health, drink and drug problems among children. One of the reasons for the rise is the practice known as 'daisy-chaining' beginning to take place among London youngsters, nurses explained. 'Daisy-chaining' is where young people get together to have sex in groups....
"Liz Allan, chairman of the School Nurses Forum, spoke about cases of children who feel under pressure to provide sexual favours because they are part of a gang culture." The outcome of decades of moral relativism
and Sex Education?
'Fix' in pledge raises concern: "Seventh-grader Bailey Pierce, hand pressed against her heart, was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when the voice over the intercom said something that stopped her cold. 'One nation, under 'your belief system.'... Bailey said the incident shocked her and her classmates, many of whom stopped in mid-sentence and exchanged bewildered looks....
"Lucero said she didn't intend to be offensive but rather wanted to mark the sixth anniversary of the Columbine High School slayings by evoking a sense of tolerance... 'It's not a reflection of the district, and it was not my intention to offend anyone, rather to include (everyone).'" See A New Way of Thinking
Years apart change emigres forever: "For 17 years, Dinh Chau dreamed of the happiness that would envelop her family once they were reunited. When the day finally came, the reality proved bittersweet.... Once together, her children weren't as she remembered them. They had become so American. The new family dynamic left her jarred and aghast. 'In Vietnam, the children feared their parents,' said Chau, resignation ringing in her voice. 'Here, the parents fear their children.'''
Not your father's Oldsmobile: "The circulation of daily U.S. newspapers is 55.2 million, down from 62.3 million in 1990. The percentages of adults who say they read a paper 'yesterday' are ominous....
"The combined viewership of the network evening newscasts is 28.8 million, down from 52.1 million in 1980. The median age of viewers is 60.... Perhaps we are entering what David T.Z. Mindich, formerly of CNN, calls 'a post-journalism age.''' See Redefining "Literacy" for a New World Order
Thou Shalt Not Be Negative: "Osteen has much to smile about: His first book showed up on The New York Times bestseller list for hardcover advice books in November, and by mid-January it had reached No. 1—outranking even Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life. With Warner Faith expecting to sell at least 2.4 million copies of his book, Publishers Weekly has already dubbed it a crossover phenomenon. ...
"What will devotees of advice books find in Your Best Life Now? ... More uses of must, should, the imperative voice, and start-your-morning life affirmations. ... Osteen promotes some of prosperity theology's favorite notions, such as reprogramming your mind with positive thoughts or changing your life with the power of your spoken words. ...
"...he writes that the Israelites' 'lack of faith and their lack of self-esteem robbed them of the fruitful future God had in store for them.'"
No, they were exiled to Babylon and lost their land because they disobeyed Him and His covenant with them and followed other gods. Deut 8:10-20
Crippled by Their Culture (by Thomas Sowell, respected black author): "For most of the history of this country, differences between the black and the white population -- whether in income, IQ, crime rates, or whatever -- have been attributed to either race or racism.... Three decades of my own research lead me to believe that neither of those explanations will stand up under scrutiny of the facts....
"What is not nearly as widely known is that there were also very large disparities within the white population.... None of these disparities can be attributed to either race or racism....
"When race, racism, and slavery all fail the empirical test, what is left? Culture is left...."
It makes sense -- and gives us all the more reason for concern as we look at our changing culture, dumbed-down education system, rampant immorality, and rising Biblical illiteracy. See The fall and rise of human violence & The Rising World Religion
Impossible figures: "Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvard is the 'father of impossible figures.'... In 1934 he created the first impossible triangle out of a series of cubes." See also Optical and sensory illusions.
These images may seem like entertaining puzzles, but they illustrate a far more serious deception: Intellectual and spiritual illusions. See Don't Be Deceived! and Brainwashing in America
March 2005
School Killer's Animated Terror: "The Minnesota teenager responsible for Monday's high school shooting spree last year created a violent, blood-soaked video that included an animated character shooting four people and blowing up a police car before committing suicide.... Using the alias 'Regret,' Jeff Weise, 16, last October posted online a 30-second animation entitled 'Target Practice.' ...
" Weise described himself as "nothin but a Native American teenage-stoner-industrialist," whose favorite movies included 'Dawn of the Dead,' 'Thunderheart,'... His favorite recording artists included Korn, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, and John Lennon....
" Weise's killing rampage began with the murder of his grandfather and the man's female companion and ended at Red Lake High School, where he killed an unarmed security guard, a teacher, and five fellow students before apparently committing suicide." See
Toying with Death, Popular Occultism & The fall and rise of human violence
The new youth craze: Self-mutilation: "'Cutting' refers to self-mutilation -- using knives, razor blades or even safety pins to deliberately harm one's own body -- and it's spreading to a school near you.... There is even a new genre of music -- 'emo' -- associated with promoting the cutting culture.... In Britain, health care researchers estimate that one in 10 teenagers engages in addictive self injury....
"...in Rolling Stone, Ricci prattled about scratching her forearms with her nails and soda can tops: 'It's like having a drink. But it's quicker. You know how your brain shuts down from pain?'"
Wonder if part of this trend might be caused by "cognitive dissonance," the mental and emotional confusion stirred by the tension between traditional values and immersion in amoral influences. See A Model School for the Global Community
February 2005
Reading at Risk: "The percentage of Americans reading novels, short stories, poems, or plays in their leisure time fell 7 points from 1992, 10 from 1982, a loss of 20 million potential readers.... For something that has been such a basic activity for so long, a 17-point decline is a swift and marked change....
"Reading but a single poem or short story in the preceding 12 months qualified. The report allowed for works of any quality and any length in any language in any print format, including the Internet. A romance novel e-book and a classic novel in the Library of America series were treated equally." See
Redefining "Literacy" for a New World Order
Socialism reaches new low: "Germany legalized prostitution in 2002 and now expects unemployed women under the age of 55 who collect unemployment benefits for more than a year to accept employment in the sex industry, including whorehouses....
"Excuse me? How many times have we had to listen to glassy-eyed liberals chant, 'You can’t legislate morality'? So what have the Dutch and the Germans done? They have legislated immorality. They have the temerity to believe that they can declare by law that the oldest profession is not immoral....
"Employment centers that do not wish to list the whorehouse ads can be sued for that and for allowing women to refuse to become prostitutes. Women who have worked as telemarketers for legitimate businesses can be recruited into telephone-sex services. ... This is another wretched result of 'women’s lib': women and children have lost traditional protections." See Mine is the Power
MTV knows no shame: "MTV... remains utterly unshaken by the cultural earthquake it started. It's still the Temptation Channel, a 24-hour hangout selling easy sex, swagger and swearing -- all aimed, directly and deliberately, at children. MTV touts to advertisers that it's watched by 73 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls ages 12 to 19 and is profoundly influential in the lives and lifestyles of its young fans.
"MTV tells advertisers: 'Young adults 15 to 17 are excited consumers and extremely impressionable. Now is the time to influence their choices.' How raunchy is MTV? ....
"MTV defends itself by saying it's only a mirror that reflects the culture. Baloney. MTV is manufacturing the culture, not reflecting it." See Depravity & Resisting sensuality
January 2005
The Change Movement: "This forum is patterned after C. S. Lewis’s collection, 'The Screwtape Letters.' ... "'Wormwood, you must continue to instill in those who now embrace our Cause the monstrous lie that Absolute Truth is a myth, that Truth is relative and appears whatever each individual desires it to be. That is the life of our Cause.... You must convince them that the Enemy’s Word is flawed, that it was not inspired, and that its strongest doctrinal passages must be discarded or modified as outdated, irrelevant, and not applicable to a modern, progressive society." See Total transformation
The new elite has arrived [David Brooks]: "Biscotti in one hand and cell phone in the other, they're quietly forging the new social order.... It used to be easy to distinguish between the bourgeois and the bohemians -- between capitalism and the counterculture. The bourgeois were the square, practical ones. They defended tradition and middle class morality. They worked for corporations, lived in suburbs and went to church. Meanwhile the bohemians were the free spirits who flouted convention. They were the artists and the intellectuals. What happens when the two combined? ....
"These Bobos define our age. They are the new establishment. Their hybrid culture is the atmosphere we all breathe.... Bobos live in a world where people seldom object if they hear the Lord's name taken in vain...but smoking is now considered a worse sin than at least five of the ten commandments." See
Don't conform to the world's ways
Aliens in America The Strange Truth About Our Souls: "For Marx, the end of history was a time and place in which, through some kind of magic, humans lived in peace and tranquility, working a few hours in the morning and fishing in the afternoons, having no need for religion or war or even government. This socialist nirvana was... a libertarian paradise, consisting of nothing more than materialistic satisfactions. It might also be America.
"
David Brooks argued in Bobos in Paradise that most Americans think they are, or want to be, living in this kind of world right now. These 'bourgeois bohemians' combine the laissez faire morality of the 1960s with the laissez faire economics of the 1980s. For them, the good life is nothing more than one of great prosperity and unlimited personal freedom. Questions of virtue, love, and justice do not inflame their passions--only health and fashion do. They are self-absorbed, politically correct, non-judgmental...." See Mine is the Power?
FDA revisits morning-after pill sales [Registration required]: "The government is considering whether to make morning-after birth control available without a prescription....'We should have this at our fingertips. It should be next to condoms in drug stores,' said Kelly Mangan....
"It encourages risky sexual activity with the promise 'just pop a pill in the morning, and you don't need to worry about pregnancy,' " said Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America.... 'What we're concerned about is a number of young people who are not engaged in sexual activity who feel tremendous pressure, and this will only add to the pressure that is on them." Small wonder -- after decades of "sex ed" through graphic classroom dialogue and the provocative entertainment media. See
I create my own values!
Nordic family ties don't mean tying the knot: "In Norway, half of all children are now born to unmarried mothers.... On both sides of the Atlantic, the forces that have driven up the birth rate for unmarried mothers are the same: the introduction of the birth control pill, feminism, the rising number of women in the workforce and the decline of religion.
"...social trends have been reinforced by policies designed to promote equality for women and further separate the church and state. As a result, the link between marriage and having children has all but disappeared. ....Lidén, the Swedish priest, says he performs many baptisms for children of unwed couples and asks them why they don't get married. 'They think marriage is such a big step in life that they want to be absolutely sure before they do it,' he explains. 'My question is, 'What is it to be a parent? Isn't that the biggest step in life?' But they don't see it that way.' ...
"About two-thirds of single mothers in Sweden, for example, receive housing allowances. ...There is little religious pressure to get married. Even though there are state churches in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, few people go." Hardly any of our relatives in Norway are marrying these days! That fits the revolutionary vision of Brock Chisholm, the first head of the UN's World Health Organization.
It's time to strip the 'authentic' label off rap: "There is a long American tradition of loving the bad boy, and there is a fantasy attraction to anarchy in the world of rock that makes it fairly easy for the thug rapper to present himself in what has become the new minstrelsy of our time. ... But now the most successful black women's magazine, Essence, is on the case.... Just over 72% of more than 1,200 respondents said what they hear on urban stations 'makes me cringe.'" Loving evil more than good
Corruption. Kid Rock too vulgar for inauguration? "Kid Rock, a popular vulgar rock-rapper whose lyrics wouldn't begin to pass muster with the Federal Communications Commission, is headlining the youth concert during the inauguration festivities for President Bush....
"The Detroit-based rapper, who dedicated his first album to songs about oral sex and who was voted the Sluttiest Male Celebrity at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, will perform Jan. 18 at the Washington, D.C., Armory....
"...featured on his 1990 debut album is 'Pimp of the Nation,' which ironically takes a swipe at Bush's mother....
"Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, was outraged the rapper would be a part of the president's festivities. 'I just read Kid Rock's sexually explicit lyrics and feel ashamed and dirty for even looking at his songs.'" See Chart: Total transformation
Find previous links to articles on this topic at
Culture 1 and Culture 2
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