I think this article, written by an apparently intelligent man in an intelligent manner points to what's wrong in a lot of our current thinking in this country and maybe in others, I don't know.
We have facts and then we have Aunt Nance Ann or whatever her name is. We have two different sets of time and we have this or that person who has advanced the theory that without the elderly things would be better for the young workers.
That alone begs credulity. I mean there are so many leaps of reasoning here, and conclusions made going from A to Z without looking at D or E.
It's those over 55 who have paid in the most of the social security for the longest period of time, and if the current demographics are right, made the most money, what happened to it? Fraud, bad investments, I don't know, but it's running out. The dangerous (in my opinion) shift of blame to those who actually dare to live past 50 is monstrous, when the blame belongs on those who failed to administer it properly.
And then because this or that person, of whatever education, has made some asinine statement, for the writer here to leap to the conclusion again specious reasoning, that ALL educated people (and who would THEY BE? What degree of education makes you fall into this area?) ascribe to this theory is just....at best, specious reasoning. At worst it's dangerous.
We know Rush Limbaugh, cited as an admirer, is singularly lacking in education, as his own father asked once at the dinner table "where does he GET this stuff?" But to lump ALL people with more than a GED, say, into this category and then say all educated people have lost touch with the values that matter and throw in the emotional Aunt Nance Ann, of a bygone era and time when most of us, (gasp, even the educated) found themselves caring for extended family is just outrageous.
He's entitled to his opinions and his points, but his reasoning is repulsive. It's this type of rabble rousing thing (to his defense, he's not advocating the "duty to die,") but his bringing up this obnoxious reasoning is just the exact type of thing that is about as helpful as a soccer riot. And makes about as much sense.
Too many talking heads. Have you noticed CNN lately? Call in with YOUR opinions. Facebook, Twitter,blogs, YOUR opinions, What happened to the news? YOUR chance in the sun, YOUR thoughts, whether or not they make sense or are even coherent, YOUR chance to be heard. YOU engaging with this "radio or tv personality." It's all about YOU.
The radio rants, call in, Long Time Listener, First Time Caller. BS on the air. But this is nothing new. Years ago there was a, was it Father Divine, not sure that's the right person, on the radio who ranted and blasted and of course there were the McCarthy hearings.
The percentage of college graduates in 2010 is quite a bit higher than it was in the days of Aunt Nance Ann, (whenever those were, I assume it was in the author's childhood and he's not a young man by his photograph). Ah the good old days. Everything and everybody was so pure. Till you read the newspapers of the time, such depravity among some of our pure citizens, it makes you blanch. And I'm talking about all the way back to the 1800's, surely before Aunt Nance's time, when most of the country lacked this college degree (or whatever the criterion is here).
The world is a different place. Is it because people went to college? I thought that the current state of unemployment, particularly of unskilled jobs, had led to more domestic abuse, more child abuse, among those with less education and resources than ever before. We must be reading different statistics. Even tho domestic abuse can happen at any level, I believe the statistics will bear me out on this one. So it would appear that the "poor" (or was it those with a lack of higher education, what a swamp this reasoning is), are not upholders of virtue after all.
But it's good enough for Rush and Ilk to milk for a talk show for a week or two). How on earth that man with his own addictions could rant and rave about addicted people is beyond me.
Things like this, this type of "play to the emotions, things were better, people cared, it's all the fault of the educated fool," thing, just drive me WILD and it's a lot more prevalent than people think. And I do think it's dangerous, hopefully somebody out there can think for themselves.
