By Rob Pue
October 29, 2023
As I go about my business around town and to various parts of the state and the country, everything looks so very different from the America I knew as a kid and young adult. Everywhere I go, people look weird. Girls in their early 20s with bright pink, green, purple or blue hair, have half their heads shaved, or their bangs cut straight across in a “bowl” cut that would have been embarrassingly ugly for even boys to have to wear when I was a kid.
And, a majority of the people I see now, especially younger people, are covered in tattoos. Many have their noses pierced, their faces and tongues pierced, and the style of clothing for young women today confuses me. It’s as if they either want to show as much skin as possible, even in cold weather, or they dress like vagabonds, having obtained their wardrobe from a Goodwill dumpster. It’s as if they want to look as unattractive as possible when they go out in public.
It’s equally sad to see young men these days. Today I saw a guy in his early 20s walking through a parking lot on his way to his car. He had long, dark hair and a full beard. He didn’t appear to be homosexual in any way, but he was wearing two large hoop earrings, blue jeans that were torn to shreds, and an expensive leather jacket. And then he jumped into his car and immediately there was the sound of explosive booming bass notes that rattled your teeth and vulgar, filthy lyrics of some sort of “rap” song as his car left the parking lot. You could still hear the “thump, thump, thump” of the bass as he merged into traffic and sped away.
And recently, I was in a convenience store where the clerk looked completely, 100% “male,” there was no doubt he was a male. But why, then, was he wearing bright red nail polish on his fingers?
I understand that young people always go through a rebellious streak, always want to stand out in a crowd, always want to be counter-cultural. But this weirdness really isn’t counter-cultural anymore. It’s become the norm. Even the “rebels” of the 1970s could still be easily identified as male or female. If blue jeans got torn, you fixed them. You didn’t pay extra to buy them that way.
But now we live in an age of extreme narcissism. People are addicted to their phones and social media. In their minds, they derive their value as human beings by the number of followers they have. Recently, I heard that the number one thing high-school age kids want to be now when they grow up is a “social media influencer,” making ridiculous, nonsensical videos and posting them on Tik Tok, where I guess you get paid for doing so, if you get enough followers. But the content I’m talking about has nothing to do with anything of substance they might share online. Instead, they do silly dance routines, sometimes dangerous “stunts,” which they set forth as challenges to others, and always, the focus is on them.
Boys and girls, young men and women — both — are now taking endless “selfies” and pictures of themselves and posting them on their social media sites, shouting “look at me, look at me….look what I did now! Check out my latest over-the-top, outragous hair and makeup style!”
I think back to even earlier days. When my Dad was 17 years old, he was on the other side of the world, fighting the enemy in the South Pacific in World War 2. By the time I was 17 years old, I dare say I’d already accomplished more in my life than today’s 40-year-olds. What are 17-year-olds doing now? I’m not saying there aren’t any good, responsible kids out there, but by and large, we’ve become a nation of lazy, under-achieving, self-centered, Godless idiots.
You might think it does no good to look back at the past and long for the “good old days,” because the “good old days” were never really as good as we remember them when we’re old. But in this case, our society and culture has fallen so far, and become so depraved, I have to say, they really were pretty good, even though they weren’t perfect.
Most people still worked hard to make a living, provide for their families, and improve their skills, and thus their position in the workplace. We had skilled workers, American companies on the cutting edge of innovation. To be perpetually unemployed was a shameful thing. To be unemployed because of a self-induced “disability” was unheard of. Obesity was also shameful, as was drug and alcohol abuse. These things weren’t “illnesses,” as much as they were the result of irresponsibility, weakness and an unwillingness to be a productive citizen.
Today, we have young people obtaining worthless degrees, at a cost of more than $50,000 a year. And after four years of college, they graduate with a degree they’ll never use — because there really isn’t a job for someone with a degree in 17th century lesbian poetry — so they move back in with Mom and Dad indefinitely, with no plans for the future, except to play video games, post videos on social media, party with their friends, and get dragged into the drug scene, now with legal “pot” in at least 23 states, and an epidemic of Meth and Fentanyl use.
And today, we have a full 50% of American citizens that are morbidly obese. I should note that it was in the late 1980s that GMO or “genetically modified organisms” were introduced into our food supply. When I watched “Gilligan’s Island” as a kid, there was no question that the “Skipper” was fat. Now he looks relatively thin, compared to most Americans. Times have changed, and so have we, as a people.
I remember the 4th of July as a highly patriotic time. Parades were led by our military veterans, and when they came past, everyone took off their hats, stood up and applauded them for their service to our country. This past 4th of July, there were noticeably fewer veterans in the parade; less than half the people stood up when they marched past, and even fewer bothered to applaud. Most were there for the free candy. This last parade was noticeably smaller than in previous years as well. I remember when the whole town would turn out for the parade. Now, I’d say attendance is less than half. How long before towns no longer even bother with it?
Looking back, I can see the Leftist indoctrination creeping into the small public school I attended, and it came through our “Weekly Readers” put out by Scholastic Books. These were pamphlets with some current event stories and opinion pieces, which we were to read and discuss in class. Back then, they were warning us of a coming Ice Age by the year 2000.
I also remember reading about how, in the future, much of the work would be done by computers and robots, and the teacher led the discussion on: “with computers and robots doing most of the work, what do you think people will do?” The consensus then was it would leave much more time for relaxation and recreation. Maybe they got that one right. Because today, we have a lot more people doing a lot less work, but that’s not a good thing. Relaxation has become slothfulness and recreation has become largely “recreational drugs” and unbridled, perverted sex.
In the 1980s, the big call was for “Just Say No” to drugs. It was in every TV commercial break. We saw it on billboards and ads in magazines. “Just Say No.” An admonition to stay away from illegal street drugs. Remember seeing a picture of a cracked egg in a pan and the voiceover saying, “This is your brain.” Then a fried egg and the words, “This is your brain on drugs — any questions?”
Not coincidentally, it was then that Big Pharma began ramping up production of all kinds of prescription drugs. It was also in the 1980s that the FDA began allowing direct-to-consumer advertising of these prescription drugs. Now today, you can’t turn on any television program without hearing the words “Ask your doctor if this drug is right for you.” And virtually every newscast is now proudly “brought to you by Pfizer.”
A majority of these new drugs are supposedly for anxiety and depression, and a majority of Americans now suffer with anxiety and depression and are eager to get some sort of miracle pill that will make them feel better. Few realize the side effects of these things are actually the worsening of anxiety and depression, and almost all of them list one of the main side effects as “increased thoughts of suicide.”
These drugs have so many people dumbed down that they can’t function in society. Many have doctors’ notes declaring them “disabled” because of their depression. So, they sit home, lethargically watching 24/7 television programming — or should I say, “brainwashing,” while consuming copious amounts of GMO snack foods, creating obesity and the myriad of additional illnesses those GMOs bring with them. So, they go see the doctor and get even more Rx meds, and the cycle continues. A recent study has shown that many of these anti-anxiety and anti-depression drugs do nothing — I repeat, NOTHING — to ease anxiety or depression. The same study showed that physical activity is the best remedy for these things. Exercise, hard work, fresh air. But the couch is so much more appealing.
We’re now at a place where this so-called “lifestyle” has become multi-generational. Parents living on welfare, having kids who think the welfare lifestyle is normal, consuming poisonous so-called “foods,” and loading up on drugs that will never kill their ills. And so it seems very few are left in this country that are even able to think anymore, if they’d be willing to do the work to think for themselves in the first place. Fat, lazy, complacent, obedient slaves of the almighty State. But they’re not happy. They’re miserable.
Victims of the public education indoctrination establishment blindly follow their “leaders.” And now their leaders are pushing all manner of radical Leftist ideologies. “Climate Change” has become one of the most useful tools to control us. Remember, any time you hear the words “sustainable,” “renewable,” or “green,” you can go ahead and replace those words with “controllable.” Because that’s what the “Climate Change” is all about. Those pushing for us to live in 15-minute “SMART” cities, submit to Artificial Intelligence and 24/7 tracking, take endless DNA-altering jabs and eat bugs and worms, would never relinquish their private jets and limousines. Don’t people see that? Don’t they understand that every so-called “law” Congress passes is imposed upon the citizens, but the lawmakers always exempt themselves from the same punishments?
Now we have young people pushing for all things “Green,” banning conservative speech on college campuses and rallying in support of terrorists, while questioning their own genders and becoming prideful allies of the LGBTQP+ agenda, many who now only aspire to being “social media influencers.” We live in a sick society, addicted to many things, none of them good. Including all the phones and screens.
You want to be “Green” and save the planet? Get back to nature and go plant and maintain a garden by the sweat of your own brow. Electric cars cause more harm to the Earth than our gas and diesel vehicles ever could, now cleaner-running than they’ve ever been. Our factories — what’s left of them — are now cleaner for the environment than any time in history too.
And if you want to be “radical,” or “counter-cultural,” — should I say “set apart” from the crowd — how about studying the Word of God and becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ? Learn the history your teachers have hidden from you. Get equipped for the work of the ministry. Be a Christ-follower. Pray for someone or say the name “Jesus” in public. Young people, that’s more radical and counter-cultural than your purple hair and ripped jeans will ever be. Make your life count for something, and make it all about Jesus, not about you. You still won’t save the world, but you’ll at least save some souls. Being angry, hating America and God is definitely not working for you. And as a true Christ-following “radical” Christian, you’ll also have the peace that passes all understanding, and an eternal home with your loving Creator.
© 2023 Rob Pue – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Rob Pue: Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com
