Climbing the last step to the Stoa, I once again spot by number two student, Zacklego, spray painting my column with current culture. I wish to encourage the learning process in my class and if it means I must endure sophomoric popular cultural references then so be it.
This will be another installment of the Dirtbag, Putz, Symptom, or Patriot.
Item one:
The Song, "I wanna be a Billionaire" by Travis McCoy. I believe that if you ask anyone if they want to be rich, the overwhelming majority of them will stare at you for a moment and then say, "ahhhhhhmmmmmmah, yeah". Unless you are born to wealth, you must earn it. You must have a good, a service, or a skill that you can use to trade others for money. Granted, he is part of a group that put out a song about wanting to be rich. This will make them some money, but most likely we will be watching them in 2015 on "one hit wonders of the 00's".
I've got so say that this fellow is a symptom of declining culture. A good representative of this Millennial generation that wants fame and fortune after only getting started. Well, hell, after being told their whole lives how precious they are that can not seem to wrap their mind around the idea that they may fail in their endeavors or that you do not get rich, permanently, by doing something well once, twice, or even ten times. Life is hard and it will not thank you. Not now, not ever.
Popular Music. Boy, don't get me started. I am about to do what every father has done when the music of their children's generation is in full swing. I'm going to hate it and then complain about it. In the early 60's, the emergence of rock and roll was gutter noise to most parents. I have to agree. The music of the 60's and 70's sucked. It had some good songs, no generational music collection is without its redeeming qualities, but for the most part, it was irritating, illogical, and senseless. What should I expect will all the drug use? The music of the 80's was pertinent to my generation and sums up much of what I am about. The music of the 90's to the mid naughts was bland and talentless. Now that the Gen-X centric music has long since left the stage, the Millennial music is in its prime. The music tends to be excellent but the lyrics disgusting and inappropriate for most people, let alone children. I can't wait for the times to evolve and the new silent generation, the "Homelanders" begin to develop their own style. Hard to say if the music of today is a symptom of a declining culture, since every generation has felt that the changes were cultural-ending, but it sure does look that way when looked at in the larger context.
Zacklego has pointed out to me that it is my generation that, through video games, has introduced the Millennials to the music of the 1920's-1940's. The games of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Both of those games have music from those decades and I have to admit, there is much talent and skill. It is not ground out of "boy bands" or ghost writers. Much of it was hard work and sweat. My number two student loves that music, and I know his Great Grandmother is happy for that. Their music has not vanished into the museums but is being enjoyed by tens of thousands of the new, mature generation.
I seek the good and the bad, in its totality. The kids today are also the ones fighting around the world without complaint. They know how to work hard and understand the value of money. Like all generations, they also have a segment that are wastes of DNA. It will be for the next two generations to tell us whether the kids today will pull us back from the brink or if they will be the enablers of generational doom.
Then again, change is neither good or bad, it just is. The establishment of a new normal. Let us hope that it is, for the most part a happy world. I sure hope so, since I will be an elderly generation when they are in their prime legislative and economic years.
Live well.
--Zavost
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