The New Barbarians

Hillary Clinton joked with a TV news reporter moments after she learned that Muammar Gaddafi had been killed in Libya.

She told the reporter: 'We came, we saw, he died' as she learned of the dictator's grisly end.

  UK Daily Mail

Let us look at these “triumphs,” which, one and all, are marked by their lawlessness and bloodthirstiness: the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the drone killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, and now the lynching of Moammar Gadhafi by US-NATO proxies. The distinguishing characteristic of all three acts is barbarism – a studied disregard for the rules of war and the common decencies that define what it means to be civilized.

That today no one so much as blinks [when Hillary Clinton reacts the way she did] tells us everything we need to know about the age in which we are living: to call it barbaric is to slander barbarians.

[...]

In an empire, [...] since the citizens can only influence the course of events to a limited degree, if that, little emphasis is put on acquiring knowledge, and more on acquiring power and influence with the powers that be. If one is aligned with a rising faction, as opposed to siding with the losers, then that’s all one needs to know, and no further investigation is required. Politics, then, is reduced to a battle between rival factions over who gets what share of the loot.

[...]

This accounts for the increasing emphasis on the “horse-race” aspect of politics in the media, and the lack of any real debate over principles and policies. It accounts, indeed, for the dumbing down of American politics, and the cheapening of the discourse in recent years. Indeed, I would take this analysis of the dumbing down phenomenon much further, and venture to say that the intelligence of American people, in general, has undergone a precipitous decline. I’m not just saying they’re less educated than ever, although one could make that case: I’m saying they have less intellectual capacity than previous generations, and this trend shows no signs of abating. Quite the contrary, it seems to be getting worse.

[...]

A President who can hail a death as brutal and bloody as Gadhafi’s, a Secretary of State who can shriek her appreciation of such a revolting spectacle – these are not marginal exceptions to the general rule. Instead, these responses are reflective of America’s inner cultural and political rot.

  Justin Raimondo

And here we are.

I was pondering this just yesterday. I’m not sure that people have less intellectual capacity, but they certainly seem to be less educated. And THAT is indeed getting worse for undoubtedly complex reasons, but among the chief of these I would have to place rising costs of a higher education. What happens in elementary education, I don’t know, but the “dumbing down” started decades ago when I did know. Less and less emphasis on grammar, which doesn’t sound like such a bad thing until you realize that complex language goes hand in hand with higher thinking. Twitter is an apt name for what passes for communication these days. Soon we will be back to grunting and clobbering each other with sticks. Along the way, we will have our blood sports. Right Hillary?

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.