It may be the drugs talking, but none of that made any sense to me.

However, the comment "maybe you can use '2 girls 1 cup' as your introduction" made me laugh right out loud.

In regards to America becoming too casual, I'm not sure if that's what the problem really is. Certainly a lot of things have lower standards than they did, but I'm not sure if that's because of us becoming too casual or if it's because we've run out of original things to say and do. With the advent of modern technology, starting with the silent movie, people found ways to express their creativity in ways that 200 years ago no one would have dreamed possible. Then the radio came along later, with color and sound movies following close by. TV became a reality, then video games, then the home computer. And all of that in the space of about 100 years.

Now answer me this: where the fuck are we supposed to go now? In what direction should we take ourselves and our ideas? We're stagnating because we have ideas that can't be expressed in any current form of entertainment, and ideas that require a blend of two formats (movies and sound being a great example) simply cannot be with the devices we have now. Before, that wasn't the case. Every few years, some advancement in sound or visual equipment would allow us to take the next step.

Until the newest innovation comes about that allows us to express ourselves in a unique way, then culture will continue to degrade in the fashion it is now. I do NOT want to hear "we're becoming too casual" as an excuse for why things are going down the social toilet.

... If that had absolutely nothing to do with the problem at hand, I'm sorry. I can't focus right now and I'm not sure if it's all relevant.

Vert1 wrote:

[Well if you saw the white house correspondents dinner 2012 intro video, it would help you understand what I am writing about. We've lowered our standards of decency in this country dramatically. If it's not casual ("seemingly casual"), it is apathy. The media has a lot to do with this and that's why I started off talking about Jimmy Kimmel. Perhaps he wanted to push the envelope with shock humor ("run out of things to do and say") which is a common theme with today's comedies. However, that is appropriate for R-rated movies, not fucking dinner with the President of the United States. As for what the solution is, I want to keep it on a case by case basis. So, for the correspondents dinner the correct choice would have been to disallow Kimmel from presenting his opening bit instead of green lighting it. Since the damage has already done we're looking at a healing process. I don't know exactly what can be done besides shame Kimmel. That's what is missing in our society: shame. The technology improvements factor into the degradation of social interactivity and such, but technology is not at fault here with what Kimmel did.

I see what you're saying now.

So the problem in your eyes, to be succinct, is that America as a whole is becoming too casual in terms of social behavior and decency.

In that case, my statement still stands; social behavior in a system like ours can largely be attributed to popular media. If a band that everyone listens to acts despicably, then it's more than likely going to rub off on the fans. But that's besides the point here.

And of course apathy is an issue. Every recent presidential election we've had is a standing monument to the problem of how little we really care. I don't think that's the larger issue at hand here. The problem is people who get offended at a loosening of the ties; in this case, you're offended that, whilst having dinner with the President, Jimmy Kimmel made a lewd joke and instead of being chided for his being inappropriate he actually received a bit of fanfare. A little applause. And so you jump on it and use it as an example to spearhead your opinion that America's manners are going down the tubes.

You're the worst kind of alarmist.