Today's Youth Are Ignorant of Politics, History and Civics but They Ridicule and Silence Those in the Know

I am dumbfounded about how today's generation is oblivious to the political news and traditional social norms in today's fast changing world. Many of today's college educated students are oblivious to American history and how our American government is structured.

My generation learned civics (American government) and history in our "social studies" classes. Instead, today's high school youth are indoctrinated with the concept of diversity as a virtue (in and of itself), African American studies (which portrays America as a racist and bigoted country) and world history classes which portray America as a cruel, war mongering imperialist nation.

But the most overwhelming problems that cause political ignorance amongst the youth is the fact that I Pods don't have news breaks on the top and bottom of every hour. I attribute most ignorance in the "me generation" to the fact that they constantly have IPods plugged plugged into their ears when they are not texting, talking on cell phones or blasting loud "music" (I use the term loosely).My generation was forced to listen to news and current events when we listened to the radio. Today's youth overwhelmingly choose to avoid hard news. They are mostly interested in gossip, celebrity news and extreme unconventional, dangerous and abnormal behaviors that are glorified by today's popular culture.

Today's youth form their opinions of world politics through the liberal prism of today's public schools and universities and from the musical lyrics that promote annoying, illegal, sexist, intolerant, immoral, atheist and inconsiderate behavior in the name of "freedom of expression". However, freedom of expression is never tolerated of those who have opposing views. They believe that people with traditional conservative views are hateful, racist, sexist, bigoted, greedy and evil who should be shouted down, ridiculed, ostracised and silenced.

They have strayed so far from social norms that they don't even realize that it is inconsiderate to blast obscene music at 100 decibels from their car stereos at a gas station with all doors and windows open. Onlookers are too intimidated to call them out on their rude, annoying and inconsiderate behavior. When I politely ask them to turn it down a bit, the response has always been loud, angry, threatening and vulgar. The more I persist, the more enraged and closer to violence they appear to get.

The same attitude holds true for the owners of many cars, trucks and motorcycles that spend hundreds of dollars to modify their exhaust systems to be deafeningly loud. They either are completely unaware that this is illegal, inconsiderate, annoying and rude or they are purposely trying to flaunt the law and be rude, inconsiderate and annoying . It their upside down world, it is a virtue (cool and funny) to be obnoxious.

Motorcyclist justify their loud exhaust by claiming that "loud pipes save lives". They claim that motorists often do not see the small profile of a motorcycle, but they are sure to hear them if their exhaust is loud enough. However, I believe that this claim is disingenuous because most loud motorcycle riders in Florida choose not to wear protective helmets. Once, I noticed an obnoxiously loud motorcycle sitting next to me at a red light. I told the rider that his "loud pipes" were annoying and inconsiderate. The rider, who sported a patch that read "loud pipes save lives", didn't appreciate my freedom of expression and he threatened to shoot me. Apparently he had no interest in saving my life.

I see America's social, political and economic systems being torn to shreds because of the attitude and behavior of today's "me generation". If this continues Americas exceptional success will become unsustainable and we will collapse as a nation and culture.