When did America descend into a nation of morons, imbeciles, & Peter Pans (Peter Pan syndrome, look it up)

"When did America descend into a nation of morons, imbeciles, & Peter Pans (Peter Pan syndrome, look it up)"

Oh, honey.

You're part of the problem.

You're not capable of actual analysis.

But it's cute that you think you're smart.

I can't figure out if the endless stream of comic book films Hollywood has been churning out for the past 20+ years was a contributor to the infantilization of our culture, or merely a symptom of it. It's a chicken/egg scenario.

The internet and smart phones have both been complicit.

Divorce, social media, cultural decline....

And they are now "Woke" lol. Marxist kids thinking Mccartyism is a good thing

Mccarty?

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Best emoji use ever, my dear.

Lack of affordable housing, salaries not keeping up with the rate of inflation, the normalization of credit card debt, student loan burden, companies hiring foreign workers or hiring unskilled labor instead of paying competent people with skills/training/education, and the boom and bust cycle with a huge recession every ten years or so that puts everyone at a disadvantage and eradicates any financial or professional progress or stability. All of these are causing an ever widening wealth gap that has left more and more people behind and with little margin for error. We are basically in a second Great Depression right now, but the economy is being artificially buoyed by the government and many people living on the remains of credit and savings. There are people who are lazy and immature, but blaming it on that exclusively is a massive oversimplification.

I have said it time and time again, the internet and home computers are some of the best and the worst thing that ever happened to society. I attribute the beginning of the dumbing down of Americans with the start of AOL in 1991. I saw that kids & younger adults were rapidly becoming addicted to this new service almost immediately. As home computers & dial-up modems became more ubiquitous the addiction grew exponentially. When we went from dial-up modems to always on DSL it was like going from black & white TV to color. I remember people at work praising the internet because their kids were suddenly racing home from school to get on & stay on the computer in their rooms rather than being outside after school. They thought anything to keep their kids "off the streets" at night had to be good. Many parents literally turned the raising of their kids over to their computers. And of course the kids believed everything they read and saw on the internet. When internet porn became easy to find it was the parents (mainly the fathers) who started to become addicted to the computer.

The internet coupled with the ongoing dumbing down of the public school curriculums around the country have simply been disastrous in my opinion. I have teachers in my family and the horror stories I've heard about teaching kids pre internet vs post internet are scary. So many kids being graduated today would have been held back and placed in remedial classes when I was in school. I've met some kids of friends who are in college and I can't believe they were accepted into the schools they're in, or accepted to any college quite frankly. But it seems making sure kids actually learn is secondary these days. The stock of truly intelligent people graduating from college today who will run things in the future is getting smaller and smaller.

I used to think I was lucky to be as old as I am because I'd be dead and gone before things completely went to hell. The 4 years of Trump coupled with the ongoing insanity of 75 million fools in the US has disproved that idea completely.

When Bill Clinton looked the country in its collective eye and said "America, I feel your pain." and most people bought that bullshit. I knew at that point we were doomed.

I agree with r10 but most average people didn’t have easy access to the internet for leisure until 1995-1997.internet access killed leisure reading for many slowly but surely.

Reality TV really dumbed down America too. Though I loved it The Real World started the ball rolling, the Kardashians sealed the deal.

[quote] .internet access killed leisure reading

I believe you're right.

I used to be through reader but now I have to force myself to do so.

[quote]I used to be through reader but now I have to force myself to do so.

But how were your writing skills?

[quote]The internet and smart phones have both been complicit.

The eldercranks on DL always spew out the tired old "it's kids these days" stereotypes, but you'll never hear them talk about the stupid trends of their own childhood. How many goldfish did they swallow? How many phone booths did they jam themselves into? How many Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts did they go to... shirtless?

How many of your parents said you were brain-dead drooling morons thanks to Elvis and television and leather jackets? Lots, probably. You'll never admit it but your Fiestaware fetish isn't any more intellectually stimulating than a young person posting skits on TikTok.

Given the timing of this thread, it's surely one of the usual divide-and-demoralize troll topics meant to make people angry with each other and miserable, which is like shooting fish in a barrel here on DL, but I honestly don't know why people haven't gotten tired of it. WHY does anyone post the same damn thing every single day on Datalounge? Surely the same people complaining that others don't spend their time wisely wouldn't be wasting THEIR time with equally useless crap, would they?

[quote]When Bill Clinton looked the country in its collective eye and said "America, I feel your pain." and most people bought that bullshit. I knew at that point we were doomed.

Absolutely, R11. I'm always fascinated by the very charming and their unusual powers, and always amazed when anyone, let alone anyone otherwise intelligent, buys into the camp "Bill Clinton had that charm!". For some toothless old hillbilly women, I could see it, maybe; but for the rest of the nation? FFS, what charm? Smart galore, like a decent generation snake oil salesman, with some used car salesman and televangelist blood in the mix, whose greasy handshake stays with you way too long. It's that that I disagreed with him politically on many things, it's that he was so very fake and smarmy.

Seeing everyone adopt the line about his "charm" convinced me what a country of stupid motherfuckers Americans were. Of course now he looks sage and thoughtful and a bright spark, but that realization showed the the path of America since.

Read some American Lit. , like Mark Twain. It has been forever in this country. THIS IS NOT NEW!

To R11's point, we do live in the Age of Emotion. It seems to drive just about everything these days.

R17 Yes, but now everyone has a worldwide platform. I miss not really knowing what others thought about things.

R19 thanks you completed my post!

Y'all are soooo deep.

"Y'all" -

OP good question. I've also wondered about this, but I add the weirdo character that a significant portion of the population displays.

Just look at the irrationality that passes for discourse on Capitol Hill with the roots and the aftermath.

It's actually an ability to live with a lack of reason in their lives.

[quote] When did America descend into a nation of morons, imbeciles, & Peter Pans (Peter Pan syndrome, look it up)

Some time between the day [italic]Who’s the fucking Boss[/italic] premiered and the day that goddamn [italic]Friends[/italic] premiered.

If I were an American citizen, the average American IQ would rise quite a bit.

R24 Agreed about 80s TV. It was mostly fucking crap. Even the Golden Girls only had a handful of good episodes. Most episodes had the same 4 jokes repeated endlessly through 7 seasons. Bea Arthur was actually a very intelligent woman. She probably cried herself to sleep wondering why she's slumming it with the same 4 tired jokes.

Have you ever heard of the belief that gay men create culture? Maybe all the aids deaths in the 80s damaged our culture? Maybe it’s that?

Gay men are like 4% of the general pop. Even less in rural areas. I doubt those 3% determine culture for the other 97%. Where did you read that crap? LOL.

R28 You don’t think the deaths of tens of thousands of artists, dancers, musicians, writers, actors etc. might have an effect on society?

[quote] By the 90s, the infantilization and dumbing down of Americans had already reached peak level and has gotten way worse since then.

I think you don't know what a "peak" is.

I'd just like to point out, as a GenX child who had numerous responsibilities at the age of 8, not everyone is unable to care for themselves.

As the poster up thread stated, the gap between rich and the rest of us continues to grow so that younger generations can't afford to buy a house. They don't have decent paying jobs and they're drowning in student loan debt.

Some of them probably feel "fuck it!" And just live for the day since they don't see much of a future.

OP, let me introduce you to the disease:

R30 Drop dead, Janbot. You f'ing troll.

R26 = Four jokes is more than either of those two stink-bombs I mentioned had between them.

And don't forget that The Golden Girls belong to the same studio that gave us Goofy, Dumbo, and Dopey.

Yes R25 but the average dick length would halve.

Somebody's accused me of being Janbot!! I feel like a true DLer now.

R37, wait until somebody says "ff and blocked". and then you find out that they are stalking you in another thread.

Just watch "Idiocracy."

What happened wasn't a descent, it was a firm push back down.

After the War, the GIs came home and our social, business and education policies were to give them all homes, university educations, and jobs. Society started becoming more egalitatian and meritocratic - best and brightest meets civil rights movement. Well the top end saw what was happening and said 'fuck that!'...push them back down in their place. Education standards dropped on purpose, access to top university was connected to loans not scholarships to enslave the upwardly mobile into compliance, even food supply was tilted to money-making HFCS and Palm Oil to create an obese, bovine, and compliant populace. Media and entertainment promoted consumerism and envy, subsequent poorly educated generations were tracked into the military, and here we are.

The last 40 years has been the empire striking back, and you either work the system or get fucked by the system, or leave the system entirely.

Were you there, R16, or are you reviewing after the fact? If you were there, you should be able to remember what the times were and what people were feeling after Reagan/Bush and the appeal of Clinton in comparison to that. I don’t like Clinton at all, but credit where it’s due. I have seen footage of Clinton which analyzed his great body language and his ability to draw others in. He was supposedly much more handsome in person as well. And as always, just as with Obama, Trump and Biden, the belief holds sway that changing the figurehead in office will actually change the nation for better (even though the agenda stays the same).

[quote] Gay men are like 4% of the general pop

The ones who admit to it, maybe. The real number is considerably higher.

I think R40 has some interesting ideas, and I'll add another element to a complicated picture: The 60s were a radical shift towards the worship of youth culture and youth in general. I've said it elsewhere here before, but it's one of the reasons I found "Mad Men" such a fascinating show: It vividly portrayed the rapid move from an American culture that strove for sophistication and "adulthood" to one that glorified immature, self-indulgent consumerism between 1960 and 1970. Such worship of youth culture and behavior only intensified over the next several decades, leading us to OP's assessment....

This reads like a bitter old caftan Queen post, if ever I saw one. Every generation has it's share of morons. OP is proof of that.

R40 Did you see the movie Idiocracy? It was supposed to be far in the future but it's here now. The youth are beyond moronic. They are unable to do anything for themselves. They can barely formulate a complete, intelligent thought. Originality and analysis are an impossibility for these turds. That's why we have Janbot on DL. Her psychopathic stupidity shits on everything.

R44 Drop dead, Janbot.

It started concurrent with people getting fat.

I blame most things on women working outside the home. Women subconsciously felt guilty about that, and that launched helicopter parenting.

It was around July, 1776, if I remember correctly

It started with Baby Boomers. All the baby boomers I know are indistinguishable from children.

I agree, R48. And DINK parents meant that real estate agents felt they could double the cost of desirable property.

Baby Boomers are stupider, lazier, more entitled, and more wasteful than subsequent generations.

R51 in the 50s people straight out of college could afford mortgage on a 3 bedroom home in the metro area of a large city. Today Millenials are lucky if they can buy a studio 40 miles outside of a big city.

I'm agreeing with this thread but am being diverted by these 'Manhood' magazines from 1952-56

R54 What a time to be alive.

One word.

Plastics.

R53 I'm not gonna start the immigration debate again, I promise, but we also started importing people en masse in 1965 which can't have helped keep homes affordable.

[quote] That's why we have Janbot on DL

Oh dear R45. Janbot is the eldergay of eldergays. One of your own. No youngster is rhapsodizing about Janet Jackson

Disconnected parents AND helicopter parents have killed the US.

The republican war on education.

I'd say when the original "Gong Show" first went on the air.

People born in the late 50 and 60s did a really shitty job raising their kids.

R58 STFU Janbot. We all recognize your psychotic ramblings.

While there are multiple causes, I also think the rise of MY CHILD IS AWESOME mothering has really contributed to kids being kept stupid by being praised excessively for things that are really basic shit. My sister does this all the time. Kid throws a frozen pizza in the oven and he's an AMAZING COOK, kid feeds the dog and he's GREAT WITH ANIMALS, kid gives mother a flower from the garden and she's THE MOST CONSIDERATE LITTLE GIRL IN THE WORLD.

It's just ridiculous the amount of praise they get. They are the most overconfident but useless kids around and I suspect there is a whole generation like them. They never feel they have anything to learn or strive for because THEY'RE AWESOME JUST AS THEY ARE.

Everyone wins...there are no losers upbringing. Then the adult children can't handle rejection or any failures that is just part of life. It manifests into depression, some suicides , and violence...extreme such as shootings, etc.

[quote] Peter Pan syndrome,, look it up

OMG!!! I wouldn’t have known what that meant had you not so brilliantly told me to look it up!! THANK YOU SO MUCH, OP! Your wisdom knows no boundaries. DL is in a debt of gratitude to you for illuminating our journey: You learn something new every day and you have for sure changed my life! Who knew??!!!

When common sense, perspective and proportion were replaced by social media mob justice.

I love that this thread is turning meta.

Newt Gingrich and the 1994 Republican sweep of Congress and his Contract with America scam, along with with Ralph Reed Christianity/Evangelical insertion of so-called Christian family values rhetoric on public policy, pro white male Patriarchy bullshit.

Look it up, Younguns.

R66 It was meant for the brain dead Millenials, super cunt. Not methed up crotchety former hookers like you who have to drag their bombed out prolapsed anus everywhere.

[quote] Look it up, Younguns.

[quote] It was meant for brain dead millennials

The condescension oozing from the pores of some people around here is worse than the most pathetic methed-up whore with a prolapsed anus... or Hitler for that matter. 😴

[quote]The internet and smart phones have both been complicit.

I was at a doctor's office the other day, pretty much everyone was looking at their cells, even an old man! I was reading my newspaper.

A friend once told me, "My entire life in on my cell, I do my banking on it etc" I was mortified, how lazy have Americans become.

I'm sure there are cell phone addicts all over the world, yet it seems, America has always seemed obsessed with getting the next new TV, stereo system, kitchen appliance and basically anything which is marketed to them asa necessity which will make peoples lives easier. In most cases, none of these things have made life all that simpler, these devices are just other things to worry about and yet another bill to pay.

Corporate America has got us by the balls, it's always been this way and always will be.

R71 You are like an animal. You have no soul. You ain't human.

Having cell phones/smartphones doesn't make people stupid anymore than driving a car or horse makes anyone stupid. These morons have nothing to begin with, smartphones subtract nothing from nothing.

I wonder if there's a country as wacko was the US these days.

R56 please expand.

The question was when. Pretty obvious things started breaking down in the 1960s. In good ways and bad.

There were signposts along the way.

1500-1700s When all the dirty, stupid immigrants that were too lame to make it in their own shit- hole countries decided to come here and "discover" us. - Native Peoples

1954- When we added "under God" to the pledge of allegiance. So now ,to be an American you have to believe in Sky Daddy. In other words, we have to pledge to an untruth/ fallacy/ mass delusion/ lie to make foolish people feel good and not be "offended", which somehow has become a right.

When the GED became a substitute for a H.S. Diploma. GED started for the military and by 1974 every state had it for extreme cases, now it's endemic. Same with home schooling.

Reagan- Look!, A lazy, idiot can be president too. Drown government in a bathtub! Lie or deny but smile and just brush it off with a clever quip and a sparkle in your eye. Devastating economic policies that we live with today. Which was the goal. Keep the poors undereducated and burdened with debt. Demonize the unions. Let the gays die. Just tell people that you talked to GOD and he told you it was ok. Smile for the camera.

r69 is correct. tldr- Use God to justify greed.

One day you will DREAM about the day someone called you "Youngun".

The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness.

[quote] And they are now "Woke" lol. Marxist kids thinking Mccartyism is a good thing

LOL, ur tots rite!

Janbot, and her 20 dummy accounts on here, is the biggest moronic turd the nation has ever seen