I see some of this inappropriate behavior in older people who should know better, especially in the last 10 years with smart phones, where it's impossible to have a business meeting without at least a few heads too absorbed in their phones to listen to other people speaking. With this generation being the second or third into the increasingly daycare-raised environment with every second of their day being supervised, they grow up without primary attachments or the ability to cross the street by themselves or walk to a park unsupervised without some idiot calling the cops, and most recently in GA, a parent was actually ARRESTED for allowing her 11 year old boy to do so. No sense of perspective is permitted, no freedoms to explore, no demand by the supposed adults to govern themselves, so we have a generation of young adults who function at the level of autistic 3rd graders who have no idea how to think critically. Then add the covid hysteria into the mix with all of the inappropriate, dangerous & tyrannical "mandates" and they become lifelong psychiatric cases. I don't know how we get through this to some sanity, but it's going to take some sort of reset and a lot of time.
I have a different take on it. I point you back to the Peter Principle.
In the push for equality, the system has elevated people into positions beyond their competence. What happens is that people who are not suited are getting pushed into these positions because of attributes that have nothing to do with their qualifications. People are not just interchangeable cogs. It's not being sexist or racist. It has nothing to do with genitals, melanin levels, or anything like that. Most people of any race, gender, or ethnicity are not suited to leadership roles.
The workplace has dealt with staffing as if people were interchangeable commodities. The education system has groomed people to be compliant rather than capable. Companies have decided that they are free to focus on just about anything other than the function of their actual business.
I think that it is inevitable that any time a company is in the hand of the "management class" that has no vested interest in the success of the venture, it is doomed to eventual failure. We are just seeing the last death throes of the business model.
David, you make a strong point about the Peter Principle and its role in the dysfunction we’re seeing today. Elevating individuals beyond their competence is certainly a factor. But I think the issue goes deeper than just the workplace or even leadership selection.
When the collective goal becomes feeling good rather than doing well, whether in business, education, or society at large, we risk eroding the very foundations of excellence and accountability.
Maybe it’s not just the death throes of a business model—it’s a symptom of a civilization losing its sense of direction. The question is: can we right the ship, or are we destined to sail further into this storm?
I don't think it is really that bad. We don't have a representative sample. We see this through the lens of social media.
We don't see the normal kids. We see the idiots that blast it on social media and embarrass themselves. We have the fools that tell the kids that "You can be whatever you want to be." which is total nonsense. Like telling all girls that they can be firefighters and astronauts. Not many men have the capability to do those jobs but somehow, magically, all the girls have to do is want them.
That's not saying that they should be barred from these roles. I am just saying that they should be realistic and not modify the requirements to put people in the position to fail.
There are some female bosses that are great. There are also a lot of losers. They usually fall into one of two categories. They either want "to be nice to everyone" or they go to the other extreme to prove that they are "tough enough." Bluntly, women's society is brutal. They are a lot meaner than men. Mostly because men live in a world where there are limits that you can't exceed without the risk of physical violence.
This has played out in the educational system and engrained itself into society. Maybe it will self correct. We have a big push for alternatives to the educational system. But this is also handicapped by the over-requirement of credentials. Men are opting out of higher education at a large rate which leads to even more women getting these positions that they are not cut out for.
Of course it is a cultural thing peculiar to the US. It plays out differently in other parts of the world where self esteem doesn't trump reality. Of course there are also other problems in those other places as well.
Have to admit that I am very grateful I viewed the video of the “young ladies” while sipping coffee from my favorite mug that reads, “I am not responsible for what my face does when you talk”. I specifically purchased it for reasons such as were depicted in the video. The next one I am ordering will read, “I am too old for this.” Oh boy. I had etiquette training as a youth. I am 59 now. When I reach out to shake a new acquaintance’s hand, people generally do not know how to react. That is pretty unnerving, actually. Sadly, I have witnessed behavior such as that in the video and I am often speechless. It makes the few such as Maxim truly stand out, though.
Elizabeth, your mug sounds like the perfect coping mechanism for the times we’re living in! It's astonishing how basic etiquette—like a handshake—has become a lost art, leaving those of us who were taught these skills feeling like relics of another era.
You’re absolutely right, though: the rarity of young people like Maxim who value personal discipline and self-improvement makes them all the more remarkable. Perhaps their example will serve as a quiet rebellion against the chaos we see around us.
I have run across a few Smiths locally, and it was a beacon of hope, but at the same time magnified the immense shadow that is the rest of the world - I don't think tat is to hyperbolic at this point in the game.
I've said in many comments and posts of my own, "we are the stupidest smart monkeys, to ever walk the face of the earth."
We have reaped what we sewed for 8 plus decades. Our apathy, neglect, omnipotence, gullibility and most critically - our affinity for - all things opportunistic, radical and subversive has brought us here.
You can look at ANY portion of the world today (culture, society, government, religion, health, finances, you name it) and point squarely to the culprits - US. No one likes to hear or admit that, but there is no escaping the responsibility we all bear for the dumbass adult children in that video, who were taken out of the oven half backed and served up as done.
This could be fixed quickly, but will not and the number of the addled will grow exponentially and daily, well past the Maxim Smiths of the world. It will take a major crash or fall for the pendulum to swing and even then, few will have the stomach to scrape these cancers and the tumors that spawned them, from the societal body. Which means we will build to this dystopia again.
Looking back the societal and cultural maintenance would have been relatively easy, but now is insurmountable, past a literal or theoretical flood. The opportunists, rapists, molesters, charlatans and radicals would have been easy to identify and eradicate when they were few and on the fringe, trying to lure the masses to their destruction, but now they sit in the seats of power and run the world we chaotically live in. You could rip them from society, but people have been brainwashed to think it would be akin to ripping their own beating hearts, from their chests - and in some ways it might be.
Hence the mass lack of will or resolve and the extreme affinity for all things Comfort, Convenience and Entertainment. Or put another way, any created distraction, that doesn't saddle them with the responsibility and ownership of their own well beings and that of their societies and cultures.
Your comment reads like a manifesto for our times, and honestly, it’s hard to argue with your diagnosis. We've been living in a self-inflicted cycle of apathy, opportunism, and distraction for decades, and the consequences are now baked into every corner of society. The "stupidest smart monkeys" line? Painfully accurate.
But maybe that’s where the Maxim Smiths of the world shine brightest—not because they can singlehandedly reverse the course of this cultural freefall, but because they remind us that not everyone has succumbed. They’re proof that there’s still a spark of resilience, morality, and common sense out there, however small.
I agree that fixing this would require a seismic shift—one most people are too comfortable or complacent to stomach. But maybe that’s the silver lining of collapse. Sometimes, the only way forward is through the fire.
I agree on all counts. The Maxims are truly the only signs of hope (societally) going foreword and will always sprout up in the ruts and cracks, of the dystopian landscapes we work so hard to create. The hope is that their truer natures are so charming, endearing and attractive, that they gain a following and spur change.
My intentional slap to the collective face of humanity, is not meant as a surrender, but a admonishment and wake up call. In the vane, that unless we honestly look in the mirror and name the enabler, we will continue wallow under the yolk of the destroyers and complain about it the whole time.
And yes the fall - floods are needed, when the monkeys become so perverted, deviant, maniacal, abhorrent, lascivious and evil- that there is no benign way of reforming them, or the will for them to reform themselves.
It wasn’t always like this, but we’ve “progressed” our way out of spaces and times where morals, values and truths were the widely held keys, to survival. It’s all too easy now.
The “monkey analogy” was an intentional pejorative but also illustrative, in that monkeys who’re handed bananas though cage bars, will happily take and eat them. They will however develop all manner of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders, due to the forced trade offs of effortless and never ending sustenance (or treats) for their obedience and freedom.
What makes us dumber than them, is we demanded the trade.
We do, however, have and always have had the ability to choose, to turn things around……
The causes are many - TikTok, everyone gets a trophy, helicopter parents, etc., etc. The result is an entire generation that is the weakest and least prepared for anything. And soon we'll be giving them the keys to the country. As we sit on the doorstep of WW III, I have no faith that we could mount a reasonable defense, or deal with the aftermath. Of course, as a Boomer, my days are numbered anyway, but I'd hoped to leave my kids and grandkids in a better world.
Maybe this generation's weakness is also their strength. They’ve been raised in chaos, and some will rise from it with a resilience forged in adversity. The rest of us need to make sure that for every clueless TikTok dancer, there’s a Maxim Smith—someone quietly equipping themselves with the skills, values, and grit we’ll need in the aftermath of whatever comes next.
This is why I hold Purina and E. & J. Gallo in my retirement fund
I see some of this inappropriate behavior in older people who should know better, especially in the last 10 years with smart phones, where it's impossible to have a business meeting without at least a few heads too absorbed in their phones to listen to other people speaking. With this generation being the second or third into the increasingly daycare-raised environment with every second of their day being supervised, they grow up without primary attachments or the ability to cross the street by themselves or walk to a park unsupervised without some idiot calling the cops, and most recently in GA, a parent was actually ARRESTED for allowing her 11 year old boy to do so. No sense of perspective is permitted, no freedoms to explore, no demand by the supposed adults to govern themselves, so we have a generation of young adults who function at the level of autistic 3rd graders who have no idea how to think critically. Then add the covid hysteria into the mix with all of the inappropriate, dangerous & tyrannical "mandates" and they become lifelong psychiatric cases. I don't know how we get through this to some sanity, but it's going to take some sort of reset and a lot of time.
I have a different take on it. I point you back to the Peter Principle.
In the push for equality, the system has elevated people into positions beyond their competence. What happens is that people who are not suited are getting pushed into these positions because of attributes that have nothing to do with their qualifications. People are not just interchangeable cogs. It's not being sexist or racist. It has nothing to do with genitals, melanin levels, or anything like that. Most people of any race, gender, or ethnicity are not suited to leadership roles.
The workplace has dealt with staffing as if people were interchangeable commodities. The education system has groomed people to be compliant rather than capable. Companies have decided that they are free to focus on just about anything other than the function of their actual business.
I think that it is inevitable that any time a company is in the hand of the "management class" that has no vested interest in the success of the venture, it is doomed to eventual failure. We are just seeing the last death throes of the business model.
David, you make a strong point about the Peter Principle and its role in the dysfunction we’re seeing today. Elevating individuals beyond their competence is certainly a factor. But I think the issue goes deeper than just the workplace or even leadership selection.
When the collective goal becomes feeling good rather than doing well, whether in business, education, or society at large, we risk eroding the very foundations of excellence and accountability.
Maybe it’s not just the death throes of a business model—it’s a symptom of a civilization losing its sense of direction. The question is: can we right the ship, or are we destined to sail further into this storm?
I don't think it is really that bad. We don't have a representative sample. We see this through the lens of social media.
We don't see the normal kids. We see the idiots that blast it on social media and embarrass themselves. We have the fools that tell the kids that "You can be whatever you want to be." which is total nonsense. Like telling all girls that they can be firefighters and astronauts. Not many men have the capability to do those jobs but somehow, magically, all the girls have to do is want them.
That's not saying that they should be barred from these roles. I am just saying that they should be realistic and not modify the requirements to put people in the position to fail.
There are some female bosses that are great. There are also a lot of losers. They usually fall into one of two categories. They either want "to be nice to everyone" or they go to the other extreme to prove that they are "tough enough." Bluntly, women's society is brutal. They are a lot meaner than men. Mostly because men live in a world where there are limits that you can't exceed without the risk of physical violence.
This has played out in the educational system and engrained itself into society. Maybe it will self correct. We have a big push for alternatives to the educational system. But this is also handicapped by the over-requirement of credentials. Men are opting out of higher education at a large rate which leads to even more women getting these positions that they are not cut out for.
Of course it is a cultural thing peculiar to the US. It plays out differently in other parts of the world where self esteem doesn't trump reality. Of course there are also other problems in those other places as well.
Have to admit that I am very grateful I viewed the video of the “young ladies” while sipping coffee from my favorite mug that reads, “I am not responsible for what my face does when you talk”. I specifically purchased it for reasons such as were depicted in the video. The next one I am ordering will read, “I am too old for this.” Oh boy. I had etiquette training as a youth. I am 59 now. When I reach out to shake a new acquaintance’s hand, people generally do not know how to react. That is pretty unnerving, actually. Sadly, I have witnessed behavior such as that in the video and I am often speechless. It makes the few such as Maxim truly stand out, though.
Elizabeth, your mug sounds like the perfect coping mechanism for the times we’re living in! It's astonishing how basic etiquette—like a handshake—has become a lost art, leaving those of us who were taught these skills feeling like relics of another era.
You’re absolutely right, though: the rarity of young people like Maxim who value personal discipline and self-improvement makes them all the more remarkable. Perhaps their example will serve as a quiet rebellion against the chaos we see around us.
#MakeAmericaMannerlyAgain…for starters.
I have run across a few Smiths locally, and it was a beacon of hope, but at the same time magnified the immense shadow that is the rest of the world - I don't think tat is to hyperbolic at this point in the game.
I've said in many comments and posts of my own, "we are the stupidest smart monkeys, to ever walk the face of the earth."
We have reaped what we sewed for 8 plus decades. Our apathy, neglect, omnipotence, gullibility and most critically - our affinity for - all things opportunistic, radical and subversive has brought us here.
You can look at ANY portion of the world today (culture, society, government, religion, health, finances, you name it) and point squarely to the culprits - US. No one likes to hear or admit that, but there is no escaping the responsibility we all bear for the dumbass adult children in that video, who were taken out of the oven half backed and served up as done.
This could be fixed quickly, but will not and the number of the addled will grow exponentially and daily, well past the Maxim Smiths of the world. It will take a major crash or fall for the pendulum to swing and even then, few will have the stomach to scrape these cancers and the tumors that spawned them, from the societal body. Which means we will build to this dystopia again.
Looking back the societal and cultural maintenance would have been relatively easy, but now is insurmountable, past a literal or theoretical flood. The opportunists, rapists, molesters, charlatans and radicals would have been easy to identify and eradicate when they were few and on the fringe, trying to lure the masses to their destruction, but now they sit in the seats of power and run the world we chaotically live in. You could rip them from society, but people have been brainwashed to think it would be akin to ripping their own beating hearts, from their chests - and in some ways it might be.
Hence the mass lack of will or resolve and the extreme affinity for all things Comfort, Convenience and Entertainment. Or put another way, any created distraction, that doesn't saddle them with the responsibility and ownership of their own well beings and that of their societies and cultures.
Your comment reads like a manifesto for our times, and honestly, it’s hard to argue with your diagnosis. We've been living in a self-inflicted cycle of apathy, opportunism, and distraction for decades, and the consequences are now baked into every corner of society. The "stupidest smart monkeys" line? Painfully accurate.
But maybe that’s where the Maxim Smiths of the world shine brightest—not because they can singlehandedly reverse the course of this cultural freefall, but because they remind us that not everyone has succumbed. They’re proof that there’s still a spark of resilience, morality, and common sense out there, however small.
I agree that fixing this would require a seismic shift—one most people are too comfortable or complacent to stomach. But maybe that’s the silver lining of collapse. Sometimes, the only way forward is through the fire.
I agree on all counts. The Maxims are truly the only signs of hope (societally) going foreword and will always sprout up in the ruts and cracks, of the dystopian landscapes we work so hard to create. The hope is that their truer natures are so charming, endearing and attractive, that they gain a following and spur change.
My intentional slap to the collective face of humanity, is not meant as a surrender, but a admonishment and wake up call. In the vane, that unless we honestly look in the mirror and name the enabler, we will continue wallow under the yolk of the destroyers and complain about it the whole time.
And yes the fall - floods are needed, when the monkeys become so perverted, deviant, maniacal, abhorrent, lascivious and evil- that there is no benign way of reforming them, or the will for them to reform themselves.
It wasn’t always like this, but we’ve “progressed” our way out of spaces and times where morals, values and truths were the widely held keys, to survival. It’s all too easy now.
The “monkey analogy” was an intentional pejorative but also illustrative, in that monkeys who’re handed bananas though cage bars, will happily take and eat them. They will however develop all manner of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders, due to the forced trade offs of effortless and never ending sustenance (or treats) for their obedience and freedom.
What makes us dumber than them, is we demanded the trade.
We do, however, have and always have had the ability to choose, to turn things around……
The causes are many - TikTok, everyone gets a trophy, helicopter parents, etc., etc. The result is an entire generation that is the weakest and least prepared for anything. And soon we'll be giving them the keys to the country. As we sit on the doorstep of WW III, I have no faith that we could mount a reasonable defense, or deal with the aftermath. Of course, as a Boomer, my days are numbered anyway, but I'd hoped to leave my kids and grandkids in a better world.
Maybe this generation's weakness is also their strength. They’ve been raised in chaos, and some will rise from it with a resilience forged in adversity. The rest of us need to make sure that for every clueless TikTok dancer, there’s a Maxim Smith—someone quietly equipping themselves with the skills, values, and grit we’ll need in the aftermath of whatever comes next.