pop culture is worsening because the PC buzz of the 90s returned with the backing of the press, the entertainment industry and the government and people are being indoctrinated into believing that the best way forward is through authoritarian silencing of diverse opinion and the stifling of debate; there is no better way to stunt intellectual growth than to suggest that you are infallible
in art, objective value and quality has been slowly thrown out for introspective and increasingly political artwork; it's gotten to the point where art museums will buy boulders and then prop them up in front of the building and call it a masterpiece; the same authoritarian "I'm always right" elitist attitude transfers to this field, where if you don't "understand" a piece that is literally indecipherable, you're an outsider and not a true fan of art
in music, the lyrical and chordal diversity of songs has gone down significantly and the fullness of tracks has plummeted with the arrival of electronic noises; dominant strategy dictates that the easiest technique guaranteed to work will be used every single time, and that is clearly evident with the rise of autotune and the fact that at least half of the popular artists who use it do so not to be evocative or innovative but to instead hide the fact that they can't harmonize or even sing in key (*cough*kAnYe*cough*); yes there have been plenty of songs in the past that talk about butts and shaking them, but while they did so to be controversial/make a good song to dance to, artists like Fergie, Nicki Minaj, and Miley Cyrus do it purely out of unchecked vanity
in education, refer to the first point; it is impossible to truly learn without being exposed to different points of view, and this comes to a head at universities, where speakers, entertainers, and even the school's own teachers will be kicked off campus for pushing against the authoritarian points of view of those at the universities; while in the past people have been ostracized and unfairly ridiculed, it has always been the establishment that has done it, not the younger generation
in culture, going back to the authoritarianism once again, those in entertainment, particularly, who step out of line and say something controversial even once will get fired, lose their shows, get accused 20-30+ times of RAPE (you loving know who I'm talking about) or even worse, regardless of their prominence; there seems to be an active movement to push out the old, talented people in the entertainment industry and replace them with people on the same ideological path as the "majority" of Americans; the disregard for facts is staggering on both sides of the aisle, and in particular if a person is accused of a crime/misdemeanor, the prevailing sentiment is now that they are guilty until proven innocent, not the other way around as has been clearly established by those who came before us; to where as it took a forgetton of evidence and only one missing piece to convince people OJ Simpson was guilty, now it only takes the supposition that something wrong has been done; take Casey Anthony, Men's Wearhouse Spokesman, Annoying Orange & Cosby, etc. as examples; being a beacon of your culture is no longer attributed to talent, skill or heart, but to the right political or social ideology
in social movements, never have I seen more violent social movements (here in the US, I'm not counting national socialists/Communism) take place all at once; people beating those they disagree with, destroying buildings, kidnapping people in the name of these movements and then basically tarring and feathering them, killing cops en masse, etc. etc.; the point of these groups is no longer to unite, but to divide; the "us-vs.-them" mentality is rampant among these movements and they constantly vilify those they don't like while justifying any and all bad actions they commit in vilifying these people; yes, I'm guilty at least somewhat of this, but to acknowledge it is to work to fix it
in politics, absolutely nothing substantial that will last a lifetime has passed through the legislature, and for the past eight years the Congress has made it a point to be deadlocked as loving possible and to not get anything done; it's one, if probably not the main reason that the entire government is now majority one party
yeah, it looks like we're expanding, but we're expanding within the shell we made for ourselves
at some point we're going to have to break out of this authoritarian, lackluster, "the easiest way is the best way" mentality and really show what we're made of
