I'm not necessarily disagreeing with the redoubtable Ms. Noonan, but my problem with such general indictments of culture is that there is no objective way to analyze or measure anything. It's all opinion and it's been going on for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It's just a rehash of the "good ol' days syndrome"; an argument to be trotted out when one is in a malaise (usually felt by middle-aged or older people), or feels that the current academic mission has lost its focus (queue up Allan Bloom, Harold Bloom, E.D. Hirsch, et al), or wishes to draft an argument the the current political party in power is leading us down the garden path to ruin. Scalia exhibits this yearning in his "originalist interpretation" of the constitution. Noonan is quite incorrect in her conclusions, btw. One can find many examples of past bureaucratic misuse of funds that were not "quiet". Which means that this exercise by Noonan is little more than a political op-ed piece, not a serious look at govt waste. She, being a deft writer, is merely weaving the events of the day into a tapestry of her own making. The subtext is, of course, that we must elect a Republican as president.
If you look at Gallup's historical polls it is pretty clear that anything under 30 is a "historical low". Generally a number under 30 has corresponded with a change in administrations.
This is what Ms. Noonan said: That's a historic low. This is what Shiner said: ...anything under 30 is a "historical low". A "historic low" is not necessarilly the same as a "historical low". If you are going to attempt to defend Ms. Noonan, please use your terminology correctly. Historic means rare, pronounced, special in its significance. Historical merely means that which has happened (in the past). Everything is historical; very few things are historic.
But she's doing little more than whining. Those who agree with her will nod their heads as if they are wise, intoning how prescient she is, how kids these days are ruining things. Ms. Noonan should spend her intellect on listing specifics that will help the country.
What she "is" (or more accurately, what you define her as being) does not preclude her from assuming the mantle of public intellectual, which many bestowed upon her in past years.
Noonan is not an intellectual of any sort. Gossip, agony, and advice column work is her specialty. The piece is worthless, rear-guard pap exactly as pitiable as Perham has suggested.
I certainly would not have expected Perham or Buckhorn to get her point. We live in a country of low expectations and even lower consequences.
This article could have been written anytime during the last several hundred years; you would only have to switch out the anecdotes. Conversely, a column could just as easily be written extolling our culture merely by switching out her examples for positive anecdotes. When did the Republicans become a party of emotional touchy-feely types?
Shiner The piece is ridiculous an wholly devoid of substance. It doesn't even make any sense. She wants to compare the antics of Secret Service guys on off time with 'steely-eyed' saviors at the time of a thankfully rare type of crisis? And then we are to apply what she finds lacking to all of our society? f**k her. She's an idiot. She is just making hay and trying to swob our eyes with tears. You know, it wouldn't be hard to pen a piece of exactly the opposite nature. Cherry pick as you will. I understand her point and method fully. Admittedly, I have little but disdain for that kind of dreck. The tiny detail blown up in an attempt to paint the larger picture in thin, transparent colors that, upon any sort of scrutiny, can be be seen in the details of any snapshot taken from any era. There are always short-sighted, unthinking fools who lap this **** up and then run in circles filling the air with their feathers.
Well, to write her "ain's it awful" story Noonan had to pretty much ignore statistics, which show US violence on a steadily declining path. And if our movies are any guide, nailing tail doesn't necessarily disqualify one for perfoming heroic actions a little later on. I'm all for improving our culture, but people who get misty eyed nostalgia either don't know or ignore history. The flash mobs of which she speaks are dispicable, but not nearly so much as the mobs that destroyed the black sections of Sherman TX in 1930 and Tulsa Okla. in 1921 with scant follow-up prosecution.
