More Evidence Of What We've Become

There was further evidence this past week of what we have become as a society.

First, another school shooting. These things are becoming all too common.

It's the same sad story over and over. Jonesboro, Paducah and now Springfield, Ore. But those are the highly publicized incidents.

There have been others. Since October there have been school shootings in Pearl, Miss., and Edinboro, Pa., too.

Just last Tuesday a high school senior allegedly shot and killed a student in Fayetteville, Tenn. That apparently was over an argument about a girl.

For a long time now - around 30 years - we as a society have been pushing this "if it feels good, do it" philosophy.

We don't like to impose on anybody. We don't like to tell them what to do.

It's not politically correct to force a sense of morality on our youth.

There are very few absolutes. Very few rights and wrongs. There is this giant gray area of morality where we allow our youth to wander.

Parents fear disciplining their children. The "spare the rod, spoil the child" ideology has been demonized to the point where lots of parents are afraid to admit that they swat their kid on the butt.

And besides, these days your kid would probably sue you anyway. Or the welfare department would intervene.

And, of course, there is no fear of final judgment in many kids these days.

We have made sure of that. Religion has been trivialized so much by government and media , people are afraid to say they believe in God.

Factor in the steady stream of gratuitous sex and violence that we call entertainment and you have the recipe for social decline.

We have created a whole class of youth who think their lives are screwed up and they have nothing to lose.

And they desperately want to be noticed. We emulate those in our society who get noticed. Those who have fame.

Problem is, many times the fame is really infamy. But it still gets you noticed.

I was on the Internet the other day and stumbled across this site where they sell "Killer Fonts."

What they did was take samples of the handwriting of infamous murderers and created typefaces. You can buy them for $29.95.

You could load these up on your computer and do your term paper in, say, 12-point Manson, or 10-point Dahmer.

My guess is these typeface guys will get rich.

So if you kill enough people in the most heinous fashion, you get your own typeface. Pretty nifty, eh?

Every kid wants to be rich and famous. The rich part is a little tough, but shoot up the school and you really get your 15 minutes of fame, don't you?

And it's amazing how little thought these kids put toward the consequences of their actions. Apparently, they aren't bothered by the prospect of life in prison.

We tend to place value on lots of the wrong things in society today.

Kids used to want to play big league baseball because they loved the game.

Now they want to play because they can be rich. All the emphasis is placed on success and the big payoff.

The phrase from the move "Jerry McGuire" has become the hue and cry of the '90s: "Show me the money."

Perfect example - Latrell Sprewell. He's the NBA player who attacked and choked his coach.

He got fired and suspended for the rest of the season. Then an arbitrator ruled that firing him was too harsh and that Sprewell's team, the Golden State Warriors, had to honor the remainder of his contract.

But they let stand the suspension. So Sprewell missed 68 games. End of story, right?

Wrong.

Sprewell is suing. He says the suspension somehow violated his rights.

He wants $30 million. That's $6 million for lost wages and $24 million for suffering or whatever.

And know what? In today's America, he'll probably win.

Want some more insight into what we have become?

A kid in Chicago gets shot a block from a hospital. He makes it to within 35 feet of the door to the hospital.

Hospital officials refused to go out and help him because their policy forbids leaving the hospital to provide treatment.

So the kid lays there for nearly a half hour before cops finally bring him in. He dies an hour later.

Certainly the policy is a result of the hospital's fear of litigation. If they go out to a patient and something bad happens, they're more likely to be sued than if the patient is brought in to them.

The end result was a change in the policy. But somebody had to die to make that happen.

And now to the important stuff.

Hispanic groups are up in arms about the little dog that hawks Taco Bell food. You know, the little "Yo quiero Taco Bell"

guy. They says the ads are racist.

Also, the National Puerto Rican Council called Seinfeld's next to last episode an "unconscionable insult" because Kramer inadvertently torches a Puerto Rican flag during Puerto Rican Day festivities.

We need to rise up as a nation and stamp out all this bigotry before somebody really gets hurt, right?

Instead of stumbling through life in constant fear of being sued or offending someone, we need to start emulating things like responsibility, accountability, integrity, morality and character.

Until we do, things will only get worse.

And until we do, I guess all we can hope for is something to hide behind when the bullets start flying.