{"id":2030,"date":"2009-10-01T21:13:16","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T21:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=2030"},"modified":"2009-10-01T21:13:16","modified_gmt":"2009-10-01T21:13:16","slug":"when-adults-are-idiots-or-how-to-explain-sin-while-ignoring-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2009\/10\/when-adults-are-idiots-or-how-to-explain-sin-while-ignoring-it\/","title":{"rendered":"When Adults Are Idiots, Or, How to Explain Sin While Ignoring It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"congressman-joe-wilson\"From the LA Times, more on the recent outbursts of Kanye West, Serena Williams, and Joe Wilson<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In the wake of these high-profile outbursts across disciplines \u2014 politics, entertainment and sports \u2014 many Americans have found themselves asking what is going on. To some, it\u2019s not a coincidence but rather the manifestation of a deepening social dysfunction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely regrettable, but not shocking,\u201d said Pepper Schwartz, a University of Washington sociologist. \u201cAnd there is a viral element to it. It\u2019s like Malcolm Gladwell\u2019s book \u2018The Tipping Point.\u2019 You get to a critical mass of something and it spreads like wildfire.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s interesting to see theories crop up about this behavior, as people try to reason out why adults\u2013seemingly those who should be mature\u2013are acting like complete buffoons in public.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a snatch of one theory:<\/p>\n

Many have bemoaned the erosion of civility represented by these rants, but cultural critic and writer Joseph Epstein thinks civility was purely a facade to begin with.<\/p>\n

The public figures who crossed the line have careers that generally require them to create \u201cfalse PR personalities,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cThese were eruptions of true, loathsome feelings after all these years of suppression and having to pretend to be such sweet characters when they are not. What they all were before is as phony as can be. They all just said, \u2018I can\u2019t take it anymore,\u2019 and they all fell apart.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Uh-huh.\u00a0 Riiiiight.<\/em> The article\u2019s worth a read<\/a> to get a pulse for how people are approaching idiotic adult behavior.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to see our society\u2013or at least some of it\u2013with a sense of cultural embarrassment over the antics of the aforementioned celebs.\u00a0 I say \u201cfunny\u201d because that same society has precious little explanation for why adults\u2013who, once again, are supposed to be mature\u2013are acting like children.<\/p>\n

There are certainly reasons that can account for this kind of behavior.\u00a0 At least one of them, however, has to be that people are sinners, and they aren\u2019t being taught that, and so they\u2019re growing up to believe that they really are the center of the universe and can act as they see fit.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing we\u2019ll only see more of this as time goes on and the entitled generation grows up.\u00a0 The sad thing?\u00a0 People acting idiotically really will think, per common wisdom, that they are acting rightly, because they\u2019re acting authentically.\u00a0 That\u2019s the standard by which many younger folk seem to judge their actions today.<\/p>\n

For awards shows, tennis matches, youth groups, churches, and so on, this cannot bode well.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the LA Times, more on the recent outbursts of Kanye West, Serena Williams, and Joe Wilson: In the wake of these high-profile outbursts across disciplines \u2014 politics, entertainment and sports \u2014 many Americans have found themselves asking what is going on. To some, it\u2019s not a coincidence but rather the manifestation of a deepening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[751,1701,1774,13186,1915,2614,2856],"class_list":["post-2030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrity","tag-celebrities-misbehaving","tag-joe-wilson","tag-kanye-west","tag-la-times","tag-malcolm-gladwell","tag-serena-williams","tag-the-tipping-point"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Adults Are Idiots, Or, How to Explain Sin While Ignoring It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From the LA Times, more on the recent outbursts of Kanye West, Serena Williams, and Joe Wilson: In the wake of these high-profile outbursts across\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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