Posted on 06/15/2005 6:43:04 PM PDT by CHARLITE
In his new book, Porn Generation, Ben Shapiro mocks the absurdity of some common liberal solutions to society’s ills. He exposes the outrageous advice of liberal celebrities and media figures, detailing how liberals have transformed the overthrow of traditional values into an art: by methodically watering down religion, undermining parental authority, and giving all views equal legitimacy, they’ve produced the cultural crisis that we see today.
This approach has left my generation plagued with moral relativism, narcissism, and many other unintended consequences that the hippie generation is unwilling to take responsibility for and which the aging leftists that now control academia are still trying to promote. By detailing this, Shapiro provides the slap in the face that America needs.
Perhaps my experiences at Wellesley College make me especially ready to embrace Shapiro’s ideas, but I would argue that anyone would consider this book a quick read and (if they have the stomach for it) hard to put down.
Porn Generation has all of the bite and harshness of a young conservative who has been pushed to the edge by the constant force of liberal propaganda within our education system, yet it also presents arguments which are thorough and unavoidably convincing for even the most liberally-minded.
Shapiro details the chronology of society’s moral breakdown – explaining how today’s trends can be traced back to the Kinsey study in the ‘40s, the Clinton scandal in the ‘90s, and other prominent events that changed our understanding of sexuality and culture.
Loaded with quality conservative sarcasm, this book analyzes the hypocrisy enveloping the liberal machine and looks at the various aspects of our culture – teen magazines, pop celebrities, and commercial marketing – that influence our youth.
The one warning that I must issue before encouraging you to read this book is that it does have very provocative titles and explicit language. The irony, however, is that this language is nothing that we do not see or hear every day watching the news, listening to the radio, reading popular magazines, or attending university seminars. Shapiro calls conservatives and liberals alike on their hypocrisy for buying into the new culture that they condemn in principle, yet support with their wallets.
Shapiro points out the craziness of a society which turns criminals into multi-millionaire rap stars, especially when they teach boys “that it’s okay to treat women like dirt” and that these “contemporary buffoons, vulgarians and misogynists are…the ones who are ‘keeping it real’,” while teaching young girls that boys only want strippers and prostitutes.
He argues that youth cling to “gangsta’ rap” because it “distances them from their parents, and in some sense, serves as a rejection of their parents’ culture and their race itself.” This new mentality, according to Shapiro, has only served to promote moral relativism and give young whites the “false impression that [gangsta’ rap] actually represents mainstream black America.” This highlights the hypocrisy of multiculturalism and empowerment within my generation. As the Rev. Al Sharpton said, “Civil rights marchers didn’t march so that a rapper ‘has the right to call your mama a ho.’”
Shapiro looks with disdain at the careers of pop idols Madonna; the former-Mouseketeers-turned-Madonna-wannabes Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera; and newest Disney “pop tarts” Hillary Duff (who hasn’t sold out yet) and Lindsay Lohan (who has). He also looks at the lyrics from such “artists” as Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Ozzy Osbourne (who compared Bush to Hitler just months after the President complimented him on his music success), and Marilyn Manson.
He lauds these artists on a few points, praising Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder for declaring that “any generation that would pick Kurt [Cobain] or [Eddie Vedder] as its spokesman… must be a pretty f–up generation” and admitting that Britney Spears is right about one thing: “It’s a fantasy world that [she’s] doing…It’s up to the parents to explain that to their children.”
Shapiro highlights a critical disconnect between parents and the current generation, citing such figures as: “While only 15 percent of surveyed parents believed that their teens had gone beyond kissing, 27 percent of teens reported being with someone in an intimate or sexual way.”
The recurring theme of this book is that parents are increasingly being cut out of the loop, with schools replacing their authority in sex ed, teenybopper magazines telling their kids what to think and “how to exploit…‘rents into letting [them] date,” and music contributing to the clash of generations. He summarizes his view of teenybopper magazines with the question “Where the hell are your parents?”
This book is the ultimate summary of how we “have been re-defining deviancy so as to exempt much conduct previously stigmatized,” while concurrently defining deviancy up so that the normal has been made to be found deviant. It differs from other conservative crisis-of-our-age books in that he doesn’t just scream bloody murder at the problems caused by the liberal hijacking of our culture, but also offers shrewd solutions for how each of us can help restore and transform our culture.
Overall, Porn Generation is well worth reading and very enjoyable -- assuming you can stomach knowing exactly how disgusting our culture is.
Maribeth Armitage is a former Witherspoon Fellow and a graduate of Wellesley College. She managed a congressional campaign in Boston before coming to work for Townhall.com.
"Few Gen-Xers ever picked either of these Bozos as our spokesmen, It was the Baby Boomer writers & suits who gave them that title and forced them on us."
Bump to that.
I also loved this aside in the article:
"Hillary Duff (who hasn’t sold out yet)"
ROFLMAO. Working for Disney until you're 18, being a Mouseketeer, and doing teensploitation flicks like "Cinderella Story," that's just "stickin' it to the man!"
But...but...he told me if I cancelled my Playboy subscription I'd be helping the war on terror! DAMMIT, Pat Robertson lied to me AGAIN!
BTTT
you know, I think it is a right of passage for the elder generation to BITCH about the younger generation.
It has probably been going on for as long as there have been generations....
Sounds like a good book.
Actually the author of this book Ben Shapiro is only 21!!
LOL
really?
he must be reading some of the threads on FR then :)
Until we run the proponents of Sex Positive teaching out of the schools and libraries (no such thing as "age appropriate" and they consider abstinence to be unhealthy as it is a denial of sexual desires), we will continue on our HOV lane to Babylon.
http://www.allaboutsex.org shows just what these critters are up to (they threw in the towel in advancing the agenda because people gave them some grief, they leave the site up to link to institutional proponents of sexually active minors).
Michael Medved was talking this week about the mature things being pushed on pre-pubescent children with principals and school boards defending the materials. Do pre-kindergarten students really need to learn about semen and its role in AIDS/HIV?
Moral Absolutes Ping.
This is a book I should read. But do I want to be more disgusted than I am?
If anyone has read it, put up a book review!
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
I have never read "60%". But I have read that of first marriages, quite a bit less than 50% fail; what brings up the average of failure is the fact that those who divorce and re-marry often divorce and re-marry again, sometimes several times.
All kids deserve attention, but different kinds.
The good news is both Gen-X & Gen-Y are rejecting the decadent baby boomer ways and despite all the crap you see on T.V. the country will be fine once we get the Baby Boomers out of power.
See...
or the shorter version (Rush Limbaugh on)James Glassman on the Next Generation
Ping!
"...or any other of the serious issues with which our government needs to concern itself."
You're right, the gov't has bigger things to worry about. The people decide what type of culture they live in.
Ditto on the book review request.
"The people" as in the ACLU forcibly removing, on pain of lawsuit and millions of dollars, every symbol or remnant of religious expression in the entire country that isn't locked in a private home or in a house of worship?
Or do you mean leftist judges forcing, via their decisions from on high, "gay" marriage and the like?
Or perhaps you mean the ACLU teamed up with porn magnates forcing porn shops and strip clubs to be in our neighborhoods?
Or maybe you mean the people in Hollywood determining that we must indeed view execrable obscenity, vile language, and offensiveness of every description as the daily fare that passes for entertainment? Or maybe the media executives who lie? Those people?
I know, you mean the rap "artistes" that kids listen to, and the people who invent that gang and slut fashions the every kid wears since it's virtually impossible to buy anything else.
Are these the people you mean?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.