printThe plethora of piss-poor, potty mouthed writers, who’ve attempted unsuccessfully to satirize contemporary cannibalism in the West, attest to what Thomas Fleming diagnoses as,
…partly the fault of a very sick popular culture that dotes on the perverse movies of George Romero, Anne Rice’s novelistic gushings over vampires, and the teen-exploitation books, movies, and TV shows in which ghouls, werewolves, and vampires are basically not bad creatures who just need a little understanding. We are teaching ourselves not just to celebrate evil but to elevate it. Good people trying to muddle through in a difficult world are boring: Evil is way cool.
Of course, I would not use the word “exploitation” to describe the maladies afflicting the Millennials, who’ve been allowed by errant adults to turn feral.
Millennials are a generation of youngsters that reveres only itself for no good reason. They have been unleashed on America by progressive families and educators (Democrat and Republican alike) who’ve deified their off-putting offspring and charges, and instilled in them a sense of self-worth disproportionate to their actual worth.
One can disagree with Dr. Fleming on this or the other point or perspective. But his erudite, highly intelligent and cultured perspective in “Eating People is Wrong”—whereby he eviscerates the smarmy “Amateur philosophers and pop culture critics,” who rushed “to ascend their cracker barrels and deliver their explanations for the hysteria”—strikes the right tone, avoiding stupid spoofs on the one hand, or platonic theorizing on the other.
Also, this sort of anomic behavior is hardly new. These days it’s saturation media + electrons moving at the speed-of-light = contagion. On the other hand, when the EBT cards stop working and the Golden Horde erupts from the cities, it really will be a Zombie Apocalypse.
To critique the solipsistic tendencies of the Millennial generation as well as protest the decadence of contemporary America, one is generally required to cherish a hyperbolic opinion of traditional America.
America has never been as demure and noble as popular opinion would have you believe. What’s more, America would have accomplished nothing apart from a smattering of legitimately gifted individuals.
I have to say, I’m rarely if ever truly terrified of modern horror. Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Bram Stocker’s Dracula did scare me, but modern attempts at horror are clumsy and seem to try and prey on some basic fear instinct, unlike unleashing the viewer’s own imagination upon them like some of the new Doctor Who episodes written by Steven Moffat, in particular ‘Blink’ and ‘Silence In The Library.’ Horror, as I understand it, is derived more from silence and passivity than a cannibal holocaust. I’ve seen deranged bullsh*t like Mirrors and Human Centipede (the perennial millennial snuff flick) and I can freely say that Old Yeller scared me more, if only because of my severe dog phobia.
Anyone remember Jeffrey Dahmer? Different generation, no Twilight reference, no nothing, except a couple of sick internet jokes. The Queen of Wonderland has managed to strike again. Reality is really going to be a shock to this generation when its turn comes.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.