From: "The New Meanies" by David Jasper |
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| Media Link - Weekly Planet (Tampa, Florida) | |
| Thursday, 15 June 2000 00:00 | |
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Psychotherapist M. J. Hurd credits a lot of the free-floating negativity in our culture to cynicism. Meanness, he says, is a lot like cynicism. "Today's culture is one of disillusioned idealism," he says. "People have given up on idealism, and so as a result, don't expect much from others -- including the others in their entertainment." There is a yearning, he says, for heroes, romance and drama, as evidenced by [the television show] Cops and the tremendous popularity of "Titanic." Yes, James Cameron's turgid opera above (and below) the Atlantic. "Titanic, while not a perfect movie by any means, did have elements and remnants of the old romanticism; and look how spectacularly popular it was. People yearn and crave it like you wouldn't believe. Only most do not fully realize that this is what they want, and as a consequence don't demand it. The recent move 'October Sky' comes to mind as a beautifully done, heroic story, completely out of place in today's America." [see The Living Resources Bookstore, to purchase October Sky]. Hurd, the author of several books including the forthcoming "Grow Up America!" doesn't see the lack of viable heroes as the only reason for our mean streak. Some credit goes to political correctness. "It's a general sense in our culture that we can't and shouldn't make judgments -- not merely that we shouldn't be irrational or prejudiced, but that we shouldn't make judgments at all. This, of course, is impossible. We all judge. We all need to judge in order to survive -- to judge what career you should have, to judge what kind of people it's good to have in your life and it's not good to have in your life, and so forth." "This sense that we shouldn't judge -- even though we need to judge and, deep down, want to judge -- creates a cultural climate of hypocrisy. In this social context, people like Howard Stern can become appealing. Howard Stern is one of those people who says, in effect: 'So you say we shouldn't judge? Just watch me!' Howard Stern becomes the escape hatch. It's like the person who retreats into sexual pornography when he's been sexually repressed for too long." Meanness is a manifestation of our collective cynicism, says Hurd. "Meanness increasingly appeals to people simply because they've been led to feel that they must be nice no matter what the circumstances and what the price. If people felt more like they could be honest, though still rational and benevolent, in their judgments -- then you wouldn't see such a widespread appeal for meanness." Elsewhere in the article: M. J. Hurd believes ugly male behavior can be blamed in part on age-old machismo, the roots of which are in childhood. Brute physical strength is to an extent malleable, he says, but we're more or less born with or without it. Intellectual strength, on the other hand, can be improved on and is something males and females share. "The problem," says Hurd, "is the wider and deeper mindset in today's culture. There is less respect -- much less respect -- for the rational, thinking mind than there should be. As a result, kids tend to default to the only form of heroism that's left -- the physical. You can't totally blame them." "Until they are taught how to respect the mind, rather than only the body, by their elders, they won't form the right values." Copyright (c) 1997, Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D. Reprinted from The Living Resources Newsletter
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