The longer you live, the more you know. Darwin theorized that you either get smarter as you get older, or you tend to self-exterminate. Stable civilizations have taken advantage of this simple fact of life, and revered the knowledge of their tribal elders for eons.

With age comes experience and knowledge that cannot be replicated with internets or Ipads. In general, everything fundamentally important in life that young folks are dealing with now are things that have been dealt with by their elders a generation ago, and so on.

Some of this reliance upon experience is codified in law. For example, you must be 35 year of age to be President (They made that one up over 225 years ago!),16 years old to drive, etc.

Now, it seems to me that our culture has turned idiot, immersing itself in permanent adolescence by trivializing the abilities of our tribal elders.

I give you two examples of this insidious form of self-delusion.

Firstly, I have seen television advertisements for products that claim to give you a “younger” brain. So, what the hell does this product do? Make you dumber? Make you forget the last five years of your life? Or maybe a few of those bad ones in the middle? Who buys this product? As an older person, I am gleefully awaiting the bankruptcy of this particular pharma company.

Secondly, I am sorry to report that I have also seen people believing that 85-year-old people are unaware of the existence of pedophilia, and the possibility of men and rape being used in the same sentence. I guess you could say that this insults the generations 65 years of age and younger, who we must conclude invented these activities.

Maybe the folks who believe this fantasy should go to an Ivy League college and become more familiar with classic Greek and Roman literature, or the Bible for that matter, which is littered with evidence of these sins.

As an older person, I am saddened by this lame comment, and all that it implies…. leading one to choose between incompetence or disingenuousness.

At least that is what my experience has led me to believe. Maybe I am getting too old.

For The Glory,

Joe From Boalsburg