{"id":1028,"date":"2010-08-24T09:38:47","date_gmt":"2010-08-24T15:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2010-08-24T09:38:47","modified_gmt":"2010-08-24T15:38:47","slug":"civilization-in-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/08\/24\/civilization-in-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Civilization in Decline&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p>Is the US getting dumber and meaner?<\/p>\n<p>I know those seem like harsh criticisms, but I&#8217;m really starting to wonder.I used to think the US had it better than we did. I don&#8217;t think so anymore.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.nationalpost.com\/2010\/05\/17\/plan-to-build-mosque-at-ground-zero-angers-new-yorkers\/\" target=\"_blank\">We have great controversy over a &#8216;proposed&#8217; Mosque near the site of the former Trade Center <\/a>(nevermind that Muslims have been meeting there quite peacefully for years &#8211; all they are asking is to finally have a building).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/id\/2264539\" target=\"_blank\">We have nearly 1 in 5 Americans who beleives Obama is Muslim<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/computinged.wordpress.com\/2010\/08\/24\/not-just-stem-need-more-graduates-period\/\" target=\"_blank\">We have fewer and fewer Americans finishing school and going to college.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSN2116920020100221\" target=\"_blank\">We have teachers getting laid off all over the country.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvsquad.com\/category\/fall-tv\" target=\"_blank\">Have you seen this year&#8217;s television line-up?<\/a> Much of what I see advertised is dark, and mean, and sordid.<\/p>\n<p>What is wrong with people?<\/p>\n<p>The US is no longer the world leader in, well, anything, really,   except possibly military might, which really isn&#8217;t anything to be proud   of.<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-1028'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(1028);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(1028);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(1028);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>Is the US getting dumber and meaner? I know those seem like harsh criticisms, but I&#8217;m really starting to wonder.I used to think the US had it better than we did. I don&#8217;t think so anymore. We have great controversy &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/08\/24\/civilization-in-decline\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[44],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-american-society"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-gA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2425,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/07\/27\/windows-8-a-catastrophe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":0},"title":"Windows 8 a &#8216;catastrophe&#8217;.","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"BBC News - Valve boss Gabe Newell calls Windows 8 a 'catastrophe'. Microsoft is going down the same path as Apple. So much for freedom. \"There's a strong temptation to close the platform,\" he said, \"because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors' access to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2416,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/07\/21\/where-ive-been-weekly-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":1},"title":"Where I&#8217;ve Been Online (weekly: July 15-21)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~ \u00a020 Jul 12 HP Blogs - Knowing What Your Students Don't Know - How InkSur... - The HP Blog Hub In the course of doing this she confirmed what others have reported: Novices playing with simulations don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2010\/09\/24\/comments-on-the-overblown-crisis-in-american-education-in-the-new-yorker\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":2},"title":"Comments on &#8220;The overblown crisis in American education&#8221; in The New Yorker","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The overblown crisis in American education : The New Yorker. The author is claiming that things aren't that bad. More people are going to school than they did 100 years ago and there are lots more wanting to get in. Sadly, more is not better. The fact that a greater\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1807,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/07\/21\/movie-industry-buries-report-proving-pirates-are-great-consumers-geek-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":3},"title":"Movie industry buries report proving pirates are great consumers | Geek.com","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Movie industry buries report proving pirates are great consumers | Geek.com. The discussion is worth reading; at least the first few posts. While it is certainly true that there are crooks and shysters in the US too, I will grant that there are probably fewer companies that make their living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1926,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/12\/31\/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success-anu-partanen-national-the-atlantic\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":4},"title":"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland&#8217;s School Success &#8211; Anu Partanen &#8211; National &#8211; The Atlantic","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"American public education is like WAL-MART. What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success - Anu Partanen - National - The Atlantic. Compared with the stereotype of the East Asian model -- long hours of exhaustive cramming and rote memorization -- Finland's success is especially intriguing because Finnish schools assign\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3283,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2013\/02\/27\/why-americans-are-the-weirdest-people-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":1028,"position":5},"title":"Why Americans Are the Weirdest People in the World","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"February 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Why Americans Are the Weirdest People in the World. the \u201cweird\u201d Western mind is the most self-aggrandizing and egotistical on the planet: we are more likely to promote ourselves as individuals versus advancing as a group. Fascinating. Greedy and selfish. In the end they titled their paper \u201cThe Weirdest People\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}