Reflections From a Murky Pond

There’s an old axiom based upon Biblical advice that states that goes, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” It has, along with most forms of parental discipline, fallen out of favor in modern, Western society.

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

– Proverbs 13:24, the Bible (KJV)

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Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

– Proverbs 23: 13-14, the Bible (KJV)

Let’s leave the question of whether or not discipline benefit the child aside for the moment and consider a new proverb, “Spare the rod and raise a douchebag.”

Really! As David Hochman asks and answers, is current indulgent parenting spawning a generation of entitled hipster brats?

Let us begin with the assumption that if you are a parent, you wish for your child every advantage and opportunity. From the ergonomic high chair to that all-important first sushi experience and beyond, life should be as golden for your little one as it is for, say, Pax Jolie-Pitt.

But inevitably the moment arrives when all your doting and care come back on you in the form of a precocious little barb that reminds you in no uncertain terms of . . . you. It might be that his friend Jake’s eighth-birthday party was “unbelievably lame” or that “it’s weird that Brandon’s family flies first-class and we don’t,” or maybe it’s simply that “these taquitos taste like turd.”

It’s then that you must reckon with the real possibility that your drive to make little Johnny better, smarter, and hipper has merely turned him into a douchebag.

Now Mr. Hochman focuses on the evils of the Liberal urban elites, which is not entirely fair since the problem and problematic end results are endemic across many socio-economic strata of Western society, though the motives of the parents are likely to differ based upon economics, race, and culture. Yet it’s not particularly unfair either since these Liberal urban elites are set up as something akin to role models by the media and have the power to affect laws and policies in ways that make any form of parental discipline impossible or risky.

Now don’t get me wrong, with the surprisingly success of Reality TV, there’s obviously going to be a continuing job market for douchebags, but is raising your progeny to be fit for only that one job such a good idea, especially at the cost of the rest of us having to either put up with them or put them down?

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Beer! It is, and has been for millennia, truly one of the foundations of civilization. Along with foole, beer allowed the Pyramids and other great public works of ancient Egypt and it allowed the rise of the great cities in Europe despite the dangerously contaminated water supplies they endured.

In the words of the American poet John Ciardi, “Fermentation and civilization are inseparable.”

Yes, beer has always been the Everyman’s drink; the preferred quaff of Joe Six-Pack – and Jane Six-Pack of course – after a long day toiling as the often forgotten and sometimes lambasted backbone of society. It’s long been a convivial beverage that had escaped the ceremonies, snobbery, and elitism that is so entrenched in wine.

Sadly, times are changing in America and the glorious rebirth of the American craft brewing industry has also birthed the misbegotten by-blows known as beer snobs.

There’s beer geeks and there’s beer snobs, and I’m a card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool member of the beer geek community. How I differentiate between a beer geek and a beer snob is this: they could have an equal amount of knowledge about beer; they could have equally awesome palates; [they] can articulate everything about the qualities of beer; [and they can] tell you the history of brewing styles. Their knowledge might be the same. But a beer geek loves beer because he or she loves beer, and they want to learn more always, try new beers, and share that with the people they love. Whereas beer snobs try to know as much as they can about beer as a power point and to lord it over people, or to stick out as an expert in a field of neophytes.

– Sam Calagione
Founder, Dogfish Head Brewery

Beer lovers must not repeat the mistakes of the wine enthusiasts and devolve into snobbishness, elitism, and exclusion.

We lovers of beers certainly do not want to go down the road which led to 86% of all the wine drank in America being drunk by only 12% of the American population. This is especially true since 97% of the breweries in America are described as craft or microbreweries yet they account for 5% of the total market share.

Staying True To Joe Six-Pack is paramount irrespective of what each of our preferred six-packs might be.

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On Tuesday, September 8, 2009, President Obama gave his much anticipated – and dreaded by many American parents – speech to many of America’s school-aged children during what was for many of them the first day of their new school year.

Many Conservatives, fueled by the Obama campaign’s previous use of children (here and here), were terrified that President Obama would use his address to America’s children as a means of indoctrination and of furthering his Leftist agenda. It certainly didn’t help that the event included “lesson plans” for teachers to use in conjunction with contained exercises that instructed to the students to write “how they could help President Obama.”

President Obama’s actual speech though was utterly unalarming, surprising only in a Liberal’s repeated use of the word, “responsibility,” and focused tightly on admonishing students to stay in school and to study hard in order to succeed later in life.

President Obama’s Message for America’s Students

In fact President Obama’s speech was quite similar in content and tone to President George H. W. Bush’s 1991 televised speech to America’s students. It was actually less politically charged that President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 address to school children.

It should be noted, however, that President Reagan’s and President Bush, Sr.’s speeches drew complaints from Liberals and that Congressional Democrats, unsatisfied with merely complaining, launched a fruitless investigation into the address’ funding sources.

My Quick Synopsis of President Obama’s Speech

The government may fail you. Your schools and teachers may fail you. Your parents may fail you. None of that matters; you kids need to stay in school, study hard, and get an education. If you don’t, you’ll fail in life, you’ll fail the country, and you’ll fail yourselves.

When all is said and done, getting and using an education is each individual student’s responsibility and hardships, irrespective of their nature, source, or difficulty, are no excuse for failing to excel.

As far as can see, as long the content of the speeches is not indoctrination, such speeches are an acceptable outlet for President who wants to bolster his image or salve his ego. Who knows? They might even do a small bit of good and saving even one child from throwing away their education is worth at least the cost of such a broadcast.

The devil of course is in the details – the content of the speech’s message both spoken and implied.

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