The Burr in the Burgh

I always enjoy reading Frederica Mathewes-Green. Her movie reviews, in particular, are always engaging. Read here to see what she thought of Open Season.

It touches upon the question of the coarsening of American culture. In my view, Americans are increasingly base and trashy. Pop culture is largely to blame. But that's a chicken and the egg quandary. It's also a failure of the schools, families, and churches to teach morals and manners. Another symptom of the whole trend is the growing rush to intimacy we see in all aspects of American life. The car salesman immediately wants to be my chum and call me by my first name. Men used to wear suits and ties to baseball games and now they won't even do so to church.

By the way, I'm not saying men must wear suits to church. I am saying that our culture's growing casualness affects manners.