I saw a guy walking down the street today, wearing a leather jacket and a black dress. He had a jolly-roger beany on his head, barely containing the four-foot purple mess that passed for a hairdo. On his face was black makeup and enough piercings to set off a metal detector in the next county. And y'know what? Nobody noticed. I was the only person on the whole street who stopped and stared. This has become accepted. This is just something people do nowadays. Whoah.
	American society -or rather, the United States' society (America is a continent, folks), has taken some good turns.... and some bad turns. Brad Pitt could, if he felt so inclined, walk down the red carpet sporting an afro the size of a car and nobody would bat an eye. It's been done, whatever. That's great that our culture is so open that people can pretty much wear whatever they want, grow whatever style they want, and thats cool. However, what's not cool is when the week after I take a walk down the street and see two or three kids starting afros just like it. I'm not saying that all of a sudden our culture is unoriginal, it's been this way for a long time. People have always imitated the people they think are cool. What's weird is, the cool people are different.
	"Was a time when suave, well dressed actors were all the rage, when good singers were idolized. Now all the famous girl singers have to skank it up on stage just to get a crowd, and all the suave, well dressed actors are in underground art films." Says the parent.
	"Well, thats not completely true, but you have a point." the child should reply, but never does. Instead he complains about how the parent ALWAYS brings up how everything was better back in the day.
	"Hey, I like seeing some titties on screen just as much as the next guy, but it's simply unethical." The parent won't reply. Instead he becomes agitated with the child for being lippy.

	So... I almost started ranting on modern communication and parenting, but thats a totally different subject. However, the *American* youth's thought process is definately a related subject.
	I frequently check in on the Myspace accounts of some friends from Philomath, and it's all I can do to recognize the pictures on their profiles, because they constantly change their profile names. Names like "Love with a Bullet" or "Black My Eyes" are some examples that come to mind. and they change every other week. And it's everywhere. People become bored with their accounts and have to change them. This is an incredibely roundabout way of saying it, but in general, we are losing our attention span, and it's getting worse with every generation. I know too many people who are only interested in two and a half minute, catchy songs, and skip all the lengthy songs that actually mean something. Of course there are always acceptions, but this is big time. This thing is huge. And we've got to do something about it before the nation is reduced to nothing but sex and violence on the T.V. and studio standard regulations on the length of music. WE ARE TOO COMMERCIAL AND WE NEED TO REALIZE IT.

	Okay, so that was pretty portentious and apocolyptic, and the whole thing will probably work itself out within a decade or two, but consider this - How many school shootings have there been in the U.S.A. from 1980 to 2006? and how many before 1980? Why? Look at that kid who always wears black and safety pins and spikes, the one who listens to music about suicide and death and bullets, and get to know him. To him, does this stuff make sense? Does it really mean something important? or is it just.. "Cool?"

If I haven't pissed anyone off yet, it's a fuckin miracle.

James "Muffin" Crockett

Note: I understand that not everyone who listens to emo music is gonna go out and shoot someone. I understand that not everyone is only interested in three minute commercial music machines. I also understand that wearing the same brand of hat your favorite musician wears doesn't exactly make you unoriginal... But you have to admit there are trends.