Where'd all the good people go?

If you haven't heard of Jack Johnson, he's a surfer turned songwriter with some impressive guitar playing skills. I'm sure that there are a great many things that we would disagree on, but his song entitled "Good People" strikes a chord in today's media saturated environment. We are inundated with filth, disgusting images, and the promotion of sin on the so-called news, other tv shows, movies, radio, and print media.

I've included the lyrics below for your consideration.

You win it’s your show now
So what’s it going to be?
Because people will tune in
How many train wrecks do we need to see?
Before we lose touch
And we thought this was low
Well it’s bad, getting worse….

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We’ve got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that with a rattle a tat
Testing, one, two, man whatcha gonna do
Bad news misused, got too much to lose
Give me some truth now, who’s side are we on
Whatever you say
Turn on the boob tube, I’m in the mood to obey
So lead me astray
And by the way now…

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We’ve got heaps and heaps of what we sow

Sitting around feeling far away
So far away but I can feel the debris, can you feel it?
You interrupt me from a friendly conversation
To tell me how great it’s all going to be
You might notice some hesitation
Because its important to you, it’s not important to me
But way down by the edge of your whole reason
It’s beginning to show and I really want to know is…

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that with a rattle a tat
Testing one, two man whatcha gonna do
Bad news misused give me some truth
You got too much to lose
Whose side are we on today, anyway
Okay, whatever you say
Wrong and resolute but in the mood to obey
Station to station desensitizing the nation
Going, going, gone

Dangerous Ideas - Parental Licensure

I'm going to post a few of the items that I pulled out from edge.com's annual question: "What is your dangerous idea?"

I do not wholly agree with some of the arguments made with all of these items, but most of their conclusions are interesting and usually valid (to me).

This is the first I'll share. David Lykken proposes that - eventually - parental licensure in the U.S. will be inevitable. On some days, I wish it were already true (we have a relative that is a Social Security/Welfare leech) so that those who are incompetent enough to be unable to care for themselves were not allowed to propogate. I fully concede that the result of such limitations
could eventually preclude any given group (i.e. christians) from bearing children, but it is an interesting - though obviously dangerous - idea.

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Laws requiring parental licensure -David Lykken

I believe that, during my grandchildren's lifetimes, the U.S. Supreme Court will find a way to approve laws requiring parental licensure.

Traditional societies in which children are socialized collectively, the method to which our species is evolutionarily adapted, have very little crime. In the modern U.S., the proportion of fatherless children, living with unmarried mothers, currently some 10 million in all, has increased more than 400% since 1960 while the violent crime rate rose 500% by 1994, before dipping slightly due to a delayed but equal increase in the number of prison inmates (from 240,000 to 1.4 million.) In 1990, across the 50 States, the correlation between the violent crime rate and the proportion of illegitimate births was 0.70.

About 70% of incarcerated delinquents, of teen-age pregnancies, of adolescent runaways, involve (I think result from) fatherless rearing. Because these frightening curves continue to accelerate, I believe we must eventually confront the need for parental licensure — you can't keep that newborn unless you are 21, married and self-supporting — not just for society's safety but so those babies will have a chance for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.