The Horrible Effects of Y2K

Remember when everyone was all sweaty about what might happen when the new millenium arrived? The world as we knew it would come to an end when Y2K arrived, or so we were warned. People were rushing around buying generators and gargantuan supplies of bottled water in hope of survival.
Then we woke up on New Year's Day and nothing had happened. At least nothing most of us could see. The power was still on, the computers still worked, the gas pumps continued to pump gas. So all the worrying was for nothing, right?
Wrong. It took awhile for the realization to set in, but the coming of the 21st century brought an end to common sense. It destroyed what little was left of civilized behavior. It made rudeness expected and acceptable.
Take common sense. Have you encountered much of it recently? Or how about civilized behavior. Where on earth can it be found today? And rudeness, isn't it just about everywhere now?
I visit a message board for writers nearly every day. Some of the nicest people you could hope to meet post messages there. They are, however, overwhelmed by a clique of three who hurl insults, are over-achievers in the art of put downs and think they are entitled to dominate the mere mortals who have the temerity to post an original thought of their own. They are the products of Y2K. Rude, arrogant creatures of the new century totally lacking in civility. I get in hot water for fighting back and yet I continue to do so because it's the right thing to do.
But back to common sense. It dictates that we carefully guard our freedoms, yet one by one they are slipping away because our attention is focused on the celebrities we have come to worship and their abominable behavior. Common sense tells us that the wealthiest Americans should pay more taxes than the rest of us, but they don't. Do you hear people discussing it? No, they are too busy thinking about which celebrity is going into rehab or who might win an Oscar or should a professional athlete who tests positive for drugs be punished. The list could fill up ten computer screens.
Oh, well, why not just go with the flow? Why be concerned about the abandonment of common sense, the loss of civility, the acceptance of rude behavior? After all it's just the way our Y2K world is so why fight it?
Because some of us should, that's why.

www.dickstodghill.com