(a)musings?

As I sat down for a viewing of the television program “Jersey Shore” this evening I wondered, “Does every generation have members so detestably stupid, that they hang their heads in shame, heavy with wonder and despair?”.  Now don’t get me wrong - I think that the players’ idiotic behavior and vacuous commentary makes GREAT television (it seems to harken back to voyeuristic pleasure found in the tented freak shows of yore).  But, as I watch these Italian-American, twenty something clowns perform I am curious if my parents, grandparents, etc. ever found themselves feeling the same revulsion/amusement towards any of their compatriots.

I just picture my Grandmother readying herself for a world war and darning socks, becoming all riled up at some miscreant on the radio babbling about “vibin’ on broads” and “lookin’ so good that if I was some guy I’d be jealous of ME”.  Surely there were olde tyme Guidos, fist-pumping and hammering Jaeger at the clubs, right?  Or is it just my generation that has become so detached from the realities of the world that they cannot bring their tanned, jelled heads back down to earth?

Granted, I know many more people UNlike the jerks on Jersey Shore, than like, but that doesn’t offer much comfort.  Why is there room for people this dumb?  What do they do?  Is Mike “The Sitaution” an accountant, a garbage man?  Is he even fit for menial labor?  I just become so sad scrutinizing them, fearing for the future, hoping that maybe New Jersey can act as a sort of bio-dome to keeps these lunatics out of the rest of the nation.  But I also record the show, because obviously, I can’t stop watching.