Will the meeting of Hermits Anonymous please come to order?

Maybe I was born in the wrong century, or into the wrong culture, or on the wrong planet.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Luddite particularly. I rather like modern conveniences. I applaud technological advances that can make life less difficult and communication easier. That’s not what I’m talking about at all. Indoor plumbing was a wonderful invention.

I’m talking about what I see and hear all around me. It screams at me from television, radio, movies, the pages of newspapers and magazines, and even (and perhaps most especially) from the Internet. It’s everywhere, and I’m tired of it.

I’m talking about the celebrity-obsessed, hero-worshiping, sports-drenched, movie-star-filled culture we have become.

The news isn’t the news any more; it's one part news and two parts entertainment. Fluff stories about the rich and famous fill the airwaves. Wretched excess is everywhere, even in the midst of the economic downturn. Who is dating whom, breaking up with whom, marrying whom, divorcing whom, that’s what people nowadays want to know. Who can wear least in public, say more four-letter words on television, flout convention in general, shock the most people, that’s what we spend our time and money on.

We have degenerated into a culture that celebrates not talent or accomplishment but notoriety.

Things that used to be said in whispers are now spoken proudly into microphones.

We may give lip service to morality but secretly we enjoy watching trash on television.

Not everyone is like this, however. For every person who can’t get enough of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo someone else is riveted to Downton Abbey. Maybe that was not a good example.

I do like freedom, though, especially freedom of speech, and maybe that’s the price of freedom.

I am not advocating the repression or annihilation of people whose interests or beliefs differ from mine. Diversity is good.

I just wish people would be diverse somewhere else besides in my face.

The rant is now ended.