Feb. 7, a malevolent little chicken pox virus that had remained dormant for decades, turned into shingles and attacked my face and eyes. When medication made it possible to see again, I turned to PBS and Lawrence Welk with his ghostly crew of entertainers. It was a pleasure to see the smiling faces of an audience from 30 years ago and to watch husbands and wives dancing happily. It was a delight to hear competent musicians and singers performing in an atmosphere of dignity and respect.
Welk?s saccharine-sweet Big Band Era ended when America was swept by the dramatic and purposeful music of the civil rights movement and the anti-war protests.
After a resurgence of country music, popular music is now, in my opinion, part of the grease which is slithering society into decadence.
Other offerings on cable on the day when I encountered the ghost of Lawrence Welk were stories of riot and ruin, celebrities trying to sound intelligent, ragamuffins howling like hyenas, crude situation comedies, re-runs of year-old sports events and a good supply of hand-carved corpses. Worst of all was a scene in which a little girl wouldn?t go to the family dinner table because she was too busy with a game in which she was required to slaughter little cyber-girls in huge numbers.
During this same painful time, I received an e-mail message from an old friend who had heard from some authoritative source that Canada Post was to be shut down, land-line telephones would disappear and so would paper cheques. Each one of us would need a numbered plastic card to survive at all. Sounds like the Book of Revelations and the Mark of the Beast. I think my friend has legitimate concerns.
If your memory goes back far enough, has the computer era made you happier than you were before? Think about it. Have all the technological advances in communications been made solely for your convenience? Or to make vast amounts of money for manufacturers and shareholders? Think about it. Connect the dots. How much of the new wealth went into your bank account?
Privacy is being sacrificed too easily.
