Amerika

Exhibits in the progress of hilariously unsubtle yet completely ignored decline:

Learning to write in script is a time-honored tradition. But in today’s time-starved classrooms, some around the country are questioning whether, given everything else vying for space in the curriculum and the increasing use of technology, teaching these children cursive is even necessary.

Local teachers say, if nothing else, its emphasis has diminished in recent years.

“Historically, we teach less cursive now,” said Webb, whose class works on handwriting for short periods two to three days each week. “It seems we have more and more standards we need to cover. The emphasis is on science and reading.”

{ snip }

Ninety percent of teachers who responded said their schools required instruction in handwriting. Of those who taught it, half of second-grade teachers and 90 percent of third-grade teachers offered cursive instruction.

Also, the emphasis has shifted from the beauty of handwriting to writing efficiently, the study found.

IndyStar

Science and reading… that sounds good. Those are good categories. You almost think, that’s the right thing to do!, until you realize that those, too, are probably dumbed down. Science means watching nature TV and reading probably means political propaganda in very small words.

Continuing the circling of the drain:

Research suggests a third of UK adults will be grossly overweight within three years, with Britain even predicted to overtake the US as the most obese nation in the world.

The problem already causes 9,000 premature deaths in the UK a year and costs the NHS £1billion.

Daily Express

You have the freedom to be fat. You have the freedom to be dumb. You have the freedom to not give a damn about the national culture, and the freedom to run a business that indirectly creates destruction. I don’t have the freedom to demand a functional society staffed by those I consider my peers, or the freedom to demand people think clearly.

That’s not “freedom,” because We define freedom.