It was in the Eighties when "wicked" suddenly became an epithet
denoting goodness, and since then there have been many more examples of
such switching thanks to the Hip Hop musical revolution. In many ways
this crystallises in simple terms what happened in that wicked decade, a
complete transposing of values. What was once regarded as moral and
good, was suddenly bad, and vice versa.
It´s GeckoIt was in the Eighties when "wicked" suddenly became an epithet denoting goodness, and since then there have been many more examples of such switching thanks to the Hip Hop musical revolution. In many ways this crystallises in simple terms what happened in that wicked decade, a complete transposing of values. What was once regarded as moral and good, was suddenly bad, and vice versa.
It's Gecko's speech in Wall Street which everyone remembers, a brilliant example of twisted sophistry which you want to hate and disagree with but find yourself irresistibly drawn to. To be able to justify laying off thousands of honest workers in one fell swoop is a great act of duplicity. Making bad things seem good was the supreme achievement of Reagonomics and Thatcherism, and for this reason pushes the Eighties up the scale of "Most Wicked Decade of the Century."
In a century of world wars when millions were slaughtered, which featured the Great Depression, which boasted the swinging sixties and drug-laced hippyism, it would take something really evil to snatch the top spot. But I think the Eighties managed it. The great wars were terrible and millions suffered, but there was always the greater good of King and Country overarching the unprecedented sacrifice of noble young men. The wars were a defence against evil, the eighties unleashed it. The liberation of the hippies was a pathetic movement of self indulgent nonsense, but at least at the root of it was a Buddhist like concept of universal love.
What was it that bolstered the Eighties? Selfish greed and the determination to burn down anything which stood in its way.
While society emerged from the wars fully conscious of the abhorrent nature of war, the moral corruption of the Eighties has not had the slightest corrective effect on subsequent generations. It is still okay to make gallingly huge amounts of dosh for personal consumption while a third of the world starves. Even while oil slicks in the Atlantic threaten the local ecology and the refuse from our new technology poisons the ground and the air, we are still hell bent on charging forward with our ridiculous notion of billionairism as a universal good. If I was the devil, this would be my greatest achievement, the poisoning of men's minds with regard to what is truly good, and making them think that they can keep getting away with behaving badly.
The fallout from war leaves a job of reconstruction, but the fallout from good sense leaves nothing but empty-headed superficiality where politicians are elected on the basis of looks and TV presenter abilities. The Eighties genie of "have-it-all-and-damn-the-cost" is one of the hardest to stuff back in the bottle.s speech in Wall Street which everyone remembers, a brilliant example of twisted sophistry which you want to hate and disagree with but find yourself irresistibly drawn to. To be able to justify laying off thousands of honest workers in one fell swoop is a great act of duplicity. Making bad things seem good was the supreme achievement of Reagonomics and Thatcherism, and for this reason pushes the Eighties up the scale of "Most Wicked Decade of the Century."
In a century of world wars when millions were slaughtered, which featured the Great Depression, which boasted the swinging sixties and drug-laced hippyism, it would take something really evil to snatch the top spot. But I think the Eighties managed it. The great wars were terrible and millions suffered, but there was always the greater good of King and Country overarching the unprecedented sacrifice of noble young men. The wars were a defence against evil, the eighties unleashed it. The liberation of the hippies was a pathetic movement of self indulgent nonsense, but at least at the root of it was a Buddhist like concept of universal love.
What was it that bolstered the Eighties? Selfish greed and the determination to burn down anything which stood in its way.
While society emerged from the wars fully conscious of the abhorrent nature of war, the moral corruption of the Eighties has not had the slightest corrective effect on subsequent generations. It is still okay to make gallingly huge amounts of dosh for personal consumption while a third of the world starves. Even while oil slicks in the Atlantic threaten the local ecology and the refuse from our new technology poisons the ground and the air, we are still hell bent on charging forward with our ridiculous notion of billionairism as a universal good. If I was the devil, this would be my greatest achievement, the poisoning of men´s minds with regard to what is truly good, and making them think that they can keep getting away with behaving badly.
The fallout from war leaves a job of reconstruction, but the fallout from good sense leaves nothing but empty-headed superficiality where politicians are elected on the basis of looks and TV presenter abilities. The Eighties genie of "have-it-all-and-damn-the-cost" is one of the hardest to stuff back in the bottle.
It´s GeckoIt was in the Eighties when "wicked" suddenly became an epithet denoting goodness, and since then there have been many more examples of such switching thanks to the Hip Hop musical revolution. In many ways this crystallises in simple terms what happened in that wicked decade, a complete transposing of values. What was once regarded as moral and good, was suddenly bad, and vice versa.
It's Gecko's speech in Wall Street which everyone remembers, a brilliant example of twisted sophistry which you want to hate and disagree with but find yourself irresistibly drawn to. To be able to justify laying off thousands of honest workers in one fell swoop is a great act of duplicity. Making bad things seem good was the supreme achievement of Reagonomics and Thatcherism, and for this reason pushes the Eighties up the scale of "Most Wicked Decade of the Century."
In a century of world wars when millions were slaughtered, which featured the Great Depression, which boasted the swinging sixties and drug-laced hippyism, it would take something really evil to snatch the top spot. But I think the Eighties managed it. The great wars were terrible and millions suffered, but there was always the greater good of King and Country overarching the unprecedented sacrifice of noble young men. The wars were a defence against evil, the eighties unleashed it. The liberation of the hippies was a pathetic movement of self indulgent nonsense, but at least at the root of it was a Buddhist like concept of universal love.
What was it that bolstered the Eighties? Selfish greed and the determination to burn down anything which stood in its way.
While society emerged from the wars fully conscious of the abhorrent nature of war, the moral corruption of the Eighties has not had the slightest corrective effect on subsequent generations. It is still okay to make gallingly huge amounts of dosh for personal consumption while a third of the world starves. Even while oil slicks in the Atlantic threaten the local ecology and the refuse from our new technology poisons the ground and the air, we are still hell bent on charging forward with our ridiculous notion of billionairism as a universal good. If I was the devil, this would be my greatest achievement, the poisoning of men's minds with regard to what is truly good, and making them think that they can keep getting away with behaving badly.
The fallout from war leaves a job of reconstruction, but the fallout from good sense leaves nothing but empty-headed superficiality where politicians are elected on the basis of looks and TV presenter abilities. The Eighties genie of "have-it-all-and-damn-the-cost" is one of the hardest to stuff back in the bottle.s speech in Wall Street which everyone remembers, a brilliant example of twisted sophistry which you want to hate and disagree with but find yourself irresistibly drawn to. To be able to justify laying off thousands of honest workers in one fell swoop is a great act of duplicity. Making bad things seem good was the supreme achievement of Reagonomics and Thatcherism, and for this reason pushes the Eighties up the scale of "Most Wicked Decade of the Century."
In a century of world wars when millions were slaughtered, which featured the Great Depression, which boasted the swinging sixties and drug-laced hippyism, it would take something really evil to snatch the top spot. But I think the Eighties managed it. The great wars were terrible and millions suffered, but there was always the greater good of King and Country overarching the unprecedented sacrifice of noble young men. The wars were a defence against evil, the eighties unleashed it. The liberation of the hippies was a pathetic movement of self indulgent nonsense, but at least at the root of it was a Buddhist like concept of universal love.
What was it that bolstered the Eighties? Selfish greed and the determination to burn down anything which stood in its way.
While society emerged from the wars fully conscious of the abhorrent nature of war, the moral corruption of the Eighties has not had the slightest corrective effect on subsequent generations. It is still okay to make gallingly huge amounts of dosh for personal consumption while a third of the world starves. Even while oil slicks in the Atlantic threaten the local ecology and the refuse from our new technology poisons the ground and the air, we are still hell bent on charging forward with our ridiculous notion of billionairism as a universal good. If I was the devil, this would be my greatest achievement, the poisoning of men´s minds with regard to what is truly good, and making them think that they can keep getting away with behaving badly.
The fallout from war leaves a job of reconstruction, but the fallout from good sense leaves nothing but empty-headed superficiality where politicians are elected on the basis of looks and TV presenter abilities. The Eighties genie of "have-it-all-and-damn-the-cost" is one of the hardest to stuff back in the bottle.
Milton Johanides is a retired businessman, church elder, writer
and artist. He has been featured on BBC TVs Songs of Praise, owned
numerous art galleries and once ran an award winning picture framing
business in Scotland. The views expressed in these articles are his own.
email: miltonjohanides@yahoo.co.uk [http://hissacrifice4.me/] http://www.helium.com/users/510112/show_articles
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