I prefer my dancing al dente

We went to the Sleigh Bells concert in Portland. The music was so-so, the company was stellar, but the dancing was alarming. In the middle of the concert, I found myself thinking: "Is this what dancing has become in the 21st century?"

There were a couple different styles. A few people were dancing as if they were worshiping the northern lights (aurora borealis). Kind of a shimmery trance dancing. I think they were high.

The most prominent dance though (and what has me worried) involved people bent over and wobbling around like wet noodles. I don't know if Portland has been experiencing a pandemic of a disease that renders its victims unable to utilize their abdominal muscles, but that would have been a better explanation than: "They're dancing."

By my calculation, dancing has long been the best indicator of a society's character and moral clarity. Have we become morally overcooked pasta unable to maintain rigidity in what we believe? I'll tell you one demographic that hasn't succumbed to flopping over: congressional Republicans. They've proved time and time again that they are willing to push the country to the brink of disaster in their tireless service of the wealthy. They'll protect the wealthy at the detriment of the rest of us if it kills the country.

But congressional Republicans are mostly elderly white men. I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about our generation. What happened to anti-war riots that our police state can only put down through violent oppression? What happened to committed Americans bombing "symbols of American injustice"? And most importantly, what happened to filling the streets in support of human rights for all?

The greatest challenge a member of our generation faces is whether his skinny jeans are tight enough. Or whether his coffee has foam on it as David mentioned. We've been duped into pining after flat screens and Porsches.

Why aren't we outraged that our neighbors are hungry? Why aren't we outraged that our poverty stricken brothers and sisters are segregated to dirty and undesirable areas of town? Why aren't we outraged that the petrochemical industry dumps toxins into our air and waterways creating "cancer alleys" where the death toll continues to climb year after year, while oil profits do the same? Why aren't we outraged that the wealthy class builds their wealth by trampling the human rights of people across the globe and destroying the very ecosystems that keep us alive?

And why aren't we outraged that kids in our generation are more eagerly gathering to hear bad music than to stop injustice?

We shall overcome... only if we stop bending over.