Oafish Grandiosity

At some point during my life, our national virtue morphed from modest self-effacement to oafish gradiosity. David Brooks remarks today on the difference between American's self-effacing reactions to V-J day 65 years ago and today's world where we are bombarded with the boorish antics of the Joe Wilsons and Kanye Wests at every turn. These days, it seems, no third grader can score basket in a playground game without some self-indulgent posturing.

So who started the freak show? My earliest memories in that regard are the braggadocio of Muhamad "the greatest" Ali and John "bigger than Jesus" Lennon, but I'm surely not a reliable cultural reporter. I do think something has been lost, though.

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