When did ignorance become a virtue?  I've always tried to live according to the motto 'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.' (variously attributed to Abraham Lincoln, Silvan Engel and Mark Twain -aka Samuel Clemens.)  These days it seems anyone with an opinion feels they have the right, nay, has the moral imperative to espouse that opinion as fact.  Which leads me to another quote 'Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.'  In an age when facts are overlooked in favor of emotional opinion it is of little surprise that there exists a deep lack of respect for others and very little true understanding of dignity and fair play.  We creep closer and closer to a ruined civilization each day...  Did Rome see her eventual downfall as clearly as we should be able to?  Could they not look to Greece as we can to the great civilizations that came before us?

perhaps if we reinstituted the draft or, better yet, made military service compulsory we could begin to wipe the snot from our societal nose and embrace a more respectful and seasoned cultural norm...  

perhaps make all young men sign something along the lines of the Athenian Code...

But, then, it is said that women are the seat of morality (and, by default it would seem, society in general) so perhaps the ignorant and drugged are to blame - Brittney Spears, Tara Reid, Paris Hilton and those of their ilk.

But, alas, it all comes down to a couple of immature players of chess forgetting that this is a game to be respected and that those you play against deserve your respect as well...  and one person ignorant of all aspects of this situation criticizing me becasue he was too lazy to find out a bit of information, to seek truth, before providing his unrequested and unwarranted emotional opinion on a subject he knew nothing about.