Lunch And American Culture

Dennis and his helper, Matt, came in the morning to change my furnace filter.  That chore necessitates climbing the steep, pull-down ladder up to the crawl space--the "attic"--over the garage.  As many have remarked, it's a helluvan awkward (and dangerous) arrangement for residents of an over-55 community, so I'm grateful to Dennis.  A few hours later, I picked up his spouse, Leslie, and we took off for lunch at Dockside.
Oops--Dockside is closed on Tuesdays, as we had forgotten.  Okay, we won't patronize them on Tuesdays.  Went to Dynasty and had broccoli soup, chicken salad sandwiches, and good talk.
We stopped at the library after and I got two books I had requested: Never Let Me Go, a novel recommended by my older son, and The Twilight of American Culture. Started the latter, published thirteen years ago, but which is all too prescient about the disdain for history, language, and generally, the life of the mind in favor of electronic stimulation, the cruder the better.  The author, Morris Berman, also points out the consumerism that permeates this country and to an extent, the world.  He faults television, in particular, with the dumbing down of American culture. I wonder what he would think of the presence nowadays of blaring television sets in restaurants, doctor's offices, and practically every other venue imaginable.
The book was written before 9/11; maybe that's why he doesn't touch on the rampant militarism that surely contributes to the "don't think, just feel" tide that engulfs us.  Would love to see his take on the odious idea dreamed up by some advertising flunky that we should "thank a soldier" for volunteering to be a hired killer.  Talk about dumbing down--.