The Counter Culture and Schwab’s Pharmacy

This article, as you might guess, has drawn some ire and in some cases rage. Yet it seems to me elegant in its simplicity, and as straight-forward an argument as you can expect to get these days. Of course it is just an “Op-Ed”, not fact, something I fear bears repeating in these days of FB postings of opinion pieces masquerading as fact.

This article is written about the United States. Yet many countries which honor the rule of law as a preeminent and abiding truth should take note.

A summary of what I see as the key points of the article:

1. Nationhood needs a binding agent to avoid disintegration. That agent can be language, values, culture, religion, or a combination of all four. The bourgeois element noted in the article amalgamates these;
2. Soda jerks are people too! Respect them, and you might just find a contemporary Lana Turner sitting next to you;
3. Counter-cultures will ALWAYS exist. Standing Room only, is a dangerous thing, especially as it can stifle those at the counter. But when there is tension between the counter and the standees, the greater good must prevail but not “free sherbet” for everyone and;
4. Celebrations of diversity, as done today, are counter-productive and lead to group-think. As the line from the Gondoliers goes, “when everyone is somebody, then no-one’s anybody”.