The 'Fad' Question

 I was reading a social commentary today, and it just stuck to my mind.  Their comment was: "The majority of humans seem mentally retarded. Has this always been the case, or is it newish?"

First, I thought the term 'retarded' was probably wrong.  You could have used 'witless', 'irrational', 'foolish', 'absurd', or 'wacky' instead.

Second, I probably observed this trend around 2000 to 2005, and at that point....it was a couple of junior airmen (Air Force period) who were talking over their medication rates.  They were four 'ladies'.....all in the 19 to 24 year old age group, and on some type of SSRI-type drug (prozac-like).  One was a 'tiny' gal....maybe 100 pounds max, and the AF doctors were prescribing to her....the maximum amount for her weight.  I'll just describe her as unable to fully concentrate, with 50-percent of her work effort mostly in a daze.  All four had some behavior-issue and if you asked me to hand out pistols for defense....I would refuse to hand any of them a weapon.

Third, by 2010, I would have suggested that around 10-percent of society were in some form of irrational behavior.  Some were young....some were in their forties....some were unable to really concentrate or react in a normal way.

Where we stand in 2023?  I would probably suggest in a typical day (from home-to-work-and-back-to-home), you probably encounter five to ten people who are not rational.  It might be in a bar, or at McDonalds, or at work, or just hanging around Wal-Mart.  

I watched a video last week of some 8-year old kid who'd finally had some kind of break-down at Wal-Mart, and fully engaged into whooping up on his mother (public setting).  Don't know if the kid was drugged-up....but it was the type of confrontation that going to endanger someone (either the kid or the woman).

Is it a fad?  I'm not sure about the use of the word, and it fitting for the events.

What bothers me here....what happens in a decade....say 2033?  Would you have to carry a baseball bat with you into Wal-Mart?  Would you have twelve people a day killed in town....because of the irrational physical threat?  Would ministers be suggesting demon-possession as part of the trend?