Decline and Fall of Western Civilization

The video Intentionally knocking over water to impress friends shows a group of tween or teen girls assaulting a mascot at a theme park by dousing them with water. A friend sent it to me in a group chat. I wrote back:

I would have to work much harder than I’m willing to do right now to express my disdain for nearly everyone in that video. Those girls with their stupid phones in the air, each starring in their own movie, are just older versions of the 8- or 9-year-old kid I saw on the train yesterday, listening to a Japanese anime cartoon synchronized in German, without headphones, just on for the whole train to hear, slouched in his seat with a bag of chips open to his side, shoving a handful in every few seconds, loudly crunching and smacking, mouth never fully closing, oblivious to the world, oversized baseball cap crushed over greasy hair. Across from him sat a teen-aged version who was bent nearly double over his phone, watching a footie match. At least he had headphones in. My only solace was the wide smile and fervent head-nod I got from the African guy sitting across from me as I told my friend in a combination of English and Swiss-German about how scenes like that always bring the phrase and movie “Decline and Fall of Western Civilization” to mind. My wife would have defenestrated the little one without blinking an eye.