What the Hell Has Happened?

When your faithful correspondent was in high school the National Organization of Women (now it is called the National Organization for Women because some womanly men wanted to join it) was just starting up. This writer well remembers a female English teacher urging the girls in the class to join NOW to "stand up for their rights."
At that time NOW was considered a bit of a joke. It was considered an extremist organization with less credibility than the old IWW (Industrial Workers of the World; not International Workers of the World. This writer knows because he was once a member). NOW was considered an organization for angry women who were more than likely Sapphists.
These days NOW is considered an almost mainstream, though liberal, organization. Popular media often quote NOW concerning political matters perhaps because the society has changed so greatly over the past forty years. Some radio commentators refer to NOW as the National Organization of Nags (or Gals). But the mainstream media has adopted NOW as the go-to organization for women's issues.
Some thirty years ago the organization known as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was considered a joke. They were at the time, and are now, against the raising of meat animals; dogs and cats, fish and birds as pets; the wearing of animal fur. In other words, they see the world as a place where Rousseau's painting The Peaceable Kingdom can come to pass before the return of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now it is not unusual to see on the television news or read in the newspaper a report that relies on a statement by PETA concerning animals. PETA, despite its silly stunts, has become mainstream in the mass media. Where once hunting and fishing and the raising of stock were considered honorable past times or professions, they have all suddenly become bad things.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when homosexuality was considered a sin. Now, it is not only not a sin, but an honorable title and activity. After all, it's all about love, isn't it? The organization known as GLAAD is the new media daring. If a scout master buggers a scout the problem is not that the scout master is a homo. The problem is that the scout master is a pedo-phile. If a man is ashamed of being a closeted queer the problem is not that he's a queer, but with society. "Faggot" is the new "nigger" and demands apology.
Could it be that, as society as a whole descends into immorality and just damn silliness, that the society that has held up the nation for over two hundred years, in fact, the Western culture that has built the West for over two thousand years, should expect an apology from those who are singing from the Kumbaya songbook?
The writer Andrew Klavan has an interesting take on the fag thing:
Klavan to GLAAD: Drop Dead!