I haven't been able to find it for several years, but I once read a quote attributed to Cicero: "The youth of today are so disrespectful, and they all want to write a book."

Well, 'scroll', more likely, but the quote holds true, for the library (which was then only available to those privileged few able to read and afford access) was the internet of their day.

And I'm sure you get the point, that while times and technologies change, people don't. We all have a habit of saying "there were giants in those days" while decrying the current day, and declaring that society/civilization/education/world is going to hell in a handbasket.

We'll always be able to find examples of once-cherished institutions falling into obsolescence or corruption. The more important skill is to find those institutions (old or new) that are expanding our perceptions and changing our paradigms. Once we know to look for them, it's surprising how many there are. After all, how many of your own paradigms about society/race/religion/culture/history have changed over the past forty-odd years? I know many of mine changed 180-out.

One more note - Hedges pointed to Obama as a clear example of elitism. Thing is, if one looks at his career before he went into politics, he was anything but elitist. With his accomplishments at Harvard, he could have had his pick of corporate law firms with a stratospheric paycheck. Instead, he took on cases that made differences in the community. When he met Michelle, she was senior to him and making more money. I'd hardly call him elitist.