I’ve been noticing a trend in recent times. Whether I am reading blogs, tweets, facebook posts, or just overhearing general conversation.

Ridiculous behavior.

Yes. It’s everywhere. Television, movies, and the Internet. It’s nothing new, but it seems to me that ridiculous behavior is at an all time high these days, and you know what? It’s being praised.

All you have to do is flip on an episode of “Jersey Shore” or “Bad Girls Club” to see some of this ridiculousness at work. These shows are showing the youth of America, no, the world, that it’s OK to consume extensive quanitities of alcohol and act like a complete fool. They send a message to people that’s it’s OK to beat the living daylights out of a complete stranger (or a friend) if they do something to anger you. They glamourize this kind of lifestyle.

This type of rhetoric is all over music too. Drugs, drinking, partying, fighting, and sex make up the lyrics to most modern-day music and there are too many people in the public eye that are praised for acting out.

And what’s worse is that there is a new mentality about criticism. It seems that if between the amounts of praise that a given celebrity is given for their work, there is a shred of criticism, we’re automatically “hating”.

Women are being shown by certain people in the public eye that sex is just another activity that doesn’t mean anything, getting drunk posesses no harm or danger, and that fighting is an acceptable way to express anger. All I see is catty behavior, and women so quick to get an attitude over the smallest thing.

I miss the times when it was OK to dislike something. When people were encouraged to act in a classy way. When people weren’t praised for acting a fool. The Jersey Shore is one of the highest rated shows out there. Charlie Sheen gained a great deal of praise and time in the spotlight for using drugs and getting women. He was “winning.”

Does this mean that I don’t like fun? No, of course not. But I don’t like the fact that young people (or anyone for that matter) are being bombarded with messages that getting wasted, fighting and being hot is the way to succeed in life.

And I’m not jealous, or a hater. I just don’t like you.