In contemporary society, what commands respect is no longer a “clean” past, but a “dirty” one, for it signifies “courage” and “self-assurance” in the eyes of ordinary people.

 In contemporary society, what commands respect is no longer a “clean” past, but a “dirty” one, for it signifies “courage” and “self-assurance” in the eyes of ordinary people. A typical youth today fears not acquiring bad habits, but “failing” to acquire them. And rather than concealing their stains, they flaunt them—since perception itself has been inverted by the corruption of society by modern Western elements: money, lust, fame, and arrogance. The single youth culture, of which they are extensions, commands them to pursue and even worship these. And because they lack the capacity to stand alone, they prefer submission to opposition—though they would not oppose anyway, for they do not even perceive anything that needs to be opposed, their minds having normalized this culture.