I think the decline in manners in our society is one of those “booger man” complaints everyone kicks around eventually. Especially when you get old.

You sit around with your old friends and talk about how the young kids today are this and that.

“What’s the deal with tattoos? In my day, only sailors and whores got tattoos, dagnabbit!”

“What’s the deal with the crack cocaine? When I was in college, all we needed was pot and beer ’cause we were high on LIFE!” You know, the kind of thing you hear at all the reunions.

Even I must admit that beyond the ears, the nose and maybe the nipples, I can’t see getting a needle shoved through any part of the body.

Unless you’re a Bushman, it’s just silly.

Them labial piercings seem especially painful, and if I had one of those or a foreskin, it seems like a raw place to adorn with baubles.

Fashion issues aside, bad manners abound these days.

Even compared to when I was a nipper, and the ’70s were a pretty rude 10 years, man, what with all those dirty hippies running around without shoes smoking the whacky weed and starting trouble with their free love and frisbee flinging.

Every generation likes to blame the one coming up for society’s decline, but let’s face it: What’s happening today is not unconnected to the past — you were just fooling yourself.

Some people like to point fingers at television.

It is the devil that lives in all of our living rooms.

It’s the mark of the beast born by all as foretold in the Book of Revelations — believe it.

But while TV may contribute to society’s problems, (mostly by rerunning “Three’s Company” and “The Jeffersons”) there are other factors that people just don’t consider.

People used to wear hats all the time, and I don’t mean baseball caps either. We’re talking about bowlers, fedoras, those stovepipe jobs and hamburgs.

In the ’30s and ’40s, you couldn’t arrest a guy without letting him get his hat first. “We’re goin’ downtown Rocco; you’re gonna fry for this you kid killin’ freak of nature … now get your hat and let’s go.”

Even the bad guys wore suits and hats.

Sure, they had crime, but people were much nicer in general.

You could have been a criminal, but it was hard to be a run-of-the-mill knob wearing a decent hat.

No one wants to be shot, but let’s be honest; if you have to get shot, wouldn’t you rather be shot by someone with style?

Between the average sweaty “COPS” rakehell in jeans sans a shirt and a smooth operator quaffed in Armani, I’ll take Robert Palmer every time.

This weekend, NBC will be regaling us with a made-for-TV move about the sixties cleverly entitled “The ’60s.”

Oh joy.

Just as we get to the point when they stop force-feeding that pabulum down our throats, here comes the second wave.

“I can just hear it now, “the decade that changed the world.” Oh, yeah?

If the world was so wonderfully affected by hippies, then prove it. LBJ probably would have put a stop to Vietnam earlier if it hadn’t been for fear of looking weak in front of mainstream America.

Where ARE all these concerned old hippies anyway?

If their ability to positively affect the world was so magical, then why are so many species on the brink of extinction?

Bless the beasts and the children? There are more kids on the streets these days than ever before. Where are the masses of middle-aged world-changers now, huh?

You know everyone younger than you is apathetic, so take to the streets. Or does protesting interfere with your spa time?

If these guys were all about freedom in the ’60s, then why are so many media outlets owned by a handful mega-corporations?

Why did popular music stand still for 20 years as we were force-fed a steady diet of classic rock? Where are all the floating utopian cities, Joan Baez?

The only thing the ’60s left us with were some kitschy commercials and a few “Hey, weren’t the ’60s great?” movies. They also kept K-Tel in business cranking out pathetic collections of flower power music.

“Let the sun shine in?” I don’t think so, Bob Dylan.

I don’t know about you, but I am a little weary of hearing about the ’60s and how cool they were.

The reason we keep hearing about that decade is all the baby boomers keeping it on life support from the comfort of their air-conditioned offices.

Newsflash, folks! Your decade was just as flawed and worthless as this one, so give it a rest for the love of God.

Enough with the movies and tributes to yourselves. Find an ice flow somewhere; then we’ll see how “socially conscious” you are.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily. Peace!