Nostalgia is a seductive liar.
— George Ball
"Abandoned Homes America," for example.
These groups attract fellow aficionados: people avid about old houses, books and films.
But they also attract whiny weirdos who can't handle the here and now.
"As many of us get older, we might hearken back to simpler times," blogger Michael Kwan write in Beyond the Rhetoric.
"We may look upon the present with a certain level of disdain. We might admonish 'kids these days' for ruining everything. But, are we all just falling victim to the golden age fallacy?"
Nostalgia, also known as the "golden age fallacy," insists we'd be more content in times gone by.
It's so crippling that philosopher Karl Jaspers blamed the most heinous sorts of crimes—murder, arson, and child molestation—on it.
But I do.
I see those crabby statements and think, with Jaspers, "There's a potential child molester."
Michael Kwan calls wistful reminiscence a "flaw in the romantic imagination of people who find it difficult to cope with the present."
I think it's a much deeper—and darker—flaw.
A flaw in character.