The Great Ben Stein

I view Ben Stein as almost a 21st century Ben Franklin as far as his writing goes. He wrote "How to Ruin Your Life", a book one reviewer described as "one big sarcastic celebration of the narcisstic sociopath."

In his latest monthly column for The American Spectator, Stein relates what his pyschiatrist told him about what college graduates need to know these days versus the 60's. In half a dozen points the shrink chides and encourages by turns.

Stein wraps up his column thusly:

I walked out to my car and passed by a statuesque, attractive, not young woman who had been heavily worked on, plastic surgery wise. She told me she had written a book. She gave me a postcard ad for it. The ad said (and I am not making this or any other part of this story up), "My parents went through the Holocaust and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." As far as I can tell, the book is about how badly the Holocaust affected her exercise, sex, and eating habits. She drove off in an eighty thousand dollar car.

How often, I wonder, does she get on her knees to thank the GI infantrymen of the Huertgen Forest or Bastogne? I think I know.