Infantile Tendencies

On Aug. 8 you show a picture of an adult male sucking on a squeezable “sipper” (“New Fad Puts Thirst Things First,” by David Larsen). It’s perfect! The last nail in the coffin of adulthood in the United States. You could even call it “the last straw.”

The definition of infantilism taken from my Webster’s dictionary is, in partial quote, “the persistence in an adult of markedly childish characteristics.”

The last eight years have given a powerful boost to our national tendency toward this. We had our kind, powerful, seemingly loving Daddy. He kept us from harm by slaying the bogeyman: Nicaragua, Grenada, Communists . . . He told us happy bedtime stories that made us feel that everything was lovely in our house. We had (have!) our non-stop picture books called television. We were given instruction in how not to deal with reality, or with truth, or with the need to cooperate with others, nor the necessity of sublimating our selfish interests. We were urged to instant and continuous gratification. . . .

And now we can suck on our baby bottle, leaving our hands free for our assault weapons. Pretty funny. Pretty ominous.

MARJORIE L. FASMAN

Beverly Hills