“We are surrounded by mysteries: the mystery of the absence of outstanding leaders anywhere on this planet; the mystery of teachers no longer able to teach children to read and write; the mystery of the blurring of differences between men and women — in San Francisco even a close look does not always tell you beyond doubt the sex of a person; the mystery of a majority incapable of getting angry with those who trample it underfoot. No other century has seen so great a waste of young lives as we have seen with our eyes — not only in the two World Wars but in the 1960s. The twentieth century seems a crazed monstrous beast devouring its young.” (Eric Hoffer, 1979, Before the Sabbath)