and the lazy generation papered over that , too - the shame they should feel but did not , because they had too much pride and nothing to string it on but too many words and the idea of every man a hamlet - every man , that is , who could n't balance a check book but had great ideas for the social engineering of every man other than his own self - or , if feeling generous - of his own caste - but could not understand the world much less tell a decent joke or write a song worthy of the media that brought the world to the masses and the masses to a world that resembled the actual one less day by day .