The ideas brought forward in these replies enriched the topic more than I ever could have done alone. I'm thankful for this.
This was not a thread aimed at the youth though and I'll accept responsibility for my lack of communicative abilities if this is what was received.
The great pendulum swings as the quote from Socrates shows.
If people feel as though the words in the entro took aim at themselves, perhaps some of the loaded words and subject were in conflict with how they identify. If this was the case then great, reflection is good, this is what happened to me as I wrote it and then reread it and had to ask myself some tough questions.. why would I write it, why defend or deny it? What is the root of my emotional response to it?
It's easy to become one or the other, a catastrophizer or one who dismisses every word of caution as coming from the beak of Chicken Little.

My intent was among other things to outline what I and others might see as the virtues that our fathers and forefathers displayed in their lives and try to own it as an identification that can serve us. To identify as a Gentleman. Not what the generations long passed defined as a gentleman, but our definition, which obviously is a fluid concept depending on the individual.
I see bullies on both sides, to state otherwise would show an obvious bias on my part. IMHO
All generations have the honorable and dishonorable, it's up to us to take the good parts and move forward. To ignore that, and claim superior righteousness is folly.

As with everything it's a work in progress.