The post isn't trite in context since he was responsible for educating his particular audience. Complaining about generic kids these days is venting. Setting up

The post isn't trite in context since he was responsible for educating his particular audience. Complaining about generic kids these days is venting. Setting up ground rules for discussion to advance education is part of his job. And, besides, his instruction is basically a critique of all the things (media, primary schools, undergraduate schools, parents, etc.) that should have been teaching those lessons but weren't. So he had to teach them not to "kids these days" but to people who were intelligent and educated enough to make it into law school. Besides, part of his point was that dismissing old thoughts because they are old is bad reasoning. To dismiss his thoughts likewise because they're not new (I think they're a new spin on things, but YMMV) does ourselves a disservice.