It IS very messed up.

On Sunday, I was sitting in our gallery when a "Responsible Adult™" walked in with about 15 11-13 year olds. I'm not sure whether he was chaperoning a school group, or it was an art camp outing, or what... but he not only had zero control of the situation; he wandered around like a zombie, almost as if he were pretending the 15 out-of-control pre-teens were merely a figment of his imagination.

As things started to get a little out of hand and I started in with my "dad voice" (having been part of raising three) and trying to establish a little order, not only did he NOT make any attempt to take charge, he actually shot me a "butt-out" dirty look. I'm thinking "DUDE! You're in charge of 15 adolescent urchins who are treating a fine arts establishment like it's an outing to the video arcade!"

It's not exactly the same as you're talking about, BUT it still feels like an extension of a certain hands-off lawlessness attitude that's spreading.