Posted: 3/6/2005 8:09:10 PM EDT
|
I remember when you didnt hear low flying airplanes as cars going by. When there was not school shootings When kids wanted to be a firefighter or policeman, not a rapper I remember being whipped for punishment I recall a paddle in school I know the national anthem I remember having respect for people and elders I remember girls not being sluts at 15 I remember being raised with values The sad thing is, I dont see this anymore and the sadest thing is I am only 24 What is wrong with society today? Why is the inner city life moving into the country? 
|
|
I don't see why you guys in your 50's etc make this into something new, hell the baby boomers where a shock to their parents same as their parents before them etc etc. It's just a new age, I don't agree with alot of it but hey thats life things change, it may not seem like it but usually for the best. |
If your 24 than you weren't around for the time the inner city moved to the country, it's called the suburbs. And it happened long before either of us. |
| MTV has been around since 1981 so it might be older than you. I (being only 20) admitt that when looking at the kids 5-10 younger than us get discusted with what they have become and how they have changed. I think this is mostly an illusion however, its just the very first stages of us getting old. The older people will always be discusted and confused by the youth. |
|
I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted land. But most of all, I remember the Road Warrior. The man we called 'Max'. To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time. When the world was powered by the black fuel. And the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed. Men like Max. The warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything. And became a shell of a man, a burnt out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again. |
|
|
I remember race riots, high gas prices, recession, joblessness, alchoholics all over the road, spousal abuse, unreported rapes, high incidents of drug use amongst teens, divorces, piss-poor medical care, low standards of living and high food prices. Every time is the BEST of times, if you wait 30 years and look back at only the good. Every generation has done this, and they were always half blind. "The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching." Assyrian tablet, c. 2800 BC |
ah yeah, around the same time all of the above were happening we had race riots, segregration, and Presidents and their brothers getting assassinated and the Viet Nam war. |
Nope, I was born in 80. Yeah, I am getting old, I find it more peaceful to hang out with people 10 to 20 years older then me. Most of my friend are in there 30s to 40s. I can spend all day hanging out with old vets of foriegn wars. Everytime I go with my gf to one of her family functions, me and her grandpa talk for hours. Maybe I am just getting old, but I dont like what Im seeing coming up the pipes. I will be 25 in sep. I have 4 yrs with bellsouth, and I am trying to buy a house. Havent lived at home since I was 17. I dont know guys, I just dont know anymore. 
|
I restmy case. 
|
I totally disagree........ I'm only 36 and I was raised with such values. It wasn't THAT long ago that people considered morals, class and integrity 'in fashion'. This 'ME' generation crap is hardly culture shock. What it IS, is a general decline of the way today's children think it's "ok/cool to be" . I don't know your age, but If you're young (high school age?) It'd be harder to understand the difference between then and now. I was taught right from wrong, to treat others as I wished to be, to not take advantage merely to increase MY own gain and to aspire to be a better person. Sadly, those things appear to mean very little anymore......... |
I, who have been around far longer then 30 years agree with this. I do however yearn for the days when trash was considered trash, and the only guns brought to school were toy guns, and these were permitted. People were responsible for their actions and being a deviant was not a point of pride. 
|
|
I remember being at the range today. There was no irresponsible driving. No one got shot. Not one individual there ever wanted to be a rapper. Many including myself (I'm 25) were whipped for punishment. I had a paddle in school. I'm fairly certain they all knew the national anthem. Everybody was respectful. The young teen girl I saw there was dressed in an appropriate manner suiting her young age. As far as I'm concerned, every one there was raised with values in mind. This country isn't bleak. It's a great place. Good is found when you acknowledge it's existence. |
So in the 70's shit was all good? I am done with highschool for some time now  But what you need to understand is today everything is in the news. It is blown into a big huge state emergency. Kids killed other kids and had teenage sex through out time. Kids have always been pretty much bad, not all kids but you will always have a bad apple. |
Um if use to be if an ankle was showing the girl was a whore, and people use to say PG instead of pregnant and so on. Like or not each generation is crazy and wild to the one before it. |
Agreed. My point is, there's no reason to be bummed about it. There are plenty of good kids all over the place, regardless of how you define "good". |
Let me get this straight - you are 24, and was born in 1980. Let me assume that you pretty much have little memory of anything before 1985, because you were a small kid and didn't pay attention to how 15-year old girls dressed, the national anthem, school, etc. So it seems like the awesome days of yore that you are recalling from your youth are essentially from 1985 to 1995. Your memory may be somewhat biased. Here are a few statistics: Both violent crime and property crime were higher in those ten years than they are today. (stats from DOJ) Teenage pregnancy was significantly higher in those ten years than they are today, with the highest rates in 1991. So much for the 15 year-old sluts you don't think existed then. (stats from the CDC) |
No, it wasn't ALL good, BUT there sure as hell wasn't anywhere NEAR the amount of crap you see everyday on the news today, that's now considered 'acceptable' or 'normal'. I'd be hard pressed to remember ever hearing of a kid 'go columbine' back then or all these sick child molesting fucks running around free. Yes, there were the bad kids but "bad" had an entirely different meaning. You just didn't see 12 year old girls walking around dressed like sluts, 8 year old boys anally raping, then beating to death a 5 year old boy and other such garbage like you do all over the TV nowadays. The times were different and so were the kids....... I don't really know how to explain it. I guess there was just more respect for adults and oneself, as well as for others back then. That's just my recollection. I'm sure there are people here who might disagree, like with anything else. I feel kind of sad for the kids today. So many won't even know what it's like to get to BE a kid anymore. |
Yeah I am being bias here, I reflecting on what I see around me, and how I view people younger then me. Yeah,; the 80's were different, but its not like it is today. Show me you stats too.
|
That's my point. The REALITY is that now is probably better than it was when you were growing up, in terms of many of the benchmarks you threw out. The difference is that your PERCEPTION has likely changed. For example, many kids might grow up in nice middle-class white suburbs with good school districts, where the biggest problems are stolen bikes and the jocks picking on the nerds. They might mistakenly assume that this is how the world works, and don't realize that kids growing up in the projects in Chicago are dealing with gangs, crack, murder and prostitutes every day. Then, when they grow up, they hear about all the bad stuff that they never saw as a kid (or paid attention to, because kids in HS don't generally spend a lot of time reading newspapers and following DOJ crime statistics, teen pregnancy rates, ACLU lawwsuits, etc), and think that it is a new thing, when in fact it was going on all along. Sorry, I don't quite understand your "show me your stats" comment. For the statistics I provided, I clearly indicated the source. The violent crime stats are from the Department of Justice (Bureau of Justice Statistics) and the teen pregnancy stats are from the Centers for Disease Control (Reproductive Health). |