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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 11:15:28 AM | When we were young, things were pretty simple.. Seems like this topic has come up before. I think that whenever someone comes up with this topic, it is a sign of aging. I think that things never really change in the essential sense. The details change, but mankind and life itself is and always will be essentially the same. As well, those living through certain periods often seem to think things are as bad as they can get, but if you look at the reality, it is often just as good as it is bad. We have multitudinous advantages and safety nets today that we didn't have 30 or 40 years ago. There are things that could be classified as worse than in the 50's or 60's, and there are things that can be classified as better.
" It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
Charles****ns, A Tale of Two Cities
English novelist (1812 - 1870) | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 1:19:31 PM | "When You Were Young, and Your Heart Was an Open Book...You Used to Say Live and Let Live...(you know you did you know you did you know you did)...but In This Ever-Changing World in Which We Live In, You Can Give It a Cry...Live and Let DIE."
It's true. 30 years ago, the words b-tch, ass, pissed off, etc. were NEVER spoken in prime-time television. Now, shows like the Law & Orders, CSI, NCIS ad nauseum celebrate them as part of "realism". Thank 1981's Hill Street Blues for starting the trend toward realistic drama on TV. Sex too. Ladies are ever-more-scantily clad...on prime-time TV! I don't mind, but I think about the 5-year-olds who tune into this crap and have to ask their parents "why is she naked?".
The world is becoming more intense, no question about it. And, yes, morality does tend to get lost in technology, or better put, in money. All this stuff is good for ratings, good for ad revenue, good for internet market penetration.
30 years from now, I'll probably be dead, so I'm not worrying about it for me, but I weep for the future of my nephews and nieces--they're really gonna struggle. But kids have a way of adapting to whatever their environment is--they'll be tougher to rise to the challenge. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 1:31:46 PM | TK: I've got no idea what will replace capitalism - if anything.
I'm not saying capitalism is a bad thing at all - but it's not sustainable, certainly not on an environmental level.
As far as "things were simple when we were young" on a social level: well, of course they were. We were children. I'm sure our children will look back to their "good old days" as well.
I certainly don't want to go back to an era where married women couldn't work, where there was no birth control, where segregation as de rigeur. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:09:51 PM | Forum Filly....
Farceur wrote...
One of the insights I underlined says it's going to be a bit difficult having a happy relationship without knowing how. The selection process is pointless unless once you get one in the boat you know what to do with it
Forum Filly wrote...
At our ages, we have found 'the person' with whom we want to spend the rest of our lives. Life is too short and we are going to live it to the fullest and enjoy every moment we have together.
mirabelle13 wrote...
I'm looking for someone to build a life with and to work on a relationship with. I am not expecting Mr. Perfect. I am expecting a man who is willing to compromise and sort things out within an accepting, loving and mutually exclusive partnership. ...etc etc
zangie wrote...
Someone who when I see something beautiful or breath taking..and I turn and say:
Isn't that cool?
My apologies to FF, M and Z. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:16:28 PM | I remember a cartoon from the New Yorker -- Two cavemen standing in the opening of a cave, watching the rain. And one says to the other, "You can't tell me the weather was this bad before Oog invented the wheel!"
My life as a child was simple, until Genghis Khan and the Asian hordes showed up. . . . oh, wait, that was another life. Nevermind.
I ready willing and able to predict that in another 30 years, the US will *actually* have healthcare for everyone! Novel concept, eh?
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:19:19 PM | Well, (in my mind), "when we were young" means when we were a child.
Becaue I fit in this 'group', I am speaking now from "white middle class USA".
(I'm positive the blacks can NOT say "things were simple", for instance).
When we (in that group, mind you) were children, when our parents were children, when their parents were children,
we were CHILDREN.
We didn't care about much more than play time, school time, dinner time, and more play time, and our chores.
We didn't even KNOW anything about the grownup world.
We didn't even CARE anything much about the grownup world.
We were not BROUGHT INTO the grownup world.
Basically, with exceptions, our parents took the blunt of life .. they had their grownup stress.. and the children were off being just children. Heck, even in our young teen years.
Our parents, and parent's parents..... being children during the World Wars.. were allowed to be children.
The adults handled the logistics.
You didn't "talk in front of the children", remember?
That ^^ went on for centuries.
But now... (and I'm afraid it's flucked up enough where it will be in the future too) ...
the children can't be children much beyond age 5, if that.
Toooo much stress is being put on them. Toooo much grown up crap.
There isn't much in their lives that is "simple" anymore.
They're popping pills in grade school, for goodness sake.
Off soap box. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:40:16 PM | When my mom was three, her father died. Her mother remarried, taking only the baby with her. The other 10 were abandoned. They (the eldest was 17) raised each other. The older ones quit school and got jobs to support the littles. Her kindergarten teacher bought her a dress. They used to gather weeds in their neighbors' back yards to cook for dinner. *That* is what having NO government social services meant for her and her nine siblings. Do I think things have gotten worse?
Nope.
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:43:36 PM | I dunno sometimes. Was there less crime? Or just different kinds of crime? Incest, rape, molestation were not spoken of... not because they didn't exist but because it wasn't acceptable/appropriate to talk about it. My cousin did several years in the pen for possession of heroin... but it wasn't talked about. Was there less sexual activity and unwed mothers? Or, again, was it just not mentioned? My grandparents operated a home for unwed mothers so I know I saw them. Was there less cheating? Or was swapping just not considered cheating? I've been shocked to learn who all was participating in the activity back in the day... including my own parents, aunts and uncles.
I agree with someone else that the sappy, unrealistic shows of that time were just gawd-awful. I enjoyed the variety hours which often included comedy. There were alotta 'comic' shows -- Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Carol Burnette, Laugh-In, Flip Wilson, Dean Martin. Makes me wonder WTH everyone was hiding from from escaping into comedy. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 2:47:14 PM | "In a society where everyone is equal, there is no need to excel."
Funny, I spend a lot of time in a society where everyone is equal, everyone has a university education, where everyone is so proud of their hard work, and so encouraging of each other. Try it, you might find you like the difference.
ps They also haven't had self esteem beaten out of them by the advertising industry. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 3:26:30 PM | When we were young, things weren't simple, we just didn't know about them Back then there were drug addicts, molesters, cheaters and all manner of "bad" people and things.
We just didn't hear about them ALL the time.
Internet and the media have pushed those atrocities in the limelight to be able to sell papers.
I have to agree with you that "bad" people, criminals and crime has always been amongst us. And before worldwide communication, we didn't hear much about it.
But, the fact is crime rates have risen.
The violent crime rate in Canada is 35% higher than 20 yrs. ago. (Source: Statistics Canada July 21, 2005) YOUTH violent crimes have increased 30% since 1991. YOUTH homicide rates have risen 41% since 1997, and had the largest increases in the last 10 yrs. Property crimes have risen proportionately. (Source: May 17,2008 Globe and Mail)
Crime rates are expected to soar as economic difficulties deepen.
We're in the yr. 2009. Now, we have NUMEROUS global criminals, terrorists, corporate criminals. Now, we have Murder Capitals of the World. And, our children and grandchildren are exposed to these atrocities on a daily basis. They're bombarded with images of poverty, civil unrest, murder and crime of all sorts, either on the news and in popular T.V. shows. They're being inundated with visions of aggression on a constant.
Innocence is lost..............I sure wouldn't want to be raising little ones in this day and age. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 4:42:38 PM |
I think it's a cycle. The age of the roaring 20's was very promiscuous, alcohol filled and laden with opium addiction. Then the depression hit, and the standards and morals of society tightened a bit.
It is true that the internet has fed the most recent deluge of "looseness"of morals. However, the pendulum always swings back to the other side. We may not be here when this happens, but I am certain it will. The only sure thing in life is change.
Agree with the above.
The 50s may have been innocent, the next generation was far from it. The children of innocence tended to massively branch out; and the children of the massively branched out parented more innocence.
Though with a majority double income latch key society with such a vast amount of incredibly explicit info at the touch of fingertips and the technical know how to exploit it; it's going to be tough to have the pendulum go back all the way... some of it's here to stay.
I'm hopeful though that they will eventually figure out some way to do SOMETHING about the internet though; it's out of control and can do untold damage, as well as shattering innocence and putting a lot at risk for gratification with no controls whatsoever for kids.
Eventualy it would be nice if there was some protection or at least some consequences for all those victimized by it...
Guess we'll see how long the pendulum swings this way... | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 4:47:28 PM | | In 30 years I would love to be sitting on a front porch in a rocking chair watching the sunset beside of the man I have been madly in love with for the past 30 years and whatever tecnological advances will be overshadowed by that love. Of course the fact I can answer this question from my cellphone is pretty neato! | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 5:05:22 PM | The "question" ron9, is what kind of state the world will be in - in 30 years time ... on a serious note ... I think, no I hope .... that we will have less real serious crime, less of a gap in the haves and the have nots.... maybe even world peace .... but who am I kidding... the world is what it is ... human nature in regards to capitalism and the social needs will never be erased .... it will just take a new form, with a new name .....
But on to more interesting thoughts - like the "mating/dating" game ... and yes I wonder what online dating will be like ... will we have virtual reality type dating, where we "meet" in a room and using sensory nodes - get to feel and hear the other person instead of the back and forth - meeting the "luv" of your life but not getting to meet because of distance? Just think of it ... we could actually go back to where "Bille sees Susie .... and gets her pants off"....  yep - I hope I'm around to experience that ...  | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 5:40:43 PM | I can only look respond to this statement from the perspective of an African American woman because that is what I am.....
I agree with some of what most of the posters here have said......but as my grandfather (an African American man) used to say, "not everything old is good (i.e., slavery, segregation, etc.), and not everything new (access to information with the click of a mouse) is bad".....it all depends, not on technology, but the USE of it.
I see a "decline" in what I think are good morals, and I believe children aren't allowed their childhoods.....when thong bathing suits are being sold for four year-old girls to wear...well, that is just off the charts in my way of thinking.......
And I decry the lack of "privacy." Why do people want their every move, their every activity, "out there" for public viewing, and then cry if they are "stalked?" I don't get it.
I don't envy the young folk of today and what they will have to live through to get to a ripe old age.... | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 5:56:28 PM |
But, the fact is crime rates have risen
A major reason for this is people are reporting more. People are aware that they don't have to put up with domestic violence or assault, for example, and report it to the police. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 6:23:49 PM | There is a time and a place for profanity. It doesn't upset me much. But when a person uses it it all the time, it doesn't speak a lot for their intelligence. Sex is part of human nature, but conversations about have their time and place too.
I'm all for a more open society. However, when we don't follow the rules of time and place, it's disrespectful. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 6:49:59 PM |
Does morality tend to get lost in the advance of technology or is it the forebearer?
I'd say neither... there has been immorality, corruptness and evilness since time began. I do think morals are seriously lacking especially in hard economic times, as it's a lot easier to be moral when the bills are getting paid. It's also a lot easier to be immoral if you're divorced, single, non-religious and nobody to "account" to. But the truth is, many famous people in history have led very so-called immoral lives. If fact if you read biographies you may be inclined to think people are pretty tame today.
Does anyone want to predict what 30 years from now will bring?
I wouldn't even know where to begin, predicting where we'll be in 30 years, but it's not good, and that has more to do with the weather changes, global warming, overpopulation, lack of morals as you say (*rich get richer, poor get poorer, politics is in over their heads), and lack of natural resources. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 7:26:57 PM | "I dunno sometimes. Was there less crime?"
Well, main stream society sure didn't have the drug culture. The 60's messed that up where it was considered cute and recreational. Today their is a whole drug culture. If the drugs don't kill them, the drive bys do. By hey, it's a free country where people get to expressed their destoyed lived in any way their choose. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 7:59:31 PM | Ah lost innocence.
As much as the world changed, many things still haven't. But with the media and Internet, we are aware of many more of the goings on, all around the world, in an instant. Many of these are no more prevalent than they were before but our horizons where limited and local.
As well as we grow up, the world becomes more complicated. Things that were absolute truths are really nuanced by degrees, such as right and wrong, how to behave or what is good or bad. Some become more educated and start to see the world through different eyes.
There is still today much good in the world- it just doesn't make the news. The good is just not as attention getting, is easier to understand and can be as simple as a full belly, good friends and family and a roof over your head. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 8:15:44 PM | One of, if not the major, reason why life has become more complex and crime and cruelty have increased so much is simply population. Since 1960, the world population has more than doubled. More rats in the maze leads to more of the worst side of humanity. We are destroying this planet at an ever increasing rate, a rate that is coeval with the rapidly rising sheer number of humans.
Life was simpler when we were young simply because there were far fewer of us to grate on each others nerves. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/25/2009 8:44:40 PM | Mssg. #47 That is a very good observation.
Now if people would just stop breeding because they think they have the right to, but not the responsibility to deal with their offspring............population could stay the same or drop, and multiple problems in society wouldn't exists anymore. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/29/2009 9:15:51 PM | One of, if not the major, reason why life has become more complex and crime and cruelty have increased so much is simply population. Since 1960, the world population has more than doubled. More rats in the maze leads to more of the worst side of humanity. We are destroying this planet at an ever increasing rate, a rate that is coeval with the rapidly rising sheer number of humans. While I don't fundamentally believe that things are currently worse or less simple than in the past, just different, that doesn't mean I don't think there are social ills that should be addressed. My personal hobby horse is over-population.
The world is over populated. As oldfolkie states, since 1960 the world population has doubled. In much less than 50 years, it will double again. Rats in a maze is good imagery to illustrate the point. I agree with all these point: we are destroying the planet in trying to sustain and support this huge mass of humanity. I was talking to a colleague the other day. His wife is Chinese and they spent part of the summer in China. I was in China almost 20 years ago. An average city in China was then, as far as I understood, 1-2 million people, now it is about twice that, according to my colleague. No just in China, but all over the world, populations are increasing...except in some Western European countries. In Austria, for example, there is zero population growth--it should be the same in the rest of the world. It would make life for everyone better. Beside the burden on the Earth's resources, it is a simple equation=it is easier to manage and function if the numbers are less, which reflects back on crime, education, and other social issues.
The irony is that due to progresses in medical science and that we are able to feed and sustain a larger population than previously, more children survive past infancy and more people live longer. So positive scientific progress has led to the growth in population; now positive social progress needs to lead to people understanding that zero population growth is the most intelligent thing for the future.
Now if people would just stop breeding because they think they have the right to, but not the responsibility to deal with their offspring............population could stay the same or drop, and multiple problems in society wouldn't exists anymore. Absolute agreement. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/29/2009 9:21:06 PM | | You absolutely right, Ismene. Barring a global pandemic, the only solution we have is to aggressively pursue social programs to educate the entire population of this world on just what overpopulation is doing to this planet. | |
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| When we were young, things were pretty simple
Posted: 8/30/2009 7:24:37 AM | At least when I was young the world was a very different place, be it for better or for worse.
Just remembering the Civil Defense signs around the grade school and the fallout shelter was a remembrance of things I had missed by virtue of birth. Having grown up in a rural community where there wasn't any ethnicity other than white it would be awhile before I discovered the multiple races of folks outside of history and social studies textbooks.
Teem pregnancy was kept quiet back in the day while today there's in-school nurseries for unwed children with children can (hopefully) complete high school and give their child and hopefully themselves a future.
Having been short for my age, I found girls and young women more will to date than the women of today's age. It was an age where people accepted others for who they were and were willing to get to know them. Today, people are more guarded, judgmental and superficial. They let the drones of the television and fashion industries govern what should be socially acceptable, from height, hair, dress, income, material possessions and social status. Heck, if it wasn't for television there wouldn't be a glut of programs on-the-air with cussing in every paragraph (as a previous poster mentioned) not to mention the widening of the class system - just look at shows like Dallas and Dynasty!
I think there are still plenty of things that were throwbacks to our days, but things like the "class system" is so much more evident than it was growing up. Today people are judged on whether they drive a BMW or a Honda or a Yugo (that's if there's a Yugo that's still running).
I have to agree, while civilization has moved forward since my childhood i wouldn't necessarily agree it's for the better. Things where definitely much simpler back int the day. | |
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