Replies

Ok, At a real keyboard.

First off, kudos on the title. I love Helicopters, I clicked. But to my surprise, the article wasn’t about Helicopters. I still don’t get the whole Helicopter reference. But on a side note, Helicopters are majestic creatures - Just watch Airwolf. The Bell 222 and subsequently the 230 and even the 240 series are stunning to look at, and the aggressive rotor positioning makes them wonderful fast-flight VTOL purchases. The million dollar price tag leaves something to be desired. But I suppose if you get the Hughes / McDonnell Douglass 500 as a sportier, “Man about the town” helicopter, you could find balance.

I digress.

I take it you’re of our younger posters - And welcome to you ! Been a while, and I’m glad to see you back. I’d like to add to your post, each paragraph from last to first:

“This is the epidemic that contributes to America’s problem. You know how all us conservative complain on government dependency and such? Well, part of that is due to the fact kids aren’t allowed to grow up anymore. They can’t go break an arm on the playground, because the playground is plasticized and “safe.” They can’t learn about violence because God forbid we teach about violence in school, we’ll just let kids get desensitized at home without any moral or ethical basis for them to understand what they’re watching. The point is, again, kids don’t grow up anymore. Therefore, when they’re older, and their parents don’t want to support them anymore, they turn to Big Daddy, a.k.a., the government. “

As you stick around this planet a little longer, you’ll see that what you’re living through “Has all been done before”. The violent video games and those who demonize them ? Well, that was Rap and glam bands back in my day. Before that, my parents had “Rock and Roll” and “Suggestive Dancing”. Attempts were made in my Dad’s hometown to ban Denim Dungarees (Blue Jeans, because “Jeans” were something different then), unless one was on their way to or from work. These things are always here. I grew up in a car without seatbelts. Never had a baby seat. Things that would get you arrested these days. And sure enough, in my past many different people turned to the Government for support. Many of my family included.

“This is a problem that is plaguing this country, these “helicopter” parents. I know I was subject to it once, because I remember 9/11, but I never understood it until about 5th grade. Parents have become too protective, but in all the wrong ways. Parents have dulled the outside world, playgrounds, schools, extracurriculars etc, so much, that kids go inside. Those studies that say we’re addicted to the internet? We’re addicted to movies and TV? We’re violent because of video-games? Good job worried parent. That’s probably your fault. You censor useful things, like literature (Harry Potter etc.) and instead let your kids play Call Of Duty, to go blow a Russian’s head off. “

Again, I’ll refer to my last comment. I used to play with yard darts. Imagine that. I hear ya here, but at the same time these Helicopter Parents (I get it.. Hovering over their kids) don’t WANT to hover over their kids. Recently I had an argument with my wife, who is 7 years younger than I. She mentioned that if I wanted to have kids, I would have to sell the car and get a newer one. My car is a 91, and has rear seatbelts with shoulder straps. She can’t fathom the idea of putting a kid in a car without at least 200 airbags, A direct and continuous data stream to LifeStar, and 8 televisions with dedicated Playstations. (I kid, of course, but you get the drift..) Parenthood means different things to different people - and it’s important that those people come together with some middle ground. In fact, I even recall my Dad being scolded by his sister for putting his kids in a car without seatbelts - Saying that he really should buy a Volvo with the best safety features. Come to think of it, I’ve never been in a car accident, and she was in about 10. With injuries.

Internet addiction is not your parent’s fault. I ran a BBS when I was 13, and my dad ran one since I was 6. Think “Grandpa Internet”. I played outside, I went to school, I talked on the phone, and I hung out on the BBS’. BBSesses. Bulletin Board Systems. My parents often told me how they weren’t allowed to talk on the party line telephone until they were 30. Again, same things - Ad infinitum. Finally, as a hats-off to violent video games - I can say that to demonize them would be to demonize Books about War, every movie that John Wayne was in, or comic books. The slope is slippery, watch your step.

“We live in an age of babies. It’s official. And I HATE it. Today, as I was fundraising for the YAF 9/11 Never Forget Project, I was pulled into the office of my head of school. I was told to take down the posters we had up, that read “Never Forget” with pictures of various attacks on Americans, such as 9/11, the bombing of the Marine barracks, and a picture of Daniel Pearl with a gun to his head. Now, my head of school said that the picture with the gun was inappropriate. Granted, I do go to a school with kids from Pre-K to 12th. Still, this is a perfect opportunity to educate all children on violence, and the violence committed against Americans. Censorship is part of the problem in this country. What we allow is violence in music, video-games, TV and movies. What we don’t allow, is showing real life violence and what its consequences are for innocents.”

Kid’s don’t educated about violence. Kids know about violence. I do feel that to sit a kid down and teach about violence is similar to pushing a sexual agenda on them. Kids need to be sat down and taught History, English Grammar (And foreign languages as an elective), Math, Science, and how to open a milk carton. That’s school. When you’re good at those things, you can expand on them with classes like “Southern Hemisphere Astronomy” and further into your college “Astro cartography with a focus on stellar telemetrics and time distortion interpretation on gathered data”. Followed by underwater basket-weaving.

You, my FRiend, were not censored. You were knocked back into play by the referee. There is a time and a place for everything - and your school isn’t the place to post pictures of people being maimed, hurt, or killed. The tried and true September 11th memorial is found in the beauty of the human spirit. When New Yorkers and The Beltway Folks pulled together. When an entire country looked at one another and came together in a way that still defies explanation - even description. I was there. I remember. I remember our entire congress standing on the steps and pledging allegiance, singing the anthem. Even those who would later turn to be the most evil, despicable people in the land. For a brief moment, we saw what American values renders, and what America is capable of.

What you were doing was reminding those around you what Islam is capable of. While it may time for the people to learn what Islam is capable of, it is NOT the place, and this is NOT the date. You see, Islam is attacking the West on all days, not just this one. Don’t let people associate our enemy with a specific date. If you do, you forever set the precedent that on the other 364 days a year, our enemy can proudly stand and walk our streets.

September 11 is NOT about our enemies. It is about our friends. We do not dedicate even ONE MINUTE to think of our enemies. Don’t let September 11 be “their day”. You’re giving power to the enemy, and you’re making your stance appear to be fringe, out-of-touch and insane.

Your stand against censorship is a valiant one. I would like to, however, offer a word of caution.

In days of old, before the problems we have today, we had other seemingly trite problems. Skirts above the knee, boys and girls dancing together, Skipping church on Sunday. Spending Christmas sledding with your friends. All of these things were major social issues in the day, but seem to be insignificant today. That is BECAUSE censorship has been so lax. Censorship is what filtered out the garbage that young people were exposed to, so they could focus on growing into complete adults. Educated, moral, and friendly. Without censorship, we have seen the bell-curve shattered.

Someone on Free Republic said something, MANY years ago (My god, has it been that long ? Like.. 6 years ago) words that I remember to this day:

“Back in the good ol’ days, Sex wasn’t taboo. It was special.”

That means that we, in today’s world, thought our old world was so wrong. So stiff, so un-bending. We thought that Sex had been taught as a wholly wrong thing - a no-no in the eyes of god. Something to be ashamed of. That’s incorrect. You see, “Back then” Sex was taught as something that you don’t go around giving to everyone. Not because it’s wrong, but because it’s a special bond between two people. Since ditching this philosophy, we see that sex is all around us - and teachings of this new, ugly idea of sex is now being taught younger and younger - And recently even with infant care.

Be careful about your stance on Censorship. It does matter.

-> Steve