You mean as in nostalgia ain’t what it used to be? I agree. My dad has told me stories of growing up in rural Texas, and it wasn’t all sweetness and light. Bad people then and bad people now. I guess if I had to come up with a difference, it would be that people (kids included) back then were more savvy and better equipped to handle bad situations - and expected to have to handle things. The “authorities” were few and far between, so you were on your own.
I mean people’s fear of what will happen is vastly exaggerated. The author says if “you” (meaning the average person) introduce yourself to a city dweller they will flee. Then the author says their fears are justified. Well, they aren’t. People have become wimps, happened a long time ago.
I partially agree with the author; it’s getting dangerous out there.
However, I remember stories told by my parents who grew up in the 1920s and Great Depression:
My mother grew up in a small town in Central Texas. There was a motel where traveling salesmen stayed. The owners of the motel allowed the salesmen to have sex with their 13 y/o daughter who was retarded. They did it to make more money from renting the rooms.
Mom also told me there was a fair amount of wife beating and child abuse going on.
An immigrant German farmer let the local black people, who were close to starvation, glean food from his fields after he harvested. The KKK showed up at midnight and shot him at his front door. The bullet went through him and hit his daughter.
We have appalling problems today, but I have faith in the American people. Our country will stumble, fall, argue about the causes, and, ultimately, muddle through.