Posted on 02/19/2007 1:08:48 PM PST by Coleus
Excellent post.
I'm not sure I totally qualify for all your remembrances, but enough are true enough to me!
I thank God I had the chance to ride bikes (and I did ALOT - including breaking my arm when running into a moving car) WITHOUT those damn ugly and non-sensical (from this engineer's viewpoint) helmets making my head sweat. I loved the wind in my hair. I was 1 of the last generations that could do that.
Seems all anyone can come up with is improvements in TECHNOLOGY as pro's for the current day.
They were talking about MANNERS, and CHARACTER, and LIFESTYLE.
BTW, if the character continues as it is today, technology WILL reach a stand-still and may even regress.
Today, on the other hand, we have a bumper crop of slovenly, no-talent, brainless, twits lacking in common sense, dignity or shame. And the media (new-style) need not worry about what they print or broadcast, because when name recognition is the only standard left, any publicity is judged to be good publicity.
It was better back then. Not perfect - just much, much better.
Agreed. And what happened if the "cover-up" failed? People were shocked, and the perp punished in some way, which at least set an example.
Now, at best, we just cynically smirk.
Remember the "Black Sox"? Good God, several men were banished from baseball, immediately, for gambling and fraud.
Hell, at the very same time, 1 of the greatest jockeys of all at the time, Johnny Loftus, along with a colleague, was thrown out after 1920 for POSSIBLE race-fixing related to his infamous ride on the great Man o'War in his only loss.
Now, we have guys who assault, batter, and rape, and adulterize (word? LOL), and even attack their own coaches and they get NADA. They come back to play the next day.
They don't even get a 2-week SUSPENSION from their own sport, much less real legal ramifications.
It's outrageous.
Oh, yeah, men like him were simply EVERYwhere. ;-D
I'm assuming you are being facetious. Right?
You think technology is all that's improved? How about opportunity? I'm a young woman. I have moved 1500 miles from my family to pursue my education, met my husband when we lived 800 miles apart with means that didn't exist 20 years ago, seen so much more of this country than my great-grandmothers ever had the chance to... I have friends on other continents, I can stay in touch with my family from hundreds of miles away, the illness that would have left me blind in one eye a few decades back became no more than a minor inconvenience.
Sadly, yes. That's what the wink and big smile meant at the end.
There are those who would not think that a woman pursuing education and opportunities represents progress in the last fifty years. :-\
Too many professional athletes dress today like pimps and thugs. These pampered multi-millionaires use unbelievably foul language, and hang out with real criminals, pack heat like real criminals, and binge on alcohol and drugs. Then they go off to rehab and everything is supposed to be forgotten. They hire PR firms and various flack-catchers to deflect criticism and remind the media who really sells the advertising.
Basketball players physically attack fans and coaches, and just pay fines from the wad of bills in their back pockets, take a suspension, and then go back to playing (perhaps after getting a few more tattoos on the way back from buying a third Bentley).
Overall though, our standards of public behavior are now lower than at any time I can recall, including the late 1960s. Years of value-free public education, dissolution of the traditional family, and cultural degradation have left our behavioral expectations at gutter-level, if that. It is undeniable that we are a much wealthier and (physically) healthier society than ever before. We have technology at our disposal that was unimaginable even thirty years ago. But spiritually and intellectually - we're a basket case.
Most of what you mentioned is technology-related.
Opportunities are opened up, indeed, as a mindset. Although almost never in this country were your opportunities legally limited.
Now, they are, as more regulations are put in place on everyone trying to work for themselves!
Please. I've played, and watched (zzzzzzz) too many times.
I don't care about your "subtleties" nonsense. Guys standing around forever scratching their crotches and spitting instead of "JUST THROW THE DAMN BALL" are NOT examples of how great the strategy is. They're merely examples of taking advantage of no time limit.
They should have to move their bloody arses.
Playing is the best (except for outfielder, another proof positive of how dull it is when you're bored playing the game). Watching from the 1st few rows is pretty good. Stuck in the high-rise stinks.
Baseball has its good points for sure, but it honestly is only a step up from golf in interest, especially as a spectator.
BUMP FOR LATER
Tell yourself that. I'm a woman in an engineer's job. Just tell me that I'd have had that opportunity fifty years ago.
And the phenomenon I'm refering to is connectedness. I know the older generation thinks young people are disconnected and self centered these days but it's not true at all. Twenty years ago, my friends would have been whoever lived on the block, went to my church, or maybe worked with me or my husband. We might have had little in common besides convenience. Today, my friends are people of various ages, backgrounds, and settings. We connect because of shared interests, across the country and the world. It's a fascinating social phenomenon that was impossible before now.
I'm a woman in an engineer's job. I'm a mechanical engineer. Been so for 15 years.
As I said, yes, you had to deal with the attitude then. But technically, the opportunities were there. After all, even "back then" and much earlier, women DID "make it" in various things.
It's not an advance in law, it's an advance in attitude. At least we had the law. Indeed, again, the attitude wasn't great.
And again, your "connectedness" has everything to do with technology. It's not a character thing.
I might be the oldest one here....born in 1941.
As I remember it, women had few opportunities. As girls we were encouraged to be nurses, but never doctors. A female doctor had a very tough row to hoe clear up to the late 1960's when I did a survey of female doctors in this city and they related all the problems they encountered - from quotas in college entrance to really vile attitudes of the male students and teachers with whom they had to deal.
Women were encouraged to be teachers...but never school principals, and even the female teachers were mostly in the lower grades. Almost never saw a male teacher until at least middle school.
Women were encouraged to be cooks - but not chefs - where the real money was.
Women were encouraged to be sales clerks - but almost never a sales or store manager.
Women usually did much of the grind work in church/synagogue - but almost never sat on the church/synagogue board, or held an office with real authority.
Women might be elders in a church - but never a pastor, minister, rabbi.
Women were encouraged to be typists, stenographers and secretaries, but not executives, office managers or even head up the typing pool.
Women typed up the insurance endorsements, but were not in sales (where the money was).
Women were encouraged to be legal secretaries, but not lawyers.
Women were encouraged to be bookkeepers, but not accountants.
I don't ever recall seeing a female police officer, EMT, or fire fighter.
Women were pilots who tested military aircraft in the Second World War (and a number lost their lives), but they weren't allowed to fly in anything even approaching combat. And they didn't receive ANY of the military benefits such as burial, or disability, or retirement.
Women who joined the military usually ended up in the typing pool - or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
I remember we were given an occupational questionnaire in middle school that was supposed to "guide" us in making decisions as to what we wanted to do after graduation. The boys' and girls' choices were completely different.
"Doctor," "lawyer," "engineer," "accountant," "president," etc. never appeared on the girls' questionnaire. It did on the boys' questionnaires.
On ours (the girls') I remember "ballerina" "housewife" "mother" "typist" "cook" "housecleaner" "elementary teacher" jobs.
I also remember how blacks were treated...the university at which I worked (large one in Philadelphia) had one ONE black student. One lonely engineering student.
There were plenty of black employees though - but all in the kitchen and the custodial staff. No black teachers or clerical staff. How come? The city has a large black population.
Bell telephone of Pennsylvania never hired Jews. I was twice refused employment in in two different places because I am Jewish. I'm not guessing about this- I was TOLD it to my face.
In 1964, I was "let go" from an executive secretarial position to the manager of a large resort in San Diego because I was six months pregnant. I was told "pregnant women are unsightly." I had just bought a complete maternity wardrobe so I would be "sightly." It wasn't my work, because I was told to come back "afterwards."
On the other hand the worst offense in high school was for someone to get caught smoking a cigarette in the bathroom or for chewing gum in the hall. We had one girl out of a graduating class of over 600 who had to "go on vacation" early. One out of 600. Never even heard of drugs or weapons in school.
There were lots of things that were better 50 years ago - but not all of them.
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