IMHO....the two things that came along in the 60’s, causing irreversible harm to the family unit were
1. the birth control pill....suddenly women did not have to think twice about consequences of their decision-making
2. the dishwasher....for those of you that remember family life before the dishwasher, you may agree that the evening ritual of washing dishes was the time when family bonding occurred.....along came the dishwasher and poof! no more need to hang around after eating dinner.
I think it’s easy enough to blame labor savers, when that shouldn’t have made an iota of difference to whether, just to how, the family time was spent.
Birth control was called the greatest invention of the 20th Century according to women. Abortion came soon after being legal along with the acceptance of divorce. I believe Womankind should be the rock that holds our society together because she brings life and joy of family which is an institution. What we have now is horror: unfettered abortion, family ruin and decay and womankind surpassed by men who want to be women among other perversions. The Feminist movement and equality was all a sham that ended with the right to vote.
The boomer generation drank the soviet subversion koolaid by the gallon. Couple that with feminism-the pill-abortion etc. and it was a death sentence for western civilization.
Dishwashing, that's when I learned that a cat could, and would, run right up your back so it could watch the faucet, something it found fascinating!
Now, thanks to the smartphone, there is no longer any need to even talk to your family.
2. the dishwasher....
I would have placed the television in First Place.
True, the t.v. had already been around in significant numbers since the late-1940s in the U.S., but it didn't really come to dominate (and consequently undermine) home life until the 1960s. It's most-corrosive effect was to supplant parental authority with regards to moral standards and ethics.
The automobile (bedroom on wheels - affordable even for late-teens) also deserves an honorable mention (though of course it wasn't a phenomenon restricted to the 1960s).
Regards,
ah, the guys suddenly didn't have to be responsible either...
you know what the change that I most hated in the 60's and continues today?....the sarcastic putdowns of everything good...the Church, marriage, the flag, the military, sex, etc...
everything a joke, all the time...
think of the movie Mash....good servicemen and what they do was just one continual joke...ha ha ha...
No, it was television that destroyed the family time together. It also shaped America’s beliefs and moods.
indeed something to think about. Thanks for the insight.
My sister and I were the "dishwashers" for our large family. With no nagging or prompting we happily did our duty each and every night. As we washed we would sing songs - in harmony no less!
On Saturday afternoons Mom would wash the dishes and I would dry while we listened to the Metropolitan Opera.