April 16, 2007
Some things were better way back when
I don't know about you, but I agree that the 1950s got a bum rap.
2. Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1956 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.
2006 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
3. Scenario: Jason won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1956 - Jason sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal. Sits still in class.
2006 - Jason given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jason has a disability.
4. Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his father's car and his Dad gives him a whipping.
1956 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2006 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Billy's sister is told by state psychologist that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
5. Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some headache medicine to school.
1956 - Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2006 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.
I don't think it's an exercise in nostalgia for a world that never was; my childhood was filled with real-life examples of this kind of stuff, and no one I knew was scarred by being disciplined, or playing with firecrackers, riding bikes without helmets, jumping off roofs or shooting .22s.
More examples can he found here.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 16, 2007 04:11 PM
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