Large Scale Central

See what 50 years will do?

General Discussion
#1

See What 50 Years Will Do

Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack’s rifle, goes to
his car and gets his rifle to show Jack .

2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never see s his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for
traumatized students and teachers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.

2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charges them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal.
Jeffrey THEN sits still in class.

2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his father’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - 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.

&n bsp;+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some headache medicine to school.

1957 - Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking dock.

2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state democratic party. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. Engl ish banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he can’t speak English.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.

2007 - BATF, Homel and Security and FBI are called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Miss Mary. Miss Mary then hugs Johnny to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007 - Miss Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

               Is something wrong here?
#2

Does that question even NEED asking?..

#3

I’m with Andre there. Geez, if the laws were like they are now back in '57 I’d still be in prison for some of my stunts…:confused:

#4

Scenario - 7 year-old Mary doesn’t want to go the Sunday School. She claims the priest touched her.

1957 - Mary given a good beating and sent to Sunday School.

2007 - Parents listen to Mary. Medical examination shows she has been raped several times.

Scenario - Johnny collects fireworks to make a bottle bomb from the gunpowder.

1957 - Bomb goes off prematurely. Johnny’s eyes are blown out.

2007 - Neighbours notice what Johnny is doing and tell parents. Johnny grows up to become a famous photographer.

Scenario - Billy has a learning disability.

1957 - Teachers repeated hit Billy with a stick on the assumption that he will learn better with multiple bruises. His classmates taunt him and gradually become violent. He runs away from home and embarks on a career as a criminal.

2007 - Billy gets extra help at school and goes on to lead a fairly productive life.

Scenario - 17 year-old Sally is raped after school and falls pregnant.

1957 - She is taken out of school in shame. She is then forced to marry the rapist.

2007 - Mary has the option of a therapeutic abortion. The rapist goes to jail.

Ah, the rosy coloured glasses of hindsight.

#5

Kevin, I think it’s you that’s living in fantasy land. From your responses I’m not so sure you were there.

#6
Warren Mumpower said:
Kevin, I think it's you that's living in fantasy land. From your responses I'm not so sure you were there.
1957 was real and sometimes nasty. "Leave it to Beaver" was a fantasy TV show.
#7

I guess that depends on where you were living at the time. Where I was, life was great. Life was great for those around me. People were content and getting ahead was within reach. “Leave It To Beaver” was idealistic, but not necessarily fantasy. Same with “Father Knows Best”. But that is a far cry better than the blood and guts or the absolutely disgusting “sitcoms” that kids watch today. And I didn’t have some stupid government agency tell me I was too young to work.

#8
Warren Mumpower said:
I guess that depends on where you were living at the time. Where I was, life was great. Life was great for those around me. People were content and getting ahead was within reach. "Leave It To Beaver" was idealistic, but not necessarily fantasy. Same with "Father Knows Best". But that is a far cry better than the blood and guts or the absolutely disgusting "sitcoms" that kids watch today. And I didn't have some stupid government agency tell me I was too young to work.
You'll get no argument from me on the "quailty" of current TV. Lobotomizing! I call it "brain pollution". I cut my TV cable 10 years ago and I find I'm getting smarter all the time.

As for the good ol’ days, everything seems good when you’re a child. Especially when looking back as an old geyser. But those things I described did happen. They still happen today, but at least there is some attempt to right those wrongs. Have we gone too far? Maybe, but the laws came about for legitimate reasons and with fairly good intentions.

I also remember that to disagree with an adult, even when that adult was wrong, brought a speedy physical assault that was sanctioned by society. I was overweight as a child (still am). I remember adults calling me “fatso” and then physically assaulting me if I even twitched in response. I remember a local group of boys that, so it was rumoured, committed multiple sexual assualts on the town’s girls. Their victims knew better than to report it. I remember my brother having his slingshot confiscated by the local policeman but being allowed to use a 22 rifle unsupervised.

Overall, I think my childhood was fairly typical.

#9
Kevin Morris said:
You'll get no argument from me on the "quailty" of current TV. Lobotomizing! I call it "brain pollution". I cut my TV cable 10 years ago and I find I'm getting smarter all the time.
Kevin,

That is frightening!

There’s a rule in our house: one hour of TV, need it or not, on Friday night when the laughs are on.

Actually that’s just to test the TV, wouldn’t want it to die on us without us noticing.

Do dead TVs start to smell if they’re left too long? :wink: :slight_smile: :wink:

#10
Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Kevin Morris said:
You'll get no argument from me on the "quailty" of current TV. Lobotomizing! I call it "brain pollution". I cut my TV cable 10 years ago and I find I'm getting smarter all the time.
Kevin,

That is frightening!

There’s a rule in our house: one hour of TV, need it or not, on Friday night when the laughs are on.

Actually that’s just to test the TV, wouldn’t want it to die on us without us noticing.

Do dead TVs start to smell if they’re left too long? :wink: :slight_smile: :wink:


I think TVs stink at all times.

Alas, I haven’t gotten rid of my addiction to background noise, so I watch movies a lot - actually, I have movies playing in the corner of the room which I ignore much of the time.

#11
Kevin Morris said:
actually, I have movies playing in the corner of the room which I ignore much of the time.
How did you choose which corner of the room to ignore much of the time? What had that corner done to earn your particular dislike? What is going on in the more favoured corners? Ummm, maybe I'd be better off not knowing.
#12

Kevin, by '57 I was a teen. I wasn’t seeing things like a little child by then. But, as a rule I can say that what you describe was NOT the norm. I got my share of whacks from parents and teachers, but I can say that I earned every one of them. I was picked on occasionally by my peers, but I was never disrespected by being called names by an adult. My older brother on the other hand…:confused: Maybe it was different cultural upbringing that made the difference. But from my point of view the ways of the 50’s were far better than the mess we have today. Virginia Tech is only about 10 miles from where my parents are laid to rest. I can assure you that in the 50’s such an incident as we recently saw there would have never occurred. It was unthinkable!

#13

My neighborhood in 1957.
All the moms were housewifes. All our doors were unlocked. Us kids played baseball in the middle of the street with the neighborhood dads. We’d race our bikes around the block. Didn’t watch much tv, too busy playing in the neighbor hood.
Never, ever heard of any one molesting another person.

Kevin:
If those(2007) scenarios where in place in 1957, we would all be a bunch of zombies now walking around, afraid to go outside, talk to neighborhood kids, even look at a child. etc etc.

Give me 1957 any day!!
jb

#14

John Bouck said:
… If those(2007) scenarios where in place in 1957, we would all be a bunch of zombies now walking around, afraid to go outside, talk to neighborhood kids, even look at a child. etc etc. Give me 1957 any day!! jb

JB Give it fifty years (most likely a lot less!) and it will come to pass. Recent report of lunacy (one of many), the Homeland Security Service wants to erect some barriers at the Vermont/Québec border. Amongst other things the border runs straight smack through the middle of the library in that town. So far they had signs reminding both sides to report to the border “whatever”, better be good planning before one gets to the library, wouldn’t want to stroll back and forth between the shelves and having to report each time one crosses the border - marked by a black line on the library floor. Comment from one Québecois: “Sounds just like the Berlin Wall”! Pretty good analogy!!

#15

Hans-Joerg Mueller said:
Recent report of lunacy (one of many), the Homeland Security Service wants to erect some barriers at the Vermont/Québec border. Amongst other things the border runs straight smack through the middle of the library in that town. So far they had signs reminding both sides to report to the border “whatever”, better be good planning before one gets to the library, wouldn’t want to stroll back and forth between the shelves and having to report each time one crosses the border - marked by a black line on the library floor. Comment from one Québecois: “Sounds just like the Berlin Wall”! Pretty good analogy!!

Good heavens, HJ, you know we must be careful of patrons of the local library. After all, they just might be literate! We can’t allow that. :lol: The Berlin Wall analogy is a rather poor one, I think. That wall was erected to keep people inside. This wall will be erected to keep people out. Through a library is a bit of a stretch, though. In any case, if Canada took radical Islam more seriously, the wall would not be necessary.

#16
John Bouck said:
My neighborhood in 1957. All the moms were housewifes. All our doors were unlocked. Us kids played baseball in the middle of the street with the neighborhood dads. We'd race our bikes around the block. Didn't watch much tv, too busy playing in the neighbor hood. Never, ever heard of any one molesting another person.

Kevin:
If those(2007) scenarios where in place in 1957, we would all be a bunch of zombies now walking around, afraid to go outside, talk to neighborhood kids, even look at a child. etc etc.

Give me 1957 any day!!
jb


I admit I was considerably younger in 1957, but in the early 1960s I used to ride around on bikes with my friends. The local dogs would chase us and try to bite us. I became adept at whacking dogs with my tire pump to defend myself. And then adults would curse me for hitting their dog.

If I tried to watch TV my mother would kick me out and tell me not to come back until dinner time. “Go and play with your friends”, she would yell. She wasn’t afraid of what was out there, but maybe she should have been. We kids knew to stay away from Old Pop - he was a bit “funny”. So sometimes we would go and tease the drunks down at the railway tracks. Or we would go and play in the abandoned coal mine. Or we would play in the creek - not too worried about the oil slick and the rusty scrap metal.

There was a lot of bad with the good. My brother defended me from being picked on by a bully. The bully’s brothers and sisters attacked my brother, one of them hitting him with a cricket bat while numerous adults looked on, enjoying the scrap. My brother suffered a mild concussion. For the non-medical among us, concussion = brain damage.

I’m not saying things are wonderful now, but I think they are better. I think they are “perceived” to be worse because we all sit around listening to the idiot box with it’s sensationalist “news reporting”. I think in the last 50 years we have come a long way forward in protecting the vulnerable in our society - not just from criminal abuse but also from institutional abuse. Children with Downs Syndrome are no longer locked away for life. Women in abusive marriages no longer have to put up with it. Austistic and hyperactive children no longer suffer repeated physical abuse by school authorities. Etc. Etc.

Maybe Australia was different, but I doubt it. Maybe 1957 was a watershed year - unique in all of human history - but I doubt it. Maybe we’re all looking back through the rosy coloured glasses of nostagia. How would 1957 have been in America if you were not white?

#17
Kevin Morris said:
I'm not saying things are wonderful now, but I think they are better. I think they are "perceived" to be worse because we all sit around listening to the idiot box with it's sensationalist "news reporting". I think in the last 50 years we have come a long way forward in protecting the vulnerable in our society - not just from criminal abuse but also from institutional abuse. Children with Downs Syndrome are no longer locked away for life. Women in abusive marriages no longer have to put up with it. Austistic and hyperactive children no longer suffer repeated physical abuse by school authorities. Etc. Etc.
And the mentally ill are forced to live on the streets, where they can't remember to take their medicines, in the name of individual freedom, instead of in hospital where they will be cared for.

Yes, I know, the care they received in 1957 was not the best, but tossing them out onto the street was not the answer.

Life is better, though, isn’t it?

#18
Chris Vernell said:
Kevin Morris said:
actually, I have movies playing in the corner of the room which I ignore much of the time.
How did you choose which corner of the room to ignore much of the time? What had that corner done to earn your particular dislike? What is going on in the more favoured corners? Ummm, maybe I'd be better off not knowing.
I just knew it! It was late, my glass was empty and my bed was calling, and I couldn't be bothered to rewrite the sentence to remove the ambiguity.

I’m going to name that corner of the room “Pedants Corner” and reserve a space just for you :wink:

#19

Kevin, you have to be careful with this lot… No quarter asked or given. :lol:

#20
Steve Featherkile said:
Kevin Morris said:
I'm not saying things are wonderful now, but I think they are better. I think they are "perceived" to be worse because we all sit around listening to the idiot box with it's sensationalist "news reporting". I think in the last 50 years we have come a long way forward in protecting the vulnerable in our society - not just from criminal abuse but also from institutional abuse. Children with Downs Syndrome are no longer locked away for life. Women in abusive marriages no longer have to put up with it. Austistic and hyperactive children no longer suffer repeated physical abuse by school authorities. Etc. Etc.
And the mentally ill are forced to live on the streets, where they can't remember to take their medicines, in the name of individual freedom, instead of in hospital where they will be cared for.

Yes, I know, the care they received in 1957 was not the best, but tossing them out onto the street was not the answer.

Life is better, though, isn’t it?


Better, yes. Perfect, no. Our treatment of mental illness is shameful. But if I had a child with a mental problem, I know which year I’d prefer him/her to live in.