The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

You all had better get moving to the cities where you can raise a decent family.

No way! I need space and my neighbors as far away as possible. A 1/4 acre lot is the smallest I can deal with.

 

[jamespowers]

We don't have to speculate or rely on antidotal evidence when we are discussing crime rates in the US. The internet is full of information about this subject. The rates of most kinds of crimes have greatly increased (per 100,000 persons) since the fifties and sixties when I was a child. But they have also generally decreased from their levels thirty years ago.

Beware of the information in the following link, though. It is raw data. It doesn't account for differing reporting rates observed throughout the fifty years covered. For example, forcible rape was very under reported in 1960 as compared to today. Another problem of underreporting exists in juvenile crime. In 1960 many youthful offenders were not charged or prosecuted. Nowadays, if a kid gets into a schoolyard fight, the school Resource Officer swears out assault warrants on everyone involved and they all end up adding to the US violent crime numbers.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

AF

You really cannot start at the 1960s and compare crime rates as the 60s was a time of crazy upheaval and silliness from the Black Panthers to the stinky hippies. You have to start at 1930 or 1940 to see a HUGE difference from today---and that is considering that there was the Great Depression that people lived through but they weren't running around killing and stealing from each other at the rates we are today. With our current levels of standards, such a Great Depression today would lead to chaos and anarchy in the streets.

 

[sheeplady]

It seems surprising that there is so much drug making and dealing in the rural and small town areas.
However I have heard some interesting interviews where people like to have isolated rural properties to do meth cooking and other activities.
As to use and dealing a lot of kids are simply saying that small town life is too boring so they engage in drug use to spice up their lives.

5 years ago I had very little idea what meth was; I knew it was a drug but it hadn't hit my main consciousnesses. When we went cross country on a trip in 2009, we saw billboards in Montana which showed horrid pictures of meth addicts and had things like: "Scraping all the skin off your arms sounds like a bad idea... unless you're on meth." About a year later, they started to regulate pseudoephedrine at pharmacies in my state. The past couple of years there were occasional reports; mainly arrests. So far this year, there have been 6 meth explosions in my county, most have been in rural/suburban homes. Meth has been linked to a rising number of violent crimes ranging from home invasions to shootings. We've been told repeatedly on public service announcements how to spot a meth lab in our neighbor's home. Right now, the meth labs have gone mobile; there's been one explosion in a mobile lab this year. It's been all over the news lately how to spot a mobile lab. It's like a progressive disease.

If you live in a rural place and you don't have a meth problem, meth is coming.

 

[Atticus Finch]

You really cannot start at the 1960s and compare crime rates as the 60s was a time of crazy upheaval and silliness from the Black Panthers to the stinky hippies. You have to start at 1930 or 1940 to see a HUGE difference from today---and that is considering that there was the Great Depression that people lived through but they weren't running around killing and stealing from each other at the rates we are today. With our current levels of standards, such a Great Depression today would lead to chaos and anarchy in the streets.

I remember the sixties...and by the late sixties and early seventies, I was a proud stinky hippie. But the stinky hippies I knew weren't a very criminal group...outside of violating Chapter 90 from time to time. And there was a time that I could name all seven Black Panters that ever actually existed. But I also seem to remember reading that our nation experienced some amount of violent crime during the depression era.

AF

 

[LizzieMaine]

If you live in a rural place and you don't have a meth problem, meth is coming.

Meth is so common here it's passe. The hot new thing now is "bath salts," which cause skinny buggy-eyed teenagers to go berserk, beat small animals to death in the street, and wreck hospital emergency rooms when they're subdued and brought in to be forcibly treated.

Of course, the old standbys are still as popular as ever. The ultima thule was reached here last year when the proprietor of our friendly neighborhood methadone treatment clinic, which, we were told, was designed to cut down on the number of samurai-sword drugstore robberies, was arrested for dealing cocaine. I guess that's one way to solve the problem.

 

[jamespowers]

I remember the sixties...and by the late sixties and early seventies, I was a proud stinky hippie. But the stinky hippies I knew weren't a very criminal group...outside of violating Chapter 90 from time to time. And there was a time that I could name all seven Black Panters that ever actually existed. But I also seem to remember reading that our nation experienced some amount of violent crime during the depression era.

AF

Nothing like we have now with all the litany of drugs out there. Capone looks like the pope next to the gangsters we have now. At least they had a criminal code back then. You certainly don't now. Those that they killed were most likely other criminals. Now they kill women and children.
The Black Panthers caused quite a ruckus out here. I am sure you were insulated from it there.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

5 years ago I had very little idea what meth was; I knew it was a drug but it hadn't hit my main consciousnesses. When we went cross country on a trip in 2009, we saw billboards in Montana which showed horrid pictures of meth addicts and had things like: "Scraping all the skin off your arms sounds like a bad idea... unless you're on meth." About a year later, they started to regulate pseudoephedrine at pharmacies in my state. The past couple of years there were occasional reports; mainly arrests. So far this year, there have been 6 meth explosions in my county, most have been in rural/suburban homes. Meth has been linked to a rising number of violent crimes ranging from home invasions to shootings. We've been told repeatedly on public service announcements how to spot a meth lab in our neighbor's home. Right now, the meth labs have gone mobile; there's been one explosion in a mobile lab this year. It's been all over the news lately how to spot a mobile lab. It's like a progressive disease.

If you live in a rural place and you don't have a meth problem, meth is coming.

Even worse, since a new "shake and bake" DIY recipe for meth had hit the streets there's been an explosion (no pun intended) of burn cases resulting from this highly volatile recipe. The injuries are so severe that they require more extensive treatment than your typical burn case. In fact the exponential influx of meth related burn victims (mostly uninsured) in the health care system has put such a strain on resources that it has even contributed to the closure of some burn units around the country.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/01/23/shake-and-bake-meth-costing-taxpayers-millions/

 

[AmateisGal]

My brother has a high school buddy who used to be on the border patrol between Arizona and Mexico. He told my brother stories of what they would find when drug deals went bad. Suffice to say, I won't repeat here what mutilation and other things were done to these people. But there is no mercy - absolutely none - when it comes to this kind of stuff.

 

[sheeplady]

Meth is so common here it's passe. The hot new thing now is "bath salts," which cause skinny buggy-eyed teenagers to go berserk, beat small animals to death in the street, and wreck hospital emergency rooms when they're subdued and brought in to be forcibly treated.

I think they're making Bath Salts illegal in NY state; there was an incident at a local high school prom where apparently a large portion of the attendee kids were high on bath salts. (In the old days, people snuck booze into prom.) Right now our inner city seems to have a problem with "Water" (embalming fluid soaked joints) and the countryside has a problem with meth. The only incidents of bath salts I've heard about locally were with teens.

I do have to wonder who the heck thought of soaking a joint in embalming fluid and smoking it.

 

[AmateisGal]

I cannot believe what these kids are coming up with just to get high. What are they missing in their lives that they must resort to this? That, ladies and gentleman, is the crux of the problem.

 

[Noirblack]

As to religion - Christianity's difficulties lie with the nature of so many different denominations but their actions are all lumped together.
It is not supposed to be an in your face type of thing.
One may share their faith but it needs to be more of a "Oh by the way I am a Christian and if you ever have any questions feel free to ask" type of thing. I have seen a lot of in your face stuff going both ways.

Some denominations are good at evangelizing without being aggressive about it. The Mormons will evangelize, but they will also accept a polite "no" if you are not interested. Same for the Jehovah's Witnesses. These are the only two that have approached me as far as I can recall.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I cannot believe what these kids are coming up with just to get high. What are they missing in their lives that they must resort to this? That, ladies and gentleman, is the crux of the problem.

Their parents got high, and it was "cool", and they make a big joke out of it now, so why shouldn't they do it too?

 

[sheeplady]

I cannot believe what these kids are coming up with just to get high. What are they missing in their lives that they must resort to this? That, ladies and gentleman, is the crux of the problem.

I agree. I heard the other day about kids distilling hand sanitizer to get drunk. It sounds totally like what an alcoholic in rehab would do, doesn't it?
It would be funny if it wasn't so dangerous. A whole generation of coddled kids being raised by overprotective mothers and fathers who lysol and hand sanatize everything has turned the instruments of their coddling and suffocation into a drug.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The sad part is that it actually does take a certain amount of creativity and intelligence (though judgement is another story) to come up with these... "extracurricular" uses for common household items.

 

[Atticus Finch]

The Black Panthers caused quite a ruckus out here. I am sure you were insulated from it there.

No I wasn't! When I was ten, one of them things came out of the woods back of our house. He damn near clawed our dog to death and he ate four of our chickens!!

AF

 

[Atticus Finch]

I cannot believe what these kids are coming up with just to get high. What are they missing in their lives that they must resort to this? That, ladies and gentleman, is the crux of the problem.

Well...actually nobody has mentioned our youth's latest and perhaps most bizarre method of getting high. Girls in our local high school are soaking tampons in vodka and inserting them just before they go to school. I understand it gives them a pleasant little buzz until lunch...whereupon they soak and repeat.

No, Mildred...I am not kidding.

AF

 

[jamespowers]

Their parents got high, and it was "cool", and they make a big joke out of it now, so why shouldn't they do it too?

Yes, hippies had children and it just got worse.

 

[jamespowers]

No I wasn't! When I was ten, one of them things came out of the woods back of our house. He damn near clawed our dog to death and he ate four of our chickens!!

AF

:rofl:

I meant the kind that were roaming the streets around here with shotguns.

 

[jamespowers]

Well...actually nobody has mentioned our youth's latest and perhaps most bizarre method of getting high. Girls in our local high school are soaking tampons in vodka and inserting them just before they go to school. I understand it gives them a pleasant little buzz until lunch...whereupon they soak and repeat.

No, Mildred...I am not kidding.

AF

:faint:
Definitely a decline in standards.

 

[sheeplady]

Well...actually nobody has mentioned our youth's latest and perhaps most bizarre method of getting high. Girls in our local high school are soaking tampons in vodka and inserting them just before they go to school. I understand it gives them a pleasant little buzz until lunch...whereupon they soak and repeat.

No, Mildred...I am not kidding.

AF

I hate to add this, but it's not just girls. Boys are using the tampon method too.

I wish we could put these people's creativity to good use, like curing AIDs or cancer or something.