The general decline in standards today

[Dennis Young]

There used to be something in much of our society called 'Class'. But class isn't inborn. It's taught. Its something we get from learning from people who have it.

I think prior to the 60's, class was taught from parent to child. And it was taught in our schools too. We were taught ethics and morality and goodness and respect and dignity on a daily basis.

Not anymore though. These days many teacher hope to get through the day without having a kid show up to school with a gun. Or teens engaging in sex in the classroom (yes, that actually happened). Or getting beat up by a student.

These kids grow up and get jobs and raise their own kids....who in turn get their values...from them.

 

[C-dot]

It made me think of this G G Allin documentary I saw once, same kinds of stuff just 20 years or so earlier...

G.G. was a shock rocker of the worst kind that died a junkie's death. Even the most hardcore Death Metal fans of today think he's trash. Nobody has tried to emulate him since (thank the lord) and I dearly hope nobody will.

Not anymore though. These days many teacher hope to get through the day without having a kid show up to school with a gun. Or teens engaging in sex in the classroom (yes, that actually happened). Or getting beat up by a student.

All of those things happened when I went to high school. Saying this should be a dramatization, but sadly, it isn't.

 

[Dennis Young]

I went to high school in the 70s. there were the occasional fight, but never in a classroom. No one would have dreamed of cursing out a teacher, or bringing a gun to school. Most of us knew we'd be expelled if we brought a small pocketknife.

Sure, we got into mischief. But nothing like today.

We were made to say 'yes ma'am' to our teachers.
I think the most scandalous thing I can remember was 1 girl got pregnant and married at age 16. But thats tame by today's standards. Boys (mostly) lied about sleeping around. Lol! Girls certainly weren't bragging about it.

We drank and partied like teens will. And there was a small group who everyone knew were potheads, but they weren't treated as cool.

Otoh, in my parent's day (the late 50's), they would have been even more appalled at that girl having to get married like that. They would have admired her for keeping the kid, but she certainly wouldnt have been admired for getting caught sleeping around.

In my parent's day, they taught etiquette. They didnt in my generation.
In my parent's day, boys were at least taught to show respect to girls. In my day, a boy might make a smart alack remark to a girl. Today a boy call a girl a slut or might beat the crap out of one in class.
In my day a boy might sneak a pocket knife onto campus...maybe. Today they might sneak a gun, or drugs onto campus.

In my day a couple might sneak off to do a little 'snogging' or a make out session in a dark corner between classes. Today there are reports of teens having oral and other types of sex on the teacher's desk when the teacher steps out of the classroom. I recently read a case where a little kid head-butted a teacher who was trying to correct the kid in class. Knocked the woman out cold.

We dump our underage kids off at a mall to do as they please. And we dump them off to let the schools raise them. And if the kids are bad, its the school's fault. (But we better not paddle them. We better not make them show respect. And we better not make em learn anything about the pledge of allegiance).

I dunno. Compare that with the standards of schools today. And the reason I bring this up is that we all grew up and raised kids. Standards have declined little by little with each generation.

 

[Undertow]

...I definitely think it's a sign of decline - what, besides fear of prosecution (if that), is going to stop the pushing of the envelope, the one-upmanship in the gross-me-out/shock me stakes?

Exactly.

The videos to which I was referring aren't simply gross-out videos, unfortunately. They're plain and simply snuff filmed by degenerates that take some kind of psychopathic pride in murdering innocent human beings. There are others like them out there, which I'm sure no one cares to view either.

See, years ago, there were murderers and psychopaths. But now the internet has given any twisted mind the ability to share his/her work with the world. Impressionable kids see it, think it's cool (is murder cool now?), and either emulate it or make a mockery of it.

I guess you could say it's a Roman circus domino effect, compounded by the internet.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's exactly the point people miss when they turn a blind eye to this stuff. If nobody's willing to stand up and say "you know, this stuff is just plain *degenerate*" because they're afraid of being considered intolerant of other people's tastes, values, or beliefs, then what will it take?

There are certain things that any civilized society needs to be intolerant of if it's to be considered a civilized society. Exploitation of psychopathic cruelty for the sake of entertainment -- and I include cruelty to animals on the same level as cruelty to humans -- is at the top of that list. If you *aren't* intolerant of that kind of stuff, well, there's something deeply wrong with you.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

One of my co-workers was just telling me that this happened during a school dance up in Adams. It just makes me sad to know that anybody thinks such behavior is EVER acceptable.

Or teens engaging in sex in the classroom (yes, that actually happened).

The fact that being morally inept is fun, cool, etc speaks volumes for modern society.

I see more women around here bragging about their romantic escapades with with various men than I've seen men about women. Years ago, that would be just unbelievable. To top it off, most of these stories are true, where the guys used to make it up to sound cool to their buddies (which is also silly)

People also don't respect their elders. I work with a guy in my department. He was in a serious accident and it left him hard of hearing and with a bit of a speech impediment and everyone thinks it's okay to demean him. He's 55 years old and the oldest guy up where I work (most of us are in our 20's, but he's still hanging on) and it just drives me crazy that they're so rotten to him. I told my boss yesterday I want one of my other co-workers fired. He screwed up and Fred, the man I was talking about, told him he can't do that, so the other fella punched him in the stomach.

 

[AmateisGal]

The fact that being morally inept is fun, cool, etc speaks volumes for modern society.

Bingo.

 

[AmateisGal]

What I wonder is...where will we go from here?

 

[Feraud]

You can only go up after hitting rock bottom.

 

[AmateisGal]

History shows us that we go in cycles...so I'm hopeful the pendulum will start swinging the other way.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Word-for-word, what I always say.

I'm hopeful the pendulum will start swinging the other way.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

History shows us that we go in cycles...so I'm hopeful the pendulum will start swinging the other way.

You are very right about that point. I also have a strong faith that as anyone can give a good example in their own personal life, it further helps promote good ethics and morality. Standing up for what is right is not always easy nor always popular, but it is the best way to be.

If you look at the majority of what has been posted here, you do have a sense that everyone has a decent concern and desires to be fair, honest, considerate, thoughtful. Personally, that is what I observed about the FL to begin with and what makes me desire to "be here" on the FL.

 

[AmateisGal]

You are very right about that point. I also have a strong faith that as anyone can give a good example in their own personal life, it further helps promote good ethics and morality. Standing up for what is right is not always easy nor always popular, but it is the best way to be.

If you look at the majority of what has been posted here, you do have a sense that everyone has a decent concern and desires to be fair, honest, considerate, thoughtful. Personally, that is what I observed about the FL to begin with and what makes me desire to "be here" on the FL.

Agreed. Now we just need to take over the world!

 

[sheeplady]

People also don't respect their elders. I work with a guy in my department. He was in a serious accident and it left him hard of hearing and with a bit of a speech impediment and everyone thinks it's okay to demean him. He's 55 years old and the oldest guy up where I work (most of us are in our 20's, but he's still hanging on) and it just drives me crazy that they're so rotten to him. I told my boss yesterday I want one of my other co-workers fired. He screwed up and Fred, the man I was talking about, told him he can't do that, so the other fella punched him in the stomach.

That's just disgusting. That is a hostile work environment, not only for Fred, but for everybody. Thank you for standing up to a bully and trying to make Fred's life better. :eusa_clap

One of the things I cannot understand is that if we have "developed so much" as a society it is ok for people to outright mock and discriminate against others, particularly the disabled. While I am not saying that we haven't grown in our thinking about certain things in the US in the past 60 years (like race, for example), I don't think we're even near the pinnacle of getting rid of "isms" as many people like to think.

When I was in high school, I had a deaf/HOH Spanish teacher. Some of the kids mocked her all the time because she couldn't hear/read lips if you weren't in her line of sight. This was a woman who was teaching a foreign language despite being hard of hearing/ deaf. I explained this to her tormentors, said that I admired her, and they shouldn't say dirty things about her when her back was turned because it was wrong. I was told that I was just making excuses for her. So I started calling them out in class whenever they did it. It infuriates me to this day.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

What bothers me is things just aren't fair for everybody. We've spent years going for equality all around, but now it seems a lot who weren't equal are now getting preferential treatment. Jesus, the guy who punched Freddy should have been fired on the spot. That's company policy, but they won't touch him, because he's Hispanic. You're not allowed to work more than 12 hours, he put in 13 1/2 yesterday, and they won't do anything about it. The management, however, seems to find it okay to roll their eyes at Fred when he has something to say to them. Why are the two not equal? Isn't that what we've been working so hard for, to make sure everyone gets treated the same?

That's just disgusting. That is a hostile work environment, not only for Fred, but for everybody. Thank you for standing up to a bully and trying to make Fred's life better. :eusa_clap

One of the things I cannot understand is that if we have "developed so much" as a society it is ok for people to outright mock and discriminate against others, particularly the disabled. While I am not saying that we haven't grown in our thinking about certain things in the US in the past 60 years (like race, for example), I don't think we're even near the pinnacle of getting rid of "isms" as many people like to think.

When I was in high school, I had a deaf/HOH Spanish teacher. Some of the kids mocked her all the time because she couldn't hear/read lips if you weren't in her line of sight. This was a woman who was teaching a foreign language despite being hard of hearing/ deaf. I explained this to her tormentors, said that I admired her, and they shouldn't say dirty things about her when her back was turned because it was wrong. I was told that I was just making excuses for her. So I started calling them out in class whenever they did it. It infuriates me to this day.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

That's company policy, but they won't touch him, because he's Hispanic. You're not allowed to work more than 12 hours, he put in 13 1/2 yesterday, and they won't do anything about it. The management, however, seems to find it okay to roll their eyes at Fred when he has something to say to them. Why are the two not equal? Isn't that what we've been working so hard for, to make sure everyone gets treated the same?

I think it was George Orwell who said something about how some in this world are more equal than others.

 

[Undertow]

...so I'm hopeful the pendulum will start swinging the other way.

That's the best thing that could happen to us at this point.

Unfortunately, one might argue the pendulum has farther to go before swinging back (at least in our case).

 

[scottyrocks]

You can only go up after hitting rock bottom.

We're no where near rock bottom. Things will get worse.

The last 50 years in the United States have been based on the everything is cool mentality. Equal rights is a fantastic concept, but, as per usual, it has swung so far in the opposite direction that now we have morons in positions simply because of their skin color/ethnic group/whathaveyou. Yes, of course, people of all backgrounds should be hired for appropriate positions, but only if they are qualified. Dr. King said he does not judge a man by the color of his skin but by the quality of his character. Whereas in the past that was supposed to remedy discrimination, now it has been swung the other way, giving preferential treatment because of a person's skin color/ethnic background, etc. This all ties into today's entrenched entitlement culture - oy, don't get me started.

 

[PoohBang]

this is so entertaining. Because now you're all showing what you're really talking about....

 

[LizzieMaine]

Whether people talk about such things or not, they still think them. Which is why I say we haven't moved forward on race at all. We've moved sideways.