Being a child, I didn't understand what was going on in the news my parents watched. They correctly understood the need to insulate me from the hatred expressed by those in the south who made up the established order of things in that region of the country from the results of Jim Crow laws.
But during that period, the majority of families had two parents raising children, as it was the norm of the day and the welfare state was only just beginning. Neighbors knew each other and acted as a child's parent when they were caught doing something that didn't fit the accepted social norms of the day. Now, 50 years later, neighbors barely speak to one another, and if children are seen doing something the window on the house is shut and nothing is said to them; fearful that it will only invite undesired consequences.
What has changed? Why are we now a nation isolated in our own homes? Where did our nation go off the tracks? How is it that crime has obviously taken control of so many cities? Where has this mentality that our youth should be protected from ideas which offend them come from? Why are those youth void of any critical thinking? How is it that the youth today view our history with skepticism and disgust? What happened to those values which kept our culture knit together as proud Americans?
Today's thinking seems to be one couched in resentment and envy. If anyone's living in a nice house with a nice, well maintained neighborhood, it was acquired through some form of privilege due to their Western European descent (being white). I know this thinking to be full of holes for the following reasons. My family was poor as I grew up to the point of living off of the zucchini we'd planted in our garden at times. My dad lost his job and had to start his own business after our family relocated to another part of the state. My mom remained at home to raise us four boys; me being the youngest. We only rented our house and never owned one because we couldn't afford it.
Values of hard work and self-reliance were the model we had held up before us, and we applied them to our young adult lives. Three of the four of us got entry level jobs which taught us lessons about the work place. Three of the four siblings went to college as varying stages of our lives. Three of the four of us enlisted in the military despite the socially dominant attitude of the day about the Vietnam War. Three of the four of us went on to buy a house in the area of the country we chose to live and raise our own families. But none of us viewed the government as a means by which we would lift ourselves up economically. We understood that it was up to our own initiative to make a success of our lives; not someone else. Or, that it was the fault of someone else that we didn't have the color TV that our neighbor down the street or across town had.
As a result of these values and experiences I graduated from college while married. My father was concerned that I wouldn't finish because of my being married, but we simply exercised discipline and set our priorities, one at a time. Eventually, after both of us had finished our degrees and started our family, we bought a house and worked together to raise our daughters. There were many sacrifices along the way, but it was well worth it. They are now productive, ambitious young women who have taken on the same values as their parents. Eventually, both of us worked at and received out masters degrees at the encouragement of our public school district. I was the only sibling among my brothers to achieve this level of education. Do share this to brag? No, my point is that we set goals and priorities, stuck to them, and persisted; something many younger kids today tend to lack in values.
So, how is it that we have a prevailing attitude that is the opposite today of 50 years ago? How did we get here? Am I supposed to feel guilty because someone else accuses me of owning a house that's paid off as being someone of "white privilege"? I worked my butt off for many years, had to forego many things which would have been nice to have so they my children could have opportunities I didn't, and I'm supposed to feel privileged? Bullshit!!!
My theory? Society in the U.S. has been affluent for so long and several generations have never experienced real hardship - no wars that actually threatened our existence, no famines, no massive plagues, or epidemics which seriously posed a danger to our lifestyle, that we've become complacent and apathetic. The younger generations have become self-centered, narcissistic and down right spoiled. Children of the upper - middle to upper classes growing up were coddled, and given everything they desired. Schools slowly dissolved the kind of discipline which was temporarily discomforting, but made its point on discipline about proper and improper behavior which has now evolved into political correctness to intimidate anyone who believes otherwise. This was done under the premise that such discipline was viewed as child abuse and parents feared being considered abusers.
Slowly, but consistently, there was a shift in the rigor of the classroom. Homework as a part of the learning experience - at least at the elementary level - faded as teachers became increasingly under scrutiny for those few, like Mary Kay Laterno and the many who followed her in the news stories rocked the nation's trust.
The advent of technology and communication on a massive scale have allowed us to be exposed to the "darker" side of our culture through social media like Facebook and Twitter. I believe it is through this vehicle, and the movie industry's need to always push the envelope of what's taboo, that our younger generations have had their innocence stripped from them. Consider the fact that movie ratings were not used until the late 1970s.
Now, if someone writes an article calling for a return to the values of the nostalgic past, like a two parent family, waiting to have children until after getting married, or even being color blind when dealing with those one meets or interacts with are now attacked and called "white supremacists" by their colleagues at colleges.
A boy, proud of his entrepreneurship, who offered to cut the White House lawn for President Trump, has liberal/leftists screaming like banshees that the President was guilty of child labor laws. For crying out loud, give me a break! Have these people nothing better to gripe about? How pathetic!
Youth, like Antifa, are claiming to be fighting fascists by using violence as a justified means to stop them because someone has an opposing view to theirs. Police are now viewed by them as just a puppet of the establishment cronies who only want to suppress their freedoms; never mind they know absolutely nothing about the need to keep the peace, or law and order.
So many things are going on now - blacks demanding segregated classes, gays imposing their views on businesses and using the courts to punish them, BLM and the SPLC labeling people as racist or fascist - that indicate the social climate is headed for a civil war. All I can do is wonder just how much longer it will be before it breaks out.
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