If The Wizard of Oz was made today Dorothy would be forced into therapy, Auntie Em would be charged with child abuse and Toto would be put to sleep for biting.
Today Tonto would be in charge and the Lone Ranger would be the sidekick.
Rawhide couldn’t be made today without being sued by PETA for cruelty to animals.
I remember when things were much different.
Kids actually enjoyed playing outside and parents weren’t afraid they’d be kidnapped. Nor did they worry about what their kids saw on the movie screen.
We raised the flag on Mount Surabachi and didn’t care if we offended the Japanese.
We knew who the enemy was and when we went to war we tried to win no matter the cost.
Our chests swelled with pride when our loved ones serving in the military came home and we wanted them to wear their uniform. The entire town was proud to shake their hand.
We went to the moon and were proud that the rest of the world envied us.
We trusted our leaders to tell the truth.
The government took in more money than it spent and income taxes weren’t more than the previous generation earned.
The car payment wasn’t as much as the house payment yet the car makers still made a profit.
You didn’t need a credit score to finance a home. You needed references and a down payment.
Companies closed when they went bankrupt instead of being bailed out by tax payers.
The news media reported the facts and nothing else.
There was a city sponsored Christmas display on city owned property and businesses used the word “Christmas” in their ads.
Students said the Lord’s Prayer and recited the Pledge of Allegiance before class every morning.
Every teacher had a paddle in her desk and used it without having to ask parents’ permission. And if you got into trouble at school you were in even more trouble when you got home.
Twelve year old girls acted and dressed like twelve year old girls. And mothers of twelve year old girls acted and dressed like mothers.
Parents taught us right from wrong and to love our country. They were parents and not their children’s best friends.
Maybe that’s what has happened to America. Parents aren’t parents anymore.
That’s my 2 cents.
5 posted on 02/21/2009 8:39:27 PM PST by Terry Mross (I Hate All Politicians, Republicans Included.)
I don't know if the poster is the author of the words above, or merely quoting them from somewhere, but the piece makes some good points, in a down-to-earth way, and with a little humor.It brings home the difference between the old America, to which I often make reference here, and the new, post-American, 21st century America.
I am coming to believe, more and more each day, that we are living in a very different country than the one in which I grew up, and this strange, brave new America is populated by people I hardly recognize as being my countrymen. Now, I'm not necessarily talking about the tens of millions of foreign people who are now in our country, but the people who are outwardly American but inwardly citizens of that other America.
'The past is another country; they do things differently there.' It certainly seems as if the post-Americans see people like me as aliens, as people who are more incomprehensible to them than the most exotic new arrival in this country who speaks no English.
The post-Americans see no enemies, in fact, except people like me, and by extension, all of pre-PC America, that bad old America where people did not obey the dictates of political correctness, and in fact would not even understand that term. How blessedly lucky they were, those old Americans.
As I begin a fourth year of blogging, I wish I could be feeling more upbeat about the blog as well as the future, but as of this moment, I am not enjoying blogging as I should. This blog should be a labor of love, but it is not always so, and often that's because of the nature of the subjects I write about here. I suppose there's not much fun and pleasure to be expected in blogging about the turmoil and uncertainty that dominates this strange new country we now live in; I write about subjects that are at best, controversial (because taboo) and at worst, capable of stirring up considerable anger and vituperation.
Everybody who frequents this blog knows that I don't brook much incivility from commenters; I basically have a 'one strike, you're out' policy. Everybody gets one chance to make their points civilly and reasonably; those who can't or won't do that simple thing are deleted and/or banned.
Some people say this is not in the spirit of 'free speech', yet I think I have tradition on my side when I refuse to tolerate abusive, rude, uncivil, or just plain nasty posts, or posts that do not argue ideas or advance the discussion in any way.
Occasionally somebody comes across this blog, and seems angered almost to the point of incoherence at the very existence of anybody who does not think as they do, and does not conform to the party line. Sometimes the level of their rage takes me aback; I cannot understand why they are so angry at the fact that some people see things differently. And I really don't understand why they are so unreasoningly furious at what amounts to the conventional thinking of old America. The thoughts and opinions I express here, which continue to make some people spitting mad, are more or less the opinions that prevailed in my grandparents' day and even in my parents' time, before the era of political correctness. Those who call me names are by inference condemning all the earlier generations who held to the now-controversial views I express here on this blog.
The comments that are nothing more than ad hominems and nasty personal attacks on me, (or on others), my character, my supposed life, my ancestry, and oftentimes my Christian faith, are deleted in most cases, so that they may not necessarily be seen by everybody before being deleted.
After years of using the Internet, I am still staggered by the casual cruelty, and the level of nastiness between total strangers. It amazes me that people can make insinuations and judgments about the personal lives and character of strangers on the Internet. I find plenty of bloggers with whom I disagree, but I would not dream of leaving comments attacking them as people, insulting their character, their personal beliefs and life choices. Who are these people who have no qualms about attacking unknown others on the Internet in that fashion?
Occasionally some Job's Comforter 'helpfully' tells me that I need to develop a thicker skin to be a blogger. This may be true; only people with hides like hippos and egos the size of a small planet really should blog. I am not that thick-skinned and neither am I a glutton for abuse. So I probably should not blog -- but I feel a need and a compulsion to keep doing so. Perhaps I should close comments, but I prefer to keep them open. I like the feedback from the reasonable, civil, thinking, decent people out there. I need to know you are out there so as to counterbalance the hostiles and the 'tolerance tyrants' and the other assorted attack dogs of the blogosphere. So I prefer to keep comments open.
A word to my antagonists, including my most recent antagonist, who left several paragraphs of insults, slurs, and vitriol: if I preview your comments and see that kind of content, I will simply stop reading what you have to say, just as I would hang up my phone if I picked it up and someone started shouting profanity and abuse at me. Life is too short to endure the diatribes. Expect to have such comments deleted mostly sight unseen. I feel no qualms about deleting such venom and most likely I will ban the perpetrator.
Neither do I claim to be an exemplary Christian; my faith is often a target of abuse and derision, and I know that's to be expected; the Bible my enemies deride tells me Christians will be hated. I accept that. However I am not yet very good at turning the other cheek to attackers; I am likely to respond with sharp language -- another reason for me to delete baiting comments which might lead me to say some unkind things myself.
I will hear out those who can make their points with facts or counter-arguments, in a civil and polite and respectful way. I don't brook rudeness in my living room, and this blog is my living room in a sense, and I decide who is to be a guest here and who is not, based on their attitude and behavior.
It's clear that the citizens of the 'new America' don't believe in things like civility, courtesy, manners, and they have no use for respecting differing opinions. And it seems not to matter if these post-Americans are 20 years old or 50 years old, they behave like tantrum-throwing adolescents. It's hard for me to fathom that people who behave so uncivilly might be not immature young people but middle-aged, and professionals, even, let's say, government workers in responsible positions. It's alienating to realize that even those working for ''our'' government may see us as the enemy.
The inability to communicate that marks the relationship of the post-American 'progressives' or liberals to the citizens of old America seems to betray the fact that we are no longer one nation; they and we may both speak standard American English, and we may look similar on the surface, but we are no longer the same people, no longer brethren. We truly are two nations now in fact, if not by law. We no longer acknowledge the same ideas and ideals; we no longer acknowledge the same history that should bind us together; they've rewritten history. The post-Americans have abandoned the traditions and conventions of social behavior that once were common to all of us who called ourselves Americans.
When we find ourselves divided by insurmountable differences, it would seem that the most civilized way to handle that is to go our separate ways in every area of life, so as to minimize the conflict and the rancor. But it seems, paradoxically, that the post-Americans, who preach tolerance and 'peace' are not happy to live and let live; they desire to compel conformity to their ideas on everyone, by force if necessary, and at minimum, by verbal abuse and harassment.
It's the easiest thing in the world to avoid those whose views are offensive or unacceptable to us; it takes a totalitarian mentality to try to bully others into conforming to our ideas, and that is what our enemies do.
Perhaps this blog needs to contain a warning to the 'tolerance tyrants': something conveying the idea that if you are unable to bear the thought that some remnants of the old America still exist somewhere, and that some people actually differ with you, then please click away from this politically incorrect blog and find some safe haven among those who think exactly as you do.
I know that there are people out there who are itching to try to silence all politically incorrect, old American views. And I sense their great vexation and frustration at the fact that free speech still exists. They believe that free speech extends only to those who accept the PC dogma; no dissent is allowed. They are itching to pass 'hate speech' laws which would silence dissenting views. That day may come, as it appears that too few people are willing to oppose the PC juggernaut. But until then, people like me and many of my readers, with unpopular and nonconforming points of view, people who do no more than follow the old paths trodden by past generations, still have a right to speak our minds and to be heard. I know that that fact angers many people almost beyond words. But as of now, that's the reality.
Is there any going back to the old America described at the beginning of this entry? It may be, sadly, that we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, we can't put the PC genie back in the bottle. But we can only try to maintain what has not been destroyed yet, and to restore as much of what has been damaged. The old America still exists, if we keep it alive, and if we refuse to yield to the PC vandals.
