TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !! by Connorflynn

LOL Simonwho, you need to simma down nah!

There was nothing even remotely bigoted in that post, but somehow you twisted it into a "Angry , Bitter Whiteman" statement. Who's the real racist here?

You act like the 80's, 90's and 2000's (even though they've only just started) solved all those issues you speak of. The fact is the 30's, 40's 50's 60's and 70's to some extent represented simpler times..where technology and big government didn't rule the day, yet we still strove to better our country and our world. Now our world is trapped in Globalism (hmm..sounds like a World War to me, just that noone wins) and consumerism and of course, gigantic government( Alliance anyone? ).

I'm in my 30's now. I remember looking forward to the Spring through Fall months. Cold Lemonade on a Summer day. The Ice Cream truck, where I could get an ice cream cone (with real ice cream, not this fake crap) for 25 cents or less. I miss the sound of dogs barking and us kids ramming about town making innocent trouble, No drivebys, shootings or high cost property damage. The occasional broken window from a baseball, maybe. The only thing I'm bitter about today is that in a world where there are things we can look back on or look forward to, all most people do is choose to look at the bad things in life ALL THE !@#$@% TIME!!!, instead of enjoying the good things in life, once in awhile (While we still can).

Live in your jaded world if you choose. At least when I was growing up, the government didn't mandate every last little detail of my life..and us kids lived life, rather then wasted away in front of the boob tube or video games and blame the state of the world on someone else. We also didn't sit idly by and proclaim how the world owed us something. Our parents taught us better and when we misbehaved we got disciplined without some bleeding heart crying in their lattes about the travesties of parental rights.

Forgive me for reminiscing on how simple life was back then. Strangely enough, when I look at your fancy lifespan statistics, we really haven't extended the average lifespan much in 50+ years have we? And of those extended years that we gained..what is the quality of life like?

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, May 20, 2005 12:28 PM

SIMONWHO

He's talking about mothers drinking and smoking during pregnancy as though it was a quaint old custom that had been ruled out by killjoys. That's why I can't just "leave it as that". At best, it's facetious, at worst, it's encouraging pregnant women to drink and smoke because "my parents used and it didn't affect me". The ones that survived, survived. Unfortunately innumerate ones didn't and yes, it was the fault of choking on buttons from badly produced toys or birth defects caused by smoking. It's like the 80 year old who boasts about how he drinks five pints every evening and smokes a pipe and it never harmed him. Well, sure, but it killed every single other person who could have reached 80 had they taken better care of themselves.

>> The current generation has playstations, etc but lacks proper etiquette b/c of a lack of proper socialization b/c they are only playing on there playstation and not actually talking to people.

Substitute "comic books" or "Dungeons and Dragons" or "rock and roll" or "dance music" (as in jive) or "cinemaphiles" or "bicycle riders" or indeed pretty much any technological advancement in entertainment and you'd have the same argument of the generation 10, 20, 50, 100 years past.

It's not just the philistinical argument that bothers me. It's the accusation seemingly aimed at us about our "lawsuit happy, overprotective society" when they are the generation that created it.

Not every generation has progressed society. Some have taken it down horrific corridors. Could you really argue the generation of the "cultural revolution" in China advanced their society? Of course not, they set it back decades, as well as destroying irreplacable pieces of their heritage.

Edit- just to catch up with the posts since the one I was replying to: our average lifespan has jumped 18 years since 1930. And if you like looking on the positive side of life so much, you should hate that negative "glass used to be half full, now it's half empty" original e-mail. Life was simpler then, sure. But that's because everything was over-simplified.

I love this brave new world. I can't imagine a world where I can't send a text message to my brother in Australia while reading e-mails from people in America. Heck, I can't imagine a world without the Internet and I got through the first 19 years of my life without it.

What I hate is this awful "life used to be great" rubbish which was true if, like me, you grew up in a nice, rich, middle class, white family. Unfortunately most people were in the mud and stayed that way.

But you're doubtlessly right, this was just a jolly e-mail poking fun at the modern world. I should really not analyse this sort of stuff.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, May 20, 2005 4:23 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!

I agree with you - it is faux-quaint faux-folksy tripe that we are all supposed to just go along with. Regulation BAD, government BAD.

I grew up as one of the 'last generation of free-range children.'

Was life so good?

Neighborhood children had lead poisoning - ha ha ha it's so funny - not. I wish you could have seen their faces as they tried to comprehend everyday life. They were sweet kids, but struggling every minute and doomed for life.

Both parents smoked - and my lungs are a good 15% less effective than normal, not to mention the asthma acquired early. They are enough to disqualify me from SCBA (air-pak) safety and rescue work.

We had an idyllic family life, factoring-out one alcoholic parent and the other with PTSD from 'the war'. And one studiously didn't notice the neighbor lady screaming at the top of her lungs at the kids day after day as the Valium wore off, or the neighbor guy on the other side plowed and drunk on the chaise all weekend, every weekend, until fall weather closed the show.

Asbestos was good and was used everywhere, though the medical profession knew it was a killer in 1920.

It's true that when I grew up, ALL foods were organic b/c the multinational agro-corps hadn't yet figured out how to manufacture synthetic food. But is our industrial diet today something we can blame on government interference?

I lived in a nice, secure lower-middle-class suburb, where everybody knew everybody; and I was just a half mile from farmland, creeks and wild fields. Some things were good, some bad. But decades beyond childhood, having come to terms with troubles far past, it's easy to recast growing up into a carefree-rosy nostalgia.

It's just that it really wasn't so.

And the ideology that depends on that quaint lie is just as bogus.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, May 20, 2005 6:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yeah, fetal alcohol syndrome is really quaint. I remember a lot of GOOD things from my childhood- duck and cover, the Cuban Missile crisis, white flight, nuns banging kids' heads on blackboards until their noses bled, bullies... ah... life was sweet!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 2:51 AM

LOL You are ALL insane.

Have a nice day in your hyper angst filled over mandated world =)

I'll enjoy my trip to the country where I can visit some nice little shops where people smile and talk about the weather. Where I can enjoy a great western omelette with wheat toast and a cup of cofee with OJ. Where my cell phone doesn't ring every 30 seconds and kids look for things to do other then the latest video game.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 3:44 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Conner- What country is that? I'd like to plan a vacation.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Conner- What country is that? I'd like to plan a vacation.

I am heading to the Catskills today. It's in the high 50's. The air is unbelievable. None of the restaurants accept credit cards and gas is only $2.14 a gallon. Most places don't have cable. Not that you really need it all that much. We are visiting a little town called Andes. I plan to visit 4 art galleries. Have an awesome lunch. Chat with the local yokels. Go sit and enjoy the sun and serenity and find my way to a nice local diner for dinner, where I plan to eat something very very fattening, not good for me probably healthwise but great for my soul, followed by some cocktails and a display put on by some lightning bugs. Hehe.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:43 AM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I remember a lot of GOOD things from my childhood- duck and cover, the Cuban Missile crisis, white flight, nuns banging kids' heads on blackboards until their noses bled, bullies... ah... life was sweet!

Bloody noses, stepping on rusty nails, getting burned playing with matches, avoiding alcoholic tempers from the folks, all these memories will be lost, in time, like tears...in the rain...

I'm with ya, SignyM

Childhood can be hi-larious Chrisisall

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:47 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Connor, Connor, Connor.

What ever possessed you to try and post something lighthearted in this forum? Everything here must be absolutely serious. If not, it will be deconstructed and re-interpreted by the Seriousness Patrol until it meets their criteria as another example of the horror which is our existance.

Bad Connor. Bad. Bad.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 1:59 PM

SIMONWHO

How many other posts in this forum (not the whole of FFF.net, just the real world event forum) are jokes? Pretty much none of them.

By putting the e-mail in here, you're either expecting fifty replies of "That's so funny because that is true" (which would disappoint, on so many levels) or you're going to hear what people actually think.

And some people think that both in terms of content and attitude, it's a load of go dink ney diss. And it was the author of the e-mail that was keen to show the horror of today's existence, not us.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 3:14 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by SimonWho:
How many other posts in this forum (not the whole of FFF.net, just the real world event forum) are jokes? Pretty much none of them.

By putting the e-mail in here, you're either expecting fifty replies of "That's so funny because that is true" (which would disappoint, on so many levels) or you're going to hear what people actually think.

And some people think that both in terms of content and attitude, it's a load of go dink ney diss. And it was the author of the e-mail that was keen to show the horror of today's existence, not us.

Hey, Connor. Q.E.D.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:39 PM

PIRATEJENNY

Quote:
Originally posted by SimonWho:
He's talking about mothers drinking and smoking during pregnancy as though it was a quaint old custom that had been ruled out by killjoys. That's why I can't just "leave it as that". At best, it's facetious, at worst, it's encouraging pregnant women to drink and smoke because "my parents used and it didn't affect me". The ones that survived, survived. Unfortunately innumerate ones didn't and yes, it was the fault of choking on buttons from badly produced toys or birth defects caused by smoking. It's like the 80 year old who boasts about how he drinks five pints every evening and smokes a pipe and it never harmed him. Well, sure, but it killed every single other person who could have reached 80 had they taken better care of themselves.

>> The current generation has playstations, etc but lacks proper etiquette b/c of a lack of proper socialization b/c they are only playing on there playstation and not actually talking to people.

Substitute "comic books" or "Dungeons and Dragons" or "rock and roll" or "dance music" (as in jive) or "cinemaphiles" or "bicycle riders" or indeed pretty much any technological advancement in entertainment and you'd have the same argument of the generation 10, 20, 50, 100 years past.

It's not just the philistinical argument that bothers me. It's the accusation seemingly aimed at us about our "lawsuit happy, overprotective society" when they are the generation that created it.

Not every generation has progressed society. Some have taken it down horrific corridors. Could you really argue the generation of the "cultural revolution" in China advanced their society? Of course not, they set it back decades, as well as destroying irreplacable pieces of their heritage.

Edit- just to catch up with the posts since the one I was replying to: our average lifespan has jumped 18 years since 1930. And if you like looking on the positive side of life so much, you should hate that negative "glass used to be half full, now it's half empty" original e-mail. Life was simpler then, sure. But that's because everything was over-simplified.

I love this brave new world. I can't imagine a world where I can't send a text message to my brother in Australia while reading e-mails from people in America. Heck, I can't imagine a world without the Internet and I got through the first 19 years of my life without it.

What I hate is this awful "life used to be great" rubbish which was true if, like me, you grew up in a nice, rich, middle class, white family. Unfortunately most people were in the mud and stayed that way.

But you're doubtlessly right, this was just a jolly e-mail poking fun at the modern world. I should really not analyse this sort of stuff.

Bravo....Bravo!!! great post!!!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:39 PM

PIRATEJENNY

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:46 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Connor, Connor, Connor. What ever possessed you to try and post something lighthearted in this forum?

Geezer- I WAS being lighthearted!!!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 5:37 PM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:

Geezer- I WAS being lighthearted!!!

Be careful. Lightheartedness is just the first step. The next thing you know, you'll be believing this is not the worst of all possible workds, and who knows where it'll go from there.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 6:20 PM

I lived 31 days in the 70's. Does that count?

"Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants. The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 7:23 PM

MONTANAGIRL

Quote:
Originally posted by CallMeAth:
I lived 31 days in the 70's. Does that count?

You can have partial credit.

If you can be an idiot, I can be an idiot. - D'Argo

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, May 21, 2005 10:53 PM

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

Give me being a child of the 80s any day!

We never had bike helmets or childproof locks.
We used to take off our seatbelts as dares.
We'd ride in the back of a truck.
We drank from the hose and shared drinks
We ate badly, played for a bit and then rested while hanging out playing computer games.
If our friends weren't around we practiced so we could beat them next time.
We had friends in the neighbourhood, came home and chatted to our other friends on the internet.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We felt safer because we always had a way of contacting someone if we got into trouble.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

We got the best of both worlds as far as I can tell!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, May 22, 2005 1:57 PM

Don't forget, we actually got to trick-or-treat after dark.

The 80's rocked!

"I wear my sunglasses at night..."

"Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants. The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, May 22, 2005 2:41 PM

CYBERSNARK

We also had Transformers. The dawning of the greatest toys the human race has ever created.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, May 22, 2005 5:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
We also had Transformers. The dawning of the greatest toys the human race has ever created.

I'm sorry, I can't let that slip by, TRANSFORMERS...you're kidding, you poor deprived child.
Being a child of the 60's and 70's we had real toys. You guys only got these palm sized little hunks of plastic, called action figures! We had big, G.I. Joes, that's Joe before the cartoon series, before he became PC and he, along with the other toys hadn't been miniturized.
Video games for us was pong. No internet and the only computer was at the highschool, that was basically just a huge combo keyboard/printer contraption,(no monitor) that was tied into the computer at the state college. In my school only the students taking the advanced math courses were allowed to take a computer class.

Opus

I'll refrain from talking about walking barefoot,5 miles in the snow, up hill both ways to and from school and being thankful for being allowed to go.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 6:32 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Opus:

I'm sorry, I can't let that slip by, TRANSFORMERS...you're kidding, you poor deprived child.

I'm sorry, but you can't try to tell me that your giant, non-articulating G.I. Joe dolls were up to par with transforming robots, some that combined to form even larger robots. As for them being tiny, I still have one that's nearly 2 feet tall.

Also, Tranformers was a wonderful show and movie. How many Autobots died in the movie? Not to mention watching the leader, my hero at the time, die on screen. Heart-breaking.

"Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants. The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 7:18 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
I am heading to the Catskills today. It's in the high 50's. The air is unbelievable. None of the restaurants accept credit cards and gas is only $2.14 a gallon. Most places don't have cable. Not that you really need it all that much. We are visiting a little town called Andes. I plan to visit 4 art galleries. Have an awesome lunch. Chat with the local yokels. Go sit and enjoy the sun and serenity and find my way to a nice local diner for dinner, where I plan to eat something very very fattening, not good for me probably healthwise but great for my soul, followed by some cocktails and a display put on by some lightning bugs. Hehe.

SignyM whines in frustration and paws the door.

Hope ya had fun!

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 11:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:

SignyM whines in frustration and paws the door.

Hope ya had fun!

I had a fantastic time thanks! :) Even made it to one Art Gallery opening, where wine flowed nicely. Heading back there again for this Memorial weekend. There's something about country living

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 1:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CallMeAth:
Quote:
Originally posted by Opus:

I'm sorry, I can't let that slip by, TRANSFORMERS...you're kidding, you poor deprived child.

I'm sorry, but you can't try to tell me that your giant, non-articulating G.I. Joe dolls were up to par with transforming robots, some that combined to form even larger robots. As for them being tiny, I still have one that's nearly 2 feet tall.

Also, Tranformers was a wonderful show and movie. How many Autobots died in the movie? Not to mention watching the leader, my hero at the time, die on screen. Heart-breaking.

My Joe was fully articul...articuler...moveable. The particular guy I had even had red fuzzy hair and a beard. Let's talk accessories, mine hunting gear, bomb disposel equipment, frogman suit and gear, the list is endless. You could even get an authentic G.I. Joe footlocker.
And hey...we're talking real life here, Joe was an imaginary man, they can really die, blood, guts and brain matter spewing every where,(at least in a demented kids imagination)...the Autobots, glorified soda machines. One breaks, just send to Japan for a new one;)
Some good tv robots? The fembots from the Six Million Dollar Man.

Opus

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 2:47 PM

CYBERSNARK

My rational for Transformer loving:

-They're cars/jets/spaceships/tanks/animals. What boy (of any age

) doesn't love fast/powerful/good-lookin' vehicles?

-They turn into robots. What boy doesn't love big stompy robots?

-They're puzzles, requiring increasing levels of hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, and mechanical aptitude. I have friends who've gone into engineering and design because they were inspired by these carefully-tooled bits of plastic in their childhoods.

-Unlike every other mecha franchise out there, Transformers are characters, not just piloted hardware. They feel, think, grieve, hope, fear, love, hate, and joke just like any human. Any story that can be told about humans can be told about Transformers.
"After the Great War, many of the Autobots who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the Empire, far from Decepticon control. . ."

-This one has been only lightly touched on in the franchise, but Transformers as a story device open up such huge SFnal doors that I'm amazed there isn't more "serious" TF fiction on the market. Souls (What's the difference between a TF with an actual "spark" and one with a turing-capable AI that thinks it's a person? If sparks are souls, and humans don't have sparks, what does this say about humanity?), gender/sex (TFs are created male and female, but they don't reproduce sexually. Why do they "choose" to be female or male?), love/sex (scientists would tell us that "love" is a subconscious manifestation of the mating drive. Again, TFs don't have sex, but they do fall in love), faith/truth/hope (were TFs created by God to stand against Evil [the comics] or by aliens as consumer products which malfunctioned/rebelled [the cartoon]? What do either of these possibilities mean to individual TFs? What would you do if you sought the face of God and found an automated factory?), racism (Autobots and Decepticons slaughtering each other because of what symbols they have stamped onto their hulls), etc.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 2:53 PM

Yeah, what Cybersnark said.

"Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants. The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 3:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
My rational for Transformer loving:

My rational for not liking the whole robot thing.

I've never been a fan of Japanimation, going back to speed racer and astroboy, and manga..grrr don't get me started.
So just from that stand point I'm biased against the robots, be it Transformers or Zolton or any of the others.
The concept of an intelligent machine choosing it's own gender and why, as well as other things, I'll agree is intriguing and would be better handled in either a different medium, or not in a toy franchise.
Call me old fashion but I long for the days when toys were derived from popular cartoons, not cartoons derived from popular toys.

Opus

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 3:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cybersnark:
My rational for Transformer loving:

My rational for not liking the whole robot thing.

I've never been a fan of Japanimation, going back to speed racer and astroboy, and manga..grrr don't get me started.
So just from that stand point I'm biased against the robots, be it Transformers or Zolton or any of the others.
The concept of an intelligent machine choosing it's own gender and why, as well as other things, I'll agree is intriguing and would be better handled in either a different medium, or not in a toy franchise.
Call me old fashion but I long for the days when toys were derived from popular cartoons, not cartoons derived from popular toys.

Opus

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Monday, May 23, 2005 3:26 PM