There is a letter titled "Isn't It Strange?" making the rounds in email boxes. It asks questions to which our fellow Americans should know the answers, save for those caught up in modernity.
It starts off asking, "Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture but ... after a shooting, the problem is the gun?"
In other words, after a shooting, it is the gun, an inanimate object, that is the culprit, but after a bombing, it is not the bomb that receives the blame but the evil individual. In both cases it is the evil individual who is to blame.
Ronald Reagan had it right when he said, "We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions."
Speaking of guns, the letter has a 1950s photo of high school girls at an indoor shooting range. The photo caption states: "Back in the 1950s and even later, many high schools had shooting ranges. Students even brought their own rifles to school." It asks, "What changed in society that we could trust such activities then, but not now?"
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I graduated from Wicomico Sr High in 1964. We had a skeet shooting class using 22 rifles with bird shot shells. This was done in PE class. Each student had to pass a gun safety portion of the class before competing. Back then we were taught to be responsible for our actions. Guess it's not that way anymore.
ReplyDeleteI had the same at my school 5th grade in 1975. I tell my friends they think it's bull.
DeleteThey don't exactly blame the gun. It's the access/availability of guns that's the problem.
ReplyDeleteBombers don't get access to buy a bomb (like you would a gun). They have to build it themselves. That's why they get blamed.
Well, there's a couple of things that happened in America that made life drastically different between the Cold War McCarthy era in the 1950s and now.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, the Sixties - particularly 1963 and 1968 - two pinnacle years in our History. 1963 Innocence was lost and Camelot Died when Kennedy was assassinated. This debunked the myth that America was free from 'terrorism.' Citizens until this point, had lived a relatively easy life for the most part - but Kennedy's death was a real kick in the teeth. While in some circles, we wasn't wildly popular due to his inability to deal with continual conflicts with Russia and Cuba (Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis) no one ever imagined an American president being cut down by a sniper in a parade. It was literally devastating, shaking America to it's core.
With 1968 and Vietnam being the first actually televised war, Vietnam came into our living rooms every night, completely debunking the myth that America wins wars. The public was madly divided between the pro and anti-war movements. Older and younger generations felt a continental divide that was upset by student protests. This is the first time in our country where children bit the hands that raised them, forming their own opinions about the world around them. This contemptuous relationship between the two, caused a breakdown in the family structure (along with child support and welfare,) thus, splintering off families.
In the Fifties, while too young to know that era on an intimately personal level, I've heard from my parents and relatives, was based in the Cold War (Russia being a common enemy to all Americans) Better Dead than Red mentality. However, on a micro-level, families were closer knit - immediate and extended -- and kids were taught how to use their rifles by parents whom they respected and actually learned from.
Now days, most kids are so truculent with ANY authority figure, including their parents, they suffer more from the Lash LaRue syndrome where they just do whatever they want, whenever they want. Parents literally have lost complete control over their offspring and with the laws like Delaware's nanny state, "You can spank your child," kids know they have the upper hand -- and better yet, know how to exploit it to the maximum degree.
Furthermore, back in the Fifties, fights were settled more with words than brawn. This has completely flipped today. Kids and adults fight like they're raised in some backwoods barn, rather than accepting the fact that everyone is different. We all have our own opinions - and yet, more often than not, we find people defaming and vilifying anyone who doesn't share ours. Example, this election as well as the last two, people demonize their opponents and are downright hostile towards any opposition to their opines.
In the Fifties, you couldn't hide behind blog comments, Facebook, twitter, Instagram et al. to spew garbage at other people. It takes a lot more guts to say to someone's face, "You're an idiot. You're stupid" unless you're completely unhinged with anger.
Now to sound sexist, another reason the Fifties were different from now is that more women stayed home with the kids. Hence, the kids couldn't pull one over on a babysitter or daycare center employee working for minimum wage to change diapers. You had, as said above, more family interaction -- and usually, as my mother used to tell me, more than one relative would scold you for your misdeeds. Now days, even a child's parent doesn't take that responsibility. See mother in Walmart with screaming child, ignoring him/her because quack doctor said, "Just ignore him and let him self-soothe...code: forget about the rest of the public that also has to endure the ear-shattering screams."
part II
ReplyDeleteSo the gap in the last Fifty-Sixty years is greater than probably the similar gap at any other point in history.
Reagan was right. We have become a society that blames everyone but ourselves for our behavior. But the point is, "So what?" It doesn't matter if your mother left you, or that your job is unfair. LIFE is unfair. It's part of the grind we call experience. Deal with it. This starts with YOU!
Simply put, it's time to take personal responsibility your actions and decisions.
If everyone did this, then this world could have a chance at being a better place to be. However, until this is done, we are stuck with a population of victims and whiners.
PS: In my day, if I threw a tantrum in public, I was promptly removed from said store, restaurant etc. and the repercussions through our family's penal code made it not cost effective to have such a public display of unrest. Hence, through negative UN-reinforcement, I learned quickly, this was not a win-win for me at all...
ReplyDeleteAmerica has accepted lower standards relating to family, out of wedlock births, fathers abandoning their children.
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when a woman didn't have children and call the baby's daddy her fiance'.
America has made progress in some areas while losing its moral compass in other areas.
In the late sixties, many of us had our rifles and shotguns in our dorm rooms, waiting for weekend hunting.
ReplyDelete