Times have really changed

hearingimpared

PhantomOG wrote:

I'm speaking from experience from my generation. Just because you have kids, doesn't mean you know what its like to be them at that time.

I'm speaking from my experience when I grew up. I am also able to speak from experience from when my older son grew up, 1983 he was born and I was intimately involved with his life up until he became an adult. I may not have known what it was like to be him but I knew everything EVERTHING that was going on in his life. I was involved in every aspect, school, sports, scouts, girls, etc, etc, etc, I know what it was like to grow up in the 80s & 90s because I was involved in my son's life.

I now know what it is like to grow up with a child that was born in 1997. . . so the same that occured with his brother is the same thing that is occurring with him. . . . I am now speaking from experience with my little guys life.

So I can speak from three generations of experience. I may not know exactly what it was or is like to be my sons but I am experiencing their lives.

You can spout stats and quote newspapers and bring in all the facts in the world. . . nothing speaks louder than experience. My younger son CANNOT do the things freely the way his brother or his father did.

In my neighborhood alone, and I am living in one of the more affluent parts of Philadelphia, there are 27 registered sexual predators in a 10 block radius . . imagine how many aren't registered!!! Do you think for one minute that I would let my little boy go out and play with his friends unsupervised???? My new home in Newark Delaware has a number of sexual predators but it is not as bad as here. I still won't let him out unsupervised. Was there sexual predators back when I was a kid, I am sure but there were so many kids on the streets playing back then that they could never get away with it the way they can now.

These are the facts that I can spout. I don't give a rats **** about dropouts, SATs or any of that other ****. How about the kid who just blew his brains out in PHilly today at the efffing school. . . THAT NEVER HAPPENED when I was a kid. . . or when my 23 year old was a kid. My father's generation and the generation before me would crack heads if anyone even look goofy at kid. . . there is another big difference between then and now. The criminals now can sue the victims.

Rant Complete.

hearingimpared

PhantomOG wrote:

Ok, so lets go on some fact finding shall we?

High School Dropout rates 1972-2002
I guess we're dumber for staying in school as opposed to gettin' a job with "paw" down at the town factory, eh?

Here's some light reading on postsecondary education, but don't bother if you'd rather just spout things without proof.

Postsecondary Participation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity: 1974-2003

In case you're too lazy to click the link:

It's not about being lazy. . . who gives a **** about all the "FACTS" look around you, kids are a hell of a lot different today because our society has turned into a bunch of lawsuit scared wusses. Catch an intruder in your home and kick the daylights out of him and put him in the hospital. . . who goes to jail???? Who has to appear in civil court to prove themselve justified for protecting their home??? This place has gone so lawsuit crazy that the abnormal has become normal!

hearingimpared

PhantomOG wrote:

And do you know why? Because people in those countries work hard to better themselves for a better tomorrow, while people here are lazy and whine about a better yesterday.

****! It is this generation of entitled, spoiled, lazy, brats, who want to blame our generation for their problems.

Polkersince85

......a.a..a..a..a..a..a.aa.and what about that school that puts the names of the kids with "good" attendance in the hat and they WIN a new car. WTF.

bobman1235

MSALLA wrote:

I disagree. The news may trap their vewiers by using scare tacticts but they are not making up stories. All those reports are real. I don't raise my kids to be shelterd, but they do have to be smarter then we use to. Drug use is not only up but the choices of drugs are like nothing our generation had to deal with. I will agree that people are more aware of things today. Computers have made it easy to keep records of crimes over the last 20 years so we actually know how often rapes or child abductions are happening,but I still think the world holds more dangers for kids today. If you don't agree, well it really makes no difference either way.

1. I don't think they make up stories, I just think they're more prevelant. As little as 15 years ago, if some kid was arrested for bringing a gun into school - I'm not talking about shooting up a school, I'm talking about just having a gun in his locker - would that have made national news? Now, it does. And it'll lead the national news, and there will be three commercials a day on all the networks saying "Are your kids safe? A child may have been caught in YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL with a gun!!" Meanwhile it happened in Greenbow, Alabama and it was a paintball gun. Or even a real gun. The point is 15 years ago that would have been a big story in that town, maybe that county, and no one else int he entire country would have known it even happened, ever. And so everyone went on with their lives all happy and thinking the world was safe as homemade apple pie. Now the exact same thing happens, or any number of other similar occurances that are ISOLATED EVENTS that have no bearing on a nationwide scale, but EVERYONE who has a TV, radio, or newspaper knows about it,a nd it's beaten to death with talk radio and talk show hyperbole, and everyone's frightened because of it. It's not a made-up story, it's an overblown story.

2. Stop making things up. You keep replying to everything I'm saying with the same crap. Unless you're crazy Ben up there and think the government is in the crime business and lies about crime stats, the stats don't lie, and kids don't have to be any more careful for the most part, because it's no more dangerous. End of story. Don't tell me a story about your buddy whose kid was almost abducted, show me numbers that a larger percentage of kids today is abducted than 20 years ago, and I"ll concede the point. But you can't, because the numbers, the "Facts" as someone put in quotations, don't match your nonsensical argument.

Yes, I agree with EVERYONE here that kids have an attitude problem, and an attention problem, and even MAYBE a learning problem for the most part much more than past generations. But it is no less safe for them to be on the streets playing with their bikes, and arguably safer than it ever has been, at least in the last 40 years. And all of you who are saying it's NOT as safe are the same ones lambasting the country for having kids who DON'T GO OUT AND PLAY! You can't have it both ways. If you're afraid to have them go out and play, but say the world's going to **** cuz kids won't go out and play, whose damn fault is it?

PhantomOG

hearingimpared wrote:

****! It is this generation of entitled, spoiled, lazy, brats, who want to blame our generation for their problems.

No one is pointing any fingers here but you.

My comment about foreigners couldn't be any more correct. People would die (and do everyday) just for the chance to come here and work and better themselves. And yet the media and people like you focus on the bad things and sensationalize them until everyone is in a frezy. Everyone is just ignoring or falsely discrediting any information that goes against their frenzied beliefs, and pointing to obscure sensational media stories and pretending they are the norm.

Do you think sex offenders didn't exist before 1990? Nope, but you couldn't find them and their addresses as easily as you can now. The media's wider coverage of everything and easier access to all information has dramatically changed society, not the stories and information themselves.

Obviously this point doesn't want to be understood so I'm just wasting my time. Please, do continue to find insignificant rediculous stories in the media and generalize them till you are blue in the face. I'm sure you'll be filled with all the warm fuzzy feelings you want about years past when such information wasn't readily available.

exalted512

bobman1235 wrote:

Unless you're crazy Ben up there and think the government is in the crime business and lies about crime stats

so this is kind of like on MIB where they just keep the aliens a secret so we dont have to worry about every other week when were almost eaten by a giant worm that lives in the sewers? It makes perfect sense now:p

This thread is way longer and has no where near the content i thought it would have when i first posted it...lol
-Cody

shack

exalted512 wrote:

This thread is way longer and has no where near the content i thought it would have when i first posted it...lol
-Cody

I could have told you that....but then again I AM older and wiser than you.

exalted512

probably scored higher on the SAT too, but I bet youre not wearing your protective foil hat!!!!

P.S. Dont look up or the helicopters can see your face.
-Cody

shack

Nope...didn't need to. Aced the ACT so the SAT wasn't necessary. I don't have a foil hat. May I borrow yours?

bobman1235

It's not fair, they've added like, 800 points to the top score on the SATs since I took them...

hearingimpared

PhantomOG wrote:

No one is pointing any fingers here but you.

That is not true. Go back a few pages. You've been doing a pretty good job with yours.

PhantomOG wrote:

My comment about foreigners couldn't be any more correct. People would die (and do everyday) just for the chance to come here and work and better themselves. And yet the media and people like you focus on the bad things and sensationalize them until everyone is in a frezy.

Long before you or I were born your first sentance above was always the case in this country. My grandparents came here at great risk and worked **** jobs so that my parents, me, my sibilings and cousins, and our children and their childrens children could have the lives we have and will have. My grandparents made that very clear to me when I was a very young boy, I never forgot it. . . that was my first lesson on great work ethic. The foreigners are willing to work the **** jobs that a lot of Americans are not willing to do. What frenzy are you talking about that I focused on about the foreigners???

I pay no mind to the media as a matter of fact I am one of the "lazy" ones who can't be bothered reading the sensationalism. I deal in the facts that I see around me, in my little part of this world and what I see is some **** up **** that is worse now than I ever remember it. The key words here are "I ever remember it." So don't lump me into the "people like you" category. . .you don't know me from Adam.

I was watching some TV last night and flipped by accident onto a local news channel and was sucked in. All about crack cocaine, all about all the police resources spent on catching the animals and the next night there are two more taking their place, all about children shooting children for the crack, all about the high murder rate in this city, all about how the unwed mothers ae on the street hooking to make a buck, all about all kinds of **** that can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Yea all that in about 10 minutes!!! I don't watch the news, I don't read the paper anymore because it is all sensationalism. But I have eyes and ears and walk this city and walk this part of the earth. I don't need to "sensationalize" anything, I just have to look around.

PhantomOG wrote:

Do you think sex offenders didn't exist before 1990? Nope, but you couldn't find them and their addresses as easily as you can now. The media's wider coverage of everything and easier access to all information has dramatically changed society, not the stories and information themselves.

Of course they were there. The media had nothing to do with the publicity of it, Megan's Law started that all up. But you can't deny that there is a hell of a lot of sex offenders out there and if one of them put a finger on my child and I crippled the pervert you could bet that I would be the one in more trouble than the pervert because how screwed up things have turned.

That is the reality that I'm bitching about here. I have experience, yes here is that word again, experience with a sexual preditor, I'll spare you the details. You may think I am being overly cautious about it but when there are 27 registered in a 1 mile area of where my 9 year old live you can bet your **** I am going to be skiddish about letting him out by himself to play with his friends WOULDN'T YOU???. Do you call that being hysterical???

What I want to know is how many kids do you have. How many hours of thought and concern and worry, sleepless night when they have been out for the first time late, and work and teaching and slaving to get what they need have you put in for your kids.

I've been there done that and am doing it again and I can tell you it is much more **** up out there than it has ever been. . . that is MY experience talking.

When you get a little taste of that then write me about sensationalism.

ben62670

So the stats that the government makes up about how they are performing are accurate? Almost everyone here agrees that kids are doing harder drugs than when we were kids. When I was is school it was pot. Now its pills, coke, crack, and heroin. So Bob what you are saying is that the Government stats are correct, and the crime isn't that bad? So a fair conclusion from what you are saying is that hard drugs are fairly safe, because they aren't really affecting our kids, and the crime rate hasn't really gone up? I am concerned. I think your **** muscle is rapped too tightly around your cranium. It is really scary that people live off in suburbia and think that we don't have these problems. No I am not nuts. I have had to live in conditions where I prefer not to be. I have 5 herniated disk, 5 compression fractures, a bulging disk against my spinal column, degenerative bone disease in my neck + I have had another half dozen other broken bones. I actually see what is going on with the youth. The comment about our government being in the "crime business", you think I am making that up? Look it up for yourself. Why would a government agency like FL DOC have a stock option? Its a business. They are paid about $125 a day for county, and $200 for prison. Whats up with that? It used to be that we had to pay taxes to put people in jail. Now they are being paid to put people in jail. They have so many jails around here its not funny, and they are building more and more of them. Why do most people say politicians and lawyers are crooks. Are those poor government officials getting an unfair rep? Say you own your own business, are you going to tell your customers "well I am not really doing a good job"? I personally have scruples, I would move onto something else. Why does our government not develop clean fuels that we can grow? We could put lots of farmers to work. Our vehicles would run cleaner, and we wouldn't be as dependent on foreign countries. Why are we sending out tons of our work to foreign countries? If our government was half as moral as some people think, we might employ couple of our own people. Wouldn't that be nice? I do not hate our country, it is still one of the best places in the world. More people risk their lives trying to get in our country than any other. But if you think that the politicians in general are more interested in our welfare than their pockets slap and sterilize yourself because there are too many stupid sheep in America as it is!

hearingimpared

ben62670 wrote:

So the stats that the government makes up about how they are performing are accurate? Almost everyone here agrees that kids are doing harder drugs than when we were kids. When I was is school it was pot. Now its pills, coke, crack, and heroin. So Bob what you are saying is that the Government stats are correct, and the crime isn't that bad? So a fair conclusion from what you are saying is that hard drugs are fairly safe, because they aren't really affecting our kids, and the crime rate hasn't really gone up? I am concerned. I think your **** muscle is rapped too tightly around your cranium. It is really scary that people live off in suburbia and think that we don't have these problems. No I am not nuts. I have had to live in conditions where I prefer not to be. I have 5 herniated disk, 5 compression fractures, a bulging disk against my spinal column, degenerative bone disease in my neck + I have had another half dozen other broken bones. I actually see what is going on with the youth. The comment about our government being in the "crime business", you think I am making that up? Look it up for yourself. Why would a government agency like FL DOC have a stock option? Its a business. They are paid about $125 a day for county, and $200 for prison. Whats up with that? It used to be that we had to pay taxes to put people in jail. Now they are being paid to put people in jail. They have so many jails around here its not funny, and they are building more and more of them. Why do most people say politicians and lawyers are crooks. Are those poor government officials getting an unfair rep? Say you own your own business, are you going to tell your customers "well I am not really doing a good job"? I personally have scruples, I would move onto something else. Why does our government not develop clean fuels that we can grow? We could put lots of farmers to work. Our vehicles would run cleaner, and we wouldn't be as dependent on foreign countries. Why are we sending out tons of our work to foreign countries? If our government was half as moral as some people think, we might employ couple of our own people. Wouldn't that be nice? I do not hate our country, it is still one of the best places in the world. More people risk their lives trying to get in our country than any other. But if you think that the politicians in general are more interested in our welfare than the pockets slap and sterilize yourself because there are too many stupid sheep in America as it is!

Wow reading this made me tired . . . and confused.

bobman1235

5 herniated discs and compression fractures make you an expert in the inner workings of the government I guess.... talk about a non sequitur.

I think, and I'm sure almost everyone agrees, that politicians lie every day. It's what they do. It's what they've ALWAYS DONE, and probably will always do. It's no different now than it was 100 years ago.

Know what, forget it. Trying to reasonably respond to that block of text is like trying to dig a hole with a balogna sandwich. Pointless.

ben62670

It means I see what is really going on with the poor. It means that I can't make the money I used to. 10% of Americans have 90% of the money. Middle and upper class make up most of the taxes in this country. So let the government justify the taxes you pay on property, and fuel which is almost all tax not really the price of fuel with their phony statistics, and how great of a job they are doing running this country into the ground.

Facts about where Bob is from
Everett Mass
Estimated population in July 2005: 36,837
Males: 18,119 (47.6%), Females: 19,918 (52.4%)
Races in Everett:

White Non-Hispanic (75.2%)
Hispanic (9.5%)
Black (6.3%)
Two or more races (5.4%)
Other race (5.0%)
Vietnamese (1.8%)
American Indian (0.7%)
Chinese (0.6%)

Median resident age: 35.6 years
Median household income: $40,661 (year 2000)
Median house value: $164,500 (year 2000)
Young Urban Professionals
Nice Small suburban town with low unemployment
Good income to living cost
Kids go to a nice school
Bob watches TV and reads stats that makes Bob an expert on the majority that live in large cities.
I do research topics, and do look around before I open my mouth. Maybe if I lived where you do (and I did (CT out in the country also)) I might be more oblivious to what is actually going on in this country (and I was)? I am not saying that sarcastically. Most people that are interested in Polk speakers are doing a little better than people who have the Walmart $200 theater in a box special. I was part of the clan that was paying a fair amount of taxes. Things have changed, and if I work very hard (which is hard to do because of my injuries) than maybe I can forget about what is going on in the majority of this country, and move back into the country and send my kids to school in a nice little town. I wish no ill will to people like Bob. I wish Americans would look at what is really going on instead of looking back in 10,20, or 50 years, and see what we have all allowed to happen. The crime that is happening in the big cities is progressively working its way into smaller cities like Bob's , which happens to look like a nice place to live on paper. You never know till you walk a mile in a mens shoes. So the few people that have posted strong contradictions to what I have experienced congrats on your living situation ( I really do mean that ), and I hope what has happened to me never happens to you.
Sincerely Ben

bobman1235

Wow! It's like reading a book just about ME! Come visit some time before you go guessing about what type of city I live in based on a few "stats you read," buddy.

zombie boy 2000

I feel like I've known you all my life Bob.
Helluva story you have there... maybe Ben has a movie adaptation in the works?

MSALLA

Ben62670, I agree crime is up and I'm in the city every week to see it. But I think your a little over the top with your opinions. You can't judge a guy by the area he lives in. And, a $40,000 house hold income is not exactly putting you on easy street. Some things are better. The murder count was up to 500 people in Philadelphia in the 70's and is now at about 385. It's the type of crimes and how often they happen. The age at which kids are doing these things that concerns me.

ben62670

I agree Msalla
Bob said

"Wow! It's like reading a book just about ME! Come visit some time before you go guessing about what type of city I live in based on a few "stats you read," buddy."

OK this took a while. Now take what is said above and insert Ben into what Bob was saying. Go back and reread all that has been written. Then realize how stats are manipulated either way for different scenarios, different places, and different times.
I'm not saying that Bob is rich, just most likely nice small town. I really miss the small town.
"It's the type of crimes and how often they happen. The age at which kids are doing these things that concerns me."
Work with these kids, and you would understand what I am talking about.
It is a lot different than when we were growing up. My concern is that the small towns are slowly being infected by the hard drugs that used to be primarily big city problems. Philly used to have a large amount of organized crime compared to today. Some places are getting better. Like NY City has been cleaned up I think considerably. I don't sit at home with an aluminum hat hiding from the big nasty world (aluminum attracts tornado's thats whey they love trailer parks and airports).
Enjoy your day, put a smile on your face enjoy the many wonderful things we have going on.

hearingimpared

ben62670 wrote:

I agree Msalla
Bob said

"Wow! It's like reading a book just about ME! Come visit some time before you go guessing about what type of city I live in based on a few "stats you read," buddy."

OK this took a while. Now take what is said above and insert Ben into what Bob was saying. Go back and reread all that has been written. Then realize how stats are manipulated either way for different scenarios, different places, and different times.
I'm not saying that Bob is rich, just most likely nice small town. I really miss the small town.
"It's the type of crimes and how often they happen. The age at which kids are doing these things that concerns me."
Work with these kids, and you would understand what I am talking about.
It is a lot different than when we were growing up. My concern is that the small towns are slowly being infected by the hard drugs that used to be primarily big city problems. Philly used to have a large amount of organized crime compared to today. Some places are getting better. Like NY City has been cleaned up I think considerably. I don't sit at home with an aluminum hat hiding from the big nasty world (aluminum attracts tornado's thats whey they love trailer parks and airports).
Enjoy your day, put a smile on your face enjoy the many wonderful things we have going on.

I pay no attention to stats or the news or any of that crap. All I have to do is look around me. . .that always shows me what rings true.

It is true that my perception of things is most time going to differ than other people's but our perception after all is all we have.

MSALLA

hearingimpared wrote:

I pay no attention to stats or the news or any of that crap. All I have to do is look around me. . .that always shows me what rings true.

It is true that my perception of things is most time going to differ than other people's but our perception after all is all we have.

That is the truest statement on this thread. You can keep the charts, news reports, and all other figures. If a person will just open their eyes and pay attention to whats going on they can figure it out for themselves.

PolkWannabie

But ... it will be different in different geographical areas ... which is why I stated earlier that in my case I have / had absolutely no qualms about letting my children do the same things I was allowed to do ...

MSALLA

PolkWannabie wrote:

But ... it will be different in different geographical areas ... which is why I stated earlier that in my case I have / had absolutely no qualms about letting my children do the same things I was allowed to do ...

I take it you don't live in Newark.

hearingimpared

PolkWannabie wrote:

But ... it will be different in different geographical areas ... which is why I stated earlier that in my case I have / had absolutely no qualms about letting my children do the same things I was allowed to do ...

You are correct and very lucky that you are able to do that. I wish I could. One of the things that has happened with this current coming up generation is that everything is so technologically advanced that a kid doesn't need to use his imagination to interact with other kids. All they have to do is flip a switch grab a controller and stare and exercise their fingers. No street games, no physical activity etc. I have to force my little guy to go out and check to see if his friends are available to play outside. Many, many times they won't come out because of tv or video game activities and let me tell you the little guy is happy about that because he wants to do the same thing. But I force him to do things other than that.

Some seem to think I am putting down this generation here, I'm not. I am saying that in my view things have changed dramatically since I was a kid even since my 23 year old was a kid. The change has not had very good outcomes. That is what I see.

PhantomOG

hearingimpared wrote:

****! It is this generation of entitled, spoiled, lazy, brats, who want to blame our generation for their problems.

Nah, you're not putting them down. :rolleyes:

Said I was leaving... damn Carry on!! Today's world needs a good lecturing from those who know better.

hearingimpared

PhantomOG wrote:

Nah, you're not putting them down. :rolleyes:

Said I was leaving... damn Carry on!! Today's world needs a good lecturing from those who know better.

It was a tongue-in-cheek statement, I guess the absence of a smiley face or an LOL was the contributing factor to the way it was perceived.

My bad!

zombie boy 2000

You guys want to go throw rocks at cars?

hearingimpared

zombie boy 2000 wrote:

You guys want to go throw rocks at cars?

How about snow balls with balloons full of red paint stuffed into the middle.:eek:

bobman1235

I assume most of you have big porches in front of your house, and you just yell at kids to get off your lawn all day.