Remember when?: Chapter 2

When did we become so soft and paranoid in this country? It seems as if there's nothing we can do without raising the ire of someone or some group.

Here a few examples:

Before the mid 80s or so, a man could compliment a female co-worker without fear of being sued for sexual harassment. Nowadays, that is not the case. If a man is even suspected of looking at a woman wrong, it results in his being sued and eventually fired?

**Note: I mean nonsexual compliments, such as "You look pretty.", "Nice dress", "You have pretty eyes", etc. Ok, those were lame, but you get the idea.**

I'm not sure when this started, but when I was in school and we did something bad, the principal could use a paddle on us. Nowadays, at least down here, bad behavior is punished by a counseling session. Yes, you read right, a counseling session. This may be different in other parts of the country.

As a little boy, I didn't participate in sports, but I had friends that did. Back in those days, the winners won and the losers lost. Nowadays, the winners still win, but the losers are given the same, if not better, treatment. I understand getting credit for playing the game and doing your best and whatnot, but you lost! Go home, practice, and come back another time. Why do we feel the need to placate little egos. It's not like they're going to be scarred for life. Do junior high, high school, college, or professional athletes break down and cry when they lose? No! Younger children are no different. just smaller versions. At this rate, I can see a future Super Bowl where the winner gets the Lombardi Trophy and the loser gets like part of Ft. Know, just so they don't run off crying to mom!

Let's look at television now.

Up until recently, you could see products such as Coke, Nike, McDonald's, etc. Now, they either make up some sort of parody on such name, or they blur out the images. No doubt this is due to money, but still...do they really need that much money, that they need to be paid for showing their products on air? With reality TV, it's worse, because they have no control, so they just tape over the stuff.

In the 50s and 60s language wasn't a problem on TV. Somewhere in the 70s or 80s, people started using stringer language. Now, they all of a sudden want to go back. I'm of the belief that one way or the other, you're going to hear said language, so just let it go. We'd all be much happier!

Remember when TV was actually scripted? What about when there was more on than just the 50 gazillion spin offs of CSI and Law and Order as well as other dramas. Does anyone else besides me recall sitcoms? What about afternoon cartoons? Yeah, those days seem to be long gone. It's all about drama and reality these days. None of it is good (reality that is).

Movies have just gone downhill

Am I the only one to notice that the quality of movies has gone down? I mean, when was the last time you saw a movie that was an original idea? Just last night, I was reading about all these remakes that are scheduled to be made. On top of that we have all these comic book, TV show, and musicals that are being spewed forth nothing wrong with those, just making a point). I blame this all on reality TV taking away people's imagination. It's only going to get worse until reality tv goes away.

Finally, the stuff we eat

There's a commercial that comes on where a family is eating corn on the cob and it has a stick of butter on it. That scene would never happen these days because we're so paranoid of cholesterol, heart disease, and everything else under the sun. Fact is, people ate stuff like that back then, and they turned out just fine as well as living long lives. Just because America has become fat, they want to blame it on the food, when in fact its due to the sedentary lifestyle and stress levels we thrust upon ourselves, not the food!

Remember when we could actually walk down the street? What about leaving the door unlocked? How about leaving your car windows down? Yeah, those days need to come back, but people are so paranoid now about their stuff getting stolen, chances they won't. If you're hat paranoid, then don't leave the stuff in there. It's as simple as that!