# Astonishing political social changes in your lifetime. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631 "2012-12-01T00:21:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/61 "2012-12-06T20:15:32Z")
The sexualization of children is the absolute worse change, IMHO. Montel Williams interviewed a man in prison for impregnanting a 10 year old. His defense. “She dressed like Britney Spears and had a crush on me and was always sitting in my lap.” Right. The ten year bitch was asking for it.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/62 "2012-12-06T20:31:11Z")
I suspect sleeze-balls knocking up young children is a phenomena as old as the hills. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/63 "2012-12-07T07:32:11Z")
There are some really disgusting clothes being made and marketed to prepubescent girls, I’m continually surprised at the garbage parents clothe their daughters with(shorts with “juicy!” on the butt). It makes me feel like a prude, which I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/64 "2012-12-07T07:58:11Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > IMHO this is indicative of a large change - our culture is very fearful now about childrens safety and this manifests in numerous ways. I see many children today who are not at all independent of their parents, certainly not in rebellion like we were. With all of the ,independence we had there was a lot of exploring and learning associated with it. Teenagers don’t want to get their drivers licenses because they are used to being taken everywhere, why change? I hear you. My nephew (I’ll call him Donny) is old enough for a learner’s permit, but he doesn’t want one. He’ll get a driver’s license eventually, maybe when he’s in his twenties. Why? Because his mother (my sister) has convinced him that the outside world is full of predators, pedophiles, and so on; all of whom would just love to get their hooks into him. The only protection is to have his Mom drive him from here to there, to approved meetings or extracurricular activities, as required. So Mom (i.e. my Sis) drives, and he doesn’t mind. When I ask how he’s going to take a date to the school prom, I’m informed that either Sis or the girl’s parents will drive; and that the young people don’t mind in the least. They expect it. What happened to the chauffeur-driven limos and rented hotel rooms outside of parental supervision that my generation had for such events? Donny may be only 16, but he might as well be 10. I have half a mind to give him a mickey of Scotch, a pack of smokes, and a Racing Form. All of which I had used at his age (as had Sis). I guess I’d like Donny to experience a [_rumspringa_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumspringa), even though we’re not Amish, but it doesn’t seem likely. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/65 "2012-12-07T09:24:51Z")
When I was a kid, it was still perfectly legal to make “negroes” sit in the back of the bus. Or not sit at your lunch counter. Or drink from different drinking fountains. Or go to a different school. Or be lynched. And within my lifetime, we have a Black President. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/66 "2012-12-07T09:34:33Z")
At the risk of starting a raging firestorm of debate… It is astonishing to me how much the USA changed since 9/11, it still makes me feel weird to hear people casually talk about being dissapeared by homeland security for internet searches or whatever, not that I think it is likely but just the fact people casually joke about and accept it. It is just a daily part of life, it sometimes feels like some alternate reality novel or something. Even the names like homeland security, total information awareness, those Soviet style see something say something posters, I can’t tell if these are tongue in cheek or the creators were just unaware. You would have thought no way would Americans swallow that, Homeland Security? Whatever you say comrade lol. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/67 "2012-12-07T15:16:37Z")
Legalized, and (more-or-less) socially-acceptable gambling. When I was a kid in central Illinois, if you wanted to place a wager, you could [ul] [li]Go play bingo in the smoke-filled basement at St. Mary’s.[/li][li]Drive over the the bad side of town and find a poker game/numbers racket in a back room.[/li][li]Book a flight to Vegas.[/li][/ul] Nowadays I have lotteries, state-sanctioned video poker machines, online gambling (which is still technically illegal but, let’s face it, there are ways around that), and about half a dozen riverboat casinos within an hour’s drive one way, and an hour and a half’s drive the other way. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/68 "2012-12-07T15:21:01Z")
Also, mentioned upthread but still relevant: I was in junior high and high school in the 80’s, during the Regan Era. Thanks to government propaganda, I left high school being absolutely _convinced_ that even _a single toke_ of marijuana would lead to addiction, homelessness, and probably being placed in a mental institution. The reality is that it mostly just leads to giggles and hunger. Regardless, I never thought that the day would come when anyone could walk into a corner store with a few bucks and walk out with a few grams, perfectly legally. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/69 "2012-12-07T16:00:04Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Nowadays I have lotteries, state-sanctioned video poker machines, online gambling (which is still technically illegal but, let’s face it, there are ways around that), and about half a dozen riverboat casinos within an hour’s drive one way, and an hour and a half’s drive the other way. True. I was a high school student when Atlantic City legalized gambling and it was big news. Now there were _two_ places in the country where you could legally gamble! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/70 "2012-12-08T02:11:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Individual control of media. > > When I was young, you basically watched movies and TV on a schedule set by somebody else. You watched a TV show when it was broadcast. You watched a movie during the week it was playing in the theatre. If you missed it, oh well, you were never going to see it. If you were lucky, they might rerun a TV episode one time a few months later or sell the series into syndication. And a movie might eventually get broadcast on TV. But you had no control over these things. You just had to wait until they were showing what you wanted to see. Unless it was “It’s A Wonderful Life”. That one movie, you waited until it _wasn’t_ on twice a night. Seriously, was that Public Domain for a decade? But, seriously, my kids (who don’t own TVs; they watch shows on Hulu on their laptops a couple of days later) cannot imagine missing a show or movie and never seeing it, or waiting years til it happens to show up on a tiny TV screen with bad color. And, y’know, kids, if there were two shows on TV at the same time? Well, we don’t like to remember those painful times… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/71 "2012-12-08T03:55:51Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And, y’know, kids, if there were two shows on TV at the same time? Well, we don’t like to remember those painful times… Indeed. I remember friends were chosen partly on the basis of which show they watched in a given time slot. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/72 "2012-12-08T04:12:43Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And within my lifetime, we have a Black President. With a “foreign” name! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/73 "2012-12-08T05:55:53Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And, y’know, kids, if there were two shows on TV at the same time? Well, we don’t like to remember those painful times… Or if your family only had one TV and your sister wanted to watch _The Brady Bunch_ when _The Flip Wilson Show_ was on. So you had to “take turns” and only got to see half the episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/74 "2012-12-08T12:24:35Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And within my lifetime, we have a Black President. > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > With a “foreign” name! And what’s more, last month’s election was the first in history without a single one of that old American standby, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, on either major party ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/75 "2012-12-08T16:18:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And what’s more, last month’s election was the first in history without a single one of that old American standby, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, on either major party ticket. There’s also been a major change in the Supreme Court. Catholics Justices are nothing new. The first was Roger Taney back in 1836. But the unofficial rule has been that there was a Catholic seat, with one Catholic Justice being appointed to the Supreme Court. Later additions were the unofficial Jewish seat, black seat, and women’s seat - each of these groups were unofficially represented by one member on the court. But this changed in the eighties. As recently as 1986, there was only one Catholic Justice, William Brennan. But six of the ten Justices appointed since 1986 have been Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/76 "2012-12-08T18:35:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There’s also been a major change in the Supreme Court. > > Catholics Justices are nothing new. The first was Roger Taney back in 1836. But the unofficial rule has been that there was a Catholic seat, with one Catholic Justice being appointed to the Supreme Court. Later additions were the unofficial Jewish seat, black seat, and women’s seat - each of these groups were unofficially represented by one member on the court. > > But this changed in the eighties. As recently as 1986, there was only one Catholic Justice, William Brennan. But six of the ten Justices appointed since 1986 have been Catholics. The current Court is the 1st Protestant-less Court **in history**! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/77 "2012-12-08T19:29:25Z")
panache45 writes: \> Divorce. I can remember when divorce was rare, and a huge stigma for the \> woman. Being known as a “divorcée” was severely looked down on by society. \> \> And bearing a child “out of wedlock.” Another huge stigma. Only a slut\* would \> have a baby outside of marriage, but today a woman can have multiple kids \> with multiple fathers and remain single. As long as she’s able to take care of \> them, no one cares. Divorce was never rare in the U.S. within the lifetime of anyone on the SDMB. In 1930 the divorce rate was 16%. In 1940 the divorce rate was 20%. The divorce rate peaked at just over 50% in 1981. It’s actually gone down since then, although not by much. > **[US Divorce Rates Over Time and What the Numbers Really Mean | LoveToKnow](https://www.lovetoknow.com/life/relationships/historical-divorce-rate-statistics)** > > "Divorce rates are at an all time high," and over myths you can debunk using these past divorce rates as they change over time. I think you exaggerate about illegitimate children too. I remember what it was like in a moderately conservative community in the 1960’s. No one was happy about births outside of marriage, but they didn’t go out of their way to make it that hard for the mother. And today, living in a moderately liberal area, it’s still true that no one is going to make it that hard for the mother, although they may still silently disapprove. The real difference is that the out-of-wedlock births were among teenagers in the 1960’s and the baby got adopted. The out-of-wedlock births now are among adults and the baby stays with the mother. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631/78 "2012-12-09T05:10:44Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Seriously, was that Public Domain for a decade? [Pretty much](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life#Release). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astonishing-political-social-changes-in-your-lifetime/642631.md?page=3)