I’m of two minds about that hypothesis. On one hand, as the article notes, both the demographics of the baby boom and the drug explosion of the 60s have potential to explain the crime phenomena. Just looking at the baby boom alone, crime rates peaked around the same time boomers were between their teens and early 20s, then rapidly declined.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that tetraethyl lead was a dangerous toxin and a plague on the environment, and its elimination is one of the great success stories of government regulation. Another was the great reduction in sulphate aerosol emissions and consequent damaging acid rain as well as cardiorespiratory risks, but lead was the overwhelming health risk, poisoning air, soil, and water.
But I think we can all agree that SA is a fucking moron for blaming society’s ills on “hippies”, on less oppression against minorities and the plague of civil rights, and presumably also on women entering the workforce – all of which destroys the kind of wonderful society that was so well documented in 1950s TV series like Father Knows Best. It had some fine episodes that SA would surely approve of – like the one with the Mexican gardener who tries so hard to act white, causing amusement and gentle patronizing amongst the Anderson family. Or the time the daughter Betty decides she wants to be an engineer and joins a survey crew as an intern; she naturally gets made fun of by all the boys, thus learning the error of her ways, but is set right when one of the boys comes by with pretty flowers and asks her out on a date. Her mother dresses her up real pretty, and off she goes, having learned that a girl’s role is to be pretty, make her man happy, not think too much and keep her mouth shut. Ah, the good ol’ days! And not a black to be seen anywhere! SA probably shouldn’t watch that sort of thing, it would make him cry for the sheer poignant beauty of it all.
I’m out and on my phone so don’t have much time, but I have to admit you may be right. Perhaps there was something about lead that affected liberal minds in particular and caused them to latch onto drugs like manna from heaven, fight to keep or get every criminal possible out of jail, foster the image of police as ‘pigs’, encourage disobedience against the establishment, encourage promiscuity and welfare resulting in millions growing up without responsible parental guidance, constantly eroded the quality of education which has hampered people’s ability to earn a living, etc., etc., etc.
As far as similar patterns occurring elsewhere, it’s long been the case that other countries follow the lead of the U.S. Look at the way people all over the world dress now as opposed to the 50s and 60s.
But be all this as it may and the fact that most of our crime since the sixties is tied to the things I mentioned above, the crime problem we’ve had and still have is very much the driver of gun ownership in this country. And has been established before, at approximately 20,000 guns for every murder, the proliferation of guns obviously isn’t the problem.
Let me know if you have any interest in a real discussion about public policy. Lead poisoning isn’t a joke, it’s a real phenomenon. Lead in the environment really hurt a lot of people, and still is. It’s not a fake thing.
Dishonest, lying sacks of shit like you are precisely the reason I post here the way I do. You couldn’t cite to save your life any of the claims you just made.
wolfpup is a profoundly dishonest douchebag. While I often disagree with you and iiandiiii, I still believe you both to be good people at heart. You do disservice to yourselves by associating with him.
Not if everyone is standing up, it’s not possible. To demonstrate, hold a paper towel tube about yea high, grab yer red hot poker by the cool end, and try to position…
Thanks man, I needed a good laugh and that was the best laugh I had all day.
It’s very noticeable how your “passion” seems to wane very suddenly when you are getting your ass kicked in an argument. Honestly, I can’t really blame you. If I said all the dumb shit you did, got dogpiled, and had my ass kicked in an argument as often as you, I’d probably do the same. Still, I feel obliged to point out that you’re not fooling anyone here, except maybe yourself.
ROTFLMAO! The media hasn’t “reported news events” in decades. That would involve impartiality and the mass media tilts further left than the Tower of Pisa. They "report’ events in the way that best suits their agenda.
How did you manage to twist marching (as I said) in favor of the 2nd Amendment and responsible gun ownership into " in support of becoming even more vulnerable targets to any disgruntled random lunatic wanting to kill them? " That is not what I said, nor did I even imply it. Your anti-gun bias is showing horribly.
Let’s change the scenario, then. More people are killed by cars than guns. Suppose the kids had been marching to ban cars? More people are dying from drugs than by guns. Suppose they had been marching in favor of stricter enforcement of drug laws? Either of those work for you? Do you think they would be media darlings in either scenario?
I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea that you post data that shows that the rates of crime, both violent and property crimes, and murders specifically, are the same as the were in those glorious days when the 1950s ended, and you think that somehow justifies how so many people feel they need to cling to their guns. WTF?
Again, WTF?!? You think the US is leading the world in terms of liberal social reforms? We’re very gradually trying to catch up. At least we were, until about January 20 2017.
Look folks, you’re wasting your time arguing with SA. He’s a crazy old racist who believes the Perfect World existed in 1950’s America. When black people and other minorities knew their place, when men were strictly heterosexual and people like him were the be-all, end-all of society.
The most karmic possible afterlife for him would be as a mentally handicapped black man in the 1950’s. Over and over and over.
‘Cause he ain’t. Not even close. I mean, I can understand your desperation to excuse the many ridiculous outcomes of liberal attempts at social engineering, but labeling those who point them out as racist only highlights what little justification you legitimately have.
