So it’s perfectly acceptable for left wing whackjobs to infiltrate politics but the right wing has to go pound sand.
What a lover of democracy you are.
As for cars being junk, that’s debatable and in the case of companies like Honda and Toyota, wrong.
As for them being unsafe, I’m curious why you ignore the fact that the '80’s was when drum brakes started being replaced by disc, which were safer as well as the introduction of anti-lock brakes and airbags, and all wheel drive. Granted these options ate first were available mainly on high end luxury models and there were people like Lee Iacocca who pushed back violently against the safety innovations I mentioned saying they would bankrupt the auto industry, but the safety innovations filtered down to less expensive models.
But those facts don’t fit your statement because they refute it.
I agree 100%, but there are some things about the 80s that I miss, and I don’t think there was ever a better decade to be a kid. One of my pet peeves today is how kids are basically locked in the house 24/7 and only let out under heavy adult supervision until they are like 15. In the 80s, 4 year olds would just go outside and wander around looking for something to do or other kids to play with. I can’t imagine living in a world where I can only play with another kid if my parents get together and set aside a time for it at one of their houses. And that’s not even really “play”. “Play” is when you go outside, find 20 kids playing stickball, and join in. Two kids can’t even get a decent game of monopoly going.
I think 4 is a bit young to be wandering around unsupervised. But to your point, I don’t think I was much older than that when I was walking back and forth to school by myself.
I mostly remember driving around, listening to a lot of Van Halen, Rush, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Black Sabbath with my friends.
I started going to school on my own at 6. I was walked to school before that because it was about 1.5 miles away. But I could hang out outside my house or near it starting at 3. And you’re right, that is pretty darn young and probably not advisable. The trend of increasing protection isn’t TOTALLY crazy. Kids actually did die and get hurt a lot more back then. There were a lot of dangers you could stumble into when you were a child in the 1980s. But a 9 year old taking the subway alone in New York being a national news story strikes me as insanity. It wasn’t THAT long ago that a 9-year old alone anywhere was not even something to take note of, much less a -9-year old knowing where they are going in the safest big city in the US at a time when crime is down 90% from when I was a kid.
A lot of it is that the sense of community we used to have has gone way down, so kids in some sense are less safe than they were when we were children. By that, I mean that as a kid, I was allowed by my parents and the subdivision swimming pool to go alone when I was 7. The main reason was that there were a lot of kids that were roughly my age who lived on the other streets, and if I say… ate it hard on my bike, another kid in the neighborhood would go get help, and someone’s mom would come out and either clean me up and send me on to the pool, call my mom, or in extreme circumstances, call an ambulance and then my mom. And my mom would do the same for other kids in the area.
Nowadays, I’d be uncomfortable sending my 7 year old son up to the nearby elementary school (roughly the same distance as the pool was for me) by himself. Not because of any worry about his abilities, or pedophiles or child snatchers or anything like that, but because we don’t know anyone between here and there, and there might not be other kids around to play with, etc… It’s a feeling that I’d be turning him entirely loose in the wider world, rather than loose in a small corner of it that’s still somewhat supportive and that I’m connected to.
That said, most of the dangers of unsupervised children weren’t from without back in the 80s; it was the kids themselves doing stupid stuff and getting hurt as a result. Stuff like building absurd bike ramps, or sneaking in places we shouldn’t have, etc… That’s not what most parents are worried about though.
IIRC, The government of Farenheit 451 is not some ultra-totalitarian regime burning books to conrol information, but an ultra-liberal one hell bent on suppressing any information that could upset somebody.
I look at youtube videos all the time regarding Social Justice Warriors, Liberal Snowflakes, Safe Spaces, ANTIFA, and watch them angrily FREAK and censor and shut-down dissenting points of view (conservatives…boo…hiss…Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson…AAARRGGHH!!;)).
They actually want to repeal the First Amendment; Free Speech is Hate Speech, therefore, only the comfortable, agreeable speech should be allowed. TELL ME WE’RE NOT HEADING THAT WAY NOW!
Yes, that could be part of what’s going on. I suspect also that for all that adults complain about being pressed for time, adults today have far more disposable time than they did in the 1980s, and if adults have more time to watch and entertain their kids, they seem to want to use it, and then the attitude becomes that it’s irresponsible to just tell your kid, “Go outside and play.” The problem with this is that kids don’t really get to be kids anymore. They are now little adults who are heavily scheduled, with structured play and supervised discovery and learning. Without the self-reliance that would actually make them adults.
My friends and I built ramps all the time and snuck into abandoned buildings and such. And we got hurt. But that’s how you actually learn. Just being told not to do something doesn’t really help.
But that’s how you actually learn. Just being told not to do something doesn’t really help.