I’m going to ignore the typographical and grammatical errors of your post and go straight for content. Stating that times are changing is not the same as saying that past times were trouble-free. Sure, history had its own set of problems, but the youth of today are different because society is different. The concepts of childhood and youth are different. Societal factors are different. Social conditioning is different. Just to name a few factors, we have Ritalin, Columbine et al., more widespread gang and sexual activity, different racial problems, and of course the changing face of the standard family. While none of these factors are entirely new, they are different.
Have I based my opinions on sensationalistic news programs? Or a skewed loss of reality? Well, let’s see. I’m 25, and I’ve been teaching high school for the last four years. I work with teenagers everyday. I may not be an expert on teenagers, but I’m closer than most people.
I don’t believe he was saying that there were no rapes at Woodstock '99. It is demonstratibly true that women were raped at that festival.
He was saying that it didn’t happen in the mosh pits. For those who don’t know, a mosh pit is when a small opening in the crowd starts from someone slamming back and forth until people back up. Then, other people run into this opening and purposely run into people. Sometimes it gets really violent, but most of the people who can’t take it either leave or get pulled out.
I never said they got it right in 1999. The original Woodstock was about rebellion. This is why I make a point to say Woodstock and Woodstock '99. There was only one true Woodstock. The second was closer than the third.
My point about the water was, seriously, $5.00 for a 12 oz. bottle of water? Even you have to admit that’s more than a little steep. And it’s not like they could just run down to the 7-eleven when they wanted a drink. It was either, spend an exorbant amount of money, or go thirsty.
Besides, there is no way a person could carry 3 days worth of food and water to a place like that. At least, not carry it with them at all times and still properly enjoy the show. If I had gone, I would have brought propably between $150.00 and $200.00 with me for food and souveniers. But not everyone is as well off as I.
Thank you for ignoring the typographical and grammatical errors-I noticed them FAR to late. I’m more than willing to admit that the youth of today are slightly different than that of yesteryear, but I think you go to far with statements such as “The promoters were insane to think that today’s young people were capable of such togetherness” and "So they had to stand in line? Put up with insufficient outhouses? Pay for food that didn’t belong to them? Boo friggin’ hoo. Welcome to the real world, gentlemen. "
The first statement I disagree with because it is absurd. Why do you believe this? I mean hindsight is twenty-twenty sure, but the second Woodstock was almost incident free (as much as most concerts can be) and I’m willing to bet that at least 95% of concerts now-a-days do not include raping and pillaging.
The second statement you made I don’t agree with because I don’t think it was the real reason things went down the way they did. How many other events are outrageously expensive, that don’t result in violence? I might agree with you if you said that the price and bad outhouses were PART of the problem.
I’m just curious but do you have any nationwide statistics or sites that lend you to believe that the world is getting darker (for lack of a better phrase)? I maybe misinterpreting you but it seems to me like you think the world is a lot more violent than it once was.
This isn’t comparable to the real world at all. The festival was a monopoly; there were no businesses competing to force prices down to a reasonable level. Furthermore, the artificially high prices were on goods that are necessities; the consumer can not choose not to purchase the good.
Your average Joe bitches when fuel prices go up. How do you think they’d like it ‘the real world’ was like this. There’d be a limit of one supermarket chain that had fixed abnormally high prices.
And I’m not sure where you come up with the idea of “insufficient outhouses” being a fact of life in “the real world.” I sure can find somewhere to relieve myself when I’m out and about, and I’m wondering why you consider a request for proper amenities deserves the response “boo-friggin hoo.”
And if there are any grammatical or spelling errors in this post, I thank you in anticipation that you’ll so graciously excuse them.