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Yes when I was a kid you could not get beat up and your windows smashed for supporting the president of the United States or displaying the American flag
Yes when I was a kid you could not get beat up and your windows smashed for supporting the president of the United States or displaying the American flag
Actually, we did get our windows pelted with snowballs and rocks one time after my dad spoke up at a town meeting about George Wallace coming to town. Wallace was only running for president, so it's a little bit different. But maybe not that much.
We also got some threatening phone calls another time when Dad spoke up at a meeting about integrating some local schools. We were escorted to school for about a week after that because apparently there had been some threat made against us. There were plenty of bullies back then, too. And they were effective. After that, Dad stopped speaking up at town meetings.
@ 70 years old I'll just say that society has gone to hell in a hand bag since I was a kid..anyone my age would certainly agree..
I dunno, seems a bit extreme. There might be some specific things I don't like these days, as well as a few politicians that I really dislike, but I don't think society as a whole has gone to hell.
I grew up in suburbia (think 'Levittown') where the houses were cheek by jowl on 1/4 acre lots but people typically only knew a few of the other families on their own street.
My parents were good friends with the people next door on the left, the people directly across the street, and the people on both sides of the ones across the street. So four families in that category.
We were "casual friends" (meaning that I played with their kids as well as the ones from the Good Friends families but was never inside their house, nor were my parents) with people next door to us on the right and also the people next to them. So two in that category.
There were two other families whose kids sometimes played in our neighborhood group but that was it; I don't think I ever spoke to the parents more than a half dozen times over 20-odd years; doubt my parents did either. There was no reason to.
Just looked at the street on Google and there are 22 houses on it; if you count only the 50% of the street where my house was plus the people we were good or casual friends with, there are 12. And that was during the 1950s and 1960s.
I think that's the difference between growing up in suburbia, and growing up in a small town where your ancestors go back to around the 1870s. I may not have personally known people, but my parents and grandparents knew them, and their parents, and grandparents, and you heard comments about people from the time you were learning to walk. I've looked at the 1930 and 1940 census information for my grandparents and I recognize the names of many of their neighbors who lived on the same street. If you look at old newspapers from small towns, it was amazing who much gossip was published. It was common to see information like, Mr. John Smith, a prominent citizen of the city, and his wife, Mrs. John Smith, traveled to Philadelphia recently to visit relatives. Could you imagine something like that being published today?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948
Yes when I was a kid you could not get beat up and your windows smashed for supporting the president of the United States or displaying the American flag
Really? Do you actually have an example of someone getting beat up or having their windows smashed for displaying an American flag? I find that hard to believe.
Really? Do you actually have an example of someone getting beat up or having their windows smashed for displaying an American flag? I find that hard to believe.
I dunno, seems a bit extreme. There might be some specific things I don't like these days, as well as a few politicians that I really dislike, but I don't think society as a whole has gone to hell.
Why are retired people hanging around college campuses? That's creepy.
hey - colleges around here in my area (south texas) have free classes for seniors.
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