What has happened to our country?

2015-08-12T06:48:37-04:00

This is a short question but one with a very lengthy answer. Growing up, as children, we went out in the morning and didn't come home until dark. Our fathers owned weapons and we didn't touch them. Neighbors cared for one another and knew each other. We played "Army" and used BB guns (sometimes even shooting each other with them). We didn't have to fear of being abductedor worse. Adults could take their families out without having to keep eyes open in the back of their heads and the news reported news and not "end of the world" stories as they do now.

Times change, I get that. But something more has changed in our culture. So what do you think it is?

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Aug 12 at 2015 7:02 AM

2015-08-12T07:02:41-04:00

Simply put "things got faster." Our ability to travel. Our ability to get information. Everything got faster.

As such, communities were much more local, more condensed, more "community." When you can move faster, you can travel farther, your world gets so much bigger.

Think bag to when you were a kid, before you had a bike. Your world was your neighborhood. When you got your bike, your world became how far you could make it to and be back before dark. When you got a car, it was how far you could go and be back before curfew. Now... how far can you travel using the roads, and what is there to see? The media is the same way.

I "believe" that is what happened.

Response by MSgt C Madd made Aug 12 at 2015 7:19 AM

2015-08-12T07:19:45-04:00

Corrupt politicians, give me free stuff society, 2015 year of everything offends me, PC police run wild, no accountability for your actions, and I could go on. Embarrassed how people act and behave. I have become my grandfather, looking favorably to the good old days that have passed on forever.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 12 at 2015 7:33 AM

2015-08-12T07:33:10-04:00

Somewhere, someone in the last 20-30 years decided that the world owed them everything yet they gave nothing in return. People complained that it took too long for mail to get across town. People didn't like the fact that kids played outside unsupervised. People complained that schools celebrated Christian holidays. People became offended at the very mention of God. Welfare became a source of income for those too lazy to work. Those that really need it are too proud to ask for assistance. the news we see on TV is controlled by the liberals who are out to take away the very thing our forefathers fought and died for. The revolutionary war was about freedom of independence from a nation that controlled the very air we breathe. Those that took part in securing the freedom of the United States probably couldn't have imagined the way the world has turned out today.

Response by CMSgt Mark Schubert made Aug 12 at 2015 7:51 AM

2015-08-12T07:51:11-04:00

40% of children are born to single Mom's.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarried-childbearing.htm

Response by SSgt Alex Robinson made Aug 12 at 2015 7:53 AM

2015-08-12T07:53:00-04:00

People would rather take than give. It's disturbing but it's the me mentality

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 12 at 2015 8:06 AM

2015-08-12T08:06:36-04:00

Seems to me that statistically our nation is much safer than it was when you were a child, and you're viewing your past with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. Nothing has changed except for the better.

Response by Col Joseph Lenertz made Aug 12 at 2015 8:33 AM

2015-08-12T08:33:41-04:00

A great question. Now, lots of bad things happened in the good old days too. There were kidnappings, molestations, and rapes, etc. Not all of them got reported, and if they did, they made the local newspaper. So you didn't hear about the child murderer in Fresno if you lived in Minneapolis, like you instantly do today.
But your point is valid. We have changed culturally, and we have even gotten afraid to set cultural norms on other people's children. I have been yelled at by other parents in my neighborhood when I was a kid. Yet I am very reluctant to yell at a kid today, even if he's being a total thug. Why? Progressivism, including the belief that all ideas have equal merit; all lifestyles, all family structures, all moral compasses, are equal. There is no cultural norming which makes a person reluctant to try drugs, or get pregnant out of wedlock, or stay permanently on welfare...and no embarrassment or shame if they choose to do those things.

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Aug 12 at 2015 9:10 AM

2015-08-12T09:10:52-04:00

1SG(P) Private RallyPoint Member, What you described sounds exactly like my childhood.

Response by LTC Craig Amnott made Aug 12 at 2015 10:02 AM

2015-08-12T10:02:54-04:00

Entitlement mentality, socialism, liberalism, and the decline of Judeo-Christian morals/values/beliefs.

Response by Lt Col Timothy Parker, DBA made Aug 12 at 2015 10:48 AM

2015-08-12T10:48:53-04:00

Short answer in my view - we adapted to the new realities of the day. As you said, life isn't like it used to be and maybe that's a good thing. Every generation changes with modernization, the speed of information, and the greater inclusion/tolerance of other points of view and cultures. In short - we're progressing as a society. Yes, its true that life is not the same as when you were a kid, but should it be? If it was, that's stagnation. Every generation had its corrupt politicians and evils of society - we just created our own that fits our time. As kids were were not exposed to the bad stuff because, well, we were kids. So what do we do now? Learn to adapt and look for what is coming next. I don't think we want everything the same as it was decades ago for the sake of our kids. Just my humble opinion.

Response by LCpl Mark Lefler made Aug 12 at 2015 10:52 AM

2015-08-12T10:52:59-04:00

Bad things have always been happening, now with social media we know about it faster then ever before. The population of the USA has since 1975 has almost but not quite doubled, more people we have the more chances of having more bad people.

Response by SGT Jeremiah B. made Aug 12 at 2015 11:45 AM

2015-08-12T11:45:46-04:00

There are a few things at play, I think.

1. As Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS pointed out, our world is bigger,faster and more full. While the US is actually a lot safer than it was when we were kids, we're more afraid. Why? Because when a family is murdered 3,000 miles away, we hear about it. When an NFL player smacks his wife, we hear about it. When someone of vaguely nominal note says something stupid, we hear about it. Couple that with more of us living much, much farther away from our home towns and things FEEL scarier when they really aren't. It doesn't help that the internet helps amplify the natural disconnect of aging by giving us all a platform to cry about change on.

2. We have become hyper-individualist. We don't know our neighbors, we chafe under any societal expectations and we treat personal ideological opinions as natural law worth destroying relationships over. This is not a Left/Right issue and anyone thinking it is needs to spend a little bit of time looking in the mirror and contemplating how often they say "me," "my" or "mine." It's probably way more often than you think.

3. "Politicize everything, accept responsibility for nothing" seems to be the mantra of the day. Conservatives do this, Progressives do that. Everything sucks because of the other guy. My senior drill once said "when you point a finger, there are 3 more pointed back at you." (usually while swinging around that knife hand. haha). I remember visiting a church where the pastor spent an hour blaming the Church's inability to grow and reach people on "postmodernism." A - he barely understood it and preached against a caricature and B - it never occurred to him that if people didn't want to hear the truth, maybe he shouldn't rely on ways of communicating it that no longer worked.

The world has changed ENORMOUSLY since most of us were kids and we're in that weird spot where things have to shake out. It'll be the younger guys, our kids and their kids that will stabilize things. The rest of us? We're going to have to adapt a bit or die bitter.

Response by COL Ted Mc made Aug 12 at 2015 12:45 PM

2015-08-12T12:45:05-04:00

1SG(P) Private RallyPoint Member - Staff; Maybe I'm over simplifying, but I put a large part of it down to a "lack of respect".

Children simply aren't taught to respect (which is different than "worship") themselves and if you don't respect yourself you can't respect others.

Why children aren't taught to respect (which is different than "worship") themselves is something else again and I put a lot of that down to the people who "just know" what everyone "should do" in order that we will have the society that we "should have" and they "just know" what that society "should be" because "__[fill in the blank]__ says so". If those people only got paid if and when their ideas worked there would be a whole lot fewer of them.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 12 at 2015 1:22 PM

2015-08-12T13:22:56-04:00

I will make this as short as possible, because I could go on for a long time on this one.
To boil this all of the way down, it comes down to shame.
No one is "ashamed" when they make a baby out of wedlock.
Live off of welfare.
Commit a crime.
Drop out of school.
Exploit a situation to burn down homes and businesses.
Sue the school district because little Johnny got in trouble and someone told him he was wrong.

Parents no longer do that job, because they want to be "friends" with their kids.
Fiends no longer do that job, because hurt feelings is the worst imaginable outcome.
Teachers no longer do that job, for fear of lawsuits.
Clergy members no longer do that job, because no one sits in the pews anymore - and the ones that do are not the problem.
We have allowed a handful of activists to highjack our country and shame those who stand by what right and wrong has always looked like as "mean, bigoted, old, out of touch, close-minded..."
There will be a reckoning, some day. Probably soon.
Each of the issues I mention above has a cascade of second and third order effects that disrupt and destroy the fabric of society. I have watched it happen with greater and greater intensity over my lifetime.

Response by MSgt Jim Wolverton made Aug 13 at 2015 9:55 AM

2015-08-13T09:55:53-04:00

As has already been mentioned, the world that was once very big is now very small, thanks to technology. I for one don't think this is necessarily a good nor bad thing. I do however think that being bombarded with everything all the time is the problem. This is the reason that I enjoyed living in Germany so much, you weren't bombarded with anything as an American living there, you had to actively seek it out. To me it was just more "quiet" and I know I faced a bit of culture shock coming back to the States on emergency leave after 3 years straight in Europe. Everything was so in your face, it was overwhelming and something that I still dislike a bit now, two years after returning to the US.

Response by SrA Matthew Knight made Aug 16 at 2015 3:04 PM

2015-08-16T15:04:10-04:00

Technology and social media in general are probably the biggest factors into why people are the way they are now. The internet is a wonderful source of entertainment and information but it's also a cesspool full of crap and young people with too much access to that crap start to get into it too much.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Aug 16 at 2015 4:01 PM

2015-08-16T16:01:36-04:00

The media saturation. They tell you that the boogey man is everywhere, it's great for ratings.

Response by CH (CPT) Heather Davis made Aug 16 at 2015 7:45 PM

2015-08-16T19:45:23-04:00

This country was build on God we trust. We have stopped praying in the Name of Jesus. It offends others!

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Aug 16 at 2015 8:35 PM

2015-08-16T20:35:44-04:00

I get the feeling people are pining for an imaginary bygone utopia that never really existed...