Is this where we are headed as a society?

[SewTexas]

all of this reaffirms my belief that people aren't teaching children/teens respect of life anymore. Plain and simple. Respect life, Respect people.


A few days ago we were at a store, a lady was walking out with a huge box and my now 20! year old daughter ran up to help the lady with the door, I honestly thought the lady was going to drop the box with shock that a young person was nice enough to help her...now I've taught my kids from the time they could handle the weight of a door to do that...it's ingrained, it's what they do. If they see an older person stumble on the sidewalk they run up and ask if they are ok and if they need any help...it's what they do. It's what they would want someone to do for their grandparents. Sadly, I know that my kids are the great exception and it breaks my heart.

[nightmare]

Omertà[1] (/ɵˈmɛərtə/; Italian pronunciation: [omerˈta]) is a cultural attitude and code of honour that places heavy importance on a deep-rooted "code of silence", non-cooperation with authorities, and non-interference in the illegal (and legal) actions of others.

You know, in some ways it sounds like an improvement over the nanny state mentality. Capisce?

[VoiceofReason]

all of this reaffirms my belief that people aren't teaching children/teens respect of life anymore. Plain and simple. Respect life, Respect people.


A few days ago we were at a store, a lady was walking out with a huge box and my now 20! year old daughter ran up to help the lady with the door, I honestly thought the lady was going to drop the box with shock that a young person was nice enough to help her...now I've taught my kids from the time they could handle the weight of a door to do that...it's ingrained, it's what they do. If they see an older person stumble on the sidewalk they run up and ask if they are ok and if they need any help...it's what they do. It's what they would want someone to do for their grandparents. Sadly, I know that my kids are the great exception and it breaks my heart.

I honestly thought the lady was going to drop the box with shock that a young person was nice enough to help her

Maybe she just realized she was old.

[Oldgringo]

all of this reaffirms my belief that people aren't teaching children/teens respect of life anymore. Plain and simple. Respect life, Respect people.


A few days ago we were at a store, a lady was walking out with a huge box and my now 20! year old daughter ran up to help the lady with the door, I honestly thought the lady was going to drop the box with shock that a young person was nice enough to help her...now I've taught my kids from the time they could handle the weight of a door to do that...it's ingrained, it's what they do. If they see an older person stumble on the sidewalk they run up and ask if they are ok and if they need any help...it's what they do. It's what they would want someone to do for their grandparents. Sadly, I know that my kids are the great exception and it breaks my heart.

I honestly thought the lady was going to drop the box with shock that a young person was nice enough to help her

Maybe she just realized she was old.

Maybe she thought she was gonna' be boxjacked?
(Seriously, good job! That's the way I raised mine, too.)

[JALLEN]

What do you expect where it is better to have been in the KKK than be a Boy Scout? All the values that previous generations were expected to live by are going the way of the dinosaur now.

Sometimes I wonder if we are not on the edge of an abyss, a new and more terrible Dark Ages where learning, culture, justice, liberty, privacy and the other values developed over many centuries in Western Christian democratic culture that have produced a standard of living, and not just economic, undreamed of by previous cultures and generations, are going to disappear, and their opposite become the norm.

[Oldgringo]

What do you expect where it is better to have been in the KKK than be a Boy Scout? All the values that previous generations were expected to live by are going the way of the dinosaur now.

Sometimes I wonder if we are not on the edge of an abyss, a new and more terrible Dark Ages where learning, culture, justice, liberty, privacy and the other values developed over many centuries in Western Christian democratic culture that have produced a standard of living, and not just economic, undreamed of by previous cultures and generations, are going to disappear, and their opposite become the norm.

That's heavy, man. (We just finished watching, "EASY RIDER" for the 2nd or 3rd time.)

[Cedar Park Dad]

What do you expect where it is better to have been in the KKK than be a Boy Scout? All the values that previous generations were expected to live by are going the way of the dinosaur now.

Sometimes I wonder if we are not on the edge of an abyss, a new and more terrible Dark Ages where learning, culture, justice, liberty, privacy and the other values developed over many centuries in Western Christian democratic culture that have produced a standard of living, and not just economic, undreamed of by previous cultures and generations, are going to disappear, and their opposite become the norm.

All this has happened before and will happen again-

Well this may help a little:
*People are no longer hanged from trees for the color of their skin. Jim Crow is dead. “No Dogs or Chinese/Irish/etc allowed” is dead.
*My daughter can grow up with the realistic expectation of seeing a woman President. Barriers limiting what she wants to do be it mom, explorer, mechanic, scientist, admiral (she mentioned this-yikes), CEO, or President are gone.
*The days of wink wink nudge nudge sexual harassment are over.
*Crime is down. Violent crime is at a 30 year low. Unless you’re involved in the entrepreneurial drug trade industry, crime statistics are even lower, to those of northern Europe.
*Education rates are at the highest levels in history.
*Life expectancy is at an all-time high.
*Our country boasts gals that are easy on the eyes from every country in the world.
*Our country boasts fattening food taken from every corner of the globe, and you can still find a good chicken fried steak.
*We now have movie theaters with full restaurants and bars and leather recliners.
*CHL is effectively the law of the land now.
*While some states have towards more regulation, increased federal laws have foundered, and politicians pushing that agenda have paid handsomely in Colorado.
Everything that is bad can be fixed. Everything that is good can be preserved.

[RoyGBiv]

What do you expect where it is better to have been in the KKK than be a Boy Scout? All the values that previous generations were expected to live by are going the way of the dinosaur now.

Sometimes I wonder if we are not on the edge of an abyss, a new and more terrible Dark Ages where learning, culture, justice, liberty, privacy and the other values developed over many centuries in Western Christian democratic culture that have produced a standard of living, and not just economic, undreamed of by previous cultures and generations, are going to disappear, and their opposite become the norm.

I recall that Archie Bunker (and my grandparents) felt the same way about my generation.
Maybe it's just the natural order of things that us older folks think the younger folk are mostly rotten apples?

Pass me another Ensure, please.

[VMI77]

All this has happened before and will happen again-

Well this may help a little:
*People are no longer hanged from trees for the color of their skin. Jim Crow is dead. “No Dogs or Chinese/Irish/etc allowed” is dead.
*My daughter can grow up with the realistic expectation of seeing a woman President. Barriers limiting what she wants to do be it mom, explorer, mechanic, scientist, admiral (she mentioned this-yikes), CEO, or President are gone.
*The days of wink wink nudge nudge sexual harassment are over.
*Crime is down. Violent crime is at a 30 year low. Unless you’re involved in the entrepreneurial drug trade industry, crime statistics are even lower, to those of northern Europe.
*Education rates are at the highest levels in history.
*Life expectancy is at an all-time high.
*Our country boasts gals that are easy on the eyes from every country in the world.
*Our country boasts fattening food taken from every corner of the globe, and you can still find a good chicken fried steak.
*We now have movie theaters with full restaurants and bars and leather recliners.
*CHL is effectively the law of the land now.
*While some states have towards more regulation, increased federal laws have foundered, and politicians pushing that agenda have paid handsomely in Colorado.
Everything that is bad can be fixed. Everything that is good can be preserved.

It has happened before and WILL happen again --which is why all the progress you cite is not all that reassuring. Furthermore, a lot of what you cite is debatable. A few examples:

In my industry burdensome and useless regulations are growing at an exponential rate...from virtually none 10 years ago, to suffocating and onerous today, with no hope of relief in sight.

People are assaulted for the color of their skin, e.g. the knockout game. Furthermore, the black family has been pretty much destroyed by the liberal welfare state, and young black males are being killed and incarcerated in record number.

The flip-side of your daughter growing up to be CEO are things like female Marines who can't pass physical fitness tests, lowered standards in many fields to create the pretense of equal treatment, and female entitlement, versus actual equality. I won't even go into the less obvious sociological questions, such as the impact on child rearing and divorce.

Violent crime is down, corruption and subversion of the rule-of-law is way up. Arguably, an executive who violates and refuses to enforce the law is a bigger problem than the violent crime rate.

I don't know what an education rate is, but I see no evidence that there is been a per capita increase in educated people. People with college degrees and high school diplomas, yes, educated people, no. High school was more rigorous for my father back in the 30s than college is for most people attending today. Can anyone seriously suggest that ANYONE in Congress today is the intellectual equal of Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Washington, etc? Presidents 100 years ago spoke to intelligence, now they speak to idiocy and emotion. As much as I despise Wilson or FDR, they were men of intellect and accomplishment and very far removed from the clown now occupying the Oval Office. Geez, I think even LBJ, crude and vulgar as he was, was intellectually superior and harder working than this community organizer and divider we have now.

But really, those are all side issues. The veneer of civilization is thin...a theme that repeated itself often in the 20th century. Without the rule-of-law and a moral populace "civilization" can disappear with the blink of an eye. Financial collapse is a mathematical certainty.....the timing and extent are the only questions. Given a great enough calamity civilization could disappear virtually overnight. So, while there are grounds for optimism there are also grounds for concern, and it's a lot easier to destroy a civilization than to create one.

[bayouhazard]

Yep.

[Cedar Park Dad]

Financial collapse is a mathematical certainty.....the timing and extent are the only questions.

Facts would be awesome to support such a statement. How many countries in Western Europe have financially collapsed in the the last 100 years? The only one I can think of is the Weimar Republic and that was due to the combination of crippling post WWI debt sanctions and the Great Depression. Even in the Americas, Argentina is the great exception, and even it could have righted itself.

[cb1000rider]

Financial collapse is a mathematical certainty.....the timing and extent are the only questions.

Facts would be awesome to support such a statement.

Would you accept it without fact if he had said "Financial collapse is a mathematical certainty if we don't change from our current course... " ?
That's how I read his statement. I think it's fairly well established that you can't spend more than you take in without financial consequence indefinitely...

We either spend less, pay more, do both, or pass it off to the kids. Some combination of those options. Elect someone who says that they'll increase your taxes and decrease your benefits....

[VMI77]

Financial collapse is a mathematical certainty.....the timing and extent are the only questions.

Facts would be awesome to support such a statement. How many countries in Western Europe have financially collapsed in the the last 100 years? The only one I can think of is the Weimar Republic and that was due to the combination of crippling post WWI debt sanctions and the Great Depression. Even in the Americas, Argentina is the great exception, and even it could have righted itself.

What it comes down too is quite simple: there has been no real economic improvement in a very long time. We, as a nation, and as is Europe, are living on credit. All of our supposed increase in living standard is imaginary and based on credit. So much credit that there is no way out (well, there could be a way out, but there isn't a politician in either party with the will or the guts to even propose it). There is no way to tax out of it and no way to grow out of it. Rather than attempt a rather long fact based analysis myself, I'll just refer you to Karl Denninger. I've come to the validity of his analysis over a number of years and after reading a number of different analysts....not something I could just pick up in an article or two....but here are a few entry points:

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=226898

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=226951

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=226533

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=226031

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=225987

[LeonCarr]

Everybody who stands in the way of Police/Fire/EMS doing their jobs, steps over a patient being worked on to get a drink at the bar, etc. should go to jail for for PC 38.15 Interference with Public Duties.

Period.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr