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pinkytoe
1-19-23, 5:15pm
My shower thought this morning as I pondered my decades on this planet...what cultural things do we accept as normal in our current times? I reckoned that overweightedness (is that a word?) and tattoos are completely normalized now. Fashion catalogs seem to have an equal number of large women and thin women. Tattoos everywhere. What else would shock your parents that we now accept as normal?

herbgeek
1-19-23, 5:39pm
Use of what used to be called swear words regularly heard on TV. Wearing sweat pant and athletic gear out in public. General coarseness and lack of politeness. The trend of outsourcing everything: shopping, meal prep, even services to hang up your Christmas lights and clean up the dog poop in your yard.

JaneV2.0
1-19-23, 8:13pm
I remember being scandalized that an unmarried co-worker was traveling with her boyfriend. :~)
But I'm all for any and all outsourcing!

Rogar
1-19-23, 8:57pm
Use of what used to be called swear words regularly heard on TV. Wearing sweat pant and athletic gear out in public. General coarseness and lack of politeness. The trend of outsourcing everything: shopping, meal prep, even services to hang up your Christmas lights and clean up the dog poop in your yard.

That's a good one and has a few that I've thought of lately. I would have never imagined that marijuana would appear to be legal in so many places and somewhat accepted.

JaneV2.0
1-19-23, 9:37pm
Cannabis is, perhaps surprisingly, very popular among the general public:

"According to Gallup, adult-use legalization holds majority support among Americans in every age group, including those ages 65 and older (55 percent). By contrast, only 48 percent of Republicans endorsed legalization, a dip in support from past years. Eighty-three percent of Democrats and 72 percent of Independents say that “marijuana should be made legal.” " (from NORML)

iris lilies
1-19-23, 9:57pm
Cannabis is, perhaps surprisingly, very popular among the general public:

"According to Gallup, adult-use legalization holds majority support among Americans in every age group, including those ages 65 and older (55 percent). By contrast, only 48 percent of Republicans endorsed legalization, a dip in support from past years. Eighty-three percent of Democrats and 72 percent of Independents say that “marijuana should be made legal.” " (from NORML)


Oh yeah, so many of my OLDE friends use the weed.


I would if it was any fun but sadly it’s not any fun for me anymore. In my early 20s it was though.

JaneV2.0
1-19-23, 11:35pm
Oh yeah, so many of my OLDE friends use the weed.


I would if it was any fun but sadly it’s not any fun for me anymore. In my early 20s it was though.

I don't have the patience to sample 2000 different strains to find a therapeutic one, so far.

JaneV2.0
1-19-23, 11:38pm
Women can have real professions now--not "handmaiden to the Man" type occupations. That never ceases to thrill me and make me wish i had studied harder in school.

rosarugosa
1-20-23, 6:20am
I can remember going out to eat with DH in perhaps the early eighties, and there was another couple at a nearby table. The guy was talking loudly into one of those newfangled cell phones, and the conversation was something along the lines of, "Hey Joey, watcha doing? Me and Lucy are having dinner at Biaggio's. Blah, blah, blah." I said to DH that if I were the woman with him, I would get up and walk out if my dining companion was so rude and so disinterested in talking with me that he had to chat with a friend on the phone. I never would have believed how commonplace that sort of thing would become.

catherine
1-20-23, 7:24am
Women can have real professions now--not "handmaiden to the Man" type occupations. That never ceases to thrill me and make me wish i had studied harder in school.

Yes... I was going to say that. Having a daughter who has NO clue how difficult it was for women to have equal opportunities as men in the workplace is great. It means we've gotten somewhere, and that she doesn't need to learn to type and take dictation to get her foot in the door like I did.

Rogar
1-20-23, 7:54am
The guy was talking loudly into one of those newfangled cell phones, and the conversation was something along the lines of, "Hey Joey, watcha doing? Me and Lucy are having dinner at Biaggio's. Blah, blah, blah." I said to DH that if I were the woman with him, I would get up and walk out if my dining companion was so rude and so disinterested in talking with me that he had to chat with a friend on the phone.

And from my Luddite perspective, the common conversation hasn't changed much since cell phone introduction.

Yoga was once fringe or new agey and is commonly accepted now. Organic and meatless alternative foods, women athletes (has a ways to go), brewpubs, and access to a world of information, disinformation, music, and video entertainment. Shopping from home, working from home, big houses and small yards. Xeric landscaping. A somewhat general acceptance of human caused global warming and zero carbon emissions theories or facts. Cremations. Masks in public places.

happystuff
1-20-23, 9:16am
Access to the world. Growing up it seemed that I only heard about "rich" people going on trips to countries on other continents. Now even *I* can go international! LOL

JaneV2.0
1-20-23, 11:49am
Mass shootings, creeping fascism...>:(

A library and a music collection you can put in your pocket, then use it to call home.

That one's house would cost ten times a living wage, and take at least two people working to support.

That said, I wouldn't want to relive our crusty past.

littlebittybobby
1-20-23, 11:56am
Okay----Paying Bills By Phone. A better way than the time-consuming process of writing checks, licking envelopes, putting stampsa on them after locating all that stuff, and getting it all in the mail. Yup. I still do a little o' that, but not nearly so much. Hope that helps you some.

LDAHL
1-20-23, 3:03pm
I think we’ve become a more fearful culture than we were three or four decades ago. Look at all the panics and counter-panics driven by Covid.

We fear competition more than we used to. “Equity” has come to replace equality, with equal outcomes being more important than a level playing field.

More and more, we even fear words, with self-appointed cultural gatekeepers trying to proscribe various words they claim make them feel afraid. It’s like the Thought Police version of broken window theory.

frugal-one
1-20-23, 3:34pm
I think we’ve become a more fearful culture than we were three or four decades ago. Look at all the panics and counter-panics driven by Covid.

We fear competition more than we used to. “Equity” has come to replace equality, with equal outcomes being more important than a level playing field.

More and more, we even fear words, with self-appointed cultural gatekeepers trying to proscribe various words they claim make them feel afraid. It’s like the Thought Police version of broken window theory.

Apparently you are the self-appointed cultural gatekeeper….. knowing and using “thought police” and “broken window theory” concepts.

Rogar
1-20-23, 3:50pm
Fortunately I don't know what the broken window theory is and am not sure about who the thought police are.

Fear has taken different forms through the decades. Cold wars and hiding under desks, Cuban missile crisis, run away inflation in the Reagan years. The war on drugs. Fewer medical remedies. A financial meltdown. I guess we did have a pandemic.

littlebittybobby
1-20-23, 6:24pm
Fortunately I don't know what the broken window theory is and am not sure about who the thought police are.

Fear has taken different forms through the decades. Cold wars and hiding under desks, Cuban missile crisis, run away inflation in the Reagan years. The war on drugs. Fewer medical remedies. A financial meltdown. I guess we did have a pandemic.Yeah, that "broken window theory" is one o' those ideas similat to the ol' Domino Theory, that essentially means "one bad thing leads to another" and more laws and carte blanche enforcement is justified. But if a little is good, then more is better and too much is just right! Right? That has a tendency to happen, unless there is pushback. So, the cagey psychopathic public official (such as Dennis "BTK" Rader)is careful to exercise caution, and only pick on vulnerable individuals. They also had a city dept careerist in SFD. who selectively bullied property owners for years, until one night at his home he was arrested for a domestic fracas, in which he held a loaded pistol to his wifes' head. See? But no--The BW theory is not necessarily true, OR a real theory, but is what you might at best call "conventional wisdom" or a "heuristic approach" to problem solving. Yup.

iris lilies
1-20-23, 6:55pm
Broken window theory is/was popular in fighting urban crime back 20+ years ago. My neighborhood really bought into it.
it just describes breakdown in an urban fabric such as the lowest level of crime would be littering in the street. Three to have tons of litter invite more neglect. A broken window. A broken window invites. Why neglect because people think no one is paying attention, so another couple of broken windows take place. Then graffiti. Then more graffiti. Then muggings. Then house break-ins… it all escalates.

that is an interesting analogy. LDAHL.

iris lilies
1-20-23, 6:57pm
Fortunately I don't know what the broken window theory is and am not sure about who the thought police are.

Fear has taken different forms through the decades. Cold wars and hiding under desks, Cuban missile crisis, run away inflation in the Reagan years. The war on drugs. Fewer medical remedies. A financial meltdown. I guess we did have a pandemic.

Thought police are especially rampant on university campuses and they patrol social media platforms as well. I would say those institutions are the most populated with thought police but Lord knows they’re everywhere.

Rogar
1-20-23, 7:05pm
Thought police are especially rampant on university campuses and they patrol social media platforms as well. I would say those institutions are the most populated with thought police but Lord knows they’re everywhere.


So maybe sort of like Allan? :)

I always get back to the old Pogo saying, "I've seen the enemy and it is us". So maybe they are everywhere.

iris lilies
1-20-23, 7:20pm
So maybe sort of like Allan? :)

I always get back to the old Pogo saying, "I've seen the enemy and it is us". So maybe they are everywhere.

no, Alan is a free speech guy. I mean you can see that, right?

littlebittybobby
1-20-23, 7:27pm
Broken window theory is/was popular in fighting urban crime back 20+ years ago. My neighborhood really bought into it.
it just describes breakdown in an urban fabric such as the lowest level of crime would be littering in the street. Three to have tons of litter invite more neglect. A broken window. A broken window invites. Why neglect because people think no one is paying attention, so another couple of broken windows take place. Then graffiti. Then more graffiti. Then muggings. Then house break-ins… it all escalates.

that is an interesting analogy. LDAHL.Okay---it's also like the proverbial "slippery slope". Yup. Saul Pieman wrote a wonderful song---one of the best songs EVER---called "slip sliding away", in which he lyrically addressed the situation. Yup. Amazing and awesome. But yeahh--here a couple photos. One, of Saul singin' slip-salidin' awaaaayyy(just awesome & amayzeen), before a HUUUGE crowd that idolizes him. Yup. Wonder how much those tickicks costed? Worth every penny, no doubt. Ha.5111

Rogar
1-20-23, 7:30pm
no, Alan is a free speech guy. I mean you can see that, right?

So the free speech guys and the thought police could be opposites? I should leave it at that or maybe query chatGPT. I tried that out the other day and it was a bit concerning, speaking of cultural change.

Alan
1-20-23, 8:15pm
So maybe sort of like Allan? :)

It occurs to me that if you believe that a member of the thought police provides a space where narratives can be questioned and alternate opinions are welcome, you've probably already spent too much time down the rabbit hole.

Rogar
1-20-23, 8:25pm
It occurs to me that if you believe that a member of the thought police provides a space where narratives can be questioned and alternate opinions are welcome, you've probably already spent too much time down the rabbit hole.

I do believe I am guilty of the excessive rabbit hole exploration. Thanks for getting me back on track.

JaneV2.0
1-20-23, 10:03pm
Autism, peanut allergies...Unheard of in the past.
The first time I ever heard of autism was when I read Son Rise, by Barry Neil Kaufman in the mid-seventies.

ToomuchStuff
1-21-23, 12:33am
Credit. I remember when we were kids, dad fixed the mainframe at a chain that someone screwed up and it caused a breakdown that they were missing payroll. After getting it back up and going in a timely manner, mom received a credit card from that company in the mail to them. Dad cut it up as he hadn't requested it and it nearly caused a divorce, until they got one reissued. (allowed them to buy some tools to fix things as needed)

Cars that go more then 100K and don't need oil changes every 1000 to 1500 miles and tune ups every 12K.
A/C and FM radio. Around Halloween, I thought about seeing if I could find an old Wolfman Jack Halloween show with some of the oldies to have playing outside while kids trick or treat. (for the few that do)

Rogar
1-21-23, 8:41am
Kids who live at home with parents until they are close to middle age. Bike lanes along streets. Policemen stationed in schools.

LDAHL
1-21-23, 10:46am
Fortunately I don't know what the broken window theory is and am not sure about who the thought police are.

Fear has taken different forms through the decades. Cold wars and hiding under desks, Cuban missile crisis, run away inflation in the Reagan years. The war on drugs. Fewer medical remedies. A financial meltdown. I guess we did have a pandemic.

I’m talking more about our reaction to conditions rather than the conditions themselves. Those kids under the desks were a display of resolve against the nuclear threat, not the sort of pointless handwringing we see now. A few generations of Americans led the effort to contain the Soviet empire until it collapsed under the weight of communist idiocy and authoritarian brutality. When Reagan and Volcker faced inflation in the early eighties, they took painful and decisive action; they didn’t try to seek scapegoats or pretend it didn’t exist like we see now. We were a bolder and more resilient people then.

LDAHL
1-21-23, 10:57am
Apparently you are the self-appointed cultural gatekeeper….. knowing and using “thought police” and “broken window theory” concepts.

I’m not a gatekeeper. I want to tear down the fence. When our new puritans want to scrub words like “mother”, “American”, “field” or “walk-in” from our language, I think we have a positive duty to laugh them out of the lexicon. If they try to tear down words like they tear down statues, I believe thinking people should refuse to cooperate.

pinkytoe
1-21-23, 2:11pm
Kids who live at home with parents I live on a block with at least four households with "basement boys." They are unemployed or retired middle-aged men living with a parent or relative so maybe that is more common now too. Another thing that is normal now is for millennials not to acknowledge gifts with a thank you. I am stewing about that one right now...

catherine
1-21-23, 2:15pm
Another thing that is normal now is for millennials not to acknowledge gifts with a thank you. I am stewing about that one right now...

I agree with that one... and I'll use the opportunity to brag about my son who wrote a thank-you note to his new in-laws-to-be for hosting him at New Year's. It may never happen again, and I'm sure he had "political" motivations, but it was still nice to see that he recognizes the value of a thank you.

I think millennials' hands must cramp up if they try to write in cursive, so maybe that's the barrier.

frugal-one
1-21-23, 3:34pm
I’m not a gatekeeper. I want to tear down the fence. When our new puritans want to scrub words like “mother”, “American”, “field” or “walk-in” from our language, I think we have a positive duty to laugh them out of the lexicon. If they try to tear down words like they tear down statues, I believe thinking people should refuse to cooperate.

I disagree about the gatekeeper thing. You are on top of the jargon and worried about what most of us are not even conscious of. republicans were tearing down statues…. so is that who you want to laugh out of existence?

frugal-one
1-21-23, 3:37pm
I live on a block with at least four households with "basement boys." They are unemployed or retired middle-aged men living with a parent or relative so maybe that is more common now too. Another thing that is normal now is for millennials not to acknowledge gifts with a thank you. I am stewing about that one right now...

…. or think they do not have to buy gifts for anyone…. not just millennials though.

iris lilies
1-21-23, 4:20pm
…. or think they do not have to buy gifts for anyone…. not just millennials though.

Guilty as charged. I do not have to buy gifts for anyone and frankly think it is a silly idea that I “ have to.”

iris lilies
1-21-23, 4:21pm
I think millennials' hands must cramp up if they try to write in cursive, so maybe that's the barrier.


;)

gimmethesimplelife
1-21-23, 5:28pm
I just posted as to how I've been giving the green light to have Thursday mornings off so that I can take a hybrid class in Spanish. What is normal now is not exactly normal to me though I am adapting and adjusting. You'd think it was still Holiday Vacation as there are so few students on campus compared to when I took classes several years ago and when studied at NAU 32 years ago.

A lot, and I mean A LOT of school is now done online. I see so many pros and cons with this, but this is how things are done now and I am adapting to this new learning method. Rob

JaneV2.0
1-21-23, 6:02pm
…. or think they do not have to buy gifts for anyone…. not just millennials though.

Everything old is new again. It was not unusual back in the day for unmarried persons to live with relatives indefinitely.

frugal-one
1-22-23, 6:00am
Guilty as charged. I do not have to buy gifts for anyone and frankly think it is a silly idea that I “ have to.”

Granted.. wrong terminology…. have to

Selfish, cheap, thoughtless are words that come to mind… that are more apropos in above post.

frugal-one
1-22-23, 6:01am
Everything old is new again. It was not unusual back in the day for unmarried persons to live with relatives indefinitely.

Was referring to gift giving.

LDAHL
1-22-23, 11:13am
I disagree about the gatekeeper thing. You are on top of the jargon and worried about what most of us are not even conscious of. republicans were tearing down statues…. so is that who you want to laugh out of existence?

There’s a pretty long list. I’d start with the people who want to replace “field” with “practicum” lest anyone take offense. Then I’d work my way up to the people who want to fire university lecturers who make them “feel unsafe” for any number of innocuous reasons.

iris lilies
1-22-23, 11:33am
There’s a pretty long list. I’d start with the people who want to replace “field” with “practicum” lest anyone take offense. Then I’d work my way up to the people who want to fire university lecturers who make them “feel unsafe” for any number of innocuous reasons.
I agree that the University scene is the most ridiculous.

Coming up behind are tight assed, grim lipped audiences of comedians who are curtailing their formerly insightful commentary on society, tailoring it into blandness, to appease these audiences.

Don’t forget the famous people (big Hollywood types down to your garden variety social media influencers) who lecture us peons in various ways. You know, the ones who fly all over the world regularly, opining about climate change and mankind's need to do better. Scolding us about keeping guns for protection when they spend $6 million annually on security. This last isnt about actual speech deniers, but let us laugh at them anyway!

catherine
1-22-23, 11:38am
There’s a pretty long list. I’d start with the people who want to replace “field” with “practicum” lest anyone take offense. Then I’d work my way up to the people who want to fire university lecturers who make them “feel unsafe” for any number of innocuous reasons.

I have to agree with you there. The trend in the fear of thinking beyond the knee-jerk reaction is a terrible shift on University campuses. The whole idea of college is to examine and discuss ideas. The cancel culture in particular reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where the little boy could just make people disappear if he didn't like what they said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxTMbIxEj-E

LDAHL
1-22-23, 1:24pm
I have to agree with you there. The trend in the fear of thinking beyond the knee-jerk reaction is a terrible shift on University campuses. The whole idea of college is to examine and discuss ideas. The cancel culture in particular reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where the little boy could just make people disappear if he didn't like what they said. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxTMbIxEj-E

I think they may have peaked when they got a professor fired because his organic chemistry course was too hard.