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1. Are 20 somethings really less respectful and not as hard-working or does every generation think that of the one that comes after them?
2. Are corporations any greedier than they used to be? Wasn’t greed always “good’?
3. Is it harder to get a job–every mall I go in has help wanted signs?
4. Are people really ruder or have they always been rude?
5. Sex as depicted on TV, internet and movies has obviously gotten more graphic but do people think and act on sex any differently than they used to?
6. Are people any less racist, sexist or offensive to people with disabilities or have we just adopted new vocabularies?
7. Is bullying worse or have people always picked on the vulnerable?
8. Does the media influence us any more than people have always influenced us? Has CNN taken the place of the gossipy woman at the market and does all of that equal out?
9. Was the greatest generation really great? Didn’t a lot of those folks suck too?
10. Are cops, soldiers and firemen all heroes any more than they used to be?
If you liked this article you might like the other Are You With Me? blogs or the don’t be THAT guy blogs.
Dayum, man, lighten up, put the gun down, and have a cup of coffee:) Seriously, I believe the answer to those specific questions may be yes or no, but the overall – and more trenchant question: Do people change? is no, they don’t. One of the insights I’ve had in my dotage is that progress is an illusion. While 2012 may be a wonderful time to be alive when you have an abscessed tooth, it doesn’t mean life is better or people are in less pain now that they were in the 18th century (although I do like going to the bathroom indoors).
Human nature has not changed one bit, and it won’t. Hence, it doesn’t matter if people are more or less rude, or what generation was the greatest, or who is or isn’t a hero. In the final analysis, we’re the same as our cave dwelling ancestors and will be part of the universe when it reaches maximum entrope and is consumed in the ensuing heat death. (On second thought, gimme that gun…)
It is mostly bullshit. Corporations were always greedy, we had a brief golden age when they were properly regulated but that ended decades ago.
Bullying has always been around. We used to teach kids to fight back, now “zero tolerance” makes that taboo.
I drink coffee with a couple 90-year old WW2 vets. They are … people. One fought on both fronts, and now hates all war and said they were a bunch of suckers for their governments. The other one says he’d shoot his own son if he was gay.
The word “hero” has been diluted. Cops? Don’t get me started. My father was a cop. They are people. Some are heroes. There are “heroes” who work at the DMV, too.
Some things are better- we live longer, it is less common to be openly discriminated against, but things don’t change all that much. Not in 50 years. Maybe in a 100. Crime is actually at an all-time low, while reporting is at an all-time high.