Now, in full disclosure, I can't use a slide rule either."The future is better than the past. Despite the crepehangers, romanticists, and anti-intellectuals, the world steadily grows better because the human mind, applying itself to environment, makes it better. With hands... with tools... with horse sense and science and engineering.
Most of these long-haired belittlers can't drive a nail or use a slide rule, I'd like to invite them [...] back to the twelfth century - then let them enjoy it."
Heinlein here was talking (through character) about time traveling related to his book's plot. But I find people of all stripes constantly romantisize the past as if children all behaved and respected their elders, teens never had sex, no one did drugs, or at least not in a detrimental way, all things worked and worked well and people got along just fine by loving their neighbors and being friendly.
And for a the old person recounting it and the young person hearing it, it probably sounds pretty grand. Except that I don't think there is much of a lick of truth to it. One only has to watch movies like "Grease" to know that booze and sex and to some degree disrespect for property and elders were part of the culture even then.
You don't even have to watch a bad musical. Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie & Clyde fame) died at ages 23 and 25, respectively. They died as young adults just having only recently crossed the precipice between childhood and adulthood.
Something tells me that the leaders of a gang of outlaws, robbers and criminals who killed "at least nine police officers" weren't all that respectful or in awe of their elders or the law.
Don't even get me started on whether certain customs require respect or whether the people responsible for our current situation should expect it.
I know we always talk about the past in "grand" terms, but we also talk about it in "that sucked" terms. Like how annoying things were without cell phones.
ReplyDeleteTrue, people do tend to do that whole "in my day and age, kids respected their elders." I think that's true--to a point. There was more of a requirement to, and more likely to be punishment of derelict behavior. However, just because kids may have (for the most part) acted respectfully to their elders, it doesn't mean they actually respected them.
I'm sure if you set up a play date between kids today and kids of 1905, they'd be very "You said WHAT to your mom?" but they'd be thinking "GAWD, I wish I could say that to my mom". Expectations have changed, but basic human processing hasn't.