Today's politial chaos and today's children

Sadly, the childhood innocence so many of us older fellows once took for granted, so long ago, is a concept totally unknown today's children and yound people.

How do today's parents broach the subject of politics (and politicians) in today's truly insane (and often downright disgraceful) society, where common courtesy, decency, and even simple common sense are in danger of disappearing altogether.

Should a parent even influence their children, regarding political parties/politicians?

Or, should they simply allow them to make their own choices?

I truly feel lucky indeed, in today's topsy-turvy, upside-down society, that I am a bachelor with no children.......it's truly insane out there today, on so many levels, and, certainly a formidable challenge for any good parent to try to raise their children correctly.

Your opinions/views?

 

If more children were taught thusly, the world indeed would be a more tolerant and civilized place.

The old saying goes: "Charity begins at home".

So does teaching tolerance, brotherhood, respect, and decency.

Those parents who are trying to raise their children to be good, decent, tolerant, hard-working adults, truly face a formidable uphill battle before them in these uncertain, volatile times.

May they forge ahead with courage, fortitude, and love...........

 

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A very good point, well taken.

Certainly, the boorish buffoons in Washington who are making a mockery out of our government are most not certainly NOT setting any sort of positive example for the children and the young people today.

This is yet another reason why I beliueve that parents who are trying to instill good, solid, decent, basic values into their children are truly "fighting against the tide".

The overall behavior by (supposedly) "mature" adults upon Capitol Hill (especially) is truly an embarassment to our country; when grown men and women act like a bunch of spoiled, bratty, unsupervised, obnoxious children are causing us to cringe inwardly, it is indeed a sad time for our nation.

Recall the old tome:

"....and a little child shall lead them......."

Look at what our government has become.

The recent Republican debate (what a monument to immaturity) was beyond pathetic and sad, with the candidates shouting, insulting, interrupting, talking over one another.......what ever happened to protocal and adult behavior?

Too, don't forget that children and young people (for better or worse) are strongly influenced by what they see around them each day........

 

As are adults. It's demoralizing for good people to see bad people succeed.

 

No one watches less television than I do; outside of two news programs and two sitcoms (and local weather reports) my set is off more than it is on.

I much prefer reading a good book, watching a classic tv show or movie on dvd, or working on one of my hobbies.

Old classic shows from the 50s and 60s truly focused on the strength and unity of families, responsiblities, and,of course, respect to elders.

The overwhelming majority of today's shows are too much focuses, on sex, violence, and the inane, immature behavior that passes for "humor" today.

How low we have sunk.

And don't even het me started on the "reality" shows.....totally worthless.

I also always thought it was very important to teach our children about the many great figures in American history; I feel that for children to face the future, they have to have at least SOME understanding of the past, and our history.

But today, with rampant political correctness, many long-revered American heros are now considered "offensive"; American history is now so sanitized that so much is now taboo.

Indeed, there HAS been many injustices in American history, to be sure, BUT, we cannot CHANGE the past.

HOWEVER, we CAN, certainly, LEARN from it.................

 

American TV is indeed a wasteland. For a modest fee we watch Acorn with quality programs from around the world….better than all the offal on our networks put together.
As far as American “heroes”….it’s about time we got a dose of sanity. Figures like Columbus, RR, Custer and the figures of Western conquest don’t really come off big as human beings. I remember the 50s with segregation, union busting, worshiping capitalism and misogyny as a rather grim time in our history, not worthy of sanitized celebration.

 

As I have always greatly loved American history, IMHO, I feel that the "safest" great American to read up onm(and admire) these days is Abraham Lincoln, always a great hero of mine from boyhood.

I agree with you 100%; American TV is a wasteland, or, more aptly, a video septic tank.

I also believe that there are many great heroes (and heroines) in the old biblical stories, but, this, not at all surprising, can get into a heated "separation of church and state" debate.

Where do we go forth from here

We can't go back, and we certainly cannot go forwards.

Talk about being stuck between the proverbial "rock and a hard place"..............

 

It’s tough when money can buy politics and one political party seems to have taken an oath of ignorance, violence, and chaos. That wasn’t to party of Eisenhower.

 

I read you loud and clear, my friend......well said!

My sister-in-law always said: "Money talks and bull***t walks"

Man, was she RIGHT; and it especially rings true with today's POLITICS!

One can only imagine the untold amount of $$$$$$$ involving bribes, "political favors", etc, nowadays/

These days, ilegal financial gain seems to mean far and away more to certain individuals than does honesty, integrity, and decorum.................

 

Remember when parents used to admonish their children, with "act your age"?

Sure wish someone would likewise admonish the overgrown infants and toddlers in DC, during their frequent temper tantrums and outbursts of immaturity, which, sad to say, are now happening with increased frequent, more and more, with alarming regularity........

 

Ah, Leave It To Beaver. I wasn't alive then, but I've enjoyed the reruns! The late fifties seemed to be a much simpler era: the Korean War over, Ike in the White House, the civil rights movement just underway, and the country at peace. The sixties (which I also missed) was of course another story, and then we had al Qaeda, 9/11, the Iraq War, the internet, and Fox News, not to mention AI. There were some who didn't like the fifties--an era of mindless conformity. I remember seeing a New Yorker cartoon where a couple is passing a sign for a fifties rock concert and the man says to his wife: "I didn't like nostalgia then." But looking at it from a distance, it seems, in many ways, like Paradise.

 

I grew up in the early/mid-1960's, and so much was still like the 1950's; in my neighborhood in urban northeastern New Jersey, we still had corner drug stores (w/soda fountains!), candy stores, a Woolworths......all the types of "mom-and-pop" shops and stores you'd associate with that era.

On summer evenings, our moms would sit on folding chairs on the stoop of our apartment building and chat, while we kids played within their sight.

When our moms went in, we went in right behind them.

Public transportation was safe at all hours, as were our neighborhoods.

Schools were safe; our mothers never had a cause for fearing for our safety.

No guns, knives, or any other weapons to be found within school walls.

My mom (who looked a lot like Audrey Meadows!) always wore a crisp dress and heels when she dis housework (like June Cleaver and Donna Reed!)

Television shows featuring families featured saying grace before meals, getting dressed for Sunday school and church, and also fostered a sense of family unity that is so lacking in today's topsy-turvy world (we even sat down together, as a FAMILY, to eat supper!)

I go back many years, to be sure, and can still remember when the ony "drug dealers" in my neighborhood were the corner drug stores.

Ahhh, if i could only go back to those happy, innocent, carefree times............................

 

Ya' know, it's still pretty much like that in the small town where I live--a place that time forgot. It's the kind of town that's like the bar in Cheers--a place where everybody knows your name--and if they don't, they say Hi anyway. And strangers driving by in their cars give a particular kind of salute, with two or three fingers. Making eye contact is what we do. I have my MAGA friends over to my house every week, and sometimes we have some pretty heated arguments over politics, but always part still friends. People generally get along, and I can take walks late at night on an isolated trail where I sometimes encounter folks of a different race and homeless people; and we say Hi and move on. God, flag and country are still paramount, and most folks go to church on Sunday. I hate large cities (we're talkin' Tulsa and Oklahoma City) and try to avoid them as much as possible.

And yet I see a different world on TV, which unlike you I watch regularly, mainly for the news, which is depressing. Of course, good news is no news, in the mind of the media, who still take an "if it bleeds, it leads" attitude toward their stories. I do get aggravated, tho, with some of my friends who refuse to watch TV or follow other news sources because they find it too disturbing. Basically, they're out of touch with reality. Face it. Folks in the '50's seem to have been pretty sheltered and naive.

 

Yes, for many of us, the 60's (at least the first part of the decade) was still pretty innocent, especially for us kids.

My town (where I've resided since 1974) used to have Fourth of July and Labor Day parades (and picnics), but those days are now long gone.

After 9/11 (of which I am a survivor) there was a HUGE showing of patriotism for several months afterwards here, but, eventually, that pretty much petered oiut.

Regarding the media, too much focus on the violence and bloodletting, almost hyping it as though it were previews for some new "action/thriller" flick.

Surely, there MUST be SOME good news SOMEWHERE in the world, but I guess the media feels there is nothing to gain by promoting positive news.

Yes, I DO watch enough of the news to "keep abreast" of the latest happenings, here and abroad, but I do not dwell on it.

I just take the world on one day at a time.......

 

One party?

 

Typo. I meant 50s.