I was a 60's baby so was schooled during the 70's. However, much of what has changed over the last 40 or 50 years is rather disturbing, and not in a nice way. There's so much fear injected in society from Governments.
"Don't do this or you'll get sunstroke. Wear a seat belt or you'll die. Tell the police you're having a party for your protection. Don't go in the sea or you'll get stung.... " The list goes on ad nauseum.
If you watched Grumpy Old Men (or Wimin), and you nodded more than a few times, then this will delight you.
One of my pet "they-didn't-used-to-do-that" hates, is packaging. I hate modern packaging. In fact, I detest it.
We're all trying to save the planet and not use as much natural resources, yet everything you buy now, everything, is double - tripled packed, sealed and wrapped "for safe and hygienic protection". Often, you struggle with said goods for ages to open the bloody stuff. Don't get me started.
My father Maurice used to manage a Self Help grocery store.
There he is back in 50's Christchurch looking rather dapper sandwiched between his two spunky assistants.
There are OXO cubes, Barley Sugars, Edmond's Baking Power, Vegemite, all lining the shelf.
Self Helps were kind of like our IGA local corner store. The difference was, most goods were in bulk. You grabbed a brown paper bag, scooped your flour, sugar or whatever you wanted, and took it to the counter.
In New Zealand, Bin Inn and some Countdown stores, have bulk buy available. Some also provide the option to self-checkout, scan and EFT your goods all by yourself, to avoid those blessed queues.
Yesterday, I purchased some cheap Camembert cheese from Coles, and there was four different layers of separate packaging before you got to the cheese. Once I finally did get it open, I'd lost interest in the pre-dinner snack.
Anyway, enjoy this wee ditty...
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1960 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.
2007 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, AVOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.
Scenario: Jeffrey won’t sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1960 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal’s office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whack with his belt.
1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.. Billy’s mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.
Scenario: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school.
1960 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1960 - Ants die.
2007 - Security and ASIO are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1960 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.
4 comments:
Michael ... I was a 60's child.
Grew up during the mod/hippie/californya muzaccc stuff.
Mamas and Eagles and Doobies and Jeffison Airplane aka Boeing 777.
What a disaster for Boeing ... ouch!!
I mean, f*** me , here's BA, a well respected airline, responding with ... f*** me
Duh !!!
Sort it out kwik time BA, or your gone.
Some of those "scenarios" are not all grotesque distortions as I can explain. I had an incident once which cost me my job. Working in an aged care organisation, I had a woman call in and advise me that she was worried about a frail, elderly man who was alone in his house. She specifically stated she feared he might die at home. (We had just the week before, heard of one of our clients, a woman, who had been found dead in her home. She had been there for over a week before her body was found.)
I then phoned the Home and Community Care Nurses and requested one of them to visit the man in question. The nurse confirmed the man was known to the nurses. The nurse later confirmed the man was "in a bad way" and that "someone had to start the ball rolling" (her words).
Later, I wrote a report of the matter to my Co-ordinator, who literally went into a psychotic rage, screaming and screaming at me because I had "breached privacy and the organisation WOULD BE taken to court and sued."
I received an abusive and highly insulting "counselling" session which I ended by standing up as it was well after 5.30pm. The next morning, I received a full on screaming and shrieking session which I interrupted by walking out of.
When I returned to work, there was a long, lengthy "written warning" about breaching privacy.
I contacted a solicitor and sought legal advice. He told me he believed I had acted in accordance with "Duty of Care" and it would be doubtful that anyone could successfully charge me with "breaching privacy" because my actions had in all probability saved the mans life.
To cut a long story short, I left that organisation. I feel for the frail elderly people in Cairns, who have such a dangerous half-wit of a woman in charge of an organisation which is supposed to be looking after them.
Oh....and of course, despite my "colleagues" witnessing it all, none of them supported me when I called in the Government investigators.
Michael, if you think your cheese is over packaged you must have been heartbroken to receive your Sunbus/Qld Gov bus route envelope delived to all Cairns homes this week.
My plastic enveloped contained a coloured map of every bus route known to mankind, a plastic wallet for my bus pass and a fridge magnet.
All to tell me the fares will be cheaper. I still don't understand how much from White Rock to CBD?? Oh well!
I wonder how much cheaper fares could have been if they had just made a few radio or newspaper announcements instead of delivering all those envelopes that most people would have chucked as junk mail before reading.
I thought public transport and Qld Gov advertising would be more environmentally aware, silly me.
1960s - frail elderly in nursing homes have cloth feeding bibs tied around their necks before meal times.
2008 - frail elderly in nursing homes are left to dribble food, asputim and slobber down their neck, chest and clothes because some halfwit has declared a feeding bib "undignified".
We could go on and on.
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