General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When I was a kid in high school, [View all]The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)My dad remembers things the same way.
There was a mindset (and I remember this from the old soviet days) that any old day the soviets might up and invade/nuke us. I remember my brother freaking out once because on the radio there was an explosion in new york (turned to be a gas leak or something like that) and at the same time people said they heard a plane over head. He thought the big war was starting.
We had a common enemy (which let a lot of smaller ones slide under the radar here at home and abroad).
We played war (we just called it army usually) all the time and I remember as well getting cool toy guns. We didn't have video games (until I was like 13 when I got a trs-80) so we played war and such outside with toy guns and sometimes even fire crackers (and a few folks would have bb gun wars).
I don't recall going to school scared someone was going to come in and shoot us up. We were more scared of tornadoes or getting in trouble. Even when my first son started school I didn't think about someone walking in and shooting folks up (did worry about him being bullied/molested/etc).
And it is not just schools of course. Used to go shopping at the local mall all the time (mainly a hangout spot and they had a good book store). Things did happen from time to time but we always focused on the perp because pretty much everyone we knew owned at least one gun so it was the person (that may be a meme but I think it came about because so many felt the same way).
Sure, one can dig up stories now, looking back over the years, but think about the actual news cycles and outlets (3 channels and two papers here total). You see someone shot someone and you hoped they served life in jail and folks might talk about it for a few minutes and move on.
A guy I went to school with (he was a jerk) killed his step dad and mom with a hammer the year before he graduated. I still don't know why actually, though I think he hated the step dad and resented his mom (but there was an event I cannot recalled that triggered he and his friend doing the crime). It was mentioned between people at my school and then dropped off the radar.
Today fb/twitter/texting/etc and the same event would be discussed all day for days...not saying it is bad - BUT it seems we focused less and spent more time enjoying ourselves whereas now things can be, and are, filling up more and more of mental time both because the media drives it and people want to make points over and over again until people either respect their view or agree with their idea of how to stop it.
Spent a lot of time this week playing wizards 101 with my daughter and having fun questing, gardening, adding things to our houses, etc. The problems didn't go with society, but they haven't gone away either spending more time defending and idea or position to people I won't ever meet and who don't make policy.