Wussification of America - Real?

After some thought about the cigarette race car support I thought how things were not as wussy back in my childhood.

Jim the concrete guy saw my buddy and I (both 15 years old) moving wheelbarrows of scrap wood and garbage to the a specific pile as we cleaned out the crap during new construction of single family homes.

He suggested we just "borrow" the old crappy Plumber's 1967 Chevrolet pickup that was left on the job site to only run around the subdivision on Saturday's and make our life easier.

Since we didn't have a key he suggested we hot wire the truck and proceeded to tell us how to do it which was done successfully and we were pleased with the outcome.

Today I shake my head when I think about a 45 year old man who owned a small concrete business telling two teenagers how to do an illegal act. He was from Tennessee and his accent made the whole thing even better - "Why don't you boys just hot wire thayat Chiv-ro-let over there?".....

What pussification items happened in your past that wouldn't fly today?

I don't know about America, but up here they stopped scoring youth soccer games so that "everyone's a winner"

G_Body_Man wrote: I don't know about America, but up here they stopped scoring youth soccer games so that "everyone's a winner"

lame, kids need to learn there are winners and losers, otherwise nobody is going to strive to be the winner in a few generations and it'll all be like wall-e with a bunch of lardos floating around on chairs that do everything for them.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

I haven't gone to any youth soccer to see for myself, but they made that joke in the first season of 2.5 men.

Any wheeled activity without body armour.

Five kids in a Morris Minnor with no rear doors and no seatbelts.

Sailing Sunfish or Hobby cat sailboats 5 miles off the coast when we were about 10 years old.

Dad rose up the corporate ladder in an era when drinking and driving was considered a skill, not a crime. (Lot of AA members from his peer group)

Boarding an airplane without needing to disrobe for an x-ray.

Snow sledding under the moonlight thru the forest with no helmet. Fast.

Not being able to pack for people into the trunk for carload Thursday at the drive in. That used to be a time-honoured tradition, now it's "illegal" and "dangerous"

Lawn darts

Trampolines without a safety cage around them.

Rock fights

Sick jumps for your bicycle.

"Go play outside!"

Not being able to admire the opposite sex... Oh wait, that only happened a couple of days ago!

Walking to school. I think someone in BC recently had endangerment charges filed.

Oh man where can you even begin?

We used to do so many things that today would be considered dangerous.

Honda Three-Wheelers come to mind.

Yep, if you get fragged in a fight you just hit the reset button, and ask your mom to bring you another soda and order a pizza.

Oh! Lawn Darts! I stuck one in the windshield of a CHP patrol car!

Riding in the package tray area below the rear window in an old bug.

(I am still amazed that you are "allowed" to ride a motorcycle these days)

Kids at recess at public schools are not allowed to play tag, let alone tackle football. When we were kids "Smear the Queer" was probably the most popular playground game. As I recall, no one ever died as a result.

Armrest= car seat, napping on the rear package shelf, iding in the back of the pickup, learning toback a car, parllel park, stick shift.Personal responsibility

Trans_Maro wrote: Lawn darts Trampolines without a safety cage around them. Rock fights Sick jumps for your bicycle. "Go play outside!"

I forgot all about lawn darts!! I got hit in the leg by one from my cousin, the old school , sharp ,heavy , metal ones. It didn't stick in but it left a purple bruise the size of a softball

1988RedT2 wrote: Kids at recess at public schools are not allowed to play tag, let alone tackle football. When we were kids "Smear the Queer" was probably the most popular playground game. As I recall, no one ever died as a result.

Smear the queer, and don't forget red rover. Good times

"Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt."

There is an Audi commercial right now that involves an Audi driving through the frame on a neighborhood street at what appears to be a fast walking pace. Thank goodness they hired a professional driver and closed the road.

Compare that to the sports car commercials on even the early 80's. There is a first gen RX-7 commercial on YouTube with the car sliding and squirming up a narrow mountain road while the announcer tries to talk the viewer into running to their Mazda dealer. No warnings or disclaimers anywhere.

America is wussifying. Next think you know a black man will be president and the gays will be able to marry.

When I was about 10 or 11 - 5th or 6th grade - I had a Honda XR75. No lights, not even remotely street legal. Yet I could get just about anywhere in Chester County, PA (a radius of maybe 30 miles from home?) without doing more than crossing a road with a yellow stripe. I used to pack a lunch and a jug of water and be gone all day.

Some years ago, I saw an award on a fridge at a house of a little girl my wife was watching. It was from her karate class. She got it for- I kid you not- paying attention. I gave up right then and there.

I know I've said it before, and I don't want to land this thread in flounderville, but I'm a firm believer that stuff like this is why we have school shootings. No one knows how to fail anymore. No one knows how to deal with a bully. Back when I was in school, the whole zero tolerance thing was just winding up. I used to be picked on for not having any $$$ in a rich community. Then I beat the E36 M3 out of a bully during broomball. No one ever messed with me again. Bonus, the teacher was og, and let it ride, I never even saw the principal. This sort of thing doesmt happen anymore. It gets bottled til these kids don't know what to do, and suddenly we have 12 kids dead and a town wondering where the parents went wrong.

millenials parents accompany them to interviews.

Unprotected sex in the days before AIDS was identified.

Was I supposed to say that?

Duke wrote: When I was about 10 or 11 - 5th or 6th grade - I had a Honda XR75. No lights, not even remotely street legal. Yet I could get just about anywhere in Chester County, PA (a radius of maybe 30 miles from home?) without doing more than crossing a road with a yellow stripe. I used to pack a lunch and a jug of water and be gone all day.

This was me, except it was a 12' jon boat and a 5hp outboard or a 1962 Chevy truck. I'd be gone until dark or I was out of gas.

I've got much cooler toys now, but it takes a stick of dynamite to get my kids out of the house. I blame the wife and the police. She had a protected childhood and the cops won't let you get away with anything nowadays. Tickets and fines for everything rather than, "take that thing home," or a "slow down."

Rode a Honda 50 up the interstate from Columbus to Mid Ohio race track. No tickets, no adventures. Would not try that now. OK, 1964.

A few examples:

• 11yr old me says "Gramps, can Mic and I take the .22 out shooting?". Sure. Don't be shiny happy people and make sure you are behind the hill before you shoot. We were ALWAYS shiny happy people.
• We rode/jumped BMX bikes in an old strip mine filled with big rusty equipment and water that smelled like sulfur. Every day. There was no such thing as a bike helmet. WE had a rope swing to "get air". I have many scars from those days for which no tetanus shot was ever given.
• The primary way to get from our house to the lake with the boat was to put all the kids in the bed of the pick-up with dogs, coolers and gear for the 40 mile ride.
• My 7th grade math teacher sold bulk ammunition. Many a day I had to hump cases of shotgun shells from my locker to my car to take home to gramps.
• My idiot friends and I played war with BB guns in an old mine building where you could never get further than 100' from the "enemy". The obstacles were broken, rusty ladders to the 2ns story, broken glass and old trash. We occasionally wore sunglasses for protection. "No head shots" was the only rule.
• My uncle, who drove us kids around because he didn't work... (disability 'cause of the 'Nam) had a door cup holder with a beer in it ALWAYS. He drove drunk 100% of the time. At 15mph. Everywhere. He still does.
• When I was 4 my grandfather took me to work with him because "It will be good for the boy". He worked at a cattle slaughterhouse.

I could literally keep doing this list all day. There is almost no aspect of my childhood that would be in any way acceptable today.