tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post8116269508515345277..comments2024-03-18T08:02:51.154-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Filial ImpietyStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-80965458175788475952015-10-03T23:27:00.515-07:002015-10-03T23:27:00.515-07:00Myself, I'm also old enough that I was taught ...Myself, I'm also old enough that I was taught to never called your teachers, or parents, or other kids parents by their first name. I never thought of it as a matter of respect, just accepting we were not equals, and they had authority over me, and I didn't have any interest in challenging that authority, and it actually felt safer, since you know adults will take charge when you ask for help, so its a two way street.<br /><br />On another side, I was never in the military, and I admit I'd probably have had a steep learning curve to pay attention to rank and to make sure to say "sir" when addressing a superior. But if I screwed up, I'd gladly accept my punishment if it's not too crazy, 50 pushups or whatever to redeem myself.<br /><br />There are probably many ways to measure this modern decline of respect.<br /><br />I remember a comic that contrasted a parent talking angrily, in both cases the parent says "These grades are terrible", but in 1960 the child was responsible, while now the teacher is responsible. ...Here it is.<br />http://lakishaplummer-lucky.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-flawed-culture-of-education-posted.html<br /><br />And here in the Twin Cities, a Black Lives Matter group in St Paul threatened to physically block our (today) Sunday morning Marathon. And after a 2.5 hour Friday meeting with the St Paul Mayor, the group leader backed down from the threat, although its unclear what the Mayor promised. (Yes, this is the same group that protested in August by the State Fair with the "colorful" chant "Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon.")<br /><br />So tonight they posted a video of a police officer taking down a teenager, with a crowd of people yelling at him to stop, and his mother trying to pull him away from the police officer.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmATixsAnC4<br /><br />This is supposed to enrage us, that a police officer would treat a skinny little teen so "roughly", so "unfairly". Meanwhile its not entirely clear why the officer was picking on the kid, although it likely has something to do with respect. It is likely this boy said something disrespectful toward the officer, and the police officer decided the boy needed a little fear in his heart.<br /><br />If it wasn't for the mother's involvement, and the crazy crowd, the officer perhaps could have just calmed the boy down, and got him to apologize for his threatening language, or whatever offense, and he could have been given a warning.<br /><br />But since the police are the enemy, and can't be trusted, we have teens learning these lessons from their parents - that resisting police is righteous, blaming police is righteous, and refusing take responsibility when police respond forcefully is also righteous to resist arrest and play innocent if you're roughed up for resisting. How does this end well?<br /><br />Perhaps it all arose out of the anarchy of the 1960's? And the egalitarian ideals that we're all equal, without noticing that some people were taking a lot more responsibility than others, and that respect actually helped people in positions of authority act more responsible and feel they could act with required boldness, without being second guessed by people who don't have the same responsibility.<br /><br />And geeky scientists also get uppity when they believe objective facts and logic are on their side, but only when the entirety of human nature is ignored.<br /><br />Minneapolis also has a nationally known organization called The Search Institute for helping us see raising kids as a community effort. I wonder what it thinks of teaching children deference to their elders? I'll have to ask sometime.<br />http://www.search-institute.org/Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-61642735597048089452015-10-03T23:19:30.518-07:002015-10-03T23:19:30.518-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-72986199229475302662015-10-03T14:35:07.817-07:002015-10-03T14:35:07.817-07:00This could partly be the result of English not hav...This could partly be the result of English not having formal and informal pronouns. <br /><br />In French, Spanish, Russian, German, Japanese, and etc. you use different forms for different people. Usted and tu, for example. <br /><br />But there is only YOU in English. <br /><br />There is also the preponderance of pop culture that not only puts youth at the center but keeps people 'forever young'. Especially beginning with the Boomer generation, there was the conceit of being Woodstock Nation forever. So, even when boomers became adults, they wanted to talk like kids and be treated like kids and be cool with the kids. <br /><br />Also, there was the loss of respect of the older generation with the Vietnam War and Watergate and all that. Of course, Clinton and his boomer generation didn't do much to foster respect for adults as well. <br /><br />But in a way, what seems like empowerment of youth is also a kind of sly manipulation of youth. Entertainment industry, media, and academia are controlled by older people, and one way they can more easily manipulate young people is to feel like they are part of what is happening. So, even though older people continue to manipulate younger people, younger people think they are making the decisions since they get to be on first name basis. But look at today's kids, and they are the biggest prisoners of Political Correctness peddled by boomer elders. <br /><br />Though America has gone too far toward informality, there is a certain advantage to the American way. In the Far East, the talented and original among the young too often hold back their inspiration and genius out of deference to older people and hierarchy. Thus, fewer young people with great vision come to the fore and make a difference. If Zuckerberg were Chinese, he might have kept his head low and tried to work for another company and slow rise up than try to build his own company from the getgo. (Though modern Asian society may be less rebellious, it isn't necessarily deferential either. It seems that in places like Japan, older people do their own thing and younger people do their own thing, and there is very little communication.) <br /><br />So, informality and individualism may do wonders for the talented young. But for the masses of dummies, it just makes them more crude and rude. priss rulesnoreply@blogger.com