I was just sitting here, uploading pics, and was thinking. It's the start of the new year and typically, this is the time to reflect on the past year. And...I have questions.
When exactly did our daughters start dressing like they were going to Playboy playmate tryouts? I mean seriously. I have to take my daughter (who's 5) to school. She's already asked if I will get her low rider jeans and tummy shirts. Umm...No! Granted, it's not so bad in the winter, but when it's warm out, you see more exposed teenaged girl flesh than you used to see at the local swimming pool. I will admit to the occasional pervy old guy moment where I do take a minute to admire the nubile young bodies being displayed for me, and to bemoan the fact that such flesh is forever beyond my reach now, but seriously! WTF are we, as parents thinking?? We can't really be surprised when the local young lads come sniffing lustfully at our daughters. Shooting the lads is kind of frowned upon (except by the fathers who have their own teenaged daughters). Also, I work with a lot of these girls and in conversations, have discovered that a disturbing amount of them believe that having oral sex doesn't really constitute having 'real' sex. Good lord! Gimme some of that non real sex!
Maybe as a corollary to the above, I glance, from time to time, at the tabloids at the checkout stands. These are the people our kids are making into role models. Sports figures used to be considered worthy of emulation, but look now. The baseball steroid scandal, Mike Vick and his dogs, (and since I live in Iowa) the shameful behavior of college athletes, Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson. My mother used to be hooked on the classic movie channels. Remember when actors and actresses were glamorous beings with the looks of Greek Gods? And now? We have Brittney Spears (and her lil sister), Tom Cruise, who seems to me to be making himself into a bigger and bigger joke, Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, the Pitt-Jolies. I dunno...maybe I'm just getting old.
Maybe all the above is prompted by a fear of change. Maybe I'm just not keeping up. But there is one thing I will always speak out against and that is the evil of Political Correctness. It's a continuing theme in every George Carlin bit I've ever heard, but we are modifying our very language, taking it further and further away from the truth it was to represent. Look at how we refer to other people. Back in the day, Negroes were called blacks. Now, we must be sensitive to the horrors of the American slave trade and refer to them as African Americans. Well? Which is it? Are you guys African or American? The same for any one of a different ethnic background. We are told that we need to recognize the heritage of others, no matter how they emigrated to the US. In a fit of anti Political Correctness, while we are asked to celebrate their ethnic diversity, white Americans are asked to cover up our own. I was born in Fredericksburg, VA. The site of a brutal Civil War battle. I have ancestors who fought on both sides. I have always been proud of both sides. And as long as I'm celebrating my 'Union' heritage, if I express pride in my southern background, somehow, I'm being a racist. We are asked to respect Kwanzaa (did I spell that right?), yet every southern state, who's flag includes the old confederate battle standard has been asked to remove it and show their sensitivity to the black community. What about my heritage? How am I supposed to feel when I'm told that heritage is bad? I'm not against Kwanzaa at all. I believe we should be sensitive to others. But I also believe that there should be one level playing field for all.
Am I wrong here? You tell me
When exactly did our daughters start dressing like they were going to Playboy playmate tryouts? I mean seriously. I have to take my daughter (who's 5) to school. She's already asked if I will get her low rider jeans and tummy shirts. Umm...No! Granted, it's not so bad in the winter, but when it's warm out, you see more exposed teenaged girl flesh than you used to see at the local swimming pool. I will admit to the occasional pervy old guy moment where I do take a minute to admire the nubile young bodies being displayed for me, and to bemoan the fact that such flesh is forever beyond my reach now, but seriously! WTF are we, as parents thinking?? We can't really be surprised when the local young lads come sniffing lustfully at our daughters. Shooting the lads is kind of frowned upon (except by the fathers who have their own teenaged daughters). Also, I work with a lot of these girls and in conversations, have discovered that a disturbing amount of them believe that having oral sex doesn't really constitute having 'real' sex. Good lord! Gimme some of that non real sex!
Maybe as a corollary to the above, I glance, from time to time, at the tabloids at the checkout stands. These are the people our kids are making into role models. Sports figures used to be considered worthy of emulation, but look now. The baseball steroid scandal, Mike Vick and his dogs, (and since I live in Iowa) the shameful behavior of college athletes, Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson. My mother used to be hooked on the classic movie channels. Remember when actors and actresses were glamorous beings with the looks of Greek Gods? And now? We have Brittney Spears (and her lil sister), Tom Cruise, who seems to me to be making himself into a bigger and bigger joke, Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, the Pitt-Jolies. I dunno...maybe I'm just getting old.
Maybe all the above is prompted by a fear of change. Maybe I'm just not keeping up. But there is one thing I will always speak out against and that is the evil of Political Correctness. It's a continuing theme in every George Carlin bit I've ever heard, but we are modifying our very language, taking it further and further away from the truth it was to represent. Look at how we refer to other people. Back in the day, Negroes were called blacks. Now, we must be sensitive to the horrors of the American slave trade and refer to them as African Americans. Well? Which is it? Are you guys African or American? The same for any one of a different ethnic background. We are told that we need to recognize the heritage of others, no matter how they emigrated to the US. In a fit of anti Political Correctness, while we are asked to celebrate their ethnic diversity, white Americans are asked to cover up our own. I was born in Fredericksburg, VA. The site of a brutal Civil War battle. I have ancestors who fought on both sides. I have always been proud of both sides. And as long as I'm celebrating my 'Union' heritage, if I express pride in my southern background, somehow, I'm being a racist. We are asked to respect Kwanzaa (did I spell that right?), yet every southern state, who's flag includes the old confederate battle standard has been asked to remove it and show their sensitivity to the black community. What about my heritage? How am I supposed to feel when I'm told that heritage is bad? I'm not against Kwanzaa at all. I believe we should be sensitive to others. But I also believe that there should be one level playing field for all.
Am I wrong here? You tell me
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