An interesting aspect that comes with aging is that you have so many years of acquired experience to reflect on. My neural hard drive has never been updated but the memories keep dropping in, looking for a cozy corner. In the late 1940’s World War 2 had spent itself but the aftermath was slow to heal. Its death toll estimated at 85 million souls both military and civilian still touched most everyone in Europe, Asia and North America. The U.S.A. was spared the destruction of bombing and occupation by foreign armies but our social fabric was strong. Infrastructure (buildings & roads) were in tact; banks, industry, work force, transportation, agriculture, none of it had to be reinvented. Europe had to print and spend tons of money on social programs, trade unions and such, rebuilding for several decades before their economies were able to compete. The popular liberal stereotype for European culture traces back of necessity to the post WW2 recovery. Shifting gears from a wartime economy to a free market culture was easy in America. After only 4 years of fighting (our allies had been fighting for 6 or more years) we ran amok with an economy that never had to be reinvented, only retooled and turned loose. We were very good at what we did but the global prosperity we enjoy these 80 years later is to some degree a lingering testament to the (right place & right time). With enough head start even I could win a gold medal at the Olympics.
In 1948 my dad was up before dawn and off to work before my brothers and I woke up. Breakfast was usually on the table by the time we hit the kitchen, two poached eggs on toast and milk, sometimes hot oatmeal and bacon. It was the first year our school district had a school bus. It stopped, honked if you weren’t outside waiting, honked again and started easing away. The consequences for missing the bus were real and we made it out the door before the second honk, even if I had my shoes under my arm and left my lunch on the table.
We had a radio but I didn’t get to pick the station or even when we listened but it was how we got the news. Sometimes we got a copy of the Sunday news paper but news was basically what we overheard at the dinner table. Dad was a Tool & Die Maker for a company that made Coca-Cola vending machines. We were Yellow Dog Democrats which means we would vote for a yellow dog before any Republican. Even though I thought I wanted to be something else (a father/son thing) when it was all said and done, at the bottom of every hole I’ve ever dug in I find my blue collar values. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I have a built in pull to the left on any issue that has a moral caveat.
It’s ironic I still remember what I had for breakfast when I was 9 and the name of the first girl who kissed me on the lips; I was 12. Billie Jo Davis wasn’t my girlfriend and she never did it again (must have been on a dare) but still. Along with other mundane memories I specialize in random trivia. By the time I got to high school the news was the Cold War. People were burying bomb shelters in their yards and every time you get the news it was about a nuclear bomb test on a Pacific island or in Siberia. I didn’t pay much attention to the news. I couldn’t change any of it and I had a girlfriend by then.
More recently, this century; I find myself tuning out when news breaks. Back in the 70’s & 80’s we got sports scores and local news and that was alright. Racism, misogyny and the class divide (invisible poor) were still a shameful legacy for the Land Of The Free & The Home of The Brave but they were so deeply entrenched in our national culture we didn’t take offense, it was our normal. Popular sentiment in the mid 2020’s seems to favor a self obsessed focus on those same character flaws. Our leaders keep their aggressive, malcontent followers ginned up with hateful rhetoric and punishing the wicked as a cure-all. I have a friend with a PhD in philosophy and a few classes at the seminary who ministers to a liberal congregation in Grand Rapids who told me privately: “The world is broken, you didn’t break it and you can’t fix it. So be the change you want to see, fix what you screw up, pay attention and find the Joy.” That kind of accountability appealed to me then and passing years haven’t dimmed its glow.
I really do avoid media news. News is a business and that means sell advertising that means identify a target audience. In this case you get extremes on both sides and a slim few who try to balance their reporting. Recently, on one of the few networks who try to keep that balance, they reported on a new (organized) movement that touts former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson as a spokesperson. The feature was not a report as much as simply soundbites from the (Carlson) podcast. Their issue is that manhood is at risk due to liberal influence. Men are being emasculated in the work place and in the home by advances in women’s independence and opportunity. Sperm count is down, birth rates are down and men no longer need protect their families. There was interest in framing a plan for cash rewards to families with 6 or more children. Keep moms making babies so men can be real men again. AYKM (are you kidding me); that’s what Hitler did in 1943 to guarantee his super race. I would think the low sperm count issue better identified as the Save the Self righteous Penis. It would be laughable if it were funny.
I am familiar with using the radio or television for background noise to offset silence. I have over a thousand songs uploaded into my smartphone and the phone itself is linked to my hearing aids. I don’t have to hold the phone up to my ear or select the speaker mode. I get a clear, edgy tone both incoming and outgoing. I can also select my I-Tunes AP, set it on random select and listen to music all day. KCUR is the NPR station in Kansas City and I can anticipate their news breaks if I want to skip the rhetoric and it’s a short reach to the mute button.
In 1948 my dad was up before dawn and off to work before my brothers and I woke up. Breakfast was usually on the table by the time we hit the kitchen, two poached eggs on toast and milk, sometimes hot oatmeal and bacon. It was the first year our school district had a school bus. It stopped, honked if you weren’t outside waiting, honked again and started easing away. The consequences for missing the bus were real and we made it out the door before the second honk, even if I had my shoes under my arm and left my lunch on the table.
We had a radio but I didn’t get to pick the station or even when we listened but it was how we got the news. Sometimes we got a copy of the Sunday news paper but news was basically what we overheard at the dinner table. Dad was a Tool & Die Maker for a company that made Coca-Cola vending machines. We were Yellow Dog Democrats which means we would vote for a yellow dog before any Republican. Even though I thought I wanted to be something else (a father/son thing) when it was all said and done, at the bottom of every hole I’ve ever dug in I find my blue collar values. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I have a built in pull to the left on any issue that has a moral caveat.
It’s ironic I still remember what I had for breakfast when I was 9 and the name of the first girl who kissed me on the lips; I was 12. Billie Jo Davis wasn’t my girlfriend and she never did it again (must have been on a dare) but still. Along with other mundane memories I specialize in random trivia. By the time I got to high school the news was the Cold War. People were burying bomb shelters in their yards and every time you get the news it was about a nuclear bomb test on a Pacific island or in Siberia. I didn’t pay much attention to the news. I couldn’t change any of it and I had a girlfriend by then.
More recently, this century; I find myself tuning out when news breaks. Back in the 70’s & 80’s we got sports scores and local news and that was alright. Racism, misogyny and the class divide (invisible poor) were still a shameful legacy for the Land Of The Free & The Home of The Brave but they were so deeply entrenched in our national culture we didn’t take offense, it was our normal. Popular sentiment in the mid 2020’s seems to favor a self obsessed focus on those same character flaws. Our leaders keep their aggressive, malcontent followers ginned up with hateful rhetoric and punishing the wicked as a cure-all. I have a friend with a PhD in philosophy and a few classes at the seminary who ministers to a liberal congregation in Grand Rapids who told me privately: “The world is broken, you didn’t break it and you can’t fix it. So be the change you want to see, fix what you screw up, pay attention and find the Joy.” That kind of accountability appealed to me then and passing years haven’t dimmed its glow.
I really do avoid media news. News is a business and that means sell advertising that means identify a target audience. In this case you get extremes on both sides and a slim few who try to balance their reporting. Recently, on one of the few networks who try to keep that balance, they reported on a new (organized) movement that touts former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson as a spokesperson. The feature was not a report as much as simply soundbites from the (Carlson) podcast. Their issue is that manhood is at risk due to liberal influence. Men are being emasculated in the work place and in the home by advances in women’s independence and opportunity. Sperm count is down, birth rates are down and men no longer need protect their families. There was interest in framing a plan for cash rewards to families with 6 or more children. Keep moms making babies so men can be real men again. AYKM (are you kidding me); that’s what Hitler did in 1943 to guarantee his super race. I would think the low sperm count issue better identified as the Save the Self righteous Penis. It would be laughable if it were funny.
I am familiar with using the radio or television for background noise to offset silence. I have over a thousand songs uploaded into my smartphone and the phone itself is linked to my hearing aids. I don’t have to hold the phone up to my ear or select the speaker mode. I get a clear, edgy tone both incoming and outgoing. I can also select my I-Tunes AP, set it on random select and listen to music all day. KCUR is the NPR station in Kansas City and I can anticipate their news breaks if I want to skip the rhetoric and it’s a short reach to the mute button.
