If life more ruthless now than ever?

LighterGuy

Was talking to some people recently who are in THEIR 60s.
Now while they awknowledged when it came down to it everyone was out for themselves (the rat race of life) But they said something interesting ... That "it wasnt as bad" when they were young men growing up.

That there was more deceny & being more civil. That it wasnt one big rat race in every & all aspects (the little things)
Be it to get on a bus before you, or as you approach a supermarket till someone to slide in before you like today. Etc. [insert your own example]


So I make this thread with a poll. But judge from your own experiences. Be it 10 years ago. 20 years ago. Are things worse than before?

flutterflye

Where's the "I can't make sense of this post as it must be written by a drunk person" option?

LighterGuy

flutterflye wrote: »

Where's the "I can't make sense of this post as it must be written by a drunk person" option?

Yeah
its the 5th option "fuck you"

abouttobebanned

Jesus man...you just vomited up a pile of words there didn't ya

TiGeR KiNgS

This poll hurts my brain

Chuck Stone

In the olden days you could leave the whole front wall off your house and nowt would be stolen.

LighterGuy

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Jesus man...you just vomited up a pile of words there didn't ya

5th option.

Chuck Stone

So you were talking to some old men who used to race rats?

Why would they do that?

recylingbin

I voted wtf(as in this thread is not/maybe/definitely wtf).

Kojak

Is the OP an OAP?

mackg

Chuck Stone wrote: »

So you were talking to some old men who used to race rats?

Why would they do that?

That's what they used before horses were invented.

TiGeR KiNgS

Kojak wrote: »

Is the OP an OAP?

I doubt an OAP is off their tits at this time of night

opinion guy

OP If you had seen such historical documentaries as listed below you would know its always been like this:

Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypto
Troy
The Passion
The Life of Brian
Planet of the Apes.......no ...wait...

From what I am lead to believe (parents, etc.) people were always assholes, but it's just easier to get guns and weaponry these days, so the actual scumbags (rather than those who are just out for themselves) can cause more damage than before.

Also, because of daily newspapers, internet, youtube, etc. it's now possible to cover more news than ever before (essentially meaning that whereas many decades ago, you'd only hear about some of the major crimes, nowadays you hear about all the minor stuff, too, and it gets greatly exaggerated to try to sell more papers, get more viewers, etc.

Grimebox

People have selective memory. Things have always and always will be getting better. To say otherwise is foolish

massdebater

LighterGuy wrote: »

Was talking to some people recently who are in the 60s.

Forget about the pointless poll. How did they get back to the 60's and how did you communicate with them?

LighterGuy

massdebater wrote: »

Forget about the pointless poll. How did they get back to the 60's and how did you communicate with them?

fuck you.
fuck you twice.
you know i meant people who are currently in their 60s.
stop trying to be a smart arse.

pragmatic1

This is one of the most peaceful times in human history. Anyone that thinks the past was better is a ****wit.

Pace2008

LighterGuy wrote: »

Was talking to some people recently who are in THEIR 60s.
Now while they awknowledged when it came down to it everyone was out for themselves (the rat race of life) But they said something interesting ... That "it wasnt as bad" when they were young men growing up.

That there was more deceny & being more civil. That it wasnt one big rat race in every & all aspects (the little things)
Be it to get on a bus before you, or as you approach a supermarket till someone to slide in before you like today. Etc. [insert your own example]


So I make this thread with a poll. But judge from your own experiences. Be it 10 years ago. 20 years ago. Are things worse than before?

I'm a young man growing up, and based on my day-to-day interactions I find most people to be decent and civil. Things change from generation, some for the better some for the worst. I dunno, maybe people were more polite back then, but on the flipside, these days you have less children being brutalised in state institutions and less young women sent off to rot because they had a child out of wedlock. I wouldn't consider that kind of activity to be very "decent."

If you look back through the literature, you can find people bemoaning the apparent decline of society and the waywardness of the youth right back to the times of antiquity.

Nollog

lol @ op not knowing how the after hours boardsie's are.

The people you talked to were looking back at memories, when people do that they tend to see the bigger picture, which tends to look less harsh than presentday-to-presentday interactions.

marcsignal

man up op :rolleyes:

if you want to hear hardship listen to this

then come back to me and tell me you're hard done by........

strobe

LighterGuy wrote: »

That "it wasnt as bad" when they were young men growing up.

I heard they also said that they had real music back in them days, that politicians were honest, prices were reasonable and that their fathers said the exact same thing about when they were but lads.

DEFTLEFTHAND

To get to the top of my line of work you've got to be ruthless and self serving. I'm neither of those things but may become them, or not, money isn't everything.:)

Wereghost

Chuck Stone wrote: »

In the olden days you could leave the whole front wall off your house and nowt would be stolen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

pragmatic1 wrote: »

This is one of the most peaceful times in human history. Anyone that thinks the past was better is a ****wit.

Pretty much. Rose-tinted spectacles and all that. I think that history does tend towards the better albeit with detours, stops and reversals along the way.

/\/ollog wrote: »

The people you talked to were looking back at memories, when people do that they tend to see the bigger picture, which tends to look less harsh than presentday-to-presentday interactions.

Good point. People sometimes say that movies and music are worse these days, but ask them to pick, say, a period of five years from their youth to compare favourably against the last five years and they might be stumped.

Kim_Il_Jong

!!!! .THERE. .WAS. .NO. .PORN. !!!!

/ ****ING THREAD.

al28283

People in their 60's? Hmmm... that'd mean they grew up in the 1950's/60's.

Google 1950's and the word civil and see what comes up :rolleyes:

not so civil

Kanoe

yes and no, it is the most peaceful time in history as in men killing men in all out nations vs nations war kind of scenario. We've been doing that since we could hold a stick. I think the difference now is that people are turning it in on themselves and others in more personal ways. There *appears to be less empathy toward other life as everyone is out for their own individual wellfare,which I suppose they can do now that they don't have to go off and fight any wars for their country. It's still a very man eat man world, just in a more personalised way.

al28283

Kanoe wrote: »

yes and no, it is the most peaceful time in history as in men killing men in all out nations vs nations war kind of scenario. We've been doing that since we could hold a stick. I think the difference now is that people are turning it in on themselves and others in more personal ways. There *appears to be less empathy toward other life as everyone is out for their own wellfare,which I suppose they can do now that they don't have to go off and fight any wars for their country. It's still a very man eat man world, just in a more personalised way.

What are you basing this on? The institutional racism and abuses of those years don't seem very empathic.
People aren't getting worse, the real difference between now and then is the amount of news coverage which makes us more aware of what's going on.

Kanoe

al28283 wrote: »

What are you basing this on? The institutional racism and abuses of those years don't seem very empathic.
People aren't getting worse, the real difference between now and then is the amount of news coverage which makes us more aware of what's going on.

I had to add in the word *individual before welfare there so that sentence might make more sense.

jill_valentine

I can vote, I can love whoever I love without serious fear, I can speak freely, I can befriend people from all over the world, I can expect to be paid fairly, I can expect medical treatment if I'm sick without the risk of bankruptcy. I can expect an fair effort from the law to help me if I am attacked, but at the same time, I can honestly say I've never really felt unsafe walking around Dublin on my own.

I have never known war in my country, nor has my family. There has been no world war, genocide or epidemic on my continent in generations, and there remains a decent chance I won't see one in my lifetime.

All in all, I'd say we've got it pretty good. F*ck nostalgia.

Kanoe

bit of a paradox, hey.

pragmatic1

al28283 wrote: »

People in their 60's? Hmmm... that'd mean they grew up in the 1950's/60's.

Google 1950's and the word civil and see what comes up :rolleyes:

not so civil

Or take a trip 10 years before that when millions of people were slaughtered in a world war.

Kanoe

LighterGuy wrote: »

That there was more deceny & being more civil. That it wasnt one big rat race in every & all aspects (the little things)
Be it to get on a bus before you, or as you approach a supermarket till someone to slide in before you like today. Etc. [insert your own example]


So I make this thread with a poll. But judge from your own experiences. Be it 10 years ago. 20 years ago. Are things worse than before?

in the sense you are talking about the people you spoke to have probably suffered a lot during their lifetimes.
In times past when life was generally more fragile, people died younger, women lost children during childbirth regularly, men went off to war and never came home and these are the kind of things which bring people closer together. Those kind of shared experiences generate a sense of unity that's not as apparrant in todays world.

It wasn't better, they were just gettin laid more often.

firefly08

Yep things are better now than the 50s. But then things were already ****ed by the 50s

In fairness, civil rights are at an all time high, in the 20th century in general. On the other hand, so are civilian casualties in wars and such. Much higher now that they were in the imperial wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries. I mean, most history books skim this period, which is telling. The French revolution is basically the only thing that happened. They won't ****ing skim the first half of the 20th century though. The second half...? Maybe.

OneArt

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

I doubt an OAP is off their tits at this time of night

What other way is there to spend retirement?

hoorsmelt

Community seems to be breaking down alright, there's far less social solidarity than there was (just look at the threads on 'dolers' :rolleyes:) and people here seem happy to see others cut back but moan when it comes to them.

Scanlas The 2nd

hoorsmelt wrote: »

Community seems to be breaking down alright, there's far less social solidarity than there was (just look at the threads on 'dolers' :rolleyes:) and people here seem happy to see others cut back but moan when it comes to them.

It's pretty much the safest and easiest time to be alive. If you were to walk around the streets in 1900 you'd find people were a lot more argumentative and got into a lot more fights.

Richard Hillman

lifes never been easier

old_aussie

OP, are you still there?

Johnny Foreigner

I find that Irish people have changed culturally as a product of the Celtic Tiger boom. People became very materialistic and greedy. What goes with greed is ruthless behaviour. Ireland became multi-cultural and cosmopolitan with the influx of immigrants during the boom years. This is also a factor as cultural attitudes were imported by the immigrants. Although many of the immigrants have returned to their country of origin during the recession, the cultural changes have remained. There seems to be a lot of bitterness in Irish people now about the state of the economy. The work life balance definitely changed during the boom years. I think many people became more ruthless in pursuit of fiscal gain.

Saila

al28283 wrote: »

What are you basing this on? The institutional racism and abuses of those years don't seem very empathic.
People aren't getting worse, the real difference between now and then is the amount of news coverage which makes us more aware of what's going on.

mean. world. syndrome.

ScumLord

It's not like the good old days when I could beat my wife and kids into a bloody pulp and be given a pat on the back for it. If my daughter get's pregnant out of marriage to someone she got stuck with I just have to learn to live with the humiliating shame rather than send her and my grandchild off to live a life of slavery under the catholic church.

Don't even get me started on them blacks and gays! Rights they have now, can't even give them a bit of a beating any more either.

Snowie

like some london drug dealer once said
"if you seek peace plan for war!"

efb

The equal rights of people have greatly been moved on since 1900, this is good.