The “Wussification” of Society

• 1) Removing most playground that’s any fun;
• 2) Requiring bicycle riders to wear helmets;
• 3) Children don’t play outside, unsupervised anymore;
• 4) Children get driven every where and don’t ride their bicycles;
• 5) Cars have “passive restraints;” and
• 6) We locked down society over what amounted, at worst, to be a bad flu.

JBG said:

Our society has lost a good deal of its willingness to take risks over the years. Examples include:

• 1) Removing most playground that’s any fun;
• 2) Requiring bicycle riders to wear helmets;
• 3) Children don’t play outside, unsupervised anymore;
• 4) Children get driven every where and don’t ride their bicycles;
• 5) Cars have “passive restraints;” and
• 6) We locked down society over what amounted, at worst, to be a bad flu.

The costs of this excessive caution cannot be overestimated. When I was growing up, where I played, how I played, how I got to leisure activities and the like were parental decisions. When I started bicycling at age seven, my range was restricted to my six-block “neighborhood” bounded by a secondary road. Later, when that road got a sidewalk, I was allowed to go about ½ mile to the boundary of another secondary road. Later, I could go outside those boundaries but only with another child.

“Pickup” baseball games started in late March, and soccer was the rule in the fall. Sledding and ice skating was the rule in winter. In fact, on December 2, 1967 I did fall through the ice, and was treading deep water. I was rescued, taken to the hospital and I’m still alive. I survived monkey bars and see-saws at a younger age. These days, my older son was one of the few that took the initiative to bike around, sometimes going about ten miles to one of his sets of grandparents. There was only one fall with a few scrapes.

Turning to adult pastimes, cars have been increasingly been put out of reach of mere mortals by “passive restraints” such as airbags, and other equipment that costs more than its worth to the average person. When it comes to the recent Covid “pandemic” society was locked down to no net benefit and egregious costs. The moneys saved could and should have been used to allow the vulnerable to be excused from work and having to go out.

Now, the government is getting ready to make heating and air conditioning, as well as travel more cumbersome. We live in a democratic society. Is this what we want?

I’m not saying we should have no rules or regulations. But, some cost-benefit analysis please.

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Winston said:

Yeah, I miss the days when lead poisoning was a societal problem. We have become a bunch of wussies.

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Rexedgar said:

Just responding to the subject of cars; we should still be exposed to cars like the Corvair, Chevette and Pinto, for starters…….

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Rexedgar said:

Just responding to the subject of cars; we should still be exposed to cars like the Corvair, Chevette and Pinto, for starters…….

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JBG said:

I am not saying there are no benefits; I'm questioning whether eliminating the cars that cost say $3000 in 1972 made sense.

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BitterPill said:

Even though I was maybe ten, I was very disappointed when my mom bought a Maverick instead of a Pinto, and when I was in kindergarten, I walked ten blocks or so unattended to and from school with a key tied around my neck. One day I decided to make popcorn after school. I had seen my step-father do so and was confident I could pull it off, but I was wrong. The popcorn caught fire, and I just watched until it burned down which seemed to solve the problem, but I did get a belt-whipping once dad got home which, truth be told, I deserved.

MAGA.

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Rexedgar said:

Those whuppings didn’t work……..

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BitterPill said:

Even though I was maybe ten, I was very disappointed when my mom bought a Maverick instead of a Pinto, and when I was in kindergarten, I walked ten blocks or so unattended to and from school with a key tied around my neck. One day I decided to make popcorn after school. I had seen my step-father do so and was confident I could pull it off, but I was wrong. The popcorn caught fire, and I just watched until it burned down which seemed to solve the problem, but I did get a belt-whipping once dad got home which, truth be told, I deserved.

MAGA.

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CaughtInThe said:

I loved being in the bed of a pickup and being slammed into the cab when my grandfather had to hit the brakes to miss a deer.

That made us tougher. Well, except for the kids that died or lost limbs.

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Demon said:

Passive restraints in cars. No freedom anymore.

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JBG said:

Our society has lost a good deal of its willingness to take risks over the years. Examples include:

• 1) Removing most playground that’s any fun;
• 2) Requiring bicycle riders to wear helmets;
• 3) Children don’t play outside, unsupervised anymore;
• 4) Children get driven every where and don’t ride their bicycles;
• 5) Cars have “passive restraints;” and
• 6) We locked down society over what amounted, at worst, to be a bad flu.

The costs of this excessive caution cannot be overestimated. When I was growing up, where I played, how I played, how I got to leisure activities and the like were parental decisions. When I started bicycling at age seven, my range was restricted to my six-block “neighborhood” bounded by a secondary road. Later, when that road got a sidewalk, I was allowed to go about ½ mile to the boundary of another secondary road. Later, I could go outside those boundaries but only with another child.

“Pickup” baseball games started in late March, and soccer was the rule in the fall. Sledding and ice skating was the rule in winter. In fact, on December 2, 1967 I did fall through the ice, and was treading deep water. I was rescued, taken to the hospital and I’m still alive. I survived monkey bars and see-saws at a younger age. These days, my older son was one of the few that took the initiative to bike around, sometimes going about ten miles to one of his sets of grandparents. There was only one fall with a few scrapes.

Turning to adult pastimes, cars have been increasingly been put out of reach of mere mortals by “passive restraints” such as airbags, and other equipment that costs more than its worth to the average person. When it comes to the recent Covid “pandemic” society was locked down to no net benefit and egregious costs. The moneys saved could and should have been used to allow the vulnerable to be excused from work and having to go out.

Now, the government is getting ready to make heating and air conditioning, as well as travel more cumbersome. We live in a democratic society. Is this what we want?

I’m not saying we should have no rules or regulations. But, some cost-benefit analysis please.

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Slartibartfast said:

Old people yelling about seatbelts is kind of funny tbh

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OrphanSlug said:

Bubble wrap everyone and everything, that'll take care of it. What could go wrong?

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ElChupacabra said:

I get mad every time I recall a cycling accident I had years ago, where I lost control of the handlebars after hitting a brach another rider hit and I flew into a tree head first. It triggers me that I had a helmet on like a wussie commie and it, not my skull, was the one that hit the tree and split the helmet. Real men would have used their skulls for what they were intended.

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BitterPill said:

I had a similar episode though, thankfully, I wasn't wearing a helmet. Some friends and I made a giant ramp to launch us into the air on our bicycles, and when it was time to test it out, everyone else deferred, so I took the helm and launched. Sadly, I pulled back too hard on the handlebars and my bike was vertical for a time.

After landing on my head, I lay in the dirt immobile for a time before I was able to sit up. Then I realized the cool whip-antenna I had affixed to my bike with an equally cool Nixon/Agnew banner on it was broken in two, but, despite the damage, I resisted the urge to cry because kids were tough back then.

MAGA.

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Slartibartfast said:

Old people yelling about seatbelts is kind of funny tbh

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Demon said:

Passive restraints in cars. No freedom anymore.

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JBG said:

Our society has lost a good deal of its willingness to take risks over the years. Examples include:

• 1) Removing most playground that’s any fun;
• 2) Requiring bicycle riders to wear helmets;
• 3) Children don’t play outside, unsupervised anymore;
• 4) Children get driven every where and don’t ride their bicycles;
• 5) Cars have “passive restraints;” and
• 6) We locked down society over what amounted, at worst, to be a bad flu.

The costs of this excessive caution cannot be overestimated. When I was growing up, where I played, how I played, how I got to leisure activities and the like were parental decisions. When I started bicycling at age seven, my range was restricted to my six-block “neighborhood” bounded by a secondary road. Later, when that road got a sidewalk, I was allowed to go about ½ mile to the boundary of another secondary road. Later, I could go outside those boundaries but only with another child.

“Pickup” baseball games started in late March, and soccer was the rule in the fall. Sledding and ice skating was the rule in winter. In fact, on December 2, 1967 I did fall through the ice, and was treading deep water. I was rescued, taken to the hospital and I’m still alive. I survived monkey bars and see-saws at a younger age. These days, my older son was one of the few that took the initiative to bike around, sometimes going about ten miles to one of his sets of grandparents. There was only one fall with a few scrapes.

Turning to adult pastimes, cars have been increasingly been put out of reach of mere mortals by “passive restraints” such as airbags, and other equipment that costs more than its worth to the average person. When it comes to the recent Covid “pandemic” society was locked down to no net benefit and egregious costs. The moneys saved could and should have been used to allow the vulnerable to be excused from work and having to go out.

Now, the government is getting ready to make heating and air conditioning, as well as travel more cumbersome. We live in a democratic society. Is this what we want?

I’m not saying we should have no rules or regulations. But, some cost-benefit analysis please.

Click to expand...