Remember when I said I post rants sometimes? This is going
to be one of those times.
The most amusing part of this situation is that whenever I
read the letters to the editor in the local paper and see that my former
English teacher sent something in, I know it’s going to be good. First she was
complaining about the fact that schools were dropping cursive from their
curriculums and all her former students who were writers (a-hem) used cursive all the time and
couldn’t believe it wasn’t going to be taught. Okay, I’d like to know where
she’s getting this knowledge from because all the people I know who had her for
English couldn’t stand her and maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine her former
students call her on a regular basis just to inform her how much they’re using
cursive. I’ve also gone into detail about how much I can’t stand cursive and personally
am glad it’s being dropped because it was invented when people used quills and
ink and wanted words as connected as possible to prevent blotting.
In her latest printed spiel, my old teacher was complaining
about (of course) television, and how mean it is these days, full of violence
and sex. Now, one of my many many many many many many pet peeves is that I
can’t stand it when people complain about how the lamentable state of
television, music, video games or whatever is bringing the downfall of society.
No wonder everyone in the world is…I don’t know, dying or whatever. They never
seem to say what the direct consequences are, just that they’re bad. And we
need to go back to a time when it wasn’t bad, i.e. the nineteen fifties.
The easy argument to make is that back during that time
period, fathers encouraged their daughters not to become engineers but wives to engineers, people of color
could only be stereotypes, and women could only do shopping and laundry and it
was okay to threaten them if they spoke out of turn. So why would anyone want
to go back there? But, like I said, that’s the easy argument. Why not have the
same “victimless” humor and be violence free without all the blatant bigotry?
First of all, humor is designed to make us laugh at things
that make us uncomfortable or gross us out. Fart jokes are easy because the
typical reaction for a person is to laugh at them. Does this make them good?
Personally, I don’t like them, but it doesn’t mean that they or other gross out
humor isn’t funny. And as for the so-called mean jokes, yes, I think there are
some shows out there that are just plain offensive, laughing at certain people instead of with them,
and unfortunately, the at shows seem a lot more popular than the with ones. But
that’s no different than it was sixty years ago when I Love Lucy was the most popular show on television. Seriously, the
only difference between then in now is targets.
Now for the violence, of course, that’s desensitizing
everyone and making them kill each other. You know what, one time, I saw this
movie that was just horribly violent. It had rape and mutilation and torture
murder-murder-murder. It starred Anthony Hopkins. It was called Titus.
You know, that movie based on a play by some guy named William Shakespeare. Who lived five hundred years ago. If
you’d like to go back a thousand more years, there’s also The Iliad, which was assigned reading when I was a high school freshman.
Tons of fighting , sex, and blood there, although at the age I read it I
couldn’t even go to an R rated movie without an adult present.
People have found sex and gore entertaining for as long as
there have been people. Despite all the threats that television and video games
have desensitized us, I really don’t think it’s doing anything that plays and
poems and probably drawings on frigging cave walls hadn’t done to our
ancestors.
If you don’t like blood or sex or people being jerks, don’t
watch it. But don’t blame it for corrupting the world.
PS. It’s hilarious to think what probably happened when
people first started drawing in caves. “Damn wall paintings. Ruining family
time for hunting mammoths. It’ll be the downfall of society, mark my words!”
This is funny. I'm an English teacher currently teaching satire to several of my students. The things people complain about! I do have a penchant for cursive and curiously some students say they wished they learnt it. Much prettier than that hybrid print thingy that students usually end up with. Oh, so many things out there to corrupt us and there's always plenty of people to tell it out loud.
ReplyDeleteDenise
“Damn wall paintings. Ruining family time for hunting mammoths. It’ll be the downfall of society, mark my words!”
ReplyDeleteBwa-ha-ha! I am sure you're right!
As for your old teacher, I think education has bigger problems than the loss of cursive!
Which is why I'm getting out of the profession, sadly.
Well, you know, the earliest "movies" before they started actually becoming movies were mostly of naked ladies. But they were doing wholesome things like bathing. That being back in the good ole days before sex was invented.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I have to say, the most violent areas of the world are that way without our TV.
Your former teacher must have lots of time on her hands to regularly send letters to the editor. One of our papers here- a rag that reminds one of FOX news in terms of political stance and lack of professionalism- regularly features the same five names writing letters to the editor. They'll often show up three or four times a week.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the paper, so I don't see the same names constantly writing to the editor about how they feel about wolves, marriage equality, politics, etc. But when I did get it, and from what I see when I go over to my dad's house and read the paper there, it hasn't changed. It's the same four or five names interspersed with a smattering of others. The familiar names are always going on about the same things your old teacher has said as well as how marriage equality will destroy the sanctity of marriage, how the "gay agenda" will force all of us to accept them and corrupt our children, and on and on and on. I just don't think people think any more. They prattle on the drivel spouted by mainstream media instead of doing the research and making up their own opinions.
ReplyDelete*steps off soapbox* Sorry, I get upset about this too and tend to rant at people whenever I get the chance.
There's this list that one teacher used to keep in her room. It was all the laments that people had about the new technology. One was someone complaining about ballpoint pens!
ReplyDeleteIt's a good reminder that the good old days weren't. Change can be bad, but there's good there, too.
Hi JE .. some people can only complain and only have negative thoughts ... and sadly the media is full of rants, sex and moans and groans ...
ReplyDeleteThankfully many see beyond the stupidity of the complaint and can look at the good things that have happened over time - exactly as you describe ... we haven't changed that much ..
And "damn paintings ..." well thank goodness for that graffiti all these years later ... we can see how and where they lived in those very dark ages ...
Great ranting post ... I don't have time to complain usually ... time wasted - move on and get over it .. cheers Hilary
I love the show The Twilight Zone...and if you watch it for a while, you see the same philosophy at that time. People dreamed of "a better time" than the fast-paced 50s and 60s...usually the 20s or 30s. I think it's human nature for adults to wax nostalgic about their childhood...but they don't seem to recognize it for what it is. I remember arguing with my cubicle neighbor when I worked in an office about music. He said music hasn't been good since the 80s. I argued that there are good and bad songs on the radio at any given time and it was the same back then...
ReplyDeleteYou're funny.... There's a guy here who constantly writes into the paper and he's this misogynist, racist Christian who uses his religion as an excuse to be absolutely abhorrent. If it wasn't so tragic, it would be funny.
ReplyDelete