So once again I was listening to AM radio coming home from work. You may say, "Bryan you are becoming an old fart, listening to that garbage!" As I fart in response, I also point out that FM radio has become its own corporate joke. I once enjoyed the oldies station because there was a range of oldies years, at least 20 years ago. It was once 1955-75. As time went on, the early base got later as did the recent cap. Now I am lucky if I hear any late 60s and if I do it is all repetitive. It all is. Even when my wife puts on the metal station, I hear a lot of the same songs, some old, some within the last ten years. Rarely do we hear a plethora of the new...so generally when my wife is in the car, her music is played on the phone. If it is just me, I play AM talk.
It is indeed nothing to get riled up over, but I do get some tidbits that the regular news leaves out, and as a lot of my FB friends post the extreme left or right repetitive shares about the evil right or evil left, AM talk is my source for items of interest. 20 years ago I listened often to Rush Limbaugh before I realized the Emergency Broadcast System had a higher IQ, and he was so far on the right his views were even out of my right-side peripheral vision. In fact, I think he contributed to me supporting Clinton because he tried to argue every good thing Clinton was doing was bad because of the ongoing scandals. Like Limbaugh's party had a clean record! So, I left AM radio for quite a long time.
In the past few years I've picked it up again. One station has a lot of good local talk and it is not one side or the other, it criticizes pretty much everyone who does or says something boneheaded....which is pretty much anybody in a position of national power anymore. I don't take their word as the truth, I do look up what they said before I stick my neck out...but then hours later I share a scam post that my wife's uncle shared, so you know my research brain cells are selective.
Sadly, what I get from all the talk is that we are in a new America, and I don't like it much. I am not quite sure when we evolved into this monster, but I think 9/11 was the culprit. Change always happens: I see different classes every year, businesses come and go, as do colleagues and, sadly, friends, either by death or plain old time and distance. I accept all this as life in motion. But there is a darkness now that is scary, and it has spread into all facets of American life.
Education
In the days of film projectors and ditto machines, school was a place where we learned the basics, and we learned them with regular sunshine, semi-decent lunches, rough recess, and teachers who had a say in how they taught the material. Coming from the receiving end to the giving end, I have seen the "Central Committee" in D.C. put their politicized hands into matters they have no idea about. Granted, something happened between 1991 and 2002 that made these disasters come about. First there was "No Child Left Behind", a political measure designed to drive teachers crazy and then out of the business altogether. The basic concept, as I understood it, was to have teachers promote their kids all the way up to 5th grade despite the fact they couldn't read even "Curious George" all the way through by 4th grade. It was then my job to bring them up 5 grade-levels in reading and math before they joined their middle school gangs, or I was considered an ineffective teacher.
Then they brought about the Common Core, which was in theory a way to combine all extant teaching standards into a consolidated and doable yearly teaching plan. The reality was, they wanted to twist all accepted math and reading teaching methods into a undecipherable mix of gob and blob that when microwaved turned into an Obama bobble-head toy. And somewhere in the mix, teachers had to explain why their kids weren't getting it. Yes, parents are only responsible for over-sugaring their kid and giving them technology too early, but not responsible for reading to and with their kids.
Food
At one time, we ate and drank whatever we wanted, got our exercise, then dumped whatever we ingested. The system worked. I downed quite a load of sugar in the form of crumb buns and Tastykake jelly krimpets, and nitrates in the form of hot dogs on a daily basis. Of course, I also played with my friends and rode my bike often so I worked off what I ate, at least in the younger years.
Along the way, some strange things happened. Butter became evil and vegetable oil-based margarine became healthy. Low-fat snacks with enough chemicals to create the Joker many times over were considered to be healthy between-meal treats. And then people named Atkins, Oz, Scarecrow,Tin Man, and South Beach all came forward telling us how to eat right. It was all, and still is, confusing. Butter came back into vogue and bacon got popular for some reason. I honestly don't know what to make of it.
Fear
Simply said, there was one thing we as Americans used to fear, and that was Communism. Growing up in the 80s, we as kids didn't really understand what is was, we just "knew" it was what the evil Soviets practiced, and anything Soviet was bad; that is, until Reagan "tamed" them and their benevolent leader Gorbachev. When the Berlin Wall fell, and likewise the Soviet Union 2 years later, we felt victorious. However, that victory was shadowed by Saddam Hussein the year previous, when gas shot up over $1 a gallon for the first time in forever. As time moved, so did villains that were subdued under the Soviets. By the time the new century/millenium was in full gear, we encountered the greatest challenge yet: Survivor! No, seriously, it was 9/11/2001, when a terrorist attack on U.S,. soil stunned us beyond belief. Since then, we as a nation have gradually become afraid of offending anyone, lest they hurt us individually or as a nation. The trouble is, even if we walk on eggshells, we are in no less danger. We also seem to be afraid to rise against offensive government acts that take away our basic freedoms in exchange for "safety". I feel no safer after 14 years than a Prius on the Autobahn!
I prefer the old America, although my eyes are more open to the old realities now. As kids we cared only about TV cartoons, biking in the neighborhood, the newest Atari or Coleco game, and when the newest Star Wars, Star Trek, or Indiana Jones movie was coming out. I'd go back and invest in sure-fire companies like Coca Cola and Apple, to make sure my family was financially secure. Who knows, maybe I'd even start my own AM talk show and discuss our basic freedoms...life, liberty and the pursuit of "Sea of Love" on the oldies station once in a while!
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