Moral Decline
Sex, Drugs and Rock-N-Roll
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
I've been thinking a lot about the complaints of my generation with regard to the youth of today. We complain that there is too much violence, too much sex, too much irresponsibility, but who is really to blame for this?
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
I've been thinking a lot about the complaints of my generation with regard to the youth of today. We complain that there is too much violence, too much sex, too much irresponsibility, but who is really to blame for this?
When I was a child, [1966-1985] we had movie ratings that meant something. We never had to worry about kids bringing guns to school, much less opening fire on a school full of our friends.
Teenagers didn't contract HIV; condoms were used to prevent pregnancy, not to protect against HIV, or other sexual killers. So, what happened?
I say that it is my generation that is to blame for the decline in morals in this country. If you think about it, before we all came of age, these problems either didn't exist, or they were not prevalent in society. Pornography was pretty limited to Playboy and Hustler magazines, which you had to be an adult to purchase and were only sold in liquor stores, not the local convenience store. There was no such thing as a PG13 movie rating, and all movies that had sexual situations or nudity in them got slapped with a big fat R rating and you couldn't get into see them unless you were 17 years old. Remember when Hollywood made a PG version of, 'Saturday Night Fever,' so that more young people could go to see it? And, of course, there was no Internet.
Back in the day, no one proclaimed their sexual orientation publicly, because it was private business. The biggest problem for teens having sex was pregnancy, not disease, or death. Drugs were not available to make date rape easier. In fact, the term date rape hadn't even been coined yet.
We have set a terrible example for our kids, and now we are paying the price. Sex and violence is everywhere in our society these days because we wanted it that way. You can see nudity on prime time, and our movie rating system has changed so much that our children are exposed to sex and violence through this venue, at the age of 13. (PG-13) We have access to sex on television now, all one must do is order it. We never had the Playboy channel, or nude volleyball on TV, shoot, there was no such thing as Pay-Per-View. If you wanted to see an Xrated film, you had to physically go to the theater, prove you were of age, and pay for a ticket. There was a stigma attached to being seen entering a porn movie theater. Not any more!
Our movies promote drug use, sexual promiscuity and violence. Hollywood makes it look cool. Our television commercials throw sex in the faces of children through ads for sexual enhancement drugs. What happened to impotence being a private matter? I remember my grandfather being offended by tampon commercials.
Personally, I did not enjoy being in the position of having to explain what Viagra is to my 11 year old. It is time that we stop telling our kids to do as we say, not as we do.
We have become so very self indulgent that our kids have followed in our footsteps. Don't blame them [kids], we must blame ourselves. We were the ones who raised these children and taught them to be self indulgent like ourselves.
Remember the days when a married couple on TV slept in separate beds? What happened to that? Now people are not only sleeping in the same bed, but we can see what they do beneath the sheets, and no one seems to be married anymore.
So what changed from the time that we were kids to now?
Both parents need to work and children spend more time with daycare providers. Our kids are set in front of the television or video games, rather than spending quality time with their parents. Essentially, we have let others raise our children for us. We have gotten careless with the most precious gift we've ever been given; our kids. And, our kids, not finding what they need from us have turned to gangs to get it. Gangs provide them with a sense of family, protection and unity. However, these things should be found at home.
Compare today's family with one of the 1950's and you will see what I am talking about. Back then girls were taught to be chaste, and boys were taught to respect women. Sex, drugs and violence were shunned. When I was a teen, the thing my mother worried about was pot smoking. Now we have to worry about kids doing heroine or meth. Who are the drug dealers, really? Adults, that's who.
If one wants to blame the government, we must look at who is in our government; people of our generation. People who are in the news daily for their transgressions: adultery, drug use, embezzlement, etc.. The news is constantly showing people who do these types of things and get away with them. So, our kids see that people of power and celebrity do these things, so it must be okay.
If we want to change the world, we must first start with ourselves.
Copyright © 2009
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://trii-zine.com
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
Co-Owner: Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Teenagers didn't contract HIV; condoms were used to prevent pregnancy, not to protect against HIV, or other sexual killers. So, what happened?
I say that it is my generation that is to blame for the decline in morals in this country. If you think about it, before we all came of age, these problems either didn't exist, or they were not prevalent in society. Pornography was pretty limited to Playboy and Hustler magazines, which you had to be an adult to purchase and were only sold in liquor stores, not the local convenience store. There was no such thing as a PG13 movie rating, and all movies that had sexual situations or nudity in them got slapped with a big fat R rating and you couldn't get into see them unless you were 17 years old. Remember when Hollywood made a PG version of, 'Saturday Night Fever,' so that more young people could go to see it? And, of course, there was no Internet.
Back in the day, no one proclaimed their sexual orientation publicly, because it was private business. The biggest problem for teens having sex was pregnancy, not disease, or death. Drugs were not available to make date rape easier. In fact, the term date rape hadn't even been coined yet.
We have set a terrible example for our kids, and now we are paying the price. Sex and violence is everywhere in our society these days because we wanted it that way. You can see nudity on prime time, and our movie rating system has changed so much that our children are exposed to sex and violence through this venue, at the age of 13. (PG-13) We have access to sex on television now, all one must do is order it. We never had the Playboy channel, or nude volleyball on TV, shoot, there was no such thing as Pay-Per-View. If you wanted to see an Xrated film, you had to physically go to the theater, prove you were of age, and pay for a ticket. There was a stigma attached to being seen entering a porn movie theater. Not any more!
Our movies promote drug use, sexual promiscuity and violence. Hollywood makes it look cool. Our television commercials throw sex in the faces of children through ads for sexual enhancement drugs. What happened to impotence being a private matter? I remember my grandfather being offended by tampon commercials.
Personally, I did not enjoy being in the position of having to explain what Viagra is to my 11 year old. It is time that we stop telling our kids to do as we say, not as we do.
We have become so very self indulgent that our kids have followed in our footsteps. Don't blame them [kids], we must blame ourselves. We were the ones who raised these children and taught them to be self indulgent like ourselves.
Remember the days when a married couple on TV slept in separate beds? What happened to that? Now people are not only sleeping in the same bed, but we can see what they do beneath the sheets, and no one seems to be married anymore.
So what changed from the time that we were kids to now?
Both parents need to work and children spend more time with daycare providers. Our kids are set in front of the television or video games, rather than spending quality time with their parents. Essentially, we have let others raise our children for us. We have gotten careless with the most precious gift we've ever been given; our kids. And, our kids, not finding what they need from us have turned to gangs to get it. Gangs provide them with a sense of family, protection and unity. However, these things should be found at home.
Compare today's family with one of the 1950's and you will see what I am talking about. Back then girls were taught to be chaste, and boys were taught to respect women. Sex, drugs and violence were shunned. When I was a teen, the thing my mother worried about was pot smoking. Now we have to worry about kids doing heroine or meth. Who are the drug dealers, really? Adults, that's who.
If one wants to blame the government, we must look at who is in our government; people of our generation. People who are in the news daily for their transgressions: adultery, drug use, embezzlement, etc.. The news is constantly showing people who do these types of things and get away with them. So, our kids see that people of power and celebrity do these things, so it must be okay.
If we want to change the world, we must first start with ourselves.
Copyright © 2009
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://trii-zine.com
About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
Co-Owner: Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Comments
That was my point, our generation is to blame for the problems we see in our kids. We failed them and now we blame them.
You are right of course, although I think the rot started earlier than that, with our generation.
I wonder how many problems today are not caused by the children, but by their parents not being responsible enough to have children and to help them to grow up with the right morals.
It's the 60's and even more the 70's generation that moved away from the traditional family social standards, and also with more women out to work, kids didn't get as much time with their parents.
I also blame the media an awful lot. Take MTV for example with shows like "The Real World" which is anything but! Take shows like Jerry Springer too. All of these help kids today to think that being a freak is the norm.
While I am not religious, I do believe strongly in children being taught morals, ways to treat your fellow man, and also to treat the earth we live on. With higher morals we might have less crime for a start.
In the UK television has not been censored, so growing up we had access to nudity and bad language, but I don't think that really had a harmful effect. Ditto alcohol was more freely available and legal from 18 (now 17). Sometimes I think making something illegal has an adverse effect.
Just my 2cents thrown in...
Spot on, Trina. It all begins inside. The external world is a mere reflection of our internal world(s). It's definitely challenging to raise a child to have a solid foundation these days. Some people retreat to a religion for their moral direction, which is fine for them, but I am raising my kids to be in touch with their inner world(s), to use their own inner compass for direction. Definitely challenging but I'm very proud of my kids and am hopeful for their futures. Good post.
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