Re: Technology and loss of freedom

[ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home)]

Dale Thorn wrote:
> I'd argue that the worst thing was probably television, since now
> people don't go outdoors a lot and talk to their neighbors like
> they used to.  Today, in most cities, you don't even know the
> neighbors unless they blocked your parking space.

Yes, TV is bad. I personally do not watch TV at all, my TV set
is packed in a box.

> There are tradeoffs between the old and new - in the old society,
> say, the USA circa late 1800's to early 1900's, we were much more
> violent.  The big stir about shooting 4 students at Kent State
> would be severly dwarfed by the mass killing of 1200 in one day
> in New York city in the anti-draft riots of the mid-1860's, and
> the bombings of the MOVE neighborhood in Philly circa 1985 and
> WACO circa 1993 would be insignificant compared to what happened
> to the American Indians.

Could it be due to excess of men?

Or lack of education?

> Personal (non-government) violence was rampant long ago - men and
> women as parents routinely called up the Bible verse "spare the rod
> and spoil the child" to beat the living crap out of their kids.
> Persons who were grown up in the 1940's and 1950's will recall the
> days when parents would beat their kids in public when "necessary",
> and when at home, beat kids so badly that you could hear the scream-
> ing a block away.  Don't even ask about the violence against women.

What did they do with the poor women?

> This is only one example of the horrors of living in the "good old
> days" - if necessary, I could catalogue some other examples.
> 

That would be interesting, at least to me.

	- Igor.