My relatively advanced age has given me the wisdom to know I'm not going to influence a lot of the thought patterns around here, but I have to take issue with Katz's assertion that "young people are safer than they have ever been". This is absolute nonsense. American crime rates tripled between 1963 and 1970. Then then rose slowly through the 1970s, fluctuated in the 1980s, and have been generally falling since about 1990, with a somewhat accelerated fall since about 1995. Most of them (different state and type-of-crime rates) are still higher than in 1970. The recent reductions are great news, showing that just because we've fallen a long way doesn't mean we're stuck there. There is, however, no way that most children today are safer than they were in most areas during the 1950s. I know this not just from statistics but from personal experience, growing up in upstate New York and Ontario during the 1950s and 1960s. Next time you meet anyone over 50 who isn't from a large city - and maybe some who are - ask them about life as a 10-year-old when their parents just let them and their friends ride anywhere on bicycles (helmetless, to boot)with little or no worry about their safety.
BTW, where does Katz get the idea that loathing Hollywood and network television makes you a Luddite? And what does William Bennett have to with Kirkpatrick Sale? And what do Joe Lieberman's political exhaust trails have to with anything but focus groups and polls?
Slashdot Mirror
BTW, where does Katz get the idea that loathing Hollywood and network television makes you a Luddite? And what does William Bennett have to with Kirkpatrick Sale? And what do Joe Lieberman's political exhaust trails have to with anything but focus groups and polls?