Chamblee54

Old people like to talk about things that were better back then. PG is going to talk about some things that are better today.
During the Vietnam war, there was talk about “back our boys in Vietnam”. In the current war in Babylon, the troops are an integrated fighting force of men and women. You do not hear these brave people referred to as “boys”.
A person who goes into combat, to kill or be killed, is not a boy. He is a man, or a woman. This is an improvement over the way things used to be. Of course, we still have wars, so mankind has not achieved perfection.
A second way society has improved is the attitude towards cigarettes. In older times, almost everyone smoked, and they lit up wherever and whenever they wanted. No one asked for permission.
Today, people routinely go outside to smoke.
Another way in which our attitudes about cigarettes is changing can be seen in the way two presidents are treated by the press. Franklin Roosevelt was never photographed with his leg braces, or struggling to walk. Many people did not know he was crippled. However, his cigarette holder was a part of his image, and he was photographed with that constantly. By contrast, has ANYONE seen a picture of Barack Obama smoking?
The election of a dark skinned man as POTUS brings us to our final issue of the day, racial ( and other) slurs. It is just not considered polite to use insulting terms that refer to race, religion, national origin, etc. etc. ( PG got an email at work once cautioning about discussing hair color) In many ways, this is like the thing with cigarettes…people have not changed the overall attitudes, they just go outside.
Political correctness can be a nuisance. The excesses are well known. However, the basic concept of having concern for the feelings of others is a good idea. Pictures for this discourse are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”