Tuesday, January 12, 2010

"13 Lessons I Learned in Brooklyn Your Kid Won’t Learn in Preschool"

From City Noise:

The society I grew up in Brooklyn in the late 50's was effective in assimilating large groups of poor immigrants and making them into middle class Americans. I get frustrated when I see today's “expert” guided society result in a dysfunctional society. These are some of the lessons I learned that made an effective society.

2. Never pick on a girl

...Hitting a girl would not only result in correction, but ridicule. No real man would ever hit a woman. You would be the lowest form of coward. It makes me sick to see the gangsta crap, that you are tough if you mistreat "bitches"

5. Don’t touch other peoples stuff

Everyday I read a news story about someone going to jail or getting beat up that they could have avoided by learning this lesson. When I was a kid if you leaned against someone’s meticulously maintained hot rod or new Buick, you were in big trouble when the hothead who owned it showed up. If someone was lucky enough to own a pool table you didn’t sit on it, because you knew their Dad had worked hard to buy one and wouldn’t appreciate you causing a table roll.
We never tried it, but we knew that if we burglarized a house and someone shot us, he wouldn’t be charged, like today. No one would feel sorry for our Mom if she whined “He was a good boy, that just made a mistake” like today. Good boys didn’t break and enter.


11. Don't judge a person by their ethnic group.

I grew up in neighborhood with Jewish, Irish, Italian and Black kids. We teased each other and joked about ethnic stereotypes, but we knew to back off if someone thought we were over the line. It was politically incorrect but we worked out our differences in a fun way. In today's politically correct society nobody talks about our concerns to the other group, just within our own groups. This leads to covert racism, and prejudice.


Continue with the rest here.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today's politically correct society leads to covert racism, and prejudice.

If I can ever be offended today - white (thick skinned!) it better not be me offending others, I am not allowed - others are allowed to make me squirm.

Klink Cannoli said...

Ha!
Great choice of photos, QC.

Neat write up too. Brought back a lot of memories of my youth during the '60s-'70s. The staying power for all those points to travel generationally as they did is a testament to their effectiveness.

Anonymous said...

Wow.. Interesting. Brings back memories.

I'm 30 years old and was originally from Hong Kong. I still recalled number 1 to 12 in that article was being taught to us by our teachers in 1st grade in Hong Kong during the 1980s, along with reinforcements from parents (with emphasis on 2,3,4,5, 7,8,9,and 10).

When I came to the USA in 2nd grade in the 1980s, public schools here never taught us that and I came from a pretty good PS school on Long Island.

But anyways, I don't know if the teachers still teach those lessons in Hong Kong or anywhere nowadays because it just seems the younger teens (no matter what race) have no regards for them and think they are traditional thinking... especially number 3.

I don't see young kids giving up their bus seats here in Queens, in Pittsburgh or even in Hong Kong for an elderly or disable person nowadays. It's so sad.

Anonymous said...

I don't see young kids giving up their bus seats here in Queens, in Pittsburgh or even in Hong Kong for an elderly or disable person nowadays.

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If i am paying full price, why should i have to give up my seat to someone paying half price/free?

Hell, i would stand at all times if they would sell me metrocards at half price.

georgetheatheist said...

In the olden tymes, when the welfare state was non-existent, the youth were expected to, and often did, do acts of kindness to the elderly. With the advent of collectivism, in both action and thought, these voluntary deeds of kindness fell by the wayside. Why help the old lady next door when her homecare aide is supposed to do the shopping and hail the Access-a-ride?

Collectivism destroys social comity.

Anonymous said...

Love it! So easy to follow; just common sense -- something so uncommon today.

Anonymous said...

Collectivism destroys social comity.
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It does.

By the end of the day, the half of the group that spends all day working for the benefit of the other half is too worn out to care anymore.

Anonymous said...

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"If i am paying full price, why should i have to give up my seat to someone paying half price/free?"
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See, that's the problem with people nowadays. It's me, me, me.

AND YOU ARE WRONG. There are seats in the front of the bus that are for elderly and disable. Yet, people still sit in them WITHOUT giving up those seats for the elderly and disabled when the broad the bus. That's the problem. Your comments already tells people how selfish you are.

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"Hell, i would stand at all times if they would sell me metrocards at half price."
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That's fine if you want 1/2 price. In fact, it's easy to get half price. How about someone break your legs or chop it. I'm pretty sure you will get half price. You want to sacrifice that for 1/2 price. Maybe you should, so you know how those seniors and disabled feel.

Anonymous said...

2 words... tawana and brawley.