-Okay, I've heard that back in the 1950's if the government told you something, you believed it. This was before the 1960's so I can understand.

-In the 1920's and 1930's, when cars became hugely affordable, you would leave your keys in the car and most people wouldn't steal it! Or at least that is what I heard. How naive is that?

-Hitchhiking was considered just friendly back then. I've heard that people don't hitchhike anymore because of sexual advancements made by the drivers. Also you might be in the car with a kidnapper or murderer. My teacher said hitchhiking wasn't even a big deal in 1989 or 1990. And now it is!

-Kids could go out and play and parents wouldn't worry if they were hurt by creeps or doing stuff they shouldn't (this era probably ended around the 1980's?). My music teacher told me this about the 1970's. Before internet exploded circa 1995 kids would go out of their house and play instead of staying at home. The movie Stand By Me in 1986 reminds me of the pre-1995 era.

-Thoughts like these would be considered naive and even awkward in some cases in the 21st Century.

-I want to believe that the 1960's was the beggining of the era of uninnocence. We no longer trusted the government or people. We are also more uncaring of people now because of technology. Also we are in what people call the post modern world, which started in the 1960's.

I was born in 1988 and my observations might be wrong because I didn't live in the era before all this happened. Please add more if you have anymore ideas! Maybe we were never innocent?

The world has never been 100% innocent, but back then people were more trusting to each other. The question is: when did this era of innocence end?

There's a lot to be covered here but I'll address the "kids playing outside" thing.

I grew up in a small town just outside Lincoln, Nebraska and graduated high school in 1989. And we played outside all the time, even during the winter. During the summer I could spend all day away from home, just as long as I came home for supper. Pretty much all the kids were like that. We'd go from door to door and round up a bunch of kids so we could play some backyard football, and it was fun.

As far as the "end of innocence" goes, that's mostly media driven paranoia. Our parents weren't constantly bombarded by these stupid 24-hour news channels that we have now telling us we're supposed to be afraid of everything. Back in the 80's we didn't have Nancy Grace creaming her jeans every time a child was kidnapped. Child abductions probably aren't all that more common now then they were 30 years ago, they just get a lot more attention from the national media today.

To put things in perspective, when I was in the 6th grade in 1982-83, there was a psycho who stabbed 2 or 3 paperboys to death in Omaha (which was about 50 miles away). And we were all freaked out because these kids were the same age as us and for all we knew this maniac could strike anywhere next. So while that was going on we all were very careful and never ventured out alone. But as soon as they caught the bastard, guess what? We went right back to playing outside like we did before.

Now I don't have kids of my own but today it seems that either parents are too overprotective or maybe kids these days simply don't think it's cool to play outside, or maybe it's a combination of the two. But I almost never see a bunch of kids throwing a football around in the yard anymore. Which is too bad because these kids don't know how much fun they're missing.

The worst sign of how lame things have gotten is that they now have Backyard Football video games. How weak is that?  :P

http://www.backyardsportsstore.com/img/humg/catalog/wii_backyard_football_img_xl.jpg

Re: Trust in government, or lack thereof.

Most of what I've read in my time suggests that skepticism of the U.S. government really began when the Vietnam War was at its height, though no doubt there has always been  suspicion among some Americans concering their leaders. It's one of our favorite pasttimes, along with sueing one other!  :)  It's always seemed to me that the bottom fell out during Watergate, partly resulting in Richard Nixon's subsequent resignation. In comparison to the way elected officials seemed to have been viewed by the public in previous decades, I'd say most scandals that have come since that era are kid's play. The die has been cast.

As for genuine trust in our fellow man, I think we have lost quite a bit of that in our country. Whether the aformentioned threats are real or perceived, there's a sense of paranoia in the U.S. IMO, some it's driven by the media, though not necessarily with that intent in mind. As AL-B stated earlier, the world was just as much of a screwed up place before CNN and MSNBC came on the scene: there just weren't 24-hour media outlets or the Internet that demanded a constant flow of bad news for content. Film at 11, indeed.
I can recall stories my father told years ago about how his mother would often make dinner for hobos who rode the rails near their home. This was in the 1940s and 50's, and I doubt you'd find many people in my hometown who would be willing to open up their homes to a raggedy group of "bums" knocking on their door. I understand why, but I can't help but feel sad because of it.
I think the reinforcing of the "never talk to strangers" mantra and similar measures with good intentions have done just as much to further isolate people as any piece of technology has in recent years. As a result, I think the kids are just as paranoid as their parents, though perhaps with good reason. It's a complicated topic.

-In the 1920's and 1930's, when cars became hugely affordable, you would leave your keys in the car and most people wouldn't steal it! Or at least that is what I heard. How naive is that?




I wasn't alive in the 20s so I can't answer that I suspect... just now, it depends on where you live. I doubt people in the big cities left their keys in the car. but in rural areas it might have been safer to do so.




-Okay, I've heard that back in the 1950's if the government told you something, you believed it. This was before the 1960's so I can understand.



I think before the fifties the US was going through a difficult time. There was the depression and the war and people wanted to believe what they were being told.

In the 60s (late sixties) the teens wanted to explore their freedoms and you have more progressive thinking and more questioning what's going on in world. 

I think the women's movement and civil rights movement helped push this. The women took to the streets to protest in the early 1900s the blacks took to the streets in the mid 50s-mid 60s  out of this arose the "counter-culture" who took to the streets to protest the war, and once again women took to the streets in the 70s for equality.

But with regards to everything that you mentioned I think  all that happens today happened back then as well  you just hear more about it now (or it seems more prevalent now because of the rapid 24 hour access to media all over the world.

Think about the serial killers BTK he started in 1974
Think of the mass murders of the Clutter family in 1959 (as depicted in In Cold Blood)
The attacks by the Manson Family in the 60s
Serial killers Charles Ng and Leonard lake in the 80s
Ed Gein who's suspected of killing people in Wi from 1954 until he was caughtin 1957/58. He was the inspiration for both Norman Bates & Leatherface







Kids could go out and play and parents wouldn't worry if they were hurt by creeps or doing stuff they shouldn't (this era probably ended around the 1980's?). My music teacher told me this about the 1970's. Before internet exploded circa 1995 kids would go out of their house and play instead of staying at home. The movie Stand By Me in 1986 reminds me of the pre-1995 era.

Kidnappings: although thought to be something that didn't happen until the 80s kids have always been kidnapped.
Besides the Lindbergh Baby in 1932, Frank Sinatra Jr 63 and John Paul Getty III in 73  there were several kidnappings of average (not rich) kids before the 80s. You list 95 as when there was a perceived upswing of kidnappings but anyone can tell you they were very prevalent in the 80s

-1971 Melissa Suzanne Highsmith almost 2 years old taken by a prospective babysitter in Texas
-1972 Steven Stayner, 7, was abducted by Kenneth Parnell in Parnell also abducted Timmy White in 1980.
-1973 Anna Waters, 6, Half Moon Bay CA
-1978 Cary Sayegh, 6, Las Vegas (I lived there at the time and remember this well)
-1979 Etan Patz, 6, Manhattan
- 1981 Adam Walsh, 6, Pensecola Fl
-1984 Kevin Collins, 10, San Francisco
-1984 Jody Plauche. 11, Baton Rouge LA
-1988 Amber Schwartz Garcia, 8, Pinole CA
-1988 Michaela Joy Garecht. 9, Hayward Ca   








-Hitchhiking was considered just friendly back then. I've heard that people don't hitchhike anymore because of sexual advancements made by the drivers. Also you might be in the car with a kidnapper or murderer. My teacher said hitchhiking wasn't even a big deal in 1989 or 1990. And now it is!




Hitchhiking has always been dangerous...especially in the 70s

In 1970 on the 4th of july two men who hitched a ride to Santa Barbara were murdered while sleeping on the beach  (I can't say anymore so here's an article about it)  http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=9899

In the 1970s Edmund Emil Kemper III repeatedly picked up female hitchhikers and killed them.

I remember one of those crime shows like Notorious told the story of a woman who was hitchhiking in the late 70s and she was picked up by a man (or maybe it was couple) who held her hostage and tortured her for years. At one point he even let her go visit her family but told her if she said anything he would kill them all. She didn't say anything and left with him when he came to pick her up.

Thor Nis Christiansen, was convicted of 3 kidnappings killings in the late 70s

Good thread 80s, I've thought about this stuff alot myself.

I basically agree with Al-B. :) There wasn't a total mass media until the late '90s with the internet and all-day news channels. There've always been sick people, I think it's just they're much more visible and in the public eye now because of that. It might make it slightly easier for perverts to find each other and communicate online, but that doesn't mean they're brand new either.

Kidnappings got alot less national (or heck, even local) coverage from what I know. For example, John Walsh's son was kidnapped in 1981 and the way they talked about it from reading his book, you'd have thought it was the freaking '30s in the Depression era. The cops didn't know really what to do in terms of entering it into a database, and it took alot to even get a spot on the local newscasts. The creepy jack*ss had done things like this before too, and no one really knew about him beyond locally either. I don't think police departments were nearly as linked up as they are now (or even by the 90s), again that has to do with technology.

Bad stuff just wasn't as reported, so I think that gives more of the illusion that it didn't exist or that it was safer in past eras. Plus every generation has people saying that 20 or 30 years ago was "more innocent". I think that's just because the past always looks better, since you know the outcome of everything, so even the bad stuff doesn't seem as threatening.

I think with almost anything, it's good to have a balance - use common sense and be cautious of people enough to protect yourself or loved ones, but don't necesarilly assume everyone is bad either. For example, I wouldn't personally invite a dissheveled looking homeless guy into my house, but I also wouldn't automatically assume he was a bad guy either since I don't know him. Does that make sense. ;)

It's tragic how the wackos ruin it for everyone else who is nice or innocent, but on the other hand I don't blame people for being careful.

Good thread 80s, I've thought about this stuff alot myself.

I basically agree with Al-B. :) There wasn't a total mass media until the late '90s with the internet and all-day news channels. There've always been sick people, I think it's just they're much more visible and in the public eye now because of that. It might make it slightly easier for perverts to find each other and communicate online, but that doesn't mean they're brand new either.

Kidnappings got alot less national (or heck, even local) coverage from what I know. For example, John Walsh's son was kidnapped in 1981 and the way they talked about it from reading his book, you'd have thought it was the freaking '30s in the Depression era. The cops didn't know really what to do in terms of entering it into a database, and it took alot to even get a spot on the local newscasts. The creepy jack*ss had done things like this before too, and no one really knew about him beyond locally either. I don't think police departments were nearly as linked up as they are now (or even by the 90s), again that has to do with technology.

Bad stuff just wasn't as reported, so I think that gives more of the illusion that it didn't exist or that it was safer in past eras. Plus every generation has people saying that 20 or 30 years ago was "more innocent". I think that's just because the past always looks better, since you know the outcome of everything, so even the bad stuff doesn't seem as threatening.

I think with almost anything, it's good to have a balance - use common sense and be cautious of people enough to protect yourself or loved ones, but don't necesarilly assume everyone is bad either. For example, I wouldn't personally invite a dissheveled looking homeless guy into my house, but I also wouldn't automatically assume he was a bad guy either since I don't know him. Does that make sense. ;)

It's tragic how the wackos ruin it for everyone else who is nice or innocent, but on the other hand I don't blame people for being careful.


Thank you Marty McFly!. I was just sitting and thinking about my generation when I realized that the internet is such a new thing! It's phenomenon exploded like I said, around 1994-1995. So that's 13 years of the internet? The kids born 1994 or after are so ignorant of the how it was to grow up without internet.

The 90's was the beggining of the modern age to me. I just can't imagine the 90's looking old. It doesn't look that old now. Maybe one day when we have flying cars, robot dogs as pets, or weird new futuristic styles it will finally look old.

I heard about internet for the first time in 1997 and didn't even use the internet until 1998 at my school.

And yes, I agree, the media blows things out of proportion and that bad people have always been around.

^ Thanks dude.

Yeah the first traces of the Internet were in the mid 90s (I went online for the first time at my dad's office computer in '96 when he was doing some extra work one weekend, and thought it was really cool) so that keeps it really tied to the present, imo. If I had to pick one year it exploded in the public consciousness I'd say 1997 (like with websites on commercials and everyone knowing what "email" and those terms were), but it's ironic how quickly it became a household thing.

I think it's hard for us to see any time we remember as looking old (the 80s being "another generation" or people calliing it "oldies/my parents music" freaks me out and doesn't seem right, lol), but I agree with you. The '90s are old-school, but not OLD. I mean it was cutting edge/gritty at the time - kids listened to hip hop, there was terrorism and alot of social issues were kinda the same as today. Tech started having that rounded look too.