For Rob T concerning the 30's

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Posted by Steve from ppp-138.COL.cableone.net on November 29, 1999 at 08:53:58:

Hi. I do agree that rose colored glasses are donned sometimes when we look backward in time. I'm afraid though that your reciting of social evils of the 30's doesn't change my mind concerning the higher character of those people that lived in those times. To use racial discrimination, our treatment of Japanese Americans, and the isolationism that was probaly inherit at that time, says nothing of the character of "most" folks that occupied this time period. When you get down to it, most of the cases you presented were not carried out by the majority of Americans, but by a minority. One could look back from say the year 2099 A.D. on our times, and wrongfully conclude that we had very poor character because our children were killing one another in our schools. Every era has it's own evils, afterall, isn't this the history of mankind? That we relocated the Japanese Americans to camps after the Pearl Harbor attack can't be considered evil in my unpolitically correct view of history. We absolutley didn't know who was loyal to their homeland, and who wasn't. What would you have done? Remember, we didn't know who was gonna win that war. Our whole way of life was at risk. Would you have left them in place, exposed to the mob behavior that accompanies a war of this magnitude? You know what Hitler would have done, he would have simply executed all of them. That we didn't shows me the difference between us and the Nazis. Maybe we had a little more character. When I stated that the people of the 30's had more character than the people of today, my basis was historical, but it was also from personal experience. I personally knew my great grandfather, all of my grandparents, and of course my mom and dad. I lived closely with them as we were farmers and spent almost every hour together. I am here to tell you that when those generations left us, we lost a great deal. Not only outstanding character, but also something else exceedingly lacking today. Responsibility. I never heard a single one contribute their ill fortunes to anyone other than themselves. In 1999 we have acquired a strange habit of blaming everyone and everything for the bad things we do. (I am not speaking of you personally) Given the evils you brought to light about the 30's I am unchanged in my wishes to live in that era. To me it would be worth it, to live in a time when the "me" generation was unthinkable. regards, Steve


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