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What the hell is wrong with people?

The Spin Meister

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Nov 27, 2012
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An altered state
And our society? A football player from Washington and Jefferson College in W Pa was thrown off the football team and then thrown out of the college after he was at a women’s basketball game against Westminster College holding up a sign with the death date of the father of one of the Westminster players. Apparently, there was some other message on the sign that the papers aren’t saying.

How the hell can someone do something so sick for a stupid sporting event? And stupid enough to think that the other people would think it was a good idea?

 
My guess is that this is all just more visible today than it was years ago. I recall a person lighting a gal's hair (an afro with all kinds of product in it) on fire back when I was in HS. and there was a crew that did a few "things" in my class. One kid used to bring rubber bands and cut up hanger wire and shoot them at kids shooting free throws. I don't think he ever connected but he tried.

Good times!
 
I see a general lack of sportsmanship - at my Daughter JV Basketball game this year an older gentleman rooting for the opposing team had to be kicked out for heckling the ref. And I saw a girl on the other team purposely dropping her metal water bottle at the exact time a girl from our team would shoot free throws, I was thinking that was pretty lame.
 
And our society? A football player from Washington and Jefferson College in W Pa was thrown off the football team and then thrown out of the college after he was at a women’s basketball game against Westminster College holding up a sign with the death date of the father of one of the Westminster players. Apparently, there was some other message on the sign that the papers aren’t saying.

How the hell can someone do something so sick for a stupid sporting event? And stupid enough to think that the other people would think it was a good idea?



Bad parenting and a lot of mental health issues. The kid was probably raised by his 30 year old grandmother.
 
A somewhat related story. Many here know that my retirement job is serving as "athletic coordinator" of an 18 member public school athletic league(in NY).
Due to COVID we did not entertain championships from spring 2020 thru the end of last school year. This winter season, we were unable to acquire college (neutral) venues for our basketball championships. We ran our tournament with the higher seeds hosting and both participating schools providing security/supervision. I attended as many contests as possible (since some were at different locations at the same time). Our gyms were packed with vociferous fans with no major incidents.
It was easy for me to discern which athletic directors had established boundaries for their student sections and those who were struggling to implement that on the fly (since they were now being scrutinized). The students that are blessed to have no nonsense administrators only needed a stern look from the chaperone, AD or principal to cease any nonsense. On the other hand, those who had been left to create chaos all season had to be repeatedly spoken to, warned and essentially "begged" to exhibit sportsmanlike behavior.
At one contest, so packed that the local fire marshal closed the gym.....a young man came down out of the stands at 2 points during the game to lift his shirt (he had something painted on his rather corpulent upper body). On both occasions a chaperone pleaded with him to stop. Finally when he came down near the end of the game to defy security for the 3rd time I walked over (admittedly having no authority) and intercepted him before he could repeat his act. He meekly returned to his seat. At that point the AD and an administrator came across the gym floor and the youngster unprompted came down and said "am I outta here?" LOL
From my observation, after 50 years in the business, young people are about the same. Most will respect and adapt to boundaries when established and enforced. Kids are quick to recognize teachers, coaches, administrators and parents who "talk a good game" but don't have the courage of their convictions to carry through.
 
From my observation, after 50 years in the business, young people are about the same. Most will respect and adapt to boundaries when established and enforced. Kids are quick to recognize teachers, coaches, administrators and parents who "talk a good game" but don't have the courage of their convictions to carry through.
I agree with you 100%.
I used to be manager for s district basketball tournaments and also helped with crowd control. My favorite pre-game talk was to ask who the leader of the group of students was. Who is the man in charge?
Of course, you have the one big shot step up thumping his chest announcing he is the leader.
Then tell him he’s in charge of his student section. Anyone steps out of line, he’s the one we are talking to about the behavior, and possibly getting tossed. And, things went smoothly.

OL
 
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Bad parenting and a lot of mental health issues. The kid was probably raised by his 30 year old grandmother.
And there it is. The dumbest comment I will read on the internet for the day.

To the actual question my response is a lack of "shame" in society - and this is true amongst all age groups. There is no more "feeling bad" for doing bad things that impact others. If you're not getting arrested for it then it's all good. Starts at the top with our leaders selling the public to the highest bidders (sorry "donors") and down from there. People are encouraged to act in on own selfish interests and to heck with the consequences to anyone else in society - it's their "right" to act like an ass and nothing anyone can do about it. I'd suggest it's a lack of religion instilling the idea of shame but hell these days there's just as many shameful acts coming from the religious institutions as from anywhere else in society. And not to get too political but as a recent example - when you have two representatives heckling the president during the freaking state of the union what message does that send about how Americans are meant to behave and treat one another? And to play both sides Biden making that comment about the reporter the other week was also a poor display of leadership.
 
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And there it is. The dumbest comment I will read on the internet for the day.

To the actual question my response is a lack of "shame" in society - and this is true amongst all age groups. There is no more "feeling bad" for doing bad things that impact others. If you're not getting arrested for it then it's all good. Starts at the top with our leaders selling the public to the highest bidders (sorry "donors") and down from there. People are encouraged to act in on own selfish interests and to heck with the consequences to anyone else in society - it's their "right" to act like an ass and nothing anyone can do about it. I'd suggest it's a lack of religion instilling the idea of shame but hell these days there's just as many shameful acts coming from the religious institutions as from anywhere else in society. And not to get too political but as a recent example - when you have two representatives heckling the president during the freaking state of the union what message does that send about how Americans are meant to behave and treat one another? And to play both sides Biden making that comment about the reporter the other week was also a poor display of leadership.
And not to be political as you put it, how about a speaker of the house tearing up a state of the union speech.
 
And not to be political as you put it, how about a speaker of the house tearing up a state of the union speech.
Absolutely agree - was just using recent events for arguments sake. How do we expect the general public to behave when our leaders act their shoe size - not their age. Unfortunately right now it’s a race to the bottom and I honestly don’t know how you reverse the trend.
Oh - and I forgot to say to the original article - name and shame! This kid should have his name in the article unless he’s a minor, but as he’s a member of the football team I’m guessing he’s over 18.
 
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Absolutely agree - was just using recent events for arguments sake. How do we expect the general public to behave when our leaders act their shoe size - not their age. Unfortunately right now it’s a race to the bottom and I honestly don’t know how you reverse the trend.
Oh - and I forgot to say to the original article - name and shame! This kid should have his name in the article unless he’s a minor, but as he’s a member of the football team I’m guessing he’s over 18.
There is very little to be proud of or have faith in on either side of the aisle.
 
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And not to be political as you put it, how about a speaker of the house tearing up a state of the union speech.
And further (of course also "not to be political"), how about an American President encouraging the events of 1/6/21.
 
My guess is that this is all just more visible today than it was years ago. I recall a person lighting a gal's hair (an afro with all kinds of product in it) on fire back when I was in HS. and there was a crew that did a few "things" in my class. One kid used to bring rubber bands and cut up hanger wire and shoot them at kids shooting free throws. I don't think he ever connected but he tried.

Good times!
I'm older, and admittedly from a different generation, but I have trouble with students at college basketball games and their "F**K whoever/whatever" chants. I am hardly a prude, but I can't stand it :(
 
And further (of course also "not to be political"), how about an American President encouraging the events of 1/6/21.
And not to be political, of course, how about a presidential candidate deleting 30,000 emails that were under subpoena?

Or a four year false Russian hoax to overthrow an elected President?
 
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OK, enough with the politics. Both sides have pointed out the other side. Bottom line is they’ve both pretty much sunk to the same level.

My question about the OP is how did the kid know about the opposing player? There has to be more to this story.

I dislike Ohio St as much as anyone else but I wouldn’t have a clue about the details of OSU players lives, much less the date of the passing of 1 of their players parents. How did this even become an ‘issue’ for opposing students to know about?

As for the idiocy of what the student did, it’s not that shocking anymore. There’s been a steady decline in acceptable behavior over the past few decades and you see it in everything from politics to media to parent behavior at sporting events to discussion boards like this.

After hearing what is allowed by teachers/ administrators in a local public grade school over the past few years (where kids routinely swear at teachers, hit them etc and the edict from the office to not punish them because mommy and daddy will be in a rage you dared correct their little darling), I’m not shocked anymore. 😡
 
OK, enough with the politics. Both sides have pointed out the other side. Bottom line is they’ve both pretty much sunk to the same level.

My question about the OP is how did the kid know about the opposing player? There has to be more to this story.

I dislike Ohio St as much as anyone else but I wouldn’t have a clue about the details of OSU players lives, much less the date of the passing of 1 of their players parents. How did this even become an ‘issue’ for opposing students to know about?This had nothing to do with Ohio State. It was a game between Westminster College and Washington and Jefferson.

As for the idiocy of what the student did, it’s not that shocking anymore. There’s been a steady decline in acceptable behavior over the past few decades and you see it in everything from politics to media to parent behavior at sporting events to discussion boards like this.

After hearing what is allowed by teachers/ administrators in a local public grade school over the past few years (where kids routinely swear at teachers, hit them etc and the edict from the office to not punish them because mommy and daddy will be in a rage you dared correct their little darling), I’m not shocked anymore. 😡
 
Well aware it was Westminster and W&J. I mentioned OSU only as a comparison for a PSU board.
 
One consequence of the Trump Administration that has "trickled down" through all levels of society is the acceptability of acting like a bloviating, a$$hat, having seen it so regularly in the last few years. I'm old, not ancient, and fondly remember a time when politicians, from the top down, acted with dignity and class and spoke eloquently. When Republicans disagreed with Democrats, and vice versa, they still treated each other with respect and a certain level of decorum. Things were that way in general society too, for the most part.

That notion has been declining for years and, IMHO, is now dead. Disagree with someone? Just yell louder than them and, while you're at it, call them names as well (in place of having anything constructive to say). I believe we would have gotten to this point eventually, but Trump accelerated things to warp speed.
 
One consequence of the Trump Administration that has "trickled down" through all levels of society is the acceptability of acting like a bloviating, a$$hat, having seen it so regularly in the last few years. I'm old, not ancient, and fondly remember a time when politicians, from the top down, acted with dignity and class and spoke eloquently. When Republicans disagreed with Democrats, and vice versa, they still treated each other with respect and a certain level of decorum. Things were that way in general society too, for the most part.

That notion has been declining for years and, IMHO, is now dead. Disagree with someone? Just yell louder than them and, while you're at it, call them names as well (in place of having anything constructive to say). I believe we would have gotten to this point eventually, but Trump accelerated things to warp speed.
Can't disagree with this.
 
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One consequence of the Trump Administration that has "trickled down" through all levels of society is the acceptability of acting like a bloviating, a$$hat, having seen it so regularly in the last few years. I'm old, not ancient, and fondly remember a time when politicians, from the top down, acted with dignity and class and spoke eloquently. When Republicans disagreed with Democrats, and vice versa, they still treated each other with respect and a certain level of decorum. Things were that way in general society too, for the most part.

That notion has been declining for years and, IMHO, is now dead. Disagree with someone? Just yell louder than them and, while you're at it, call them names as well (in place of having anything constructive to say). I believe we would have gotten to this point eventually, but Trump accelerated things to warp speed.
Can't disagree with this.
Oh yeah, everything was peachy keen....wine and roses....unicorns and flying pigs befthst evil orange man came along. What bunch of malarkey!
 
Oh yeah, everything was peachy keen....wine and roses....unicorns and flying pigs befthst evil orange man came along. What bunch of malarkey!
Point of clarification. My second paragraph begins with "That notion has been declining for years." Certainly I did not say things were peachy keen, wine and rose, unicorns and flying pigs before 2016. I DO think that Trump accelerated the decline dramatically, to the point of death it seems, just being himself.
 
Point of clarification. My second paragraph begins with "That notion has been declining for years." Certainly I did not say things were peachy keen, wine and rose, unicorns and flying pigs before 2016. I DO think that Trump accelerated the decline dramatically, to the point of death it seems, just being himself.
Well, entire blocks of Baltimore burned before Trump even declare his candidacy. Same for a Ferguson and East St Louis, Missouri. BLM protestors in the streets of NYC chanting “what do want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now” and “Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon” Five cops assassinated in Dallas. Two in NYC. More in other states.

Massive personal attacks on W Bush. Mitt Romney was pilloried. As was McCain.
 
Well, entire blocks of Baltimore burned before Trump even declare his candidacy. Same for a Ferguson and East St Louis, Missouri. BLM protestors in the streets of NYC chanting “what do want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now” and “Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon” Five cops assassinated in Dallas. Two in NYC. More in other states.

Massive personal attacks on W Bush. Mitt Romney was pilloried. As was McCain.
No doubt all that happened, and more. My only point was that, in my opinion, Trump rapidly accelerated the decline of civility in this country, more than any other politician ever, by being himself - an arrogant, pompous, a$$ (again, my opinion). I think many people in this country - right, left, GOP, Dem, independent, etc - have a hard time respecting a person who doesn't seem to respect any other human. I think most people in this country would agree that, overall, this is bad for the country as a whole. Agree, disagree, I really don't care; just my opinions and observations of America in 2022.
 
The loss of civility and hatred is due to the size of the stakes.

In 1952, it probably mattered not one whit who was president.

Your welfare depended upon working in private industry. Same as everyone else.

Government’s reach into the states was nonexistent.

Now, government is entangled in every aspect.

Entire deep state is Democrat.

So, the stakes are very high.
 
The loss of civility and hatred is due to the size of the stakes.

In 1952, it probably mattered not one whit who was president.

Your welfare depended upon working in private industry. Same as everyone else.

Government’s reach into the states was nonexistent.

Now, government is entangled in every aspect.

Entire deep state is Democrat.

So, the stakes are very high.
Interesting point.
 
Simple explanation....the masses are asses. Think of your classmates that pulled a C average and then take into account that about half the population is not that sharp. Back in the day, dullards went to work and provided for their families....likely didn't even read the news and may or may not have caught the 1 hour addition of Cronkite etc. on the TV.
CNN brought us the 24hour news cycle. You have to fill the time with something. I saw the impact on my father-in-law(in the late 80s and 90s), as he reached an advanced age and seemed to identify with every issue he viewed.
Now we have twitter, which has spawned a new level of insanity. It's incredible how many people take what they see there as gospel. Charlatans and "influencers" have thousands of followers.
It even has folks thinking that one political party has the answers and all others are evil.....There just isn't enough money going into research to fix stupid.
 
Simple explanation....the masses are asses. Think of your classmates that pulled a C average and then take into account that about half the population is not that sharp. Back in the day, dullards went to work and provided for their families....likely didn't even read the news and may or may not have caught the 1 hour addition of Cronkite etc. on the TV.
CNN brought us the 24hour news cycle. You have to fill the time with something. I saw the impact on my father-in-law(in the late 80s and 90s), as he reached an advanced age and seemed to identify with every issue he viewed.
Now we have twitter, which has spawned a new level of insanity. It's incredible how many people take what they see there as gospel. Charlatans and "influencers" have thousands of followers.
It even has folks thinking that one political party has the answers and all others are evil.....There just isn't enough money going into research to fix stupid.
The answer, the only answer, is less government, more individual freedom.

That's it. End of story.
 
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The answer, the only answer, is less government, more individual freedom.

That's it. End of story.
Agree strongly with Marshall on this one. Less government isn't fixing stupid. Then again, neither is more government. Some people just aren't that bright. Add in constant "news" coverage and social media and you have a recipe for America in 2022.
 
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The answer, the only answer, is less government, more individual freedom.

That's it. End of story.
Giving idiots less guidance and more freedom is a great idea. I see people referring to "their constitutional rights" all the time. Perhaps they missed or slept thru the part about screaming fire in a crowded venue or how the right to swing one's arms ends at the tip of my nose......
 
And there it is. The dumbest comment I will read on the internet for the day.

To the actual question my response is a lack of "shame" in society - and this is true amongst all age groups. There is no more "feeling bad" for doing bad things that impact others. If you're not getting arrested for it then it's all good. Starts at the top with our leaders selling the public to the highest bidders (sorry "donors") and down from there. People are encouraged to act in on own selfish interests and to heck with the consequences to anyone else in society - it's their "right" to act like an ass and nothing anyone can do about it. I'd suggest it's a lack of religion instilling the idea of shame but hell these days there's just as many shameful acts coming from the religious institutions as from anywhere else in society. And not to get too political but as a recent example - when you have two representatives heckling the president during the freaking state of the union what message does that send about how Americans are meant to behave and treat one another? And to play both sides Biden making that comment about the reporter the other week was also a poor display of leadership.
Every example you gave, with the exception of Biden's comment about a reporter, is the direct result of Bad Parenting.

Biden gets the pass since he's old and mentally frail and just popped out of frustration.
 
Agree strongly with Marshall on this one. Less government isn't fixing stupid. Then again, neither is more government. Some people just aren't that bright. Add in constant "news" coverage and social media and you have a recipe for America in 2022.
Well, you and he are wrong.

With minimal government, only YOU pay for your stupidity. You don't impact me.

With big government, I get taxed to pay benefits for stupid people.

With big government, I get forced to interact with more stupid people, because gubmint hires them and even better, places them in positions of authority....TSA anyone?

In private employment, stupid equals uncompetitive, which means they go away by market forces.

With gubmint - stupid doesn't matter. Not even an ounce.
 
Well, you and he are wrong.

With minimal government, only YOU pay for your stupidity. You don't impact me.

With big government, I get taxed to pay benefits for stupid people.

With big government, I get forced to interact with more stupid people, because gubmint hires them and even better, places them in positions of authority....TSA anyone?

In private employment, stupid equals uncompetitive, which means they go away by market forces.

With gubmint - stupid doesn't matter. Not even an ounce.
You are a bitter, small minded man, aren't you? Sorry, genius. :)
I hope you have some joy in your life, rather than just hatred for the "great unwashed masses," as I'm sure you're apt to call anyone who disagrees with your politics.
 
You are a bitter, small minded man, aren't you? Sorry, genius. :)
I hope you have some joy in your life, rather than just hatred for the "great unwashed masses," as I'm sure you're apt to call anyone who disagrees with your politics.
That’s what you took from my post?

I argue for freedom for all.

Freedom from vile authoritarians like Fauci, Pelosi, Romney, Schumer, and even Trump (if you see him that way).

Minimalist government frees us all.
 
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That’s what you took from my post?

I argue for freedom for all.

Freedom from vile authoritarians like Fauci, Pelosi, Romney, Schumer, and even Trump (if you see him that way).

Minimalist government frees us all.
lol
 
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