Joel

There are sarcastic comments made about young women in various Media (Radio, TV, Newspaper, On-Line News) which really lead me to wonder what has happened to "The Next Generation!"

In my Parents' Generation, there was respectful dialogue between the sexes - both when "the other" was present and when they were not! Now, the Media seem to delight in "poking fun at women!"

I find this to be degrading and demoralizing! It embarasses me so, I will not watch a tv show or listen to a radio station which continues to insult women in this fashion! I often File Complaints with the Station Manager, but I wonder if anyone even hears what I am saying!

Do any of you agree with my perception of this problem?

I don't see how young men and young women can ever get along, if the young men persist in this "Passive-Aggressive Manner!"

Are we living in an era of "Woman-Haters????"

Why do young men (and older ones, too!) take out their frustrations on all of us?????

I used to get along with people in all different age groups. I used this skill to develop relationships at work, in the family, with friends, etc. I can only think of a few friendships that ended up "on the rocks," and that was because the other people expected more of me than I could deliver! In the past ll-15 years, I have been losing that ability. I feel like I am constantly "overwhelmed" with the thoughtless comments and actions of some people who are younger than I am! Our generation was taught "what to say and do " and "what not to say and do," and it seems like "the next generation" doesn't think at all, even though we taught them the same things! I always feel like buying them a book by Emily Post or maybe a book on "Understanding Older People!"

What is wrong with the next generation?????

I know a few people and a few relatives who got great grades in school, could solve any Algebra problem, loved Chemistry and Physics, could read very quickly, and could memorize details in History, Geography, and other Social Sciences. Some of them are Gifted in the Humanities, as well! Yet, when it comes down to "common sense," they all fall short. They "don't get it" when

the facts are "lined up in a row!" They "don't hear it," even when people say the same thing to them over and over and over again. They "don't see it," when the evidence is right in front of them!

It is exhausting trying to communicate with these people, because they always want to have "the last word," and most of the time their "last word" is factually incorrect or biased! Sometimes, they do things which are really DUMB!

Does anybody know how a person learns "common sense?" I don't think it happens at school!

In l989-1993, I met a group of school children who could not read!

I had never met anyone with that problem at that age, since I was a very young girl!

There was an entire school full of students who were labelled "Special Education!"

Then the IDEA Act was passed, and people in my State misinterpreted it to mean "Mainstream All the Students," instead of giving them the help that they needed! For one hour per day, they were all squashed into one class -- with every conceivable Disability on record! There was no way any one teacher could conduct a class like that!

The most intelligent arrangement for kids with Special Education problems was one school in the town where I live. It as "set off" from the average path, and the students received the attention they needed to achieve at least partial success!

One classroom in another school, however, had two Teacher Aides, because there were "too many types of Disabilities in one classroom." And in a third school, the teacher obviously had not taught her students anything about "Self Control," because the class was obnoxious and I reported them to the Principal's Office!

I think that students should be separated according to "Type of Disability." If they are "Behavior Problems," maybe they need to be in a "24-hour Facility." If they merely have problems with "Reading" or "Math," that is something different! I don't think kids with "Learning Disabilities" should be "mixed" in a classroom with those who have "Behavior Disorders!" Those are two different problems,and they need two different approaches!

For the past l0 years, however, the State Budget Cuts have deeply affected "Special Education."

Some Gifted Kids I know cannot keep their notebooks in order by subject, or use "Encoding" and "Decoding Skills" in learning to read new words! I worry about that! How will they succeed in the future?

So the President and Congress issued a new Law to put Funding back into the Public School System, so these kids could obtain the skills they will need to be successful in the later grades!

That is very good news, but in the State where I live, I have been told that "Dyslexia" is not a recognized "Learning Disability!"

Back to Space One!

I am the daughter of two Newspaper staff members: a Sports Editor/Sports Columnist/Copy Editor/Freelance Writer and the Secretary to the Newspaper Editor, who was also a prizewinning poet!. I remember the our town newspaper contained many "Human Interest" stories when I was a kid, all the way up to the present. When I was in high school and college, I wrote lots of "Feature Stories" about interesting individuals I met, and they were all published in the school newspaper with my byline. I was then given the title of "Feature Editor." I also wrote for the Public Relations Department at my University, for the Student Musical Theatre Company, and for a weekly Suburban Newspaper, as well as a weekly Magazine with Citywide and SuburbanCirculation , and I edited several newsletters for Non-Profits. My sister wrote freelance and published two books. In my home, I have written 4 unpublished novels, l volume of poetry, and have Copyrighted 3 Art-Filled Textbooks..

Recently, I was told that in order to publish an Obituary in the form of a Feature Story, the writer had to "pay money" to the newspaper. I am "in shock!"

Every human life has some value. If the story is not told and the family gets smaller and smaller over the years, then nobody will know the story if the newspaper doesn't print it!

I am having a hard time understanding why newspapers are having so many financial problems these days! Even if they go "on-line," they have many advertisers.to support them - they don't need our money!

The purpose of a newspaper is to provide a service to its customers and not to "rob them" to provide this service! It is supposed to present the news in an objective fashion. Asking the mourner to pay $200 for a half-inch paragraph containing minor information for an Obituary is greedy! And refusing to print a "Human Interest Story" about that individual is ridiculous!

No wonder newspapers are going out of business! I can read the news on-line for free, and nobody sends me a bill but the Internet provider!

After I write a comment and push the "Send" button, the screen freezes over, and the message does not go through! This often applies on the News Blogs as well as the Corporation Websites.

I think they really don't want anyone to send them Feedback, so they "block" the answers so they can't receive them! It is just a "front" that they are interested in other people's opinions!

Why bother to waste my time?

I think it is a "double-bind situation," i.e., "I can't win!"

I don't think Americans are hated -- I think it is the other way around!

My mother was a very open-minded woman. She taught me to value people for who they were, instead of the color of their skin.

My dad came from a very conservative family.....actually they were Southern bigots. But he had the most open mind of all of them, because he also learned to appreciate people for who they were, instead of the color of their skin.

I always wonder - if he could learn, why can't other people?

Why do many Caucasians I have met feel that "The Mexicans are out to get us!" "The Black guys are out to get us!" "The Middle-Easterners are out to get us!"

Each culture is brought up in its own traditions. When "outsiders" force their way into their country, they have a right to feel that they have been intruded upon. If they stand up for themselves, the wealthier nations "beat them down." Witness the changes in the Rain Forest --- who do the "Intruders" really think they are helping?

When we divide people into groups according to their country of origin, we lose the chance to learn something beautiful from them: their songs, their poetry, their art, their literature, their customs and ceremonies. The field of Anthropology would not even exist if people like Albert Schweitzer and Margaret Mead and others had been scared to meet people from other cultures and to learn something from them.

When you open a textbook on Sociology, it does not say, "These people are good; these people are bad." It says, "These people are different from us! Let's see what we can learn about them to enrich our own lives!"

I don't understand the concept of HATE. However, I DO understand the concept of FEAR. What I fear most is someone forcing their opinons on me and then telling lies about me and smearing my name, because I happen to have some friends from various cultures. That is cruel and immature and eventually, they will pay for what they have done to me by losing all their friends!

I just spent about l5 minutes commenting on someone's horoscope. There was nothing "dirty" in it!

The "Parental Controls" button says it censors "Dating" information!

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life!

I grew up in a Feminist family. There were 8 women in my immediate and extended family and only 5-6 men. The women "ran the show."

The men were either "partners" to the women or "did their own thing."

I don't remember any "male-female struggles." It was just accepted in my culture that women ran the home and men worked in their workplace.

My Dad was not the "boss" of his day job. He took on many extracurricular activities to earn money, where he could be "his own boss." So he held about 4 jobs instead of one. My mom had one job (she worked most of her life) and she probably earned more money than he did! He did not feel "threatened" by her, because they were "partners" and "friends," as well as husband and wife.

The Women's Movement began in the early l900's, when my mother and her two sisters were young. After women obtained the vote, the subject should have been closed on "Male-Female Competition," but in the late l960's, the cycle began once more. I thought the situation was all settled back in l968-78, when women forced their way into giant corporations and became Business Executives of their own companies. But it appears I was wrong!

Now the grandchildren of those very strong women of the late 60's and the brilliant masterminds of the early l900's are beginning to question once more the roles of Male vs. Female. It has been 40 years, and it feels like no young American men have read the history of the Women's Movement, or even know that it existed!

Men like to dominate; that seems to be a fact of life and it can be traced through a study of Anthropology. But women "keep the home fires burning." If there were no women, there would be no children, no dinner, no interior decorating, no fashions to wear, and very little creativity. The majority of people selling at an Art Fair are female.

The emergence of Female Writers in the world of Fiction, Non-Fiction,

and Biography is worth noting. There are women in Radio and TV Broadcasting, Politics, Music, and Academia.

So why does the "Power Struggle" go on?

Because some men just have not yet "grown up" and faced the fact that women deserve respect for their "Creativity" and "Professional-ism," their sense of "Ethics" and "Fair Play," and their contributions to the world we live in. These men were "threatened" by their own mothers, and they never resolved that problem, so they transferred it on to us.

We weren't there, and we are not to blame! These men need serious help in a therapist's office to resolve their dilemmas, not "woman-bashing!"