Category: Observations

I present to you a mental image:

I’m wearing a Speedo.

…Don’t get caught up in the details there.  Just conceptualize it.

I’m wearing a Speedo in my backyard and tanning, within obvious full view of the neighbor’s large living room window.  Is your reaction to do a double take, snicker, and maybe snap a photo and share it?

Now instead, envision a young woman in a bikini sunning herself in the nextdoor yard, within full view of your own living room window.

Implications on the obvious forfeiture of the reasonable expectation of privacy guidelines aside, is it wrong?

Or is it merely a yet another double-standard?  Is it another scenario in which an action perceived to be unfair by a woman is sexist, yet its inverse is “just the way it is”?  And any attempt to argue to the contrary results in the privilege discussion, thereby invalidating by contemporary social conventions the entire argument?

A few years back I attempted to find an answer to this broader question (in short, I didn’t):

Reddit: Sexism

But the criticism I received from my sister reminded me of this old dialog.  In fact, the criticism I received actually made it a sexism issue–something that really wasn’t at the forefront of my mind at the time.  I just thought it was funny.  But my sister seems to have a giant chip on her shoulder in these matters, and all too easily either takes something out of context or re-interprets it for a different discussion.  I’m usually pretty good at determining that ahead of time.  Guess I was just feeling cantankerous myself.  Must run in the family.

The original post probably isn’t worth the effort to revisit, but it’s good to know how very little progress we’ve made as a society in this field since then.

Also, I do snicker (every time–it’s a routine occurrence).

–Simon

This post is, indirectly, the intended part 3 of the time period nostalgia review started here.  It began under more positive times.

---

It was supposed to be my decade, in the idolized retro 1950’s way.  I had finally achieved a rather decent salary, in fact putting me in the top 17% of Americans–not bad for an Ohio resident/History major.  I have my house.  I have my family.  I have my car.  I have my gardens.  Possessions might not define the man, but they remain an integral variable in the equation of life’s material existence.

Yet the victory is bittersweet.  Not all are so fortunate, and it dampers the elation to see so many of my contemporaries struggling.

Business closures will reduce consumer choice and consolidate markets.  Schooling taught from home will hold a generation’s academics behind.  Record unemployment will again permanently damage the lifelong earning potential for those impacted.  Collapsing equity values will damage retirements.

It was not the hopeful predictions I had planned to write for this installment.

–Simon

This is part 2.  For part 1, go here.

---

Ah the 90s.  In all honesty, I didn’t much care for them, but that’s because I was a kid and being a kid sucked.  Then again, as I discussed in the prior post, nostalgia is part missing something that can never be reclaimed, not simply the state of mind I was in at the time.  So, what’s been lost to the annuls of history, or will one day be lost, yet iconic to this decade?

I enlisted Liz’s help for a list (this is not a list post–I hate those).  Here’s what we came up with:

• Shopping malls: The family day trips with acquisition objectives.  Someone always needed shoes it seemed, and there was never a dedicated trip to a shoe store.  No, instead the clan was loaded up and sent off to the South Plains Mall (AKA “The Piece of Bread and Three Candy Bars” mall–my sister though that’s what the sign looked like), where mom and dad would divide and conquer, dragging us to multiple outlets for everything else that was running out or no longer fit.  Socks, bras, and jeans were the common items, and the proper brands for each were never at the same store.  On second thought, this might not be nostalgia at all.  Then again, there were the stops at the aquarium store, the nature store, and the McDonald’s–all in the mall.  Maybe it’s the idea of actually shopping that’ll be missed, replaced by the instant online ordering and one day shipping.  Searching for the right item was miserable, but allowed for instant gratification.
• Cash: My dad still pays with cash.  I find it cumbersome now, yet it’s tangible.  At one brief point in my life I worked for tips, and while the pay was paltry, the envelope of $1 bills in my lockbox sure seemed like a lot of money.  Cash was fun, and exciting, and still somewhat of a mystery.  How did they get that security strip in there?  And a fat wallet sure made me feel rich.
• Driving: I don’t see us as a society ever fully getting away from personal automobiles, but with the advancements of autonomous vehicles, it’s well within the realm of possibility.  And ride-sharing programs will fill the gaps.  In short, there will be far less of an immediate need for personal cars in early adulthood.
• Bookstores: Once upon a time these were the only place to get books.  We were at the mercy of whatever they stocked, but that also made finding a certain book more exciting.  Now we can buy whatever suits our whim, and with endless choice comes decision anxiety.  Maybe this is more of a commentary on ecommerce as a whole, but the bookstore especially was such a fun place to explore endlessly.

I realize now that much of what defined the 90s was the technological advances, specifically the internet; or rather, the calm immediately preceding the technological storm.  The 90s was the last truly tangible decade, before the digital world.  It wasn’t necessarily disconnected, but the connections were slow.  Navigating the world in the 90s was more deliberate and time-consuming.  I daresay that it was a simpler time as a result.

–Simon