The Downloaders Generation Gimmee

RE: The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd. A Response from an Acerbic Dinosaur.
Um...I agree...
But I was born in 1954.
Our cable was that steel wound stuff we used to hold the chariot together.
We used other cable to hang a transistor radio from our belts, or on the handle bar of our bikes.
I actually remember 8-track tape being a wonder of scientific ingenuity.
I bought 45 records. Lots...and rode my bike with Angel wing handle bars and Bananna seats to the record store to buy them. L.P. (that stands for Long Player phonograph record) were an extravagance few could afford on 35 cents allowance per week. We could afford,however to go to the Saturday Matinee and get a BIG ASS Milky Way and fountain drink.
They shot and beat the shit out of people for having long hair- tattoos were found in the circus or the jailhouse. Earrings were usually of the clunky clip-on variety. They were worn by women or movie Pirates.
Gay meant happy at Christmas or the church dance (Preferably Protestant.)after Lent.
Listening to Rock N' Roll was a subversive act. It took actual guts to be different. It took guts to have Black Friends. It took guts to refuse to say the pledge of allegiance in school because you had questions for an AUTHORITY who forced you to do so in what was supposed to be a free country.
They tried to tell us to "Duck and Cover" under our desks at school because that would protect us from Nuclear Attack.
We saw riots in the streets daily. They assassinated anyone who tried to tell the truth.
They expelled you from school for being a non-conformist.
They beat you with belts,and paddles for not wearing socks, talking back,not tucking your shirt tail in,or falling asleep in class. God help you if you questioned the Vietnam War.
They told us "Potted Meat Food Product" was healthy for lunch.
If we wanted to know what was happening, we turned on Ed Sullivan for new music.
Gidget was the epitome of beach babe.
Pat Boone was used as a cultural shill to clean up "race music". We kids knew better.
He sucked then and he sucks now.
We knew that if we wanted change we got our asses into the street and protested to stop Racism,War, the Draft, and the use of wax paper to wrap potted meat food product in our lunchboxes. Which, by the way, were truly cool because we had cool bands on them and of course- Mr. Ed the Horse, My Favorite Martian,Gidget and The Beatles. These things are worth a CRAPLOAD of money today.
We had 3 channels. Maybe. AM Radio was the shit! We lived for the next new song to make us dance and be happy.
None of you under 45 year olds would have survived the 60's OR 70's, because we would have beat your ass and took your lunch money and bought Rolling Stones records with it.
MTF