Reflections and memories of early days

How many times have we sat back and reflected on the violence and goings on in our busy town and world and thought it wasn’t like that in my days?

I see someone has been stabbed in a local town and just down the road some other poor devil has been shot dead.

Is it my imagination or are we getting to be more violent I hear you say. Well I can remember the gang warfare that went on in the late fifties and early sixties, believe me it was not a pretty sight, people opened up with broken bottles and I do mean cut open. Motor bike chains and dusters were the favoured weapon for inflicting damage in the sixties and yes they do leave a mark.

So are we more evil now?

Evil presupposes a moral decision and someone thinking about what they are about to do. A moron or lout acts like an animal, on instinct and seems proud to mess everything and everyone up that appears to have something, or be different from them.

So are we more evil now? No I think moronic or loutish are better words. More evilness and less moronicity PLEASE this is what we need.

There I go again personalising the site with my own opinions, I expect my wife will give me another evil look; still as long as its not moronic or loutish why should I care.

Yes dear, sorry dear, no it wont happen again dear, not the chain again dear ARGHHHHHH.

Doug Lindsay

Maidstone I remember it well: Reflections & Memories....Ah, there are many issues here, as you say there was violence and unruly behaviour back in the 50s & 60s, I well recall seeing bunches of 'teddy boys' brandishing knuckle dusters, bicycle chains and the like standing outside Woolworths in Week Street, they even had YoYos too, remember them!! There were often fights between drunken gangs outside various pubs in town too, mainly fuelled by alcohol I'm sure, but the big difference between then and now is discipline and respect. In those days we had many pedestrian policemen on the beat, they knew the trouble spots, and they knew the trouble makers too, and they respected each other, and we were all far more disciplined in our behaviour probably due to the recent WW2, rationing and continuing National Service making everyone far more concious of their actions. Once the sixties were upon us and we all had more disposable income and no National Service things started to change, gradually everyone had TV we became more informed, news became immediate, and we continued to earn more money. That still goes on today with the immediacy of the Internet, far more travel, even more disposable income and everyone wanting their own slice of the action has brought us to today's society where respect and discipline has disappeared to an extent. We used to respect the local copper or inn keeper, today they are often jeered at by youngsters who have had little discipline at school, often due to legislation, and thereby they respect nothing and think the state owes them a living! The difference about today's misbehaviour and violence is the fact that there's a far better chance of getting away with it, hence its almost acceptance by society, whereas, as you said, there was definitely some horrible violence and crime in the immediate post war period and people were hurt, but that was a minority, in the main we were far more well behaved and had respect for each other, and authority, which seems lacking today