sdlitvin@earthlink.net (Steven L.) wrote:

40 years ago, everyone was so trusting that the "authorities" would do
whatever it could to keep us from harm. ..Go figure...  This defoliant
spraying was approved by the British Columbia Gov. --forestry dept.

...But heck, when I was a kid, we used to play around hydro
transformers (with their lids removed); We all had mouths full of
mercury fillings; we used to play with big hunks of liquid mercury at
school; all our buildings were covered inside and out with lead based
paint -- and various types of asbestos products; we were inoculated with
polio vaccines that had something or another to do with a monkey cancer
virus; we used to fish at our dock where the water had a permanent oil
slick on it; we had a light plant in our school, whose exhaust was
sucked in via the hot air furnace -- damn near killed everyone in the
school; our drinking water had mosquito larvae floating in it from time
to time, but we never boiled it; we could tell when the salmon were
running in the river, 'cause you could smell the rot in your drinking
glass from their decomposing bodies; we never, ever gave it a thought as
to how well our burgers were cooked in the local restaurants.  

..I tell, you... I'm surprised that any of us even made it to
adulthood. ...Unfortunately, now the world has gone off the deep end in
the other direction.  Sort of like the "Twilight Zone" in reverse...
Only with the cold war paranoia being replaced by environmental, and
personal health fears.   ...We're all becoming:  Al-gorized.  

We're almost at the point now where we don't even dare light a campfire,
less the world collapse in on itself from the smoke pollution.  ...Gone
are the days where you couldn't smoke within 15 feet of a gas pump...
Now, you have to basically go across the street -- And they're even
trying to ban that  (--as they pass the joint around)..  .... Further...
You can't buy a piece of meat any more, to save your life that has even
so much as an 1/8 of an inch of fat showing on it.  Moreover, given the
power of the minority, I foresee all meat products will be banned for
our use anyways, within the next 50 years -- just lke smoking was.
..All our food is fortified with various elements, vitamins and
antibiotics, to keep us from ever getting sick -- and if you prefer the
normal (organic?) stuff, then you pay through the nose for it.
..Further...  You don't dare go out in the sun any more, as you're
guaranteed to get skin cancer, within 10 minutes..

I tell you...  I think if "The War of the Worlds" ever came to pass,
we'd probably die from our own diseases before the aliens...  God help
us if our kids should ever get the cold or a flu today.  (You know:
those awful immunity builders)

So what is my point?  Well...  40 years from now, what will they be
saying about the currently "deemed to be safe" catscans?  ...Or how
about the "currently deemed to be safe" radiation from cell phones?
Irradiated foods? Fumes given off from various manufactured plastics?
Nitrites and nitrates? Air-tight buildings? The exhaust given off from
vehicles deemed environmentally friendly?

Personally... I don't think the world is really getting any safer than
what it was when I was a kid.. We just haven't realized the current
dangers yet.     ...Jon