General Chat / Pussification of America

So there seems to be this trend in American schools, and maybe across the Atlantic too I don't know, of administrations just becoming a bunch of giant pussies. As a proud American I hate to admit it but it's just too true to deny. From things like kicking kids out of high schools for tweeting curse words, suspending kids for 'Tebowing' in the hallway, and expelling kids from universities for getting caught drinking on campus. It just seems that in the past people were able to do these things and get a small slap on the wrist, and America seemed to be running smoothly back then, so why the changes?

So I'll share some personal examples and then open it up for you guys to share yours...

First of all, back in my time at high school I saw dodgeball get banned from gym class because it was deemed too dangerous. Why is it too dangerous now but not for the past 50+ years? We also were able to leave campus for our lunch period when I was in high school but this year they changed it because it was decided to be an unnecessary risk to have students driving during that extra time. Again why now?

Now fast forward to my time in college and last semester our fraternity got put on probation for excessive hazing...they caught one brother making a pledge call his mom to sing her happy birthday on her birthday...seriously. Then last week my friend got his right to study abroad stripped from him because they caught him drinking, at the age of 20, inside of our house...

Anyway, I think this is really changing the culture of the youth of our country as a whole, and was wondering if any of you guys are seeing anything similar

Our school's administration, which is so beloved for its laissez-faire attitude around campus--the university is very largely student run, and I mean very largely--is beginning to tighten its grip as well. They are making mandatory changes to programs and traditions that have been long-established, and it's starting to get worrisome. Thirty years ago, jacks (pranks) on campus were extreme and legendary, and most of them didn't even need approval. Nowadays, you can't get anything decently creative approved. (Tangent: incidentally, a friend of mine decided to be rebellious. His story is at the end of this post if you're interested.) Another instance: our campus is a wet campus. I really like this, because although some people see that as a green light to get drunk every night, students here treat it as a real privilege and a policy that actually allows for more careful drinking habits. However, I've noticed general changes in policy that have implied a movement away from this, which I believe would cause a more dangerous situation for my university's students.

Long story short (if you don't go here it would take forever to explain the situation, as our culture is very nuanced), I see the same trend you have noticed beginning, albeit on a smaller level, here at my campus, and it definitely is worrisome to me.

My friend's story: he is a tour guide for the school and gets paid to give tours, right? But he also loves to have fun and pull pranks. So one day, he decided to pull one on his tour group without any warning to the administration. While giving a tour, he was walking by one of the street crossings on campus, and suddenly a white van pulled up, two masked men got out, bagged him, and dragged him in the van, and another girl wearing a tour guide shirt got out and continued giving the tour as if nothing happened. Talk about a memorable campus visit, right? I guarantee you everyone on the tour applied, yet for some reason these fun, harmless jokes are discouraged.

I suggest you watch all the movies depicting a dystopian society that you can get your hands on a then connect the dots

*Gonna edit more into here later about the situation in Germany*

Gwazi, yeah one of my main reasons for posting this topic is because it's a shame to see all these traditions going away at my school in just the two years I've been here. The story about your friend is hilarious as well, I don't actually think the administration would have too big of a problem with that here, they're all about finding ways to get people to come to their university it's just some reason they think toning down our parties and social life is one of them

Interesting Casimir, never heard of that word but I looked it up and it pretty much sums up the situation perfectly. Now if I was looking for a more proper title than pussification of america I could call it 'Dystopia in America' I guess

Sorry for the double post but I just saw this post by RamSam in another topic...

This will the first 4/20 of college that I do not have class in the afternoon. I was planning to drive down to Boulder with my roommates after class, but with my luck, this happens to be the year Boulder decided to cancel their festivities. CU is closing down campus to all visitors tomorrow, so we will just be staying around the house instead. CU plans to have cops stationed at all campus entrances to check student IDs, and the open grass areas will be sprayed with with a fish-based fertilizer tomorrow too. CU officials state the crowd has become too large and expensive to control in recent years, so instead they are put on a concert tomorrow to distract students. What's funny is this concert costs three times as much to put on as crowd control for the smoke out. And they will still have the cost of having Boulder and CU PD around campus. Officials put so much time and effort into changing the campus image, but that only becomes more of a waste the harder they try, because CU Boulder is known for weed and always will be.

Perfect example of the pussification of America!

Yeah our most famous party, Night of Decadence, used to be in the Rolling Stones Top 10 Parties list. Now it's tame as fuck.

Stop being a pussy and stop complaining.

Discussion =/= complaining

Love it or never talk about it.

This is Merica

My elementary school banned tag while I went their since a couple people tripped.. Now, according to my friend's little brother, they dont let the kids run in the playground area..

I wasn't allowed to play with Beyblades in my Primary school because I launched one and it landed on another kids and broke it.

Pussys.

I remember they banned the use of Yu-Gi-Oh cards during school hours at my K-8 school I went to for six years because "they heard" they were "causing problems" at other schools.

A more coaster related example:

Why are B&Ms so tame nowadays?

It's not because of the designers.

It's THE PARKS not wanting a high intensity/ G filled ride.

Love it or never talk about it.

This is Merica

Somebodys gotta pay the bills, we can't all just stay home and hang with the family ya know

I wasn't allowed to play with Beyblades in my Primary school because I launched one and it landed on another kids and broke it.

Pussys.

Those used to be my favorite thing next to RCT2, ever.

Yeah pretty much every phase we went through with the different toys in elementary school would get banned
It started with yo-yos then they became too dangerous with people trying to pull around the worlds and shit in the classroom. Then it was Pokemon cards, I don't even remember why they were banned, probably something ridiculous like the rich kids had more or something, same with Yu-Gi-Oh. Finally in like 5th grade they banned Tech Decks because we started bringing in the actual skate parks and not just the boards, they just didn't want us doing that which is sort of understandable. That stuff I kinda get. They wanted us running around during recess playing kickball and shit instead of sitting on picninc tables trading Pokemon cards and doing kickflips with our fingers on miniature skateboards. Schools not the place for that, we could do that at home in our free time. It's really just the more recent stuff in the past 5 or so years that I don't understand

Here's another example of something that happened today, perfect timing for me starting this topic really. So we had our formal weekend last weekend out of state and for some reason the head of Greek Life here didn't want us to have kegs there. She has something against kegs I don't know what it is, maybe she's just oblivious and thinks kegs get you drunker than normal beer or maybe she just wants to make it as hard as possible for us to drink and kegs are convenient. She banned them from being on the univeristy entirely years ago, and this year she decided we couldn't even have them at our formal which is 4 hours away and in a different state. How that's her decision I don't know but it's beyond the point. So somehow she's claiming now that she saw some of us driving there with kegs in the car, which people were because it's a lot cheaper, and she put us on 6 months social probation. So long story short we got in trouble for 21 year olds driving with kegs in their car. She didn't actually see them at the formal, or anyone underage drinking them, she just figured she could put the two together

Wait, is this topic about administration and issues or "I got in trouble and want to complain about it"? I agree that things are getting stricter, and that these punishments and consequences are way too harsh for the "crime," which there isn't, but shouldn't it just be more apt to make this a complaint thread? It's all that's seeming to go on in here...

I received an underage drinking citation by an undercover ALE officer when I was 20, for drinking less than one beer while tailgating at a football game. Life sucks, but it goes on man! I agree that America is being "pussified" as you put it, but the law is the law and you can't fault administration or law enforcement for, well, enforcing it. Hell, just tonight I was carded by ALE in the parking lot of the grocery store after coming out with 2 6-packs. It's pretty absurd, but it's not the end of the world.

Wait, is this topic about administration and issues or "I got in trouble and want to complain about it"? I agree that things are getting stricter, and that these punishments and consequences are way too harsh for the "crime," which there isn't, but shouldn't it just be more apt to make this a complaint thread? It's all that's seeming to go on in here...

No, what are you talking about? The story in my previous post just happened to occur right after I made this thread so I found it ironic and mentioned it...I'm not complaining or looking for any sympathy. Do you not agree it's ridiculous for a school to make a rule against having kegs at a non school related function in a completely different state? that's all I was trying to say

And no it wouldn't be more apt to just make a complaint thread. I'm not looking to hear about how people's dinner was too cold or how movie prices are too high. I'm looking for people to share their encounters of strict administrations across the country and possibly elsewhere in the world because I am interested in the changes that society is going through

I received an underage drinking citation by an undercover ALE officer when I was 20, for drinking less than one beer while tailgating at a football game. Life sucks, but it goes on man! I agree that America is being "pussified" as you put it, but the law is the law and you can't fault administration or law enforcement for, well, enforcing it. Hell, just tonight I was carded by ALE in the parking lot of the grocery store after coming out with 2 6-packs. It's pretty absurd, but it's not the end of the world

That's not the type of thing I'm talking about...I'm just faulting school administration not law enforcement. The only time anybody here mentioned actually breaking American law was when I said my friend got caught drinking inside our own house at the age of 20, and I agree he deserves a underage citation because he broke the law, but I don't believe it's right for the school to then not let him study abroad on top of that

I don't know, usually when I call administration members pussies, it's perceived as complaining. I'm just saying that this topic will probably end up with people COMPLAINING about getting in trouble due to teachers, bosses, and other administrative figures. It's not the "Pussification of America," it's the standard complaining about authority figures we do, we've always done, and will always do. Part of the reason why this is so evident to us now, especially those of us in college, is because we're getting to the age where we're expecting more freedoms for ourselves, and we're noticing people trying to take these freedoms away more. This isn't new at all, and it's not a growing trend; people have always complained, and will continue to complain, and as far as I'm concerned, all of the posts in the topic are complaints, whether you acknowledge them or not. Like I said, I don't think the decisions were fair, and there is a sense of strictness, but it's still complaining. Besides, I bet a lot of te increased strictness comes from increased liability; America is sue-happy, partially due to people who COMPLAIN and feel they need retribution. Any institution can be expected to tighten the reins if any slip-up will cause some self-important fuck to demand money.

Basically, my point is that this should be a discussion about both sides, rather than storytime about that one time you, as in the collective you, got in trouble at school and the subsequent "they're all pussies" complaints.

The thing is, nobody is getting in trouble at our campus. The administration is just tightening its grip on its own. There's nothing for me to complain about, just something for me to discuss with worry.

There's a fine line between complaining and discussing something in a negative light. Complaining indicates that there is a personal gain to be made or a personal loss that has occurred. That's not the case here.

I agree that this topic can turn to complaining very easily, but it is not that as of yet.