The thing is, all the fun things that adults used to be able to do to blow off steam away from kids, keep getting ruined by going more “family friendly”. When I was a kid, there was a thing at the boulder reservoir with music and events, and people would drink and smoke weed and be mostly left alone. They made it family friendly and it started to die, then they decided it wasn’t eco-friendly so they killed it off.
Ragrbrai in Iowa happened the same way. A weeklong ride across the state that changes stops every year. Used to be drunken debauchery at the stops and now it’s family friendly and no fun anymore. Concerts are the same way. I know kids listen to slipknot, but why the fuck should I watch my mouth now that kids are around, when the singers saying much worse (in context) on stage? I’m sure everyone everywhere in America has a story like this. 4th of July on Apple River, in Wisconsin, back in college it was a blast. Alcohol and titties everywhere. I haven’t been since cops started going and enforcing shit.
I blame 2008 a lot of people didn’t have money to spend individually so they had to combo it into family time. Combine that with the fact that a lot of the places that used to cater to adults started to get increasingly ratty and decrepit without being replaced and ya end up with a rather bad feedback loop. In my area for example there’s only really one thing an adult can do at night in public that being go to a bar, but I know for a fact that when I was a kid a lot of places switched over to adults only past 8 PM so that they could attract folks who didn’t want to deal with kids nearby and I’m not just talking about a mini golf course or some shit there used to be a hobby store near me that did adults only Warhammer games at night which just meant bear and cussing.
The thing is, all the fun things that adults used to be able to do to blow off steam away from kids, keep getting ruined by going more “family friendly”. When I was a kid, there was a thing at the boulder reservoir with music and events, and people would drink and smoke weed and be mostly left alone. They made it family friendly and it started to die, then they decided it wasn’t eco-friendly so they killed it off.
Ragrbrai in Iowa happened the same way. A weeklong ride across the state that changes stops every year. Used to be drunken debauchery at the stops and now it’s family friendly and no fun anymore. Concerts are the same way. I know kids listen to slipknot, but why the fuck should I watch my mouth now that kids are around, when the singers saying much worse (in context) on stage? I’m sure everyone everywhere in America has a story like this. 4th of July on Apple River, in Wisconsin, back in college it was a blast. Alcohol and titties everywhere. I haven’t been since cops started going and enforcing shit.
I blame 2008 a lot of people didn’t have money to spend individually so they had to combo it into family time. Combine that with the fact that a lot of the places that used to cater to adults started to get increasingly ratty and decrepit without being replaced and ya end up with a rather bad feedback loop. In my area for example there’s only really one thing an adult can do at night in public that being go to a bar, but I know for a fact that when I was a kid a lot of places switched over to adults only past 8 PM so that they could attract folks who didn’t want to deal with kids nearby and I’m not just talking about a mini golf course or some shit there used to be a hobby store near me that did adults only Warhammer games at night which just meant bear and cussing.
It’s feels like America never really learned to maintain things.