This is something that I have been thinking about that has really been bothering me. What happens over time that turns such nice places into such terrible places. Im talking about cities like Camden and Philadelphia. These are places that years ago when they were first settled people were excited to live there and to make it beautiful. Lots of people of historical signifigance resided in these areas and were proud of their cities. Walt Whitman, Charles Boyer and his family and Im sure many others resided in Camden. I cant even begin to imagine what these places were like at that time, never mind when Washington sailed across the Delaware. Nevermind the Delaware River itself. Ben Franklin and his compadres and all of their accomplishments were in Philadelphia. A lot of the people who owned furnaces and forges in the Pines also lived in Philadelphia. Now these places are deteriorating into places no one wants to go to. Camden has already become a slum with some of the worst people and the highest crime rates and does it even have a historic sector anymore? If it does who would risk trying to find it to visit? Philadelphia isnt far behind. Despite desperate attempts to keep its historic avenues authentic and beautiful they are being destroyed. I just dont understand why this happens. Its so sad and depressing. The world we live in now is a completely different place and its not changing for the better. Soon we will lose all our connections with our past. Its not the same as the disappearence of towns in the Pines. Those buisinesses failed due to distance and lack of resource. These places are just being destroyed by its residents who dont respect anything or anyone. Why is our world becoming this way? I wonder if, had our founding fathers known what was to become of their beloved country would they have even bothered, fought and struggled like they did? Will it ever get better? Will we ever get Camden back to the way it was before? Will we be able to preserve Philadelphia for much longer? What do we have to do to restore what has been dismanteled? Will Walt and Ben ever stop turning in their graves?
Warning: This is a rant
- Thread starter watchingtrainsgoby
- Start date
The problem is many of these people coming to our country are coming illegally. They have no allegience to the United States and no respect for the neighborhoods they live in.
Long Island has many towns that used to be nice places, take my own town, Westbury, for instance. There used to be a movie theater, lots of great resteruants (only a few remain), and a bustling downtown. Now the movie theater sits abandoned and boarded up. And like so many downtowns on Long Island, they have been taken over by illegal immigrants, mostly from central America. They loiter around drinking, urinating, ogling at women. But that's just the small stuff. In Freeport they have been hit much harder, hundreds of men loiter on the streets every morning. Many of them wear gang colors, and are members of MS-13.
They tag everything and then go through town robbing, raping, and killing innocent people.
A couple told me a story that they were almost killed in Freeport. They had dinner on the Nautical Mile, and we shocked at how much the neighborhood changed. When they got in their car they were being followed by 2 vehicles with 5 hispanic men in each, they were displaying guns and trying to carjack and possibly kill the couple. They had a cell phone and called police, but the police weren't quick enough and the gangsters had them boxed in, but fortunately through a miracle the husband found a way out through the grass and got away from them.
They vowed never to return to Freeport again. When they called the police to say they got away from them the sargeant said "you were very lucky you didn't get killed...and to stay out of Freeport, MS-13 owns that town. As you can see police are beholdened not to the law, but to the politicians.
I am sick and tired of all the sympathy for these savages. They broke the law when the snuck here and break other laws everyday.
Unless we do something to change our course, the big business and corporations will continue to bring these people here so they can get cheap labor, while putting Americans out of work. This is the main cause in the decline of the middle class. Pretty soon Long Island (and the rest of America) will be nothing but "migrant workers and millionaires".
Lou Dobbs is one of the few people on TV that speaks up for us. Everyone else, like Cablevision and News 12 (our local Cable-only news station) will continue to sleep with big business and make up "sympathy stories" for these illegal people.
The sooner we ship them back and secure our borders, and punish businesses who use undocumented immigrants, the sooner we can take our country back and reverse our quality of life from sinking.
Long Island has many towns that used to be nice places, take my own town, Westbury, for instance. There used to be a movie theater, lots of great resteruants (only a few remain), and a bustling downtown. Now the movie theater sits abandoned and boarded up. And like so many downtowns on Long Island, they have been taken over by illegal immigrants, mostly from central America. They loiter around drinking, urinating, ogling at women. But that's just the small stuff. In Freeport they have been hit much harder, hundreds of men loiter on the streets every morning. Many of them wear gang colors, and are members of MS-13.
They tag everything and then go through town robbing, raping, and killing innocent people.
A couple told me a story that they were almost killed in Freeport. They had dinner on the Nautical Mile, and we shocked at how much the neighborhood changed. When they got in their car they were being followed by 2 vehicles with 5 hispanic men in each, they were displaying guns and trying to carjack and possibly kill the couple. They had a cell phone and called police, but the police weren't quick enough and the gangsters had them boxed in, but fortunately through a miracle the husband found a way out through the grass and got away from them.
They vowed never to return to Freeport again. When they called the police to say they got away from them the sargeant said "you were very lucky you didn't get killed...and to stay out of Freeport, MS-13 owns that town. As you can see police are beholdened not to the law, but to the politicians.
I am sick and tired of all the sympathy for these savages. They broke the law when the snuck here and break other laws everyday.
Unless we do something to change our course, the big business and corporations will continue to bring these people here so they can get cheap labor, while putting Americans out of work. This is the main cause in the decline of the middle class. Pretty soon Long Island (and the rest of America) will be nothing but "migrant workers and millionaires".
Lou Dobbs is one of the few people on TV that speaks up for us. Everyone else, like Cablevision and News 12 (our local Cable-only news station) will continue to sleep with big business and make up "sympathy stories" for these illegal people.
The sooner we ship them back and secure our borders, and punish businesses who use undocumented immigrants, the sooner we can take our country back and reverse our quality of life from sinking.
It's not close to that simple, and any real discussion of the possible causes would take too long. Blaming immigrants is really kind of silly, given that our inner cities (and you bet that includes Camden) have been trouble spots for decades. All the Hispanics I know work their asses off, and if they live in the modern equivalent of tenements, well so did my ancestors. They can't afford better, but they save and send their kids to college. Look at the growth in the Hispanic middle class if you doubt it.
Illegal immigration is a problem, for sure. It's senseless to have meaningless laws. The simple answer is to enforce them, by whatever means, or do away with them. But the problems of our urban culture are homegrown.
Illegal immigration is a problem, for sure. It's senseless to have meaningless laws. The simple answer is to enforce them, by whatever means, or do away with them. But the problems of our urban culture are homegrown.
I tell anyone that will listen my opinion of the situation and since you asked...........
First off, I am a 46 year old, white male. I've lived within a 10-mile radius all my life. I started in Gloucester City, went to Camden City, came back to Gloucester City and ended up in Gloucester Heights. My generation is one of the last generations where kids had 2-parents. Those parents not only cared for their own kids, but the neighbors kids as well. I can't tell you how just the fear of one of my friends parents telling my parents about something they heard/seen me do wrong, would be enough of a deterrent to due the right thing. In my opinion, the issue nowadays has allot to do with the evaporation of the family. We have woman having babies that can't afford to keep the illegitimate kids they already brought into this world. You have fathers that won't take care of their responsibilities. You have people that won't help others, due to the fear of being sued or killed in the process. You have neighborhoods where the residents won't dime-out people that are wrong-do'ers in the area. You have young kids that have no regards to life and someone's well-being. It's really terrible and will be the cause of our extinction (couldn't think of the word that I really wanted here) over the next 25-50 years. I could go on and on about this subject.
First off, I am a 46 year old, white male. I've lived within a 10-mile radius all my life. I started in Gloucester City, went to Camden City, came back to Gloucester City and ended up in Gloucester Heights. My generation is one of the last generations where kids had 2-parents. Those parents not only cared for their own kids, but the neighbors kids as well. I can't tell you how just the fear of one of my friends parents telling my parents about something they heard/seen me do wrong, would be enough of a deterrent to due the right thing. In my opinion, the issue nowadays has allot to do with the evaporation of the family. We have woman having babies that can't afford to keep the illegitimate kids they already brought into this world. You have fathers that won't take care of their responsibilities. You have people that won't help others, due to the fear of being sued or killed in the process. You have neighborhoods where the residents won't dime-out people that are wrong-do'ers in the area. You have young kids that have no regards to life and someone's well-being. It's really terrible and will be the cause of our extinction (couldn't think of the word that I really wanted here) over the next 25-50 years. I could go on and on about this subject.
... in addition, there are so many looking for a free-ride nowadays. People don't want to work and earn anything. We a legal-happy society that's always looking for an angle to get ahead, instead of working for it. It just pretty much sucks.
"It is completely absurd that the vote of someone who has squandered every educational opportunity placed in front of them, who has failed to develop a work ethic, who downloaded a litter of skateboard riders and graffiti artists they can't afford to raise, and who now depends on legalized plunder for their very existence, should count as much as the vote of someone who works hard, agonizes over choices and makes the right decisions, provides for their own family and plans for the future without having to dive into someone else's pocket."
"Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Neal Boortz. Regan Books. Spring, 2007
"Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Neal Boortz. Regan Books. Spring, 2007
Very real post Chris, and spot on. I could not have said it better myself. I do see us deteriorating too. What is the answer? I don't know, but I will say this: We have a lot of stones trying to force our ways overseas when we have so much going on at home that needs our attention.
I don't know the answers to this, and obviously nobody does or we wouldn't have places like Camden.
But just to put things into perspective about the "good old days," things may not have been as idealistic as you paint them. Life expectancy was short. Medicine was primitive and not very effective. Sanitary conditions were pretty bad. Foods were limited to what could be grown and transported within a small radius. There was still plenty of poverty with people living in unimaginable conditions. I'm sure that politics was just as corrupt as ever, but you wouldn't know about it because of the lack of timely news. I could go on, but you get the picture.
There are a lot of very real social problems today, and like you I'm also frustrated by quite a lot of things in our society. But for one thing, we're mobile now and have the option to move somewhere else when things get bad. There are certainly plenty of "old values" which it would be good to return to, but I think you need to remove the rose colored glasses before longing for colonial times....
But just to put things into perspective about the "good old days," things may not have been as idealistic as you paint them. Life expectancy was short. Medicine was primitive and not very effective. Sanitary conditions were pretty bad. Foods were limited to what could be grown and transported within a small radius. There was still plenty of poverty with people living in unimaginable conditions. I'm sure that politics was just as corrupt as ever, but you wouldn't know about it because of the lack of timely news. I could go on, but you get the picture.
There are a lot of very real social problems today, and like you I'm also frustrated by quite a lot of things in our society. But for one thing, we're mobile now and have the option to move somewhere else when things get bad. There are certainly plenty of "old values" which it would be good to return to, but I think you need to remove the rose colored glasses before longing for colonial times....
I dissagree. There is more "good" about the old-days than there are "bad". I'm only talking about 25-30 years ago. Think about it. There have been no major medical breakthrus to extend anyone's life. The things that killed people back then are still here. The only thing that has made huge strides is the technology world and even those things I'm not so sure I'll call a benefit. Were you around during the days when only a handful of people had a cellphone? I was and people got along fine. The point of my original reply was more focus on people in general. People back then cared more for others as opposed to just themselves. The generations back then were not as apt to try to get over on the system and get something for nothing. You could crack you kids in the butt if they were missbehaving, without someone looking at you like you were an abuser. I could go on and on.
Let me know when you find your time machine to go back to "the good old days" (Ongs Hat would be a good place to look for one 
)
I just get tired of hearing all the complaints, and it doesn't seem to help anyway. I'm 58, so I can remember the way things used to be. And I think they were mostly just "different" instead of "better."
)I just get tired of hearing all the complaints, and it doesn't seem to help anyway. I'm 58, so I can remember the way things used to be. And I think they were mostly just "different" instead of "better."
I have to agree with Boyd. Even just 25 or 30 years ago our lives were much different. The biggest difference is in the amount of time we have to spend getting critical things done vs. the amount of time we have for leisure.
For what it's worth, I think we're in a cultural decline too, but I don't blame immigrants, legal or otherwise. I think we're slowly losing the western cultural basis of our success: hard work, respect for property rights and the rule of law, a viable middle class, etc. That's not surprising given that intellectual elites in the west reject that culture and history, and do whatever they can to undermine our faith in it.
For what it's worth, I think we're in a cultural decline too, but I don't blame immigrants, legal or otherwise. I think we're slowly losing the western cultural basis of our success: hard work, respect for property rights and the rule of law, a viable middle class, etc. That's not surprising given that intellectual elites in the west reject that culture and history, and do whatever they can to undermine our faith in it.
That's not at all true. Cancer used to be a death sentence. Now, more often than not, it's managed through new drugs and procedures.
Devices and surgical procedures have advanced a great deal. People with HIV can now expect to live a normal life span due to protease inhibitors. Depression is now managed as a chemical entity rather than a "weakness". I could go on but I won't bore you.
And to whomever brought up the 2-parent families no longer being the norm. That's probably true, divorce is more prevalent. But I don't think that's because relationships are worse or people are any different. It's because it's now an option for people who are in abusive or otherwise unhappy situations. My great grandmother had her divorce story on the front page of the paper. Scandalous, it was, and she was treated like a pariah. (he beat her up and drank). It's different now. Is that better or worse? I guess that is a matter of opinion.
Divorce has been normed, for sure. That's an unabashed good, I think, when it empowers someone to leave a truly bad relationship. Probably not so good when a husband and wife decide to split up a family to go find themselves or something, or a male feels empowered to make kids and take no responsibility for them.
Let me know when you find your time machine to go back to "the good old days" (Ongs Hat would be a good place to look for one
I just get tired of hearing all the complaints, and it doesn't seem to help anyway. I'm 58, so I can remember the way things used to be. And I think they were mostly just "different" instead of "better."
OK, we can agree to dissagree. I know from my standpoint, things were better back then. Maybe it was because I was younger, with no pressures or responsibilities, who knows.
Well there's one thing which I hope we can all agree is better now that it was 30 years ago. There was no njpinebarrens.com back then
Excellent points Boyd Im really glad that you brought them up. I never took those things into consideration and though it doesnt change my opinions about these places it does make me think and wonder how nice was it back then really? But I do still wish that things were different.
"...and suddenly it is clear to see that it is not them but me, who has lost my self-identity.
As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry, like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology that no one can hope to achieve." - Conor Oberst
"...and suddenly it is clear to see that it is not them but me, who has lost my self-identity.
As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry, like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology that no one can hope to achieve." - Conor Oberst