Stay with this, the Question is at the end.

One evening, a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current
events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the
shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.
The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before
television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses,
Frisbees and the pill.
There were no credit cards, laser beams or ballpoint pens. Man had not
invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and
the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk
on the moon.
Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together.
Every family had a father and a mother. Until I was 25, I called every
man older than I, "Sir" and after I turned 25, I still called policemen
and every man with a title, "Sir".
We were before gay-rights, computer dating, dual careers, day-care centres,
and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment and common
sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to
stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger
privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening
breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and
weekends, not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters,
yoghurt or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on
our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out
listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 & 10 cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10
cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar and a Pepsi were
all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough
stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?
Too bad because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was
something your mother cooked in and "rock music" was your grandmother's
lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of
wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store and "software" wasn't even a
word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a
husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation
gap.

So, how old do you think Grannie is?

Grannie was born in 1946, so she is 58.

Now for the Question ...

How could so much go wrong in such a short time?

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 30 Jul 2004 08:01 PDT

Great news!

Grannie has read all the Comments and she has now changed her mind.

Well, that's a woman's prerogative.

Please don't worry if you think that Grannie done the wrong thing
because she'll probably change her mind again tomorrow.

Hi Bryan...

I think it was the fault of my generation...

I was born in 1947...  ; )

I feel that your answer is wrong. The following is an extract from the
following web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/baird_logie.shtml
Re "John Logie Baird" who is said to have invented TeleVision
By 1924 he managed to transmit across a few feet the flickering image
of a Maltese cross and on 26th January 1926 he gave the world's first
demonstration of true television in his attic workshop before some
fifty scientists. In 1927 his television was demonstrated over 438
miles of telephone line between London and Glasgow, and he formed the
Baird Television Development Company, Ltd. (BTDC). In 1928 the BTDC
achieved the first transatlantic television transmission between
London and New York and the first transmission to a ship in
mid-Atlantic. He also gave the first demonstration of both colour and
stereoscopic television.

Kind regards

Ross

I expect that when Grannie said she was "born before television," she
meant that she was born before television was available in her area. I
have often told youngsters that I was born before television; in 1948,
when I was born, my hometown (Tulsa, Oklahoma) did not yet have a
television station.

The only thing that struck me as wrong on first reading was the price
of a Chevy.  I was a teenager at that time and very much into cars
(although I did not own my first -- very used -- car until 1966) and
$600 seems way too low for a Chevrolet. The site linked below gives
the list prices of all 1959 Chevy models, which ranged from
$2400-$3000:

http://www.chevy59.com/data.htm

The most striking then to me about cars then and now is that then one
could easily tell one car from another, whereas they all seem to look
alike these days.

markj-ga

Scratch that -- I now see that Granny is 58, not that she was born in
1958,  Silly me.  It's early here in Eastern Time Zone.

Yes, Rossgmann

You are absolutely right with regards to John Logie Baird but, in
fact, the first television transmission SERVICE in the UK started in
1936 from Alexandra Palace, London. Why in 1924, we didn't even have
any decent radio stations!

The 1936 tv service was provided by the BBC but it could only be
received within a few miles of London and the programme content was
awful. Now, who would want to watch a man spinning a rope on ten
different occasions during the same day? YES there were LOTS of
repeats (so what's new?) and very few takers.

Service was then suspended due to a little bit of a trouble with some
fellow called Hitler.

In the UK, the thing that really gave television a kick start was the
Coronation of Queen Elizbeth II in 1953.

The UK was obviously behind the US as a service provider, as evidenced
by the programmes that were imported. Of course, being first is not
always the best. What is the American colour (color) system called? Is
it Never (the) Same Color Twice?

However, the detail supporting the question was provided by some
Grannie in the US where, as Pinkfreud reveals, reception was patchy.

I didn't write the story, I just posted the Question.

Incidentally, I can PROVE that I am not nor am I ever likely to become a Grannie.

And we can't blame, Sublime1, because he is too young.

If she was born in 1946, she was also not before penicillin, which was
discovered in the 1920's and was starting to become available in
larger quantities during WWII, where it was used to treat casualties
from D-Day, for instance.

Yes, ac67, but penicillin wasn't synthesised until the Fifties.

http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/iht810139.html

Dammit, are you calling Grannie a liar?

She was THERE remember, so she should know.

Trust Grannie!

Yes, I'm calling Grannie a liar, because frozen foods were around since 1930 :-)

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfrfood.htm

If Grannie is from the US, why does she use the British spellings of
centre and yoghurt rather than center and yogurt?

Hi, ac67

Well, maybe, but here in the UK we didn't have any domestic fridges
until maybe the Fifties.

Anyway, I have just had confirmation from an American Grannie who
tells me that it was so and she was born in 1947.

Now, I'm guessing ... you are not old enough to be a Grannie ... Right?

How did I know?

Because you believe EVERYTHING you read!

Trust your Grannie!

Good question, aj999.

That's because I 'edited' Grannie's material (mainly reformatting) and
living in the UK my spell checker suggested the alterations.

Like a fool, I accepted the changes never realising (realizing) that
the spelling was going to come under scrutiny.

Well spotted!

But that doesn't change the content, merely the presentation.

Does it?

No, the British spellings just jumped out at this American with a
proofreader's heart.  The content clues made it pretty clear that
Grannie was from the US.  With the British spelling and the nickel,
but without the President, I'd have said she was Canadian ...

But to stop quibbling and consider the question semi-seriously, what
exactly has gone so wrong?  Many of the things Grannie didn't know as
a child were improvements in the past 6 decades.  I'm more liberal
than many people, but the following represent good progress to me: 
People going to the moon.  Innovations in medicine, household
appliances and electronics.  Contact lenses.  Gay rights.  The growing
acceptance of families of all kinds (i.e., without a mother and a
father, or a woman not needing a husband to have a baby).  Frozen
foods.  Guys wearing earrings.  Freedom to live without being governed
by one religion's commandments, when you don't practice that religion.
 The decline of Jack Benny, Tommy Dorsey and big bands.  ;-)  I could
go on, and reasonable people could disagree with some or even all of
these things.

Who says it?s all gone wrong since 1947? Maybe it went wrong BEFORE 1947:

In 1900?

A ?big band? was found on a hat, a ?car? was part of a train.

A ?camel? was an animal and a ?Lucky Strike? was a gold mine.

A ?chick? was a bird, a ?cat? was what chased it and your ?daddy?
would have slapped you away from the table for saying ?boogie-woogie?
even though neither of you would have known what it meant.

?Charleston? was a place, if you bought music you got it on a piece of
paper, UNCLE SAM ?didn?t? WANT YOU and junk was made in Nippon.

The only Yellow Pages were found in your Grandmother?s Bible, chicken
costs 7 cents a pound, if you wanted gas you ate beans, and the Wright
Brothers were still scratching their heads about bicycle chains.

There was a hat for every man ? and every man wore one. You didn?t
have to ask people what they were doing on Sunday, air conditioning
could only be found out on the porch, and you called your
Mother-in-law ?Mother? too -- and you ?both? liked it that way.

Aha, aj999, Have you never heard of Nostalgia?

I'm told that older folk always believe that things were better in 'their days'.

And please don't worry about your American-type Proof Reader's Heart.

My medical friends tell that although serious, it can be fixed.

They're called transplants. See if you can find a donor. Maybe an old
Grannie? You will then be able to survive AND also to discover how
much better things really were in the Olden Days.

By the way, I don't think that they did heart transplants in Grannie's
days. Did they?

So aren't you glad you are living now so that maybe you will be able
enjoy the best of both worlds?

You lucky dog!

Hi, Tutuzdad

Brilliant Comment.

Now, if you were to post that as an Answer it would allow you to buy
Tutu and her siblings a little bit of something.

Bryan

Aw, what's two bucks between friends?

...about $20 in 1900
http://www.aier.org/cgi-aier/colcalculator.cgi

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.

It seems to me that Grannie has taken an uncompromisingly bleak view
and that Tutuzdad has placed all her regrets within a broader
perspective by taking a deeper look at human progress over the past
century.

She has assumed that everything was great in The Good Old Days when it
manifestly wasn't.

Take infant mortality, the effects of diptheria, small pox, cholera
and lots of other water-bourn diseases.

And where would we be today without electricity, the telephone,
affordable air travel, domestic appliances, etc.?

I bet Granny would not want to be without all her household gadgetry,
or her car, or her health care plan, or her pension, or her tv ...

OK, so nothing is perfect but all that any Man or Woman can do is his or her best.

Of course, we always glamourise the past. But was Robin Hood really a
public-spirited citizen who robbed the rich to give to the poor?

I disagree with Digsalot, even Nostalgia is better than it used to be
because we're all living longer thanks to the various improvements in
public services such as treated water and better health care.

So, we now have the potential to live longer during which we can then
look back to the great times we have had in the past.

Subject to a nuclear holocaust.

Unfortunately, all good technology produces bad side effects as well. 
To paraphrase a quote I read once, "every time you solve a problem by
inventing something, you create ten new problems".

Take cars -- wow, they improve transportation immensely!  Awesome
invention.  Problems:  traffic, pollution, demand on natural
resources, road rage, drunk driving, accidents, all these old junk
cars we have to store in junkyards, etc...

Nuclear technology is also a big one -- wow, super cheap, super clean,
super reliable power.  Oh, then there's the bad parts -- Hiroshima,
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, cancer, well, you get the idea.

Just depends how we use it.  As humans, we are the only species on
this earth capable of consciously preserving and/or destroying this
earth.  As Uncle Ben said in Spiderman, "with great power comes great
responsibility".  We have the power, it's just that, as humans, we
aren't very responsible.