Cheerleaders and other dated things

Morris High School cheerleaders from about 1970

It was humiliating the first time I was pulled over for no seat belt. Why such a rigid standard today, when for most of my life it was considered no big deal to not wear a seat belt? So many people speaking from today's perspective would say "well, seat belts are obviously necessary to ensure safety and reduce injuries." If true, why hasn't this standard been applied for a longer period of time? We were not Neanderthal back in my young and middle adult years. Maybe you'll argue we were.
When our current Morris Public Library first opened - a really big deal - I'd go there to read magazines like Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report. That was the thing to do if you fancied yourself an erudite sort of person. We would have considered VHS tapes a miracle from God. My point is that times change drastically.
I wish I had gotten a warning ticket my first time with no seat belt. My father thought it was ridiculous for such a big deal to be made of this. It was punishment enough for me to be pulled over and to have that squad car behind me with lights flashing. Once the officer determined I had essentially a clean record, I should have gotten a warning ticket and then if I got pulled over again, I'd have only myself to blame. Regulations are tight today. Mailing a package at the Post Office suddenly stopped being real routine.
 
Cheerleaders in age of #MeToo
We have the changed complexion of society today due to #MeToo. And in principle it's wonderful. But again we must reflect on changed or evolved attitudes over a not very long period of time. I went to high school when we had cheerleaders. Let's be frank as we assess this: Cheerleaders were once "eye candy" meant to complement the real, serious competition of male sports.
We all knew that a certain type of girl would be chosen as cheerleader. Certainly not on the heavy side. If you were to ask a cheerleading advisor or school administrator on whether cheerleaders were chosen on some sort of "glamor" criterion, they would be embarrassed to say yes and would probably say "no." But the truth was 100 percent yes. The basketball cheerleaders had the highest status when I was in high school. There was another group of cheerleaders for football and wrestling but these seemed like the second string. Administrators would deny that but we could develop a pretty strong sense about this.
The basketball cheerleaders were the candidates for being asked to Prom by the sports superstars - we all knew that. We reflect on this the way we reflect on a lot of outdated concepts. It is wonderful to see we have evolved. We must be gentle though with the people my age who might have stumbled a bit getting to where we are today. It is fascinating to think how cigarette smokers had license to light up almost anywhere. Remember Robert Redford as Bob Woodward saying to Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein, as they got on an elevator: "Is there any place you don't smoke?" Oh, we laughed about that then.
Today the idea of secondhand cigarette smoke is no laughing matter. And again, so many from today's perspective say it's elementary, completely understood, that smoking is this horrible habit that needs to be pushed to the periphery as much as possible, hopefully out of existence at some point. And yet it wasn't long ago in the scheme of things that cigarette smoke was reality in places like main street diners. Oh the days of the rotary telephone. And, of reading "Time" magazine at our beloved library.
I am disappointed that we never got to know the cheerleaders as real kids in the movie "Hoosiers" (Gene Hackman). We really didn't get to know them at all. Remember the cheerleaders for the opposing team in the championship game? All those cheerleaders just jumped up and down when their team scored. Sometimes they'd hug each other. We were supposed to care about the male gladiators on a personal level.
Football is the worst offender because only males actually play the game. The cheerleaders are truly just eye candy. It has gotten so dated and pathetic.
Our local high school no longer has cheerleaders. The photo at the top of this post shows cheerleaders from back around 1970. I'm sure the girls as women today are wonderful and multi-dimensional human beings, but can they deny they were rather exploited for cosmetic purposes when they were cheerleaders?
 
Addendum: I think I can rattle off the names of the cheerleaders in the photo. Let's just go with first names, from left: Kathy, Connie, Jane, Robin and Jackie. Jane and Jackie were in my graduating class.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com