Being older than the State of Israel helps me with perspective. Take, for example, popular music when I was growing up, shortly after music was invented, and how it might be seen today, with the benefit of all the "woke" insights and wisdom we currently enjoy. My example is a very popular song by The Four Lads entitled "Standing on the Corner Watching all the Girls Go By."
That title alone is a bit creepy, but read on, dear ones. How's this line suit you? "I'm the cat that got the cream, haven't got a girl, but I can dream, so I'll take me down to Main Street and that's where I select my imaginary dish." Dish? Like something one puts on the table for dessert? And there's the verb, "select." As if they're in a deli featuring girls on the menu. More: "Brother if you've got a rich imagination, give it a whirl, give it a try," followed by "Brother you can't go to jail for what you're thinkin' or for that woo look in your eye."
Of course I'm not willing to discuss what the heck a "woo eye" is, but I do have a rich imagination, and I think "leering" might fit. Anyway, so you've got a gang of adolescent boys hanging out downtown ogling girls as the females walk by on their way, ostensibly to the malt shop or shopping for the latest in bobby sox. Trouble is, taking things into historical context, that was pretty normal for the time. And all age-related, obviously. Now, if I did this afternoon what The Four Lads suggested back then, I'd just be another dirty old man being told by a cop to "move along." Which I would, after a wolf whistle or two.
