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“What’s The Worst Thing People Have Tried To Justify With ‘It Was Normal Back Then’?” (40 Answers)
Times are constantly changing. In the majority of the world, women have way more opportunities than they did a century ago, and the technological advancements we've seen in recent decades are mind-blowing. But at the same time, saving up enough to purchase a home is nearly impossible for many young people today, even if their parents had no issues buying a house in their twenties. We all seem to be living in a completely different world than our grandparents had when they were young, but one of the best changes we’ve seen is a decreased tolerance for toxic behavior.
Redditors have been calling out the worst actions that they’ve heard people attempt to justify by noting how common they were in the past, so we’ve gathered some of their thoughts below. From tactics parents used to discipline their little ones to casually driving home after a few beers, be sure to upvote the behaviors that you’re glad have finally become stigmatized!
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#1
I pointed out that the Mayan and Aztecs' child sacrifice practices weren't any less barbaric because they happened a long time ago, and I got downvoted to hell here.
TotallyNOTAFox 2 months ago (edited)
Yup, mentioning atrocities commited outside of european cultures in a respectful way isn't well received on the internet.
#2
How many witches were burned at the stake during the salem witch trials?
None. There’s no such things as witches, they burned innocent girls and women. Awful.
FreeTheUnicorn 2 months ago
No one was burned at the stake in Salem. 19 hangings, one man pressed to death. More than 180 accused were not killed. Many were toetured. It's a stain on our history but so get your facts right.
#3
Open sexual harassment, unwanted touching, SA, etc against secretaries, female assistants, etc by their bosses. Woman were supposed to just grin and bear it.
#4
Doctors going on duty for more than 24 hours straight.
Tamra 2 months ago
I don't know how it is in other countries, but here in the US there has been a long-standing culture of over-working healthcare professionals. It's nearly ubiquitous to see doctors and nurses working insane hours, and it makes absolutely no sense.
JJ 2 months ago
Happens in Europe, too, no matter what the regulations are. Recently I read a comment of a doctor who defended 24 hours shifts and remarked that our health system goes down because millennial doctors are the first generation demanding better work-life-balance. Yeah, blame health workers instead of the sick system relying on overworking, exhausted people.
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Eric Berger MD 2 months ago
When I was an surgical intern, we did full weekends... Saturday morning to Monday night... about 52 hours straight. I'd be in the ER actually falling asleep while suturing a laceration! They said "we did it. Man up."
duckie 2 months ago
People die from that. When I went to hospital on a Saturday, the ER doc was the same one who saw me the next day when I had to come back because my issue had escalated. 24 hours later and she hadn't been home in between. I had to file a complaint for some malpractice that Saturday visit, and I made sure to protest the insane 24 hour shift policy.
Grudge-holding Treefrog 1 month ago
My dad is a physician, and this past year he’s done 3 48 hour shifts
Aurora 2 months ago
It's common for doctors where I live to do 24 hour shifts, but it's rare for them to not get 8 hours of solid sleep during the night. Nurses typically do 16 hour shifts and often won't have time for even one food break. We'd get fired if we slept on the job.
Dolly_of TheCowboy 1 month ago
Yeah quite common where I am to have the junior doctors clock on Friday afternoon and finish Monday morning and as long as there are minimum numbers of them available the others are able to go sleep in their break room for hours at a time while still on the clock and just get woken if needed. Nurses on the other hand doing 12 or 16hr shifts at the same facility (and expected to be back within 12 hours for their next shift) have noticeboards covered with official memos about disciplinary proceedings or instant dismissal if nurses go nap even in their (unpaid) breaks. Their justification is that "nurses must be available for patient care throughout their shifts" and are "only" doing 12 or 16hrs straight but the doctors are there for 48-72hrs so "need to rest where possible because they make the critical decisions". Yeah exhausted people regardless of their job in healthcare make mistake. It is almost like they want scapegoats readily available if a mistake is made...
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Blah Blah Blah 2 months ago
EMT-B's and EMT-P and Firefighters are all scheduled to work 24-48 hours sometimes 72. Also interesting fact. MOST EMT's are paid min. wage or slightly over. And no breaks or lunches a lot of shifts as calls are ran back to back as in working straight no breaks for food or sleep 24 to 48 hrs straight. Again and they're paid on average $16 an hour. Some less some more. Welcome to corporate America!
Catpawsarethebest 2 months ago
It's horrible. Think it's a problem in most of the world. I know how horrible I get after missing sleep (a normal amount) cant inagine how they feel after 24 hours! Just horrible! And mistakes will happen. They are humans!!! It's not right to treat them like this!
ynyrhydref56 2 months ago
How much of this is down to lack of staff, lack of funding, etc etc. A much bigger issue.
Ashlie Ann 2 months ago
Doctor and nurse shortage in some countries, I'm sadly not surprised. 😔
nuberiffic 2 months ago
We won't let someone drive a truck for more than 10 hours lest they cause an accident, but the dude poking around in your heart? Totally cool.
ZestyBison 2 months ago
Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the US. You get upset because your sandwich was made wrong.
Heather Talma 1 month ago
Started, by the way, because the guy who created the system was a cocaine addict, and they put him on a different d**g (can't recall) to cure that but he just ended up addicted to that too. He was constantly on two different stimulant d***s, therefore he never felt tired, therefore he thought it reasonable to work that long.
#5
Child marriage.
#6
The way some people treated pets. Leaving them outside. Hitting them.
WindySwede 2 months ago
Talking about shooting cats just to prove they are real men.. no you are not, you are covering up some inside insecurity and feel you have to prove you are a real man to cover it up! 🤨🤕
#7
Spousal r*pe. It was legal up until 1983 in Canada. It wasn’t until 1993 that it became illegal in ALL of the US; prior to that it was only illegal in 3 as of 1975. I’ve heard some men reminisce about the days when they didn’t need consent from their wives. I’ve even heard women condemn other women for having the “nerve” to ever deny their husbands sex. It’s disgusting.
#10
Definitely slavery, not just because it's a horrible thing to justify but also because people try to justify it *so often*.
One of the most popular lies in America is the lie that the so-called "founding fathers" can't be judged for owning slaves because that was accepted practice back then. In fact, the judge in the British Somerset case called slavery an "odious institution" in 1772: well before the US constitution was written. The abolition movement was very much in full swing in the anglosphere at the time. The Somerset ruling banned slavery in the British Isles in 1772. Canada banned slavery in 1793.
And yet Americans persist in pretending that slavery was widely accepted with no concerns at the time of the country's founding, just because they don't want to admit that the US founding fathers were bad people. They have their very own mythology, complete with heroes and villains, and they will not tolerate harsh criticism of those heroes.
GettingCereal 2 months ago
There was also a major push to get abolition into the constitution, but the southern states threw such a hissy fit that the rest caved.
#11
Just yesterday i had someone try telling me they regretted taking the covid vaccine and that "back than no one took vaccines".
I replied with "and people got polio".
#12
"My parents whipped my butt and screamed at me. I turned out fine."
Umm... no you didnt. You need therapy, boundaries, and a healthier friend group.
Miranda Veracruz de la Joya Cardenal 2 months ago
If you think child abuse was acceptable, you didn't turn it fine
#13
Open misogyny and sexual harassment in the workplace. I’m a 64 yo professional woman and the behavior of some my male colleagues and superiors was horrible. And no one batted an eye.
#14
Forced marriage.
WindySwede 2 months ago
An scientific education and sexual education should be mandatory for everyone, all over the world! Let go of old s**t!
#15
Adult musicians sleeping with puberty-aged groupies. Guarantee every single one of your faves did it or was in a band with someone who did.
#16
Throwing rocks at Ruby Bridges.
Weirdo with Internet 2 months ago
These people are still alive! This wasn't that long ago and even if it was, still wouldn't justify throwing rocks and insults at a child
#17
Genital mutilation of children.
Not Who You Think 2 months ago (edited)
"It's a cultural/religious thing." Maybe you need to take a step back and really pay attention to what you're saying.
#18
Automatically needing to respect your elders (and anyone older than you) just because it's the 'right' thing to do, not because they deserve your respect or did anything to earn it, but just because.
Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 2 months ago
As Tony Benn said, you should respect everyone, until they give you good reason not to.
#19
All forms of bullying. It looked cool from people in high school according to my classmates. Now some of my classmates were now gone due to bullying. It’s not cool.
#21
Horrific mistreatment of disabled people. It’s still not great on a general global scale, but at least we don’t get left in the woods as infants or stuck in freak shows to entertain the masses.
WindySwede 2 months ago (edited)
And even just women who be "out of order"? Edit: like put in asylum for being anything her husband/dad didn't want to?
#22
Ownership and the subservience of women. "Back in my day the women didn't vote or work, they waited on their knees for the husband to come home with a hot meal in one hand a strong drink in the other" along with a litany of other female slave fantasies men have of modern women.
WindySwede 2 months ago
That is also a thing in the bible, if someone hurt a women so she miscarriages, they are supposed to pay money to her spouse or otherwise her father. That is nothing in the line of being an independent individual!
#23
Lynching black people for failing to show the proper deference to a white man on the street.
#24
Smoking everywhere--even hospitals.
Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 2 months ago
We were doing a good job of limiting smoking areas, but now vaping is taking its place with a vengeance. I regularly see (smell them first) people sneaking a vape inside restaurants. It's illegal and it ruins my meal out. Just selfish w4nkers.
#25
My grandma was telling us about some random stuff about her life as a kid, the usual, and then she dropped that her neighbor would give her a quarter to see her underwear? when she was like 5-6? wild s**t
also cheating on your spouse .
Not Who You Think 2 months ago
The 25 cents for a little girls underwear peek is truly awful, but I love how "cheating on your spouse" was kind of added as an afterthought.
#26
Listening to stories from older colleagues there is so much stuff that was considered standard practice that would give Health and Safety an aneurysm these days. S**t like handling asbestos with zero protective equipment, even after people started realizing how bad it was for your health! Or guys working with natural gas lighting up a ciggie on the job site and it being perfectly fine because "we're not smoking near where people are working with gas at the moment".
Marianne 2 months ago
My family are farmers. 20 years ago, a person would be ridiculed for wearing safety goggles or a face mask while harvesting potatoes. While on the machine, you're exposed to huge amounts of dust that gets into your face. I have asthma and couldn't stand it on dry days. Protective gear just wasn't an option.
#27
Hazing, overworking and basically bullying new employees. C**p like “it’s character building” or “well, I had to do it”. I think people perpetuate this nonsense because they are basically trying to get some sort of revenge.
#28
Gay jokes. Go watch movies from the 80's & 90's. Or just watch "Friends," there were cheap gay gags in basically every episode. .
#29
I take care of a 95 year old woman with dementia who had a black lab as a child. The dogs name was “n**ger”. She sometimes talks about her dog and calls it by name, and everyone reacts how you’d expect, and she always says, “He needed a name! A dog needs a name!”
Not sure if it quite fits this thread, but I was reminded of it so I shared.
Ace 2 months ago (edited)
Yeah, this one is a little out of place because although that term and the one it's derived from could have an insulting meaning if used in a certain context it was also commonly used in this way, perhaps much more outside the US, just because it means "black", ,with absolutely zero implied reference to people with that skin colour. Some people still get upset when they see "négro" used in languages like Spanish where that is literally all it means.
#30
Hitting a spouse. My favorite tv show of all time is “I Love Lucy” and I have such a hard time watching Ricky put Lucy over his knee. Makes my stomach turn.
Pencil McGovern 2 months ago
"POW! Right in the kisser!" -Ralph Kramden to his wife, Alice, in about every episode of "The Honeymooners"
#31
Maybe riding around in the open bed of a pickup truck all over town and highways when I was a kid in the 70s.
#32
Cat calling. Honestly can’t remember a time it was okay, but I’m always confused when guys try to justify themselves with “it’s just a comment. It’s always been like this” when I (a woman) get upset. Like I know my a*s is amazing but keep it to yourself, you know?
Apachebathmat 2 months ago
“Thank you for attending our wedding today, I knew Wayne was the one when he shouted ‘WHHHHHHOOOOOA B***H, TIDDIES ON FIRE’ out the window of a speeding car”
#33
My friend quite seriously told me she didn’t understand the issue with Bill Cosby because quaaludes were all the rage and this is just how it used to be for women around men. Never thought I’d see myself storming out of a Los
Angeles McDonald’s in anger but sure enough it did indeed happen.
Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 2 months ago (edited)
Had to read that twice to confirm the friend was indeed a woman. Talk about brainwashed! (Spelling edit)
#34
Not back then, but in the present.
I have heard from a relative that pregnancies of indigenous children in my country are normal because it is "part of their culture".
penguino (they/them) 2 months ago
The comments here are weird y’all can go look for yourself-but also, wtf? Kids shouldn’t be pregnant. Period.
#35
Drinking and driving. Every adult over 60 wants me to understand why those were the good ol days.
#36
Enforced poverty.
Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 2 months ago
This has always been a popular policy amongst capitalists - without poor people, nobody would work for sh1t wages in their dangerous factories.
#37
Racism.
Urbangirlatl 2 months ago
I think I understand where Strings is coming from. When the CEO of Barilla pasta made a neg comment about including LGBT in their ads, I thought something along the lines of "thanks for letting me know where you stand so I can buy your competitor's product". It's not endorsing hate speech, but it's how we know we are dealing with @-holes.
#38
Physical abuse.
#39
"When I was starting out, our bosses abused us 10 times as badly as what you get pampered with, you don't know how good you got it".
#40
Smoking at 12.
What’s the worst thing people have tried to justify with “It was normal back then, everyone did it”?
UKGrandad 2 months ago
*Note to the usual suspects: please read what I'm about to say for understanding before downvoting it. Thank you* We can all feel morally superior to our ancestors because we know better these days, right? However, how many of us stop to consider which practices we think are morally and legally sound today may, in the future, see us as soundly condemned as we condemn past generations? What do we shrug off as perfectly normal that might make our descend scream 'WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING'?
Michael Largey 2 months ago (edited)
Some people knew better back then too, but the others didn't listen to them.
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Fun Size 2 months ago
A lot of them are still happening, yes, but at least they're no longer considered normal or acceptable by society at large.
Load More Replies... CK 2 months ago
Of course none of those things are justified; however, we shouldn't give ourselves as individuals any credit for not going along with child sacrifice and slavery in a society where that isn't normalized. The sad truth is that it is incredibly statistically unlikely that you wouldn't have gone along with those things if you had been born in a previous generation. And if you want to prove to yourself that you would have been the one to oppose the brutality? Defy the socially accepted cruelty that's happening now. Fight to end all slavery in the world, to give disabled people all reasonable accommodations with dignity, and to get food and healthcare to all who need it.
Lola Donathan 2 months ago
My grandma had a man show himself to her one day when she was a kid and all my great grandma said was"oh I'm sorry sweetie,but you know,that's just how men are". SERIOUSLY!?
CK 2 months ago
I hate how men engaging in predatory behavior is "boys will be boys" but women wearing comfortable clothes that don't cover everything is "slutty" to the old fashioned worldview.
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 2 months ago
I love old movies and television, but it's so cringe when I see how they used to make it a humorous plot point when a married man chased women or cheated on his wife. At the same time, any woman who dared to even call attention to herself was an evil harlot.
BravePanda 2 months ago
I used to be sexually harassed in high school in a daily basis because I had big breasts. Boys would hold my arms and hands behind my back, so other boys could oogle. I couldn't be alone after school because I would get cornered by a boy wanting "just to touch." It happened daily during and after school, on campus. It was the 90s.
Justbecause 2 months ago
Not using pain relief for many medical procedures because 'it doesn't actually hurt' or 'they wont remember it'. Pain relief is cheap and readily available it should be used when medical/veterinary procedures are done.
Justbecause 2 months ago
Aboriginal Australians were not considered human until the 70s. They were considered native animals and were treated as such. Many people still think its ok the treat Aboriginal people like this. Australia isnt the only country to treat original people as less than human.
UKGrandad 2 months ago
*Note to the usual suspects: please read what I'm about to say for understanding before downvoting it. Thank you* We can all feel morally superior to our ancestors because we know better these days, right? However, how many of us stop to consider which practices we think are morally and legally sound today may, in the future, see us as soundly condemned as we condemn past generations? What do we shrug off as perfectly normal that might make our descend scream 'WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING'?
Michael Largey 2 months ago (edited)
Some people knew better back then too, but the others didn't listen to them.
Load More Replies... Fun Size 2 months ago
A lot of them are still happening, yes, but at least they're no longer considered normal or acceptable by society at large.
Load More Replies... CK 2 months ago
Of course none of those things are justified; however, we shouldn't give ourselves as individuals any credit for not going along with child sacrifice and slavery in a society where that isn't normalized. The sad truth is that it is incredibly statistically unlikely that you wouldn't have gone along with those things if you had been born in a previous generation. And if you want to prove to yourself that you would have been the one to oppose the brutality? Defy the socially accepted cruelty that's happening now. Fight to end all slavery in the world, to give disabled people all reasonable accommodations with dignity, and to get food and healthcare to all who need it.
Lola Donathan 2 months ago
My grandma had a man show himself to her one day when she was a kid and all my great grandma said was"oh I'm sorry sweetie,but you know,that's just how men are". SERIOUSLY!?
CK 2 months ago
I hate how men engaging in predatory behavior is "boys will be boys" but women wearing comfortable clothes that don't cover everything is "slutty" to the old fashioned worldview.
Load More Replies... Damned_Cat 2 months ago
I love old movies and television, but it's so cringe when I see how they used to make it a humorous plot point when a married man chased women or cheated on his wife. At the same time, any woman who dared to even call attention to herself was an evil harlot.
BravePanda 2 months ago
I used to be sexually harassed in high school in a daily basis because I had big breasts. Boys would hold my arms and hands behind my back, so other boys could oogle. I couldn't be alone after school because I would get cornered by a boy wanting "just to touch." It happened daily during and after school, on campus. It was the 90s.
Justbecause 2 months ago
Not using pain relief for many medical procedures because 'it doesn't actually hurt' or 'they wont remember it'. Pain relief is cheap and readily available it should be used when medical/veterinary procedures are done.
Justbecause 2 months ago
Aboriginal Australians were not considered human until the 70s. They were considered native animals and were treated as such. Many people still think its ok the treat Aboriginal people like this. Australia isnt the only country to treat original people as less than human.
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