Rachel Maddow just used the term "grok"

[myccrider]

32. Sigh

Yeah, a lot of the old SF/F tales I loved back in the day have been visited by the ‘sucks fairy’ when I’ve tried to reread them. Heinlein was more progressive wrt sexism and racism for his time. Part of why I loved him as a teen in the 60s was his female characters - oh goody, girls who can do things besides screeching/fainting, being a sex object and getting coffee, or just being absent altogether. Sucks fairy got him, though.

Funny corollary, I watch some of those younger people on YouTube who listen to old (read ‘my‘) music and ‘react’. In a couple of recent videos, the generational differences in what was shocking and what wasn’t popped up.

These two college kids, both guys, listened to The Kinks "Lola" (for those who don’t know it’s about a guy falling for a ‘girl’ and discovering she’s trans but being ok with it. It was a extremely edgy at the time). The kids understood the ‘story’ but didn’t blink an eye and just talked about the instruments, beat, musicality, etc. Later, they listened to The Police’s "Don’t Stand So Close to Me" (about male HS teacher being pursued by young girl student and being tempted). The kids reacted with astonishment and some negativity to the theme but thought it was a catchy tune.

Times and culture change, often for the better.