buttman writes:

I think it's funny how people can laugh at this sort of thing when it
happened back in the day, but for some reason have a completely
opposite reaction when it happens in the present time. Does anyone
remember that scene in One Six Right when those WWII vets were
reminiscing about when they were teenagers flying down low along the
trains (and I'm sure they've done worst things than that, too)? You
never hear people calling them idiots. Back then it was cute, not it's
"idiotic". To me it sounds like the exact same thing...

In the old days, people in general were much less fearful than they are today,
and often much less reckless as well (there is some correlation between the
two).