>>> Never could understand all that 50's nostalgia! How could anyone be nostalgic for that era?
Yeah, in addition to all you say, there was the traditional Republican 2% growth rate. And I sure remember the stupid 'duck-and-cover' drills, where we would hide under our desks at school in the event of a nuclear war. Had a few childhood dreams off of that one. :-)
Selective memory.
Of course, there were some good things about the era - Jazz, Beat Art, and post-McCarthy times. Plus, it wasn't WWII, so people weren't getting killed in the tens of millions per year any more. That would have been a big relief. Technology was an optimistic thing then, too, with the advances in medicine, the new space program, the x-15, electronics. The new UN gave people hope in those days too, despite the cold war.
And I recall the crime rate being low, although they always cooked the numbers on crime back then, big time. You couldn't easily get a rape reported, for instance - the cops would just say the girl 'asked for it.' So who knows about the crime rate. My youngest sister dated a guy who looked and dressed a lot like the Fonz. But I don't recall the Fonz having that switch blade and zip gun, popular accoutrements at the time for the leather jacket crowd.
It was the heyday of segregation and the Mafia and the corrupt meanderings of figures like J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn. McCarthy and Korea and the beginnings of Vietnam. Ronny Reagan was busy selling the members from the entertainers union he bossed when he was a democrat to Cohn and McCarthy. The notion of free speech was truly subversive. Most of the speech on this board here would have earned these posters an interview with HUAC or the FBI. Even the supposed right wingers here.
I remember the proud saying of my elders in those days if pushed: "Hey, damnit! I'm White, Male, and 21, so I can do what I please."
And that was oh so true. Except if you were poor too. In that case you couldn't do what you pleased, but you could beat up anyone who wasn't in the category.
Ah, good times, good times. :-|
Cheers,
Chaz |
