You can't recreate the past that never was.

https://www.quora.com/Was-America-better-in-the-1950s
https://catholicexchange.com/the-1950s-would-we-want-to-go-back

"In the ‘50s, homes were smaller, cars larger, attire more formal, and the range of consumer products far narrower. A sense of order prevailed. Neighbors watched out for everyone’s kids. We left our homes and cars unlocked. Kids behaved in school or were expelled. Most of us toed the line, because we knew that our parents would take the teacher’s side. Teachers were respected and principals feared. People accepted responsibility for their actions.


"People dressed up more often and generally were more polite. They used less profanity in public.Movies depended on good acting instead of special effects to tell engaging stories, and depictions of intimacy and violence left the details to one’s imagination. If you hurt yourself doing something careless, you never thought of suing the company that made the thing with which you hurt yourself. Most of us went to Sunday school or synagogue every weekend, learning right from wrong and that we are accountable to a higher power.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2019 09:02AM by anybody.

The 50's were good unless you were not a white person.

Or homosexual. Or atheist.

Or didn’t live in America

CrispingPin Wrote:
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> Or homosexual. Or atheist.

Not so. The 1950s were the decade of atheism, as it was imposed forcefully upon Eastern Europe, most of China and Tibet when the Chinese invaded. China soon set to dismantling Tibetan Buddhism, and has had great success in that regard although a tokenistic element remains.

OK, I’ll admit I was focusing on the United States.

In the USA, if you’re anything other than a male, white, heterosexual Christian, your lot in life is much better now than it was in the 1950s.

Would we have to reinstate the girdle? I'm against that!

But what about those really pointy bras ? They could put someone's eye out.

Nostalgia - the longing for a more perfect distant past - evidences an empire past prime, on the long trajectory of decline.
But there are critical structural components now forever altered that make a return (or even improvement) impossible. Wilde's "you can't go home again." Even the current political dysfunction (in the USA) is but a symptom. Matters little who is elected, decline by my analysis is now inexorable. Too many flooded watertight compartments in the ship.

(And not stating the 1950's were better - my focus is on the nostalgia itself.)

And even were it not so, China is going to eat our lunch.
A nation on the rise has a vital energy and strong vision towards the future - and China's structures remain largely intact.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XewnyUJgyA4#fauxfullscreen

Interesting times.

Although they’re not big on religion and human rights.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/western-un-envoys-condemn-chinas-muslim-re-education-camps/a-49543438

The mosques are being bulldozed.

I can’t be critical though, since that’s exactly what I’d like to see done to Mormons. It does seem to be a PR problem for China’s “Made in China 2025” push because it makes me want to not buy their sh*t.

That is Thomas Wolfe who said you can't go home again.

But I say you can. You can!

loislane Wrote:
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> That is Thomas Wolfe who said you can't go home
> again.
>
> But I say you can. You can!

It was stated better by Heraclitus, who said that you cannot step into the same river twice. Well, in some ways you can, but let's not get hung up on that, he was right in general.

The fifties saw the beginning of the Cold War, as it was clear that the west was winning on living standards. Despite the well meaning statements above, it was also a period in which things became better for women and non-white people. However, sinister forces would soon take over these movements and exploit them to their own ends, which led to troubles and a lot of political murders in the 1960s.

anybody Wrote:
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> Movies depended on good acting instead of
> special effects to tell engaging stories, and
> depictions of intimacy and violence left the
> details to one’s imagination.

Well, this much is largely (although not totally) true.

This was before the great society. LBJ really thought he was going to eradicate poverty through spending. Education was the answer for every problem of the inner city and Appalachia. Now after 50 years and trillions of dollars of taxes it's apparent that the wealth gap has widened. Opportunity for social mobility is not like it was in the 50's. The rich and poor don't socialize like they did in the 50's, but are gated off. The prisons have expanded. More drugs and sex trafficking flooding in from the southern border than there was in the 50's.

I wish we could go back to Peyton Place! They were so polite. Everything so clean!