"These 'Crappy Days' are yours and mine..."

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Ah, the 1950's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMxkMy9JvXI

but were they really "Happy Days"?

Many younger people see the 1950's portrayed on TV, in movies like that or something "cool", but I can assure you, my parents grew up in that era, and they weren't such great days.  In the 1950's, you had crap like:

-The Korean War.  The first war America didn't win.  We stalemated, and after that, lost every war, 'cause those morons in Congress undermined and micromanaged our military.

-The Launching of Spudnik, prompting the space race, American schools to pile on the homework and make the classes harder, in a lame-ass attempt to compete with [probably genetically engineered] "Soviet Genius Whiz Kids", to spare America's [bruised] ego.

-Aesbestos was EVERYWHERE.  We didn't know it was bad for us back then.

-Everyone smoked

-Society was uber conformist

-Polio (and the painful shots you had to get)

-No seat belts in cars (although the cars themselves from that era were AWESOME!)

-Racism was prevalent.  Interracial marriages were illegal, and mixed race children that existed were persecuted and severely ostracized.

-No 911 emergency to dial, no touch tone/speed dial phones

Now, granted the 1950's weren't all bad.  The good things about the 1950's, IMO, were the cars, the economy (5 jobs open for every 1 person, unlike today where it's 50 people for every 1 open job), the music (Doo Wop, Rock-N-Roll, Elvis, and the 1950's Les Paul guitar), the food, "Catcher In The Rye", and the birth of Disneyland (1955).

[Sabre]

The nostalgia glasses.

About 3 decades after the fact, people see whatever time period in a possative light. Hence the recent rise of 80s stuff like transformers, GI Joes ect.

[Guest FoXXX]

20th century was pretty bad :|

[Redeemer]

Ehhhh!! *points in a cool fashion*

I would love to just spend a day in the 50s. I think I would fit in well, because I can't dance to today's standards, but I feel I could fit in back then.

However, as Julius pointed out, they weren't all that good. I'm actually glad we're past those things. D:

[Guest Julius Quasar]

FYI, guys, the whole "Rebel on a motorcycle" fad was started by the young Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", NOT by James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause".

"What are you rebelling against?"

"Whadd'ya got!?"

;)

[Steve]

I don't know, my parents are from the 60s and they had a pretty nice early life, no complains, then again, that was down in the south, Mexico  so I guess they didn't have to deal with the war crap.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I don't know, my parents are from the 60s and they had a pretty nice early life, no complains, then again, that was down in the south, Mexico  so I guess they didn't have to deal with the war crap.

...or the space race and the competition with Soviet Whiz Kids.

One more thing I liked about the '50s was the celeb women like Bettie Paige, Marilyn Monroe, Sandra Dee, and so many more...

...those celeb women had talent, and they weren't a bunch of drunk, drug addicted, anorexic, famous-for-being-famous, stupid douchebags..how did we go from a culture where Marylin Monroe was a star to losers like Paris Hilton being a star!?  Talk about ruination of our [pop] culture.

[Redeemer]

...those celeb women had talent, and they weren't a bunch of drunk, drug addicted, anorexic, famous-for-being-famous, stupid douchebags..how did we go from a culture where Marylin Monroe was a star to losers like Paris Hilton being a star!?  Talk about ruination of our [pop] culture.

Hahaha, KATE MOSS. You just described her, perfectly.

[Robert Monroe]

20th century was pretty bad

The 19th was worse. So was the 18th. Actually, every century has had its share of bullshit.

Ah, the 1950's...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMxkMy9JvXI

but were they really "Happy Days"?

Many younger people see the 1950's portrayed on TV, in movies like that or something "cool", but I can assure you, my parents grew up in that era, and they weren't such great days.  In the 1950's, you had crap like:

-The Korean War.  The first war America didn't win.  We stalemated, and after that, lost every war, 'cause those morons in Congress undermined and micromanaged our military.

-The Launching of Spudnik, prompting the space race, American schools to pile on the homework and make the classes harder, in a lame-ass attempt to compete with [probably genetically engineered] "Soviet Genius Whiz Kids", to spare America's [bruised] ego.

-Aesbestos was EVERYWHERE.  We didn't know it was bad for us back then.

-Everyone smoked

-Society was uber conformist

-Polio (and the painful shots you had to get)

-No seat belts in cars (although the cars themselves from that era were AWESOME!)

-Racism was prevalent.  Interracial marriages were illegal, and mixed race children that existed were persecuted and severely ostracized.

-No 911 emergency to dial, no touch tone/speed dial phones

Now, granted the 1950's weren't all bad.  The good things about the 1950's, IMO, were the cars, the economy (5 jobs open for every 1 person, unlike today where it's 50 people for every 1 open job), the music (Doo Wop, Rock-N-Roll, Elvis, and the 1950's Les Paul guitar), the food, "Catcher In The Rye", and the birth of Disneyland (1955).

-Korea was a draw, we only lost Vietnam, we won the Gulf, and the current war I don't even know what to make of.

-The launch of Sputnik was also was started the Space Race, which is arguably the greatest achievement of the 20th century.

-Hindsight is 20/20

-What is wrong with smoking? it was pretty common before the 50s, and hey if you wanna, be my guest.

-Uber-conformist? Which is why we had segregation and the Red Scare, right? if anything the 50s weren't comformist enough.

-Because of the poli vaccines THEN, we has basically obliterated it today. This is a bad thing? It was an advancement in modern innoculation.

-Racism was prevalent before and after then. The 60s saw birth to the Civil Rights movements, which pretty much were race riots, with MLK Jr being the oddman out. Before then, we still had segregation, not to mention societies like the KKK were at their strongest up until around the 30s or 40s.

You seem to be misunderstanding how nostalgia works. It is SUPPOSED to ignore the bad and welcome the good. We do it in our own generation, people gloat about how great the 80s and 90s were, but they had plenty of suckage too (AIDs epidemic, gay rights at an all time low, Reaganomics, Read My Lips, The Yugoslavia Incident, the Assault Weapons Ban, which is what I remember off the top of my head). No decade is "good" or "bad", and they each had their own relative problems and good times.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

The 19th was worse. So was the 18th. Actually, every century has had its share of bullshit.

-Korea was a draw, we only lost Vietnam, we won the Gulf, and the current war I don't even know what to make of.

-The launch of Sputnik was also was started the Space Race, which is arguably the greatest achievement of the 20th century.

-Hindsight is 20/20

-What is wrong with smoking? it was pretty common before the 50s, and hey if you wanna, be my guest.

-Uber-conformist? Which is why we had segregation and the Red Scare, right? if anything the 50s weren't comformist enough.

-Because of the poli vaccines THEN, we has basically obliterated it today. This is a bad thing? It was an advancement in modern inoculation.

-Racism was prevalent before and after then. The 60s saw birth to the Civil Rights movements, which pretty much were race riots, with MLK Jr being the oddman out. Before then, we still had segregation, not to mention societies like the KKK were at their strongest up until around the 30s or 40s.

You seem to be misunderstanding how nostalgia works. It is SUPPOSED to ignore the bad and welcome the good. We do it in our own generation, people gloat about how great the 80s and 90s were, but they had plenty of suckage too (AIDs epidemic, gay rights at an all time low, Reaganomics, Read My Lips, The Yugoslavia Incident, the Assault Weapons Ban, which is what I remember off the top of my head). No decade is "good" or "bad", and they each had their own relative problems and good times.

-I know it was a draw, but it was the beginning of America not winning anymore wars.

-True, the Space Race had some good points.

-"What's wrong with smoking?" Oh nothing much, just CANCER, and emphazema...

-The conformity was what fueled the Red Scare and Segregation

-I'm not saying the polio vaccinations were bad, they were a good thing, but back then to get them you had to have an arm full of needles, unlike today's polio vaccination which is easy.

You seem to be misunderstanding the point of this whole thread.  It's not about nostalgia.  It's about bursting the nostalgia bubble that many people have about the 1950's.

[Robert Monroe]

-I know it was a draw, but it was the beginning of America not winning anymore wars.

-True, the Space Race had some good points.

-"What's wrong with smoking?" Oh nothing much, just CANCER, and emphazema...

-The conformity was what fueled the Red Scare and Segregation

-I'm not saying the polio vaccinations were bad, they were a good thing, but back then to get them you had to have an arm full of needles, unlike today's polio vaccination which is easy.

You seem to be misunderstanding the point of this whole thread.  It's not about nostalgia.  It's about bursting the nostalgia bubble that many people have about the 1950's.

-We still won the Gulf War, and not everyone can win all the time.

-Some good points? It was a hallmark of human ability. WE LANDED ON THE FREAKIN MOON.

-Drinking can give you cancer too, and there's a lot of that as well. And again, smoking is not mutually exclusive to the 50s by a long shot. If people want to tar up their lungs, thats their buisness.

-Conformity means to change your lifestyle to meet someone elses standards. On one hand, you could say the blacks had to conform to white standards, but on the other you can say the whites were refusing to conform to the blacks. This point is moot, as it is based in POV.

-Science marches on. This is hardly the worst aspect about underdeveloped medicine.

And I'm saying your focus on the 50s is silly. Every decade, every century, has its nostalgia bubbles. The 50s are not special, and your focus on them makes little sense to me. Did the 50s murder your family as a child and burn down your village? Of course people who lived in the 50s nostalgia about the 50s, they grew up at that time. Likewise when we're old and senile, we'll be nostalgiaing about the 80s or 90s and some upstart internet guy is gonna be making posts about how much they "sucked".

The truth of the matter is things are neither Happy Days or Crappy Days. They're just days. They have their ups, they have their downs, 50s had racism and the threat of MAD, but also good looking clothes and scientific leaps.

[Sabre]

At risk of sounding like a wally, america hasn't won much war wise. If you're just counting wins, France has the best battle (not war) record.

The problem with conformity is that it restricts indervidual freedoms. Don't like american pie? Your Ivan the red. I guess I'll have to pretend to like american pie.

The issue here (I think) is that people always focus on the ideal rather then the negative, getting the false idea that the world was perfect until -insert problem with sosity here- For example, people keep going on about criminals, overcrowded prisons and light sentences, but crime has been going down for 30 years, but prison time has been going up. That's enough for people to go "Everything was better in the fifties before these -insert prejadice here- came along and now we have overcrowded prisons. Let's go back to the ways of the 50s!"

Oddly enough, hippies work in the same way, only with animals of farthing wood instead of the past.

[Robert Monroe]

At risk of sounding like a wally, america hasn't won much war wise. If you're just counting wins, France has the best battle (not war) record.

The problem with conformity is that it restricts indervidual freedoms. Don't like american pie? Your Ivan the red. I guess I'll have to pretend to like american pie.

The issue here (I think) is that people always focus on the ideal rather then the negative, getting the false idea that the world was perfect until -insert problem with sosity here- For example, people keep going on about criminals, overcrowded prisons and light sentences, but crime has been going down for 30 years, but prison time has been going up. That's enough for people to go "Everything was better in the fifties before these -insert prejadice here- came along and now we have overcrowded prisons. Let's go back to the ways of the 50s!"

Oddly enough, hippies work in the same way, only with animals of farthing wood instead of the past.

The "big" wars America has been in, has generally been won. But you are right, as a whole it hasn't won much compared to other nations, only relatively. But that's not the point.

And that is the problem with nostalgia, but point about nostalgia is that EVERYONE HAS THE BLINDNESS to some degree or another. There is nothing special about the 1950s, good or bad, that makes it especially stand out to other decades. The 40s had world war, the 30s had depression and crime, the 20s had prohibition and... crime, the 10s had Henry Ford, the 60s had Nam, the 70s had more Nam, plus Jimmy Carter, the 80s had Reaganomics and GRIDs, the 90s had weapons bans and terrorist risings, the 00s had 9/11 and the Bush administration, this current decade is looking to have a recession as big as the 30s depression, a war that still hasn't ended thats going nowhere, and the Obama administration. What makes racism and COMMIES so special?

[Guest Julius Quasar]

And I'm saying your focus on the 50s is silly. Every decade, every century, has its nostalgia bubbles. The 50s are not special, and your focus on them makes little sense to me. Did the 50s murder your family as a child and burn down your village? Of course people who lived in the 50s nostalgia about the 50s, they grew up at that time. Likewise when we're old and senile, we'll be nostalgiaing about the 80s or 90s and some upstart internet guy is gonna be making posts about how much they "sucked".

  I don't care about the 1950's, or any time period.  I'm not saying the '50's were great, nor am I saying they sucked.  They had their ups and downs.  I'm just saying that so many people I know say they wish they could live in the '50's, and how they think it was so perfect, but it wasn't perfect, no time period was.  As great as the '80's seemed, they had their good points, and bad points too. 

The worst time period of all would probably be the Dark Ages.  Only good thing that came from the Dark Ages was the Renaissance Art that was inspired by it.

The truth of the matter is things are neither Happy Days or Crappy Days. They're just days. They have their ups, they have their downs, 50s had racism and the threat of MAD, but also good looking clothes and scientific leaps.

That's what I've been saying this whole time in the thread.  You gotta use your head, read between the lines, man...

[Sabre]

Exactly. The 50s were not special in any way, the problem is that most people see it as special, and bang on and on about going back to the old ways as people were happier.

[Robert Monroe]

  I don't care about the 1950's, or any time period.  I'm not saying the '50's were great, nor am I saying they sucked.  They had their ups and downs.  I'm just saying that so many people I know say they wish they could live in the '50's, and how they think it was so perfect, but it wasn't perfect, no time period was.  As great as the '80's seemed, they had their good points, and bad points too. 

The worst time period of all would probably be the Dark Ages.  Only good thing that came from the Dark Ages was the Renaissance Art that was inspired by it.

That's what I've been saying this whole time in the thread.  You gotta use your head, read between the lines, man...

Exactly. The 50s were not special in any way, the problem is that most people see it as special, and bang on and on about going back to the old ways as people were happier.

But again: everyone nostalgias about their own decade. I know tons of people who go "I wish it was the 90s/80s again", so why is this topic focusing SOLELY on the 50s? To single them out is to imply there is something special about them, which there isn't, which we all agree on, so why do we even have this topic?

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Robert, no offense, but you're starting to piss me off right now...I know you're not doing it on purpose, you're too smart for that, but seriously...try to show some respect for this thread, and stop leaping to conclusions...

The people who talk the most about wanting to live in the '50's are people my age or younger, who don't know a thing about it from history class..that's why I brought up this topic.  We all remember the '80's and '90's, they weren't that long ago.

the '50's, '80's, and '90's are the most talked about decades....

[Robert Monroe]

Robert, no offense, but you're starting to piss me off right now...I know you're not doing it on purpose, you're too smart for that, but seriously...try to show some respect for this thread, and stop leaping to conclusions...

Then do enlighten me as to why the topic focues entirely on the 50s if there is in fact nothing special about them. I am honestly confused about this matter, because its just because people "nostalgia" about them, then the topic would be better suited to bashing on people who nostalgia about any decade, because this decade-nostalgia is not limtied to the 50s in any way, shape, or form.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Then do enlighten me as to why the topic focues entirely on the 50s if there is in fact nothing special about them. I am honestly confused about this matter, because its just because people "nostalgia" about them, then the topic would be better suited to bashing on people who nostalgia about any decade, because this decade-nostalgia is not limtied to the 50s in any way, shape, or form.

The point of this topic is, it's ironic that the people who talk the most about wanting in the '50's are the ones who never lived in it (not bashing them, btw  ).  We all can remember the '90's, and many of us remember the '80's, therefore talking about wanting to live in those decades is logical, since the people who talk about wanting to live in those days, did live [happily] in those days of the '90's (or the '80's).

[Robert Monroe]

The point of this topic is, it's ironic that the people who talk the most about wanting in the '50's are the ones who never lived in it (not bashing them, btw  ).  We all can remember the '90's, and many of us remember the '80's, therefore talking about wanting to live in those decades is logical, since the people who talk about wanting to live in those days, did live [happily] in those days of the '90's (or the '80's).

Ah. This clears things up a little, if you meant people who never actually LIVED in the 50s. But again, this isn't really new, but I mostly say that because I hang around history lovers, and a lot of them tend to spout "durrrr I wish I lived in Victorian England", so this strikes me as nothing special.

Even still, the topic would be better suited if it was expanded to era-nostalgia in general. We're bound to get more lulz that way.

Although personally I wouldn't mind living in the 50s. Different shit to deal with then now, but at least I'd get to see the moon landings in the 60s!

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Ah. This clears things up a little, if you meant people who never actually LIVED in the 50s. But again, this isn't really new, but I mostly say that because I hang around history lovers, and a lot of them tend to spout "durrrr I wish I lived in Victorian England", so this strikes me as nothing special.

Even still, the topic would be better suited if it was expanded to era-nostalgia in general. We're bound to get more lulz that way.

I hear a lot of "I wish I lived in Victorian times" spouted out by history buffs, and I tend to chuckle.  But I found the whole "I wish I lived in the 1950's" said by kids who never lived in that era, while the older folks who DID live in that era, who are still around, tell them "Oh really?  Well, gather around, and lemme tell you how things really were." slightly funnier.  If any Victorians were still around to tell these history buff people people who said  "durrrr I wish I lived in Victorian England", and any Victorians were there to say "Oh really?  Well, gather around, and lemme tell you how things really were." I'd find that hilarious. (Sadly, that will NEVER happen unless you get a ghost or a zombie )

Although personally I wouldn't mind living in the 50s. Different shit to deal with then now, but at least I'd get to see the moon landings in the 60s!

Me neither, especially if it means getting one of those AWESOME cars they had back then.

[Sabre]

era doesn't matter. The main reason (for me anyway) the 50s is special nostalgia as it's held up as perfect.

Let's take an argument closer to home. Many people go "2D were better" and that's fine. It becomes an issue (and what I assumed the thread is about) when people go "All 3D games are crap, Xbox is crap and killing games! Anyone who plays xbox is a tool! There's no originality anymore!" before they go out and buy Megaman 9: Same game over 2 decades old.

It's wrong, hypocritical, but yet it's accepted as gospel and to challenge it with reality get's you pinned as immoral.

As someone said, "People wrongly believe that everyday life in the 50s was like Leave it to Beaver or Happy Days." but the truth is it was crap, gays were illegal and there wasn't any games yet so I'd be buggered.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

era doesn't matter. The main reason (for me anyway) the 50s is special nostalgia as it's held up as perfect.

Let's take an argument closer to home. Many people go "2D were better" and that's fine. It becomes an issue (and what I assumed the thread is about) when people go "All 3D games are crap, Xbox is crap and killing games! Anyone who plays xbox is a tool! There's no originality anymore!" before they go out and buy Megaman 9: Same game over 2 decades old.

It's wrong, hypocritical, but yet it's accepted as gospel and to challenge it with reality get's you pinned as immoral.

As someone said, "People wrongly believe that everyday life in the 50s was like Leave it to Beaver or Happy Days." but the truth is it was crap, gays were illegal and there wasn't any games yet so I'd be buggered.

...and that too, thank you Sabre.

[Robert Monroe]

era doesn't matter. The main reason (for me anyway) the 50s is special nostalgia as it's held up as perfect.

Let's take an argument closer to home. Many people go "2D were better" and that's fine. It becomes an issue (and what I assumed the thread is about) when people go "All 3D games are crap, Xbox is crap and killing games! Anyone who plays xbox is a tool! There's no originality anymore!" before they go out and buy Megaman 9: Same game over 2 decades old.

It's wrong, hypocritical, but yet it's accepted as gospel and to challenge it with reality get's you pinned as immoral.

As someone said, "People wrongly believe that everyday life in the 50s was like Leave it to Beaver or Happy Days." but the truth is it was crap, gays were illegal and there wasn't any games yet so I'd be buggered.

People who beleive the 50s were like Leave it to Beaver are just morons 

There's nostalgia blindness, and then there's just stupid.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

People who beleive the 50s were like Leave it to Beaver are just morons 

There's nostalgia blindness, and then there's just stupid.

Exactly.  People like them partly inspired me to make this thread.