No Such Thing as "Good Old Days"

[sstype]

A common theme I'm noticing here is this belief that we as a society are on some sort of "decline" whether it be moral, economic, inter-gender, family. Everyone yearns for the "good old days" as if it were some sort of "Leave it to Beavr" utopia.

While I won't deny that we are going through a lot of upheaval today.....I need ask this question.....was it any better back then???

Just over 150 years ago, we thought nothing of owning other humans as property. It took a civil war that almost tore apart the country and resulted in millions of deaths to abolish slavery.
We died of easily treatable infections, instead of families living in poverty today we had orphanages because parents outright could not afford to raise their children. Life for most was: get up in the morning, tend to the farm/work in the factory, go to church on Sundays, reproduce, die.

In the last century we had a depression, two world wars, a 50 year cold war, numerous conflicts/proxy wars. Mandatory Draft. We had Jim Crow and a Holocaust. Millions upon millions of humans and killed, maimed, oppressed. 90% tax rates. Stagflation. Pre-feminism....Men and women were expected to get married young and stay married, raise kids, and die. Domestic abuse was common. Men were not allowed to divorce and "play the field" . No internet, air conditioning, advanced medical technology, or computers. These were the "Good ol Days"


Why do we moan for the return of some nostalgic utopia which never existed? How are we any worse off than of days gone by?

 

[f283000]

People in this forum when talking about the past I don't think they necessarily mean they want to go back to the past and live there they just wish WOMEN TODAY WERE LIKE THE WOMEN OF THE PAST! Key difference

For example nobody is saying they want to live in the great depression of the 1920's they just wouldn't mind the women today being more like the women of that time.

 

[synergy1]

i disagree about the good old days. They do indeed exist, and they exist right now. I always think that in the future, we will be older and not have the options we have now , so these are the golden years. I look at today as if I am looking back many years from now yearning to be physically and mentally where I am now.

pretend that you are 50 or 60 years old and that all the pretty women you look at are unavailable to you. Pretend that your athleticism is crap. pretend that you are old and all your friends are married/ divorced. Now think to where you are right now and that hot women are an option, you can be active, and your friends are single.

....these are the good old days. you just don't know it yet!

(to the point of the thread, I agree that society always thinks we are on the verge of collapse. it underscores the pessimism of human emotion.)

 

[Drdeee]

It's all created by secret societies. Inluding the cusifiction of Jesus, which is just the perverted form sun worship. You know every year sun dies on the cross and then after three days rises again. Up next is world war three, 184,000 of us will be saved, the new human race numbered 666. Devils Miesiah. Believe it or not but we are a genetically engineered and bread race, our weak and immature emotions is an indicator to it. Our bodies die, spirit lives on in spirit plane, rebirth occurs every couple hundred years.

This hole degradation of humanity is happening because it is planned and controlled.

During good old days traitors like bush sr and jr clinton and obama would be prosecuted. Tower demolition would be investigated. Hell, people would look at hole in pentagon and put two and two together. Fact is humanity is being dumbed down in preparation for this agenda to slip.

We're in cambat comrade, the enemy has dropped on us food drugs entertainment and hookers, while we party they maneuvering on us.

 

[Kirro]

People in this forum when talking about the past I don't think they necessarily mean they want to go back to the past and live there they just wish WOMEN TODAY WERE LIKE THE WOMEN OF THE PAST! Key difference

For example nobody is saying they want to live in the great depression of the 1920's they just wouldn't mind the women today being more like the women of that time.

Not disagreeing but isn't that kind of sad? That the only reason women were the way they were was because they were forced to be?

 

[Mike32ct]

The millions of unemployed would give anything to go back to the "tight labor market" of the late 90s. You had multiple job offers and could almost name your own price. Even the late 80s was excellent in terms of employment. We will never see anything like that again, at least not in the US.

 

[Strelok]

Not disagreeing but isn't that kind of sad? That the only reason women were the way they were was because they were forced to be?

Everyone if let free to behave without being accountable for the conseguences chose the behaviour that gives the most benefit at the moment without caring for the impact on others.

What if just like women are not forced to behave like in past anymore, men are not forced to pay alimony and leave 50% of their stuff after a divorce?
Women were that way that they had to face the conseguences of behing selfish and antisocial.

 

[Vice]

It took a civil war that almost tore apart the country and resulted in millions of deaths to abolish slavery.

On a side note, the American Civil War wasn't about slavery as much as it was just about the lack of jobs taken by slaves and its consequential economic dynamics.

 

[Deep Dish]

Excerpt from Reason magazine:

There's plenty of good, hard data refuting the notion that American living standards are in decline. We're enjoying more of almost all material goods. We're taking more leisure. We're healthier. We're making gains on other measures of well-being. We're making daily life easier by paying others to do what we once did for ourselves. We've got no reason to be alarmed by the evolution of two-income households, or the faster growth rates of other countries.

So why aren't we happier? Why can't we see the progress that continues to make the American dream into an everyday reality?

Many do, of course. Public opinion polls yield a telling schizophrenia. Asked where the country is going, respondents lean toward doom and gloom. When contemplating their own prospects, however, a majority expects to be better off in the future. The first question rests on the dispiriting reports people hear and read, the second reflects their personal experiences. The poll data, with its dichotomy between societal and personal prospects, suggests that being better informed might not produce peace of mind. These days, with the intrusion of so many media, it's almost impossible to be blissfully ignorant of the seamier sides of society. We're overwhelmed by the negative, including a steady drumbeat of reports that living standards are declining. That message sounds loud and clear, drowning out all the evidence and experience.

…Part of it may lie in human nature. Today's imperfections are confirmed by daily trials and tribulations at home and at work, or the media's latest reports of murder and mayhem. Many of us forget the turbulence of the past -- the wars, recessions, scandals, crimes, and human failings that come with every age. We remember the past in a hazy glow of good feelings. In the 1990s there's a nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s as more peaceful and prosperous times. Yet those eras had plenty of horrors -- the threat of nuclear annihilation, an unpopular war in Vietnam, racial strife that erupted into rioting, assassinations, and political hanky-panky.

http://reason.com/archives/1995/12/01/the-good-old-days-are-now

The essay was originally published in 1995, but it's still relevant today as ever. Even when the global economy eventually returns to its boom, people will still pine for the mythological 'good old days' of yesteryore.

 

[Alle_Gory]

Drdeee, let's keep the trolling down to a minimum shall we? It's one thing to share controversial theories. It's another to make up nonsense. That is called trolling and it's meant to garner attention.

Please keep that in mind.

Not disagreeing but isn't that kind of sad? That the only reason women were the way they were was because they were forced to be?

Couldn't the same be said for the men?

 

[Kirro]

Drdeee, let's keep the trolling down to a minimum shall we? It's one thing to share controversial theories. It's another to make up nonsense. That is called trolling and it's meant to garner attention.

Please keep that in mind.



Couldn't the same be said for the men?

Yeah, I guess it could.

 

[sstype]

Thanks for the responses guys....Deep Dish's article was spot on.

Regarding women then vs. now.....the reason why women acted "better" in the sense that they were more submissive and agreeable to men was because they lacked any sort of economic clout and needed men to support them and their kids. Being a "good housewife" was a matter of survival, not something that all women wanted to do out of the goodness of their hearts.

Likewise, men were expected to marry their high school/college sweetheart and support her and the family. You had none of this "playing the field" garbage. It was find your girl and marry her for the majority of men.

It amuses me when average guys here complain about the lack of "good women" when their partner counts would have made a young "casanova" growing up in the 50s blush.
I wonder how many guys here would give up their sexual variety for the one "good woman" they pine for.....

 

[Alle_Gory]

I wonder how many guys here would give up their sexual variety for the one "good woman" they pine for.....

Better be a damn good woman.

 

[Kirro]

Thanks for the responses guys....Deep Dish's article was spot on.

Regarding women then vs. now.....the reason why women acted "better" in the sense that they were more submissive and agreeable to men was because they lacked any sort of economic clout and needed men to support them and their kids. Being a "good housewife" was a matter of survival, not something that all women wanted to do out of the goodness of their hearts.

Likewise, men were expected to marry their high school/college sweetheart and support her and the family. You had none of this "playing the field" garbage. It was find your girl and marry her for the majority of men.

It amuses me when average guys here complain about the lack of "good women" when their partner counts would have made a young "casanova" growing up in the 50s blush.
I wonder how many guys here would give up their sexual variety for the one "good woman" they pine for.....

I really like the way things are right now. I really, REALLY enjoy it. If times were like back then it would be horribly boring. I have never had any interest in the family man/married life. It sounds like a**. The idea of working my ass to support a woman makes me cringe, if there is one belief I am truly emotionally invested in, if there is one thing I will not compromise on is committing to any woman on this planet quality or not.