Life in the 50s better?

[keith99]

From what my Grandparents told me of the 1950s, I imagine it was a pretty cool time. In the 50s my mom's dad worked furnaces and my dad's father worked on the St Lawrence seaway. (A bridge allowing travel from the US to Canada in our area. It no longer exists) moms dad helped with the seaway too but he didn't play as big of a role. My grandfather was a draftsman.

Dont forget in the 50s too the war was over and everybody had elevated morales. Or am I wrong and we fought a war in the 50s after wwII?

The Korean War was entirely in the 50s. Considering that M*A*S*H is set in the Korean War I'm surprised anyone could forget it.

That war had some very nasty bits including The Battle of Chosin Reservoir and The Long Walk in the retreat. Those who survived often refer to themselves as 'The Chosin Few'.

If memory serves the line now attributed to Vietnam 'I must be going to Heaven, I've served my time in Hell' was seen on jackets on vets of the Korean War before the Vietnam War.

 

[keith99]

I think, like any period of history there were good parts and bad parts. The 50's were certainly not good for everyone.

That goes for anytime in history. I think people look back and like the strong points of the 50s and ignore the weak points. There are things I would love to go back to regarding the 50s while at the same time reject or do away with the other things that are distasteful about the time.

Going back to the 50s doesn't mean we would embrace everything about the 50s.

Actually trying to go back to the 50s does embrace pretty much everything about them. And for me is is impossible. One of the good things was that there was room, lots of open space. For that open space to return 100s of thousands of people, their homes, the businesses near them and at least tens of thousnads of miles of roads would all have to vanish and somehow magicly be replaced by undisturbed growth.

 

[timothyu]

For that open space to return 100s of thousands of people, their homes, the businesses near them and at least tens of thousnads of miles of roads would all have to vanish

Maybe but if the added street signs were removed we might see the homes and businesses again. Less is more. Society has become cluttered, physically and mentally.

 

[jacknife]

Nostalgia is toxic, I'm sure when I'm a old man I will be rambling about how great life in the 90's were. Without being aware of the problems that plagued it.

 

[timothyu]

I'm sure when I'm a old man I will be rambling about how great life in the 90's were. Without being aware of the problems that plagued it.

Life is great as long as we have it

 

[sandman]

At the expense of character

Sorry I missed that ...If it makes you feel any better, I have a 67 GTO and a 77 280z

 

[timothyu]

I have a 67 GTO and a 77 280z

'63 impala

 

[sandman]

'63 impala

Nice!!!!

 

[Tinker Grey]

Nice!!!!

2020 Mazda MX-5 RF (yeah, not in the same league, but I like it.)

 

[RDKirk]

Games? We had the real thing in our food and milk.

Little known medical secret: Boomers have so much radioactive Strontium 90 in our bones from surface and atmospheric nuclear bomb testing (even one space test) that when we get X-rays, the technicians don't actually turn on the machine. They just make a noise with their mouths.

 

[RDKirk]

That war had some very nasty bits including The Battle of Chosin Reservoir and The Long Walk in the retreat. Those who survived often refer to themselves as 'The Chosin Few'.

I had an uncle who was one of them. He was my first experience with severe PTSD when I visited them as a kid in 1965.

The Chinese have a super-hit movie out right now about that battle: They win big, and Americans suck. It's heading towards being the top-grossing movie in the world of all time based on Chinese ticket sales alone, which shows what they really think of Americans.

 

[RDKirk]

Nostalgia is toxic, I'm sure when I'm a old man I will be rambling about how great life in the 90's were. Without being aware of the problems that plagued it.

I feel that way about the 70s.

But here, I think, is the thing: As bad as the 50s really were for many people, they also had hope for better times to come. As bad as 70s really were for many people, even more had hope for better times to come.

The crushing thing about today is the lack of hope. Everyone looks forward and sees things getting worse.

 

[timothyu]

. Everyone looks forward and sees things getting worse.

Disco's coming back?

 

[Tanj]

Or am I wrong and we fought a war in the 50s after wwII?

Like the Korean war? Easier to ask in what time periods has the US not been at war.

Only 15 Years of Peace in the History of the United States of America

So you've been at war for 225 of your 243 years, or ~ 93% of the time.

 

[Tanj]

Little known medical secret: Boomers have so much radioactive Strontium 90 in our bones from surface and atmospheric nuclear bomb testing (even one space test) that when we get X-rays, the technicians don't actually turn on the machine. They just make a noise with their mouths.

Ooh, so close to greatness, at least as I measure it. Unfortunately Strontium 90 goes to Ytrium and then Zirconium, and all of the decays in that short path are beta, which have about a 1cm penetration ability in the body, and wont make it to the xray film. Also if they somehow did the xray would be reversed, with the skeleton dark and the rest of the body light.

On the bright side, zirconium has some diamond like qualities, so I do look forward to my adamantium-like skeleton.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Was it because the "Establishment" was so firmly in place?

 

[MehGuy]

Personally I never understood the nostalgia or admiration for the 1950s. Seems like an uptight, conformist time. Also dealing with the new reality of nuclear warfare and the red scare. The aesthetic and general fashion are pretty ugly in my opinion too.

I don't want a housewife.. I've grown up around that as a child and from what I've seen it's mostly empty. I know some from my generation and even younger admire it, but it's often now what it seems.

Plus while not LGBT.. my sexual/romantic interests would be much more harder to find and be much more of a social liability.

The only thing I wish I could do in the 1950s is be an audience member in the Jackie Gleason show.. more specifically being able to watch one of the Honeymooner episodes live.

I like living in modern times. Although I am somewhat partial towards the late 80s and mid-90s. I feel like my teenager years would be have been more in sync with the grunge age. Missed that by a few years.

 

[Bradskii]

I completely misread the title. And I remember doing something similar very many years ago when my wife told me that her office Xmas party was going to be a 'sixties night'. For weeks I wondered why on earth you'd go to a party dressed up as old people. It was only when she asked me if I was going to wear my old pale yellow 3 piece suit with the flared trousers that I've refused to throw out (very Saturday Night Fever) that it clicked.

Still haven't told her...

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I've seen an element of that "Late 40's though Late 50's Nostalgia" on both sides, can't say who exhibits it more.

They just seem to exhibit it for different purposes.

For instance, some liberals yearn the time of the years following FDR policies IE: expanding social safety nets, a time that was thought of to be the "golden era for the middle class", higher tax rates on the uber-wealthy, etc... etc...

Some conservatives yearn for the time when their religious views held sway, and it was my way or the highway and nobody questioned them on it, and for a time when a blue collar guy could go out and get a job that could afford him a house and 2 cars in the driveway, without having to go to college.


In reality, the 50's were nothing special.

Rampant racism, sexism, and anti-gay sentiments

Average life expectancy was 67

No modern cures or treatments for things like cancer (which more people had due to high smoking rates)

The so-called "huge middle class" wasn't all that "middle class" by today's standards. Middle class back then meant that you simply had a house in the suburbs, and that house on average was < 1200 sq ft, had only one bathroom, and one TV for everyone to share, and dining out more than once a month was considered "luxury".

Neither modern party would like the types of policies they had back then. The modern left would look at democrats in that era and be disgusted by some of their social attitudes, and modern right would look at the tax rates under Dwight, and call him a RINO not cutting taxes, and for him sending in the national guard to enforce integration (which was considered 'caving to the leftists' back then).

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I completely misread the title. And I remember doing something similar very many years ago when my wife told me that her office Xmas party was going to be a 'sixties night'. For weeks I wondered why on earth you'd go to a party dressed up as old people. It was only when she asked me if I was going to wear my old pale yellow 3 piece suit with the flared trousers that I've refused to throw out (very Saturday Night Fever) that it clicked.

Still haven't told her...

In some cases there's overlap lol.

For instance, for a 60's night, a person who was born in 61 would be 60 right now, so whether you're playing music that a 60 year old would like, or simply music that was popular in the 60's, you'd be right either way.