Question for "Children of the 50's and 60's"

D'Snowth

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I was just wondering for those of you all who were children during the 1950's and 1960's, how do you feel about our current generation?

Personally, even though I'm a child of the 90's (or would it be 80's since I was technically born in 1989) I think our current generation is awful, compare to the days when you all were kids, you all seemed to live during a nice, simple, wholesome, "Beaverish" (as in Leave it to Beaver) period.

Back in the 50's and 60's it seems like just about everybody was "church-people", always family-oriented, never hear anything nasty coming from them, everyone seems to easily become friends with other people, and it also seems like criminals were virtually non-existant then.

Today, most people seem to be atheists, half of the curse words I know are now considered okay for children who are out of kindergarten, people are just so hateful and back-stabbing, crime rates seem to be increasing, and everyone seems to think everything revolves around sex.

My parents come from the first period I mentioned, and I come from the second period I metioned; personally, I wish times were more like the 50's and 60's, what do you "old codgers" think about all of this?

This is why I mentioned in the past that if each generation is more and more like our current generation, then I don't think Sesame Street will last as long as some people think.
 

CensoredAlso

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Um, I'm not part of that older generation, but I just wanted to contribute for a moment.

Yeah, I also don't think much of the current generation. I thought the '90s were pretty bad, but now that they're gone, I prefer them to what we have now.

Certainly, respect and morality were more prevelant in the past. We have definitely lost that, to our detriment. And I prefer retro pop culture to the current pop stuff.

Though of course, the Leave it to Beaver stuff was a fantasy. The '50s and '60s had their own problems. And there were a lot of issues people "just didn't talk about." There are aspects of both decades we would NOT want back in our lives. Like I wouldn't want to be a woman in the '50s, and the '60s weren't that much better.

I just think the world goes through up and down stages, and at the moment we are in a rut. Eventually it'll get better.
 

rurulesunc

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Not to cause any problems but as an atheist I dont agree with grouping atheists with curse words, crimes, and promiscuous sex. I'm really not trying to start a war here. I just want you to understand that being an atheist doesnt make you a bad person. I follow stricter morals than a lot of my religious friends. (Sorry it just bothers me when people equate atheist with bad morals. The two really arent related in any way. No hard feelings or anything.)

As for the question about things changing over time, I completely agree. Just as a personal opinion I feel that both parents having to work to pay the bills, which is the standard in society today, is really sad and is causing a lot of problems with today's youth. There is not enough parental supervision and society forces it to be that way. What's the solution? I have no idea. Hopefully we will find it sooner rather than later though. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
 

Vic Romano

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I think this notion that the 50's and 60's were so pure and simple and great is complete nonsense.
Yes: there was a more "vocalized" envision of respect, but that necessarily didn't mean it was upheld.
Yes: Television was more tame and soft, but that's also because it was so new.
And yes: The "church going" population in America seemed higher because it was portrayed more often on television as well as in a public forum where as now expressing your freedom is more acceptable.

Take this into consideration though:
The 50's was the birth of the teenager so to speak. An era where youth began to vocalize their image and demand more respect for themselves. LSD became the biggest drug to hit the streets in the sixties and "free love" and drug and alcohol use became as frequent and popular then if not more then it is now. You had the Cold War, Cuban Missle Crisis, the assassination of president Kennedy, racial segregation, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and one that was punishable by imprisonment, the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War... these are things I would not consider the make up of "Glory Days"

No, the 50's and 60's were not what I would consider simpler times, but I believe the focal point of American society is it's media. It's easy to look at "Leave it to Beaver" and compare it to "Flavor of Love" and say "What the **** happened!?", but the main reference point for these thoughts of a better time is directly related to television, which as glorious and nostalgic as it may be; it's still fictional. It's not that things are necessarily worse now then they were 40 to 60 years ago, it's just that due to technology, we're simply more aware of it. When we're in our Silver years looking at that present moment in time, I believe we'll look back with slightly delusional visions of grandeur about the 80's, 90's and even now.

Understand that financial situations, "World Powers", technology, demographics and religious/media/political views/beliefs will constantly be changing: this world will always be filled with it's great successes, loves, and euphoric moments as it will be with failure, hate and dark moments all at the same time, and that time and fashion and technology and complexity can not and should never be measured strictly in "decades".

That's my two cents... give or take a dollar.
 

D'Snowth

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rurulesunc said:
Not to cause any problems but as an atheist I dont agree with grouping atheists with curse words, crimes, and promiscuous sex.
Sorry, I was simply speaking from experience... and I actually wasn't limiting those characteristics to atheists, but apparently that's how it read, so sorry.
 

rurulesunc

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No problem. Like I said, no hard feelings.

I figured that you either hadnt met a lot of atheists, had only met the atheists that say they are atheist because they think its rebellious (and can be very rude and abrasive about it), or it wasnt how you meant it at all.

So no worries.
:smile:
 

MuppetMarc

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I used to think the same thing, but every time period has its problems. The media just puts more of an emphasis on the bad things that happen. There are still good people out there.
 

CensoredAlso

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That is very true. I've been watching more News lately than I ever have. And while it is important to stay informed, too much News can be VERY damaging to your emotional health. They don't report reality, they only report bad news. It can start getting you depressed. So, keep it in moderation, that's what I think.
 

Beebers

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I was born in 1957. Dwight Eisenhower was in the second term of his Presidency. I remember the black-and-yellow fallout shelter signs posted on the sturdiest public buildings letting you know where to seek safety in case of nuclear attack from Russia. I remember when teenage girls and women wore crinolines (look it up) and everyone was dancing the Peppermint Twist. I watched the Beatles come over from England for the first time to perform on Ed Sullivan, and I know exactly where I was when John Kennedy was assassinated. The later '50s and most of the '60s, the nerdy boys wore narrow black ties with white cotton short sleeve dress shirts and pocket protectors and crewcuts. The racy boys wore pure white T-shirts tucked into blue jeans with their cigarette packs rolled up inside the sleeve, carried Zippo lighters and drove Thunderbirds, Corvettes, old Cadillacs and Chevy Bel Airs.

The girls wore crinolines under skirts and dresses and yes, there were poodle skirts, bobby socks and patent leather shoes. If you were gay you were in hiding, and sometimes you were a suicide from the strain of it all. If you were black you stayed in your black world, and in the South of that time you did not use the same rest rooms nor eateries as the white man, you did not walk the same side of the street as a white woman, and voting was a new privilege.

If you were in any way out of the norm of the day in your religious outlooks or lack thereof, race, sexual orientation or career aspirations, you could be sure of no opportunity to live and work openly as an individual true to yourself, and plenty of criticism because you were different.

Women aspiring to things other than housewifery had few avenues for their aspirations.

Personal depressions and discontents were widespread and hidden. Very little real help was available to those struggling with mental illnesses or general unhappiness, and nothing was out in the open. If you had a brother who was depressed, or a suicide, or "not doing well", it was Not Discussed. Not in public, not at the dinner table, not in church. If a person really derailed, he or she was institutionalized. If someone was beating the stuffing out of his children behind closed dooors no one knew and if they did they never said.

People watched Leave It To Beaver and couldn't figure out why their own family wasn't like that.

Things were superficial and surface. If your lawn was mown, your house well-kept, your family showing no outward cracks, if everybody stuck with their particular program as dictated by their race, sex, income, religion and social strata, then things were just fine.

Cars were CARS - Chevelles, Cougars, Chargers, Barracudas, Furies, Camaros, GTOs, Sunliners, the cars were the art of the era. Big, fast, beautiful. Chrome, winged hood ornaments, flash. The cars and the music, they were the thing. You cruised around, you dragraced, you went to drive-in movies and drive-in diners where chicks on rollerskates hooked your food tray on the edge of your rolled-down window.

John Kennedy's death marked the beginning of 24 hour news coverage as we know it today, a television watermark. I watched live as Jack Ruby shot Lee Oswald to death, an unprecedented experience until that day, now taken for granted.

The government got monies for NASA, and men walked on the moon. Rock and roll was not here to stay, and was blown to bits by the Beatles and the Stones and later, psychedelic junk by stoned-out kids on electric guitars.

Lots of things are better today, and lots aren't. It's a lot easier to be who you are today, and a lot easier to get help if you're not okay or somebody's beating you to a jelly behind closed doors. Issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, any sorts of family or emotional distress can now be discussed and addressed openly, and dealt with in much better ways.

It's a lot more okay now to be not affiliated with any particular religion, or to reject religion. Race and sexual orientation are non-issues everywhere except in the most closed and backward of environments.

T.V. is better. Growing up, the whole country had three channels - ABC, CBS, NBC. You got them in on your antenna as best you could. Now, there's everything. Food Network. ESPN. FOX CNN. Bravo. A and E. et al et al.

There was no 911 emergency network. You dialed "O" for operator and she got the cops, or the fire guys, or the ambulance. It was slow, often fatally slow.

We grew up under the stalemated threat of nuclear fun and games with Russia, and then the long nightmare of VietNam. We had Lyndon Johnson as president, one of the worst this country has ever suffered under. In '67 the nation started to slide full-tilt into drugs and deep discontent, and Martin King and Bobby Kennedy were both shot to death during our time. In the space of five years my generation experienced the assassinations of three of the most pivotal figures of the time, Kennedy, King, Kennedy. It was not a good time.

Today, cars should be ashamed to call themselves cars, they're so monotonous and boring. But clothes and furnishings and decor all beat the '50s with a very big stick; I believe all '50s suburban furniture has been burnt, which is as it should be.

Kids today generally are too lazy, they've got it too easy, they're for the most part overprotected for far too long, are developing little common sense or practical skills, and they for the most part do not think well or originally and demonstrate no wish to. The kids of the '50s and early '60s put today's kids right in the shade and leave them there.

Today few have a driving work ethic, and many do not value the things they have. Most don't have to work for what they have, unlike past generations. Since the economic boom of the '80s, which has never really ended, U.S. youth have gone soft. The kids who are lean, driven, fit and strong are the minority now, whereas they were the majority for all our history until now.

There's a lot more I could write about those times, but that's a thumbnail picture.
 

Beebers

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postcript:

probably the saddest change is also the most miraculous one - the Internet. A miracle tool allowing us to know the world in undreamed-of ways, it at the same time keeps people indoors, on their backsides, and away from hands-on work, craftmanship, and real-life interpersonal relationships.

Hands-on development of skills like woodworking, non-computer art work, and a million other hobbies and pursuits commonly done in the '50s and '60s are now gone by the wayside. Playgrounds have fewer and fewer kids in them. The list is long. When I was a kid, everybody was freaking out over the effects of t.v. on us and we were chased outside and away from it all the time. Now we have t.v., video games, and the Net, an insidious trinity whose overuse is now retarding both physical and emotional experience and development.
 
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