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Life across the decades are like waves in the ocean, the wave crashes on the shore and moves in, then gets sucked out again. Some waves are bigger than others and every so often a tsunami hits and wipes out the shoreline.
Lets look at the waves over the last 100 years or so (dates approximate).
1900- WWI: good times and triumph of technology over nature. Good times
WWI-early 20's: Total war, flu epidemic bad times
20's-great depression: Jazz age, aflluence rises, party time
Great depression-WW2: REALLY bad times, rise of facisim, tens of millions dead
postwar 50's-mid to late 60's- HUGE technology boom, rapidly rising living standards, good times
Mid 60's-through the early 80's- riots, rebellion, pessamism war, recession, drugs, not so great time
Mid 80's-early 2000s: another HUGE technology boom, rising standards, good times again
2001 or maybe (2008) to present: endless wars, crashed economy, debt out of control, "big brother" pessamism, bad times.
See the pattern?
Looks to me like we are on a freaking societal see-saw. You could almost say the 70's were bad because the 50-60's were good and the 80's were good because the 70's were bad.
Life across the decades are like waves in the ocean, the wave crashes on the shore and moves in, then gets sucked out again. Some waves are bigger than others and every so often a tsunami hits and wipes out the shoreline.
Lets look at the waves over the last 100 years or so (dates approximate).
1900- WWI: good times and triumph of technology over nature. Good times
WWI-early 20's: Total war, flu epidemic bad times
20's-great depression: Jazz age, aflluence rises, party time
Great depression-WW2: REALLY bad times, rise of facisim, tens of millions dead
postwar 50's-mid to late 60's- HUGE technology boom, rapidly rising living standards, good times
Mid 60's-through the early 80's- riots, rebellion, pessamism war, recession, drugs, not so great time
Mid 80's-early 2000s: another HUGE technology boom, rising standards, good times again
2001 or maybe (2008) to present: endless wars, crashed economy, debt out of control, "big brother" pessamism, bad times.
See the pattern?
Looks to me like we are on a freaking societal see-saw. You could almost say the 70's were bad because the 50-60's were good and the 80's were good because the 70's were bad.
Wow. You are way off on your timeline.
-WW1 occurred from 1914-1918.
-The 1920's were known as the "Roaring 20's" because the economy was booming like never before
-1930's was the Great Depression. Technically began in 1929 on the Black Friday stock market crash and lasted up to WW2.
-WW2 for America was from 1941-1945. Yes, those were tough times as goods and services were rationed due to the war. America had it easy compared to the rest of the world, but those were tough days.
-Agree about the 50's through 90's.
-2000-present= bad economy and wars. 2008 was the bottom of the markets and things have improved since then, just not enough. Out of control debt is nothing new. Every president since Reagan has spent like a drunken sailor including the last one.
Not sure how to respond to your final paragraph other than to say that things go in cycles. The 50's-present were no different than 1900-1950. There were drastic ups and downs. You just have to hold on for the ride and hope things improve gradually this decade and next.
The decade of the 70's was sort of like a hangover from the 60's. Everyone did drugs, protested against the war, rioted for civil rights, etc. in the 60's. By the 70's, it seems that people got tired of protesting and just kicked back and did drugs. The war wound down so there was nothing more to protest. Civil rights changes were already mostly over with by the early 70's.
The decade of the 70's was sort of like a hangover from the 60's. Everyone did drugs, protested against the war, rioted for civil rights, etc. in the 60's. By the 70's, it seems that people got tired of protesting and just kicked back and did drugs. The war wound down so there was nothing more to protest. Civil rights changes were already mostly over with by the early 70's.
The '70's were basically the late '60's values applied on a personal rather than a political scale. After the Vietnam War wound down, and after discovering that there wasn't actually going to be a revolution, the impulse to protest the outer world was converted into a drive to perfect the inner being. It came in the form of a large array of neo nonsense such as EST, Rolfing, I-Ching, Astrology, Tarot Cards, Aura Buffing, Bio-Rhythms, pretty much anything marketed as eastern wisdom caught on.
However, the anti nature of the '60's protest tradition did spawn a protest tradition which was employed in a more positive manner in the '70's which witnessed the blossoming of the feminist movement as well as the birth of environmental concerns.
The '70's were basically the late '60's values applied on a personal rather than a political scale. After the Vietnam War wound down, and after discovering that there wasn't actually going to be a revolution, the impulse to protest the outer world was converted into a drive to perfect the inner being. It came in the form of a large array of neo nonsense such as EST, Rolfing, I-Ching, Astrology, Tarot Cards, Aura Buffing, Bio-Rhythms, pretty much anything marketed as eastern wisdom caught on.
However, the anti nature of the '60's protest tradition did spawn a protest tradition which was employed in a more positive manner in the '70's which witnessed the blossoming of the feminist movement as well as the birth of environmental concerns.
Exactly. But the 'eastern wisdom' hasn't dissappeared, just mixed in with the rest. And the big rise in open practice of pagan religions, especially wicca, happened then too. We have more diversity than we had then and have broadened our horizons.
But what I remember most about the seventies is that people were just tired. The war was never mentioned in my family since if it was we couldn't sit and be family, kind of like how my uncle slipping past the draft had not been ever brought up and we didn't talk about dad's military service. But in some families it split them to pieces. And you had your friends and your enemies in the sixties. On ALL sides, the ones you agreed with were right and the ones you didn't were wrong, absolutely. The anger level never dissapated. But you can take only so much anger. And regardless of why, the Vietnam war ended as the North defeated the south. So the center was over. People's energy to argue just shifted to sadness over the loss of so many of a generation, and away from conflict. People wanted fluff. They wanted to rest. They wanted to regain their energy and started directing it in positive ways.
I think a greater tolerance of those who are different also grew in most cases, and a greater intolerance of the different to the hard core non believers at the same time.
But take a couple of people, both teens/early twenties during the height of the carnage in Vietnam and society, and let one say something to 'bait' the other and its like the decades have vanished and the enemy has been uncovered. Feelings were mearly put away, not changed, not exorcised. Just like my dad refusing to buy anything made in Japan well into the sixties when the better electronics was shifting that way. Each generation has its torch and it does not forget, just stores it away and it still filters what goes on. The fluff of the seventies is in part that nobody wanted to push that button and so we all kept a mile away from it.
I would say the 70s were the effect of the 60s since the Vietnam War carried over till 1975. That had a big impact on culture. When Reagan was elected (1980) it was as if a new era began.
The 70s were just a horrid decade, the logical extension of the 60s. In turn the 60s, with the exception of the Civil Rights Movement, were really about nothing more than prolonging one's adolescence as long as possible. The decay of the cities, the expansion of the welfare state, the slide of geopolitical power, the ongoing economic shocks, and -- most of all -- really godawful clothes.
The 70s were just a horrid decade, the logical extension of the 60s. In turn the 60s, with the exception of the Civil Rights Movement, were really about nothing more than prolonging one's adolescence as long as possible. The decay of the cities, the expansion of the welfare state, the slide of geopolitical power, the ongoing economic shocks, and -- most of all -- really godawful clothes.
I went from ages 20 to 30 during the '70's and I had a wonderful time. I suppose that if I had been a more serious and ambitious person at the time, I might have found things more disturbing, but for people who placed their emphasis on enjoying life above other concerns, it was a terrific era.
Things were loose, looser than they are now in some ways. You could sit blowing weed while watching ballgame at the Oakland Coliseum and no one objected, no one ejected you. Weed was popular enough at movies that you could get a contact high if you sat in the right location. With no AIDs to worry about, sex was available and plentiful. Toward the end of the decade, numerous tv stations were broadcasting completely uncensored movies over the air. There were no cell phones so no one could keep track of you at all times and if you felt like dropping out of your life for a while, you could easily do it.
And I maintain that despite all of its cultural claptrap, the '70's was the best decade ever for movies...although I recognize that "best" when it comes to movies or music may have as much to do with a person's age as it does the quality of the art.
The '70's is the only decade of my life that I wouldn't mind reliving exactly as it originally unfolded.
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