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If there was one or two things from the 1950s I would like to see brought back it would be a viable passenger rail system and effective labor unions. Not much else. The family farm and vital rural communities would also be nice. Trust in government and trustworthy government comes to mind but I'm not sure it was all that trustworthy even then.
I was born in ’48 under Truman and graduated from HS under LBJ in ‘66. There were huge changes and a huge difference during those years, give or take. I recall all of the independence movements in Africa and the demise of colonialism there and in Asia. The war in Vietnam grew out of turmoil of WW2 and colonialism. The “crisis of rising expectations” in the newly independent countries was a concern. It caused minor local wars and repeated coups and assassinations. India and Israel are less than a year older than me. The Iron Curtain and the commies were behind all this turmoil.
Americans discovered television and air conditioning and the family car and an end to the post war housing shortage and have babies out the wazoo. Last one to the suburbs is a rotten egg. Schools were overcrowded in short order. Where are all these negros coming from? We started to get interstate highways. The big worry was what to do in a nuclear attack. Then came polio. All of the stuff that was happening in the world was background noise for the greatest country in the world but it still happened. Then a few things broke through the awareness. Francis Gary Powers and his U2 were shot down inside the USSR. Well he strayed over the border and innocently flew his reconnaissance plan almost halfway across the USSR. An honest mistake. Freedom Riders, lunch counters, marchers and protests. There was a revolution in Cuba that kicked out the bad guys (Yay!) but Castro was pro-Moscow (Boo!). Good heavens a Catholic wanted to be President— what next? Elvis went in the Army in ‘58. Not so bad after all. JFK was assassinated. Where is that grassy knoll, exactly. Later Cassius Clay, now Muhammad Ali, said no to the draft. Vietnam was now our war — how did that happen? The kids need a haircut. Where are the kids anyway? San Francisco?? What?
Exactly. Thing is, we were kids back then but if we had been adults then and saw what's happening today, we would really be upset. From what I can remember as a kid there was north against south as far as segregation but other than that we were one country. The nuclear scares, polio, the revolutions around the world, the assassinations, Viet Nam. Well, Viet Nam did pull two generations apart with the younger ones mostly opposed while the parents were for it. But all in all, we were one unified country.
Today we're chopped up and diced into little individual bits and pieces according to color, country of origin, sexual orientation, religious denomination, beliefs--you name it. The people from the '50s were ALL Americans first. No one cared first about being gay or Catholic or trans or a person of any color or any particular origin. That was usually private and the only negative thing was that some of it was not accepted. We should accept those things that people hold dear or that they cannot change but it's not a big deal. Nothing to celebrate, nothing to be ashamed of either.
They would think America had turned into Sodom and Gomorrah.
Aside from the fact that 'someone from the 1950s' could be any one of countless people with all sorts of different perspectives, you're correct in generalities. The average person from the 1950s would be positively appalled that sexual activity (use of birth control, pre-marital, same-sex, etc.) and relationships in general (the right to marry who you want, the right to get divorced for whatever reason) has generally been decriminalized. Of course, there would be some from the 1950s who would laud the increase in liberty and decrease in government control over private sex lives.
Of course, a typical person from the 1850s would undoubtedly look at the 1950s and be appalled by such things as desegregation of public schools, income tax, integration of the military, the incorporation of the Bill of Rights, women voting, not to mention rock and roll (very scary!).
They would be shocked that most of USA, Canada and Europe now look like the third world, doesn't produce anything except old tech like cars (high tech is all made in Asia even if designed in the US, Europe and Canada don't even design). And that parts of East Asia are much more civilized and developped than Europe.
Exactly. Thing is, we were kids back then but if we had been adults then and saw what's happening today, we would really be upset. From what I can remember as a kid there was north against south as far as segregation but other than that we were one country. The nuclear scares, polio, the revolutions around the world, the assassinations, Viet Nam. Well, Viet Nam did pull two generations apart with the younger ones mostly opposed while the parents were for it. But all in all, we were one unified country.
Today we're chopped up and diced into little individual bits and pieces according to color, country of origin, sexual orientation, religious denomination, beliefs--you name it. The people from the '50s were ALL Americans first. No one cared first about being gay or Catholic or trans or a person of any color or any particular origin. That was usually private and the only negative thing was that some of it was not accepted. We should accept those things that people hold dear or that they cannot change but it's not a big deal. Nothing to celebrate, nothing to be ashamed of either.
*record scratch*
You do know the “unified” feeling was because only one group of people was allowed to wield influence and create pop culture, right? We know from historical records the divisions were the same back then as now. Nobody was holding flamboyant gay pride parades because you’d be beaten in the streets. Conformity was enforced. Everyone has to keep who they were deep down. Black people were prevented from voting. Women couldn’t get credit cards in their own name until what, the 70s? It wasn’t how people WANTED to live.
America, like any country, has always been divided. The only difference is now those different groups can have a voice and a say at the governing table and in pop culture.
That it’s just like their world. Strip away the technology and shifting culture. Human behavior never changes it just reveals itself in different ways.
You do know the “unified” feeling was because only one group of people was allowed to wield influence and create pop culture, right? We know from historical records the divisions were the same back then as now. Nobody was holding flamboyant gay pride parades because you’d be beaten in the streets. Conformity was enforced. Everyone has to keep who they were deep down. Black people were prevented from voting. Women couldn’t get credit cards in their own name until what, the 70s? It wasn’t how people WANTED to live.
America, like any country, has always been divided. The only difference is now those different groups can have a voice and a say at the governing table and in pop culture.
I agree there was too much conformity. Of course women should have had their own credit cards and I thought blacks could vote but I was too young to know about any of that.
People fought hard for the important beliefs like voting and women's rights, then gay rights. But people from back then would say it has now gone too far. We had marching in the streets for the Viet Nam War and that could have been the last time I ever agreed with it. That turned violent though and so it's pretty much a bad idea to take over the streets. It had better be something that affects an awful lot of people to justify marching in the streets.
People from the '50s were wrong to disapprove of so many things but they were right about some things, like letting it go so far that it becomes frivolous. Let's tear down statues of Christopher Columbus, let's have a parade for who we are, let's teach little children about trans gender when they are so young that it will only confuse them, let's ban books and let's even ban a lot of words from the language. Let's change the names of schools and sports teams and even street names. Let's take things so far that it becomes ludicrous.
I agree there was too much conformity. Of course women should have had their own credit cards and I thought blacks could vote but I was too young to know about any of that.
People fought hard for the important beliefs like voting and women's rights, then gay rights. But people from back then would say it has now gone too far. We had marching in the streets for the Viet Nam War and that could have been the last time I ever agreed with it. That turned violent though and so it's pretty much a bad idea to take over the streets. It had better be something that affects an awful lot of people to justify marching in the streets.
People from the '50s were wrong to disapprove of so many things but they were right about some things, like letting it go so far that it becomes frivolous. Let's tear down statues of Christopher Columbus, let's have a parade for who we are, let's teach little children about trans gender when they are so young that it will only confuse them, let's ban books and let's even ban a lot of words from the language. Let's change the names of schools and sports teams and even street names. Let's take things so far that it becomes ludicrous.
When has it never 'gone too far'? That is an eternal rallying cry.
"Sure, gays shouldn't be killed. But we don't need to sanction what they do by decriminalizing it."
"All right, women are now allowed to vote. That doesn't mean they can do anything they want, especially if their husbands don't consent."
"Yes, slavery was wrong. But blacks still aren't equal, and they need to be kept separate."
Name any aspect of social progress throughout history. There was always an element for whom it was 'too far!'.
When has it never 'gone too far'? That is an eternal rallying cry.
"Sure, gays shouldn't be killed. But we don't need to sanction what they do by decriminalizing it."
"All right, women are now allowed to vote. That doesn't mean they can do anything they want, especially if their husbands don't consent."
"Yes, slavery was wrong. But blacks still aren't equal, and they need to be kept separate."
Name any aspect of social progress throughout history. There was always an element for whom it was 'too far!'.
Of course. There's always the question of where to draw the line. We also shouldn't race into things and go too fast. Change takes time, people need time to think and time to adjust. And there are a million different opinions of what needs to change. I, for one, think things are changing too fast right now. But that's me.
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