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I don't know why they picked the 50s. I do know that the whole decade has been romanticized, mythologized and otherwise put on a pedestal - often for erroneous reasons.
I think I know what erroneous reasons you are talking about. I've discussed them
Yep, at one time national network news was 15 minutes. Not I lot of time to dwell of school shootings and drug abuse. Things like that were swept under the rug in many case. Reporting of crimes and how police handled crime differed. Carrying a gun in school wasn't even a no no.
The essence of the 50s. Anything you could hide, you could hide it. Ironic that today, gun access for kids is officially restricted, but kids somehow get guns and shoot each other anyway.
I experienced the wonders of Hollywood and the L.A. Civic Center (that's what the hep people called it, BTW, calling it "downtown" was a clue you went to the Iowa Day picnic in Long Beach) in the 50's.
And, trust me on this, those well-dressed people going to a first run movie at the El Capitan included men who drank too much with "the fellas" after work then came home and smacked the little woman around just because they could and women who took "diet pills" that were actually nothing but speed and got horrendously addicted to them.
Aunt Henrietta in the Valley was having an affair with one of the Cub Scout fathers and Uncle Pete belonged to a golf club that admitted neither Blacks nor Jews. Oh, and Sally, who had a dang good curve ball, couldn't play organized sports with her brothers and the other boys on the block because she was.... wait for it..... a girl.
Yes. My father grew up in a nuclear family. His father was a volunteer firefighter and welder, mom was a stay at home mom but did work part time at a restaurant here and there. There were two girls and two boys in the family (dad and three sibs). Dad played baseball, delivered newspapers and had a mutt dog he found on the streets. His oldest sister was your quintessential 50s prom queen - pretty, spunky and married straight out of high school. Next sister was his buddy and they rode bikes together, caught fireflies and went camping with their grandparents. His brother was a handsome, flirtatious Vietnam War Vet. They lived and grew up in NJ and had all the trappings of your plainly average WASPy 50s/60s family.
Except my father's father was a drunk who came home and pulled my father out from underneath the bed to beat the crap out of him for no reason at all. My father learned to hide after the first time it happened.
Except my dad hid out at my grandparents' house because the fighting was so bad between his parents.
Except my dad's mother cheated on his father and moved all of the kids out of the house multiple times due to hellacious arguments with the father.
Except my father started drinking at 11.
Except my aunt married to get the hell out of that abusive home.
Except my uncle came back from Vietnam a hot mess, sorely in need of clinical psychological therapy and became a drug addict.
But you know, except for those exceptions, their perfect little nuclear family of the glorious 1950s was idealistic.
The difference between the 50s and the 90s has alot to do with illusion. Illusion comes from not having someone say anything. Because "the other" didn't have a say, everything was basically kept silent. People today say that we live in a more divided society than ever. People say we have more degenerates than ever.
I say this. WHEN HAVE WE NOT BEEN DIVIDED? WHEN HAVE WE NEVER HAD DEGENERATES? The difference between then and now is this. The "others" didn't have a say. If you were Black, Asian, female, Hispanic,etc , you didn't have a say. Any problems that you had, you kept them to yourself because you were considered "inferior" and you were expected to "know their place".
People complain about degenerates in our society. They have always been there. However, in the 50s, degenerates were shoved to the shadows. If you were considered a degenerate, no one wanted you around. There was no one to promote you. There were gangs in the inner cities in the 1950s. However, if you lived in the suburbs, you didn't think about this. You weren't there.
Basically, silence was the difference between 1950 and now. Today, everything is "in your face". The problems that have always existed in society were brought to the forefront, were put in everyone's face. People had to acknowledge these problems. No one had to acknowledge the dismal treatment of women until women started speaking out in larger numbers. No one had to acknowledge that African-Americans were being treated like crap until Dr. King and his protesters were being physically attacked by police officers and attack dogs. No one had to care, until it was on television.
Ain't that the truth? Amazing post and 100% spot on!
None. And what's scary is there are people that think it's a-ok!
I sadly think this is what some people want. Some people want the era where if you were female, or a racial minority, you didn't have a say, where you had to remain subservient.
This section does not cite any references or sources. (August 2012)
No, I did, been going back and forth with fleet and I cited the page earlier, but they chose to ignore it.
The other cite I had also had many of the shooting abstracted from the NYT.
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