Three decades back was more a tipping point than a Golden, or Silver Age. I think is was a better place to be a kid, but on a steep downward trend. You could still play outside with school friends without being molested by cops and nosy nanny neighbors. Walk or ride a bike to school and eat a PB&J without exploding or being castigated into submission. You could be in band and expect to maybe have a chance at playing an instrument live, with a real live natural vocalist, not some bumpy-thumpy bass laden skritchy-skratchy compu-squeek backing to auto tune lyrics that approach the dissonance of mating cicadas.
For people born after 1990, the situation was far worse, as the nannies came out in force. You had to have a Day Planner for your Toddler Playdates. White Guilt was creeping like a slime mold mated to kudzu, making the incipient plague of Political Correctness that was born in the 80’s, into a puritanical virtue. There had to be a PROGRAM and Bodyguard on station for you to learn a skill, be it reading, bike riding, heaven forbid you climb a tree, let alone the playground jungle gym (now whitewashed into Big Toy, to avoid harming non whites) Cars were just beginning to catch the computer complication, but were very approachable by any near imbecile who knew the proper end of a wrench or other basic hand tool. Much the same skill set as had held their fathers and grandfathers in good stead when wrestling recalcitrant rides. Medical care was becoming enamored of the Monty Python “Machine That Goes Ping”, but still provided reasonable access to care at a price that did not bankrupt a person. You could always go all out for Heroic Measures, but had minimal expectation that they would actually have a positive impact. If you had HIV, you were dead, so live your life as best you could, the death sentence was laid, just no sure date given. What I really miss the most is actually dealing with a living human, face to face, to conduct your business or other social situation. No staring at a screen for hour on end, unless you had a beer in hand and were watching the same set of TV shows the rest of the nation was. Maybe there was a bit more programming available with UPN and CW in your market, otherwise it was the big three and PBS, maybe a few UHF stations. The really hooked in had CABLE with their MTV. clay > On Apr 11, 2020, at 4:39 PM, Kaleb Striplin via Mercedes > <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > As the subject says, was it? It sure seems to me like it was but when > looking backward like that are we just looking thru rose colored glasses? It > seems to me the time period of the mid to late 80's thru the mid 90's, maybe > even as late as around 2k (before 911) the world was a much better place. It > was still modern but perhaps not by today's standards with all the electronic > gadgets etc. It seems to me like things really started going to hell with > the rise of social media. With the situation as it is today it really makes > me yearn for the good ol' days. > clay monroe I turned my computer upside down and shook it, but the bookmark for what I'm looking for didn't fall out. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
