01-17-2017, 12:59 PM
(01-17-2017, 12:37 PM)David Horn Wrote:(01-16-2017, 11:53 AM)SomeGuy Wrote:David Horn Wrote:The assassination was the edge-event between an era of innocence and everything since. It's hard to even describe that time between WWII and the assassination because it was so different in so many ways. Take it at face value or not.
I'm looking forward to the next 1T. Several people in a position to know assure me I would have really liked the '50s. As long as it isn't a "PC" high, I might just get my chance.
The '50s had a lot of both good and bad. Tailgunner Joe and the HUAC fall squarely in the 'bad' category, but things as bland as the Hayes Code had real negative impacts too. The 'good' is easy: modernity as we understand it today. In its own way, it was PC without needing to actually be PC. There were norms, and they just "were". There was also prejudice and a narrow-mindedness that was both pervasive and unexceptional. You knew your place, but the sky was the limit! Contradictory? Sure, but no one seemed to mind ... until they did. That's why the 2T was so explosive.
Yeah, I expect something similar in the 2030s or so. Unless things go very wrong, we'll probably end up with some version of the yuppie progressive belief system (anti-<bad-ism>,environmentalism, probably a larger public sector working arm in arm with a still vibrant private sector, a geeky fixation on tech, etc.), hopefully with the sharp edges rubbed off the lunatic fringe. It's not my ideal, but I can live with that and focus in on the parts I like, and the internal contradictions should hopefully hold until the next 2T. At which point, I should finally get the opportunity to be the crotchety old man my mother has been accusing me of being since I was 6.
Yeah, I'm staying optimistic.
