Was life in America really better in the 1950s?

[browneyes]

I wasn't alive in the 50's, but I know a lot of things were swept under the rug then. There were certain subjects that were taboo to discuss. Heck, a lot of those things were taboo to discuss until 10-20 years ago. Such as, I hear a lot about how we hear so much about bad things happening to kids nowadays that we used to never hear about. That didn't mean bad things weren't happening, it just meant people were scared to talk about them.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

 

[AngieBelle]

I took a whole course about the 1950s last year. It was such a fascinating class! But based on what I learned, I'd have to say that the whole concert of the 50s being so ideal is really an illusion. They had plenty of problems back then. It's just that people tend to remember the past as much better than it actually was. Also, as someone else said, a lot of things happened that still happen today. They just weren't discussed.

 

[Sandy V.]

I think as people get older, their memories become much more selective in what they remember. It seems natural to me to black out the unpleasantness and wax nostaligic for what they thought was right with the world back then.

I agree with the majority of posters who don't think the 50's were as wonderful as these folks make them out to be.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties and my grandmother (born in 1897) was griping about how "bad" people were today, and that people of her generation never behaved as awfully as they did now. I had to respectfully and gently remind her that Hitler and Stalin came from HER generation. There are good and bad people throughout all of time!!

 

[crazelion]

Not for MY people...

Amen Robin

People don't realize how hard it is to be a black american. We have perfect to succeed in life in today's world. Some things have got better but some got worst. A Current example is the job market. We have every skill list before they hire us.

Racism is still around and we have to fight it everyday.

crazelion

 

[onecoolmama]

To the OP... I am sooo sad for you. You hate where you live, you dont seem to like people and now you dont even like the era in which you live. I hope for your sake you find some happiness in your life!

 

[year2late]

My mother and I talk about it alot.


I think there was a false "idealic" lifestyle of the 1950's. Yes, we were able to live in nice houses in safe neighborhods and almost all moms were SAHM. That was really easy when you (as long as you weren't a minority) had a great job with great pay while non whites as a group have a difficult time advancing in the workplace let alone being alowed to get an education.

Alot of the things that made the lifestyle idealic was on the backs of our fellow Americans.

Much of the racial/socioeconomic turmoil in this country (IMHO) has to do with the fact that our minorities had to ask, beg, and fight for rights that should have been given freely. The bigots not allowing kids into schools and qualified minority job applicants to have a job should have been prosecuted and sent to prison. Instead we made laws to provide quotas and set reverse discrimation into motion. All because in our idealic time we could not do the right thing. We sat in our homes safe and secure and let a whole group of people get screwed.

It was better in the 1950's as long as your eyes were closed.

Is it better now? No just different.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Yup! I'd jump to the 1950s in a heartbeat. It's not fun being in the current time with parents who had little ones during that decade who decided girls didn't need to go to college. The one thing I'm very ticked at them about. So, I put myself in school in my 40s and now will quit school because I need to earn an income as a single parent. I'd be back there in a flash!

 

[Robinrs]

Originally posted by skporter
Okay, Chubroach - Who are you really?

I'm STILL waiting for this answer!

You may have had a conversation with African American people who lived in the 50s, I grew up with them. I was born in 1956 and I wouldn't go back for anything.

I have talked to African Americans who lived in the segragated south instead of migrating North as my parents did and they did have a different view of the idyllic life they spent while living without rights. They lived their lives making sure that they didn't do anything that would change that way of life. Would you consider that BETTER? I don't. Freedom requires that I can go, live and earn what I want to, not accept what was meagerly given to me.

My Dad was in his 30s and 40s in the 50s, God bless him he still called every white man he met "sir" even in New York in the 70s. When I asked him why he told me he'd be beaten when he was a kid if he didn't.

I see nothing good about this. Drugs and alcohol was very prevalent back then, also, it's just that you didn't read about it like you do now. In fact, the media and TV took everything that was being swept under the rug and made it a daily issue.

Dream on, I'm STILL waiting for the ideal time!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Originally posted by onecoolmama
To the OP... I am sooo sad for you. You hate where you live, you dont seem to like people and now you dont even like the era in which you live. I hope for your sake you find some happiness in your life!

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Originally posted by Serena
Those older people are forgetting half of the history they lived. Did you meet these older people in a nursing home?

I almost spit out my soda when I read this!! Ha ha ha

I wonder if some people do tend to gloss over the bad things of the past. The racism sounded unbearable. The Nuclear winter stuff would have terrified me.

I remember talking to an elderly person about how scared I was during 9/11. He was really calm and matter of fact during that time. He said that compared to what he has seen in his past, Viet Nam, cold war, etc. that it is something that we will just have to face. I had never thought of the present, from an older persons perspective like that. He must have been through, and seen so many things that I haven't.