Now or Then?

Ian

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The phrases "in my days....", "when we were little....", "it never used to..." are something everyone will be familiar with when something comes up in conversion (usually crime, litter or other social problems).

Was it really better then, or would you rather live now? There are loads of statistics about how hospitals were cleaner in the 1960's, how schools were better in the 1970's etc... but was it really that bad?

Would you rather live in 1950/60/70/80/90, or do you think society is better as a whole now?
 

Rush

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When i was a teenager in the 80`s , you could leave your back door open and go into your neighbours house , maybe i was a little naive to think about the "Big Bad World" out there to realise there was any crime happening . The scourge of our society today that makes it far worse than any other time in history are Drugs.

I used to get home from school at 4 o`clock grab something to eat and then go and play Football , or Kirby , or rally-o , or any other game that involved imagination , fresh air or 10 mates. If i stayed in i would have gone crazy ..there were no computers then except for the old Binatone tennis, football games console .
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=3&c=1035

Fond memories them days so a big thumbs up to the

Great 1980`s
 
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Damn Kirby I loved that game!

Things, People, Places and areas change. Yeah sure things may have been better 20 years ago, however give it another 20years and maybe then we will be looking back then and saying "wow the year 2006 was bliss compared to now!"
 

floppybootstomp

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Actually, those phrases make me sick. 'In my day...' 'Nowadays....'

Usually bandied about by whiny grumpy old gits. Unfortuantely, many of my peers take that line and I always take umbrage and disagree with them.

Just the other some lady in the supermarket behind me started grumbling the supermarket cashier was taking a long time, moaning about the queue and stuff, she appeared to be addressing me. I looked at her and said 'It's not so bad, he's doing his best and he's busy. Things could be a lot worse you know' and gave her a smile. She didn't know what to say and I heard stifled sniggers from the rest of the queue. Life's too short to be constantly moaning.

So that's where I'm coming from.

It's easy to remember your childhood, teens & twenties with misty eyed nostalgia but were things really so different then? Rush mentioned the eighties, I was just entering my 30's then so I could have, had I a mind too, have lamented the sixties and lambasted the eighties. But I didn't.

Of course things seemed better then, no responsibilities, constant discoveries and learning and no aches and pains. With age comes a yearning for the past but it's gone, look to now.

I don't think the kids now are much different to how they were in my childhood, there's always a bad element, be it 1880 or 2006. Did folks raised in the 30's berate the fifties? probably. It goes on.

I do lament the lifting of corporal punishment in schools and a police officer not being able to give you a slap. The police used their common sense then, a quick slap and a scare was often a better way to get a youngster on the straight and narrow than being held in a cell, a social worker's report and a court appearance for something petty.

And I suppose it's true in days gone by imagination was used a lot more, kids seemed to spend more time playing outdoors, I can remember in school holidays being out all day and only coming home when it got dark.

Also true that kids are mollycoddled too much these days, scrubbed too clean and protected from a lot that is natural. Why we got so many allergies now? Rolling about in mud and falling in the quaggy now and again helped build a good immune system.

But, apart from those few things, I do believe that basically most human spirit is good, and if you do take a close and unbiased look, you'll see that where it comes to people's nature, not a lot has changed.

And I don't miss Hindley, Brady, whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and smoke filled cinemas and buses at all.
 
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I was gonna quote yo on many things above m8 but I dont need to.

I do agree wholeheartedly with everything you said. I was born in in 1970
Have noticed the difference in certain diseases and what not coming to the surface. I used to love rolling around in a pile of muddy leaves in the local woods, damn if I had the energy I still would LOL. And the day will come i'm sure when I will have children and ensure that they do it too.

Well said about cinema's that used to be bloody disgusting!
 
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hmmm. lets see.

1950s = Elivs & Vietnam
1960s = Hippies
1970s = IRA Terorism
1980s = Duran Duran
1990s = John Major
2000s = Middle East Terrorism

my thoughts on some of the worst things in those periods. they are not the most important, or most intersting points of those decades, but the things i associate most with them.

personally i think every decade has been pretty crap in some ways and really good in others.

you live in whatever decade you are given. live with it :p
 
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1950s = Elivs & Vietnam
1960s = Hippies
1970s = IRA Terorism
1980s = Duran Duran
1990s = John Major
2000s = Middle East Terrorism

1950s>Ration books end> so I had Chocolate for the first time:eek:
1960s>Got married>had children:rolleyes:
1970s>Had more Children:D :thumb:
1980s>Divorced:D worn out:eek:
1990s>Met my new Partner;)
2000s>Well I am still here:p with my partner.:thumb:
And all the time there has been War of some sort:(
 
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Humans instinct is to cope, thats out nature. I don't see the point in wishing "these days were as good as the good old days" because society changes. In my opinion, it dosen't get worse, it just changes - and different people have different opinions comparitively. There are always going to be bad things happening on this planet - we could not survive without conflict, mass unemployment and dare i say boredom. But different things affect different people, hence why everyone wish it were the 60's again or whatever...

I am one for adapting to the modern age - i welcome technology with open arms unlike alot of the older generation, as long as it dosen't take the fun out of anything.

Dinners ready, will continue later. Spag Bol. Yummy.
 

Quadophile

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Ny nature we humans are always looking forward to happy times, what is happiness? Happiness is within ourselves, some found it some never looked for it. If we want to be happy we can be in any age and time. Small things at times make me happy now just as they would back in 60's or 70's.
 

Rush

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Originally posted by Chris Postill



I am one for adapting to the modern age - i welcome technology with open arms unlike alot of the older generation, as long as it dosen't take the fun out of anything.

Chris at 18 ,you dont now any other age m8
 

floppybootstomp

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I'm an old fart and I also embrace technology.

Love it, in fact :)

I still not sure about computerised cars though, not too happy with being locked out when and if the battery goes flat or dies...
 

Quadophile

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floppybootstomp said:
I'm an old fart and I also embrace technology.

There are two other old farts also besides you on this forum, that makes three techno-geeks!:p
 
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War, in reality, will eventually become one big computer game. Think about it - unmanned planes etc etc...

Thats if the situation with nuclear weapons, no names mentioned, dosen't take a turn for the worse...!
 

Ian

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christopherpostill said:
War, in reality, will eventually become one big computer game. Think about it - unmanned planes etc etc...

Its going to be all UAV's after the next generation of fighters :eek:

I'm an old fart and I also embrace technology.

I feel like an old fart now, I don't have a myspace profile, I don't have an iPod, I don't know how to use a PS2, only just got a camera phone - 5 years ago I'd really want one, now I just want something that does what it says on the tin!
 

cirianz

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I agree with Flops etc on this one.
I was a teenager in the 80's & remember some fantastic things we got up to. But As a teenager in the 80's i was also part of the 'AIDS generation'. Those just entering an 'active' age group when suddenly there was this new killer come out of nowhere.
I remember the bigotry & hatred against people who had the disease or were in a particular high risk group. But nowadays AIDs is just taken as a fact of life. Just another STD.
So were the 80's, or any other age wonderful? Yeah they were. They were also awful. What you see is what you choose to look at. But lets not start covering it, or any other age, with rose coloured glasses.

I love this age, I love seeing the world change around me every day, and being a part of that. I will always count myself lucky as having lived right here & right now. Every day. Living is a process, a work in progress so to speak. Not a series of Decade shaped boxes.

;) I liked Duran Duran :p & Iron Maiden. Go figure *shrugs*
 

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