Poll:- life better now or in 1959?

[JLM]

Who wants to live to 95?

A 94 year old.

My great aunt fell out of bed at age 93 and broke her hip. Every day after that she prayed she would die for six years.

 

[AnnaG]

Gopher, many people have a romanticized version of what the past was like. Those who lived through it, tend to forget the unpleasant parts, remember fondly the good times they had, the good points about the past. That gives rise to nostalgia.

As opposed to those who think life these days is all peaches and cream?

That is why it helps to look at solid facts, figures, numbers, statistics. One can’t argue with numbers. When we see that infant mortality was high in those days, life expectancy was low, per capita income was low (even allowing for inflation), discrimination of all kinds was rampant, sex abuse of children (like residential school abuse, abuse by the clergy etc.) was widespread but was never talked about, that settles the question. No amount of personal anecdotes, no amount of subjective well feeling about the past can overcome that.

And ignoring all the nasty things about today is ok, huh? What a pollyanna. roflmao

 

[AnnaG]

ha, that's hillarious, good thing I didn't know you back then, my friends and I would
have brought you down a peg or two.;-)

In my school, he would have been a short loner with hairy palms and bad eyesight. lmao

 

[AnnaG]

My Dad says he got to pocket more of his wages back then than now. Les said it was a whole lot easier to fix your wheels. I like the stereo in mine, though. We have a friend with a '58 Buick Roadmaster. The radio sucks. There's gobs of room in it so we pack a pretty decent ministereo, however. Rail was still a pretty good way to get stuff from one end of the country to the other, but it took quite a while to even fly across the country. No rap/hiphop back then, but on the other hand, no Pink Floyd either.
Some things were worse, some things were better.

 

[TenPenny]

My Dad says he got to pocket more of his wages back then than now. Les said it was a whole lot easier to fix your wheels. I like the stereo in mine, though. We have a friend with a '58 Buick Roadmaster. The radio sucks. There's gobs of room in it so we pack a pretty decent ministereo, however. Rail was still a pretty good way to get stuff from one end of the country to the other, but it took quite a while to even fly across the country. No rap/hiphop back then, but on the other hand, no Pink Floyd either.
Some things were worse, some things were better.

Sigh. Nostalgia's not what it used to be.

 

[lone wolf]

No comp or annoying trolls.....

 

[karrie]

No comp or annoying trolls.....

No outside world for people trapped at home in pain. I'll take the trolls. :smile:

 

[lone wolf]

No outside world for people trapped at home in pain. I'll take the trolls. :smile:

I usually do ... even to those buttholes who think they're better than everyone. Miles in moccasins, eh? ;-)

 

[talloola]

Sure life was simpler, but you probably don’t realize the injustice of what you are saying. OK, one could get a pretty good job right out of school or even without school, but who could do that? Only white males. Did a black kid get a good job out of school? Fat chance, discrimination against blacks was rampant in those days. And it was officially tolerated too.

And what kind of ‘good job’ would a girl get right out of school? She was qualified only for two positions, secretary or Mrs.

So yes, life was simple. But it also was highly unjust.

Yes many could get jobs right out of high school, then be trained on the job
for advancements, and I think that was great, but one could also go on with
schooling in any skills they wanted, so in my opinion it was much broader
then, and open to many different people to start out at the level they needed,
or fit in with the financial level they had at that time.
You are telling me things that I lived through, as though I'm not aware, of
course most women stayed at home, and no, we didn't have to suffer without
almost everything interesting in life, the mentality was different then, one
would save up to buy things, or have a charge account at a certain store, buy
something, pay it off, then buy something else. No credit cards to entice
people to buy 'way' over their heads, sure it's their fault, but the companys
bait everyone to do just that.
I have never been a gilbert and sullivan fan, but I do like classical (soft), and
you obviously don't have a clue about when elvis entered the scene, and all of
the rock bands, and we also enjoyed frankie and the big bands as well, there
was so much to listen and dance to, it was great.
Girls right out of school could get a good job in many difference offices, then
slowly move up and learn many things. But we also could go on in school and
do whatever we wanted, it wasn't that opportunities weren't there, it was that
society was slow to progress, and women were forced into the work place
because the money was needed, not because she was backward or forced to
stay at home. I quit school at the end of grade eleven, (honor role), got
a good job right away in an office, worked my way along, got lots of raises,
stayed there till I was expecting my first child, then quit to stay at home and
care for 'my own' children, and not loan them out to some stranger to look
after.
I had a choice, and I made a choice, was not forced to do anything I didn't
want to, as I was always in charge of my own life, then and now.
Please don't patronize me or anyone who lived life back then, we were there
and know exactly what life was like, no picking out the good and blocking
out the bad.
Life was out there for 'anyone' to try anything they wanted, no one could stop
them, sure progress has been made in the equal rights area, but society is like
that, takes a while to shake it up, but it is 'us' that makes it happen and we
did, and still are.
It was my parents, as children and young adults who had it tough, no medical,
no protection on the job, one could be fired for anything at any time, lots
of favourtism to friends etc. They lived through the depression, had food
stamps, because of the war. I was very little at that time and saw all of that
come to an end, and the good times rolled in, automation came around, and
we all had so much fun, and the money was there to be made, the jobs were
plenty, the fifties were a good time to be young and energetic.
Life was worse for blacks and other minorities back then.

 

[JLM]

Sure life was simpler, but you probably don’t realize the injustice of what you are saying. OK, one could get a pretty good job right out of school or even without school, but who could do that? Only white males. Did a black kid get a good job out of school? Fat chance, discrimination against blacks was rampant in those days. And it was officially tolerated too.

And what kind of ‘good job’ would a girl get right out of school? She was qualified only for two positions, secretary or Mrs.

So yes, life was simple. But it also was highly unjust.

Yes many could get jobs right out of high school, then be trained on the job
for advancements, and I think that was great, but one could also go on with
schooling in any skills they wanted, so in my opinion it was much broader
then, and open to many different people to start out at the level they needed,
or fit in with the financial level they had at that time.
You are telling me things that I lived through, as though I'm not aware, of
course most women stayed at home, and no, we didn't have to suffer without
almost everything interesting in life, the mentality was different then, one
would save up to buy things, or have a charge account at a certain store, buy
something, pay it off, then buy something else. No credit cards to entice
people to buy 'way' over their heads, sure it's their fault, but the companys
bait everyone to do just that.
I have never been a gilbert and sullivan fan, but I do like classical (soft), and
you obviously don't have a clue about when elvis entered the scene, and all of
the rock bands, and we also enjoyed frankie and the big bands as well, there
was so much to listen and dance to, it was great.
Girls right out of school could get a good job in many difference offices, then
slowly move up and learn many things. But we also could go on in school and
do whatever we wanted, it wasn't that opportunities weren't there, it was that
society was slow to progress, and women were forced into the work place
because the money was needed, not because she was backward or forced to
stay at home. I quite school at the end of grade eleven, (honor role), got
a good job right away in an office, worked my way along, got lots of raises,
stayed there till I was expecting my first child, then quit to stay at home and
care for 'my own' children, and not loan them out to some stranger to look
after.
I had a choice, and I made a choice, was not forced to do anything I didn't
want to, as I was always in charge of my own life, then and now.
Please don't patronize me or anyone who lived life back then, we were there
and know exactly what life was like, no picking out the good and blocking
out the bad.
Life was out there for 'anyone' to try anything they wanted, no one could stop
them, sure progress has been made in the equal rights area, but society is like
that, takes a while to shake it up, but it is 'us' that makes it happen and we
did, and still are.
It was my parents, as children and young adults who had it tough, no medical,
no protection on the job, one could be fired for anything at any time, lots
of favourtism to friends etc. They lived through the depression, had food
stamps, because of the war. I was very little at that time and saw all of that
come to an end, and the good times rolled in, automation came around, and
we all had so much fun, and the money was there to be made, the jobs were
plenty, the fifties were a good time to be young and energetic.

That was pretty much the way I saw it, I was 16 in 1959.

 

[Cliffy]

That was pretty much the way I saw it, I was 16 in 1959.

Man! You are an older fart than I am.

 

[JLM]

Man! You are an older fart than I am.

Just a little "seasoned", Cliff

 

[ironsides]

Sure life was simpler, but you probably don’t realize the injustice of what you are saying. OK, one could get a pretty good job right out of school or even without school, but who could do that? Only white males. Did a black kid get a good job out of school? Fat chance, discrimination against blacks was rampant in those days. And it was officially tolerated too.

And what kind of ‘good job’ would a girl get right out of school? She was qualified only for two positions, secretary or Mrs.

So yes, life was simple. But it also was highly unjust.

That wasn't foremost in our thoughts back then, we were just enjoying and living life as we knew it, we all had jobs and that was important. What was better than hanging around with your friends and girls. Yes, it was much better.

 

[#juan]

In 1959 we didn't have AIDS yet but the VietNam war was in full swing. A war in which no ground was gained but close to 60,000 Americans lost their lives and several million Viet Namese were killed. Even today, if you ask ten Americans what that war was fought over, you are likely to get ten different answers.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

That wasn't foremost in our thoughts back then, we were just enjoying and living life as we knew it, we all had jobs and that was important. What was better than hanging around with your friends and girls. Yes, it was much better.

As I said, it was much better for white males, ironsides. Anybody else was out of luck. A woman with ambition could go to nursing course and become a nurse, but that is it. It took the Feminist movement in the 70s and 80s to crack through several glass ceilings, before women could compete in the job market as equals. Same with blacks, Hispanics, or any kind of minorities.

Gays still don’t have full equality in the eyes of law (well, they do here in Canada, but not in USA). In many states it is perfectly legal to fire somebody from their job because he/she is homosexual and for no other reason.

So things are far from perfect eve today. But they were positively unjust, positively horrible 50 years ago.

 

[AnnaG]

Les's aunt was an MD. I am not sure what year she graduated but it must have been fairly early. She had 3 sisters and was born in 1920. One older sister and the doctor was the next one younger and then there was the youngest sister. So the bit about women only becoming secretaries, homemakers, or nurses is wrong. I guess no-one's heard of Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, Jennie Trout, Kathleen Kenyon, or Margaret Mead.

 

[AnnaG]

So things are far from perfect eve today. But they were positively unjust, positively horrible 50 years ago.

Yeah. It's absolutely astounding how anyone could ever have survived the 50s. :roll:

 

[lone wolf]

In 1959 we didn't have AIDS yet but the VietNam war was in full swing. A war in which no ground was gained but close to 60,000 Americans lost their lives and several million Viet Namese were killed. Even today, if you ask ten Americans what that war was fought over, you are likely to get ten different answers.

Full swing? Bien Dien Phu was in 1954 and Tonkin Resolution wasn't until 1964.

They were days of innocence ... days before we realized there really wasn't a Santa and Government didn't lie. Today is full of stress - but this heart stuff would have been open-chest back then. Good with the bad.....

 

[TenPenny]

Les's aunt was an MD. I am not sure what year she graduated but it must have been fairly early. She had 3 sisters and was born in 1920. One older sister and the doctor was the next one younger and then there was the youngest sister. So the bit about women only becoming secretaries, homemakers, or nurses is wrong. I guess no-one's heard of Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, Jennie Trout, Kathleen Kenyon, or Margaret Mead.

She became an MD straight out of high school?
That's quite an accomplishment!

In all seriousness, the discussion about women's career options was 'straight out of high school'. In all honesty, that hasn't changed much; what can anybody do today, just out of high school, with no further training?

Is life better now, or at 19:59?

 

[#juan]

Full swing? Bien Dien Phu was in 1954 and Tonkin Resolution wasn't until 1964.

They were days of innocence ... days before we realized there really wasn't a Santa and Government didn't lie. Today is full of stress - but this heart stuff would have been open-chest back then. Good with the bad.....

You are right. I didn't look it up. I knew the French got their ass kicked in the mid-fifties and I thought the Americans were in there shortly afterwards. I remember people pouring gas over their bodies and burning themselves in public over that bloody war.