Yep, I vividly remember when Tommy Douglas brought medicare to Saskatchewan, I was working in Terrace at the time, the year was 1962.
Poll:- life better now or in 1959?
- Thread starter JLM
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Yep, I vividly remember when Tommy Douglas brought medicare to Saskatchewan, I was working in Terrace at the time, the year was 1962.
Well, I was born in the very early 70s, so I'd have to say for me life is better in 2009.
Though with nearly 40 years of hindsight, my parents may choose 1959 and hope they don't make the same mistake in 1970.8O
Though with nearly 40 years of hindsight, my parents may choose 1959 and hope they don't make the same mistake in 1970.8O
They probably would, Jake. Memory gets dim, foggy over the years, people tend to remember only the good things about the past, tend to forget about the wrongs, injustices of the past. In some instances, they will substitute good memories in the place of bad memories.
In addition, as Asimov speculated, these people were young in 1959 (I myself was only 9 years old), they were in the prime of their life, the whole world was their oyster. Now they have grown old, the body doesn’t enjoy as robust a health any more, they have received knocks of life. So they probably don’t feel good about themselves and that is reflected in how they feel about the present times. This is Asimov’s theory, not mine, but I think there may be something to it.
So I can understand people getting nostalgic for the ‘good old days’, nostalgia can be a strong saporific (here is another obscure word, we were discussing them in the other thread, Microsoft Word spell checker doesn’t recognize it). But statistics tell a completely different story, good old days were in fact quite nasty, quite unjust, quite unpleasant by any statistical measure.
In addition, as Asimov speculated, these people were young in 1959 (I myself was only 9 years old), they were in the prime of their life, the whole world was their oyster. Now they have grown old, the body doesn’t enjoy as robust a health any more, they have received knocks of life. So they probably don’t feel good about themselves and that is reflected in how they feel about the present times. This is Asimov’s theory, not mine, but I think there may be something to it.
So I can understand people getting nostalgic for the ‘good old days’, nostalgia can be a strong saporific (here is another obscure word, we were discussing them in the other thread, Microsoft Word spell checker doesn’t recognize it). But statistics tell a completely different story, good old days were in fact quite nasty, quite unjust, quite unpleasant by any statistical measure.
I remember reading a sci fi story a few years ago; it was a kind of parody of nostalgia. The story was about a battle going on somewhere in the galaxy. In the story, there was a wandering spirit, far away from his home and pining to go home. From time to time, the spirit would appear in the story, singing praises of his home, of ‘good old days’.
Near the end of the story, the spirit revealed where he came from ’Oh, would somebody please send me back to my home. I want to be in Hiroshima in 1942.”
Near the end of the story, the spirit revealed where he came from ’Oh, would somebody please send me back to my home. I want to be in Hiroshima in 1942.”
Yes, but we know what it was like in 1959, and at that time we were just starting to lose our innocents. If you missed out on that period, I feel sorry for you. Innocents all but disappeared during the 1960's and beyond. Life became to serious.
Exactly ironsides, those were the innocent days. All the problems were securely wrapped under the blanket, nobody talked about them, it was up to the future years to face the problems squarely and try to deal with them.
That period somewhat reminds me of Hobbiton in the novel ‘The Hobbit’. It was a nice little, happy nook of the world with apparently no problems. The reality of how Hobbiton really was, was revealed in Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the trilogy.
The groundwork had been done by '57.
So all the provinces had to do was agree to the Canadian Healthcare Act.
But either way, people were looked after quite well back then. People are quite well looked after these days, if you are ignorant of all those wonderful additions like the hospital born infections, waiting lists,lack of medical staff, lack of beds, etc. lol
At any rate, the oceans, land, and air weren't nearly as polluted as they are now, the population of humans on the planet wasn't ridiculous, food didn't have all the chemicals in it that it does now. But there are some things that weren't even around back then that seem pretty handy nowadays, computers, better travel, people waking up to the idea of taking care of the world we live in, etc.
And through what coloured glasses are you observing these "rose coloured glasses"?
If you read the article, you'd see that it didn't cover doctors, and even then, Saskatchewan only included doctors in 1962, after a doctors' strike opposing the move.
Whatever. At least it was being forged back in the 50s. We still have it today and no-one since has been bright enough to replace it with anything better.
In the 50s, the Great Lakes were horrendous.
Most small town pulp mills just dumped their wastes into the rivers.
Mines dumped tailings with no consequences; the smelters used no pollution control.
Workplace health and safety was non-existent.
Cars had no seatbelts, no safety glass, no side impact beams, and lousy tires.
But yes, life was perfect bliss.
Put a mark on the wall, for once I'm jumping to Gerry's defense. The Thames River (once a cess pool) was cleaned up about 40 years and as far as I know is still fairly clean. Lake Erie, once in a deplorable condition was also cleaned right up. To give the Devil his due, many streams have been rehabillitated in recent years.