Re: The old days - Aboard the Apollo - 1973
If anyone enjoys the 30s and 40s in California, which I know Lakey and Hats do, then Mildred Pierce is a great miniseries/TV program. I found it a few days ago and just finished part 3 yesterday.
It's called
Mildred Pierce and it's from HBO. Yes there is also the Joan Crawford film and the book.... the miniseries stars Kate Winslet and in the second segment there were some very racy scenes
. I don't know if these involved a body double or not. I'm not recommending it for that reason, although it was a bit surprising for a miniseries.
I'm really enjoying it. I've reaffirmed in watching it that progress is a lie. It's all relative if it is better to be young now or young then. Each generation has its charm and its pitfalls.
I was a child in the 60s and 70s but due to how I was raised it may as well have been the 50s at our house.
"To be or not to be". How about: "To be a kid then or to be a kid now, that is the question."
The inventions and hi tech items favor today's kids. Playing out doors and having to be more creative in dreaming up what to play, favor the older times. In that regard I agree that each generation has its charm and its pitfalls.
There is one area however, where I think that the past generations have an advantage over today's generation. What I am about to say will probably cause many to see me as a prude or a prig or someone hopelessly out of date but I believe strongly in what I'm about to say so goes:
Life in the 40 and 50's was much simpler as regards who we were and what our beliefs were. Starting around 1964 that started to change, things got a little more complex but still through the 60's, 70's and 80's there were strong ties to the society of the 50's. A change started in the 90's and in this decade it has matured, at least in our Blue States. Some of the Red States are hold outs, leaning somewhat more to traditional values.
SIMPLICITIES OF LIFE
We were the USA, we were the good guys. Our founders were brilliant and came up with some timeless documents which we lived by. Yes, our founders were White men, yes, of course, they were old when they did their greatest work. Still, these men were revered as giants.
Boys were boys and would grow to be men, Girls were girls and would grow to be women. Each person knew which gender they were and were proud of their gender. The genders were considered to be equal when all was said and done. Usually, the men went to work while the women stayed home to raise the family. Of course, there were exceptions to this rule but such exceptions were rare. When they occurred, it was usually not a big deal.
Most people went to church and were believing Christians. In New York, Chicago, L.A. as well as in Florida and various other bastions on the east coast and in Ohio, there was a thriving Jewish community, which was usually but not always wealthier than other communities. The Jews, as has been their wont historically, had a disproportionately larger effect on the national scene than did other groups. With about 3.5% of the population, they controlled maybe 15% of the wealth. Other religions were allowed to practice as well and did so with no problems.
The one major stain on all these nostalgic trappings was in how we treated people of color. Black people were subservient. The way they were treated depended somewhat on what area of the country they were living in. In the South, they lived the worst. Maybe in New England or New York, they did better but nowhere were they on an equal standing with White people.
Latinos were treated better than blacks but they too were discriminated against. Orientals were different but they were discriminated against as regards housing but they were able to advance their own cause by themselves through education, work performance, a live and let live approach to life and cleanliness. Somewhere along the line White's saw that when Oriental's moved into their neighborhoods, the values did not go down, in fact the values either stayed the same or went up.
COMPLEXITIES
Today's USA is more "Progressive", we are more inclusive and now, being a White Male is no longer a badge of honor. In fact, White Males, especially older ones or deceased ones are being written out of our history books. Some religions regard White Males as descendants of the devil.
Boys are not boys anymore and girls are not girls. In some insane and destructive mania, many of our kids are being taught that men and women are the same except for their genitalia. Basically what is being sought after is total equality for everything, racial, which is valid, but also gender equality, equal pay for all, everything and everyone must be regarded as equal.
Being a Christian is now not fully acceptable but somehow, being a Muslim is much more acceptable. Being a Jew. no that is no good anymore as anti-semitism is once again rearing its ugly head as it has done for the last 2000 years.
Being American is no good anymore. Showing allegiance to any country's flag is now considered passe. We are all citizens of the World, the physical planet, Earth, is what we all owe allegiance to, Earth and it's precious environmental treasures. Our governments will pool together as a world government, make sure we are all equals and guide our quest to put environmental needs above human needs.
So, in closing, today's children have to grow up in this Progressive environment. Big Government wants to take over the schooling of our children, starting with preschool and going all the way through community college. A child's parents are now just caretakers for only the pre-preschool years, then the wisdom of the government will take over and brainwash, er I mean educate, the children with proper values.
All things being equal, being raised in any previous generation had both advantages and disadvantages. It was a toss up as to which was best, they were both equally good.
However, nowadays, things are no longer equal, big government is moving in to replace the parents, redistribute the wealth and forward an era of equality where White men are disempowered at the expense of more power for all races, and all genders. The USA will be reduced in scope, military might financial clout and cultural influence while world bodies will govern our Planet.
Because of all the above, I believe that it was far better to be a kid growing up in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's than it is now. Kids of any of those generations had freedom to be kids and discover what they, as individuals, wanted to do in life. For kids being raised at this time, that is no longer fully the case.
Lakey
