Were the "good old days" as good as people think?
This is referring mainly to America in the years 1945-1980, the times most people now wish we could go back to, and that were "so much nicer/less violent/cleaner/less pussy" than now. Based on talking to my parents, grandparents, other old people, and knowing history of the time, more things back then sucked than people want to admit.
Not being white: This is the reason most people would think of why the "old days" werent that good. As everyone pretty much knows, if you were black you had to sit in the back of public buses, could be banned from entering any restaurant, theater, bar, wherever white owners didnt want you. If blacks were allowed in, they sat in the shittiest areas and were given the worst service, had their food spit in, etc. Things got better by the '70s, but racism was still obvious, especially in Southern places.
Not as many food options: Most people ate at home. Places like McDonald's, KFC, etc. either didnt exist yet, or were just being created and werent widespread. Restaurants in general were nice, sit-down places, but still didnt offer near as many food choices as today. People just didnt go out to eat because it was usually more affordable to eat at home, and people actually made time to spend with their family every night.
Grocery stores were smaller, nowhere near Walmart size. Earlier on, stores were mom-and-pop places, and had a limited food selection. Filling up the kitchen pantry required going to several different stores. Meat, vegetables, candy, and canned food were not found at the same store. This changed in the '50s and '60s as places like Albertsons came along. Still the average grocery store of 1970 was around half the size of one today.
I would sure hate to get sick/hurt back then: If you lived in a major city, you had a better chance of getting better than someone in a rural area. Before 9-1-1 was created, you had to dial the operator and say what you wanted ex "I need the police" or "My house is on fire". 9-1-1 wasnt really used until the '70s, and wasnt available in most areas until the '80s or even later for the most "small town shithole" areas. Emergency response time was slower than it is today especially if you lived in the country.
People usually didnt go to the hospital unless they had to. If they couldnt get medicine at the local pharmacy or fix an injury themselves, they had a doctor come to the house. If you did have to go to the hospital, they still might not be able to completely figure out what was wrong. X-rays back then were pretty much limited to bone and some internal injuries, things like MRIs or CAT scans werent available until later, and even then, only in bigger hospitals. Surgery wasnt nearly as advanced as it is now, the chance of dying during surgery was higher, and there were still things doctors were unable to operate on. If you had a hand or limb amputated, you were pretty much left to adapt without it, prosthetics werent as widely used as today, alot of people who could have used them, didnt because they were hard to use and got in the way.
Miss seeing a movie or TV show episode? Oh well: I had no idea about this one until recently. You had maybe 2 chances to see a movie, usually only one, and then that was it. TV shows typically didnt have re-runs either. Movies were shown at the regular movie theater or drive-in for a few weeks, just like today. Because theaters were smaller, most movies were shown on one screen, maybe two or three if the movie was really popular. Short films, cartoons, or newsreels were shown before and after the feature film, this became less common as more people watched and got their news from TV. If a film did well, it would go to the discount theater if there was one, which usually charged half price or less for movies that had already left the regular movie theater.
After the film quit being shown in the discount theater, that was it. There was no other way to ever watch the movie again, unless it was shown on TV. Some major films like The Wizard of Oz were re-shown on TV, but maybe only once a year, certainly not every few weeks like today.
"Adult theaters" aka porn theaters, were around back then too, usually located outside of town. To watch porn, you either had to go there, or pick up a Playboy or Hustler mag. Video and the internet pretty much killed off porn theaters and magazines, although both can still be found.
Once a TV episode or sports game was played, there was no way to see it again either until re-runs began in the '70s, and VHS in the '80s. This is also why families would all gather around the TV to listen to the news or watch a sports game or favorite show, because there was no other chance to see it.
There was little to no help for people with mental disorders: This is partially because nobody mentioned this kind of thing back then. If someone was depressed, they might think "Ive been feeling somewhat down lately, but cant figure out why". The only option they had was to talk to a doctor if it was continuous, but psychiatry was (and still is) a new and not well understood field compared to other medical fields. People with disorders such as bipolar, schizophrenia, PTSD, and other disorders often just believed they were crazy, and would end up in jail or in a mental ward. These people were seen as violent and unpredictable by most other people, so they kept quiet about having any abnormal symptoms, for fear of losing their friends, family, and job.
People had the same worries and problems as today: Replace the word "terrorist" with "communist", and alot of the same fears, labels, and mistrust of people are the same as today.
2010: People are afraid of terrorist attacks in major cities
1960: People are afraid of major cities being nuked or invaded by the Soviets
2010: Say the wrong words, act suspiciously, or appear anti-American, and you could be watched by the government as a "terrorist"
1960: Say the wrong words, act suspiciously, or appear anti-American, and you could be watched by the government as a "communist"
2010: We are in a war in a foreign country to stop terrorism
1960: We were in a war in a foreign country to stop communism
Sure, alot of the politically correct crap going on now would be laughed at in 1960, but much of what was going on, and what people were concerned about was the same. Living in any time period is going to have good and bad aspects, depending on who you are and where you live. But, 50 yeard from now, people will look back on our time as the "good old days", and forget about all the things we complain about now.
