The Decade With No Name - Page 6

Alex · 07-01-2009, 12:03 PM

I agree people tend to have definitive concepts of those decades. I disagree that they tend to all be the same definitive concepts except in the broadest -- and therefore most meaningless -- strokes.

You and I don't even agree on whether they're primarily defined by pop culture or econopolitical events.

Plus, if only four decades have achieved such it is hardly remarkable that the last two haven't (if one agrees with you that they haven't). Especially since at least one of them (our conception of the '50s) is almost entirely fictional.

Alex · 07-01-2009, 12:43 PM

Yeah, as mentioned before, many of these "decades" don't quite match the calendar.

The 50s to me run from the end of World War II to 1957 or so. And are all about the United States dealing with its new position as the most powerful nation in the world, the burgeoning communist "threat" and a booming economy.

'57 to '63 is kind of a gray area as the Civil Rights movement starts to fracture the perceived conformity and "go along get along" tone of the '50s but the sixties don't really get going until the Vietnam War gets added to that mix and as a nation we start to struggle with the fact that maybe the government is an active source of wrongdoing. Then the sixties last until 1973 or so when the wind down of the Vietnam War eliminates the bete noir of the counterculture forcing it to see if it can survive all on its own.

Combined with proof that the government isn't to be trusted and economic malaise the '70s really only lasts 5 or 6 years until 1982 or so when Reagan policies really begin to creep in and AIDS lays waste to the ideas of relatively riskfree promiscuity.

But that's my view of it all. The actual "pop cultural" artifacts of each era are secondary byproducts to the larger social phenomena producing.

innerSpaceman · 07-01-2009, 02:24 PM

I think it might be fair to say that most people, unlike our beloved Alex, don't think of the nostalgic past in anthro-political terms.

Ghoulish Delight · 07-01-2009, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I think it might be fair to say that most people, unlike our beloved Alex, don't think of the nostalgic past in anthro-political terms.

Watergate, Vietnam, Berlin Wall falling, Desert Storm, I Have a Dream, Great Depression. Those define decades just as much as bell bottoms and hoop skirts ever did.

innerSpaceman · 07-01-2009, 03:34 PM

Desert Storm, really?

Ghoulish Delight · 07-01-2009, 03:42 PM

Yes, really. Green night vision images of anti aircaft fire still = Desert Storm and the 90s to me.

Tom · 07-01-2009, 04:17 PM

Yes, really. I'm another who thinks of decades first in anthro-political terms. When I think of the fifties, the first things to mind are red scare, McCarthyism, Brown vs. Board of Ed, I like Ike. Thoughts of cars with fins, hula hoops and Elvis are secondary.

Alex · 07-01-2009, 04:19 PM

I will put you two on the mailing list for my cult newsletter.

Ghoulish Delight · 07-01-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

I will put you two on the mailing list for my cult newsletter.

I'm only partway in. I consider both sides of the coin relatively equally. I think the political and the cultural/pop cultural are rather inseparable.

Strangler Lewis · 07-01-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I'm only partway in. I consider both sides of the coin relatively equally. I think the political and the cultural/pop cultural are rather inseparable.

Megadittoes.

07-01-2009, 12:03 PM	#1
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	I agree people tend to have definitive concepts of those decades. I disagree that they tend to all be the same definitive concepts except in the broadest -- and therefore most meaningless -- strokes. You and I don't even agree on whether they're primarily defined by pop culture or econopolitical events. Plus, if only four decades have achieved such it is hardly remarkable that the last two haven't (if one agrees with you that they haven't). Especially since at least one of them (our conception of the '50s) is almost entirely fictional.
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07-01-2009, 12:43 PM	#2
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	Yeah, as mentioned before, many of these "decades" don't quite match the calendar. The 50s to me run from the end of World War II to 1957 or so. And are all about the United States dealing with its new position as the most powerful nation in the world, the burgeoning communist "threat" and a booming economy. '57 to '63 is kind of a gray area as the Civil Rights movement starts to fracture the perceived conformity and "go along get along" tone of the '50s but the sixties don't really get going until the Vietnam War gets added to that mix and as a nation we start to struggle with the fact that maybe the government is an active source of wrongdoing. Then the sixties last until 1973 or so when the wind down of the Vietnam War eliminates the bete noir of the counterculture forcing it to see if it can survive all on its own. Combined with proof that the government isn't to be trusted and economic malaise the '70s really only lasts 5 or 6 years until 1982 or so when Reagan policies really begin to creep in and AIDS lays waste to the ideas of relatively riskfree promiscuity. But that's my view of it all. The actual "pop cultural" artifacts of each era are secondary byproducts to the larger social phenomena producing.
	Submit to Quotes

07-01-2009, 02:24 PM	#3
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	I think it might be fair to say that most people, unlike our beloved Alex, don't think of the nostalgic past in anthro-political terms.
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07-01-2009, 03:34 PM	#5
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Desert Storm, really?
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07-01-2009, 03:42 PM	#6
Ghoulish Delight I Floop the Pig Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Alternative Swankstyle Posts: 19,348	Yes, really. Green night vision images of anti aircaft fire still = Desert Storm and the 90s to me. __________________ 'He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.' -TJ
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07-01-2009, 04:17 PM	#7
Tom Valued member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 541	Yes, really. I'm another who thinks of decades first in anthro-political terms. When I think of the fifties, the first things to mind are red scare, McCarthyism, Brown vs. Board of Ed, I like Ike. Thoughts of cars with fins, hula hoops and Elvis are secondary.
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07-01-2009, 04:19 PM	#8
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	I will put you two on the mailing list for my cult newsletter.
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