| Ah nostalgia. Lower quality products? Let's just look at cars: the Pinto, the various AMC junk heaps; even my beloved first car, a VW Beetle (1969). All were horrible compared to what is available for today. Let's look at PCs. I bought an Apple ][c in 1984 for $1400. That's almost $3300 adjusted for inflation. And that was a POS compared to what you can get for $300 today. Culture? Let's look at what most people considered culture; TV. There were 3 main channels, all showing the same type of monolithic news, and sitcoms that were horrible. Today we have a multiverse of shows that inform and entertain. Yes, there's still crap on the tube, but you have far more options. Education? When I graduated, college was for the highest achievers. Today, everyone is expected to go, and it's far easier to attend. Race relations? We have a long long way to go, but compared to the early 70's? Racism was just the way things were then; America was extremely whitebread. Acceptance? I had a friend hang himself in high school because he couldn't deal with the pressures of being in the closet. Today, we still have a long ways to go with LGBTq affairs, but we've progressed a lot. Nostalgia is warm and fuzzy, but it puts blinders on us. |