If you knew anything of American history you’d know I’m referring to the 1950s. Penicillin was discovered in the 1920’s, women were mystery boxes given vibrators for hysteria and such in the 1890’s, and women could have jobs and own property just fine in the 50’s. Really the only exceptionally bad thing still going on by the 50s that you mentioned was the racial one.
Aside from all that, you want to argue about a non point. I literally acknowledged in my post that there was bad shit about the “good old days”. I was pointing out that there was also actual good things that we no longer have.
women could have jobs and own property just fine in the 50’s
This is a really misinformed idea of the time period. Women could have jobs and own property, but often informally required a man’s permission.
Want a loan, healthcare, start a business, etc.?
Does your father/husband know about this?
If you were married with kids and your husband left - you absolutely had to find a new male partner. Life was nearly unnavigable without a male counterpart, and in many places single mothers were shunned - the social pressure was enormous.
Go watch a TV up into the 80s. Even in MASH, a progressive show for its time, a woman being sexually assaulted is likely to cue a fucking laugh track.
So yeah, tax rates and wages for a particular type of person may have sane, don’t expect LGBTQ+, women, or POC to look upon the time period fondly.
Your reaction to this photo (1956) shouldn’t be, ’ but look, negroes could afford nice dresses’.
Even in MASH, a progressive show for its time, a woman being sexually assaulted is likely to cue a fucking laugh track.
To be fair, everything in MASH cued a laugh track. It got so bad to the point that Alan Alda insisted on an episode where no laugh track was used at all, whatsoever.
CBS was really hardcore about forcing them to use laugh tracks on everything. I was honestly surprised they didn’t try to sneak one in when Henry Blake died.
I think they finally got rid of the laugh tracks in season 11.
You showed a picture of a racial thing. That’s literally the only thing I specified in my post saying that it WAS still bad in the 50’s.
So…I agree. Still. Just as I did before you posted the pic.
Also, I’m sorry society consisting of all the men and women gave societal pressure to be a housewife, because men and women pressured that societal norm.
For most the american dream has always been primarily just that, a dream.
That cannot be repeated enough because there are very powerful narratives (as old as civilization probably) that want to tell and retell stories about how things used to be better that have no grounding in reality.
You are right though, a decent amount of people actually did get to live the american dream, the US used to be a lot less hostile to a middle class existing. So long as we talk about it with the recognition that many, many, many people were excluded from that dream for bullshit reasons it is an extremely salient point to say virtually no one except the ultra wealthy is living any kind of dream in the US anymore…. which for it is worth is the impression I got from what you were saying.
I don’t think women could get credit cards until the 70’s, so things aren’t perfect for them and the jobs and salary gaps were even more skewed then. But ya, at least penicillin was a thing.
Im not sure if women could get credit cards in the 50’s, but almost no one had credit cards in the 50’s. They didn’t really go mainstream till the late 60’s and up through all the 80’s I remember most people still just using cash or checks. You had a credit card and it needed to go on a manual little machine with a slip of paper over the top that made a “rubbing” of the card for the store to have a copy.
Hell. Credit scores didn’t even exist till like the mid 80’s.
…and yet anyone who wasn’t a white dude wasn’t allowed any of those property benefits you’re touting.
Funny that you mention medical expenses were lower when there was no penicillin so a broken leg or pregnancy had a much higher death rate.
And medical for women was treated as a mystery.
And medical for most minorities was essentially non existent.
‘Just focusing on the bad parts’ is the dismissive way to describe everyone else’s experience while existing outside the white dude bubble.
If you knew anything of American history you’d know I’m referring to the 1950s. Penicillin was discovered in the 1920’s, women were mystery boxes given vibrators for hysteria and such in the 1890’s, and women could have jobs and own property just fine in the 50’s. Really the only exceptionally bad thing still going on by the 50s that you mentioned was the racial one.
Aside from all that, you want to argue about a non point. I literally acknowledged in my post that there was bad shit about the “good old days”. I was pointing out that there was also actual good things that we no longer have.
This is a really misinformed idea of the time period. Women could have jobs and own property, but often informally required a man’s permission.
Want a loan, healthcare, start a business, etc.? Does your father/husband know about this?
If you were married with kids and your husband left - you absolutely had to find a new male partner. Life was nearly unnavigable without a male counterpart, and in many places single mothers were shunned - the social pressure was enormous.
Go watch a TV up into the 80s. Even in MASH, a progressive show for its time, a woman being sexually assaulted is likely to cue a fucking laugh track.
So yeah, tax rates and wages for a particular type of person may have sane, don’t expect LGBTQ+, women, or POC to look upon the time period fondly.
Your reaction to this photo (1956) shouldn’t be, ’ but look, negroes could afford nice dresses’.
To be fair, everything in MASH cued a laugh track. It got so bad to the point that Alan Alda insisted on an episode where no laugh track was used at all, whatsoever.
CBS was really hardcore about forcing them to use laugh tracks on everything. I was honestly surprised they didn’t try to sneak one in when Henry Blake died.
I think they finally got rid of the laugh tracks in season 11.
You showed a picture of a racial thing. That’s literally the only thing I specified in my post saying that it WAS still bad in the 50’s.
So…I agree. Still. Just as I did before you posted the pic.
Also, I’m sorry society consisting of all the men and women gave societal pressure to be a housewife, because men and women pressured that societal norm.
For most the american dream has always been primarily just that, a dream.
That cannot be repeated enough because there are very powerful narratives (as old as civilization probably) that want to tell and retell stories about how things used to be better that have no grounding in reality.
You are right though, a decent amount of people actually did get to live the american dream, the US used to be a lot less hostile to a middle class existing. So long as we talk about it with the recognition that many, many, many people were excluded from that dream for bullshit reasons it is an extremely salient point to say virtually no one except the ultra wealthy is living any kind of dream in the US anymore…. which for it is worth is the impression I got from what you were saying.
I don’t think women could get credit cards until the 70’s, so things aren’t perfect for them and the jobs and salary gaps were even more skewed then. But ya, at least penicillin was a thing.
Im not sure if women could get credit cards in the 50’s, but almost no one had credit cards in the 50’s. They didn’t really go mainstream till the late 60’s and up through all the 80’s I remember most people still just using cash or checks. You had a credit card and it needed to go on a manual little machine with a slip of paper over the top that made a “rubbing” of the card for the store to have a copy.
Hell. Credit scores didn’t even exist till like the mid 80’s.