the sixties

[orleans]

"if it's not in the series then it wasn't in the sixties"

"of course i slept with my secretary! it's the sixties!"


lately, i tend to justify a lot of stuff that happened when i was younger by simply saying: "it was the seventies." and i actually mean it.

i think of the sixties as a time when things were being tried and tested, fought for, a period of pushing the envelope. i view the seventies as more relaxed, a lot had been attained and was now accepted, and even taken for granted--the envelope was open and the contents were spilling out. and it was wonderful!

[Archae]

1. Well, they used to call the 70's the "Me Decade."

I don't remember much about the 60's, since I was in my single digits during that time.

I sure remember the 70's though!

[orleans]

3. i just remember it was pretty freakin good for a long time n/t

[malthaussen]

7. Which is pretty strange, when you think about it.

I tend to think of the '80s as the Me decade, since it was in the '80s that the Yuppies began to truly prosper and selfishness became the order of the day. There was much more effort in the '70s, or at least the earlier part of that decade, to come together, embrace each other and celebrate diversity, etc. Not that there wasn't plenty of selfishness and self-centeredness in the early '70s, but as I recall it, it didn't define the era the way it dominated the country after Reagan was elected.

I have a theory that the obligatory branding of the '70s (and the later '60s, if it comes to it) as a period of excess and selfishness is part of the intense rewriting of social history that has occured since the GOP took power in the '80s. It was necessary to tar the earlier period with the brush of shame in order to make "Morning In America" shine much brighter in consequence. And quite a few people have embraced this feeling of shame and embarassment. Raise the subject of the '70s, and you can be sure someone will mention shag carpets and avocado appliances, as if these consumer objects reflect the true nature of the national soul.

-- Mal

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. If you claim you remember the '60s

you weren't really there.

[orleans]

4. so they say...n/t

[elleng]

5. Oh Ocelot, NO!

I remember, I graduated from high school and we all remember, so much so that we're having a reunion in June!!!

[olddots]

6. I remember the 60s

or maybe its just a flashback .

[In_The_Wind]

8. The last half of the sixties started my single life.

I moved a thousand miles from home. I had to be me.