NationStates Jolt Archive

Why are the "good old days" good?

I get these emails from people talking about how much better "the good old days" were. You know the kind - mom stayed home, things were quieter, things were secure, the family had a homemade dinner every night, and so on.

I remember these good old days, too. I remember going to school where every face was white. I remember having to take cooking and sewing because I was a girl. I remember McCarthyism. I remember several members of my class getting polio. I remember the anger when Kennedy was elected because now the Pope would govern America. I remember the misery of a lot of women because they were stuck in horrible marriages. I remember the only acceptable career options for women were secretary, nurse or teacher. I remember that a man who did housework was considered "unmanly." Most of all, remember conformity - if you didn't dress like, think like, act like, look like everyone else, you might just as well have been dead - people who were different, whether by choice or by chance, were outcasts. I remember the "good old days" weren't all that good.

Tell me about your "good old days." Were they all that good? Are they all that old?

Were they all that good? Are they all that old?I'm seventeen. I don't have to deal with this shit, yet. Thanks for reminding me that I will have to eventually, though. :p

The 'good old days' are somewhere between an imagined golden age, and wishing that everything was back in the closet.

Fuck 'em.

I dont really have "Good Old Days", although Technology, and possibly Lifestyles, but, I dont think Society has really advanced all that much since '88...

I don't know, I'm kind of nostalgic for the 60's. That was a time of such monumental social and political change that it was definitely an exciting time in American history. Plus, the economy was booming and you could smoke indoors in most places.

I don't know, I'm kind of nostalgic for the 60's. That was a time of such monumental social and political change that it was definitely an exciting time in American history. Plus, the economy was booming and you could smoke indoors in most places.

Yeah, itdve been cool to have been 20 in the Sixties, Id totally go to Woodstock ,itd rule! lol

Why are the "good old days" good?

I get these emails from people talking about how much better "the good old days" were. You know the kind - mom stayed home, things were quieter, things were secure, the family had a homemade dinner every night, and so on.

I remember these good old days, too. I remember going to school where every face was white. I remember having to take cooking and sewing because I was a girl. I remember McCarthyism. I remember several members of my class getting polio. I remember the anger when Kennedy was elected because now the Pope would govern America. I remember the misery of a lot of women because they were stuck in horrible marriages. I remember the only acceptable career options for women were secretary, nurse or teacher. I remember that a man who did housework was considered "unmanly." Most of all, remember conformity - if you didn't dress like, think like, act like, look like everyone else, you might just as well have been dead - people who were different, whether by choice or by chance, were outcasts. I remember the "good old days" weren't all that good.

Tell me about your "good old days." Were they all that good? Are they all that old?

I didn't live through the "good old days" but I can understand why they were attractive. In New Zealand, the 1950s and 1960s was a time when you had so few murders that each one made headline news for several days; it was a time where robbery was so rare, you just left your front door unlocked.

Of course there were other things; it was a time where children were allowed to be children and not wrapped around in cotton wool; it was a time where you didn't have an over-zealous health and safety system; it was a time where people took responsibility for themselves and didn't blame their upbringing or their race, or any other factor for their actions.

Yes, the 1950s had its problems, but from what I have heard, it was a far better era to live in than today.

I didn't live through the "good old days" but I can understand why they were attractive. In New Zealand, the 1950s and 1960s was a time when you had so few murders that each one made headline news for several days; it was a time where robbery was so rare, you just left your front door unlocked.

Of course there were other things; it was a time where children were allowed to be children and not wrapped around in cotton wool; it was a time where you didn't have an over-zealous health and safety system; it was a time where people took responsibility for themselves and didn't blame their upbringing or their race, or any other factor for their actions.

Yes, the 1950s had its problems, but from what I have heard, it was a far better era to live in than today.

What part of Auckland do you live in?

I feel pretty safe down here in Dunedin, and the door remains unlocked and wide open during the day. Robbery's pretty uncommon now except for the occasional bank or Night N' Day. Does mugging even happen in New Zealand?

I know better about the 80's, and yet... and yet sometimes it's nice to pretend about 1984 when the president was this nice man who protected us (and I know 'cause my teacher said so) and I never heard of any problems like terrorism, or AIDS, or global climate change and so on.

Of course then I hit myself upside the head, remind myself that I'm better read in history than that and all the wishful thinking in the world won't make it so.

Yeah, itdve been cool to have been 20 in the Sixties, Id totally go to Woodstock ,itd rule! lol

I was 18 in 1965. Not that cool, guys, especially if you were female. Abortion was illegal, civil rights were for everyone except women and if you were a black woman or Hispanic woman, it was even worse. The guys got to have the fun - The women still did the cooking and cleaned up the messes.

My 'good old days' were good, for the most part, although they're not that old(I'm in my 30's). We lived in a little house, it wasn't much, but it was ours free-and-clear. My father worked, and my mother stayed home with me and my brothers.

After she died, we were kind of responsible to look out for each other, since my father had to work, and that was it's own kind of fun. Of course, that led to a brush with CPS, which I think is probably the foundation for a life-time mistrust of government in general and meddling bereaucracies in specific.

We had parks and vacant lots and construction sites to play in and when we got into fights with other kids people said 'eh, boys will be boys' and nobody had to go anger-management therapy or any other kind of foolishness.

I remember ball games in outdoor stadiums, and drive-in movies, and video arcades. I remember terrible B&W monster movies on local UHF stations, when three months of summer vacation seemed like forever, and being taught to hunt and trap and shoot.

Like I said, my 'good old days' were actually pretty good.

The "good old days" are generally whenever the given speaker grew up. I find myself missing "the way things were" as a kid--I think it's a basic part of most people's psyche's to idealize the past (unless your childhood really sucked). Life was no better 20 years ago than it is today, but I think, when faced with the immediate problems of today's world, we sometimes manage to trick ourselves into forgetting the ones in the past, and everything looks "golden".

I know better about the 80's, and yet... and yet sometimes it's nice to pretend about 1984 when the president was this nice man who protected us (and I know 'cause my teacher said so) and I never heard of any problems like terrorism, or AIDS, or global climate change and so on.

It probably would've been badass to live in Japan in the 1980's. The sheer economic madness would've been something to see.

I was 18 in 1965. Not that cool, guys, especially if you were female. Abortion was illegal, civil rights were for everyone except women and if you were a black woman or Hispanic woman, it was even worse. The guys got to have the fun - The women still did the cooking and cleaned up the messes.

Word. My mom was 18 in 1969--kicked out of the house for first getting pregnant and then having an illegal abortion, crashing on friend's couches and park benches and putting herself through college making about half of what a man would, most likely. No Woodstock for her.

The "good old days" are generally whenever the given speaker grew up. I find myself missing "the way things were" as a kid--I think it's a basic part of most people's psyche's to idealize the past (unless your childhood really sucked). Life was no better 20 years ago than it is today, but I think, when faced with the immediate problems of today's world, we sometimes manage to trick ourselves into forgetting the ones in the past, and everything looks "golden".
There's also the issue that when you're a child, you're not as aware of world events as you will be as an adult nor do you have the responsibilities and worries of an adult.

Who wouldn't, if just for a day, go back to a childhood where your worries consisted of getting cooties from girls? :p

It probably would've been badass to live in Japan in the 1980's. The sheer economic madness would've been something to see.
Depended on where you were. Tokyo, well, parts of it, were doing great and a lot of people became flush with money, but I've talked with folks living in my area who never saw anything from the boom times. For the farmers around here, life has carried on pretty much the same.

The "good ol' days" are good because they aren't filled with civil engineering courses.

<_<

"rose tinted hindsight" is the main thing about it. sometimes there may be some elements of past contexts that actually were, in some way better, then a give 'present time' during which they are being looked back at. present time, is however a moving target, and the key point of its salient nature, is that it, and whatever 'future' fallows it, can ALWAYS be improved upon. something the frozen past, once gone, can only sit there and be, whatever it had been.

a time before building codes, a time before border patrols or even borders, a time when nearly all transportation was public transportation, all of these things are good, but none of them are confined utterly and entirely, life sentenced as it were, to some dim remote, or even not so faided recent, past.

there's no reason we can't live in a world of interurban trolleys AND personal computers, nor that there can't be a future with less population pressure, stress, coersion to be in a hurry, and to indenture oneself to places to live and means of getting about.

every decade has its points, good and bad. i could wax nostelgic about each, having lived through several, but i can still do so for those yet to come as well.

if we want to live in a gratifying era, we're not going to get there by always and only looking backwards. humanity has still a lot of growing up to do. that doesn't mean everything that's chainged over the years, decades and centuries has been positive, but we haven't been decending from some perfect paradise either. rather like a child growing to adolescence and then to adulthood, humanity is togather engauged in a learning and growing process.

like the life of an individual, there are growing pains, and life stage crysees. that doesn't mean we can't or don't grow, but rather that we must.

not disasterously in population as we have been, but in maturity and self dicipline.

There's also the issue that when you're a child, you're not as aware of world events as you will be as an adult nor do you have the responsibilities and worries of an adult.

Who wouldn't, if just for a day, go back to a childhood where your worries consisted of getting cooties from girls? :p

I'm a kindergarten teacher, I still get cooties from everyone! :P

It's true, though. I mean, I had a great childhood. Like, textbook suburban America--safe neighborhood, loving parents, a golden retriever, bike rides on sunny days, all of that. That's what I think of sometimes when I long for a return to childhood. But of course, I'm conveniently forgetting the alcoholic father, the no-holds-barred fights between my parents, being miserable in school every damn day of my life, and of course, not having the freedom I have as an adult to go where I want and do what I wish.

I guess it's a matter of stacking up responsibilities and freedoms against safety and limitations and seeing which stands taller.

There's also the issue that when you're a child, you're not as aware of world events as you will be as an adult nor do you have the responsibilities and worries of an adult.

Who wouldn't, if just for a day, go back to a childhood where your worries consisted of getting cooties from girls? :p

You're aware of other things, though - like your mother being miserable because she has to work full time and do all the housework because your father thinks he's too good for the jobs he can get and too good to even clean up after himself, never mind do regular housework. You're aware of being stigmatized because, if you do what interests you, you're an unnatural female and if you do what's "natural" you're bored out of your mind. And as you get older, you become more aware of things that aren't right.

I'm a kindergarten teacher, I still get cooties from everyone! :P
I hear ya. Got BIG OL hugs from two of my kids walking through the halls today, just to get told that the both of them have the flu. :eek2: I swear my kids are trying to kill me.

It's true, though. I mean, I had a great childhood. Like, textbook suburban America--safe neighborhood, loving parents, a golden retriever, bike rides on sunny days, all of that. That's what I think of sometimes when I long for a return to childhood. But of course, I'm conveniently forgetting the alcoholic father, the no-holds-barred fights between my parents, being miserable in school every damn day of my life, and of course, not having the freedom I have as an adult to go where I want and do what I wish.

I guess it's a matter of stacking up responsibilities and freedoms against safety and limitations and seeing which stands taller.
Indeed. When I actually remember, things weren't that great. When I apply my knowledge of history, I realize things were actually pretty bad. But, sometimes, when I'm stuck looking at my IRS forms for this year, I have a full load of classes to teach tomorrow and I'm not ready, my son is howling for attention, and my wife wanders in to tell me we're out of something and my bank balance is already looking thin... Cooties don't sound quite so bad. :p

You're aware of other things, though - like your mother being miserable because she has to work full time and do all the housework because your father thinks he's too good for the jobs he can get and too good to even clean up after himself, never mind do regular housework. You're aware of being stigmatized because, if you do what interests you, you're an unnatural female and if you do what's "natural" you're bored out of your mind. And as you get older, you become more aware of things that aren't right.
At around 10 though? At that age I knew my mom was having a tough time and we were in some kind of trouble. I didn't know, until years later, just how close we came to being homeless and what it actually means when your Christmas comes from Toys for Tots. Oh well, not everyone's childhood is golden of course, but things do look different when looking back which is where the idea of the good old days comes from.

What part of Auckland do you live in?

East Auckland

I feel pretty safe down here in Dunedin, and the door remains unlocked and wide open during the day. Robbery's pretty uncommon now except for the occasional bank or Night N' Day. Does mugging even happen in New Zealand?

I don't feel all that safe in Auckland, and I am pretty lucky that I don't attend any parties or anything, or else I may have been stabbed by now. Also, robbery is quite common; didn't you hear about the guy that attempted to rob a house in broad daylight with people inside it?

Also, robbery is quite common; didn't you hear about the guy that attempted to rob a house in broad daylight with people inside it?

That's why my property is protected by Col. Colt, and his good friends Smith and Wesson. I'd recommend their home security plan, but there may be different laws in New Zealand.

-snip-

At around 10 though? At that age I knew my mom was having a tough time and we were in some kind of trouble. I didn't know, until years later, just how close we came to being homeless and what it actually means when your Christmas comes from Toys for Tots. Oh well, not everyone's childhood is golden of course, but things do look different when looking back which is where the idea of the good old days comes from.

Not everything was bad. I remember being able to go pretty much anywhere I wanted safely. Everyone in the neighborhood watched out for the kids. Summers seemed to last longer and be more golden and Christmas and Easter really did seem magical. But in many ways, socially at least, things are better now - my daughter has more opportunities than I ever even thought of. My son is dating a girl who's a civil engineer, who's far better educated and better paid than he is, and the only issue they seem to be having is, if they get married, do they want kids? When I was a kid, a woman who was an Air Force office and not a nurse was unheard of, and a man dating a woman who was better educated than he was and was paid more than he was would have been mocked unmercifully.

a man dating a woman who was better educated than he was and was paid more than he was would have been mocked unmercifully.

A buddy of mine is dating a woman who makes easily twice what he does, and we occasionally give him crap about it, but it's not like we mean it. He's more than willing, on his part, to come back with stuff about one of the other guys being 5 foot nothing, or me for being gimpy and missing fingers.

My 'good old days' were growing up in 70's England - playing in the streets, glam rock, great sweets, seemingly endless summers etc
What I didn't realise until later in life is that these were not 'good old days' for my parents - they really struggled to hid some of the nasty aspects of life from me. I used to think that the 3 day week meant I saw more of my Dad, not that he couldn't afford some of lifes basics anymore. Power cuts were fun to a 10 year old, but not to a Mum trying to run a house
I'm sure my daughters good old days will the life she has now (and she won't remember the credit crunch, rising unemployment and soaring knife crime)

That's why my property is protected by Col. Colt, and his good friends Smith and Wesson. I'd recommend their home security plan, but there may be different laws in New Zealand.

Yep, unfortunately the laws in New Zealand mean that while you can own Col. Colt and his good friends Smith and Wesson, you cannot really use them against intruders.

Yep, unfortunately the laws in New Zealand mean that while you can own Col. Colt and his good friends Smith and Wesson, you cannot really use them against intruders.

There's self-defence, and then there's shooting someone. Completely different things in my book.

East Auckland



I don't feel all that safe in Auckland, and I am pretty lucky that I don't attend any parties or anything, or else I may have been stabbed by now. Also, robbery is quite common; didn't you hear about the guy that attempted to rob a house in broad daylight with people inside it?

You're lucky that you don't tag near peoples houses, otherwise you might get stabbed too. Oh wait, he "moved onto it".

And no, I didn't hear about that, dipshit move on the persons part, and I hope they got their ass handed to them.

Eh, ask me again in about 20 years so the good old days won't be....now.

Yep, unfortunately the laws in New Zealand mean that while you can own Col. Colt and his good friends Smith and Wesson, you cannot really use them against intruders.

Who better to use them on? I don't know, maybe there is a correlation between that and your robbery problem.

bluntly .. because it was more homogeneous.

example: Take a culture back in the day (A).. say they had 'clans'. Now this clan confronts a different clan (B) they are the same race but maybe hold different beliefs or practices. They are still close enough to recognize each other, but you get a us vs them (A vs B).

Now throw them both (A & B) into a situation with an entirely different people (C) , race, culture whatever. You will get a (A+B vs C). Multiply that by many and you get a big fat us vs them, white vs black, black vs chicano .. etc. The bigger or more separated we get the more we will automatically relate to a race. The Stranger (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-stranger/)

Oh and you know why many Americans revere the flag as we do? It's the one thing we have in common. Sarkhaan put it much more eloquently.


It happens across the board. Politics often take the same route.

Or it could be cause of the wars. ?

Why are the "good old days" good?

I get these emails from people talking about how much better "the good old days" were. You know the kind - mom stayed home, things were quieter, things were secure, the family had a homemade dinner every night, and so on.

I remember these good old days, too. I remember going to school where every face was white. I remember having to take cooking and sewing because I was a girl. I remember McCarthyism. I remember several members of my class getting polio. I remember the anger when Kennedy was elected because now the Pope would govern America. I remember the misery of a lot of women because they were stuck in horrible marriages. I remember the only acceptable career options for women were secretary, nurse or teacher. I remember that a man who did housework was considered "unmanly." Most of all, remember conformity - if you didn't dress like, think like, act like, look like everyone else, you might just as well have been dead - people who were different, whether by choice or by chance, were outcasts. I remember the "good old days" weren't all that good.

Tell me about your "good old days." Were they all that good? Are they all that old?


Theres no such thing as the good old days. Us oldies like to reminice about our youth and if things seemed simpler back then, it is because we were younger and less wise.

Now of course we know more of the world and it's wiley ways.:D

I remember the anger when Kennedy was elected because now the Pope would govern America.Some things never change, huh?

Three pages in, and no Billy Joel? For shame, NSG. For shame.

Three pages in, and no Billy Joel? For shame, NSG. For shame.

Perhaps a bottle of rosé tonight?

I think the "Good Old Days" are good because they are old.

I mean that their problems are yesterday's problems, and yesterday's problems are less problem-y than today's problems, so it's easier to pretend they weren't there at all.

My "good old days" sucked crap. They were the late 70's/early 80s when I was in high school in NYC. The city was bankrupt. The school sytem was collapsing catastrophically. The cops weren't doing much better. Poverty, homelessness, drug abuse and violent crime were everywhere. "Escape from New York" was seen as a humorous and heartwarming look at the fashionable lifestyle. Plus we got to enjoy nuclear-apocalypse-nihilistic-paranoia, too. And coke-heads infested every party and nightclub, filled with the insane, drug-crazed notion that they were witty and attractive.

But when I compare those days to now, I see that it was a lot easier to get a low-level day job then than now; that people's expectations on each other were more realistic; that there was less pressure for social conformity; that politics, though completely corrupt, were less intrusively ideological; and that in a lot of areas of work there were more new and fresh ideas being tried out than now.

Is that enough to make those good old days actually good? Of course not, but to the extent that the current conditions are pissing me off and making it harder to do things that were easier then, I miss those Bad Old Days.

I think the "Good Old Days" are good because they are old.

I mean that their problems are yesterday's problems, and yesterday's problems are less problem-y than today's problems, so it's easier to pretend they weren't there at all.

moreover, I have to wonder what part of things were actually....good.

The civil war gave way to violent reconstruction which lasted pretty much into the turn of the century. The whole force of the industrial revolution made that time frame a pretty shitty period all around to live in, what with the child labor, the pollution, the sewage in the streets et al.

Following that you had the 20s, which weren't so bad if you like speakeasys, flappers, and dying in your fifties of sepsis.

Then of course the depression and dust bowl left not a lot of fun for anyone. Then you had World War 2, and it's invetable aftermath of Korea. Back home I guess things weren't so bad, if you managed to avoid the war, and were white and male, and had a fondness for radio. Other than that....life, not so good.

The 60s were kinda fun if you liked drugs and not showering, but the whole Vietnam thing kinda put a damper on it. Sorta screwed a good part of the 70s too, along with that whole oil crisis.

The 80s were OK, if you didn't mind inflation, recession, and cold war posturing. The 90s actually weren't so bad, given that it was an era of mostly peace and prosperity. Too bad it didn't last.

So where were these good old days? Sure the economy sucks right now, but I'm still convinced that this is the best time to be alive in human history.

The 90s actually weren't so bad, given that it was an era of mostly peace and prosperity. Too bad it didn't last.

Despite the relative peace and prosperity, the 90s sucked because they were the decade of fakeness. The money was all bubble money -- fake. The peace was all black ops guerilla wars funded by corporate money and corrupt political deals -- fake. And all that fakeness masked the rise of the neocon agenda and worldview that is giving us so much trouble now. In addition, the 90s saw increased social conformity to fake lifestyle ideals (made up by marketers citing "focus groups"); fake consumption levels (spending money we didn't really have for junk that wasn't really worth the price); fake rebellion (kids getting into music and clothes and movies all so uniform you couldn't tell one from another, and all of it merchandised under corporate labels); and so on.

Screw the 90s. They were the Golden Age of Modern Bullshit, and we see the direct result of everything we did during that time coming to fruition now.

Despite the relative peace and prosperity, the 90s sucked because they were the decade of fakeness. The money was all bubble money -- fake. The peace was all black ops guerilla wars funded by corporate money and corrupt political deals -- fake. And all that fakeness masked the rise of the neocon agenda and worldview that is giving us so much trouble now. In addition, the 90s saw increased social conformity to fake lifestyle ideals (made up by marketers citing "focus groups"); fake consumption levels (spending money we didn't really have for junk that wasn't really worth the price); fake rebellion (kids getting into music and clothes and movies all so uniform you couldn't tell one from another, and all of it merchandised under corporate labels); and so on.

Screw the 90s. They were the Golden Age of Modern Bullshit, and we see the direct result of everything we did during that time coming to fruition now.

I suppose. I'm fully willing to admit that my memories of the 90s may well be tinted by youthful optimisim.

Good old days. I burned the bridge there. If I tried to take a trip down... "memory lane" it would prove futile....

*lights the last bridge she just crossed* Oh well, no turning back now!

Why are the "good old days" good?

Tell me about your "good old days." Were they all that good? Are they all that old?

Simple, the Good old days were good because I didn't have to pay for anything. My parents did! They took care of the food, cleaning house (tho I did help, that made it fun) laundry, and paying the bills and taxes. Saturday Mornings had Quality cartoons like Looney Tunes, MTV Showed Music Videos 24 hours a day, and prices were low!

so to answer your last question... hell yes, they all are that F'ing old. :(

moreover, I have to wonder what part of things were actually....good.
I hear that running naked through the forests was a hoot. Of course, nowadays people are all like, "Put clothes on, Fiddlebottoms," "Quit trying to eat that woman's dog, Fiddlebottoms," "No, Fiddlebottoms, just because you can hit a woman over the head with a stick and drag her back to a cave does not mean that she has consented to have sex with you."
Stupid NYPD and their "civilization."

Despite the relative peace and prosperity, the 90s sucked because they were the decade of fakeness. The money was all bubble money -- fake.... ...fake consumption levels (spending money we didn't really have for junk that wasn't really worth the price)...

Screw the 90s. They were the Golden Age of Modern Bullshit, and we see the direct result of everything we did during that time coming to fruition now.

quite right about the economy. It may have been "booming" elsewhere, but where I am, we were (and still are) essentially unaffected by boom and bust. The only things that seems to change is the price of eggs and gasoline.

As to the good old days, well I guess I just don't have many problems now, just like I didn't have much problems then. I'd even say today is much better, I can do whatever the fuck I want, and I have no money problems cause I don't spend much of anything, I don't have to deal with assholes anymore because I can easily avoid them, unlike back in school where you had no choice but to hang around. Life just keeps getting better really.

Three pages in, and no Billy Joel? For shame, NSG. For shame.

My thoughts exactly.

In fairness to myself, it was somebody else's turn this time.

Perhaps a bottle of rosé tonight?

I'd prefer Captain Jack, if you please.

There's self-defence, and then there's shooting someone. Completely different things in my book.

If you use your weapon in self-defence, all the cops here do is charge you with a crime while leaving the real criminal on the backburner. Self defence and shooting someone can sometimes be the same thing.

So where were these good old days? Sure the economy sucks right now, but I'm still convinced that this is the best time to be alive in human history.

lol, I can't wait to see someone like you in the future talking about how the start of the 21st century weren't great years to live in and these old folk such as Neo Art don't know what they are talking about.

The good old days? Let me tell you something, the best time and place to live in al of human history was 13-16th century Europe. Never was a man more free to live and breathe than when the ruler was the law and real men could go on a crusade to chop people's heads off when they got sick of thier nagging wives! When nobody was concerned with such petty things as the newest fashion trends and STI's! Those were the good old days, when men were men; and sheep were beter!

lol, I can't wait to see someone like you in the future talking about how the start of the 21st century weren't great years to live in and these old folk such as Neo Art don't know what they are talking about.

man your an optimist! I always assumed we'd kill ourselves off within the next few years.

The good old days? Let me tell you something, the best time and place to live in al of human history was 13-16th century Europe. Never was a man more free to live and breathe than when the ruler was the law and real men could go on a crusade to chop people's heads off when they got sick of thier nagging wives! When nobody was concerned with such petty things as the newest fashion trends and STI's! Those were the good old days, when men were men; and sheep were beter!

Which sucked because there weren't no Internet, video games and no computers. Plus if you wanted to kill someone you had to use a sword, spear, bow. Arquebus, at best.

Which sucked because there wen't no Internet, video games and no computers. Plus if you wanted to kill someone you had to use a sword, spear, bow. Arquebus, at best.

Up close and personal, just the way a man should finish off his enemies. :sniper:

Up close and personal, just the way a man should finish off his enemies. :sniper:

I think I'll take a HK USP.

I think I'll take a HK USP.

I like how he thinks I'm serious.

I like how he thinks I'm serious.

Well, when it's about guns I tend to be more serious.

Well, when it's about guns I tend to be more serious.

I like swords!

I like swords!

I once corrected a History teacher, who said that MGs were invented in WW1. They were invented in the 1800s.

I once corrected a History teacher, who said that MGs were invented in WW1. They were invented in te 1800s.

Tsk tsk... not a fan of 8-Bit... :$

The good old days? Let me tell you something, the best time and place to live in al of human history was 13-16th century Europe. Never was a man more free to live and breathe than when the ruler was the law and real men could go on a crusade to chop people's heads off when they got sick of thier nagging wives! When nobody was concerned with such petty things as the newest fashion trends and STI's! Those were the good old days, when men were men; and sheep were beter!
Sorry to burst your nostalgia bubble, but 13th-16th century Europe was a stewing cauldron of fashion victims and wardrobe one-upmanship. Haven't you ever looked at paintings from those times?

You think the artists were just making up those medieval outfits with the giant sleeves, parti-colored tights, idiotic hats and shoes with toes so long, some medieval Zoolanders actually tied them up to garters around their knees so they could walk? And what about those codpieces, eh? Seriously. No, my friend, the church itself issued edicts condemning some fashion choices as sins -- and I think they meant sins against good taste because the clergy were no sackcloth schlumps themselves. And before you cite the sumptuary laws that restricted which social classes could wear what kind of clothes, I point out that the Black Death put paid to that because once the population had been reduced by approximately a third, and there was more money lying around than people to spend it, the survivors claimed the right to wear whatever they could buy. And that was fine with the kings and churches because something had to restart the textile business.

And in the 16th century, things only got worse, as the rich needed once again to differentiate themselves from the now better dressed less-rich, and you started to see outfits so elaborately layered, laced, collared and bejeweled that people couldn't put their arms down.

I'm sorry, SaintB, but fashion is a biological imperative, part of the mating instinct and all the complexities it generates. There is no period of history, no culture, no social experiment, in which you would not have to worry about whether a certain garmet made your ass look good or bad and whether the other guy was dressed sharper, newer, fresher, richer or otherwise more fuckable than you.

Sorry to burst your nostalgia bubble, but 13th-16th century Europe was a stewing cauldron of fashion victims and wardrobe one-upmanship. Haven't you ever looked at paintings from those times?

*snip the rest for length*

And I was 98% not serious. ;)

And I was 98% not serious. ;)

How were we supposed to know?

Sorry to burst your nostalgia bubble, but 13th-16th century Europe was a stewing cauldron of fashion victims and wardrobe one-upmanship. [...] There is no period of history, no culture, no social experiment, in which you would not have to worry about whether a certain garment made your ass look good or bad and whether the other guy was dressed sharper, newer, fresher, richer or otherwise more fuckable than you.

Please look into becoming a history teacher. You are fun and informative.

How were we supposed to know?

The bit about when men were manly and sheep were better was supposed to be the clue :(.

And the going off on crusade to cut people's heads off so that the wife wouldn't nag at them...

The bit about when men were manly and sheep were better was supposed to be the clue :(.

And the going off on crusade to cut people's heads off so that the wife wouldn't nag at them...
i thought it was the part where you left out the black plague.

i thought it was the part where you left out the black plague.

You are right I did. How could I forget the black plague?

You are right I did. How could I forget the black plague?
well it did improve employment and pay rates for the peasants....

well it did improve employment and pay rates for the peasants....

Yet another good reason to live in the dark ages.

And I was 98% not serious. ;)
I know that. :p

How were we supposed to know?
It was obvious. :p :p

Please look into becoming a history teacher. You are fun and informative.
I'll add that to my list of things to do. :D Thanks.

It was obvious. :p :p

Damn, need more points into Perception. :p

I'll add that to my list of things to do. :D Thanks.

Goodie. Just don't forget to inform me once you're employed so that I know where to send my nonexistent children to school.

Yet another good reason to live in the dark ages.
*smack*

13th to 16th centuries arent the dark ages.

none of those times were particularly good to live in unless you were a male aristocrat. we always imagine ourselves as the king of france (or whatever) when we would have been the 14 year old newlywed peasant girl who will soon die in her first childbirth.

*smack*

13th to 16th centuries arent the dark ages.

none of those times were particularly good to live in unless you were a male aristocrat. we always imagine ourselves as the king of france (or whatever) when we would have been the 14 year old newlywed peasant girl who will soon die in her first childbirth.

Sure they were, wasn't that why it was calld the black plague? Since like.. they didn't have light bulbs or solar power yet so they couldn't actually see the sick people?

Sure they were, wasn't that why it was calld the black plague? Since like.. they didn't have light bulbs or solar power yet so they couldn't actually see the sick people?
Yes. That is exactly why they called them dark ages. :D

Sure they were, wasn't that why it was calld the black plague? Since like.. they didn't have light bulbs or solar power yet so they couldn't actually see the sick people?

That's one of the worst jokes ever.

That's one of the worst jokes ever.

Probably but I'll bet it incited a chuckle.

Probably but I'll bet it incited a chuckle.

Yes. Yes it did. But that still doesn't redeem it!

Sure they were, wasn't that why it was calld the black plague? Since like.. they didn't have light bulbs or solar power yet so they couldn't actually see the sick people?
*gives SB the look*

*gives SB the look*

:tongue::D

Sure they were, wasn't that why it was calld the black plague? Since like.. they didn't have light bulbs or solar power yet so they couldn't actually see the sick people?

I like you. Will you come live in a glass terrarium in my apartment and entertain me?

I like you. Will you come live in a glass terrarium in my apartment and entertain me?

Hmm, minus the terrarium and you have yourself a deal :fluffle:

Hmm, minus the terrarium and you have yourself a deal :fluffle:

So... you'll go and live in a glass?

Odd.