1957 vs. 2012

[pimento]

...my mom and Aunts (all women)...

Most are.

[clutch-monkey]

Pff, 50s nostalgia is bullshit. The 50s are revered as a time of happiness and fun for all in North America, but it was just chrome covering rust to the core. Alcoholism, racism, and sexism were rampant.

how is that different from the present

[Fleet 500]

Most are.

These days sometimes you can't tell!

[Cobrafan427]

These days sometimes you can't tell!

You can probably tell in South Africa LOL

[f6fhellcat13]

henk, presumably you were implying that the criticism comes from within? I have seen things like this before and they tend to be written by Americans.
I am more than happy that kids don't have guns at school; I don't trust adults with them, so why should I trust kids? I would also like to think I'm sophisticated enough (or too much of a pussy, for you naysayers) that I needn't fight with someone over some likely-trivial matter of personal hubris and try to avoid those who do.

...

I agree with this sentiment and always find it funny when I see rockabilly types and hear boomers waxing poetic about the '50s; identifying with an era's aesthetic is one thing, but donning rose-tinted radiation goggles is another entirely.

That being said, there were some definite benefits: Michael Lamm | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts (scroll to the bottom to read the first entry, though the third is my favorite)

[Mugen_Ferio]

[csl177]

Well, in that respect, it has not gone by unnoticed over here what a certain mr. Rick Santorum said about euthanasia in the Netherlands....

Believe me, most of us think that guy is seriously deranged. But the media loves these types... got 24/7/365 to fill and ad dollars to shill.

Pff, 50s nostalgia is bullshit. The 50s are revered as a time of happiness and fun for all in North America, but it was just chrome covering rust to the core. Alcoholism, racism, and sexism were rampant. The 50s has achieved nostalgic status for North Americans from time to time in the last 30 odd years, but it is all bullshit. If you were a woman or a minority back then, life was probably pretty shitty for you. School would probably suck if you were being bullied, as that seemed much more tolerable in the day. With the boomers being such a big segment of the North American population, they like to, and are able to, make the period of their childhoods seem rosy and happy, when things were actually pretty damn terrible.

Don't forget red baiting and HUAC. Since boomers were kids then, it seems to have paved the path of perpetual fear-mongering that's rampant in American culture. As you say, the bad parts are neatly glossed over or discarded. Nostalgia is about comfort.

Ok then, enlighten me, how do you fake an apartheid to misconstrue yourself to other nations?

Well, to be fair, some parts of the USA enforced a defacto apartheid well into the 1970s. A close friend that grew up in Durban has distinct memories of 1950-60s SA which in some ways mirrored my southern upbringing. My grade school wasn't desgregated until 1962.

Ek dink ook so. O and I didnt do American bashing. Even though this might be a bit exaggerated there is some truth to this no?

Of course... but seriously though, the scenarios are laughably hyberbolic.

There is a truth that wouldn't happen today: I lived in an area that was still pretty rural and did in fact sometimes bring a shotgun and .22 pistol to school along with camping gear on Fridays, stashed in my locker until last bell. My best friend and me would ride our bikes to what was then the edge of the Everglades, to hunt dove and quail on the weekend.

Once we thought we witnessed a shooting near our camp and rode to the sheriff's station for help. The cop drove us back, inspected the area and just told us keep a lookout. We were 12 and 13. Nowadays, a police squad would have been sent.

[Mugen_Ferio]

Ok but you are from the south like you say you are, I can understand that because is the southern states are more Rebuplican orientated, are they not

[f6fhellcat13]

Careful with your terms, there. Republican and Democrat don't mean now what they did in '57. Back then, the South was a Democratic-Party stronghold, though I don't know about Florida, because that isn't really the Deep South.

[Kitdy]

Dixiecrats!

[csl177]

Dixiecrats!

Exactly. Conservative Southern Democrats wrapped up in protectionism of white cultural interests. Which now describes a large portion of the GOP. Two decades of Republican "Southern Strategy" worked a treat... disinfranchisement is still an effective tool.

Southern Democrats still tend to be socially & economically conservative, but compared to their opposition are downright reasonable.