Many of everyone was happy, working and life was getting materially better by the month.
Our technology was advancing nicely and we were on target for robotics and cars and cel phones and a ton of stuff that made OUR lives so much better and easier.
We were falling in love and doo wop rock n roll helped us kids through a LOT of teenage angst ... we weren't alone and life was fun.
Then someone decided we needed turmoil and it hasn't stopped.
Until another someone(s?) decided it IS time to stop and take back control of our lives.
I think THAT is the point we are at now and the election of President Trump is a referendum on just that ..... WE LIKED IT BACK THERE AND WE WANT TO GO BACK !
So ... let's attempt to stop warring, rid ourselves of evil agitators, eliminate government indoctrination (public schools) and get on about rearing our families in the fear and admonition of the LORD.
At midnight tonight, the TV USED TO sign off after the Anthem and a prayer with, "Tomorrow is Sunday, everyone should go to church .... the family that prays together, stays together"
The indoctrination and teachings we received back then were not for evil but for good.
Not for progress but for strengthening the present.
(Oh yeah ... and MST was a great spoof on our Saturday morning movie going experiences, where we had ridden our bikes down to the Rialto, parked and locked 'em with chain locks, paid our quarter and in a sense "read a book" for two or three hours.
We spent the rest of our day with friends just playin' and goofin' around.)
I'm 69 and I have a hard time dreaming about the future.
I don't know if it's because I LIKE meditating on the past or perhaps, there's not much adventure in the future, unlike MY childhood.
I could dream of space travel and even dare to think I could become president.
I don't think many kids today dream (much about anything) space travel ... it has already been accomplished and it became a bucket list cross off.
No ... kids don't dream today ... they took that away with computer graphics and modern electronics where pretty much nothing you see can be trusted because it can be manipulated
OK ... it's time for THIS ol' fart to get into the garden.
That’s one thing I loved about being a kid in the 80s was all of the 50s nostalgia references in almost all of pop culture as well as the fact that I live in a part of the nation where a great deal of 50s were still a normal part of everyday life. Buildings, roadside attractions, drive-ins, even a few restaurants and stores still retained their 1950s-early 60s look. Not to mention a lot of the older adults!
Of course 50s movies, cartoons, and TV shows were a normal part of what you watched.
Movies, television ETC. were under a lot of regulation by churches and family groups. The three networks, they had a choice to provide family friendly programming or face boycotts. TV shows, the public always provided feedback and said they wouldn't watch certain shows if they didn't like it either because it sucked or because it was immoral. Since they weren't watching the advertisers would pull out and the Networks would be stuck at the drawing board.
TV shows, movies, they were optimistic and the only purpose was to promote positive thinking and optimism and get people to look forward to a better future. TV programming (Then and now it was all about programming) was about getting people to count their blessing and look forward to tommrow.
The reason we look back on it and smile is because back then looked better and more idealistic than now. No one then could've forseen the crisis we face today,
No one in 1955 imagined that in their lifetimes, transgendered sickos could be allowed into female bathrooms with little girls, that God, prayer and the 10 commandments would be expunged from schools and courthouses, that death metal satanic prayers and hip hop music glorifying fornication, drugs, alcohol and mass murder would be acceptable entertainment, that TV shows would portray women as sluts and strippers instead of god fearing housewives or moral defenders, that children would murder their parents or each other.
They had problems yes but even those problems are pale compared to what we face now.
Racism is still alive even in our communities, white are more now the targets. Rock and roll had to go but had nothing on what our children listen to today. Music today glorifying devil worship, murder and mayhem.
But back then, our problems now paled by comparison.
Those were some wholesome times. Not the best but better than now.
I find tremendous irony in some of the MST3K spoofs from the 50's. Those PSA-type productions by the Ag Council and Safety Council....they are so goofy to watch now, but they teach core principles for life: how to work safely, how to drive, how to save money, etc. It's great to make fun on them like Mike and bots did, but I find endearing qualities in those lessons. We do not have any grounding of the sort in today's society.