Posted on 02/13/2015 8:12:33 AM PST by Academiadotorg
Nostalgia is overrated, a Harvard psychologist says. “The bad-dominates-good phenomenon is multiplied by a second source of bias, sometimes called the illusion of the good old days,” Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker said at a forum sponsored by the Cato Institute last November. “People always pine for a golden age.”
“They’re nostalgic about an era in which life was simpler and more predictable.” And Dr. Pinker has some cold water to throw at them, metaphorically speaking, of course.
“When I told people that I was writing a book on why writing is so bad and how we might improve it, the universal reaction was that writing is getting worse and that the language is degenerating,” Dr. Pinker said at the Cato forum. “There are a number of popular explanations for this alleged fact: ‘Google is making us stoopid’ (as a famous Atlantic story put it).”
“Twitter is forcing us to write and think in 140 characters. The digital age has produced ‘the dumbest generation.’”
“When people offer these explanations to me, I ask them to stop and think. If this is really true, it implies that it must have been better before the digital age. And of course those of you who are old enough to remember the 1980s will recall that it was an age when teenagers spoke in articulate paragraphs, bureaucrats wrote in plain English, and every academic article was a masterpiece in the art of the essay. (Or was it the 1970s?)”
Not that those times were 100% perfect, but I would rather have the nation of 1976-2006 far more than the mess we have today because it actually was a better time on so many levels when you look at the good and the bad altogether.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
Screw him and his study...point me towards the Wayback Machine and launch me towards ~1960. I’ll figure out how to do without instant information from the Internet somehow...
Drop me off around 1946 or so with my Lasik fixed eyes and I will start over. I can make do without the toys.
Knowing the names of a few promising companies to invest in wouldn't hurt either...
People have gone from repeating script line from a tv or cartoon as a “thought” to simply reposting internet memes as a response in a conversation as evidence of ‘wit’.
The language is deteriorating.
Magazines have been going to shorter, easier to digest, content. “WHO has time to read?” “Why READ, are you taking a class?”
No habla engles.
“Whatever”
And think the one coming up next is going to screw it up even more.
Look at Music.
Pop is the Devil's Music and was going to Ruin this Country.
As was Rap before it.
As was Hard Rock before it.
As was Rock 'N Roll before it.
As Was Jazz before it.
As was Rag-Time before it.
The Good Old Days was when One Half of the World Fought the Other Half and Millions Died?
Or When Hitler and Stalin murdered Women and Babies because the voices in their heads told them they deserved it?
When Whole Cities were burned to the Ground?
THOSE were the "Good Ole Days!?"
Lessee. A country that is being handed over to foreign savages; a country that murders 2 million unborn children every year; a country that celebrates disgusting subhumans like bruce jenner; vs the America of the 50s and 60s?
Yeah, I can definitely do without air bags and internet.
I’d certainly like to give adulthood a try around the time of my birth. Doesn’t mean I want to go to Vietnam.
LOL
BTTT
” Not that those times were 100% perfect, but I would rather have the nation of 1976-2006 far more than the mess we have today “
One more BUMP
I admit it. I’m nostalgic for the US Constitution as originally written by the Founders.
How many drive-by shootings have there been at rock and roll concerts, recording sessions, or award shows?
Getting “shot” is part of the street cred of gangsta rappers (who falsify how many times they’ve been locked up and how many times they got shot, feeding a culture of young gunslingers who DO aim to shoot the ‘fastest gun alive’).
Perhaps it is shallow thinking to compare differences in the ages according to “gadgets” we use in our lifestyles. As a baby boomer, I am eternally grateful to my parents for creating a family structure built on the strong foundations of love of God and love of country. My childhood was blessed because it was a time of peace, but Vietnam interfered in my young adulthood. Without my parental influence, I could have turned out to be one of them there hippies! Instead, I honored and respected all veterans because I trusted my government to stick to its policies. When my nephew served in the first Gulf War, we were so proud of the fabulous technology our military had built like a smart bomb. Wow, look at how many innocents would not become collateral damage. Then we had a president who had disdain for the military and didn’t care if a Marine was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. It seems to have degraded since then.
I was foolish to think the same school system for me would be good enough for my son, until I realized how diminished the classroom became because of the huge number of minority students with language barriers. Foolish again to think my son could get into the college of his dad’s alumni but had to stand in line behind race and gender freebies. I gave 30 years of service working in the public education system having to walk away out of complete disgust and frustration at how corrupt and sinister it has become. Today I have a granddaughter who struggles to pass a state reading test - yet is on the A/B honor roll in her regular classes. How do you reconcile that? (I know, leave the system)
Because of my strong religious upbringing, I was empowered to create a beautiful relationship with God that is different than the religion of my mother’s. But God teaches me to have utmost respect for all those faithful to Him. I realize that without that strong upbringing, I would never be able to discern what fulfills my soul or what fulfills my ego.
If I could transport my son and granddaughters to the age of the 50s - 60s, I would do that in a heartbeat. Since I can’t, I try to instill those very foundations that were important from ALL generations and look forward to a bright future.
“Pop is the Devil’s Music and was going to Ruin this Country.”
Interesting thing is, it did.
Well, decades ago, at least I could turn on the television, or read the news, scan a magazine stand, or go about my daily business without the constant inclination to vomit at what I see. I can’t do that anymore.
That’s what America-2015 does for me. A Marxist idiot running the country and taking “selfies” of himself; a sick, depraved culture of Kardashian reality shows, Miley Cyrus slopping around with her foam-finger; a culture so grotesquely entrenched in faggotry and all-out decadence; Open borders that have turned so many once-idyllic towns into ugly, third-worldish cesspits.
America has become a sick freak-show of a nation. I loved what this country used to be. Loved beyond any words could possibly express. The culture, the people, the whole ball of wax. And it’s not through the lens of “nostalgic” rose-colored glasses. I loved each and every pothole and shotgun-shack. But that America is now gone. I can’t have any admiration, respect, or allegiance to an America that has become so sick and evil to embrace depraved insanity like homo-marriage. That’s an America that can frankly go burn in hell.
Interesting thing is, it did
But didn't Rock in it's day??
And Jazz?
And Rag-Time?
It's a Generational Thing.
Shoot Two Generations before Rag-time those people literally burnt this country to the ground.
No.
I am taking a break from cleaning out my Mom’s house. Today is the back bedroom/home office day. I just came across a big rubbermaid plastic box containing my Mom’s scrap books. My grandfather’s scrap book, and my Dad’s OCS yearbook.
I sat there looking through this stuff. I don’t know the people. The paper is falling apart. Pages are stuck together.
I am pretty sure that I am the first person to have laid eyes on this in ten years or more.
My Mom cannot remember what she did yesterday. She has forgotten these exist.
When I get home from these trips, I tell my kids, “When you are inclined to to buy storage boxes, but contractor bags instead.”
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