There were a few intangible’s that they missed though:
1) A husband was assumed by law to be head of household, that was the natural Christian order and the law reflected that. Today ...not so much and the social situation reflects that, no to anyone’s advantage.
2) The idea that a mans house was his castle was still observed in 1916 law, there were actual areas the state was kept out of life. Police did not have SWAT teams, nor did overwhelming security state that exists today stick its nose in every bodies business. The idea that someone would be stripped searched to travel across the country in a public conveyance did not exist.
3) Because of the 90 % European stock and a resultant monoculture , in 1916 a women was much safer from a whole range of crimes than today. Many urban areas are no-go regions for folks who do not represent that particular sub culture.
4) The Justice system had not been corrupted as it is today, in those days it reflected the agreed upon values of the predominate WASP culture. Murder somebody and get caught, 30~40 days later you were likely dead. Do an extremely heinous crime and the law would pretty much allow the crowd to deal with it in the same time interval.
5) the Culture had not been debased in 1916. The idea in 1916 was entirely towards refining culture, actors were somewhat shady folks, certainly not looked to for setting standards like today. If there was light music available in public it was likely moonlight sonata or some popular ditty that was inoffensive. Today the popular music is pretty dreadful, such songs and “bitch better have my money” being the norm. How has it come to pass that degraded negro music has displaced the European classical music and its derivatives?
6) Christianity was not under attack, in an attempt to push all sort of deviant lifestyles.
Of course the above can be looked at as double edged swords, some folks would take exception to the above list. Nonetheless on reflection I think we would be better of today were the culture more in line with 1916 than with 2017, at least in most areas. So while there is no doubt we are materially much better of in 2016 than in 1916, on a cultural, legal, religious and a significant number of non-material aspects, US society is worse than in 1916.
Your post addresses many of the reasons I moved from Seattle to rural KY. And the intangibles are really everything. As I’ve said for decades, if I were a Gazelle, I’d choose the freedom and danger of the Serengeti to three squares a day in a zoo.
Our modern world is, in many ways, the latter.
6) Christianity was not under attack, in an attempt to push all sort of deviant lifestyles.
Well said. It all depends on what your criteria are, as to whether life was better 100 years ago.
I’ve had similar discussions with people about how life was in the ‘50s. And in those discussions, invariably someone brings up how Jim Crow was still in existence then, and how women weren’t found in professional careers in big numbers as they are now. They would talk of social pressure especially for women, to get married and have children. They talk of how homosexuality was in the closet. They mentioned how people lived in fear due to the cold war and threat of nuclear war.
In any discussions such as this article, it all depends on your criteria, as to what your comparison to today and the old days will be.
On the one hand, we have much better healthcare available, much greater comfort in everyday life due to air conditioning, much less air pollution in our cities. On the other hand, we have a debased culture in which big numbers of children are not being raised with important values, and are not being raised in an intact family unit.
So who can say are we better off now? It depends on what criteria you are measuring.
4) The Justice system had not been corrupted as it is today, in those days it reflected the agreed upon values of the predominate WASP culture. Murder somebody and get caught, 30~40 days later you were likely dead. Do an extremely heinous crime and the law would pretty much allow the crowd to deal with it in the same time interval.
Yes, no, and maybe. Seriously, have you heard of Urban machines?
5) the Culture had not been debased in 1916. The idea in 1916 was entirely towards refining culture, actors were somewhat shady folks, certainly not looked to for setting standards like today. If there was light music available in public it was likely moonlight sonata or some popular ditty that was inoffensive. Today the popular music is pretty dreadful, such songs and “bitch better have my money” being the norm. How has it come to pass that degraded negro music has displaced the European classical music and its derivatives?
There was plenty of risque if not raunchy music at bars, gentlemen's clubs, sporting mens associations (women were the sport), to say nothing of the US military.