Was the U.S. in the 1990s the best time & place to live in the history of mankind?

[wiegie 18]

Forget what we know now and concentrate on what life (and our outlook about what life would be like in the future) was like back then:

 

The Cold War is over--we won and are now the world's lone superpower (no longer need to fear "The Day After")

The Gulf War ends with our crushing defeat of the world's 4th largest army in six weeks.

The Economy is booming.

Home computers and the internet become commonplace.

Almost nobody is thinking about antibiotic resistant infections.

Almost nobody is really thinking about terrorism. (The first WTC attack and the Oklahoma City bombing are considered horrible aberations and not something that we really need to worry about all that much.)

Our biggest crises is seemingly that the president got a BJ.

 

Did any society in the history of mankind have any reason to feel happier and more optimistic about the future than we did back then?

 

(And note, this has NOTHING to do with who was president or who controlled Congress during the decade.)

[I Like Soup 0]

That is an interesting question indeed. I'd probably tend to agree before I put much thought in to it.

[DMD 331]

It was a good time to be in Texas but that goes for any decade.

[BeeR 242]

Forget what we know now and concentrate on what life (and our outlook about what life would be like in the future) was like back then:

 

The Cold War is over--we won and are now the world's lone superpower (no longer need to fear "The Day After")

The Gulf War ends with our crushing defeat of the world's 4th largest army in six weeks.

The Economy is booming.

Home computers and the internet become commonplace.

Almost nobody is thinking about antibiotic resistant infections.

Almost nobody is really thinking about terrorism. (The first WTC attack and the Oklahoma City bombing are considered horrible aberations and not something that we really need to worry about all that much.)

Our biggest crises is seemingly that the president got a BJ.

 

Did any society in the history of mankind have any reason to feel happier and more optimistic about the future than we did back then?

 

(And note, this has NOTHING to do with who was president or who controlled Congress during the decade.)

 

This is one of the saddest posts I've ever read.

[Dr. Love 5]

Well, the reality is that NOW is a pretty good time for most people. The twin boogeymen of war and terror really don't affect the vast majority of people (though they obviously affect a few with much impact). I bet for many, if not most, on the board, they're doing better now.

[Yukon Cornelius 3]

yup the late 80's /early 90's were a great time to be in college then graduate, jobs were plentiful and land, houses etc were still waiting to explode i just wish i had bought more land instead of spending money at the at the bar but that was fun 2

['canes2004 50]

Grunge music was king. Sad, depressing and plodding. (No offense Cap'n )

Girls dressed down so much it seemed like it was a crime to look hot.

I was married for almost the entire decade.

 

I'll take the happy New Wave, coke infested, short skirts, hair metal days of the 80's.

[Big John 869]

yup the late 80's /early 90's were a great time to be in college then graduate, jobs were plentiful and land, houses etc were still waiting to explode i just wish i had bought more land instead of spending money at the at the bar but that was fun 2

The job market for college graduates was weak in the early 90s

[wiegie 18]

 

This is one of the saddest posts I've ever read.

uh, why? By pure definition, there had to be some place and time in history in which it was better to live than in any other time and place in history and I'm just speculating that it might have been the US in the 1990s. You think that is sad for some reason?

 

Well, the reality is that NOW is a pretty good time for most people. The twin boogeymen of war and terror really don't affect the vast majority of people (though they obviously affect a few with much impact). I bet for many, if not most, on the board, they're doing better now.

My thought was more about how good people perceive things to be (since people's happiness is going to be more of a function of how they personally think things are rather than how things actually are).

 

Grunge music was king. Sad, depressing and plodding. (No offense Cap'n )

Girls dressed down so much it seemed like it was a crime to look hot.

I was married for almost the entire decade.

 

I'll take the happy New Wave, coke infested, short skirts, hair metal days of the 80's.

ok

[Puddy 30]

Well, the reality is that NOW is a pretty good time for most people. The twin boogeymen of war and terror really don't affect the vast majority of people (though they obviously affect a few with much impact). I bet for many, if not most, on the board, they're doing better now.

Yeah you are right from a financial perspective, at least in my case. However, it seems that wiegie is trying to get to more than just our economic status. There seemed to be less to worry about then.

[Yukon Cornelius 3]

The job market for college graduates was weak in the early 90s

not for teaching jobs in the midwest.....

[Ursa Majoris 102]

 

This is one of the saddest posts I've ever read.

Now there's a Clinton hater if ever I saw one.

[H8tank 0]

The AIDS epidemic was becoming a reality.

 

MTV destroyed music.

 

GNR split up.

 

Jerry Garcia died.

 

Hundreds of thousands if not millions were slaughtered in Africa.

[darin3 1,311]

The AIDS epidemic was becoming a reality. Yup, this was certainly a bad thing about the '90's.

 

MTV destroyed music. Destroyed? I don't know... it may have been doomed with or without MTV.

 

GNR split up. So what?

 

Jerry Garcia died. Again, so what? People die. His legacy lives on.

 

Hundreds of thousands if not millions were slaughtered in Africa. Read the thread topic.

[H8tank 0]

Kickball sucks .

[darin3 1,311]

Kickball sucks .

Don't hate me 'cuz I h8 GnR.

[Doc Holliday 0]

The AIDS epidemic was becoming a reality.

 

MTV destroyed music.

 

GNR split up.

 

Jerry Garcia died.

 

Hundreds of thousands if not millions were slaughtered in Africa.

 

You forgot a few.

 

Crack hit the scene hard core.

 

Gang violence rose to outrageous proportions.

 

The thieving of cars became big biz.

 

Steroids and greed killed baseball.

 

 

 

I would have to say if I had to pick a decade where the U.S. was at its best/happiest you would have to go to the 50's. even Detroit was a nice place in the 50's.

[Riffraff 104]

The 1990s

[dmarc117 0]

my bro and myself have travelled to many countries in europe and s. america for business. the united states is hands down THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE WORLD.

 

[Doc Holliday 0]

my bro and myself have travelled to many countries in europe and s. america for business. the united states is hands down THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE IN THE WORLD.

 

 

 

They say Palestine is pretty nice.

[Dr. Love 5]

You forgot a few.

 

Crack hit the scene hard core.

 

Gang violence rose to outrageous proportions.

 

The thieving of cars became big biz.

 

Steroids and greed killed baseball.

I would have to say if I had to pick a decade where the U.S. was at its best/happiest you would have to go to the 50's. even Detroit was a nice place in the 50's.

Not to mention school shootings, bombings of buildings (WTC, Oklahoma City), early '90s recession, internet stock bubble bursting... the nineties had its low points, too.

 

Doug Larson defined nostalgia as a device that removes the potholes and ruts from memory lane. I think that is applicable to this discussion.

[AtomicCEO 4]

Not to mention school shootings, bombings of buildings (WTC, Oklahoma City), early '90s recession, internet stock bubble bursting... the nineties had its low points, too.

 

Doug Larson defined nostalgia as a device that removes the potholes and ruts from memory lane. I think that is applicable to this discussion.

 

How did Doug define a buzzkill?

[HowboutthemCowboys 1,160]

I don't remember the 90's.

[aqualung 0]

Now there's a Clinton hater if ever I saw one.

 

 

If you don't know him by now he hates everything and everybody.

[aqualung 0]

I would have to go with the fifties. After the war there were lots of changes going on. Middle class America grew. I guess you could argue that it only got better for white America though.

 

Plus the music started changing for the better.