If You Had A 2nd Chance In Life What Period Of Time In American History Would You Prefer To Live In?

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Dude111, Oct 28, 2021.

  1. erofant

    erofant Members

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    Can't argue with THAT. I remember as a kid, on Sundays MANY families were walking & driving to their local churches. Today, you don't see much of that at all. many churches have closed due to lack of members & falling attendance.

    People today act as if there's no penalty - no punishment - for doing all the evil, lying, selfish, hate-filled things being done by them. As if there's no GOD. It'll be a VERY HARSH, inescapable reckoning when they leave this life. I pray they find GOD before it's too late. Even Albert Einstein - with all his scientific knowledge and thirst for "proof" of everything - said he couldn't wait to meet the beautiful mind that created such complicated systems in the universe ........ "because all this CANNOT happen by random chance."

    BTW - many people who tag themselves as "Christians" and then show no concern for their fellow man's / woman's welfare, or talk & act with hate, racism & bigotry, or deceive others for monetary or political gain, or cheat others for any reason, or lie about things, or do violence to others, or wantonly break laws and rules, etc. - - - - - - ARE NOT acting as Christians. For anyone interested, Jesus was very harsh with the "religious" leaders who did things for the public to see - for show - but conducted themselves very differently from their public personas. Jesus called them out as HYPOCRITES. If anyone calls themselves a Christian - and does those things listed previously (and there are other bad things to do - or OMIT doing) - by Jesus' own criteria, they're HYPOCRITES.

    Best advice ......... ask God to give us the strength to do good always.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
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  2. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Yeah. I don't think being prayed to is the main thing on God's mind. (Amos 5:22-24). "Let justice roll..."
     
  3. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    I wouldn't say that folks in the fifties were necessarily better Christians just because they attended church more often. They may have been more religious, but their spirituality was lacking--like the Pharisees, more show than substance. There were a lot of once a week Christians back then, and the emphasis tended to be more on conformity than spiritual reflection. And lots of bigotry. The divisions between Catholics and Protestants, and between Christians and Jews were more pronounced, there was general acceptance of racial segregation, and gays were in the closet and not even talked about. Catholic services were more impersonal, with the priest facing the altar, the mass in Latin which folks would follow with a guided missile. There was a lot of emphasis on keeping track of sins for confession, where they would be forgiven with a penance of so many "Our Fathers" and "Hail Mary's" The mainline Protestant churches were rather bland and formal , while the evangelicals were into altar calls, 'born again" commitments, and hell fire and damnation sermons.
     
  4. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Missing in he religion of the fifties was much concern for social justice issues. In the sixties, those came into greater prominence, as well a drastic revision of traditional worship practices and moral teaching. Vatican II ushered in the vernacular mass which lay Catholics could understand, and made serious efforts toward ecumenism. Mainline Protestant churches tried to adapt their services and theology to make them relevant to the changing times, and embraced social justice issues--unfortunately at the cost of appearing trendy;and losing members to the more exuberant but doctrinally inflexible evangelicals.
     
  5. hotwater

    hotwater Senior Member Lifetime Supporter

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    The 1950s, really?

    Between 1950-1959 approximately 300,000 servicemen were used as guinea pigs by the US Government as both witnesses to nuclear testing and as post-test cleanup crews. Tens of thousands suffered the effects of radiation exposure. Most shortly after leaving the armed services. Many developed serious health complications, including cancer and other related complications.

    During the 1950s the life expectancy in the US was 65 for men and 71 for women.

    During the 1950s The Quiz show cheating scandals decimated the confidence the American people had in TV.

    During the 1950s, it was not uncommon for children to die from measles or whooping cough, or a number of other childhood diseases.

    During the 1950s WW III Didn't happen but the Korean War did leaving 40,000 US Troops dead and over 100,000 wounded. And while World War III didn't happen people lived in constant fear that it would

    During the 1950s basic civil rights were denied African Americans living in the south. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American child was murdered near Money, Mississippi for whistling at a White woman and Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Thousands were viciously beaten during marches or sicced upon by vicious attack dogs asking for nothing more than basic civil rights accorded to all Americans

    .
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
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  6. Tyrsonswood

    Tyrsonswood Senior Moment Lifetime Supporter

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    Yeah... But Dude111 will be the first one to tell you that chocolate milk was so much better in the 50's !!!!
     
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  7. hotwater

    hotwater Senior Member Lifetime Supporter

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    Ha, ha, ha...lol..
     
  8. erofant

    erofant Members

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    Yep - there are hypocrites in every generation. Sin, evil, and bad behavior know no time slots. But I DO remember that people in general acted a lot nicer to each other when I was younger. There was more civility and decency. Today, if one doesn't act "big and tough" - - - "I'll do whatever I damn well please" - - - "Get the F**K out of my way" - - - then you're a wuss, a pussy, a snowflake, a "cuck", or any one of the other terms that fly around these days. But yet .... many, MANY of these "I'm tougher than you" types claim to be good Christians. Show me ............ ANYONE ............ where those attitudes and actions are taught as good ways in the New Testament. Where does Jesus teach people to be angry, aggressive, mean-spirited, violent, and greedy?? That carrying an AR-15 or other assault rifle and threatening to shoot people - or actually shooting them - is a great way to be a "Christian" ??

    BTW ....... very recent poll across America by one of the polling services found that over 30% of Republicans think that actual violence is the only way to "save" this country. Save it from what ....... DEMOCRACY????

    There ARE consequences to evil, hateful behavior ........... whether they want to believe it or not.
     
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  9. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    Yes, civility has definitely gone out the window, but I'm not sure religion had much to do with it. There was a civic culture of conformity and "don't make waves" that demanded one never talk about religion or politics outside close circles of friends, rewarded politicians who compromised and worked together across the aisle and engaged in logrolling, Southern segregationists were part of the Democrat coalition along with organized labor and African-Americans, and always backed the government in whatever military venture it engaged in. Things were certainly peaceful, but at the price of racial segregation, subordination of women, and intolerance toward gays and other "deviants". The thing that struck the first blow against that was, well--us. Hippies (and Yippies). Popular slogans of the movement were: If it feels good, do it! And "sex, drugs, rock'n roll." The F word became okay, Abbie Hoffman' Steal this Book was in, civil disobedience was SOP in challenging things that participants viewed as wrong (often correctly)and it became fashionable to call copes "pigs" . The sexual revolution was in full swing, and we were off and running.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
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  10. mcme

    mcme lurker

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    I think living in post civil war America, during the westward expansion, would have been a life I'd enjoy. Also could have seen a Mark Twain lecture live. I enjoy everything I've ever read that was written or said by him.
     
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  11. Peter Barnett

    Peter Barnett Members

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    Out of the USA life loop but loved the post contents, it was also England at the time, perhaps the swinging sixties pipped it. All downhill since.
     
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  12. Totally Yoda

    Totally Yoda Members

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    The Wild West days. I would like to enjoy the open world with no crowds. See animals that don't exist anymore. Fish anywhere without the law breathing down your neck.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
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  13. erofant

    erofant Members

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    It did in my region of the country. People were a lot more God-fearing than today. No human is perfect, but they certainly seemed more civil toward each other despite human flaws.

    No denying past crap. But the former Southern Democrats have become REPUBLICANS - for some decades too. That switched when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. Even LBJ wondered if he "delivered" the Southern states to the REPUBLICAN PARTY by signing it. How prophetic he was. Now it's the REPUBLICAN PARTY that wants to return to segregation, has taken steps to restrict black voters - and any Dems they can by gerrymandering voting districts, - and has the white supremacists & neo-Nazi's as a big part of their "base." Corporations - by their insanely gigantic donations to it - control THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. Proof??? Look at what legislation gets pushed and passed by them ....... and who it favors. I don't listen to politicians' words - any side ........ I look at their actions. That's proof.

    Who was it, and to which party did he belong, that started the Iraq war after false information about "yellow cake uranium" and "weapons of mass destruction" ?? And later made the statement, "Well, he put a contract out on my dad." Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, but they used that claim to justify the Iraq war. Later he claimed, "Well, we got rid of a very bad man." (Saddam Hussein) I'm not defending Hussein by any means, but if getting rid of a bad man is the criteria for war .......... we better get cracking. How many died because of THAT P.O.S. reasoning???? Did we convert Iraq into a white-picket-fence nice neighborhood?? What party started that and whole-heartedly supported it to the end?? It wasn't a "Democratic coalition that backed every military engagement" in Iraq. As for Afghanistan ......... they WERE a training ground for global terrorists. No question. But just like Viet Nam - the enemy went underground, hid behind women and children like the cowards they are, hid in caves, tunnels, etc. Sounds like Viet Nam taught enemies of democracy how to confound world powers. Even Russia backed out of Afghanistan after YEARS of war there. I don't claim to have an answer to Afghanistan - but all the world powers haven't figured them out either.

    And ......... who had THE BALLS to make the call to get Osama Bin Laden???? To make the landing and actually get him??? Yep - it was that black guy who, some claimed, was an Islamic terrorist himself. Doesn't seem to make sense - green-lighting the killing of another Muslim leader if he were an Islamic terrorist as well. The anti-Obama, anti-black, REALLY anti-black President, anti-Democrat anything REPUBLICANS lied about those talking point too. Shocking isn't it??

    Hippies??? Yes - they ignited some sorely-needed changes. But even today, with a Constitutionally guaranteed right to assemble and protest, peaceful protesters were sprayed with mace, bear-repellent pepper spray, tear-gassed, and shot with rubber bullets. And those protests were about unarmed black folks being shot and killed by police - sometimes in the back. And the poor black EMS worker lady who was killed in her own bed after a no-knock warrant at the WRONG ADDRESS!! Seems like we haven't come as far as we would have liked. Which party and it's politically-protected police forces did those things??? And then wondered why people rebelled and threw tear gas grenades and rocks back??? Even the Philly government - mayor, police chief, etc. - apologized for their overzealousness and resorting to violent measures. Not all cities admitted wrongdoing when it came to PEACEFUL protesters. Looters are a whole other matter - no justification for that.

    Just how far have we come???? Or rather ........... GONE BACK?????
     
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  14. scratcho

    scratcho Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Hotwater: I believe the lady that was involved in the death of Emmett Till recanted her story and said that he never whistled at her--never happened. Carolyn Bryant: "Nothing that boy did could ever justify what was done to him."
     
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  15. hotwater

    hotwater Senior Member Lifetime Supporter

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    I know I read about her recanting her statement.

    My point being the 1950s were not so idyllic as some claim it to be.

    From McCarthyism to the Cold War to those lousy B-Movies (although some of them are fun to watch even today)
     
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  16. scratcho

    scratcho Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    As I said in my earlier post----all these posts are true--- good , bad, and indifferent. Remember that show about New York where the narrator said--"there are nine million stories in the naked city"? Kick it up to 250--300 million for the whole country. The 50s were certainly idyllic for me, but then black folks --brown folks--anyone different like gays, ect-- still had some bad shit going down---REAL BAD SHIT. And of course I was mostly oblivious to any of that, except my own family being racist, which I learned very early on. So for me--any of those decades were just dandy!
     
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  17. nudistguyny

    nudistguyny Senior Member

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    In the 1950s and early 60's pollution was running rampant. There was no respect for Mother Earth. Look at the Love canal in upper N Y state , Look at all of the Super Fund clean up sites across the country
    McCarthy was pointing fingers at everyone calling them communists. We were in the middle of the cold war with Russia. The KKK was running wild in the south with hangings and church burning s.
    The 60's was the rebellion of the 50's And bring awareness of what was happening. More young adults were going to college then ever before. But America was being pulled into another war. 'Nam .
    The 70's Was the winding down of the war . People were slowly more accepting of others and new technology. Computers , Space travel. Cell phones etc.

    If I had a choice I would go back to the 70s. I was married in the 70's Both of my (now adult ) children were born in the late 70's It was a good time to be..
     
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  18. Tishomingo

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    Yes, civility has gone down the drain, but I doubt that religion had much to do with it in the first place. I think the culture of mindless conformity, conventionality, and "don't make waves" in the fifties was largely a result of postwar weariness of conflict and a desire to enjoy the boom following years of wartime rationing, and before that the great Depression. People turned a blind eye toward racial segregation and subordination of women, and relegated gays to the closet. Joe McCarthy had them looking under the bed for commies. The military-industrial-automotive complex held the reins of power and was busily preparing the way for the environmental movement by polluting the planet. Order was the word of the day. People were worried about "germs that can cause bad breath, diarrhea", wearing white gloves (for women) and removing them before eating, not wearing light clothes after a certain date in the Fall, keeping the lawn and house neat and tidy, etc. Naturally there would be a reaction.

    What upset the applecart? We did--Hippies (and Yippies). It became okay to use the F-word, to call police officers "pigs", and to practice civil disobedience. "Sex, drugs, rock n' roll", and "If it feels good, do it, became popular slogans. Then came the reaction against that: Nixon's "law and order" Southern strategy and Southern strategy. . And then the reaction against Nixon/Ford: Jimmie Carter, the Iran-Iraq War, the Iran hostage crisis.(Carter was one of the most truly Christian and moral men in the White House and a disaster as a President. ) And the reaction against him: the Reagan Era. etc., etc., etc. And so it goes.

    At the risk of sounding Marxist or Hegelian, I see a dialectical movement in all this. Fifties conventionality led to the reaction challenging rules, law and order, leading to a synthesis of sorts as the Establishment and its henchmen took over aspects of the sixties revolution and used them against it: currently the Breitbart-Bannon Alt-Right, Alt-Lite ideology of postmodern Alternative Facts, obscenity-laden rhetoric, and disregard for civility. The "contradictions" in this movement which hopefully will fo it in are that: its principal adherents are aging, the younger generation seems to have a more progressive outlook, and it is pushing against ingrained traditions of constitutional democracy. .
     
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  19. Tishomingo

    Tishomingo Members

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    I live there now, so my perspective may be a bit skewed. I can take walks alone late at night on lonely paths and have never been accosted. Occasionally, I pass a stranger, a person of a different race, we say hi, and go on our way. It's also the custom, unlike that in more urban parts of the country, to make eye contact, and when that happens, to speak or wave to the person doing it. This is done even by people driving by in cars. Small town Oklahoma, but I won't say where it is, so people don't come here and ruin the neighborhood!
     
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  20. Bilby

    Bilby Lifetime Supporter and Freerangertarian Super Moderator

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    In the 1950s although overall life expectancy had increased, what was baffling doctors was one third of deaths were from cardiac arrests, or more specifically Myocardial Infarction -disease almost unknown just 50 years previously. Margarine and vegetable shortenings are generally blamed. I would agree with this to a point, but also point the finger at increased sales of cigarettes. Hitherto pipe smoking and chewing tobacco was more popular.
     
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