this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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A Comm for Historymemes

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 52 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Just about every time period sucks

The only time period that was enjoyable was only enjoyed by a small portion of the global population at any one time

Many people on this thread like to point out the 80s, 90s or early 2000s were great ... it is true for only about maybe 10% of the global population ... the rest were living with developing nations with very little and everyone still struggling like they always had

The world has always been the same throughout history ... I'm guessing about 70% of the population lived just enough to get by ... 29% lived with absolutely nothing ... and 1% lived with everything

And it's still the same today.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 35 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

as someone from a developing nation, the good ol days were good because i was a kid.

i think thats the theme here.

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[–] MudMan@fedia.io 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This works on longer scales, but I have to be honest with you, I don't know if me looking back at the late 90s and going "yeah, that went wrong at some point" is just my generation's version of being nostalgic for a time where you were oblivious to the crappy stuff or a fairly objective assessment of modern world trends.

I DID grow up in what amounted to a developing nation, several of my neighbors couldn't read or write and I didn't have a telephone or a VCR until well into the nineties, but also... you know, the post 9-11 period doesn't seem like a particular uptrend for civilization, in hindsight.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The Matrix had it right.

1999, turn of the millenium.

Zenith of human society, all downhill from there.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Unless you were gay, or female, non-white or lived in Eastern Europe, Asia (minus Japan), India, Africa, South America or Central America.

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[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I just wanna go back, back to 1999

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I agree. I don't need a historian for this. I remember it, and yeah it definitely wasn't perfect. But I am not convinced I'm sugar coating it through retrospection. Mid to late 90s was peak civilization as far as I can tell.

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[–] smee@poeng.link 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'd prefer a few years earlier, the 90's was rad dude.

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[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I had no significant outside world problems in the 90s and early 2000s.

You could get repair manuals and replacement parts for practically anything, and you could even get away with blowing up ant beds in your yard with improv devices.

Everything seemed to change after Hurricane Katrina though, like the flood waters wiped out all the ant beds I wanted to blow up.. 😢

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

9/11 in 2001 change quite a bit.

[–] Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Often, when people learn that I love history, they ask me which time I'd prefer to live in.

I always like the face of surprise they make when they hear my answer.

"Today."

[–] smee@poeng.link 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

They mean the US in the 80s and 90s when we were burning through all of the goodwill and progress made in the prior half century.

[–] RedFrank24@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Good will? I mean I imagine there was some good will in the aftermath of WW2 but I'm not sure the Truman Doctrine caused a lot of good will.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The 80s and 90s are still way worse than today.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I suggest “The Way We Never Were” by Coontz if anyone is inclined to read about the sort of manufactured history surrounding American society and particularly the family unit. In some ways the past was better, but we somehow managed to get rid of the good parts, make up parts that never happened, sidestep the bad, and make the present worse.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The only good parts about the past is that families could be supported on a single income. Pretty much everything else was worse.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I’d suggest reading about it before making such a statement. Understand that the single income created its own problems. It kept women isolated thanks to the way postwar housing developed, kept them out of the workforce, dismantled their social network, resulted in suburbs that drove longer commutes, etc. women have had it hard in society for quite a while, but the separated family unit made it harder. These things also dismantled the “village” support network that people had, along with extended family and community that could help people.

Yeah, the wealth that allowed the luxuries of a single family home in the ‘burbs was great, but it came at a price.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] ysjet@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Unless you are gay or trans, then you're pretty much viewed as very 'beatable.'

[–] kooks_only@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’d be fine with going back to a time before the heritage foundation and reganomics

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

One word: dentistry. Medical science in general yeah, but especially dentistry.

[–] Emerald@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

This is why I love vaporwave. It romanticizes the past and criticizes it at the same time.

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Hypnospace Outlaw is such a great work of pseudo historical fiction. (Or Digital: A Love Story if you want more 80’s than 90’s)

[–] qfe0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I mean I'd argue 2024 was better than 2025...

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

See, I just want what I consider to be the good parts brought forward, not going backwards

Since, obviously, I know best for everyone, everywhere, you can rest assured that I will only reinstate the cool shit that you will also love. No, you'll love it. Whether you want to or not

[–] Exusia@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Idk it's always "we" to go back in time. Nah just me. My preferred moment in history is not gonna be the same as someone elses."we" shouldn't go back to any period, because that's not a one size fits all.

[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

People will always be nostalgic for their childhood because they did not understand what was going on in the world at the time and had little to no responsibilities.

[–] negativenull@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (3 children)

As much as I love Rome, I also love not being infested with intestinal parasites and slavery being abolished.

[–] negativenull@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I only said this is jest, but I totally agree. I'll keep antibiotics, thank you very much

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Ultimately, people suck ass.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Rosy retrospection, because memory is selective to the positive.

[–] Grimtuck@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Reading through this thread I've realised that we just need to all keep emigrating to the places where it's best every few years.

We need a new thread for current and pay best places to live for now and any time travellers.

[–] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I wish I could go back to the late 80s briefly so I could listen to the morning radio show on CFNY , which was my first introduction to alternative music,while I did my hair like I used to when I was a kid before school, which was always quite a production. I'd like to hear "Song For Whoever" by the Beautiful South come out of my boom box just one more time. But that's all.

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