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10 Not-So-Great Things About The 1950s
news.bbc.co.uk — A land of bus conductors, district nurses and rag-and-bone men is the image of life in the 1950s, to which many want to return, suggests a survey. Was post-war Britain really all good?
michaelstokes- 476 diggs
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- mozey, on 10/10/2007, -14/+7Hey hey, i got one.
11: Black and white TV, eh eh, am i right?! who's with me, OH COMMON.- Dankoozy, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4meh. b/w tv's arent that bad. the whole HDTV thing kind of failed to excite me
- Matrixsta, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13Buried as outdated (j/k)
- foxhaze, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3"many houses were without televisions"
It's a darned shame. I consider this aspect of post-war Britain to be the most depressing, even taking into account Britian's humiliating defeat in the Suez War and the constant presence of bombed-out buildings in major British cities.- Koldkompress, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"the constant presence of bombed-out buildings in major British cities."
Clearly, you've not been to modern London/Birmingham. Some places are still like that! =D
- Koldkompress, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"the constant presence of bombed-out buildings in major British cities."
- allywilson, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1Also failed to mention Britain also produced nuclear weapons.
- Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That has nothing to do with this.
- str3ama, on 10/10/2007, -12/+8I'd love to say that we've come a long way, but sadly this is far from the truth.
1) Post-war austerity - Current war efforts are taking their toll, oil prices are higher, those in poverty are further stricken by increased closures of factories and limited employment as companies outsource work elsewhere
2) Racial discrimination - still rampant, albeit more closeted, racial tension still very much exists and all it takes is for one radio DJ to confirm this.
3) Food rations - While we haven't come to this stage yet, the fruit or produce market is hitting a critical stage due to decreasing fertile farm land, a lack of designated farm zones being encroached on by factories and urban sprawl. Plus we have a greater dependence on foreign nations for our produce, and crops. A lot of what we get at the supermarket is imported from outside the country.
4) Smog - see global warming.
5) Britain had to come to terms with being humiliated in Suez War - ditto 'Afghanistan' 'War on Terror' 'War on Drugs' 'War on [insert subject]'
6) Bomb sites littered - Well we're not really under attack, but the 9/11 reconstruction efforts are still a mess even though construction already started. Efforts to rebuild in Iraq are hopeless, no real infrastructure.
7) The Cold War - mounting tension already with Russia, Iran, China and North Korea..
8) Sporting humiliation arrived - No real sports humiliation, but vaguely many feel saddened or embarrassed by our political situation. The fact that many Americans sew Canadian flags on their suitcases or bags to evade arguments or whatever is very telling.
9) Smoking prevalence - I don't think smoking is such a big deal IMO, but I'd wager smokers has increased since the 50's.
10) Sexual expression was frowned upon - it still is, and probably always will be. As for illegal, well sodomy is still illegal in many states, Texas for example. It's sort of a way of criminalizing homosexuality I guess.- fantastcandy10, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3sodomy isn't illegal in texas... anymore.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html- DreKor, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, that's a step in the right direction.
- Rikkochet, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You think smoking has gone up since the 50s? IME it's down but I guess it depends where you live.
In BC the smoking rate is at 20% with the government hoping to raise awareness to drop it to 10% in the next 4 years. The rest of Canada is similar (except Quebec) and from what I saw of the west coast USA the rates were somewhat similar.- ngmcs8203, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It depends on what state your in and what the smoking rules are like. There is a lot less casual smoking since in CA we have banned smoking indoors or within certain vicinity of buildings (city regulations). It is great thing for us non-smokers, but for smokers the inconvenience is starting to be more and more aggravating. San Francisco is considering banning smoking on sidewalks (unless your moving) and anywhere where children are playing (playgrounds, parks, etc.)
- thomashauk, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0So America is about 50 years behind the UK...
- str3ama, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1not really, some of it applies to all countries. Racial tension still exists, every country has smog - North America is fortunately in a way better condition then some other countries, Bombay for example is just horrible. You can feel the pollution on your face - and wearing a white t-shirt for just a few seconds outside will tint it a weird hue of yellow.
- picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0Basically the story is about Britain's post-war humiliation on so many different levels. Buried for inaccuracy.
- Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"we've come a long way" apparently 3000 miles as this is the UK not USA.
- fantastcandy10, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3sodomy isn't illegal in texas... anymore.
- andrewcsayer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4November 5th, 1955. Depending who you are, it was either great - or you ate manure
- hiPpymIck, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1..Marty Mcfly..
- Birdoftruth, on 10/10/2007, -6/+5"10) Sexual expression was frowned upon - it still is, and probably always will be. As for illegal, well sodomy is still illegal in many states, Texas for example. It's sort of a way of criminalizing homosexuality I guess."
I still frown upon this. Look at that time at the divorce rate. Now compare it to today and bam causation = correlation.- Rikkochet, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Sorry, I missed the causal factor in your argument. I thought the world decrease in pirates was also responsible for increasing divorce rates.. I believe that can be modeled on a graph rather accurately as well.
- petebot, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Just because the divorce rate was lower doesn't mean that more people were happy in their marriages. And I think I just heard that the divorce rate was coming back down because people are waiting longer to get married...
- Koldkompress, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2damn all these young 'uns and their sex.
Sex is what ruins marriages! - mushoo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Nope, struck down in 2003 by the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas
Effectively taking along with it the remaining laws in other states, notably a good chunk of the south.
- axisofphilippe, on 10/10/2007, -10/+711. No iPhone's.
- Dankoozy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1ya shoulda been in ireland in the 50's thats where the real good old days were. no war, no bomb sites maybe the whole catholicism thing was a bit much back then but it kept things in shape and suppressed much of the madness we see today
- satanatnmtedu, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2When we are young, we are often even more oblivious to the world around us than as adults. It is like remembering how great the Atari 2600 was, and it was for its time. But, an honest comparison to today's games shows how primitive it was.
- arjie, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9The good ol' days were never good. Life was nasty, brutish and short, y'know. Things go through the rose-tinted glasses of time.
- VAXcat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0 Ah yes, the quote from Hobbes' Leviathan. I've always preferred the verision that says lice was "nasty, British and short"
- dwright99, on 10/10/2007, -5/+1Cry me a river.
- gl77, on 03/31/2008, -2/+3# 11 No Digg
- Sithseth, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8The '50s sucked, what was good about them? The 1990's, now there's a decade I want to relive, or even the 80's. Perhaps the 60's and 70's for a couple of days, and maybe the early 20's for a couple of months.
- Hollic, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm Richard Nixon and I approve this message.
- Wiini, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1Sexual Expression?... Okay, hippie. Us Conservatives are just fine with not seeing boobs every time we change the channel.
- azprofessional, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I bet blacks on tv get you REAL upset and offended too.
***** ***** ***** *****! ***** ***** ***** *****!
- azprofessional, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I bet blacks on tv get you REAL upset and offended too.
- Leo21k, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I couldn't imagine having no life back then, at least now I have the internet to help make the boring days go by faster.
- catalysis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Back then, people would actually socialize with each other non-electronically. You could talk to people on the street because nobody had cell phones.
- Darkside2984, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3#13: No Mountain Dew.
- picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1actually wasn't Mountain Dew invented earlier than this?
- azprofessional, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yes it was called 'tooth-remover'
- Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yeah we still don't have it. This is the UK.
- picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1actually wasn't Mountain Dew invented earlier than this?
- Webbster, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Cardboard box ? You were lucky.
- johngr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2The big problem in Britain today is wogs, sprogs and nogs.
- dep01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1WTF digg? LAME!!
- galleryfront, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0buried for not including the Chicago school, it's economists and politicians experimenting with the lives of Chileans, and now with Americans'.
- Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Gee, because that was in postwar Britain.
- sk11, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0What about the most important one: NO INTERNET?!!
- ZenMojo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1In the states we had poverty rates hovering at about 20%...***** that *****.
- codehkr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0No digg.com to post stupid iPhone related crap...
- zaii7, on 10/10/2007, -0/+011) girls didnt shave their pubes
- gl77, on 03/31/2008, -0/+1hca
- TrashDispatch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It has been the experience of the Trash Dispatch that anytime an entity poses that question, it is not in the interest of “education”, but in the interest of “brainwashing” a current populous, or person, into believing that the life being offered to, (or imposed, upon them Now), isn’t so bad.
- Niks0n, on 12/03/2007, -0/+0Thanks, very informative topic..
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