A Comm for Historymemes

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.

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.

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.. 😢

I just wanna go back, back to 1999

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."

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.

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.

Depends on when you are and when you want to return to. I’d be happy with anything between 1992-2000 ce

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

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

1999. Fucking unbeatable.

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

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

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.

Ultimately, people suck ass.

In terms of civilization, then yes, but humanity live much longer than agriculture.

The best that civilization had to offer is definitely better than hunter gatherer lifestyle.

But also:

The worse that civilization had to offer is definitely worse than hunter gatherer lifestyle.

So it all depends what part of civilization you’re talking about, even though on average it’s better.

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

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.

Rosy retrospection, because memory is selective to the positive.