One of the greatest articles I've ever read...

[Reaganfan]

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/14/david-sirota-the-mythology-of-the-1980s-still-defines-our-thinking-on-everything-from-militarism-to-greed-to-race-relations/

By David Sirota, author of the new book, “Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now—Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything.”

He speaks of the Tea Party:

Summarizing the sentiment, one Tea Partier said: “Things we had in the fifties were better."

This rhetoric has resonated because for many, it no longer stirs memories of the actual 1950s of Jim Crow laws, gender inequality and religious bigotry. Instead, it evokes the sanitized idea of “The Fifties” that was originally created in the 1980s through movies like Back to the Future, Stand By Me and Hoosiers, television shows like Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and rockabilly greaser bands like the Stray Cats.

He speaks of how movie characters helped reinforce a need to "bring back the good old days":

Michael J. Fox’s two most iconic characters in the 1980s were Marty McFly and Alex P. Keaton. Those two characters perfectly represent exactly how the 1980s was revising and reimagining contemporary American history on ideological lines.

Think about it: Marty McFly was a suburban teen fleeing the cartoonized dangers of modern life (ie. bazooka-weilding Libyan terrorists stalking the suburbs) into an idyllic Fifties of unity and safety. Alex P. Keaton, by contrast, spends his life lambasting his parents Sixties idealism.

This “Back to the Future”-versus-”Family Ties” war between the 1980s version of “The Fifties” (supposedly 100% unified, universally happy, optimistic, safe, etc.) and the 1980s version of “The Sixties” (supposedly 100% violent, chaotic, overly idealistic, etc.) defines our politics today.

He speaks about how the 1980s had Americans more critical of big government:

What is the storyline of the A-Team? It’s one of the single-most anti-government parables of the modern age. From the beginning, we are told that the government wrongly accused and incarcerated these heroes; that the government is too inept to keep them incarcerated; that the A-Team is solving societal problems that the government refuses to solve; that the average person can find the A-Team but that the government can’t; and that the government is actually trying to stop the A-Team from its good samaritan work.

Sounds familiar, right? Of course it does – this is the way government is framed in the 21st century. We’re constantly told the government is either inept, evil, or both – and that the only way to solve problems is to either “go rogue” or hire a private contractor to fix the problem. That was the theme of not only the A-Team, but the entire “vigilante” genre of similar ‘80s productions like The Dukes of Hazzard, Ghostbusters, Die Hard and all the cheesy private detective shows. Their message was simple: You can’t rely on government, you must instead rely on the private corporation.

Finally, he of course, speaks of Reagan:

Reagan epitomized how the 1980s began mixing together politics and pop culture to the point where the distinction became blurred. He epitomized this mix both because he was originally known to the country as an actor, and because he regularly wove pop culture references into his speeches (two obvious examples: He made Rambo references when it came to international relations, and he made Star Wars references when it came to nuclear defense).

Here's a good example that is used:

In 1975, a Democratic Party emboldened by civil rights, environmental, antiwar, and post-Watergate electoral successes was on the verge of seizing the presidency and a filibuster-proof congressional majority. That year, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest were two of the three top-grossing films-the former a parody using the late-sixties sexual revolution to laugh at the puritanical fifties, the latter based on the novel by beat writer Ken Kesey. Meanwhile, three of the top-rated seven television shows were liberal-themed programs produced by progressive icon Norman Lear, including All in the Family-a show built around a hippie, Mike Stivic, poking fun at the ignorance of his traditionalist father-in-law, Archie Bunker.

A mere ten years later, Republican Ronald Reagan had just been reelected by one of the largest electoral landslides in American history, and his party had also gained control of the U.S. Senate. Two of the top three grossing films were Back to the Future, which eulogized the fifties, and Rambo: First Blood Part II, which blamed sixties antiwar activism for losing the Vietnam conflict. Most telling, All in the Family's formula of using sixties-motivated youth and progressivism to ridicule fifties-rooted parents and their traditionalism had been replaced atop the television charts by its antithesis: a Family Ties whose fifties-inspired youth ridicules his parents' sixties spirit.

FANTASTIC ARTICLE. I have to find the book for sure.

[milhouse24]

I love Mad Men, therefore the 50's and 60's were awesome

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Ask people who aren't your parents or grandparents how wonderful the 1980s were... try someone poor and black as a jumping off point.

There was as much promiscuity, drug use, alcoholism, etc etc in the wonderful 1950s - but it was just covered up.

[King]

Nice job completely missing the point of the article, Naso.

First of all, the actual title of this is "The mythology of the 1980s still defines our thinking on everything from militarism, to greed, to race relations."  This is not an 80s pride article.  You are going gravely to be disappointed by that book.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Nice job completely missing the point of the article, Naso.

First of all, the actual title of this is "The mythology of the 1980s still defines our thinking on everything from militarism, to greed, to race relations."  This is not an 80s pride article.  You are going gravely to be disappointed by that book.

Poor little Naso's mind couldn't cope... "what? how could the 80s be bad? Reagan was around then..."

[freepcrusher]

at least the democrats held the u.s. house in the 80s. In fact they never fell below 244.

[Reaganfan]

Nice job completely missing the point of the article, Naso.

First of all, the actual title of this is "The mythology of the 1980s still defines our thinking on everything from militarism, to greed, to race relations."  This is not an 80s pride article.  You are going gravely to be disappointed by that book.

I didn't miss what his motives are, but I do like how he referenced pop culture to the 80s political climate.

[Lief 🗽]

As someone who actually likes David Sirota and has read quite a bit of what he's written, no, you're not going to like the book at all.

[King]

As someone who actually likes David Sirota and has read quite a bit of what he's written, no, you're not going to like the book at all.

But it references Michael J Fox! It must be amazingly pro-Reagan!

[Reaganfan]

Still an article worth reading

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh. My. God. LMAO. That idiot Tea Partier clearly has no knowledge of the fifties besides what's promoted by pop culture. If the Tea Party is really for "smaller government" and lower taxes, the idea of them saying that the fifties with its tax rates and government power and regulation were better than is almost Orwellian. Teabaggers also seem to hate unions too, and the question as to whether unions had more power in the fifties or today isn't even really worthy of debate.

More evidence these Tea Party clowns have no clue what they're talking about.

There was as much promiscuity, drug use, alcoholism, etc etc in the wonderful 1950s - but it was just covered up.

Actually even that's not really true. It just wasn't covered in the media works of the time due to all the oppressive government regulations (remember, small government!) and since that's all anyone judges an era on today it leads to this fairly amusing view that the fifties were some sweet wholesome utopia like in Leave It To Beaver. It's not too dissimilar from believing that the 70s were like The Brady Bunch or the 90s were like Full House.

[courts]

Oh. My. God. LMAO. That idiot Tea Partier clearly has no knowledge of the fifties besides what's promoted by pop culture. If the Tea Party is really for "smaller government" and lower taxes, the idea of them saying that the fifties with its tax rates and government power and regulation were better than is almost Orwellian. Teabaggers also seem to hate unions too, and the question as to whether unions had more power in the fifties or today isn't even really worthy of debate.

Putting aside the obvious I'd gladly take the 1950s over today in most respects. We didn't have the great society entitlements and social security was more limited even with Eisenhower expanding it, we had a lower overall regulatory burden (seriously, look at a lot of local ordinances passed + the massive expansion in the federal register since the 1970s), plus even taking into account the high marginal rate there were tons of loopholes you could abuse if you were rich and it was done in such a way the vast majority of people paid less... And we didn't have the ridiculous college bubble or parasite credit card companies either. Not great policy wise, but certainly much better than now for most people and definitely preferable from a conservative/libertarian perspective. Of course if the average TRUE CONSERVATIVE were remotely honest or bothered to read anything other than WND they would dislike Reagan for well, basically all his economic policies.

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Yeah, actually heroin use skyrocketed in cities particularly after Korea never mind the widespread abuse of Meth (which was in a lot of things, like diet pills or generic uppers) before it was more regulated. Although obviously Marijuana wasn't anywhere near as mainstream. Irony.

[Mechaman]

I love Mad Men, therefore the 50's and 60's were awesome

[Mechaman]

Ask people who aren't your parents or grandparents how wonderful the 1980s were... try someone poor and black as a jumping off point.

There was as much promiscuity, drug use, alcoholism, etc etc in the wonderful 1950s - but it was just covered up.

Yeah this idyllic image of the 1950's and the 1980's makes me lol sometimes.
Especially this whole "moral 1950's" argument.  I mean really.  The 1950's probably had looser morals than the 1920s.  And a lot of people got high during the fifties, you just don't hear about it as often.  Why?  Because people were popping pills and not blowing Mary Jane that's why.

EDIT: Wait a minute, actually people were smoking Mary Jane.  The idiot media just doesn't want you to know that it's always been cool!

[Middle-aged Europe]

I guess the 1950s were great as long as you were a white male heterosexual Christian. For everybody else, it sucked. Same applies for pretty much every decade before the 50s, of course.

[HST1948]

I guess the 1950s were great as long as you were a white male heterosexual Christian. For everybody else, it sucked. Same applies for pretty much every decade before the 50s, of course.

[minionofmidas]

The 50s to 70s in the West were the low point, across all the millenia of world history, in inequality. There's a reason Jim Crow laws disappeared in that era.

[Meeker]

Thread is about... Naso praising David Sirota... cannot comprehend... must have entered alternative universe...

[King]

Thread is about... Naso praising David Sirota... cannot comprehend... must have entered alternative universe...

Naso didn't actually read the article.  This is just cosmic accident ordained by Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Maybe this is the result of a miracle someone prayed for while going to The One With The E Church?

[bullmoose88]

Remember that the McFlys were essentially working class with a fairly sad existance before Marty changed history...especially sad considering that both George and Lorraine seemed to have it better in the 50s than in the original 80s.

Lorraine the alcoholic, George the oily haired walk over with a short sleeved button down shirt, eldest son a bit too old to be working in fast food, the troll daughter (sadly marty couldnt change much there)...and marty...the slacker pinhead.  One older car which Biff smashed, and lets not forget uncle jailbird joey.

[bullmoose88]

Thread is about... Naso praising David Sirota... cannot comprehend... must have entered alternative universe...

[J. J.]

Considering that both Happy Days and American Graffiti, were from the early 1970's, even Animal House (which was very early 1960's), and the first Superman in 1978, I think the premise is flawed.

Greater icons of the 80's, in terms of entertainment, were Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and possibly Bruce Springsteen.  Those were not nostalgia acts.    Hip Hop really came into its own in the late 1980's.  Vietnam themed films where repeatedly in the top ten grossing films.

TV was Dynasty, Dallas (though late 1970's) and the The Cosby Show.  An upscale physician married to a lawyer was not exactly Beulah.

I'd call the 80's elegance, but not bling.

[J. J.]

I can add Grease, 1971 (play), 1978 (movie).

[Mercenary]

Every decade sucks as much as the one before it and the one after it. There is no time that is really better than another because human nature exists in any era and human nature is always one where selfishness reigns supreme.

However, as mentioned, the "bad things" were more covered up in the past. In a way, I prefer that. I'd rather a lot of things remain not discussed and not in the media than just flat out embracing all the decadence like we do now. It isn't that this time is worse in those matters, but it would be nicer if we at least acknowledged that these things were not good. I'll take Leave it Beaver over random modern sitcom.

I suppose even if it wasn't better when the truth came out, I'd still prefer the 50s just for the image of things being better. I suppose kind of like a blissful illusion as opposed to a miserable reality.