My 90s TV: Browse 90s Television

Things were NOT simpler. The problems were different. When you are living them in the moment, they are every bit as large as your problems are now.

And fwiw, people in the 90s looked back on the 50s and thought “oh what a simpler, happier time.”

It’s a filtered lens you’re using and you are deluding yourself if you think that any time before you had it simpler and happier simply because they did not have “X” or “Y” that you do today.

How about date rape epidemics in the 90s? And women’s right and outlook for careers and equal pay?

LGBTQ rights? Hahahahahah

I mean, I can go on if you want?

I’m guessing you were a kid in 90s so things were simpler and happier for YOU because you did not have to worry about adult problems?

As someone who is not white, the thought of using a time machine and ending up in 1950s america is a terrifying thought.

What date rape epidemic in the 90s was there that didn't exist in prior decades?

At any rate, it is broadly true that the 90s was a happier time than present.

Today, people can't let you enjoy reminiscing about a period in time without bringing up everything horrible or sub optimal about that time.

It's a pervasive cynicism that wasn't broadly shared then. I was a kid in the 90s exploring AOL chat rooms, forums, the web, etc. It was a very groovy time. Lots of discussions about politics, but it wasn't toxic like today. There are sharp lines today and if you are right of center you're either being deplatformed or shadow banned or called a neo-Nazi.

I mean, you mention gay rights. AOL, the most mainstream internet app had a prominent Gay & Lesbian section and a chat room for folks to meet or discuss commonalities. Nobody was canceling AOL over it. It was just another interest group next to Sports, Video Games, Politics, Religion, etc. You'd wind up meeting gay people through some discussions on the various chat rooms. And we'd honestly debate about whether homosexuality was a choice or not. And in my naivete I took one side of that issue and a gay boy that posted in that vg forum took the other side. It taught me how to understand them. Today, if someone says something outside of whatever the prevailing dogma is, they are treated like they're terrible people. Experiences like that are how you grow as a person. And we cut that off at the knees today trying to make sure no one's feelings are hurt. But all that does is create resentment and divide.

What part of the world in 1950s would you travel to that you think would be better?

> it is broadly true that the 90s was a happier time than present.

I do have some great memories from the 90s, but for a few years I lived in a town south of Chicago that was heavy in gangs where I would regularly hear semi-automatic gun fire, see the river getting trolled for bodies and lived next to a professional bike thief. My father's truck was robbed of tools, my bike was stolen, my friends were poor as dirt and I couldn't play in their yards because I am white and they were afraid their neighbors would beat the shit out of me or kill me, and one of those friends was in a gang (learned that 15 years later). I remember lots of good things, but my 90s experience wasn't all that pleasant.

If we're discussing relative activities would you rather have a finger cut off or a leg cut off?

The idea of time travel being a fun concept, especially in recent history has very real implications if you go anywhere in the world where you're a minority or not from a colonial power subjecting people to your will.

All human men could be described like that. There are plenty of non-white dictators and war lords.

An extremely small number of people were involved in those. And meanwhile, China was extinguishing anti-communist dissidents by the millions in the Mao revolution. India had its caste system in full effect. Africa was even poorer than it is today with many battles, regional strifes, etc. Cuba got taken over by communists, for example, many forced to flee to the U.S. afterwards. They didn't seem to worry about the "prevalent lynchings" as you characterize it, or exaggerate it beyond its relative scale in what was going on in the world at the time.

Yes, even before colonial times, this sort of thing is ancient. Being a Frenchman in Britain 400 years ago you would find yourself in the disdainful company if not outright contempt of your peers. These countries fought 100 year war despite being extremely close from a racial perspective. And you had this same pattern play out all over the world. Indian tribes and nations warred with each other, slaughtered each other, sacrificed each other. Asians, Africans, Mediterranean empires, etc. There is no point in history you can go back to where these dynamics are not in play. It's the remarkable achievement of the past 100 or so years that we move relatively freely in most of the first world today without fear of violence or extreme bigotry. Tribalism is the rule of human history, not the exception. And U.S. was for better or worse a proving ground for how a multicultural and multiracial society could work. No doubt that came with sacrifices and tragedies, but I suspect without those, we'd not have had much change in the world.

Europe was majority white and even in the Fascist Spain if you declared yourself Catholic, pro Spain and such, no one would give a shit except for propaganda ("look, a remote blackie from Africa being happy in the regime, we are a success").

Gay people got screwed not matter the race, tho.

The US didn't end the tribalism, ever. Europe did, and even more because of the Nazis' antiexample.