Which decade do you think was the best?

[RKP5637]

I'm just curious what Du'ers think. In my case I think the 70's were the best in terms of feeling a sense of optimism, like we were progressing. I also liked the 60's. From the 80's on I've felt a lot of negativity in the country. Anyway, I'm just curious. I realize this is pretty broad brushing.

17 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	40's were best.
	0 (0%)
	50's were best.
	3 (18%)
	60's were best.
	6 (35%)
	70's were best.
	6 (35%)
	80's were best.
	0 (0%)
	90's were best.
	2 (12%)
	2000's were best.
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	2010's were best.
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[Skittles]

1. anything pre-Reagan and pre-Walmart

[RKP5637]

4. Yep! That sure sums it up well!!! I was talking with a young kid the

other day, he hates corporate America. It's changed so much, corporate America, the "old" corporate America gave me some incredible opportunities as a kid, but not so today for many.

[Skittles]

5. strange

how we never know "the good old days" when we actually LIVE them

[RKP5637]

10. There is sooo much reality in that statement. I just took them for

granted, the music, the optimism. I realize a lot of things still were bad for many people, but I felt we were progressing, at least trying ... things were not perfect, but it seemed people were trying. Today, it seems there are sooo many things stacked against progressing for the good of all.

What is a scary thought to me, is if in 20 years we look back at now as the best of times because of where we are in another 20 years.

[Skittles]

13. I see an America where rightwing whackos have essentially won

we are stalled and starting to go backwards

[RKP5637]

15. Sometimes I wonder if we're headed for some type of right wing theocratic

dystopia.

[malthaussen]

32. Some of us do...

-- Mal

[Art_from_Ark]

49. So, in other words, anything before 1962?

However, as someone who lived just a mile away from the very first Wal-Mart when it was still a mom-and-pop shop, it seems like the "Wal-Martization" didn't really get going until the '70s, when it looked like the store was aiming to become another Pamida chain.

[Kalidurga]

2. All the decades before Reagan.

It's morning again in America, ushered in some of our darkest days. I think we could have survived one term.

Oh snap. Skittles, your post came in before I finished composing mine.

[bluerum]

3. 1700's

Recently, the 90's

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. I was always just too young to really enjoy it, but the 70's by far.

I hit my best years under reagan and all the assholes he encouraged, so I missed out on the golden age.

[-..__...]

7. 20's

1929 would have been a bummer, but no decade is perfect.

[Auggie]

8. In terms of optimism, the 70s

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I enjoyed the '60s and early '70s,

but I was young and crazy then, so that might explain it.

[RKP5637]

11. LOL, I know what you mean! n/t

[malthaussen]

12. I think that covers it...

Whenever we were young and crazy was the best.

Ouch, my lumbego...

-- Mal

[XemaSab]

14. Yeah, the 70s

when we were fighting a shitty war and kids were getting gunned down in the streets.

And I forgot Nixon and Ford. And gas lines.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Not to mention disco.

[RKP5637]

23. And leisure suits in all colors of the rainbow, like lime green and tangerine. n/t

[CTyankee]

33. I loved disco! It was so absurd and I love absurd in art!

Oh, how I miss the beegees...

[malthaussen]

16. I've always preferred 65-75.

Have you ever observed, that change is noticable not at the beginning of decades, but in the middle? Whereas 1971 is pretty different from 1961, the kinship between '65 and '75, or other mid-decade matchups, stands out for me, at least starting in 1946. The world wars kind of screw up those matchups, of course.

The comparison breaks down in this century, too -- 2005 was vastly different from 1995.

-- Mal

[RKP5637]

25. Very interesting observation. I often wonder what causes the

periodicity of intervals of about 10 years.

[BeyondGeography]

27. Yup...culturally speaking, it was the peak

[KegCreekDem]

42. Got to agree with Mal-

65 to 75 were the best years. Coming of Age and all that- still starry eyed enough to think our generation could make the difference. Maybe we will yet....

[RiffRandell]

18. I voted nineties.

Mainly because of being in my twenties, good music and had so much fun.

[tridim]

26. That's exactly why I voted for the 90's.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed the 70's more if I were older. I did love 70's music even as a kid.

[Scuba]

19. It's not even close. The '60's were best, and I know this because....

... I can't remember any of it!!!!

[RKP5637]

20. One of my friends said the other day if you can remember the 60's, you

weren't having a good time!!!

[malthaussen]

31. Usually it's "If you can remember the sixties, you weren't there."

But hey, I was born in '56, I remember the 60's just fine. I was just too young to enjoy the acid and the sex.

So your friend's take on it is really the better.

-- Mal

[MrMickeysMom]

21. I think the 60's (early to mid)...

But, that's because I have the fortune to remember the excitation of my family members (I was 6) to elect John Fitzgerald Kennedy. We were going to be a civil society and expect much of ourselves.

[RKP5637]

22. Yep, to me the JFK years were magical! n/t

[Marr]

24. The 1610's.

Some people will say the 1630's, but they're just trendy hipsters. The 1610's were the shit.

[Inkfreak]

28. As long as I'm alive & kickin, it's a great decade.

[Scootaloo]

29. I'm holding out

Hoping to squeeze out seven more decades. Get back to me then.

[Raine]

30. 75-80 were personally the best era for me. nt

[pnwest]

34. It was the nineties for me. The music was great,

I was in my 30's, still single and had figured out a little bit about how life works, had a couple of really cool jobs, money was flowing...The shallowness of the 80's and the crappy music really had me in despair, but then the nineties happened, grunge exploded, introspection was cool, as well as thought provoking movies, books and music. It was great. Best years of my life.

Then I got married. Shit commenced.

[crimson77]

35. I voted for 50's

Post war 55-60, music speaks to me, possesions built with care and meant to last, movies were amazing. Plus the TV, enough said. I'm 35 BTW.

[RKP5637]

39. Yep, things were built to last and repairable, many companies took pride in you

buy this thing from us and it will last, and 'Made in the USA' meant 'Made in the USA' and with some quality.

[malthaussen]

48. Um, there's a bit of old-fogeyism inherent, there

Remember "planned obsolescence?" The wikipedia article isn't bad...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

I think what made the 50's and early 60's "good" for some people (white males, that is) was basically shortage of labor. Companies were compelled to treat their employees with some dignity and fairness because it was a worker's market. That changed as the Boomers started to come of age, and that change was exacerbated by the influx of women and minorities into parts of the labor pool where they had never had a place before.

-- Mal

[RKP5637]

53. Interesting link you posted, especially this paragraph. I didn't realize

planned obsolesce went back to 1932, and also the notion of gov. required obsolesce as a proposal.

Origins of planned obsolescence go back at least as far as 1932 with Bernard London's pamphlet Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence. It is interesting[citation needed] to note that the essence of London's plan would have the government impose a legal obsolescence on consumer articles in order to stimulate and perpetuate consumption. However, the phrase was first popularized in 1954 by Brooks Stevens, an American industrial designer. Stevens was due to give a talk at an advertising conference in Minneapolis in 1954. Without giving it much thought, he used the term as the title of his talk. From that point on, "planned obsolescence" became Stevens' catchphrase. By his definition, planned obsolescence was "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary."

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

[malthaussen]

55. Yeah, the 1932 bit was new to me.

It just goes to show that there are no new ideas, just old wine in new bottles.

-- Mal

[RKP5637]

56. Yep!!! LOL "just old wine in new bottles." That's how I like to think of

myself!

[Jamaal510]

36. Considering that I was born in 1990,

the 90s were the best for me personally. I didn't have a care in the world besides going to school and playing with my video games and toys. I never had to worry about getting a GF, learning to drive, or finding my own place.

As for the entire country financially, I think that its best decade is hands-down anytime before Reagan became president. He was the chief architect of the trickle-down economics that has put so many working class people in a hole, yet the GOP still wants to continue.

When it comes to social issues, though, I think minorities have more rights today than we ever did. Before the 2000s, gay marriage was much less accepted. And before the '50s and '60s, there was no Civil Rights Act or Voting Rights Act, and segregation was still legal.

[RKP5637]

43. Yep, I think civil rights today are far far better. Back in the 50's, etc. gay marriage,

lots of luck. You were lucky if they didn't jail you or stick you in some godforsaken mental institution with lots of shock therapy.

[Nye Bevan]

37. 80s. Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Fun Boy 3, and Haircut 100.

How can there even be a debate here?

[craigmatic]

38. Ain't no best. 1990's weren't such a bad time to grow up though.

[moondust]

40. 70s.

Still the post-war "golden age" and before the "age of rapacious greed" set in leading to massive inequality.

[thucythucy]

41. The half decade after Vietnam and Nixon

but before Reagan and AIDS.

[RKP5637]

46. Yep!!! n/t

[grantcart]

44. I am willing to bet a buck that 99% of the votes just happen to pick the decade when the

polled DU member started to be sexually active.

Obviously the 70s were the best.

[malthaussen]

50. Only 99%? n/t

[Art_from_Ark]

52. I picked the decade when the Great Society was in full swing,

when I could go downtown for all my shopping, when I could ride my bicycle all around town (and to some neighboring towns as well) as a kid and not have to worry about getting kidnapped by some lunatic. In my case, the '70s were a good time to be in school, but outside of school that decade sucked.

[MrSlayer]

45. I'm an 80s kid.

So of course I like it best.

[Alduin]

47. 90's.

But more for the music.

I was a teenager at the time and I didn't have to worry about the stuff I have to worry about now.

[Ineeda]

51. The 60's, for me, meant good things:

High school, college, meeting my husband, getting married, first child -- all in that decade. Also a red Mustang convertible, the election of JFK, and the Beatles. But bad things too: the shocking assassinations of three remarkable men, the Vietnam War, Richard Speck and Charles Whitman.

[Bluenorthwest]

54. The next one, and the one after that....

They've all been great to me so far, no real complaints.