What do you miss about the 1990's

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During the election I saw Republicans for Biden campaign signs because the nation is more important than the party. There are Republicans who saw Trump for what he was.

This thread was supposed to be about the 1990s. Could we please get back on topic?

This thread was supposed to be about the 1990s. Could we please get back on topic?

We are. Trump is a solid reason to miss the 90s.

Well...yeah...back then Trump was just a tycoon and a socialite. Rona Barrett would refer to him as "the Donald". No one dreamed that he would ever, nor should ever, be the POTUS. Folks would defend Leona Helmsly by saying "she is just the female Trump". He was just another face on the cover of People magazine, and not the divisive force splitting America that he is now. It would be nice to go back to that.

I could identify a few negative things about the 90s, at least from an American perspective.

1.) For many Americans the 90s were a time of incredible shame and despair because they believed the Clintons were the absolute embodiment of Evil, dragging America down to the pit of Hell. It was especially bad for them when Bill Clinton was unexpectedly re-elected. The election of George W Bush in 2000, accomplished by the Supreme Court after the regular election system failed, was like the dawning of a new day for them.
2.) Some Americans had dedicated their lives to fighting the Cold War and believed their lives had lost any real purpose. Many of these did in fact lose their jobs.
3.) An alliance led by the US invaded Kuwait for the sole purpose of securing the West's supply of climate-altering petroleum. It's naïve to imagine they cared whatsoever for the rights of ordinary people living in Kuwait (which hadn't existed anyway). As a result, US military personnel were allowed to set up bases in Saudi Arabia which was the single biggest motivating factor for the 9/11 attack a decade later, and everything that followed.
4.) Although the US had always been divided politically, the division became toxic in the 90s, beginning with the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. Then there was the Oklahoma City bombing which was largely covered by the media as an admittedly horrific crime but not as an act of terrorism, perhaps out of fear of antagonizing those unable to condemn the acts of the perpetrators insofar as Ruby Ridge and Waco were the "real atrocities".
5.) For those of us disinclined to religion, the 90s were a REALLY religious time. This became inescapable after the Columbine shootings when the media covered a seemly endless series of Christian observances connected to the incident. Obviously if you're religious you won't see this as a problem, but people today, especially young people, aren't nearly so religious on average as they were then. And also, the Columbine shootings.

BTW dealing with dial-up modems and 16-bit Windows was aggravating. The MacIntosh was better in some ways but overpriced and nothing near what it was cracked up to be by the Apple Fanbois in the popular media. I don't see how anybody can be nostalgic about that stuff.

I'm not saying there weren't a lot of cool things about the 90s but a little perspective can't hurt.

Well another thing I can think of that was terrible about the 1990's was the homophobia in American culture. That was the days of the "Don't ask don't tell" laws where a homosexual or transgender person could potentially lose their jobs in the military or police force if they openly admitted to being gay, we were just getting through the AIDS scare that was brought about from the 80's where people still blamed the gay population for spreading this deadly STD and it became something of a joke to mock those who died from it, and unlike the youth of today who are much more jaded about homosexuality back then every kid I knew would bully you if they even thought you were gay. Saying things like "Man that's so gay!" Was what the 'cool' kids said, but nowadays I think most kids are actually much more supportive of their LGBTQ peers.

I could identify a few negative things about the 90s, at least from an American perspective.

1.) For many Americans the 90s were a time of incredible shame and despair because they believed the Clintons were the absolute embodiment of Evil, dragging America down to the pit of Hell. It was especially bad for them when Bill Clinton was unexpectedly re-elected. The election of George W Bush in 2000, accomplished by the Supreme Court after the regular election system failed, was like the dawning of a new day for them.
2.) Some Americans had dedicated their lives to fighting the Cold War and believed their lives had lost any real purpose. Many of these did in fact lose their jobs.
3.) An alliance led by the US invaded Kuwait for the sole purpose of securing the West's supply of climate-altering petroleum. It's naïve to imagine they cared whatsoever for the rights of ordinary people living in Kuwait (which hadn't existed anyway). As a result, US military personnel were allowed to set up bases in Saudi Arabia which was the single biggest motivating factor for the 9/11 attack a decade later, and everything that followed.
4.) Although the US had always been divided politically, the division became toxic in the 90s, beginning with the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. Then there was the Oklahoma City bombing which was largely covered by the media as an admittedly horrific crime but not as an act of terrorism, perhaps out of fear of antagonizing those unable to condemn the acts of the perpetrators insofar as Ruby Ridge and Waco were the "real atrocities".
5.) For those of us disinclined to religion, the 90s were a REALLY religious time. This became inescapable after the Columbine shootings when the media covered a seemly endless series of Christian observances connected to the incident. Obviously if you're religious you won't see this as a problem, but people today, especially young people, aren't nearly so religious on average as they were then. And also, the Columbine shootings.

BTW dealing with dial-up modems and 16-bit Windows was aggravating. The MacIntosh was better in some ways but overpriced and nothing near what it was cracked up to be by the Apple Fanbois in the popular media. I don't see how anybody can be nostalgic about that stuff.

I'm not saying there weren't a lot of cool things about the 90s but a little perspective can't hurt.

That the 9/11 incident NEVER existed.....

....yet.

This thread was supposed to be about the 1990s. Could we please get back on topic?

"Missed out" being past tense. The quote was from when season 1 first "aired".

I don't think the series is finished though, I'm sure there's going to be a season 3.

We are. Trump is a solid reason to miss the 90s.

I can't recall anyone who said: "ninety-so-and-so sucked!" People didn't talk like that back then about the years. People had higher standards for what made a bad year back then.

I want to ask older members...particularly Americans born in the 1960s or earlier...

In my observation, there was a trend that may have occurred before the 1990s, but didn't take full-effect until the '90s or later. That is, in the past, at least in the USA, it was common for an abbreviation to use periods (full-stops) between the letters. For instance: United States of America would be U.S.A. New Jersey would be N.J. The Federal Communications Commission would be F.C.C.

Nowadays, dropping of periods is common: USA, NJ, FCC, etc. This trend may very well have started prior to the 1990s, but in the earlier '90s, it was still commonplace for teachers to instruct students to put periods (full-stops) between the letters of abbreviated terms. Or so I remember. I don't know exactly when this fell out of favor. Again, I think the trend started well before the 1990s, but didn't become solidified until the 1990s. Perhaps the advent of computers spurred it on further....or perhaps I'm off-base.

Anyone have any thoughts, particularly older members? Growing up, I remember being taught to use periods between initialized letters, though I think a shift was happening pre-90s.

I want to ask older members...particularly Americans born in the 1960s or earlier...

In my observation, there was a trend that may have occurred before the 1990s, but didn't take full-effect until the '90s or later. That is, in the past, at least in the USA, it was common for an abbreviation to use periods (full-stops) between the letters. For instance: United States of America would be U.S.A. New Jersey would be N.J. The Federal Communications Commission would be F.C.C.

Nowadays, dropping of periods is common: USA, NJ, FCC, etc. This trend may very well have started prior to the 1990s, but in the earlier '90s, it was still commonplace for teachers to instruct students to put periods (full-stops) between the letters of abbreviated terms. Or so I remember. I don't know exactly when this fell out of favor. Again, I think the trend started well before the 1990s, but didn't become solidified until the 1990s. Perhaps the advent of computers spurred it on further....or perhaps I'm off-base.

Anyone have any thoughts, particularly older members? Growing up, I remember being taught to use periods between initialized letters, though I think a shift was happening pre-90s.

In general we used the full word not an abbreviation or shortened words. “You only live once” , not “YOLO”, “ret*d” not “ret*d”

The cable channel VH-1 used to have a show called Behind the Music. It was mostly focused on bands, but occasionally, they'd do an episode on a year in music. What was interesting was that in 1999, before the year ended, they did an episode about 1999. They mentioned Columbine/Marilyn Manson, but also talked a lot about the disastrous Woodstock festival that year. Some guy they interviewed said something like, "I think this is the first year that isn't a real year..." whatever that was supposed to mean. Remember, 1999 wasn't even over yet when this episode aired.

I remembered thinking, "Well, once the clock strikes midnight on Y2K, 1999 will be remembered as the last 19xx year."

Point is, even in the '90s, be it the very end, there were indeed people who played the this year sucked and wasn't even a real year game. You may not recall, but it did happen.