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What was life really like in the late 60s?

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Fnord
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09 Jan 2024, 3:05 am

belijojo wrote:
Fnord wrote:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way

-- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." -- by Charles Dickens, prologue to Tale Of Two Cities

I remember the late 1960s as a time of confusion.  While the White Male Establishment was publicly backing escalation of the war in Vietnam (up to and including the use of nuclear weapons), most of the people I knew were privately denouncing America's involvement.  The end of that conflict was both celebrated and mourned.  All I cared about was that I would no longer risk being drafted into it.

People of the previous generations were trying to hold on to their old way of life in the face of wave after wave of civil rights advancements.

Thus, women gained some measure of reproductive freedom with the advent of The Pill, and people of color could no longer be officially discriminated against in education, employment, and housing (although passive resistance among the White Male Establishment could still be effective).

Also, when "Darkies" (my grandma's favorite term, not mine) moved into traditionally white neighborhoods (my grandparents', for example), they were either openly tolerated as "Tokens" or subversively treated as invaders (usually both, and by the same people).

As a pre-teen, I was trying to make sense of the contrasts between: (a) the Constitution and what our politicians were saying and doing; (b) our Christian Bible and what our parents were saying and doing; and (c) our textbooks and what our teachers were teaching.  All this in addition to the changes puberty wrought upon me.

There seemed to be no proper behavior for a kid my age -- very little I said or did was considered 'proper' by everyone in authority.  Somehow, I muddled my way through it all and later graduated high school.

Now I'm in my sixties and retired. Throughout my professional career, I witnessed just about every form of discrimination and hypocrisy imaginable, both inside and outside the workplace.  If anything, our current times are just like the late 1960s, only more intensely so.
^same
You are only 20 years old and living outside of America, yet you claim the same experiences as an American who actually LIVED through the late 1960s.

Whom are you trying to impress?



belijojo
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09 Jan 2024, 7:03 am

Fnord wrote:
belijojo wrote:
^same
You are only 20 years old and living outside of America, yet you claim the same experiences as an American who actually LIVED through the late 1960s.

Whom are you trying to impress?

I mean, uh, agree or like. As you know, this website does not have the functions of tiktok :heart:


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MaxE
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09 Jan 2024, 7:27 am

belijojo wrote:
Fnord wrote:
belijojo wrote:
^same
You are only 20 years old and living outside of America, yet you claim the same experiences as an American who actually LIVED through the late 1960s.

Whom are you trying to impress?

I mean, uh, agree or like. As you know, this website does not have the functions of tiktok :heart:

I was about to say this. He was trying to express appreciation for what you said. Perhaps you can recall being young and having what you thought were expressions of positive feeling misinterpreted as snide comments.

Speaking of China though, the 60s REALLY sucked there. Still recovering from the violence inflicted by the Japanese and the Guomindang. Try reading the first volume of the 3 Body Problem series or Old Town (外婆的古城) by Lin Zhe for depictions of what it was like.


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Mona Pereth
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09 Jan 2024, 4:27 pm

nick007 wrote:
I think the 60s were probably a lot worse than it's often portrayed. There was the Vietnam war, sh!tty economy, & protests & riots.

sh!tty economy??? Really? Where?

Actually the economy back then was exceptionally good, at least for white people, though not quite as good for people of color. Unemployment rates were exceptionally low, at least for white people.

Housing was abundant and affordable, thanks to the existence of many suburbs that had been newly constructed in the 1950's, plus "white flight" from the cities, leaving lots of cheap housing in the cities both for people of color and for the less racist white folks.

White flight from cities happened due to fear of the large numbers of Black people who needed to move into cities (in both the South and North) because a wave of farm mechanization in the 1950's and 1960's resulted in a lot of Black people losing their jobs on farms in the South. This was the "Great Migration" of American Black people.

Both the "Great Migration" and the era of white flight finally ended in the early-to-mid 1970's. From then on, gentrification became an ever-increasing scourge.


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funeralxempire
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09 Jan 2024, 4:38 pm

Mona Pereth wrote:
nick007 wrote:
I think the 60s were probably a lot worse than it's often portrayed. There was the Vietnam war, sh!tty economy, & protests & riots.

sh!tty economy??? Really? Where?

Actually the economy back then was exceptionally good, at least for white people, though not quite as good for people of color. Unemployment rates were exceptionally low, at least for white people.


While the US economy was buoyed by an economic boom, the '60s were also bookended by recessions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession ... %80%931961
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession ... %80%931970


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DirkGently69
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09 Jan 2024, 4:43 pm

It was pretty good from my point of view. I got all the milk and baby food I could eat. I was waited on 24 hours a day.



blitzkrieg
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09 Jan 2024, 4:46 pm

old_comedywriter wrote:
Fnord wrote:
If anything, our current times are just like the late 1960s, only more intensely so.

I agree with most of this except for what I just quoted. Less violent activism today, less racism (although not less enough, and shifted in direction - and racism toward Jews hasn't changed in 5800 years) and reverse racism has increased. Vaccines were newer back then, and nobody I knew was questioning them. The way I would describe how things have changed is "paradigm shifting without pushing the clutch pedal."


Back in the 1960's, there were only a couple of vaccines given to children.

Nowadays there are a dozen or sometimes even more.



Velorum
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10 Jan 2024, 6:16 am

I was born in the late 50's so have many memories of growing up in the 60's.

This was in the far North of the UK - so hardly at the forefront of things!

I recall many things that were rooted in the 40's and 50's including the way many adults dressed and acted. Things seemed ultra conservative and adherence to the 'norm' and what was expected of you were paramount. I recall little tolerance for differences in sexual orientation and gender identification for example. In addition to my neurodivergence this made me feel even more of an alien that 'did not belong'.

I do recall the emerging hippy/flower power alternative worldview movement and have strong memories of older family members and other older teenagers expressing themselves in this way. This filled me with wonder and it felt that all of the bad things regarding oppressive attitudes and behaviour would soon be swept away...........

The music was amazing and my prized possession was a cheap plastic transister radio. During the day I would listen to Radio 1 and in the evening Radios Luxemburg or Caroline.


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CockneyRebel
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10 Jan 2024, 11:27 pm

I would like to thank all of you for your answers. I've learned a lot about what the 60s were like in different parts of the world.


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JustFoundHere
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15 Jan 2024, 5:40 pm

Much of the popular 60s music is still memorable!



naturalplastic
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15 Jan 2024, 6:40 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Mona Pereth wrote:
nick007 wrote:
I think the 60s were probably a lot worse than it's often portrayed. There was the Vietnam war, sh!tty economy, & protests & riots.

sh!tty economy??? Really? Where?

Actually the economy back then was exceptionally good, at least for white people, though not quite as good for people of color. Unemployment rates were exceptionally low, at least for white people.


While the US economy was buoyed by an economic boom, the '60s were also bookended by recessions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession ... %80%931961
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession ... %80%931970

So?

Doesnt change the fact that describing the Sixties as having "a sh***y economy" is the opposite of the truth.

We were more affluent then we were at any time since.

The post war boom in the US economy didnt die down until the Seventies (when stagflation -stagnation combined with inflation-kicked in). The Seventies can be described as the first post war decade with a "sh***y" economy. Not the Sixties.



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15 Jan 2024, 6:48 pm

I remember it as a time of change. At the time I went to a normal school (grades 1-12) If you finished your assignment you could go outside; I did and I couldn't understand why the older girls were outside crying They were crying because our president had been shot and killed. (granted this happened in 1963) I also remember when his brother Robert was shot and killed a few years later. Our teacher then had us listen to coverage almost the whole day. Also I remember when MLK was shot and killed. The church I then attended had a slave gallery (it was in central virginia) I guess it's still there as the church was built before the Civil War. I also recall greater acceptance for being lower middle class; a favorite saying of my mother was " it's no disgrace to be poor as long as you're clean". I also remember patches on clothes as being in vogue; they were a necessity but the more outlandish they were, the better



Fnord
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15 Jan 2024, 11:18 pm

MaxE wrote:
belijojo wrote:
Fnord wrote:
belijojo wrote:
^same
You are only 20 years old and living outside of America, yet you claim the same experiences as an American who actually LIVED through the late 1960s.  Whom are you trying to impress?
I mean, uh, agree or like. As you know, this website does not have the functions of tiktok :heart:
I was about to say this. He was trying to express appreciation for what you said. Perhaps you can recall being young and having what you thought were expressions of positive feeling misinterpreted as snide comments.
Let him speak for himself.



bee33
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16 Jan 2024, 2:56 am

Now, now, can we not argue? Live and let live and all that? :heart:



bee33
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16 Jan 2024, 2:59 am

Aspinator wrote:
I also recall greater acceptance for being lower middle class; a favorite saying of my mother was " it's no disgrace to be poor as long as you're clean". I also remember patches on clothes as being in vogue; they were a necessity but the more outlandish they were, the better
That was a conscious rejection of consumerism and a positive acceptance of frugality and poverty (which is frugal, but not by choice) that it would be great to bring back. Even in the 80s it was popular to wear thrift store clothing and was even considered arty and fashionable.



Eyeselation
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16 Jan 2024, 3:46 am

Peace
love
Hippies at Haight Ashbury (SF)
Black Panthers genesis (Oakland)
Civil Rights Movement
segregation
integration
Assassinations
Protests

Just A few things I can personally attest to remembering. Lived in Bay Area at the time. Just a youngster but old enough to appreciate the gravity of what was happening and I still remember. Turbulent and terrifying times. Uncertainty was everywhere. But change was exhilarating and I embraced it to my Conservative Republican mother’s horror. Makes me smile to this very day to see the look on her face.