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Compared to the present, my father's life in the U.S. 1963-2002, reads like
a socialist fantasy: starts life over at fifty as an immigrant with just
the clothes on his back and family of four; gets white-collar union job;
retires with SS, Pension, medical benefits (that my mom still benefits from);
sells house for 10+ times what he paid for it; kids put themselves through
college, MA, Ph.D. with hardly any debt.<br>
<br>
That's not nostalgia; those are facts. The facts for unionized working class
life in the U.S.A. It is also a fact that after the free market was introduced,
life expectancy in the FSU plumetted by a good ten years, prostitution and
drug use exploded, savings were wiped out, and the common good was looted
to the actual loss of most people. <br>
<br>
Harkening back to a "golden time" may be endemic to the human race, but I
don't remember my parents harkening back to the depression or the second
world war, which was the period of their youth.<br>
<br>
Joanna<br>
<br>
James Heartfield wrote:<br>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Nostalgia is not specific to the Soviet
Union, lots of Americans think that the past was preferable to the present,
too.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Which good old days? - various age groups'
perceptions of past times</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">American Demographics, April, 1996 by
Diane Crispell</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Baby boomers take the rap for the return
of "The Brady Bunch" and other signs of the decline of American popular
culture. But they're not the only ones bitten by the nostalgia bug. Over
half of adults of all ages think that things were better in the past than
they are today, according to Roper Starch Worldwide of New York City.
One-third think things are better now than yesterday, and 12 percent aren't
convinced there's any difference. This hasn't always been the case. In
1974, despite disco, 54 percent of adults preferred the present over the
past.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">The share of adults who think the "good old
days" were better rises somewhat with age, from 52 percent of those under
age 30 to 58 percent of those aged 45 and older. People with more education
and money find yesterday less alluring. A lower-than-average 44 percent
of college graduates prefer the past over the present, as do 47 percent
of those in professional and executive jobs and half of those with household
incomes of $50,000 or more. It's no surprise that the societal leaders
Roper calls Influentials are the most live-for-today types; just 38 percent
prefer the past, while 49 percent vote against.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Sixty-five percent of people who didn't
graduate from high school yearn for the past, perhaps because their lives
haven't turned out as they had hoped. Another group of adults who strongly
prefer the past are those with children under age 8. Sixty-two percent
of pooped parents say that some point in the past-presumably any point
without rug rats--was superior to today's nonstop circus of diaper rash
and helping with homework.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Parents with young children are desperate
for a change of pace. When asked what period they consider the epitome
of the good old days, they choose the much-maligned 1970s. This reflects
a common pattern. Most people look no further than their own youth to
define the good old days. Boomers aged 30 to 44 split their vote for best
era of the past between the critically acclaimed 1960s and the 1970s.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Younger adults have a shorter time frame
for comparison. Those under age 30 are almost as likely as young boomers
to vote for the 1970s, but a slightly larger group, 24 percent, considers
the 1980s the best of the bunch. To those who've been around longer, the
1980s are too close for comfort. Only 4 percent of those aged 45 and older
think that the Reagan and Bush years were golden ones. Predictably, those
aged 45 to 59 much prefer the 1950s and 1960s, while those aged 60 and
older go for the 1940s and 1950s.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Nostalgia won't sell everything. Kids of
the 1990s have accepted tie-dye, but some things are best forgotten. Hopefully,
we will never again see the short plaid bell-bottoms sported by the Bay
City Rollers. Or their hair, either.</font></div>
<div><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">Other Roper surveys reveal that nostalgia
doesn't drive media behavior or hobby pursuits. People choose to read
about, watch, and do things based on the "here and now." Yet flashes of
the past are undoubtedly having an effect on certain purchases. Aesthetic
value alone can't explain the resurgence of Troll dolls.</font></div>
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