General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Octafish to attend JFK assassination conference. Do you think JFK still matters? [View all]whathehell
(29,067 posts)to having actually LIVED during the era, I'm in a better position than you to make the comparison.
I've seen the "more racist, sexist, homophobic" arguments before, but what most
making them fail to recall, is that THIS was the era, the Sixties and early Seventies, in which
ALL of those "isms" began to be challenged -- For this and other reasons, there was
a huge, palpable sense of optimism and hope in the air that started dissipating by the late seventies
and has by now, disappeared completely. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that
the USA is now a foreign country in all but name for those of my generation.
Again, the cause of the economic boom is an academic discussion -- Something to be found in historic
and economic journals. It's being an 'aberration", especially the "inevitability" of its demise is something the
jury is still out on -- In ANY case, it hardly impacted the experience of it, the way it felt, the way it was
lived, and that is what is germane here.