Do people who lived through the "great depression" forget what it was like and did they forget to

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Most of the people I know (or knew) who experienced the Depression

remained very frugal throughout their lives. My own parents were teenagers in the '30s. Although both of their fathers managed to remain employed, they were nevertheless pretty conservative about money. I knew a lot of older people (I say that even though I am now an older person) who were very careful about reusing things, even pieces of aluminum foil (I still do that), not throwing anything away if you could fix it (but things these days usually can't be fixed), etc. But I don't think it's living through the Depression that turned people mean. My own parents were Republicans, but nothing like today's Republicans. Anyhow, most of the people who were adults in the '30s and actually had to deal with those difficulties are now either dead or very old - it seems like it's the Fox demographic, people who are 60+, maybe retired or close to it, maybe the children of Depression survivors, who have gone mean, along with some younger people who still think Atlas Shrugged is great literature. I believe a lot of it has to do with the disturbing success of right-wing media - Fox and Rush Limbaugh and their ilk - who have managed to convince people that it's perfectly OK to be a selfish, racist bastard.