Myths of the Golden Era -- Exploded!

[scottyrocks]

I had a co-worker once who owned a Yugo. It was stolen one night, and caught fire and burned to a shell before the thief could get it a hundred yards from the house.

One of the ingenious features of the Yugo was its space-saving fuel tank. Instead of it being in the normal suspended, somewhat protected location under the rear of the car, the 'fuel tank' was contained in the space within one of the rear quarter panels, in between the rear passenger armrest and the outer panel of the car. Even a moderate hit on that side of the car could be pretty disasterous.

 

[scottyrocks]

Gremlin????

Can you say 'blind spot?' I knew you could.

 

[jamespowers]

Can you say 'blind spot?' I knew you could.

Try a 71-73 Mustang Mach 1. Rear window? Useless.

 

[jamespowers]

Interesting take................we really haven't come a long way by any means

A long way?! :rofl: You have to be kidding? The founders were much worse than we will ever see. They took freedom of speech seriously. :rofl:
[video=youtube_share;Y_zTN4BXvYI]http://youtu.be/Y_zTN4BXvYI[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Mr. Lincoln stands six feet twelve in his socks, which he changes once every ten days. His anatomy is composed mostly of bones, and when walking he resembles the offspring of a happy marriage between a derrick and a windmill…. His head is shaped something like a ruta-bago, and his complexion is that of a Saratoga trunk. His hands and feet are plenty large enough, and in society he has the air of having too many of them…. He could hardly be called handsome, though he is certainly much better looking since he had the smallpox…. He is 107 years old."

-- Anti-Lincoln campaign pamphlet, 1864.

 

[jamespowers]

"Mr. Lincoln stands six feet twelve in his socks, which he changes once every ten days. His anatomy is composed mostly of bones, and when walking he resembles the offspring of a happy marriage between a derrick and a windmill…. His head is shaped something like a ruta-bago, and his complexion is that of a Saratoga trunk. His hands and feet are plenty large enough, and in society he has the air of having too many of them…. He could hardly be called handsome, though he is certainly much better looking since he had the smallpox…. He is 107 years old."

-- Anti-Lincoln campaign pamphlet, 1864.

Hahhahahahah! My great-great grandfather called him The Monkey.

 

[Flicka]

I'm pretty well-versed in British mid-18th century politics. If you don't have an extensive four-letter vocabulary, you will after reading some of their correspondence... Like Thomas Potter's charming comment on Hester Grenville's marriage to William Pitt.

 

[MikeBravo]

One of the differences between then and today is that one could, in many circles. 'get away with' saying things like that, whereas today it is pretty much impossible. So, in a way, some standards, at least that one, has improved.

I think it may have been after the war when such racism was taken to it's extreme with the concentration camps and mass killings of jews, gypsies, the disabled and slavic peoples that expressing such opinions became unacceptable. People stated thinking about the consequences of this way of thinking and speaking.

Sadly, I'm not sure that people these days are any less racist than in that era, just less vocal or less likely to admit it to themselves.

 

[scottyrocks]

Try a 71-73 Mustang Mach 1. Rear window? Useless.

Yes, I had one. For as large a piece of glass as that was, it was essentially like looking through a slit in the rear view mirror from the driver's seat.

 

[scottyrocks]

Sadly, I'm not sure that people these days are any less racist than in that era, just less vocal or less likely to admit it to themselves.

I would tend to agree with you.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sadly, I'm not sure that people these days are any less racist than in that era, just less vocal or less likely to admit it to themselves.

Exactly. The unmoderated corners of the internet will show just how much progress has been made in that area. The comments section on any news site is a good place for anyone who doubts this to prove it to themselves. All the vilest prejudices go marching on parade there, and some that hadn't been thought of seventy years ago.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, I had one. For as large a piece of glass as that was, it was essentially like looking through a slit in the rear view mirror from the driver's seat.

It is one of those windows that louvers don't obstruct anything. I still like driving it though.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My dad's Countach was the same way. Useless.

Try a 71-73 Mustang Mach 1. Rear window? Useless.

 

[Flicka]

I still think it's a major difference between having closet racists and the sort of race rhetorics that were common official practice in the '20s and '30s. I do think people on average are a lot less racist than they were then, at least here. That's not to say it doesn't exist today of course - it's still a problem, but at least we acknowledge that it is.

 

[jamespowers]

My dad's Countach was the same way. Useless.

Yes but it is a Lamborghini for goodness sake!

 

[scottyrocks]

Exactly. The unmoderated corners of the internet will show just how much progress has been made in that area. The comments section on any news site is a good place for anyone who doubts this to prove it to themselves. All the vilest prejudices go marching on parade there, and some that hadn't been thought of seventy years ago.

Yes, 'keyboard muscles' or 'keyboard bravado,' or whatever one wants to call it, enable people to say things that they would almost never say in public. The worst hide behind their perceived inet invisibility.

The feelings will always be there. It's just that in public, there is far less a general audience for these platforms. In private, however, and of course, on the inet, the feelings, and the words, are there.

 

[Edward]

Yes, I had one. For as large a piece of glass as that was, it was essentially like looking through a slit in the rear view mirror from the driver's seat.

Years ago my dad had a Renault 19 for a while. Hatchback. You could see nothing by looking out the rear - for reversing you were totally reliant on the rearview mirror. Worked very well, and using the mirror it was a dream to reverse. It was funny, though, the reaction folks who weren't "in the know" had when they sat n the car and watched him reversing round corners or down our long, steep driveway while apparently not facing the direction in which he was going...

I still think it's a major difference between having closet racists and the sort of race rhetorics that were common official practice in the '20s and '30s. I do think people on average are a lot less racist than they were then, at least here. That's not to say it doesn't exist today of course - it's still a problem, but at least we acknowledge that it is.

Yes. While I appreciate the argument some folks here have made that sometimes covert prejudice is harder to call out or address, I do personally feel it is something that reflects well on our society that vile racists don't feel so able to openly spout their hate as once they might have.

 

[MissMittens]

I still think it's a major difference between having closet racists and the sort of race rhetorics that were common official practice in the '20s and '30s. I do think people on average are a lot less racist than they were then, at least here. That's not to say it doesn't exist today of course - it's still a problem, but at least we acknowledge that it is.

Exactly right. I'm not in the least racist, but even though I try my best not to, sometimes I admit that I can be a bit of a culturalist. I respect the culture of others, but have little tolerance for people who cultivate the modern "ghetto", or "g thang" pseudo-culture here in the US, be they black, white, Hispanic, it irks me and I have to really try to be tolerant.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Exactly right. I'm not in the least racist, but even though I try my best not to, sometimes I admit that I can be a bit of a culturalist. I respect the culture of others, but have little tolerance for people who cultivate the modern "ghetto", or "g thang" pseudo-culture here in the US, be they black, white, Hispanic, it irks me and I have to really try to be tolerant.

Unfortunately some regard past victimisation by racism as a free pass to propagate their own version of it while vociferously denying that they're racist. Elements of which can be found in the "ghetto" subculture.

 

[p51]

Unfortunately some regard past victimisation by racism as a free pass to propagate their own version of it while vociferously denying that they're racist. Elements of which can be found in the "ghetto" subculture.

Amen to that! I grew up out in the sticks away from town and when everyone in my area got to Junior High, we were sent to the south side of town and I and many of my friends were beat up often for the unpardonable crime of being, "a white boy".
Years later, I was in a college class on social issues and the teacher proudly declared that African-Americans cannot be racist, that it wasn't possible due to how they'd been treated in the past. I stood up and in front of the whole class told him he was a total moron because I was beat up regularly because I was a white kid in a mostly black school, then left. I immediately went to registrar, dropped the class then lodged a complaint with the teacher's boss. He was forced to post a public apology later.