Why were the 70s such a tacky decade?

[LizzieMaine]

Exactly. And as I said, it was the whole Grease/American Graffiti/Happy Days/pseudo-50s fad that killed that, much to the frustration of those of us who loved it. Which is how we got onto the whole boomer tangent in the first place.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I'd like to also add that the Silents and the Boomers also seem to be the first to throw any "execptionalism" to the wind when they are tested. Due process, Geneva Convention (that they authored), privacy, civil rights, etc. Their idea of what makes America different is surprisingly shallow. Throw a fit about a flag burning, but any of the staples represented by that flag are disposable.

 

[31 Model A]

One thing you can sure say about first-wave Boomers is that they're even more thin-skinned than millenials.

OH give me a break....geeeez. I could say the arse end of the Baby-Boomers are the ones who whine too much. Always first to blame others for their short-comings!!!! But I won't.

I wonder if those that went off to the second World War blame their parents that they had to go, after all, WWI was termed the War to end all wars!!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Actually, a lot of them did. There were a lot of high-school and college kids in the late thirties who were as strongly anti-war as any sixties hippie, and one of the things they criticized was the Treaty of Versailles.

There were also a lot of young men in 1942 who did everything they possibly could to wrangle exemptions. Baseball legends Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio were among the most famous examples -- they both eventually went into the service, but were bitter about the draft for the rest of their lives. In the late sixties, when Williams was managing the Washington Senators, he told a reporter he fully agreed with the kids who were out protesting the draft.

 

[31 Model A]

Actually, a lot of them did. There were a lot of high-school and college kids in the late thirties who were as strongly anti-war as any sixties hippie, and one of the things they criticized was the Treaty of Versailles.

That all changed though on Dec 7th................

 

[31 Model A]

In all fairness the genesis of the Lounge itself can be traced back to the '70s. As Lizzie pointed out in one of the posts on this thread, there was a big '30s and '40s nostalgia trend in the '70s. Movies from the '30s and '40s, which you rarely see today, were regularly aired on TV back then. I myself looked forward to coming home from school in the afternoon and watching The Three Stooges and Our Gang comedies which aired on one of the local stations. And in the late '70s when I was in junior high school I used to regularly listen to The Dr Demento Show on the radio which I credit for introducing me to music from the Golden Era.

Making movies/TV shows about the past is as old and as common as just that. Just like futuristic movies/TV shows do the same....they both make money and appeal to those who have that interest. Condemning a generation that makes something for intertainment is not freedom to do so. Don't shoot the messenger but it seems many do just that because they don't like something. Instead of moving on to something they do like, they dwell on what they don't.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That all changed though on Dec 7th................

Well, unless you were Colonel McCormick. Or Ted Williams.

 

[31 Model A]

Well, unless you were Colonel McCormick. Or Ted Williams.

Nobody wants to go off to war, if they do they soon find out how stupid they were, even a soldier is the last person who wants a war. But wars happen and people have to fight in them. I guess I could blame your generation for only being the 1% of the whole populace that now serve the country.....damn!!! I never thought of that or how about obesity that plague or society today, who can that be blamed on??????

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Or Charles Lindbergh. The entry of the US into the war did not diminish his admiration for Germany. Even though he did his part for the war effort he still believed that it was a big mistake for the US to go to war against Nazi Germany.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Or Charles Lindbergh. The entry of the US into the war did not diminish his admiration for Germany. Even though he did his part for the war effort he still believed that it was a big mistake for the US to go to war against Nazi Germany.

The Lone Ostrich didn't take his head out of the sand until he was brought face to face with the horrors of the concentration camps -- and even then he only questioned his beliefs in his private journals. One thing Lindbergh didn't believe in was public "mea-culpa" -- right to the very end of his life he publicly insisted that he was right about his isolationism.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, as far as the World War II draft goes, here's an interesting fact: approximately 300,000 men were reported to Selective Service for draft evasion during that war, and about 15,000 were actually convicted -- with 6,000 of those taking the position of conscientious objection. One out of every six men in Federal prison during the war years was there as a draft evader.

About 209,000 men were considered draft evaders by the Selective Service System during the Vietnam Era, and about 9,000 were convicted.

 

[31 Model A]

Where's the Baby-Boomer blame for today's obesity???


The McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets.Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.

Burger King: No Baby-Boomer here either
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain.

KFC...OOOPS



KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952.

OOOPS!! Here's one started up during the crazed Baby-Boomer time....Not quite fattening food though.

In 1965, Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from friend Peter Buck to start "Pete's Super Submarines" in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and in the following year they formed Doctor's Associates Inc to oversee operations of the restaurants as the franchise expanded. The holding company derives its name from DeLuca's goal to earn enough from the business to pay tuition for medical school, as well as Buck's having a doctorate in physics.Doctor's Associates is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, any medical organization. In 1968, the sandwich shop was renamed "Subway

People are going to do what they want to do, eat what they want, watch and listen to what they want and the only person they can rightfully blame is....themselves, not the government or even a whole....generation.

 

[31 Model A]

Meanwhile, as far as the World War II draft goes, here's an interesting fact: approximately 300,000 men were reported to Selective Service for draft evasion during that war, and about 15,000 were actually convicted -- with 6,000 of those taking the position of conscientious objection. One out of every six men in Federal prison during the war years was there as a draft evader.

About 209,000 men were considered draft evaders by the Selective Service System during the Vietnam Era, and about 9,000 were convicted.

The remaining must had a lawful reason. Just because you say 15,000 were convicted doesn't explain the rest, you leave the reader thinking the rest escaped being caught. Misleading statistic. Same with the Vietnam statistics. One side of my family bought their way out of the Civil war too,.....six times.....totally legal.

 

[31 Model A]

I'd like to also add that the Silents and the Boomers also seem to be the first to throw any "execptionalism" to the wind when they are tested. .

Basically people do not like to be included in a general statement by a person with a shallow mind and goes through life with blinders on. I and hundreds of thousand other Baby-Boomers do not like to be associated along side pot/dope smoking, flag burner hippies which what I've seen here is, one whole generation is to blame for the last three decades of the last century. if so, who's at fault for today????

 

[Dan Allen]

The worse thing for me that came out of the seventies was the unfortunate rise of psychedelic - heavy metal music. I nether appreciated nor understood that music, it being an extension of the hippie movement which I also successfully side stepped. It is very ironic that the one song that reminds me of the time is a piece of that music .
I spent a night in a bunker in Viet Nam during a mortor attack and In-A-Godda-Da Vida was loudly coming from one of the bunkers close by, occasionally accompanied by a incoming round. the whole scene was surreal --almost movie-like. It is strange what can be "burned" into you memory. The only album I own from the 70's is from a type I never listen -with that one exception....strange??

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Basically people do not like to be included in a general statement by a person with a shallow mind and goes through life with blinders on. I and hundreds of thousand other Baby-Boomers do not like to be associated along side pot/dope smoking, flag burner hippies which what I've seen here is, one whole generation is to blame for the last three decades of the last century. if so, who's at fault for today????

I'm not following the context of this post in response to what I said, but I'll address your question. I know whose fault it isn't. The post-Boomer generations have had little power in the past three decades. They've made very little of the decision making. So, I reckon by default it has been the Boomers (my parents) and my grandparents who are responsible for today.

 

[31 Model A]

So, I reckon by default it has been the Boomers (my parents) and my grandparents who are responsible for today.

Politicians have no age limit............some Greatest Generation are still very active in politics all the way down to Generation Y. Fast Food chains were started in the early 50s. If the post -Baby Boomer population never had any power, sounds like a cop-out for not stepping up to the plate, I guess they have been followers all their lives and I wonder how many went to college vs college educated Baby-Boomers, not counting those who served and took the GI Bill.

I think I'll blame the whole state of Maine for the outlandish price of Rock Lobster, especially those who live in Rumford or Farmington. Those people completely destroyed my palette. ..............................

 

[LizzieMaine]

We don't sell rock lobster in Maine. That's an entirely different species. The lobster we sell, good old homarus americanus, costs less than hamburger right now, if you buy it at the boat. If you buy it in a restaurant, boy, are you a chump.

 

[Harp]

I spent a night in a bunker in Viet Nam during a mortor attack and In-A-Godda-Da Vida was loudly coming from one of the bunkers close by, occasionally accompanied by a incoming round. the whole scene was surreal --almost movie-like. It is strange what can be "burned" into you memory.

Charlie dropped in for a few rounds. I couldn't stand that music either.
Ever place Schick razor blades beneath a projectile fuse? Makes a nice incoming musical screech.

 

[Richard Warren]

What was up with that decade?

There was a turning point in western civilization in 1968 when the radical left pretty much did in liberalism.