Originally Posted by Pinchshot (Post 17173831)

Boomers are the last good generation. Our parents were the last great generation.

The 70s and 80s were fantastic.

Originally Posted by Pinchshot (Post 17173831)

Boomers are the last good generation. Our parents were the last great generation.

The 70s and 80s were fantastic.

Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush (Post 17173908)

That would make "The Greatest Generation" the worst generation, because they were the first generation in the 20th century to raise a "worse" generation than theirs. The Baby Boomers would then be the second generation to fail their descendants.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with that, but if you believe each generation is worse than the last, the blame should be pointed at the generation that started the downward trend.

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief (Post 17173300)

Arcades at the mall... Loved me some Track and Field, Xcite-a-bike, and many others...

Also, Malls were king and packed. Karmel Korn, the Movie Theatre and the iconic Record Store.

Originally Posted by cdcox (Post 17173806)

I enjoyed growing up during that time frame. I would wander the woods in the late ‘60s all day. Play football in the neighborhood. Ride bikes everywhere. Kids would bring rifles into high school. My college years were among the most fun years of my life. But this idyllic view ignores a ton of reality.

1. The AIDS epidemic that emerged in ‘82-‘84 had far more to do with the end of the sexual revolution than Anita Baker did in 1991. Big Daddy’s experiences aren’t really relevant to 98% of the population because he boasted of his swinging lifestyle on CP well into the 2000s. No judgement, but his experience is an outlier.

2. How many people does our generation know that died from the freedom of being able to drink and drive when it was socially acceptable? A guy in my Boy Scout troop dead at 22. A guy in my wife’s HS class of less than 100 died before graduating. My college roommate killed someone drunk driving. Me and my college roommates had too many stupid moments.

3. How many rape victims do you know from that time period? Considering that 1 in 6 women are raped, it is not hard to know of several.

4. I was on a church youth group camping trip. One of the “older” girls went off with some older guy outside of our group for the night. Titillating gossip at the time. She was probably 15 or 16 years old and the dude she went off with was probably 18-22. I just can’t believe that was a positive experience for her. I’m not a prude but I suspect that ‘70s freedom was not a net positive in her life.

5. I played a game of chess in 8th grade against a kid (excuse the use of gender neutral pronouns) wearing nail polish in a conservative suburban school district in the mid-70s. I didn’t know them well, but I can’t imagine their life was easy and that they decided to wear nail polish on a whim. From their overall demeanor I would take all bets at 10:1 odds they were a trans girl.

6. Why were there not more LGBTQ people from earlier generations, you ask? 1) they were repressed and 2) the died of AIDS in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Don’t act stupid and pretend you didn’t know that you had LGBTQ classmates. I was way outside of any social circle and the rumors still made their way to me. There have always been LGBTQ people, but haters are mad about them not staying in their closet where they belong.

7. Bullying sucked. Personal experience. Smart, socially awkward, skinny, and different opinions filled my bingo card.

8. Middle aged guy in my parent’s neighborhood riding his bike casually, crashes and ends up disabled due to brain injury. But at least he didn’t look like a dork by wearing a helmet.

9. A friend in our early 20s social circle got hit by a car crossing the street. 6 mo recovery and still never the same. He used to be a great guy to hang out with and became paranoid , unapproachable, and unable to lead a normal life. That led me to a life long vow: do whatever I can to reduce risk of a brain injury to me or my loved ones. I’m not living in a bubble but yes, I am extra sensitive to situations where I may get a brain injury.

10. Kid in my high school has a “gun cleaning accident”. Everyone knew it was suicide but no one knew why.

11. I got into music and had a mid-range stereo system ( reciever, speakers, turntable, and tape deck) that I probably had $600 invested in. An equal amount in records. With my phone, a $350 Bluetooth speaker and $11 per month I can access virtually all music in the universe that sounds better. This ignores 45 years of inflation.

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief (Post 17173931)

lighten up francis...

Originally Posted by Graystoke (Post 17172608)

I am biased, but I loved growing up in the 70's and 80's.
Such a simple time.
I'm going to list the top ten things about being a kid from that generation.

1. Parents didn't care what you did. As long as you weren't near the house, and the cops or neighbors didn't complain, it was all good. I don't think my folks ever came to one baseball game of mine and neither did the other parents. I am sure now they were home enjoying time away from us kids. Helicopter parents did not exist.
2. We played real games. We didn't have computer war simulators. Problem solved, lets play war outside. We climbed dangerous shit, made forts and often ****ed around and found out. Lessons learned everyday.
3. We fixed our own shit. If our bike got busted we went to Western Auto with our own paper route money, got the parts and fixed that shit. We did not fear tinkering with things.
4. Feelings??? WTF. The last thing I would ever do is talk to my parents about feelings. This is the correct way.
5. Everybody smoked! Including us! If we couldn't get the real cigs we substituted with candy cigs.
6. Our toys were dangerous as ****. Lawn Darts, Clackers and Shrinky Dinks. Our Toys were deadly.
7. They never cancelled school for weather. And that just meant the walk to school and the walk home would be an epic adventure. Snowballs, Hookie-bobbin..sweet Jesus it was fun.
8. Adults were allowed, and encouraged, to beat the shit out of you. Man you had to watch you P&Q's as there was an enforcer around every corner. I had more neighborhood Moms and Dads kick my ass then I care to remember.
9. Porn was printed and if you searched for it you could find it. Show that shit to your friends and the talk about touching boobs was simply exquisite.
10. Candy was real. It was big, it was tasty and it was cheap.

Originally Posted by The Franchise (Post 17173937)

Yeah god forbid he talked about how everything wasn't ****ing roses.

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief (Post 17173017)

Really? She was the only one who ever said anything bad about Clarence Thomas and he had a stellar reputation. Weird? Do you really think he said something about a pubic hair on a pop can?

Originally Posted by IowaHawkeyeChief (Post 17173955)

Hey dipshit... That's an 80's movie reference...

Originally Posted by cdcox (Post 17173806)

The AIDS epidemic that emerged in ‘82-‘84 had far more to do with the end of the sexual revolution than Anita Baker did in 1991. Big Daddy’s experiences aren’t really relevant to 98% of the population because he boasted of his swinging lifestyle on CP well into the 2000s. No judgement, but his experience is an outlier.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 17173977)

I left Springfield Missouri at 18 and spent the 1977-1985 years traveling the USA and the world.

Needless to say, it was a different era. I could get laid in every town I visited. Not because I'm so hot, it was just different back then. AID's wasn't a real threat to the hetro population until 84-85. There would be orgy's going on in the middle of the day on the European nude beaches.

The $ was the strongest it ever was. I could stay in a hostel in the middle of a major city for $3. So so many women wanted to marry my passport that they threw themselves at me. I definitely took advantage of that situation.

When I came back to the states in 85 I changed all that behavior.

Originally Posted by LoneWolf (Post 17173997)

Hey look, everybody. BRC got laid. Like a bunch of times in European orgies on the beach.

Originally Posted by BigRedChief (Post 17174008)

Never did the orgy thing. Not my cup of tea.