Why were the 90s so great?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must be white and at least middle class. Probably grew up in a small town or not an east coast city at the least.

People can have different experiences and opinions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must be white and at least middle class. Probably grew up in a small town or not an east coast city at the least.

People can have different experiences and opinions.

Of course - but the op is waxing nostalgic for a particular type of experience. One that urban kids of color likely did not experience at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Technology, more than anything else.

Tech introduced the instantaneous news era with everyone having a smart phone in their pocket. Well into the 1990s technology was something the geeks and dorks did in their basements I actually remember sneering at interest in computers and this weird thing called email because only the dorks seemed to find it interesting and who wanted to stay in a darkened bedroom all day looking at this box thing when you could be out doing stuff with people. And then when cell phones first starting emerging in the very late 1990s, we laughed at the people who rushed to get one because it was so obvious they were slaves to their phones and who wanted to be at beck and call all the time?

As you can infer, I was a cruel and sanctimonious high school kid. But there's truth it it - we lived in a world were you really didn't feel pressured around the clock with constant social media and instantaneous news and the expectations that come with it. If someone wanted to reach you, they called your landline number and you could let it go to the answering machine if you didn't feel like answering. And for kids it meant sharing a phone with your parents and siblings. But today everyone assumes you're available 24/7 with email, phone and texts and if you don't respond within a minute they thing something's wrong or are offended. Things were just more relaxed all around when "news" meant something you watched for half a hour after dinner, not in your face screaming internet headlines and notifications popping into your inbox or phone ceaselessly throughout the day.

There were certainly still pressures of various forms in the 1990s. And typical anxiety. But altogether, the 1990s, particularly after 1992 till 2001, was a period of remarkable peace and a sense of genuine progressive growth to a better and cohesive world. Some people still whine about racism or bigotry, but even in the 1990s we were aware of how much progress had been made compared to a decade earlier and were proud of it. Barriers were falling everywhere, the whole world was opening up and travel was starting to become cheaper and ordinary people could go to more places. Francis Fukuyama's End of History was the prevailing sentiment. In a way, it was nearly the best of liberal democracy.

After 9-11 things really did start changing although it took me a while to realize it. And while I'm appreciative of the improvements in health care and certain technological advantages, on the whole I don't see it better because people aren't happier and we seem much more disunited and divided and the extremes of politics on both the left and right, and I'd argue more the left, have become more authoritarian and angry and less respecting of this casual and relaxed liberal tradition we once took for granted. I'd never thought I'd see the day that papers like the NYT or Washington Post would brazenly lie and justify it in the name of a greater progressive good, whatever that is.

Really don't know what the future will bring. Part of me is hopeful, other parts are not.

Just wait for Facebook meta verse and more ruling class video taped juries for the opposing class. Cutting off your points if you don’t reduce your carbon print. It can get uglier. We will see if the citizens here are open to these ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You must be white and at least middle class. Probably grew up in a small town or not an east coast city at the least.

I suspect most of us grew up in suburbs of all cities across the country. That was where most Americans lived. And statistically, yes, most of us are white because most Americans are white.

It's intriguing to see people treat the recent past aka the 1990s as some horrendous period of oppression because no, it wasn't. Clinton was president for most of the 90s. It was the era of the New Democrats, socially progressive and fiscally conservative. Major strides were made in social tolerance and acceptance. African Americans were producing famous cultural and political figures in this era. Was it perfect? Of course not, but perfection never exists anywhere or at any time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not an unpopular opinion, and it isn’t just millennial childhood nostalgia either. For middle class Americans, it was a decade of stability and predictable economic growth, relative peace and prosperity and common popular culture.


https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/opinion/sunday/the-best-decade-ever-the-1990s-obviously.html

https://www.history.com/news/1990s-the-good-decade

https://www.thedoe.com/narratives/why-the-90s-was-best-decade-ever-a-nostalgic-love-letter

I also think the “good 90s” is part of the reasons why stereotypical white suburban millennials are considered lazy and spoiled. They were raised in good times and were promised good times. Then growing up with the triple whammy of 9/11, the 2008 recession, and the pandemic were repeated waves of being slapped in the face with reality, that life actually sucks, your childhood was a tease and a fluke.

I agree. Good post, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who grew up mainly in the 90s I disagree. My parents were worried by the media sensationalism around kidnappings and I wasn’t allowed to go places on my own as a kid. It was the beginning of the political extremism we see today, women and girls were still marginalized, put down and even assaulted without any consequences. I was repeatedly put down by teachers (mostly male but not all) for being smart and outspoken. I was bullied by other students and no one did anything about it. I developed an eating disorder (very common throughout that decade) and no one did anything about it. I was sexually assaulted twice and no one did anything about it.
And I was an umc white girl with parents who stayed married so I know I had it much much much better than many.

You make me sick

WTF???

[Anonymous]

Crack epidemic
Rape was legal teen movie 16 candles was literally about a rape
It was legal to not hire a woman who was pregnant
HIV was killing people
There were 700 murders in the DMV in 1990, 600 in DC and PG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The music was wayyyyy better. From rap, to hip hop, to hard rock, to alternative. Music was just so damn good. Everything today is just really bad rap/pop. Rock and alternative are essentially dead. Hip hop is no where near as good as the 90s.

Movies were also fantastic. Tons and tons of great movies from the 90s. That goes for shows as well.

The 90s were also mostly peaceful throughout the world. It was also a very prosperous time.

Except for the Gulf War which I remember watching for hours on CNN, that was the beginning of the 24 hour news cycle.

The Gulf War was over in no time, it was a never ending war like Afghanistan. No decade has no war. Overall the 90s were quite peaceful. Compare the 90s to the decades prior during the height of the Cold War. You really didn't worry evry single day that you were about to get nuked by Russia during the 90s. Then when the 2000s rolls around 9/11 happens and you have a 20 year war in Afghanistan and against terrorism all while China keeps rising and stirring up trouble and Russia starts reverting back to the Cold War days under Putin.

Bottom line: Comminism is bad and because the 21st century has been so busy worrying about 9/11, Afghanistan, and Trump we haven't figured that out yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because you were a kid. This isn't hard.

+1 any decade where you had little to no responsibility is better than the current one. Duh.

This. There were problems, major problems, but most of us were kids, and often times being a child and a teen shields you from a lot of the unrest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must be white and at least middle class. Probably grew up in a small town or not an east coast city at the least.

I suspect most of us grew up in suburbs of all cities across the country. That was where most Americans lived. And statistically, yes, most of us are white because most Americans are white.

It's intriguing to see people treat the recent past aka the 1990s as some horrendous period of oppression because no, it wasn't. Clinton was president for most of the 90s. It was the era of the New Democrats, socially progressive and fiscally conservative. Major strides were made in social tolerance and acceptance. African Americans were producing famous cultural and political figures in this era. Was it perfect? Of course not, but perfection never exists anywhere or at any time.

I 100% agree with this, as an AA person who grew up the suburbs in the 1990s, everything doesn't have to be viewed through the lens of the AA underclass every time all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You must be white and at least middle class. Probably grew up in a small town or not an east coast city at the least.

I suspect most of us grew up in suburbs of all cities across the country. That was where most Americans lived. And statistically, yes, most of us are white because most Americans are white.

It's intriguing to see people treat the recent past aka the 1990s as some horrendous period of oppression because no, it wasn't. Clinton was president for most of the 90s. It was the era of the New Democrats, socially progressive and fiscally conservative. Major strides were made in social tolerance and acceptance. African Americans were producing famous cultural and political figures in this era. Was it perfect? Of course not, but perfection never exists anywhere or at any time.

NP
Incorrect. Incorrect af.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The music was wayyyyy better. From rap, to hip hop, to hard rock, to alternative. Music was just so damn good. Everything today is just really bad rap/pop. Rock and alternative are essentially dead. Hip hop is no where near as good as the 90s.

Movies were also fantastic. Tons and tons of great movies from the 90s. That goes for shows as well.

The 90s were also mostly peaceful throughout the world. It was also a very prosperous time.

Except for the Gulf War which I remember watching for hours on CNN, that was the beginning of the 24 hour news cycle.

The Gulf War was over in no time, it was a never ending war like Afghanistan. No decade has no war. Overall the 90s were quite peaceful. Compare the 90s to the decades prior during the height of the Cold War. You really didn't worry evry single day that you were about to get nuked by Russia during the 90s. Then when the 2000s rolls around 9/11 happens and you have a 20 year war in Afghanistan and against terrorism all while China keeps rising and stirring up trouble and Russia starts reverting back to the Cold War days under Putin.

Bottom line: Comminism is bad and because the 21st century has been so busy worrying about 9/11, Afghanistan, and Trump we haven't figured that out yet.

Yea, 100,,000,000 deaths in the 20th due to Communism is pretty bad..

In b4 ',but, but, but that's not real communism!'

[Anonymous]

There was no internet for a start, which may be the the most disastrous invention in history. It existed, but it was nothing like the mess it is now.

It’s hard to overstate the effect of 9/11 and the wars that followed. It transformed our lives in a terrible way. It’s sad to say, but Bin Laden won.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because you were a kid. This isn't hard.

Exactly. If you had a good childhood it’s easy to overlook bigger societal problems.

[Anonymous]

90s were great in the US because SSSR has fallen apart and everyone thought the US has invented some magic formula for a peaceful prosperous country. obviously now we see that liberal democracies are about as stable as communism and we are living through a rapid decline that will end in hyperinflation and bloody civil war at the very least. we can only hope the US does not bring down the rest of the world with it though it seems likely that it will. our worst days are ahead of us!