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Subject: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/24/05 at 10:41 pm

You guys all over the inthe... sites always say how everything before the 90s was perfect and squeaky clean.  How true do you think this is? I know in the early 90s primetime started getting dirty, and today you can see disgusting/controversial stuff on 3rd world tv, but was it really safer??  I mean the 50s and 60s really were low on crime, but is it possible that less people were caught?  Also, the early 80s were very heavy on crime and the early 90s crime wave was really a product of the 80s crack epidemic and Wall Street yuppie greed.  The 70s, from charts I've seen, are worse than any other late 20th century decade (50s-90s).

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: AL-B on 01/25/05 at 4:16 am

Actually, I think kids could get away with a lot more in the 80's than they can now.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: sputnikcorp on 01/25/05 at 6:46 am

i did things that would have put me jail if caught now because the 80s were more submissive (drinking and driving). if people tell you that the 50s and 60s were innocent times, there lying, the crimes weren't reported on the media like they do now. humans have always been violent, no matter what time in history we're in.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Allie Fox on 01/25/05 at 8:06 am

But you do have to admit that things get worse as time progresses.

Even chidren are different these days.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 12:10 pm

Thank you all for your replies.  Fox, I wouldn't say the kids are so much different (I'm one of them) as what we watch on TV and music is.  In the 80s you could get your sex, language, and guts in movies.  Today (unfortunately imo) its on second-rate TV channels.  But today's kids aren't any worse. Columbine was awful, but it was just some dysfunctional kids unlike the norm.

-FHF

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Allie Fox on 01/25/05 at 3:16 pm


Thank you all for your replies.  Fox, I wouldn't say the kids are so much different (I'm one of them) as what we watch on TV and music is.  In the 80s you could get your sex, language, and guts in movies.  Today (unfortunately imo) its on second-rate TV channels.  But today's kids aren't any worse. Columbine was awful, but it was just some dysfunctional kids unlike the norm.

-FHF


I have a 13 year old and she is much more mature than the 13 year olds were when I was growing up (in the 70s/80s).  Kids today have easier access to the things that were strictly taboo then.  The internet and cable and satellite television put nearly everything at ones fingertips.  I have to closely watch everything that she gets into to "shield" her from the things that are so accessible and, in some cases pushed in the face.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 3:23 pm

I have a 13 year old and she is much more mature than the 13 year olds were when I was growing up (in the 70s/80s).  Kids today have easier access to the things that were strictly taboo then.  The internet and cable and satellite television put nearly everything at ones fingertips.  I have to closely watch everything that she gets into to "shield" her from the things that are so accessible and, in some cases pushed in the face.


So the internet's what did it huh?  Interesting.  Do you think today's kids are meaner than Gen X/Boomers?

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Abercrombie86 on 01/25/05 at 3:59 pm

you didn't hear of school shoot-ups as much as you see them today. it might have be best that kids back then had less acess to "taboos" back then. we're in such a hurry to grow up today, its ridiculous.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Allie Fox on 01/25/05 at 4:01 pm


you didn't hear of school shoot-ups as much as you see them today. it might have be best that kids back then had less acess to "taboos" back then. we're in such a hurry to grow up today, its ridiculous.


I agree.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/25/05 at 4:05 pm

Maybe back then kids got away with most stuff but now these days you have kids killing kids & teenage mothers throwing away their babies. >:( You never saw that in the 80's.



Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 4:08 pm

That is true.  Kids hate being kids today.  But they're not a-holes, well at least not more than any other generation.  But yeah, before I was 13 I wanted to be a teen badly.  But now I couldn't care less.  But school shootings?  Could it just be they're more publicized today?

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/25/05 at 4:09 pm


That is true.  Kids hate being kids today.  But they're not a-holes, well at least not more than any other generation.  But yeah, before I was 13 I wanted to be a teen badly.  But now I couldn't care less.  But school shootings?  Could it just be they're more publicized today?





Maybe it's caused by anger and frustration but I could be wrong you know,FHF. ???



Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 4:10 pm

Maybe back then kids got away with most stuff but now these days you have kids killing kids & teenage mothers throwing away their babies.  You never saw that in the 80's.



Howard


True.  But those incidents are very rare.  Perhaps there just wasn't as much information back then (a good thing imo).  But those cases are awful   :\'(  >:(

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 4:13 pm

Maybe it's caused by anger and frustration but I could be wrong you know,FHF.



Howard


Sounds like that may be it.  I really wish they would pull all the sex and violence off tv.  It might not stop crime, but it would make the world seem brighter :)

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/25/05 at 4:14 pm


Maybe back then kids got away with most stuff but now these days you have kids killing kids & teenage mothers throwing away their babies.  You never saw that in the 80's.



Howard


True.  But those incidents are very rare.  Perhaps there just wasn't as much information back then (a good thing imo).  But those cases are awful   :\'(  >:(



what exactly do you mean by as much information? newspaper,computers,radio? ???


Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/25/05 at 4:15 pm


Maybe it's caused by anger and frustration but I could be wrong you know,FHF.



Howard


Sounds like that may be it.  I really wish they would pull all the sex and violence off tv.  It might not stop crime, but it would make the world seem brighter :)



Yes,I agree FulHouse but IMO,there IS way too much of it on television no these days. ::)



Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 4:18 pm

Yes,I agree FulHouse but IMO,there IS way too much of it on television no these days.



Howard

Definitely.  And that's a mean reason I will NEVER feel nostalgic about ANYTHING that's happened in the past 7 years.  Unless things get worse.  :-\\  Darn terrorists, nukes, and oil plants  :-\\

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: mitch1987 on 01/25/05 at 6:11 pm

well I don't know if they were more innocent than now. Things are definitely more reported on now, but I still remember shootings going on in the eighties. I remember a big one at a McDonald's in the early eighties. Even as far as terrorists go ...I remember the hi jacking of airlines throughout the eighties and the terrorist attack on the US barracks in Beruit in 1983. Sadly things haven't changed much. Cable television and the internet just made it easily accessed.
   I do agree that things were less strict back then as a kid. I remember being 13 to 14, going out with a bunch of friends and going into a field close to our home and an Elementary School and target shooting bottles with our 22 rifles. Man if you did that today  :o.....ever police officer in a hundred miles would be there. Its definitely a different world. I think thats why we all love the eighties...it seemed a lot more free back then IMO.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/25/05 at 6:16 pm

well I don't know if they were more innocent than now. Things are definitely more reported on now, but I still remember shootings going on in the eighties. I remember a big one at a McDonald's in the early eighties. Even as far as terrorists go ...I remember the hi jacking of airlines throughout the eighties and the terrorist attack on the US barracks in Beruit in 1983. Sadly things haven't changed much. Cable television and the internet just made it easily accessed.
  I do agree that things were less strict back then as a kid. I remember being 13 to 14, going out with a bunch of friends and going into a field close to our home and an Elementary School and target shooting bottles with our 22 rifles. Man if you did that today  .....ever police officer in a hundred miles would be there. Its definitely a different world. I think thats why we all love the eighties...it seemed a lot more free back then IMO.

Yeah.  People didn't give a rat's a** about guns in the 80s.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Marian on 01/25/05 at 7:44 pm


Maybe back then kids got away with most stuff but now these days you have kids killing kids & teenage mothers throwing away their babies. >:( You never saw that in the 80's.



Howard
:oI think mothers dumping their babies happened more often,they just never found the bodies.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Class of 84 on 01/25/05 at 10:48 pm

Although the 80's were a lot of things to me, I don't consider innocence as one of them. Life was funner, and more laid back, but not squeaky clean by no stretch of the imagination. I, too, target practised with a 22 out back of the school (although we did take off like a bat out of H-E-double- toothpick when we heard sirens!)

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: kairi747 on 01/26/05 at 10:52 am


Although the 80's were a lot of things to me, I don't consider innocence as one of them. Life was funner, and more laid back, but not squeaky clean by no stretch of the imagination. I, too, target practised with a 22 out back of the school (although we did take off like a bat out of H-E-double- toothpick when we heard sirens!)


i agree - the 80's were more carefree and FUN!  there were no BIG political things going on, other than reganomics in the early 80's.  i think things changed a lot when aids became so epidemic.  you can tell a lot about society by the music.  80's songs were about NOTHING!!  They were just fun.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Tanya1976 on 01/26/05 at 10:58 am


Maybe back then kids got away with most stuff but now these days you have kids killing kids & teenage mothers throwing away their babies. >:( You never saw that in the 80's.



Howard


I disagree. It was around in the urban neighborhoods of America. However, no one cared until it hit suburbia. I was referring to violence.

Tanya

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Tanya1976 on 01/26/05 at 11:00 am


i agree - the 80's were more carefree and FUN!  there were no BIG political things going on, other than reganomics in the early 80's.  i think things changed a lot when aids became so epidemic.  you can tell a lot about society by the music.  80's songs were about NOTHING!!  They were just fun.


There were plenty of 80s songs about the state of society and politics. "Sun City", "Do they know it's Christmas?", "Free Nelson Mandela", "Keepn on Rockin' in the Free World", "Born in the USA" (by Bruce Springsteen) and "We are the World" are examples of 80s political songs.

Tanya

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: sputnikcorp on 01/26/05 at 11:41 am


i agree - the 80's were more carefree and FUN!  there were no BIG political things going on, other than reganomics in the early 80's.  i think things changed a lot when aids became so epidemic.  you can tell a lot about society by the music.  80's songs were about NOTHING!!  They were just fun.


no big political things! we had the cold war and the very real possibilty of nuclear armageddon. afghanistan was invaded by the soviets and later would be the cause for the terrorist issues of today. central america almost became another vietnam for the US. and in '89, the berlin wall collapsed, marking the end of the soviet empire. i'd say a lot of big political things happened in the 80s.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/26/05 at 11:44 am

no big political things! we had the cold war and the very real possibilty of nuclear armageddon. afghanistan was invaded by the soviets and later would be the cause for the terrorist issues of today. central america almost became another vietnam for the US. and in '89, the berlin wall collapsed, marking the end of the soviet empire. i'd say a lot of big political things happened in the 80s.

At least you guys didn't have to vote between W and Ketchup Man  ;D



Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: kairi747 on 01/26/05 at 11:45 am


no big political things! we had the cold war and the very real possibilty of nuclear armageddon. afghanistan was invaded by the soviets and later would be the cause for the terrorist issues of today. central america almost became another vietnam for the US. and in '89, the berlin wall collapsed, marking the end of the soviet empire. i'd say a lot of big political things happened in the 80s.


hmmm...i've been proven wrong.  well, i was in college and not living in the real world at the time.  my apologies.  actually, i still live in my own little world.  oh well...  :D

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: McDonald on 01/26/05 at 11:46 am


80's songs were about NOTHING!!  They were just fun.


I'll have to disagree with you on that. I think you might be listening to the wrong stuff if that's the impression you get.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/26/05 at 11:49 am

quote: I'll have to disagree with you on that. I think you might be listening to the wrong stuff if that's the impression you get.  


What the heck is "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" about?  ;D

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Powerslave on 01/26/05 at 12:56 pm

I'm not really sure if you could say the world was more innocent in the 80s. Just look how the decade started: the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Moscow Olympics were boycotted, John Lennon was murdered, and that's just 1980. When people look back on their childhood, it's often with more affection than they look at the world they're in now.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/26/05 at 4:37 pm


I disagree. It was around in the urban neighborhoods of America. However, no one cared until it hit suburbia. I was referring to violence.

Tanya



Maybe Tanya it wasn't out in the open like it is now.



HOWARD

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/26/05 at 4:38 pm


:oI think mothers dumping their babies happened more often,they just never found the bodies.



Maybe they should stuck with abstinence. >:(



Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Chris MegatronTHX on 01/26/05 at 6:05 pm


But you do have to admit that things get worse as time progresses.

Even chidren are different these days.


That's bunk dude.  The kids haven't changed, we've changed.  That concept comes straight out of The Breakfast Club.  Everyone always thinks the present day kids are the worst kids that ever existed.  And all kids like to think they are growing up in a more gritty, more on the edge, and more violent world then anyone before them....it helps with the whole "we're cooler then your generation" bit everyone likes to believe when they are under 22...."because after all, look at all the crazy stuff going on in the country and world that didn't happen back in YOUR day".  When I was a kid growing up in the 80s, I had teachers tell us that back in the 50s and 60s, and even the 70s no one had to lock their doors and everything was safe all the time.  It's so weird to see us say the same thing now.

You get older and realize that the world has always been nearly the same, and there is nothing special about your generation and all the cool technology you thought you were growing up with in the 80s and 90s (that supposedly seperated you from previous generations) won't make a difference in aging and growing up....you will still hit 30 just like your parents did.  It's humbling.

The FCC rules have changed in America, but I don't consider that the death of morality.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Allie Fox on 01/26/05 at 10:07 pm

How have "older people" changed?  If anything, we are the same (I'm pushing 40).  I don't buy the "You have Breakfast Club Syndrome."  First of all TBC is a movie.  Second, it was written by an adult telling the story of the perception of children.  Older folks view the world with the experience of youth.  The basic issues that children face today are the same, acceptance, desire, etc.  In today's world, the media pushes these issues into the open much sooner than they did in the past (I would say up until the birth of the Information Superhighway)

The fact of the matter is, it *is* different. We grew up differently because times were different. Viet Nam and Watergate were fresh in our minds even though many of us were very young. To say that someone who isn't even old enough to remember Reaganomics first-hand would have the same experience is a stretch, in my humble opinion. While we can all get along here out of a shared love of nostalgia, there is a fundamental difference in experience just as there is a fundamental difference between men and women, apples and oranges, cats and dogs, etc. Things are going to have a different meaning to the younger people because they will be experiencing them in a different context. This is not a bad thing at all. It's just what makes us different from each other.


We'll just have to agree to disagree. ;)

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/26/05 at 10:36 pm

Okay  :)

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: dcs84 on 01/27/05 at 1:08 am

In short, yes the 80's was a more innocent era.  But that had more to do with perception than reality.  But when the perception is widespread it becomes reality.  TV shows were tamer, talkshows lacked the trailer park element, bands were often cartoony and flamboyant, and the internet did not exist.

Lets forget about crime (apparently there were twenty times the amount of homocides in the Middle Ages than there are today ) it is not really relevant.  I think what matters is the attitude of the Western individual.  The Western individual today (mind you this is very anecdotal and subjective) tends to be very insular, very self centred, incredibly uniformed, shallow, and with little or no humility.  I believe this is a direct result of the incredible amounts of information todays Western Individuals needs to maintain in order to function in todays society.  Back in the eighties this exponential information growth was only just beginning now it has reached critical overload, it's like George Orwell said "The mind is like an attic with facts being boxes.  The more boxes you shove in the attic the sooner some will be lost out the sides."  And what tends to be lost is the concept of manners and humility IMHO.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: McDonald on 01/27/05 at 12:35 pm


What the heck is "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" about?  ;D


Like I said, you're totally looking in the wrong places. Wang Chung is definitely a party fun time band. You forget Tears for Fears, XTC, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, The Cure, The Smiths, The Pretenders, Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Depeche Mode, U2, etc... I'm sure you know of all these people, and their stuff is quite far from meaningless. Totally seperate from Wang Chung... though I love their song "Dance Hall Days." I think it's their best.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/27/05 at 1:50 pm

^^ I agree with that.  In the 80s you couldn't say sh*t, show crack, or a cut open body on tv.  Today you can't say sh*t w/o it being bleeped out, crack without blurring, but a mutilated body is A-OK.  wtf?  But I think people were even more selfish then?  Yuppies? "Material Girl" (yes I know its anti-greed but still resembles the time)?

^Yeah I know there's genius music from the 80s.  esp. New Wave.  I enjoy Wang Chung too!  ;D

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/27/05 at 2:19 pm


^^ I agree with that.  In the 80s you couldn't say sh*t, show crack, or a cut open body on tv.  Today you can't say sh*t w/o it being bleeped out, crack without blurring, but a mutilated body is A-OK.  wtf?  But I think people were even more selfish then?  Yuppies? "Material Girl" (yes I know its anti-greed but still resembles the time)?

^Yeah I know there's genius music from the 80s.  esp. New Wave.  I enjoy Wang Chung too!  ;D



During the 80's teenage full frontal/partial nudity was just about everywhere.TV,films,movies,etc...Today,you get bleeped or black boxed ::)



Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/27/05 at 2:27 pm

During the 80's teenage full frontal/partial nudity was just about everywhere.TV,films,movies,etc...Today,you get bleeped or black boxed



Howard


Did John Hughes have any of that?  ???

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Howard on 01/27/05 at 2:46 pm


During the 80's teenage full frontal/partial nudity was just about everywhere.TV,films,movies,etc...Today,you get bleeped or black boxed



Howard


Did John Hughes have any of that?  ???



Who's John Hughes? ???


Howard

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/27/05 at 3:20 pm

John Hughes was the guy who wrote/directed The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, the National Lampoon movies, along with others.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: FullHouseFan! on 01/27/05 at 3:21 pm

John Hughes was the guy who directed/wrote Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Lampoon.  And later Uncle Buck, Home Alone, and some others.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Allie Fox on 01/27/05 at 3:39 pm

John Hughes IMdb Profile

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: kairi747 on 01/28/05 at 1:30 pm


I'll have to disagree with you on that. I think you might be listening to the wrong stuff if that's the impression you get.


well, yeah, i probably was listening to "the wrong stuff"

"i eat cannibals, feed on animals"
"she's from New jersey, she wants to be an actress."
buffy, buffy come back to me, why'd you have to go and OD?  what about uncle bill and mrs beasely?

okay, so the stuff i listened to was fun and about nothing and it suited my little la la world at the time.  didn't mean to offend anyone!

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: kairi747 on 01/28/05 at 1:43 pm


Like I said, you're totally looking in the wrong places. Wang Chung is definitely a party fun time band. You forget Tears for Fears, XTC, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, The Cure, The Smiths, The Pretenders, Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Depeche Mode, U2, etc... I'm sure you know of all these people, and their stuff is quite far from meaningless. Totally seperate from Wang Chung... though I love their song "Dance Hall Days." I think it's their best.


sorry, but i can can probably find fun and meaningles songs from all of them.  some were my faveorite 80's bands.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Marty McFly on 03/25/05 at 8:42 am

BUMP

Many good points expressed in this thread.

In short, I think some things in the 80's were a little more innocent seeming (the music was largely happy and carefree sounding) but I'm sure walking around downtown New York City in 1985 would be no safer than 2005 (maybe even on the contrary, since Giuliani cleaned it up in the 90's!).

We didn't have the Internet then, so maybe we just didn't hear about crime as much as now.


That is true.  Kids hate being kids today.  But they're not a-holes, well at least not more than any other generation.  But yeah, before I was 13 I wanted to be a teen badly.  But now I couldn't care less.  But school shootings?  Could it just be they're more publicized today?



One thing I think I can say about the "average" kids of today is that they seem more grown-up and adult like than kids in the 80's (and even 90's) did. In that respect, I think I might've been ahead of my time, LOL. If you hopped in the DeLorean and brought my 7-year-old self to 2005, he'd probably feel more at home with other kids than he did in his home time of 1989. ;)

Seriously though, it strikes me that (from what I remember about my peers, as well as everything I've observed in the time since, or from TV shows, movies, etc) 80's children were more "bratty" but still kid-like, whereas the average kid today is more interested in cool stuff or computers and music. In other words, I think an 8 year-old kid in 1985 would get more amusement out of simple burp or f*rt noises than an 8 year-old kid in 2005.

That's not to say kids today wouldn't find that amusing (I'm 23 and I still find that stuff funny, so that kills my example right there, LOL!!), but in the 80's, that's all that would be needed to entertain them. 2005 kids, I think (just basing it off what I see - I babysit sometimes and I work at the video store, so I'm still around kids) would think something like that, by itself, was lame for entertainment. They still may find it funny, but far less funny 'cause there's more to do now (i.e. the Internet).

That could also be the reason young kids don't seem to like toys and stuff as much anymore.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Xer on 04/03/05 at 1:10 pm

I don't know about you, but growing up my parents were together(still are), I was taught manners, and even though there has always been violence it seems to me that there was a stronger sense of morality.  You knew that you just didn't do some things.  I was one of those that never took drugs in school, or partied, I pretty much had a few good friends.  The only time I did anything remotely like that was in senior year when a few of us stayed over at a friends apartment and drank all night.  Where I live it's a maybe two horse town, and it was safe to stroll the streets, now even here you have to lock the doors.  Yea, then we never locked our doors believe it or not.  I just think there was a higher standard with each generation you go back.  And kids could be kids back then.  there weren't as many lacth-key kids and more stay home moms.  I'm sorry but I'm not a feminist, but I do think Doctor Spock was all messed up.  He's the one that started alot of that junk about child rearing in the 70's when I was born.  My parents like many others still believed in spanking now you say that and you have to defend yourself for doing so.  I think that has alot to do with it.  People are afraid to discipline anymore for fear of getting turned it or something.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Marty McFly on 04/03/05 at 1:34 pm

^ I agree with some of your statement. Some I do not.

I do have (and always have had) some general common sense. I'm not a troublemaker - never been in a physical fight. Only cussed out a teacher maybe 2 or 3 times at all (some kids do it 2 or 3 times a day!) - most of the time, though I'm respectful. If I disagreed with an authority figure, I'd calmy discuss it. Even the arguments with my parents have been minor in comparison and frequency to many of my peers. I've rarely drunk and don't smoke cigarettes. And all this is from me being myself.

That said though, I personally don't agree with your assessment of spanking. I'm not saying there aren't cases that it's worked, or that every parent who'se done it is an awful person - no. But as for me, personally, I don't like it. If/when I have kids I'm not gonna do it (heck, I've often said I'll let their mom take care of the discipline - let me just be the fun dad, LOL!).

At the risk of saying this till I'm blue in the face - everybody is different. I've never been too fond of when people say "my generation/time period was more innocent" or "kids were in my time." I do believe individuals in 2005 are probably ruder/meaner than some individuals in 1975, but I never make generalizations either way - that's a dangerous thing to do in my opinion.

BTW, when I was a kid, I hated the thought of being a kid (wasn't till I was 15 or 16 that it became okay with me - by then I wasn't one anymore so it didn't matter. Hehe). I do believe more kids (notice I said not "all") today are interested in teen/adult stuff at an earlier age than in the past, but so was I. Heck, I was probably 15 years ahead of my time!

And, a 10 year old in 1992 (like, uh, me) was no less bad than what I see of a 10 year-old in 2005. Maybe slightly less "ghetto slang" and all, but I heard the boys say stuff like "S.M.D." (figure it out - I'm not repeating it, lol) as an insult.

On a lighter note, one thing I love about the Back to the Future movies is the moral that, no matter what generation it is, you'll still find the same things as the current time, just in a different form - it's less "different" than people always perceive it to be. Sure, towns will change, fashion and music tastes, TV, world leaders and all that may change, but our parents (and grandparents for that matter) are more like us than we'll ever know, or care to admit. ;D

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: 80smuzikhead on 04/03/05 at 7:25 pm

I think there certainly was alot more censorship in the 80s. Can you imagine an artist like Eminem getting to no.1 in the 80s? I certainly hated being a kid in the 80s. My parents were strict Christians and somewhat snobbish, therefore I was kept from enjoying alot of the fun things that other kids did.
On the other hand, I think that adults were slowly waking up to the fact that you won't keep kids safe by keeping them ignorant. The "It's OK To Say No" campaigne was a big thing at my primary school. It was all about protecting kids from paedophiles and encouraging them to talk with their parents/teachers/the police if something was worrying them. Child abuse was coming out of the closet. Whilst physical and sexual abuse were highlighted, with some shocking cases on TV, other forms, such as emotional and spiritual abuse weren't really discussed until the 90s.
AIDS came on the scene in the 80s and many kids were frieghtened half to death, by the grim reeper-bowling balll ads on TV. How much education there was on the subject is another matter, as some kids were reported to have believed that AIDS could be transmitted by sharing bowling balls! Anti-drug campaigns were starting to happen too, though the ones I was exposed to were pretty week. Kids are no less likely to do drugs because they hear a cheesey song on Young Tallent Time, "I Say No Because I Want To." If however, they ge to see real people whose lives have been ruined or affected by drygs, then they can grow up and make an informed decision.
Kids may be exposed to all of the same dangers today and maybe even some new ones, but they do seem to be more educated about things that could affect them
Dee :-*

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: MarcDaShark on 04/03/05 at 8:36 pm


Thank you all for your replies.  Fox, I wouldn't say the kids are so much different (I'm one of them) as what we watch on TV and music is.  In the 80s you could get your sex, language, and guts in movies.  Today (unfortunately imo) its on second-rate TV channels.  But today's kids aren't any worse. Columbine was awful, but it was just some dysfunctional kids unlike the norm.

-FHF


When I was too young to legally watch porn, we used to have the Playboy channel on cable, but it was all scrambled.  ;D  I'd sit for hours waiting for the pictures to come somewhat straight.  It was annoying as hell, but it was a lot of fun.  And then came the Internet. LOL.  Now that I'm 18, I went to a porn shop and actually found an 80's porn called "Future Sex."  I read the title and laughed because it was anything but futuristic.

Anyway, away from porn talk, I'll definitley agree that 80's television was more innocent.  You guys never had Beavis & Butthead, jac*a**, South Park...all the stupid, funny TV shows that inspired kids like me to act like an idiot. :D


That's all we really wanted in the 90's.  Just some trashy TV shows that expressed the bad side of the world, like Jerry Springer.  We didn't want "Good-boy" TV shows that reminded you to take your vitamins.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: 80smuzikhead on 04/04/05 at 4:33 am

Just one more thing on the subject of porn: I clearly remember riding home on the school bus in around 1985 and passing a major city newsagency. People Magazine was clearly advertised in a window, with a topless girl on the poster -much to the delight of the primary-age boys on the bus! Playboy and other such adult mags weren't sealed in plastic either. Boys as young as 9 were caught reading them in my local newsagency. In Australia, it was the Christian "family" groups that brought much of the current censorship into being.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Xer on 04/04/05 at 8:50 am

Marty,
That's cool that you have a different out look.  I know I probably sounded old fashioned, yet I kind of am in many aspects.
I do believe in spanking, but also believe in being creative too.  My daughter is old enough now that I can take privilages away and that works too.  I do believe in also giving her positive feed back as well.  She and I are close and I've talked with her about everything.  From the time she was little I answered her questions.  I guess I got off track here but I just wanted to say that what I have seen in the news is also a reflection of parents and kids not cummunicating as much.  they need an adult figure in thiers lives and they are seeking acceptance(which is normal) so they go wheree they can find it.  Part of that maybe that most house holds are two income families and most kids are in school, daycare, or such and family time is limited.  Just a thought. :)

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Chrisrj on 04/04/05 at 9:51 pm

I remember this lyric from an Ace of Base album song from their 1995 album, the Bridge(way better than their 1st US album imo):

"Our fathers' fathers say that things were better then,
how easy they forget,
in every page in every book of history,
a thousand tears were shed."

That just seems so true to me.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Sugafairey on 04/05/05 at 9:20 am

being a child of the 80's and a 90's teenager I can see what you mean by 'a more innocent time' for example, we used to play out with our mates all day - there were no mobile phones and our parents had no idea where we were all day but they didn't think that we'd been ubducted or anything - the media has a lot to do with it, i think.

Kids are different now, i think the fact that they are more mature has a lot to do with the TV shows that were around when they were little -for example, the teenagers now had 'Dawsons Creek' when they were young - lots of kids talking about their feelings and lives like adults might. The media that is aimed at kids now does deal with more'issues' as apposed to when we were kids, I can't remember many 'issue' based programmes in the 80's that were aimed at kids, though the 90's seemed to breed it. Now kids have lots of that type of thing, which might be a contributing factor to their maturity and awareness.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: MarcDaShark on 04/05/05 at 10:25 am


being a child of the 80's and a 90's teenager I can see what you mean by 'a more innocent time' for example, we used to play out with our mates all day - there were no mobile phones and our parents had no idea where we were all day but they didn't think that we'd been ubducted or anything - the media has a lot to do with it, i think.

Kids are different now, i think the fact that they are more mature has a lot to do with the TV shows that were around when they were little -for example, the teenagers now had 'Dawsons Creek' when they were young - lots of kids talking about their feelings and lives like adults might. The media that is aimed at kids now does deal with more'issues' as apposed to when we were kids, I can't remember many 'issue' based programmes in the 80's that were aimed at kids, though the 90's seemed to breed it. Now kids have lots of that type of thing, which might be a contributing factor to their maturity and awareness.




I remember Degrassi High and The Wonder Years being "issue" type shows.  But I wouldn't know if those types of shows would be the reason for the behaviour of kids today.  (Even though I sorta like Eminem)  People like him, as well as others I labelled before, have a huge influence on people.  I don't remember there being too many controversial TV shows or music artists being in the 80's.  Although people might have made a big deal about Ozzy or Alice Cooper or something.

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: Sugafairey on 04/05/05 at 10:35 am

Degrassi High? Is that American?

I'm from the UK, btw!

Subject: Re: Were the 80s truly more innocent?

Written By: DevoRule on 04/05/05 at 1:21 pm

FullHouseFan here,

I don't think the 80s WERE more innocent, I think they SEEMED that way.  The 90s probably is somewhere between in the feeling, of anything closer to today.

Would anyone agree that in the 90s controversy was about sex and violence in the media whereas today that stuff is just taken for granted and offensiveness towards certain groups and terrorism is controversial today? 
In the 90s stuff like "Beavis and Butthead" stirred controversy whereas today "South Park" is controversial not for its sexuality, gore, or language, but for its "offensiveness" to certain groups?

In the 80s it was like the 90s except sex and violence in the media wasn't even allowed for the most part.  Apparently the 70s were more lenient than the 80s.

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