I wonder why this was? There was plenty of things to be upset about. The arms race, record homelessness, AIDS, crack and the farming crisis. This stuff was certainly addressed, but there was very little major protesting going on like there was in the 60s, early 70s, early 00s, mid-10s and now.

I was there.  Hardly anybody was interested in protesting in the 1980's.  The Vietnam war, the main reason for 60s/70s protesting, was over.  Racism was certainly still around but by and large the needed laws were already (mostly) on the books, and things were improving.  There were a few protests like "Save the whales", PETA, "No Nukes", and protests about global matters like Apartheid.  But nothing like today (or the late 60's for that matter).  Moreover "protesters" as individuals didn't fit the corporate culture which was oh so important in the 80's (ala, "Dress for Success" which predated "Casual Friday", a more or less 90's phenomenon). 

Tiananmen Square in 1989, probably one of the most famous protests of the 1980s. The protests started on April 15 and were forcibly suppressed on June 4 when the government declared martial law and sent the People's Liberation Army to occupy central parts of Beijing.

I was there. The 80s were the antithesis of the 60s and 70s. The pendulum had swung. People were very pro-America in the 80s. Nobody had to say "make America great again". People already believed it. It was the jingoistic Reagan era with movies like "Top Gun". A far cry from innovative movies like "Easy Rider" from the golden age of "new Hollywood" in the 60s and 70s. In ten short years from George Harrison spiritually pleading for deliverance from the "material world" by "the Lord Sri Krishna's grace" in 1973's classic "Living In the Material World" we had gone to the hedonistic Madonna celebrating being a "material girl".  The last thing anybody felt like doing was protesting. Not to mention it wasn't "hip" to protest. Such people were seen as leftover hippies. Never underestimate the supply of "day trippers' who just protest because "it's the thing to do" without any real conviction. We see a lot of those types today as well. The suburban white kids running into the burning cities, throwing a bandana on their face to "protest" for a weekend then running home to mumsy and daddy's beautiful suburban home.

I still don't get the not-yet-born people here who have this love of the 80s. I mean, I was there. It was just...EMPTY.

The first episode of Family Ties says it all, where Alex is ready to conform back to traditional values. You also didn't have the Internet yet speeding the spread of the hysteria. You still had conservative KKK rallies, but the minorities would tend to be more silent with their reactions with a "just let it be" type of attitude. Everyone was all worried about violent crime, nuclear attacks from the USSR, and the war on drugs, and this came at a time where suburban living was at its pinnacle, with suburbs not nearly as "urbanized" as they are today. Threads like this shows the relative calm of the 1980s, and people weren't afraid about having a good time!

Remember, there were plenty of '60s and '70s babies who had a fascination with the 1950s back then (another decade without much protest culture), even in rose-tinted terms.

In the U.K. there were several peace marches organised by CND and also the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (protesting at  Cruise missiles being installed in the U.K.)

There were also two March for Jobs in the U.K., one in 1981 that marched from Liverpool to London and the other in 1983 from Jarrow to London, in part marking the 50th anniversary of the Jarrow March. I remember this one coming through my town.

There was also various race riots in cities across the country in the mid 80s

In the U.K. there were several peace marches organised by CND and also the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp (protesting at  Cruise missiles being installed in the U.K.)

There were also two March for Jobs in the U.K., one in 1981 that marched from Liverpool to London and the other in 1983 from Jarrow to London, in part marking the 50th anniversary of the Jarrow March. I remember this one coming through my town.

There was also various race riots in cities across the country in the mid 80s
Were there protest marches during the Miner's Strike?

I recall a nurse's strike too?

Were there protest marches during the Miner's Strike?

I recall a nurse's strike too?


I don’t know. Leicestershire miners didn’t really go on strike for some reason. I have half an idea that there was a short national strike as part of this. I remember my dad been on a local picket line for a couple of days.

I don’t know. Leicestershire miners didn’t really go on strike for some reason. I have half an idea that there was a short national strike as part of this. I remember my dad been on a local picket line for a couple of days.
I have an image from television of Arthur Scargill, the Miner Union Leader, walking with miners.

I have an image from television of Arthur Scargill, the Miner Union Leader, walking with miners.


The Wikipedia page shows a picture of some sort of march, but I couldn’t find any information

The Wikipedia page shows a picture of some sort of march, but I couldn’t find any information

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Miners_strike_rally_London_1984.jpg/440px-Miners_strike_rally_London_1984.jpg
Miners' strike rally in London, 1984


I have an image from television of Arthur Scargill, the Miner Union Leader, walking with miners.
An image like this...

https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-1500/3923833a/72838018/arthur-scargill-leader-of-the-n-u-m-on-the-picket-line-at-ollerton-colliery-during-the-miners-strike-shutterstock-editorial-3923833a.jpg

I was there. The 80s were the antithesis of the 60s and 70s. The pendulum had swung. People were very pro-America in the 80s. Nobody had to say "make America great again". People already believed it. It was the jingoistic Reagan era with movies like "Top Gun". A far cry from innovative movies like "Easy Rider" from the golden age of "new Hollywood" in the 60s and 70s. In ten short years from George Harrison spiritually pleading for deliverance from the "material world" by "the Lord Sri Krishna's grace" in 1973's classic "Living In the Material World" we had gone to the hedonistic Madonna celebrating being a "material girl".  The last thing anybody felt like doing was protesting. Not to mention it wasn't "hip" to protest. Such people were seen as leftover hippies. Never underestimate the supply of "day trippers' who just protest because "it's the thing to do" without any real conviction. We see a lot of those types today as well. The suburban white kids running into the burning cities, throwing a bandana on their face to "protest" for a weekend then running home to mumsy and daddy's beautiful suburban home.

I still don't get the not-yet-born people here who have this love of the 80s. I mean, I was there. It was just...EMPTY.


Everything you stated was very true, especially the the last paragraph. Even though, I appreciate some of the stuff that came out of the 80s, they really do look like a vapid, soulless and shallow decade. My uncle born in 1973 should be nostalgic for the 80s but, he thought they sucked and much prefers the 90s (this was back in 1999 and his opinion still hasn't changed haha). It does definitely seem that the 90s brought back something that was present in the 60s and 70s but, missing in the 80s.

Also, I guess it's the current pop culture which has sparked a lot of interest in the 80s, with TV shows such as Stranger Things (a show that I do actually like). Another reason too, is the rose-tinted nostalgic Gen X people that seem to only remember a glorified version of the 80s but, they completely forget about all the crappy stuff about that decade (which was quite a lot). Because of these nostalgic people, the 80s have gotten a lot more exposure to the mainstream and young people have grown an interest of the decade and started to romanticise it (considering that these nostalgic people seem to hype it up as this "cool, perfect time").

I like a lot of the music of the eighties, but it was a hideous time to be an adult. In the U.K. we started the 1980s with mass unemployment and by the end of the eighties with sky high house prices and mortgage interest rates. Thankfully by the time I was doing such adult things as buying a house things had calmed down.

I like a lot of the music of the eighties, but it was a hideous time to be an adult. In the U.K. we started the 1980s with mass unemployment and by the end of the eighties with sky high house prices and mortgage interest rates. Thankfully by the time I was doing such adult things as buying a house things had calmed down.
"Maggie Maggie Maggie, out out out"

There were plenty of protests in East Germany against the regime in the late 80ies which subsequently toppled the communists and reunified Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday_demonstrations_in_East_Germany

Everything you stated was very true, especially the the last paragraph. Even though, I appreciate some of the stuff that came out of the 80s, they really do look like a vapid, soulless and shallow decade. My uncle born in 1973 should be nostalgic for the 80s but, he thought they sucked and much prefers the 90s (this was back in 1999 and his opinion still hasn't changed haha). It does definitely seem that the 90s brought back something that was present in the 60s and 70s but, missing in the 80s.


What an absolute load of bullsh1t to believe to prefer the nondescript 90s.  ::) In honesty I think protest culture was also quite absent in the late 70s as well as perhaps the end of the Vietnam War and the fallout signified an air of defeat and that was a moment 60s/70s protest culture had run its course at least in the US. I get the impression that in America 1976 being Bicentennial year and a new president felt like a case of cutting all ties with the turbulent nature of the rest of the decade and moving on to something a bit more stable.

What an absolute load of bullsh1t to believe to prefer the nondescript 90s.  ::) In honesty I think protest culture was also quite absent in the late 70s as well as perhaps the end of the Vietnam War and the fallout signified an air of defeat and that was a moment 60s/70s protest culture had run its course at least in the US. I get the impression that in America 1976 being Bicentennial year and a new president felt like a case of cutting all ties with the turbulent nature of the rest of the decade and moving on to something a bit more stable.


It is correct that protest was largely absent from the late 70s, once the Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975. People were burnt out after the war. There was some "no nukes" protest activity in the late 70s, including the famed "No Nukes" concerts in 1979 featuring Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills & Nash and a host of others.

What an absolute load of bullsh1t to believe to prefer the nondescript 90s.  ::) In honesty I think protest culture was also quite absent in the late 70s as well as perhaps the end of the Vietnam War and the fallout signified an air of defeat and that was a moment 60s/70s protest culture had run its course at least in the US. I get the impression that in America 1976 being Bicentennial year and a new president felt like a case of cutting all ties with the turbulent nature of the rest of the decade and moving on to something a bit more stable.


It really depends on personal preference over which decade people prefer, my uncle prefers the 90s, other older relatives prefer the 80s and I think both decades are overrated lol.

Protest culture was pretty much gone after Vietnam really.

It really depends on personal preference over which decade people prefer, my uncle prefers the 90s, other older relatives prefer the 80s and I think both decades are overrated lol.

Protest culture was pretty much gone after Vietnam really.


Protest that made any real SENSE was pretty much gone after Vietnam. Protests in recent years, starting with that foolish and ill-fated "Occupy Wall Street" of some years ago are leaderless, chaotic, ill-defined and LACKING IN COMMUNAL DIRECTION. Make no mistake, those Vietnam-era protests had a big hand in finally ending that war once and for all. But I don't see today's protests, with their incoherence of ideology, achieving much except chaos and negativity. Which just may be the goal of them.

I was there. The 80s were the antithesis of the 60s and 70s. The pendulum had swung. People were very pro-America in the 80s. Nobody had to say "make America great again". People already believed it. It was the jingoistic Reagan era with movies like "Top Gun". A far cry from innovative movies like "Easy Rider" from the golden age of "new Hollywood" in the 60s and 70s. In ten short years from George Harrison spiritually pleading for deliverance from the "material world" by "the Lord Sri Krishna's grace" in 1973's classic "Living In the Material World" we had gone to the hedonistic Madonna celebrating being a "material girl".  The last thing anybody felt like doing was protesting. Not to mention it wasn't "hip" to protest. Such people were seen as leftover hippies. Never underestimate the supply of "day trippers' who just protest because "it's the thing to do" without any real conviction. We see a lot of those types today as well. The suburban white kids running into the burning cities, throwing a bandana on their face to "protest" for a weekend then running home to mumsy and daddy's beautiful suburban home.

I still don't get the not-yet-born people here who have this love of the 80s. I mean, I was there. It was just...EMPTY.

It's largely just the nostalgia factor, I mean we see all these cool 80s movies in pop culture and all that jazz and just wish we were alive back then bc the present seems so bleak :D

Most of the people who protested in the '60s & '70s were young people-people who were more affected by the policies, like the war draft, etc. By the time the '80s rolled around, most of those people were raising families and didn't have time or were too tired to protest. The newer generation didn't have any major grievances and didn't feel the need to protest. Much of the activism in the '80s were for humanitarian causes like U.S.A. for Africa & such.

However, the powers that be in the '80s (namely the Reagan Administration) made a pivot in the American mindset-the government was the enemy and made changes that effected ALL OF US-i.e. lower income & benefits and higher cost of living, lower tax rates for the wealthy & corporations (as they said in the movie Wall Street, "Greed is good.") So the U.S. Government started building this house of cards that has collapsed upon itself in the last few years and now people are fed up with the status quo and are protesting.



Cat   

Arthur Scargill, the Miner Union Leader, is a symbol of how things had changed. The unions arrogantly thought they could see off Maggie and continue to cause chaos and paralyse whole industries as they had for years. The unions had abused their legal powers so it was right to take them away. No one should be forced to be a member of a union in order to be employed and no one is a “scab” if they refuse to obey a union THAT THEY ARE NOT A MEMBER OF.

I was there. The 80s were the antithesis of the 60s and 70s. The pendulum had swung. People were very pro-America in the 80s. Nobody had to say "make America great again". People already believed it. It was the jingoistic Reagan era with movies like "Top Gun". A far cry from innovative movies like "Easy Rider" from the golden age of "new Hollywood" in the 60s and 70s. In ten short years from George Harrison spiritually pleading for deliverance from the "material world" by "the Lord Sri Krishna's grace" in 1973's classic "Living In the Material World" we had gone to the hedonistic Madonna celebrating being a "material girl".  The last thing anybody felt like doing was protesting. Not to mention it wasn't "hip" to protest. Such people were seen as leftover hippies. Never underestimate the supply of "day trippers' who just protest because "it's the thing to do" without any real conviction. We see a lot of those types today as well. The suburban white kids running into the burning cities, throwing a bandana on their face to "protest" for a weekend then running home to mumsy and daddy's beautiful suburban home.

I still don't get the not-yet-born people here who have this love of the 80s. I mean, I was there. It was just...EMPTY.


Cities not being fire, street warfare, assassinations, and endless rioting and looting and long hot summers with nearly daily bombings in every major city by "heroic" leftist groups, and dead kids on College campuses as you had in the "soulful" and "real" late 60s and early 70s....Pass. Not my idea of a good time. Girls running away from home to get used and passed around by every filthy hippie in the name of "Free Love" and all that idealistic acid and grass crap. Pass.

My parents were both born in 1954. Both were in very heavy agreement that the 1970s absolutely sucked and was nothing but turbulence, and both agreed that the 1980s was, in retrospect, the best times of their lives, culturally and otherwise. My sisters, born in 1972, 1973, and 1980, miss the 80s, too.

I'll take the "empty" 80s, as such.

Everything you stated was very true, especially the the last paragraph. Even though, I appreciate some of the stuff that came out of the 80s, they really do look like a vapid, soulless and shallow decade. My uncle born in 1973 should be nostalgic for the 80s but, he thought they sucked and much prefers the 90s (this was back in 1999 and his opinion still hasn't changed haha). It does definitely seem that the 90s brought back something that was present in the 60s and 70s but, missing in the 80s.

Also, I guess it's the current pop culture which has sparked a lot of interest in the 80s, with TV shows such as Stranger Things (a show that I do actually like). Another reason too, is the rose-tinted nostalgic Gen X people that seem to only remember a glorified version of the 80s but, they completely forget about all the crappy stuff about that decade (which was quite a lot). Because of these nostalgic people, the 80s have gotten a lot more exposure to the mainstream and young people have grown an interest of the decade and started to romanticise it (considering that these nostalgic people seem to hype it up as this "cool, perfect time").


Yeah I definitely blame Gen X for people like that, especially a certain user who always hypes up both of those decades despite not having lived through them and acts older then what they are. Truly I’m getting 80s/90s fatigue