We are seeing a lot of "in the 50's things were like this...". How many posters on this board were actually alive in the 50's?
My perception of the 50's is based on three things -- "Back To The Future", "The Outsiders" and what older people have told me. Obviously the movies aren't a proper representation. "What older people say" about that time is definitely not all smiles and sunshine. Sure, maybe in some places and in some neighbourhoods they knew everybody's business, but all I've ever heard was what they knew was who was a drunk, who beat their kids, who cheated on their wives, who was broke, why Mary-Ellen went away for a year. And nobody did anything about it.
It wasn't like Bob from down the street came over to talk to Peggy-Sue's dad because down at the lumberyard he overheard she was failing typing class.
The author of the paper was born in 1981. Her parents were probably born in about 1955. Any impression she has of that decade comes from the movies.
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