Comment by Deprogrammer9
4 days ago
My entire life, we have always been at war. :|
“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.” ― George Orwell
I'm old enough that I grew up (well) before 9/11. Many in my age bracket will describe the 90s as the last great decade. I feel sad for those who are younger who never experienced that world, the world between the Cold War and the War on Terror.
It was a time when you could walk up to the gate in an airport before the TSA. A lot of younger people don't realize that's how it actually was. They think it's one of those things made up for movies.
Houses were cheap. Rent was cheap. Cars were cheap. Gas was cheap. Food was cheap. A friend of mine had college buddies who shared a 4 bedroom house in Iowa for $175/month. Not each. Total. I rented a 2 bedroom apartment close to a train and the city center for a little over $200/month. I lived as a student just fine on $200/week (in 1995), including paying for rent. My degree cost me about $10,000.
The other side of that was the Cold War when we lived under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. I think this was generationally traumatic to people who grew up in the 50s (way before my time) but by the 80s? It wwas like background noise.
There was a lot of optimism with the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern Union. On reflection, much later, I think this was terrible for the world. When the USSR existed as a counter to the US, the US was forced to at least do something for its citizens. The Red Scare destroyed collectivism and the US does things like the War on Terror now and, well, capturing the Venezuelan president, with complete impunity. They're open about it too: it's for oil. A handful of billionaires will get richer as a result of this.
The Big Lebowski is, to me, the most 90s movie of all time and it just gets better with age. Oh, the output of HOllywood in general was amazing in the 1990s. At that time I used to go see movies once or even twice a week. There was always something good on. Goodfellas and Terminator 2 spring to mind.
There just seemed to be more hope then. Now? I feel for anyone who was born after 2000. Crippled with debt with limited prospects of any kind of security. It's just so different to how it was.
EDIT: qualified that the $200/week figure was in 1995, not the 1980s. That's like $430 in today's money by the same inflation calculator.
I am Polish and I was 15 in 1990 when the Berlin Wall fell.
Lately I was thinking if it was only me or my fellow Poles remembering 90s as times of freedom and hope.
Thanks for confirming it is much wider experience and memory.
Competition is good for the private sector and the public sector it seems
yes, i can relate to that. everything went down-the-fucking-hill since then.
but let's not forget the war in Yugoslavia – even in the best of times there were wars.
Important to note here that the $200/week figure from 80s is the same as $830/week today due to inflation [0]. Rent and degrees specifically have gone up a ridiculous amount, yes, but as far as the rest of it goes, most students today would jump at the opportunity of having that much disposable income.
[0] https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Is there a job you can work as a student in Iowa that pays $830/week net in 2026? (I'm from the UK and have no idea about such salaries)
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Not to be that guy who always turns up and points out things aren't that bad, but you can easily rent a 5 bedroom home in Iowa for quite a bit less than 830 / week ($3300 / month) today.
5 bedroom home currently goes for about $2400 / month on Zillow.
I have to think part of the issue is that people no longer want to live in Iowa / LCOL and now prefer NYC / HCOL.
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> the world between the Cold War and the War on Terror.
Wasnt US involved in Iraq and Bosnia? ( I dont want to google it)
> When the USSR existed as a counter to the US
The new counter is China, the US seems to be taking AI seriously, they dont want China to win.
I believe the Jesus Jones song, "Right Here, Right Now" has become an ironic commentary on Gen X; in that brief moment in the 90's when we thought the nuclear sword of Damocles dangling over all of us had finally been cut down...
Not a great song, but one that expresses the zeitgeist in a pretty succinct way.
We thought that we were at the cusp of a new era... one where we could overcome the injustices of the past and author a future based on the best version of ourselves.
In the end, Gen X never even got a chance to start; we watched from the sidelines as geriatric Boomers clung (and still cling) to power -- leaving less and less of that (ever more naive) dream behind.
"Right here, right now,
there's no other place I'd rather be.
Right here, right now,
watching the world wake up from history."
The song hasn't aged well & has become a cloy reminder of that time and what we didn't become.
90s Hollywood was immense man. With you there!
"The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. Oceania was at war with Eurasia; therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. On the sixth day of Hate Week... it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally."
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. [...] We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."
“Big Brother is Watching You.”