... I would go as far as saying late 70s early 80s were pretty great..jobs were easier to come by..and most paid more than minimum wage...rent was affordable...almost anyone could buy a house...five dollars would get smokes, gas and beer on Friday night...kids could walk almost anywhere without looking over their shoulders in fear of being hurt or worse...movies were imaginative and entertaining an R rated movie was a boob shot..porn was hard to fall into the hands of children and child porn was barely heard of and appalling ...music was pleasant to listen to..not just the f word and promoting sex with whoever and promoting drugs and crime..people went to parks and events as families...socializing with people wether at a club or potluck was common place..parents were allowed to discipline children without going to jail...jails were for people who were a threat to others..people were innocent until proven guilty...news was the news not a reporters opinion...technology was beyond the reach of average people and we had to use our own minds and hands to create things...if someone hurt your feelings..you learned to have tougher skin..the phone stayed home.. I could go on but I will spare you all...oh yeah...and we had some bad *** cars..yup it was some great times for sure...but then that's how it was in my hometown..

not just black americans

'great' times when women were oppressed

'great' times when native americans were oppressed

,,,there are many demographics who have had a pretty awful time of it during those 'great' days of yesteryear,,,,

they have not unlearned the prejudice yet as long as past grievances
get brought up especially when those guilty of said grievances are
no longer viable said grievances will continue and be multiplied

just human nature

only if you believe the SYSTEM is no longer 'viable'


it was the 'system' what was guilty of grievances,, directly and bluntly

and today, that system is still 'viable' with more subtle ways of maintaining the status quo created by those grievances

a system is only as good as the people that run it and those people
surely dont like being blamed for things they where not a part of

and if they are elected people organize and vote them out but throwing the past in peoples faces does not fix the issue it makes it worse

Many times throughout history.
We were so great the French gave us a huge statue to celebrate how great we were.

Many countries looked to us for innovation and invention and representing a great ideal.


That's like a child saying "what's so great about family? You have to deal with the insecurity of dating, you can get dumped any time, you have to pay for this huge ceremony that leads to losing half your stuff if it fails, and you might have kids that do nothing but eat, poop, and disappoint you, especially as teens. Why is family so great? Why do people want to preserve family values? Why do people think children are the future? People have awful times when they're part of a family."

blame is never the point

correction is

..black people had soul train and were pimpin' as they say...native Americans were getting checks and a nice chunk of land..and us ladies we had some amazing freedoms..the refugees were the Cambodians and they got housing and cars...the 70-80 backstep would be pretty cool to me...the people had a very strong bond despite our differences...sorry but most anyone who lived it ...loved it..!

I mostly agree. The 80's we were lied to time and time again and we loved it. So mommy needs to work. Daddy is lazy.

perspective is a interesting thing

for every person who remembers a time with 'nostalgia' , I can find one who lived it and had quite a different experience,,,

maybe, most anyone you know who lived it,,,,



but each of us know only a small part of the population......

Back in the 70s, my dad used to tell us, "If you are going to complain about it, offer a solution".

What is the solution to your issues?

Most anyone that lived in the 50s,60s, & 70s has quite a lot of references to the USA being a Great Nation. Anyone that has experienced life long enough also knows injustices exist at all perceived levels.

Compared to what I have seen in other countries I still feel the USA is great. Sure there is strife but there is always some kind of strife in society.

It is a personal mindset that feeds the negativity.
If I am looking for a certain style of button, all I will see is buttons.
If I am looking for discrimination, all I will see is discrimination.
If I am looking for failure, all I will find is failure.

For over 100 years slavery has been against the law in the USA. In this country people are no longer classed as slaves. Those that endured the slavery are no longer alive. The anger the black population expresses is anger over something that no one alive today has experienced.
The anger is taught and perpetuated in the families and communities of the people as a form of remembrance. It is a negative lesson which yields negative results. When you look for oppression, all you will see is oppression.
Until recently, again the last 100 years, women were treated as home keepers and child raisers. Women were the bond of the family. As women shake off those old customs and leave the position of homemaker the families are impacted. Old customs give way to new. Some are better and some are worse. It depends on what you are considering in your judgement.

To make the USA great again requires new thinking. It can't go back to the way it was and I think that is a good thing. The solution needs to be a way to repair the moral fortitude of the family. This will give each person a fresh, positive outlook.

I agree, the thinking needs to be more 'unified',, thats a task we have always needed work on though


but to address something else you posted, I think this: The anger is taught and perpetuated in the families and communities of the people as a form of remembrance.



may be true in some instances,, that 'anger' is taught

but in many instances, caution and history are taught instead,, as they should be, truth is people always assume SLAVERY is the only thing blacks are 'angry' about but after slavery there was jim crow,,

that period of slavery lasted from 1619 to 1865, and the reversal of suppression of black votes didnt happen until 1965

that was just 50 odd years ago,, some ARE still alive that lived through those days of legal discrimination

so, when we speak of a US which was on independent of brittain since 1776 (240 years) and a prevailing supremacist CULTURE and MINDSET that existed in its framework for 275

it is wise to teach caution and history, because that culture only was able to exist because of a mindset, and the EFFECTS of a culture that deeply engrained in a society lingers even AFTER its original culprits have passed, not to mention, as you said,,beliefs and feelings are 'passed' down


I agree that anger is not something to pass down, I also believe knowing history and its effects, and knowing the traditions and cultures of where you live is something to teach

Agreed. Well written.

There is too much discrimination but there is less of it except when it is fed by the media. I see many people perched on the edge of a knife when I go out in the community. Just one more thing and they are going to explode.
Personal stress is rampant. Drama fills minds and clouds reasoning. The anger is real. It is perpetuated by the media and social networking. People take everything they read, watch or hear like it is a personal assault on them.
Teaching someone to not be angry is not as important as teaching them when to be angry and how to handle that anger.

I see the media as sometimes feeding the anger but also shining a spotlight o whats already there.


Personal coping seems to be a skill that is not very well promoted or taught in the age of 'instant' everything, people do seem to have much less patience and expect everything with unreasonable time frames,,,,

I do miss when 'family 'was a running theme in our media and society, before it was replaced with the current 'ME< ME < ME' theme

In my opinion, even within my own culture, people moved up and then forgot where they came from, when UNITY suffered in our own neighborhoods, when our families gave in to the 'mainstream' cultures of egotism and materialism,,,,we lost alot,,,,

I think we need to remember the failures and atrocities and injustices as much as the idealistic 'good ole days', so that we don't risk regressing instead of progressing


As well as Casey at the Bat and If(by Rudyard Kipling), the serenity prayer was also a regular recital in our home:

What about my tomatoes?

...probably so...in my case I was traveling and seeing the states..travel was affordable too...it was great in Montana,Washington, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts and WestHampton beach New York...to name a few...seemed like I met a lot of happy people...lower middle class... I never had money..just good times..

The "make America great again" meme, is pure propaganda/politics, from inception on.

The TRUE thing to realize, is that the phrase itself, has NEVER been attached to a definition of either what "great" means, or what time in America's past it refers to.

The goal in saying it, and the reason for the positive response to it, is ENTIRELY about the PERCEPTION of "greatness." Nothing more than that.

Take the person somewhere above, who entirely falsely claims that Obama personally caused American greatness to go away. That obviously insane kind of thinking, is the direct result of successful propagandizing by various opponents of the previous administration, who were ironically in near complete disagreement with each other, both about what Obama was and wasn't doing, as well as about what "America" needed to do differently. That is why they defeated each other in the Republican Primaries, and the party defaulted to Trump.

Someone mentioned the most commonly referenced time, the late fifties and early sixties, as being a time when America was "great." What's actually true, is that that was a time when America was at it's most fatuously self-deluded.

American working class wealth was at it's relative highest, but not because we were doing everything right, or even doing it all well. American industrial prowess was actually in decline, and the US was beginning to fall behind Europe and Japan technologically, because American business leaders were putting all their energies and investments in to leaching as much profit out of existing technologies and products that they could, rather than investing in modernizing factories, utilizing advanced concepts, or making the economic adjustments needed to prepare for post-world-war-two recovery of the rest of the world's industries.

American Self-worshiping propaganda was still in World War two mode, and continued to reinforce the idea that we were inherently magical, and were successful because we were God's Chosen, rather than because we got tremendous free use of European research and development during the War.

It is because American leaders (especially business leaders) were so self-indulgent and irresponsible during that time, that the big collapses occurred in the late sixties and early 1970's.

Basically, what I'm trying to point out, is that what "Make America Great Again" actually means, is "Return us to THINKING we are great." There actually WAS no actual time when we WERE great, to which it refers. But the people promoting it, want everyone to think there was, because that buys votes.

In the 'good ole days' there weren't so many spotlights. Most of those spotlights were at a community level (broadcast community) which ranged around 100 miles or so. Plus the spotlights were not on opinion but bare facts of an occurrence. People were left to form their own opinions.

Instant gratification causes narcissistic mindsets. Consider this, Do you have a bunch of credit cards or do you save money until you can buy something? I know the credit mentality, been there, done that - will not do it again. I tossed all my cards. I have a debit card on a secured account. I pay outright for everything I choose to buy. No hassle/No stress.


Where I came from was way worse than where I am now. My unity is intact because life changes everyone. If I held onto the ideals and traits of my youth I would be miserable now. I embrace the change because it is inevitable. I do not embrace mainstream thinking tho. I don't try to fit in with what society deems necessary. I believe, act, feel and do as I please as long as it falls within the parameters of societies established laws.


That is where the difference is at. A culture is an established set of morals and beliefs that dictates you to certain standards. It is almost like a religion. Cultural distinction can be both bad and good. In the good way it preserves the identity of the people and their traditions. In the bad way it can stifle adapting to new societal standards. That can cause conflicts in perception and behavior outside the society's expectations. It generates stereotypical expectations.

Its all a dirty little game played by society on the individual's personality. We are 'tuned into' society with our constant need for social media entertainment. Its what I call the Sheeple effect. The solution is to remove the delusions force upon us and start understanding ourselves. It seems some are in some kind of personal identity crisis but don't realize it.