soon something's got to give in
I realize we can't rely on Cracked for rationality--or history--but dear gods, this article. Is he kidding??
Pursuant to that, the conversation spawned from it, a few nights back:
I mean, sure, pick any decade, there will easily be found lulls, people who were largely bored with their lives, wanting more excitement, more engagement, more...just more. But largely, boredom is a factor of the individual--very few people are bored as a lumped group.
Or maybe that's just me, again. When I was bored, as I recall, it was either because I was tired of life exploding around me, so boring moments were things I actively sought out, or it was only an hour or so before I found something else to do. And there was always something else to do, growing up--chores and cleaning being the things I was never that excited about, or writing, reading, cross-stitch, going to the library, museums, art galleries, shopping when we had the funds...there was always something, is what I'm trying to get across. Every day, every year, every decade. So I don't get what he's going on about, frankly.
Pursuant to that, the conversation spawned from it, a few nights back:
[23:38] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: tangent, beforehand.The next thing I did, of course, was read it at that point.
[23:39] Emilly Orr: Yes?
[23:39] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: this is..a weirdly sometime on point..but others..hyperbolic article..I think willfully looking back on a thing with hindsight and saying "oh my god it wasn't perfect so how could you think good things happened"
[23:39] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: https://www.cracked.com/blog/reminder-stranger-things-fans-eighties-sucked/
[23:41] Emilly Orr: Wow, this comes off as kind of a spoiled rant.It helps if you're a fan of hair metal, but seriously, there were worse hair metal bands.
[23:41] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: this one is especially weird to me : "#9 nothing to do (we all made up our own games with whatever we had on hand on a daily basis; NES was for rainy days),"
[23:41] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: there was a [s**t] ton of stuff to do
[23:42] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: and..people didn't lose touch as much as he's making it out, so I'm not sure how hyperbolic for humor's sake he is being
[23:42] Emilly Orr: And complaining that the internet wasn't around because it makes it impossible to make friends...Hon, people did what they'd done for the last two thousand plus years--THEY WENT OUTSIDE. They went places, struck up conversations with people. And guess what? In 2019, the easiest way to make friends? Is still to GO OUTSIDE.
[23:44] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It really is..there's a thing called...talking to people
[23:45] Emilly Orr: And the games thing? Again, are they kidding? Games like Monopoly, Twister, Life and Risk all came out in the 50s, and new editions were constantly coming out. Barring that, there were playing cards, backgammon boards, chess and checkers.
[23:45] Emilly Orr: Barring that, OUTSIDE.
[23:47] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Don't get me wrong, the 80s were a mess in a lot of ways, but..it wasn't a dumpster fire of civilizations
[23:47] Emilly Orr nods
[23:48] Emilly Orr: Every decade has its horrors.
[23:48] Emilly Orr: B'sides, Britney Fox wasn't THAT bad. I used to have a lot of hair metal albums. :)
[23:48] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxxy: "I liked the over all vibe the most. Everyone was always looking for that next good time. My friends and I would get high and hop on our bikes and go swimming/cliff jumping at the old quarry or head to the mall and chill in the arcade (those were awesome back then). We'd go roller skating after a flick at the $2 theater, etc. I was never without a girlfriend for long, there was always an after school job for teens, and no one liked being around the people that complained all the time. I call that era the end of the analog generation and I'm glad I was there. You invite one person to a party and 5 show up, no texting excuses."Is the cool new thing to sneer at everything else? Is it just a game of one-upsmanship taken to insane heights? Or maybe this goes back to the whole "I descend from royalty" thing we hear people say?
[23:48] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: this
[23:48] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: [S**t]..there was a [f**k] ton of things you could be doing
[23:49] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I've really started thinking that I'm less well off for having the options to be on the internet all the time.
[23:49] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Or..with texting, and social media.
[23:50] Emilly Orr: Yeah, and that kind of irked me, too. When I was in high school, the city I was in had made it law that kids couldn't work until 18. Also, I didn't have a lot of friends who got high, because they became pretty damn dull when they were high. There's only so many times you can watch Wizard of Oz and listen to Pink Floyd in a room you can't breathe in.
[23:51] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: mm
[23:52] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I think being jaded is just in vogue.
[23:52] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Everyone's got to [s**t] on things.
[23:52] Emilly Orr nods.
[23:52] Emilly Orr: It's part of the hipster vibe. It's just not cool if you have interests, or listen to music anyone else knows about, or watch anime that has a following, or drink coffee that's not picked by hand in Tibet by virgins.
[23:55] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: To be fair....I would drink coffee if it was hand picked by virgins
[23:55] Emilly Orr: Well, sure.
[23:56] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: It's just strange to me..I'm not sure how anyone can lack nuance in their thinking if they have read a wide variety of things.
[23:56] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: A thing can be bad and good, a mix.
[23:57] Emilly Orr: I know. It's more important to pose and sneer than it is to learn, it seems.
[23:57] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Well..I'm not sneering at big tittied virgins picking coffee beans.
[23:58] Emilly Orr: Ah, well, that's actually been seen in a lot of online articles of late--this one with its the-80s-sucked bent, the lady who got so hysterical over 'millenials' no longer buying mayonnaise.
[23:58] Emilly Orr: In fact, that article started the whole 'millenials are destroying X' theme.
[23:59] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Mayo is nasty, to be fair.
[23:59] Emilly Orr: Sure. It caught on primarily because it's shelf-stable until opened. (At least for the first year.)
[00:02] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: damn millenials..opening mayo before it's time!
[00:02] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: shakes his fist
[00:02] Emilly Orr laughs
[00:04] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: I think the 90s came after the 80s *rubs his chin
[00:05] Emilly Orr: It did.
[00:05] Emilly Orr: Which also had its ups and downs.
[00:06] Mxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxx: Well...The millenials were busy destroying everything.
[00:08] Emilly Orr: Apparently! Rampaging through cities, clove-scented smoke in their wake, erecting Starbucks in every field, Walmarts in every parking lot.
[00:08] Emilly Orr: Oh, wait, no, mostly hanging out in coffeehouses.
I mean, sure, pick any decade, there will easily be found lulls, people who were largely bored with their lives, wanting more excitement, more engagement, more...just more. But largely, boredom is a factor of the individual--very few people are bored as a lumped group.
Or maybe that's just me, again. When I was bored, as I recall, it was either because I was tired of life exploding around me, so boring moments were things I actively sought out, or it was only an hour or so before I found something else to do. And there was always something else to do, growing up--chores and cleaning being the things I was never that excited about, or writing, reading, cross-stitch, going to the library, museums, art galleries, shopping when we had the funds...there was always something, is what I'm trying to get across. Every day, every year, every decade. So I don't get what he's going on about, frankly.
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