Sucking in the '00's
Remember the 1970's? You probably don't want to. Inflation, stagflation, malaise, misery index, US humiliation, bad fashion, disco. The list is almost endless.
The Rolling Stones (a group I do not really like - they don't try hard enough) best summed it in the title of a 1981 Album (or around that year) - "Sucking in the 1970's". And did it suck.
Yet, there is a rolling Zeitgeist in American decades, probably since the 1890's. It goes like this. In one ten decade, there is a reformist (considered liberal) tinge to it. The next decade is followed by conservative reaction. Then there is another liberal trend, etc.
The late Robert Sobel, a historian, noted "This is drama, not history." Despite his opinion, it seems to have played out. However, for it to be accurate, one needs to add another type of decade - the sucky decades.
The corallary goes like this. There is a "conservative" decade, followed by a reform decade, followed by a sucky decade. The 1890's, the 1920's, the 1950's, and the 1980's were triumphs for a conservative zeitgeist. The 1900's, the 1930's, the 1960's, and the 1990's were triumps for a reformist zeitgeist (although the reform was largely out of the United States, especially in Eastern Europe and the Asian mainland, and Bill Clinton tried his own types of reforms). The 1910's, the 1940's, and the 1970's were horrible decades for all involved - no one really won. And the 2000's appear to be the same as this type of decade.
One characteristic of the 1910's, the 1940's, the 1970's is inflation. We have all the ingredients for a lot of inflation. This is due to a war, as all decades had. And the fact that people have lost all sense is seen in what people wear - a lot of ugly clothes out there (at least grunge fashion had a certain sense to it, as well as 1980's fashion). And the music - disco in the 1970's, and the Britany Spears the dominate the charts of today. This holds true after the 1940's too, when after WWII, there was a lot of inflation, the clothing was bad (as people then had horrible taste, especially in colors) and the music was the worst ever produced (to be saved by Rock N Roll); most importantly, there was a belief that we could lose the war on terror of that era, the Cold War. The 1910's had the red scare and the big inflation.
Today, the fact that people have lost all their sense can be seen in fashion - there are a lot of ugly clothes out there. Think of all the bad musicians dominating the charts - even much of the "rock" of today is bad. And the terrorists are dominating the headlines, leading to hot war in two places, with bad news (since the good news is downplayed) coming out of those places. At least this was the case before the New Orleans disaster. This disaster is now spiking the oil prices, which is, in combination with increasing government spending on domstic items and war (as in the late 1960's), will lead to high inflation - as is considered in this country. As such, I predict high inflation next, and possibly stagflation will come back.
If we go into the next decade, the "conservative reaction" may be those on the left who halt the reforming impulses that the right wants to implement - I think the left/right switched places in the zeitgeist sometime during the Reagan era. And bad fashion, as well as bad music, will go away - I think hip hop will lead to a major new genre in the next ten years.
The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." One law of history is it often repeats itself. Thus, you can be prepared by looking to the 1970's, see what happened, and see how the most successful people - not the celebrities, I mean ordinary people - not only survived, but thrived.
The Rolling Stones (a group I do not really like - they don't try hard enough) best summed it in the title of a 1981 Album (or around that year) - "Sucking in the 1970's". And did it suck.
Yet, there is a rolling Zeitgeist in American decades, probably since the 1890's. It goes like this. In one ten decade, there is a reformist (considered liberal) tinge to it. The next decade is followed by conservative reaction. Then there is another liberal trend, etc.
The late Robert Sobel, a historian, noted "This is drama, not history." Despite his opinion, it seems to have played out. However, for it to be accurate, one needs to add another type of decade - the sucky decades.
The corallary goes like this. There is a "conservative" decade, followed by a reform decade, followed by a sucky decade. The 1890's, the 1920's, the 1950's, and the 1980's were triumphs for a conservative zeitgeist. The 1900's, the 1930's, the 1960's, and the 1990's were triumps for a reformist zeitgeist (although the reform was largely out of the United States, especially in Eastern Europe and the Asian mainland, and Bill Clinton tried his own types of reforms). The 1910's, the 1940's, and the 1970's were horrible decades for all involved - no one really won. And the 2000's appear to be the same as this type of decade.
One characteristic of the 1910's, the 1940's, the 1970's is inflation. We have all the ingredients for a lot of inflation. This is due to a war, as all decades had. And the fact that people have lost all sense is seen in what people wear - a lot of ugly clothes out there (at least grunge fashion had a certain sense to it, as well as 1980's fashion). And the music - disco in the 1970's, and the Britany Spears the dominate the charts of today. This holds true after the 1940's too, when after WWII, there was a lot of inflation, the clothing was bad (as people then had horrible taste, especially in colors) and the music was the worst ever produced (to be saved by Rock N Roll); most importantly, there was a belief that we could lose the war on terror of that era, the Cold War. The 1910's had the red scare and the big inflation.
Today, the fact that people have lost all their sense can be seen in fashion - there are a lot of ugly clothes out there. Think of all the bad musicians dominating the charts - even much of the "rock" of today is bad. And the terrorists are dominating the headlines, leading to hot war in two places, with bad news (since the good news is downplayed) coming out of those places. At least this was the case before the New Orleans disaster. This disaster is now spiking the oil prices, which is, in combination with increasing government spending on domstic items and war (as in the late 1960's), will lead to high inflation - as is considered in this country. As such, I predict high inflation next, and possibly stagflation will come back.
If we go into the next decade, the "conservative reaction" may be those on the left who halt the reforming impulses that the right wants to implement - I think the left/right switched places in the zeitgeist sometime during the Reagan era. And bad fashion, as well as bad music, will go away - I think hip hop will lead to a major new genre in the next ten years.
The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." One law of history is it often repeats itself. Thus, you can be prepared by looking to the 1970's, see what happened, and see how the most successful people - not the celebrities, I mean ordinary people - not only survived, but thrived.
posted by EricMatthew at 7:55 PM
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