Poll: Do you think people were happier and friendlier in the 1990s? Would you live there?

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  1. #21
    I lived through the 90s (graduated from high school in '96) and yes, I'd say people were generally happier. Personally, I think that has a lot to do with a lack of social media. Social media is driving us all crazy.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by cparle87 View Post
    States with big populations wanted representation based on population. States with small populations wanted representation to be even no matter what. That's why we have two houses in Congress, each one does one thing. If you want representation by population you look at the House, not Senate.
    The "why" is irrelevant to my point. Some degree of minority representation is important. A country absolutely dominated by a tiny minority doesn't work. Furthermore, you are actually wrong about the House. When the country was founded, the House was organized so that the number of representatives was proportional to the population. Delaware had the least representatives, just one. Virginia had the most, ten. Virginia had about 10 times as many people as Delaware. That's even. Today, the range of residents per house seat ranges from about 500,000 to 1,000,000 depending on state meaning some people have DOUBLE the representation in the House that other people have... and I haven't even gotten to how gerrymandering has made it so that in some states Democrats can get MORE VOTES and you still end up with way more Republicans winning.

    Numerous other things were very substantively different when this system was created:

    1. The biggest state had about 10 times as many people as the smallest state. Now, the biggest state has about 70 times as many people as the smallest state.
    2. The federal government played a much smaller role.
    3. There was no filibuster.
    4. Senators were elected by the state, not by the population, because their role was to represent the interests of the state itself, not the population directly.

    The bottom line is that if you want a stable, healthy society, you need to have majority rule with minority protections, not just wild, absurd levels of minority domination of all politics.
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  3. #23
    Elemental Lord callipygoustp's Avatar
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    I miss the days of having a president who was questioned about whether or not he received a blowjob in the oval office.


    Seriously, good times.

  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by neocount View Post
    I lived through the 90s (graduated from high school in '96) and yes, I'd say people were generally happier. Personally, I think that has a lot to do with a lack of social media. Social media is driving us all crazy.
    I think the technology part has always been a doubled-edged weapon, it has brought Americans lots of comfort and luxury. But lots of young adults today have a huge time struggling with depression, anxiety and mental illness, as well as being addicted to hours of video games rather than regularly exercising outside or physically interacting with their peers, which is a shame and a pity. People online do seem to have become much more toxic and aggressive also compared to even 15 years ago.

    There was a quote from someone in a TV show set in the early 2000s, when someone told them not to trust one of their best friends, saying that they would go down the wrong path someday: "I like to believe in people's best." Which I think in some ways captured the spirit and attitude of Americans at the time. Today, most Americans seem to believe in people's worst, and that is very telling of the current state of the USA.
    Last edited by OwenBurton; 2022-09-03 at 03:49 PM.
    "You see, there is balance in all things. Wisdom etched in our very fur: Black and white. Darkness and light. When the last emperor hid our land from the rest of the world, he also preserved...our ancient enemy, the mantid. So it is with your Alliance and your Horde. They are not strong despite one another; they are strong BECAUSE of one another. You mistake your greatest strength for weakness. Do you see this?"

  5. #25
    The Unstoppable Force PC2's Avatar
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    I'm not sure because I was just a toddler in 1990 and was going through elementary school during the 90s. I didn't have access to reliable high speed internet and I didn't have a smartphone during the 90s, so I wouldn't want to live in such a primitive era as an adult.

    Also as far as societal progress a lot of it depends on how much STEM knowledge has been produced so far and that basically only shrinks as you go back in time.
    Last edited by PC2; 2022-09-04 at 11:28 AM.

  6. #26
    Nothing about think - I know they weren't either. I was there (in my 30s) - we just had different things to be aggro about.


    The only thing about back then was that the things were nowhere near as complicated as today

    Challenge Mode : Play WoW like my disability has me play:
    You will need two people, Brian MUST use the mouse for movement/looking and John MUST use the keyboard for casting, attacking, healing etc.
    Briand and John share the same goal, same intentions - but they can't talk to each other, however they can react to each other's in game activities.
    Now see how far Brian and John get in WoW.


  7. #27
    The Undying Lochton's Avatar
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    Considering my age, and my experience from that time, no, I'd rather not live in the 90's, maybe earlier 00's would be better.
    FOMO: "Fear Of Missing Out", also commonly known as people with a mental issue of managing time and activities, many expecting others to fit into their schedule so they don't miss out on things to come. If FOMO becomes a problem for you, do seek help, it can be a very unhealthy lifestyle..

  8. #28
    No? people were always mean, angry, rude, pieces of shit. 30 years doesn't just change an entire populations mannerisms, the only difference between 2022 and 1990 is the internet made everything accessible and mainstream, it means you have easier access to all those rude and angry people now all over the world where as before the only people you knew were the ones in your town/city.

  9. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by OwenBurton View Post
    American patriotism this year has also been at a new low, far below the previous average
    Heaven forbid. The world truly is ending, whatever will we do?

  10. #30
    No social media. Yep
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  11. #31
    Herald of the Titans enigma77's Avatar
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    Yes, absolutely. The 90s were a time when people were generally very optimistic. That affects people.

  12. #32
    Stood in the Fire monkfailz's Avatar
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    I think people were alot more friendly because social media AND the Internet was still in its infancy. We didn't have social media, social media apps like Twitter. We had less opportunities to post our thoughts and feelings and opinions of others. Online Bullying was less of a problem than today's online bullying in 2022. I miss the 90s.
    Last edited by monkfailz; 2022-09-20 at 01:38 PM.

  13. #33
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    I do think people were happier and friendlier in the 90's for sure. The Internet and social media especially in the last 5-6 years has made people more toxic irl. In fact I'd say even the 2000's were friendlier and happier. And it's no question if you go back to the 70's and 80's, people were way more friendly, helpful to neighbors, empathetic, etc.

    That said, there is a misperception I often see from many people in their teens and 20's today that believe that life before their time was a perfect utopia of rainbows and gumdrops, which was definitely not the case. Maybe the idea comes from watching 90's movies. I'll wholeheartedly agree the past 2 years have sucked at an above average level. But you'll find through life that there are different problems and positives in every decade. Just for one example, I have a close friend with a type of cancer that was terminal and untreatable in the 90's, that is very treatable now. He is in remission from it and alive today, and if this were the 90's he'd have been already deceased from it. In fact the first few decades of chemo medicine while they were figuring things out were often worse and more dangerous than the cancer. The grass wasn't always greener, and believing so is an unnecessarily depressing way to think.

  14. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Osperand View Post
    I think the issue with the modern world is that the will of the majority has been overlooked for far too long now. People in power only care about minority issues (sex, race, religion etc) and these groups have changed society and made it far more difficult to live in.
    This is a fact, and actually ties in with what the op mentioned about patriotism. First we lost the unification of believing we lived in a great nation, then political figures went out of their way to convince every minority that every problem in their lives was somehow someone else fault and could only be solved by someone "taking down" the majority, completely ignoring the fact that we're all just humans trying to get by.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kaleredar View Post
    Nah nah, see... I live by one simple creed: You might catch more flies with honey, but to catch honeys you gotta be fly.

  15. #35
    Having lived as a teenager in the 90s, no. I think this is the same sort of nonsense that caused classic servers to pop up: nostalgia. The 90s were not happier or less happy. It's about the same as today.

    The difference, as others pointed out, is lunatics were kept on the fringe by society. Today, anyone with a phone or computer can post their idiotic ideas and get likes, get followed, or whatever social media platform option spreads it like the virus it is.

    Social media amplifies the worst of our society but it doesn't create the lunatics.

  16. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Yakut View Post
    Having lived as a teenager in the 90s, no. I think this is the same sort of nonsense that caused classic servers to pop up: nostalgia. The 90s were not happier or less happy. It's about the same as today.

    The difference, as others pointed out, is lunatics were kept on the fringe by society. Today, anyone with a phone or computer can post their idiotic ideas and get likes, get followed, or whatever social media platform option spreads it like the virus it is.

    Social media amplifies the worst of our society but it doesn't create the lunatics.
    Pretty much 100% this!

    And anyone who thinks that we live in a democracy (UK for me) is sorely out of touch. People vote the colour they always have until they get bent over enough times for some of those swing voters to change sides. Rinse and repeat. Then when in power they redraw the boundaries to make sure that they have majorities in the areas they need to keep.

    Actually, serving the public or the country is secondary to their own interests (and those people in the background giving them cash and backhanders)

    I would imagine that the system in the USA is just as broken with people always voting the same way and lots of money changing hands.

    The more the ruling class keep us fighting each other, the less we notice how hard we are getting bent over and screwed!!
    Last edited by Bellfour; 2022-09-20 at 03:28 PM. Reason: Spelling of a 5-year-old!

  17. #37
    98 HS grad and yes the '90s were much happier imo, and I was not a happy-go-lucky kid. I work in IT, and yet part of me still misses the simplicity of pre-IT times, no on-call, work, and non-work had a harder separation, and much easier to escape. I doubt I could give up the good parts of technology but yet there is something romantic about simpler times, and that, to me is what the 90's were. Of course social media does give everyone a voice and information overload doesn't help current times.
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  18. #38
    Void Lord Aeluron Lightsong's Avatar
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    There was less loud noise everywhere due to social media and well even back then the "Get all eyes on us" strategy was still being done, the whole make everything so overdramatic. Weird thing about Social Media is you can find nice people there like anything else but I can't do it anymore(Well I can't do twitter anymore, stress was too high).
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  19. #39
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    Personal circumstances weren't that great but the atmosphere was more friendly for sure and there was more purpose. Shops were run by friendly local shopkeepers, now they're mostly private franchise with grumpy staff.

    If you're talking about online then yeah it was way more friendly and genuine. Today it's all fake and over the top political correctness and competing for likes bullshit.
    Last edited by Twoddle; 2022-09-20 at 11:37 PM.

  20. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by enigma77 View Post
    Yes, absolutely. The 90s were a time when people were generally very optimistic. That affects people.
    Quote Originally Posted by cuafpr View Post
    98 HS grad and yes the '90s were much happier imo, and I was not a happy-go-lucky kid. I work in IT, and yet part of me still misses the simplicity of pre-IT times, no on-call, work, and non-work had a harder separation, and much easier to escape. I doubt I could give up the good parts of technology but yet there is something romantic about simpler times, and that, to me is what the 90's were. Of course social media does give everyone a voice and information overload doesn't help current times.
    It was post-Cold War, nuclear catastrophe averted, most of Europe part of the free world, Russia transitioning into a fledgling democracy, everyone no longer gripped by fear of world annihilation. The USA had "won" the Cold War. Like the victory day celebrations and that incredibly hopeful atmosphere after WW2. Yeah, I can't blame people for feeling happier. Look at today, extreme violence in crime, mass shootings, massive inflation, the war in Ukraine, tensions with China over Taiwan, India and the South China Sea; Iran and the Middle East in an uproar such a complicated mess. Everything seems to be horrible from an honest perspective.

    Quote Originally Posted by oplawlz View Post
    This is a fact, and actually ties in with what the op mentioned about patriotism. First we lost the unification of believing we lived in a great nation, then political figures went out of their way to convince every minority that every problem in their lives was somehow someone else fault and could only be solved by someone "taking down" the majority, completely ignoring the fact that we're all just humans trying to get by.
    Someone gave a speech not long ago about how America is facing a "spiritual crisis", because of all the tribalism that is tearing society apart from the inside out. I don't think they meant religion per se, I just think that abstract sense of "unity" and "community" has been kind of sundered and rent apart over the past decade or so, some kind of symbolic sense of standing for a common good or a higher purpose and ideal, the timeless foundation of transcending differences that America is supposed to be built upon.

    Their point was that people no longer truly care for each other. The increase in technological immersion has made people dehumanized much more easily, seeming more like faceless robots rather than actual feeling individuals. You can blame either side, but the fact is, things don't seem to be getting better. For example, I have a friend who is a lifelong Democrat, and he says that his brother and his family in another state seem to be mostly Republicans, and they don't dare mention politics when they get together for holidays any longer.

    Other countries like China, for example, whose economy is 2nd in the world, if you study Chinese society, for all their horrible problems, they do have an extremely strong sense of family, hard work and community, and their young people are VERY patriotic and united and hopeful for their future. Unlike in America and much of Europe today sadly.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aeluron Lightsong View Post
    There was less loud noise everywhere due to social media and well even back then the "Get all eyes on us" strategy was still being done, the whole make everything so overdramatic. Weird thing about Social Media is you can find nice people there like anything else but I can't do it anymore(Well I can't do twitter anymore, stress was too high).
    Was social media friendly when it first came out? Like, with MySpace and everything? Or was it basically just as toxic and aggressive, in a different way? I think lots of people there have good intentions, but they end up alienating and fragmenting more people than they inspire most of the time. I do wish there was some kind of "pocket dimension" time capsule of the 1990s, you know, where people could visit or escape to when they grew too tired or disllusioned of modern-day existence. Even the music bands and singers back then, like Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, seem so much more innocent and joyful than they are today. And the cartoons from that era were great also. Kind of like Old School Runescape or Vanilla Warcraft, both of which are arguably MUCH more popular than the latest updates of the "mainstream" games!
    Last edited by OwenBurton; 2022-10-13 at 01:13 AM.
    "You see, there is balance in all things. Wisdom etched in our very fur: Black and white. Darkness and light. When the last emperor hid our land from the rest of the world, he also preserved...our ancient enemy, the mantid. So it is with your Alliance and your Horde. They are not strong despite one another; they are strong BECAUSE of one another. You mistake your greatest strength for weakness. Do you see this?"

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